4. Entrepreneurial challenges 4.1 Challenge 1: the halal issue 4.1.1 The "Imported X" halal status crisis. Halil and his family had just ordered their dinner at the hotel's coffee house during a family holiday when his mobile phone buzzed. It was a short message from his friend: "Halil, Have you heard the news that Jabatan Agama Islam Johor (JAIJ) has issued a memo advising that the "Imported X" creamery butter is not Halal?" At that moment, Halil knew that his family business was in jeopardy and his appetite was long gone together with his family holiday. Di Wannie Cake has been using the "Imported X" butter as their main ingredient in producing Sarawak layered cake or famously known as kek lapis Sarawak. Their customers are primarily Muslims from local Kuching residents, domestic and international tourists, as well as business travellers from West Malaysia and neighbouring countries that purchase their exotic kek lapis Sarawak as souvenirs and their own consumption. Their customers can either buy directly from their cake shop or order online through its official Facebook page. The sale of kek lapis Sarawak usually peaks during the festive seasons, especially during Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and Gawai celebration. Halil became restless throughout dinner after receiving the text message but did not want to spoil his family's holiday mood and kept the news to himself. In his mind, he was thinking of all the cake stock they prepared for the upcoming Hari Raya celebration, a month away, and all the pre-paid orders they received online. He knew that this news would affect his family business sales tremendously and wondered whether he should start thinking of starting a new business if this became a prolonged crisis and the market for kek lapis Sarawak could not recover, but he knew that it was pointless to start panicking now. Drawing from his management knowledge and experience, he knew he had to first assess the situation and the extent of the damage. Only then should he offer alternative solutions to solve the problem. He needed to discuss this with his family, especially his wife and son-in-law, the management team of Di Wannie. Looking at the happy family faces and the empty plates at the dinner table, he then broke the news that sent his wife into hysterics. The "Imported X" is an imported creamery butter and bears the halal logo. It is far more expensive compared to other butter or margarine and considered superior. The butter has been used widely in Malaysia for decades, especially in baking traditional and modern cakes. Just a week before the news of the "Imported X" hala/ status speculation broke to the public, Di Wannie featured the "Imported X" in their mass media advertising and promotions to gain competitive advantage and charge a premium price for its products.By early August, Halil's worst fears became a reality. The "Imported X" creamery butter was now a national news. On 28 July 2011, Jabatan Agama Islam Sarawak (JAIS) issued a press statement advising Muslims to stop the consumption of "Imported X" creamery butter immediately, while a test conducted by Jabatan Kimia Malaysia confirmed whether or not there is porcine DNA in it. Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) had sent a letter to the manufacturer on 30 June 2011, stating that the product was halal, which later concurred with JAIJ and JAIS in confirming that the product was not halal. "Though "Imported X" butter is a commonly available product, unfortunately for us, the negative publicity is somehow only linked to the kek lapis Sarawak business and not the pastry industry as a whole", lamented Halil. "We use good quality ingredients in our products and we wrote a letter to JAIJ to confirm that the "Imported X" butter is not halal even before JAIS announced their findings. We are now using an alternative ingredient, butter lite. We have performed the obligatory cleansing (samak) of our equipment and premises twice, the second time under the observation of JAIS". Though these corrective actions were published in local and national papers, the sales of kek lapis Sarawak still took a drastic dip and many Hari Raya pre-orders were cancelled.Zoraidah informed a Berita Harian journalist that Di Wannie Cake suffered a loss in excess of MYR30,000 from the cancellation of orders from Brunei and Singapore. All other producers of kek lapis Sarawak were similarly adversely affected. It had been reported that at the height of the crises in 2011, the sale of kek lapis Sarawak decreased by 70 per cent. More than a year later, the industry still had not regained its former glory but had shown positive signs of improvement. As the Marketing Manager, Halil's managerial experience and entrepreneurial skills were put to the test in finding a quick fix and longer-term strategies to regain customer confidence. They needed to proactively perform the obligatory cleansing (samak) on production utensils, equipment and premises, seek maximum publicity for corrective actions taken and seek assistance and show cooperation with the relevant authorities, e.g. JAIS and the mass media. In addition, they needed to seek reinstatement of hala/ certificate after taking corrective actions. As for marketing strategies, they started to be more proactive in communicating to their customers by displaying the halal certificate or logo prominently in all its product packaging, cross-promotion through cake-making workshops and welcoming educational visits to its production house. They even began considering rebranding their products, when necessary