After almost six months of planning and organizing, finally, his debut event was a success. But to his surprise, his friend said that Bukhari contributed only 10% of effort to the job hence the Whatsapp group name. The pain and disappointment he felt due to the unwanted conflict fuels him to put up his own company instead. He retains the number 10 on the company name to serve as an inside joke and a reminder at the same time for him that this was where everything started. Turning the bitter start to a sweet victory, that’s 10 senses.
Through the comprehensive projects that the organisation has taken on, they focus on quality and excellence in execution, service, and delivery in ensuring clients expectations are met. “We create events for clients. We go for discussion and brainstorming of ideas to make sure all the creative inputs will be utilised.” Bukhari added. This passionate organizer even shared to us how they organize a trail running event.
AN EVENT WITH A HEART
For the TMMT it took them for about 2 years to develop the trail.
The endangered Merapoh caves house at least 85 invaluable limestone hills and bountiful rare species of flora and fauna. However, it was 7 years ago when the Pahang government announced plans to build an RM1 billion cement factory in Merapoh. The national heritage is unfortunately under the imminent threat of destruction from man-made developments, in particular, the mining of limestone karsts to provide for cement production. The area will risk losing its beauty and charm if the cement factory is given a green light.
In a bid to save Merapoh, Laili Basir, an environmentalist and activist, started the campaign to stop the cement factory construction. Laili launched the “Hugs Project”, a community-based project. Volunteers meet at the end of each month and undertake charity work. Laili suggested the idea to Bukhari, thru which the latter decided to create a trail running event that will serve as their environmental crusade on saving Merapoh caves. This is the birth of The Magnificent Merapoh Trail.
The total number of participants to the first edition of The Magnificent Merapoh Trail in 2015 was only 120 from 10 countries. But did that let down their hopes of pushing through with their #SaveMerapohCaves campaign? The answer is a solid NO. They did not let this number get to them; instead, they worked even harder to make the second edition an improvement. They recorded 560 participants from 25 countries in the second edition. This year’s TMMT, set to be held in August, pushes the record to 900 runners from 30 countries exceeded the 800 mark planned initially.
The participants gradually increased within the span of only 2 years. So we asked Bukhari, what he have done to achieve not only double, triple but almost 8 times the amount within the short span of time from where they started. “When you do a quality event, the runners will tend to get satisfied with it. Now that everything is one click and post away, the participants will post their trail running experience on their social networking sites, I believe that’s how we gained exposure within the local and international audiences” Bukhari said while smiling. Besides who doesn’t want an event that not solely benefit the participants and organizer but for a bigger cause as well.
