Introducing one of our tutor, Muta'al. Our A Level Sociology and History teacher at Edu Champ Academic. Upon first meeting him, he doesn’t seem much of a talker but striking a conversation with him proves otherwise! He's actually really friendly and overall a laid-back person.
Other than teaching with us, Muta'al also runs a popular sandwich business in which he explores more in this interview. Let's get on with the interview!
ECA: Tell us about yourself.
Muta'al: My name is Abdul Muta'al bin Haji Roslee and I'm 24 years old. I got into teaching a few months after my graduation, last year. I majored in sociology and anthropology in UBD.
ECA: So how you find teaching so far? What would you say the skills and experience you've picked up from teaching with us?
Muta'al: Teaching has been pretty great and I'm happy to have academic discussions with my students. I learn a lot of skills especially. For example, tailoring resources and knowledge for individual needs, because each of the students have their own problems with what they are studying and their own style of studying and that's one thing.
Also being able to properly explain concepts to them, to impart knowledge to them and then help my students progress, targeting specific areas in where they want to improve.
And the way I'm tutoring, the classroom is small based so I can focus more on my students and have one to one interactions.
ECA: What are your future plans now? Are you considering to pursue your master's degree?
Muta'al: For now, I just plan to settle down, get a full time job. I would like to take master's degree. I did try to take two master's degree last year in both in public diplomacy and master's in teaching. Unfortunately, I didn't get it but I'd still be happy to take master's. Just not now, maybe in the future.
ECA: We've been told you have sandwich food business. Can you please tell us how that started out?
Muta'al: The sandwich business started due to many things. First one was because I always wanted to give something new to the market in Brunei. Sandwiches is something quite uncommon, in other countries it's quite a big thing. In Brunei, there's a only a few sandwich shops. Some of them on the expensive side.
So I wanted to make sandwiches that are more accessible with more variety. Something that's not much found in Brunei. Another reason was, it was for me to get more income, especially last year during Ramadhan, Most of my students, stopped tuition for a while, so it started out then and it was good opportunity to make small orders and for sungkai.
The inspiration of my sandwiches were from a lot of the popular sandwiches around the world. You can see them in Food Channels or foodie international instagram accounts, even movies and some cartoons, like The Regular Show.
The inspiration of making sandwiches also came from, legendary, you could say, small businesses found in America such as Lucali's Pizza, Killer PoBoys and Low Key Burritos. So they're small businesses but they make one of the best sandwiches and one of the most unique ones around, so that's something I've been striving for.
As for recipes, they're my own because I love sandwiches. It's probably my most favorite thing to eat, next to pizza. But I've also got inspiration for the sandwiches from some cooking channels and cook books.
ECA: How’s your business going for this Ramadan? Has it been difficult with the outbreak of Covid-19?
Muta’al: When Covid-19 first showed up in Brunei, I closed the store for about, maybe, more than two or three weeks, just to assess the situation, cause I don’t want to risk myself going out buying groceries and sending the orders.
Then one week after Ramadan, I managed to collaborate with this company called “Ta-Pow“ where they helped me set up a website and people can order through their application. Other than that, they also have their own runners to do deliveries for me, so, yeah, “Ta-Pow“ really helped me during Ramadan.
For now, I only do orders for sahur but I get much more orders than usual thanks to them. I’ll just do the cooking at home and wait for their runners to pick up the food and send it to the customers. So far, with the help of “Ta-Pow” and the exposure they have as company, as well as Big BWN Project and DJ Nadzri, sales have been much more this Ramadan.
So there you have it, folks! Not only is Muta’al an attentive teacher when it comes to teaching, his sandwich making game is also pretty strong! And one thing’s for sure, we can’t wait to get our hands on one of his signature sandwiches!
Show your support for Muta’al by ordering from him @ghouls.sandwiches.bn on Instagram!