They began with one-minute comedy sketches and today, the six friends own their own content creation company, turning their passion into big bucks.

Their company, Sterk Production has over one million subscribers and followers on social media and can list big brands like Toyota, Nescafe, Dominos and Digi among their clients.

“In the beginning, we did it for fun, because we were university students, we started getting more followers and (in) the fourth year, we established our Sterk brand,” said Harith who is also a singer.

“We had over 100,000 followers on Instagram and brands started approaching us,” he said, adding that they were still studying then and shot their content on weekends, earning RM10,000 per video.

Harith whose hit song, Cute, has garnered over 8.5 million views since it was uploaded on YouTube just two months ago said Sterk Production is doing so well that they hired two video editors and have two interns.

He added the company is looking to hire more people and might even delve into filming shows and movies.

“I love my job because I love what I do, the best feeling you get is when people like and appreciate your content,” said Harith who is better known as Harith Zazman.

Another young content creator making waves in the digital world is Eswar Mohan, Southeast Asia’s first official Snapchat lens creator, who creates lenses for the Snapchat app by turning drawings or animations into augmented reality (AR) experiences.

Eswar’s foray into the industry began when he took part in an AR competition during his final year at university where his team was tasked to build a simple app which allowed users to try out outfits virtually.

They came in second and the group went their separate ways soon after.

But his friend, Renuga Nair, encouraged him to continue pursuing his passion, believing there is a future in AR.

“We did some research and discovered Snap’s Lens Studio. That is how we ended up working on building Snapchat Lenses,” the mechatronics engineering graduate said.

Eswar said they would sit together every day after class to create AR Lenses and what used to take a week to do could now be completed within two to three hours.

“Renu would come up with the idea, and I, being the technical guy, would try to create the experience.”

The duo set up their company, ExAR in 2018 while in their final year in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Eswar roped in his brother Arun – currently studying industrial design at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin – as the head animator.

Fortunately, by the end of 2019, AR became a trend.

“All our efforts beforehand made it possible for us to start including our lenses as a marketing tool for brands. We would email brands and marketing agencies proposing they consider including an AR element for their upcoming campaigns.”

And because they have an official account on Snapchat, almost all their lenses are easily discoverable and have been used by millions around the world, with their more popular ones like the Durian and Ketupat lenses getting over five million views.

MDEC, which recently launched its #SayaDigital movement, said they wanted to cushion the impact caused by Covid-19 which is threatening livelihoods.

“We can empower the younger generation to embrace digital technology and enhance their creativity while monetising their creations. This will serve as a sustainable form of living which speaks to MDEC’s aspiration to accelerate growth of a digital society and achieve shared prosperity for all,” said Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation CEO Surina Shukri.

She said the #YoungCreators initiative will serve as a platform to encourage youngsters to trust in their own creative spirits and make a name for themselves locally and abroad.

The #YoungCreators virtual event which is part of the #SayaDigital movement will see the launch of a new platform to nurture creative digital skills of youths in the country.

Participants of the programme which will be held on Aug 28 and 29 will be able to tap into the knowledge and experience of top influencers, talents and industry giants.

Full event schedule, list of speakers and additional details for the #YoungCreators can be found at www.mdec.my/youngcreators. For more information on the various #SayaDigital initiatives, visit www.mdec.my/sayadigital.