SINGAPORE: Having been running his business at Tekka Market for more than four decades, Mr Mohamed Mustafa Shahul Hamid is a familiar face to those who frequent the market in Little India.Advertisement“I’ve been doing the business here for 45 years,” he told hundreds of online audience via a livestream on the social media platform. “It was previously by my father in the early 50s and now it’s almost 80 years that our business has been established.
“It was great fun,” Mr Mustafa told CNA on Tuesday afternoon, adding that he had specially dressed up for his first Facebook Live experience.Mr Mustafa was one of the five stall owners from Tekka Market who were hawking items from vegetables to fish from behind their phones on Tuesday. IMDA said it wanted to showcase how businesses and consumers can tap technology to do things in a new and safer manner amid the “circuit breaker” period. Wet markets were chosen as they form an “essential part” of people’s daily lives.
He is also mulling having an online presence, after seeing a drop in walk-in customers due to the virus outbreak. But with nearly 1,000 people tuning in at the same time, some commented that their questions about the items on sale were left unanswered. Some also described the “first-come, first served” process as “stressful”.
In response to CNA’s queries on whether the initiative could be expanded to other wet markets and if IMDA is pleased with the response on Tuesday, a spokesperson said: “We encourage more store owners to join on May 12. Hopefully it will provide more inspiration for many more markets around Singapore to try out something similar.”SUPPORTING SENIORS DURING CIRCUIT BREAKER
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