b.Passion Business III - Bird's nest (as a)

I must confess that this is only at the inception stage. It is not even on the drawing table. But, it should not be too far off from commencement of drawer plan.

燕窝 is the third item on the chinese wellness minds. Woman folks have been howling me for daily fixes. Not good. So I must have it.

I have already made a trip this past spring to survey the potential of buying a small land in Borneo and start this cute project.

According to the people there, the best bird's nests come from the wild (well, I am farming it, so no choice ...) and from Indonesia.

From reading:
Edible bird's nest is the nest made purely of swiftlet's saliva secretion. This nest is usually found in caves near shoreline cliffs or under eaves of house and is hand-collected. Hairs and filth are then removed from the nest before manufacturing. The Swiftlet bird is not the same as the common Swallow bird. Swiftlet birds live in flocks along tropical seaside and consume wild insects. The average body length of a Swiftlet is 9 centimeters, about half the size of a Swallow. Swiftlet lay 2 egg every 90 days and they can live up to 13-15 years meaning each pair nest 30 times. Swiftlet are homely animal and they will keep nesting at the same place over and over again if it not threaten. Its age influences the quality of its nest. In general, the older the bird is, the more simmer-tolerant the nest is.

From one comment:
How Do I Start A Swiftlet Farm? Do I need Lots of Money?
This question and remark had been ask many time by newbies and investors. One word say it all, it all depend on your budget. If you have only less then RM 10k ... yupp you can build a swiftlet farm. Some of the photo here are swiftlet farm that i had constructed and very successful so far till date. It is not that size that matter, it is the techniques and also some special aroma and of course, music. Like in any coffee shop, if you put rock song , only teenager will come and Jazz , hmmmm ... sentimental couple will come. So the answer still up to you. When i first started i use only RM 3,000 and now my swiftlet farm after 9 years worth RM 670,000.00. No other business can grow like this. Trust me, it's worth it.

Modifying own unwanted house which save cost and one invested less then RM 10,000.00 for all equipment and renovation.

How much are you willing to invest in it? Minimum RM 15,000 to RM 1,000,000?  It all depends on your budget, for instance if you got only RM 15,000 then just rent a small a shop which is populated with swiftlet but always remember one thing....the owner will terminate the tenancy anytime evenhough contract been binded when you have success after a year. This happen in 2007 where the owner terminate the investor after 5 years renting the premises to operate as swiftlet farm. So be sure to rent the shop that belongs to your own relative or good friends but bear in mind, relative sometime can betray us too. 

Over a decade ago, when people built swiftet farm in Malaysia, there is no such thing as test locations!!!, people preceptions are as long there are river, mountains and near cave, you can built. Suprisingly almost 80% success, why? Easy, that time we only have few thousand swiftlet house and millions of swiftlets. Now, in Malaysia alone wehad more then 200,000 swiftlet farm. So changes of success being cut till a quater quater.  Take a look at all small towns and people who have swiftlet farms way before us. For example, go to nearest town, say setiawan, perak. Cowboy town we call it, almost 95% close their shop for swiftlets. Meaning everyone knew about bird nest long before us. Long enough before i am graduate from college. Just go in any shop and ask, Sir or mdm, do you have bird nest for sale, instantly kilo's of unprocessed bird nest appear right in front of you. You don't have to chinese medicine shops, even car workshop, this is what happen to me. My car tyres need repair and i just wonder does this owner have bird house. So, we chat for a while and then within minutes, bird nest. So next time remember to bring your Atm cards.

Swiftlet farms are modified buildings or specially build structures for the purpose of providing breeding places for swiftlets. These can be houses, shops, warehouses or factories. You will be happy to know that the Malaysian government allows swiftlet farming to be carried out inside a commercial property or on a piece of agriculture land. So it is a perfectly legal business.  

Most swiftlet farmers in Malaysia become millionaires by either selling their bird's nests or letting go of their successful farm for a handsome price. Some successful swiftlet farmers are combining both types of income.

To illustrate the point, a typical successful swiftlet farm (based on a standard 2-storey shop lot) can produce 8,400 bird's nests a year, giving a return of RM350,000 annually. This is the fabulous yearly cashflow.

Further, to add icing on the cake, a successful swiftlet farm within a property will lead to immediate capital appreciation of the property. So much so that after just two years in operation, a successful farm can have its price appreciating by 200 percent or more!
So you have both cashflow and capital gain, making it a super investment.

The added bonus is that the cost of buying the properties is relatively cheap. This is because when we invest in buildings for swiftlet farming, we do not buy expensive and popular properties in hot locations; instead we will be investing in cheap and unpopular properties; yet have the full potential to become the next mega successful farm. 

Therefore, my choice of the piece of land must be on high ground, near sea and full of insects. Better do a trial duress call for the swiftlets though!

I hope to get slightly larger land size so that I am not disturbed by my neighbours or vice versa. Nearing the sea location is still my preferred choice.

Any way, still too early an investment for me. Need to conduct more research and talk to more strong people.

Project Update
(1)   Keep in view (KIV).