Learning From Youtube, Youth From Pidie Aceh Has Succeeded In Becoming The 'Sultan' Of The Coconut Shell Business

The process of making charcoal briquettes from coconut shells for export abroad. (AMONG)

PIDIE - Fadlullah (24) a young man from Pidie managed to reap millions of rupiah in profit from the export proceeds of the coconut shell business he has been doing since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The young man born in Gampong Padang, Simpang Tiga District, Pidie who is also a student of the Political Science Department of UIN Ar-Raniry, started his charcoal briquette business in September 2019.

"I started a coconut shell business in a 1.4 hectare garden. I got the initial idea from social media (youtube)," said the owner of the coconut shell business, Fadlullah in Pidie, Antara, Wednesday, March 16.

Fadlullah added, the effect of being bored without activities due to face-to-face lecture activities to online learning (online) due to the pandemic, made him start browsing YouTube and finding business ideas.

He said that every five tons of coconut shell raw materials that are burned can produce as much as 1.5 tons of charcoal briquettes with a profit of IDR 900 thousand to IDR 1 million.

He added that the results of the combustion that have become charcoal briquettes are exported to foreign countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. In addition, it can be used as Arabic cigarette shisha, cosmetics and toothpaste

He collects raw materials from cake or grocery businesses in Pidie and Pidie Jaya, for one thousand rupiah per kilogram of dry coconut shells.

Then the raw material is burned, the process depends on the dry or wet shell.

“If the process is wet, the process takes two to three days, it is ready to be sifted or filtered into charcoal briquettes. Meanwhile, the remaining dust from the sifting is used as plant fertilizer," he said.

According to him, a month he does the burning process three to four times or once every 10 days, depending on the availability of raw materials.

"Hopefully this effort can help the community's economy, and now there are two workers who help me do this business," said Fadlullah.