“There are people who are born to be airline pilots. I don’t think I’m one of them,” the 30-year-old told FMT Lifestyle with a laugh.
His training at the now-closed Asia Pacific Flight Training in Kota Bharu, Kelantan ended up being crucial to his launching of a lucrative business during the pandemic – a venture he has sustained to this day.
Tairu Tycoon is a yoghurt manufacturer and supplier based in Damansara Damai, Selangor. The brand is renowned for its thick, creamy and authentic “tairu”, or Indian yoghurt.
“Flying school taught us discipline and leadership, as well as management and multitasking skills. I took all of these and translated them into my business.
“We had to be very systematic and do checklists for every single thing. I used this to create my business SOPs,” explained Kiren, who was retrenched during the movement control order (MCO) in 2020.
“We were also taught integrity, which I think is the most important thing. When you’re in the cockpit, it’s just you and your co-pilot. Every decision you make requires integrity, just like in business.”
From churning out 6kg of yoghurt weekly and catering to households in the Klang Valley, what began as a modest home-based operation in 2020 has flourished into a thriving enterprise.
Today, Tairu Tycoon produces nearly 60kg of yoghurt daily and serves nearly 30 restaurants and cafés, as well as several grocery stores, across the Klang Valley.
The business offers yoghurt products such as fruit parfaits and various lassi flavours, including mango, strawberry, chocolate hazelnut, and coffee. Durian will soon join the lineup.
What distinguishes Kiren’s brand of yoghurt from others is its superior quality, extended one-month shelf life, and the presence of live bacteria – which, according to him, is not actually present in most retail brands despite being advertised as such.
The enterprise boasts four full-time workers who oversee production from start to finish, with his own mother ensuring quality control.
Indeed, Tairu Tycoon is very much a family affair: his uncle Asokumar Gopal, a business development manager, had also been retrenched during the MCO. Uncle and nephew shared a mutual dissatisfaction with the locally produced Indian yoghurts available in the market.
“We thought, why not try to perfect the recipe and see whether we can come up with something worthy and move forward with it?” Kiren recalled. “So I packed my bags and moved in with my uncle!”
Working out of Asokumar’s house in Segambut, Kuala Lumpur, the duo spent six months sourcing the best milk, refining the fermentation process, and mastering incubation to create the perfect yoghurt.
Despite ups and downs along the way, they had a blast experimenting with measures such as boiling the milk at a specific temperature. They introduced their own special strain of lactobacillus, the bacteria responsible for turning milk into yoghurt, to maintain the quality of the end product.
Tips from relatives who knew their way around cow farms and dairy products also proved invaluable, Kiren added.
Looking ahead, he aims to open a yoghurt bar offering cakes, ice creams, beverages and other desserts. And looking back on his departure from the aviation industry, Kiren said he is glad he followed his instincts by transitioning into business.
“I like experiencing new things. So the moment I feel there’s fear in my heart, I know that’s the signal for me to go and try to do something new. Most of the time fear points you in the right direction,” he said.