From Suntec to Tampines: She's behind the Mak Besar bazaars that attract tens of thousands

CNA

01-05-2025

If you love bazaars and find yourself drawn to the bright lights and row upon row of stalls selling everything from food to fashion, with the occasional live performance or celebrity appearance thrown in, you've likely come across a Mak Besar event.
Since its debut in 2019, the events and marketing company has organised more than 15 large-scale consumer events, each featuring 100 to more than 200 retail, food and entertainment vendors, and attracting around 65,000 visitors per set-up.
Singaporeans would have been to a Mak Besar bazaar at Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, Singapore EXPO, and the now-defunct Turf City, as well as at open spaces in Tampines and Lakeside.
The company's name is a nod to the Malay term for a beloved 'big aunt' or 'big mama', and also happens to be the nickname given to its founder and managing director, Haryani Othman.
The 46-year-old's background is as colourful as her bazaars. She's worn many hats – legal executive, television producer, comedian and now, bazaar boss – but at her core, she sees herself as 'a member of the community' who cares deeply about the people she works with, especially her Mak Besar vendors and staff.
'I love seeing others happy,' Haryani told CNA Women. 'Mak Besar allows me to create happy spaces where everyone can come together and have a great time.'
BRINGING JOY TO OTHERS
After graduating with a communications degree in 2003, Haryani carved out a name for herself in the local entertainment scene.
She got her start in 2006 in Gemilang, a comedy variety show hosted by Najip Ali on Suria, the local Malay broadcast station. That led to acting opportunities, and before long, she became a familiar and versatile face on Malay-language television.
Off-camera, Haryani wrote and produced over 20 television programmes, including collaborations with comedian Kumar. In 2011 and 2015, she won awards for her writing at Pesta Perdana, a local awards show honouring talents in the Malay television industry.
'I loved working on them all,' she said. 'I just really liked the idea of being a part of something that gave viewers what they were looking for when they were watching their favourite drama."
Even while she was working in television production, Haryani was also dabbling in other fields, such as law.
Having earned a law diploma in polytechnic before her communications degree, Haryani worked on ad-hoc legal projects in the early 2010s and even did business development for a law firm in 2018. Around the mid-2010s, she began dipping her toes into event management.
'I didn't really think running consumer shows was a sustainable career at that time. I had lots of friends who were bazaar vendors and organisers, so I just wanted to try it out and have fun along the way,' she said.
Haryani started out doing marketing, but as it turned out, events management was the sum of everything she loved: Connecting with people, offering the opportunity for them to gather and creating platforms for business owners and collaborators.
It became a way for her to work with her friends, support home-based businesses and small vendors in the Malay community, and offer Singaporeans something they could enjoy and look forward to.
TAKING A RISK AND STARTING MAK BESAR
By 2017, Haryani was channelling most of her energy into legal work and freelance events management.
However, she had a falling out with an events company while working on a large project, and that marked a turning point for her.
She realised that while she loved the industry, she sometimes found dealing with multiple stakeholders and managing expectations emotionally exhausting.
'It was a dark period in my life. I still loved doing what I did, but I also began to wonder if I should continue events management, or if I should just go back to what had always worked for me – law and media,' she reflected.
By that time, Haryani and her close friends – married couple Firdaus 'Fid' Faisal and Lina Liyana Samsi – had already earned a small reputation in the events scene. The three were known to be reliable freelancers and were trusted to deliver.
'We didn't have a name then, but people in the space knew who we were,' said Haryani. 'They were telling us not to give up, to keep going, some even encouraged us to start our own events company.'
The encouragement struck her, but starting a business was no small decision, and Haryani was all too aware of the financial risks.
'I may not have kids, but I was a wife and I was supporting my parents alongside my sisters,' she said. 'Fid and Lina had five children to feed. It wasn't just my risk to take – it would affect all of us.'
What solidified her resolve to take the leap was the support of people around her.
Her parents and husband told her they were behind her decision to start an events business. People she had worked with on previous events even offered to work for free at her first few events, to help her get things off the ground.
'I felt so touched that they'd really do that for me – and they kept their word, they really did volunteer their time and energy for us for free,' Haryani said.
In 2018, Haryani decided to take the plunge and roped in Fid and Lina – the latter suggested calling the company Mak Besar. It felt right – people trusted Mak Besar because they trusted Haryani's leadership, vision and heart.
The company launched its first event a year later, Grand Bite at Grandstand, a food event at the now-defunct Turf City. For Haryani, the worries about costs, logistics and operations melted away as the crowds showed up and the vendors thrived.
'The people who worked for me for free – we got to pay all of them from what we earned, and more,' she beamed.
Haryani knew she was building something bigger than herself – a business that supported not just her livelihood, but the many vendors and small businesses that depended on their events to thrive.
'The Malay community is full of entrepreneurs,' she said. 'Creative women selling their homemade products. Fathers who want more time with their children start businesses to involve them. Youths with bold ideas want to try it with their friends. I wanted to give all of them a platform.'
But those early years were exhausting, Haryani said, and she juggled numerous tasks herself.
'I did the work of 10 people – marketing, liaising with celebrities, artistes, and their managers, live shows, accounting,' she said. 'Fid and Lina supported me, of course, but I did so much just to make sure the consumer show was a success – not just for me and my team, but for the vendors who had put their faith in us.'
At the Grandstand Bazaar that year, there were about 100 food and retail vendors, and about 50,000 people came.
Then the pandemic hit in early 2020, and annual Ramadan bazaars at Geylang Serai, Kampong Gelam and other heartland spots were cancelled.
Haryani worried about her vendors. 'It felt like people were counting on us to help them make up the income they lost,' she said. 'So we went live on TikTok and Instagram, and we started an online e-commerce platform called Mak Besar Garage.'
Vendors paid the company a small fee to be featured, and for Haryani to livestream herself trying out their products.
'The team rented a studio and I was on screen for 12 hours a day, selling everything from carpets and clothes to kueh, accessories, food, and even delivery services, from home-based businesses.
'I ate so much and tried on so many outfits live – it was exhausting! But we had hundreds of thousands of viewers, and the vendors were happy. They stopped losing money. They started seeing gains.'
Musicians and dancers also went live on social media to entertain viewers watching from their homes.
'I read everyone's comments, so seeing people laughing in the comments and sending in all their sweet and supportive messages – that's what makes all the work worth it,' she said.
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Now, six years in, Haryani finally has room to breathe. She currently leads Mak Besar's marketing arm, which has expanded to offer marketing services beyond events, while Lina and Fid manage sales, admin, operations and logistics.
What started as a three-person hustle is now a team of about 10 full-time staff and 20 part-timers.
This year, Mak Besar organised the Grand Market at Suntec in January and February, followed by the Ramadan Bazaar at Our Tampines Hub in March.
Events are already lined up until November, and each edition has a unique theme. For instance, the upcoming bazaar in May is themed FUNWORLD, targeting families with young children and full of kids-centric activities like bouncy castles and youth performances.
'Some people may think Mak Besar is just another bazaar – the same old thing every other month,' she said. 'But to me, it's always changing because I'm always listening and observing. I want Mak Besar to reflect what the community wants at any given time.'