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Most people try to make their jobs sound more impressive. Shaik Nifael does the opposite: "I clean longkangs for a living."
He left school without the conventional qualifications his parents had hoped for and ended up doing the work he had been warned about growing up. At first, even Shaik was embarrassed by it. Then something shifted: engineers were listening to his advice, clients relied on him when buildings had problems, and he realised the job people looked down on was highly technical and hard to replace.
That experience became the foundation for Jetters Incz.
Along the way, Shaik took a S$1,900 management trainee salary, learnt sales the hard way, and later secured S$200,000 in backing from businessman Kelvin Neo. Jetters has since grown into a waste-management business reported to be generating around S$3 million in annual revenue.
This isn’t a "school doesn’t matter" story. It’s about what happens when you stop judging a career by how impressive it sounds and start asking where the real demand, skill and opportunity are.
What We Discuss:
- 02:50 - What’s the weirdest thing you’ve found in a drain?
- 04:37 - Why did you drop out of school at 17?
- 17:25 - How did you deal with the stigma around your job?
- 19:11 - How did you go from cleaning drains to starting Jetters?
- 32:15 - How much can someone earn working at Jetters?
- 35:09 - Would you want your kids to take over the business?
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