New start at 60: The retired engineer building a camping business to continue contributing to society

For a good 30 years or so, Mr Juraimi Rahmat spent his life in what he described as a "high-pressure environment" in semiconductor engineering.

It involved shift work, and even on days when he was not working, he would sometimes still be put on standby, expected to respond speedily if issues arose at the factory.

So in 2019, when they were both still relatively young at 54, he and his wife decided to retire early from their full-time jobs.

But in true Singaporean style, that did not mean sitting around doing nothing with their days – the couple launched a small home-based business, Tasty Bites, distributing traditional snacks such as muruku and kerepek.

At the same time, Mr Juraimi launched Otternest, a company organising outdoor adventure programmes for schools and companies, at an outdoor camp site in Johor, Malaysia.

"I decided I wanted to do something else. The concept of retirement is that you get to do something that you like … you don't totally retire (from employment) but you get to do what you like, so it doesn't feel like a job," he said.

The couple have no children and their house was already fully paid-off, which he said put them in an easier position to make that decision.

Listening to Mr Juraimi tell me his life story, I got the sense that he was a man who had found a way to carve out his own peaceful life even while witnessing Singapore's increasing hustle and bustle through the decades. After all, as a 60-year-old, he and the nation were "born" in the same year.

Indeed, one of the main observations he made about how this nation has changed over these past 60 years is how fast-paced life has become. 

Mr Juraimi is the youngest of seven siblings born to police officer parents, and grew up in a three-room flat at 95 Commonwealth Drive – one of the earliest neighbourhoods where public flats were built.

As he took me on a tour of the old neighbourhood, he reminisced how, even though it was an estate of flats, the "kampung" (Malay for "village") spirit was alive and well because people had more time to get together with their neighbours. 

After walking back from school – the now-demolished Permaisura Primary School that he attended was just a 10-minute walk from his flat – he would have lunch at home before knocking on neighbours' doors to ask friends out to play.

As we walked around the estate, he pointed out the grass patches where he had played sports such as football, badminton and hentam bola with his friends.

"Sometimes when I peered out of my window, some of my friends were already playing and I'd rush to join them," he said, adding that parents back then occasionally had to "chase" their children at dusk to make them come home.

These days however, life has become so fast-paced that it has gotten harder to stay in touch with friends or even get to know one's neighbours, he said. 

He recalled how, how back in the day, because not everyone could afford a television, it was common for neighbours to visit each other's homes to watch shows together, for instance.

In contrast, a few years ago, he bumped into an old friend at Changi Airport, whom he had not met for several years. As they chatted and exchanged pleasantries, Mr Juraimi discovered that the friend had been living in his same block for years, and yet they had somehow never bumped into each other in the vicinity of their homes. 

"Singaporeans (now) are more busy, more stressed – sometimes they don't even have enough family time because of work," he said.

He added, too, that he and his wife would love to travel more with their friends, but they cannot as many of their peers are still tied down by full-time jobs.

A PRODUCTIVE RETIREMENT

His peers may be busy with the daily grind, but Mr Juraimi has priorities of his own – these days, his main focus is to grow his businesses.

He citied Salaam Cola as a source of inspiration: The Dublin-based soda company, founded in 2023, has reportedly turned profitable without taking external investments and while donating a portion of its sales to help victims in conflict-afflicted places such as Palestine, Yemen and Syria.

He said that he aspired to grow his business to be able to do the same, too.

"We don't need much money," he said. "But if the business can be good, you can channel money to help others."

So passionate is he about this that he recently graduated from a two-month Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) diploma course in sales and marketing conducted by @ASK Training.

And he did so despite having mobility challenges: he relies on a metal walking frame to get around, due to long-term injuries from his youthful, sporty days.

His doctor has suggested a hip replacement surgery, but has also allowed him to try therapy for a year to see if it helps to manage the pain.

Certainly he is no stranger to pushing through challenges. His long career in semiconductor engineering took him to many cities around the world, where he had his fair share of both happy and stressful moments.

He recalled being so fascinated when he first stepped foot in the United States for work back in the 1990s, looking at "how big their cars are compared to most in Singapore".

But he also cannot forget some of the challenging moments he faced living and working abroad alone, such as one particular trip to India where he was tasked to solve an issue.

"That was during Ramadan and I was supposed to be there for two weeks, so I had two weeks to solve the problem. If I didn't solve the problem, I would have spent Hari Raya there," he said.

But all these make for an invaluable learning experience, which is why he advises younger Singaporeans to seize such opportunities if they present themselves.

"When you get to see other countries, you get to know their culture, their systems, and that gives you new ideas. Some ideas in Singapore, we learnt from overseas," he said.

It is this love of learning that also drove him to take up that WSQ course, during which he picked up new skills such as copywriting and online advertising, which he hopes to apply to his businesses.

He described the course as "quite intense", saying that they had to prepare a 90-slide presentation as part of the coursework, among other things.

"I burnt the midnight oil but I didn't feel tired, because it's my interest," he said.

"Some people say that they want to relax (in retirement), right? For me, this is relaxing."

With the diploma done and dusted, Mr Juraimi said he is now building a website for his businesses.

He even has a dedicated home office set up in his bedroom, complete with a height-adjustable table and ergonomic chair.

"I believe in retirement you shouldn't just retire and do nothing. You have to occupy yourself to keep your mind active, by doing the things that you like so it's not like a job."

Nonetheless, he is taking things a lot slower than when he was working full-time.

The snack business involves the couple making deliveries thrice a week on average, and Mr Juraimi has an additional "handful" of meetings in person or online each month with prospective clients of his outdoor camp business.

While the snack business is rooted in his wife's longtime interest in making and selling kuih, his involvement in the camp business can be traced back to his youthful athleticism and love for the outdoors.

He recalled how he played sports with his neighbourhood friends daily as a child, and mused that such an environment, where children had plenty of play time and the space to do it, was likely a key reason why Singapore's football scene thrived back in the day.

"In those days, you didn't have restrictions. You can play anywhere – as long as there's a grass patch, you can enjoy," he said.

Beyond free play with his friends, he was also training five times a week for a youth football club while in school.

He briefly considered a full-time career in the sport, though he decided against it as he decided that a more practical career in engineering would provide better job security.

He continued being involved in the sport, though, coaching young football clubs on a part-time basis until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

A DIFFERENT "KAMPUNG" SPIRIT

Bringing us on a tour around his old neighbourhood naturally brought back a lot of memories for Mr Juraimi.

From the seemingly small changes, such as the erection of sheltered walkways almost everywhere, to bigger ones such as the vast expansion of the public bus and train systems, he said Singapore has truly developed in many ways that benefited people.

As someone with mobility issues, he particular appreciates how Singapore has taken into consideration a diverse set of needs while building and redeveloping its infrastructure in recent years.

In fact, his little tour around the hilly neighbourhood of Commonwealth Drive was made possible only because where once steep stairs stood, gradual slopes and ramps have been built, which could thus accommodate him and his metal walking frame.

He said that while everyone largely keeps to themselves nowadays, he believes the kampung spirit lives on in Singapore, though expressed in different ways.

While it's rare for everyone to come down and gotong-royong (Malay word for mutual help) when a family holds a wedding, for example, Mr Juraimi said that people still have a strong sense of civic mindedness and desire to help.

"When I go around and people see me with my walking aid, people of all races – Chinese, Malay, Indian and all – will quickly step forward and ask if I need help and offer their seats and all that," he said.

And it is that virtue, to him, is what makes a person truly a Singaporean.

"Wanting to help people, to do good in general and in society – that is what I feel is a trademark of a Singaporean."