Open For Business: Recent Episodes
BFM Media
The flagship entrepreneurship show on BFM, featuring personal business stories from early stage start-ups, all the way to billionaire octogenarians in Malaysia and abroad. Notable guests include Martin Cooper (father of the mobile phone), Julian Assange (founder of WikiLeaks), Ralph Henry Baer (father of video games), Tony Buzan (Mindmap Guru), Isaac Tigrett (Hard Rock Cafe founder), Robert Kiyosaki (Financial Guru), Nick Vujicic (motivational speaker) and more. Tap into this valuable resource of shared experiences for the SME industry, which also touches on news, issues and trends affecting the business community and beyond.
If you sell products in a physical supermarket, decades of established tracking by companies like Nielsen ensure you know exactly how much product moved, your market share, and what your competitors charged. But in the Southeast Asian e-commerce sector, a market that generated US$157 billion in gross merchandise value last year, that clarity completely vanishes. With product listings constantly changing, sellers bundling items into single SKUs, and categories named differently across six countries and six languages, the online market lacks a single source of truth.
After spending a decade navigating this, Simon Torring partnered with former McKinsey advisor Sarabjit Singh to build a solution. Founded in 2022, their data company Cube successfully estimates online sales down to the individual SKU level. Today, the platform serves over 20 enterprise clients, including L'Oréal and IKEA, and has grown to a team of more than 70 staff. Following a US$3.7 million Series A funding round in April 2026 led by Betatron Venture Group, the company is now preparing to push its analytics into North Asia and Latin America.
Simon joins us to discuss the harsh realities of building a data business in a highly fragmented market that actively resists being measured. We explore the economics of running an enterprise subscription model, the early failures while finding product-market fit, the integration of AI, and their ultimate endgame as a global data company.
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Malaysia is ageing faster than almost any other country in Asia, yet the infrastructure to support this demographic shift barely exists. Addressing this massive gap is Seniora, a fully bootstrapped, seven-figure integrated elder care operation.
Spanning across centres in Taiping, Penang, and Johor Bahru, the business offers a comprehensive suite of services including elder day care, home nursing, physiotherapy, and active ageing programmes. Crucially, every member of their care team is certified in Montessori dementia care, ensuring a highly specialised approach to cognitive wellness.
Having recently opened two new centres, secured a Malaysian distributorship for cutting-edge cognitive wellness technology, and launched a Senior Learning Community, the business is scaling aggressively.
Founder Chew Siew Mei joins us to discuss the realities of building an elder care operation in a market that does not yet fully believe it needs one. We unpack the complexities of running day care centres, the uphill battle to change how local families think about ageing, and what it genuinely takes to scale trust in such a sensitive industry.
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Hotels face a persistent shortage of marketing talent who truly understand their operations, while generalist agencies often fail to grasp the precise nuances of hospitality. Having spent over two decades collectively inside premium and luxury hotel brands, Lai Yen Yee, Melissa Mohan, and Juliana Yong saw this gap firsthand. In 2018, Yen founded Purple Giant to provide the industry with marketing strategies that not only look impressive but are actually executable on the ground.
Today, the proudly female-led boutique agency serves major hospitality and lifestyle brands across Malaysia, including Shangri-La Rasa Ria, and Sheraton Petaling Jaya. Delivering everything from public relations to content production and campaign management, Purple Giant has grown into a bootstrapped, early seven-figure business. The agency achieved this scale entirely through referrals and word of mouth, successfully securing highly coveted recurring retainers from premium hotel properties.
Yen and Melissa join us to discuss the commercial realities of running an insider agency in a sector that rarely trusts outsiders. We break down the operational tension between founder-led quality and scalable delivery, and examine why the hardest problem in growing a successful boutique agency is not acquiring new clients, but figuring out how founders can finally let go.
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Cloud Space is a Malaysian cloud and artificial intelligence transformation company that delivers cloud migration, AI deployment, cybersecurity, and managed services. Despite widespread industry hype, its co-founders identified a critical flaw in the market: 80 percent of local businesses remain stuck in the AI pilot phase. Most organisations understand the need for these technologies but consistently fail at execution due to unprepared personnel and poor change management. Cloud Space focuses on the people and processes required to actually solve this last mile of operational transformation.
In just three years, the company has scaled to over 50 professionals and nearly RM30 million in annual revenue, experiencing a 130 percent year on year growth trajectory. This momentum earned them two consecutive Google Cloud Partner of the Year awards and recently culminated in a massive RM18 million strategic investment from Gamuda.
Two of its six co-founders, Aaron Chong and Kishan Singh join us to discuss the intense reality of managing such rapid expansion from the inside. They unpack the operational challenges of aggressive hiring, why certain client projects inevitably fail, the financial mechanics driving their margins, and what the Gamuda deal unlocks for their regional expansion.
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Wahine Capital was built around a persistent problem within the financial ecosystem. Women in Malaysia outlive men and are disproportionately exposed to financial vulnerability during divorce, illness, and widowhood. At the exact moment they most need access to their family's financial information, they very often cannot get it. To solve this, the fintech company built W Vault, a platform that successfully earned recognition at the UN Women's Empowerment Principles Awards and was shortlisted by the Securities Commission's fintech accelerator.
Despite these notable achievements, Wahine Capital is officially closing down.
Co-founder Rejina Rahim joins us to unpack exactly what happened and the timeline of when she finally knew the business could not continue. We discuss the tangible impact the closure has on its existing users, what she is proudest of, and the crucial operational lessons she would apply differently.
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According to a 2025 report, ransomware is present in 88 percent of all data breaches affecting small-to-medium enterprises, making them the primary targets rather than just collateral damage. Despite the severe financial and emotional toll these attacks take on small companies and non-profits, the cyber security industry remains largely tailored for massive corporations, creating a severe state of "cyber inequity". Recognising this massive gap, Gaurav Keerthi left a two-decade career at the very top of Singapore's national cyber security and defence infrastructure to protect these highly vulnerable underdogs.
Gaurav founded Strongkeep to become the "IKEA of cyber security," abandoning complex, over-engineered bespoke solutions in favour of highly accessible, affordable protection. By bundling four essential pillars - anti-malware, phishing protection, credential management, and secure server configurations - the platform dramatically raises the security baseline for companies without dedicated IT teams. Priced at just $39 a month, the platform utilises intelligent automation to allow non-technical staff to pay, deploy, and be completely protected within just seven minutes.
Rather than relying on massive marketing budgets, Strongkeep has built a strategic distribution moat by partnering with telecommunications companies, banks, and managed service providers who bundle the protection into their existing offerings. Gaurav joins us to discuss building a rapidly scaling cyber security startup and how they keep customer acquisition costs lean. We also explore the company's global expansion plans, their ongoing seed extension round, and their ambitious research into developing an artificial intelligence-powered virtual Chief Information Security Officer for small businesses.
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When you eat a croissant from a Malaysian bakery chain or a mousse cake from a hotel buffet, there is a strong chance the chocolate coating was made in Shah Alam. Founded in 2008 by Ng Boon Yeap and Ir. Dr. Ng Yuit Ju, Le Bourne Sdn Bhd is one of Malaysia's leading manufacturers of industrial chocolate. Rather than competing for consumer attention on retail shelves, the company operates as the crucial hidden ingredient behind the scenes, supplying premium couverture and compound chocolates to food manufacturers, bakery chains, pastry schools, and FMCG brands.
Operating heavily in the B2B space, Le Bourne prioritises strict quality control in a market often flooded with cheap compound alternatives. This commitment is supported by a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility equipped with an in-house laboratory that monitors every batch. This operational excellence has allowed Le Bourne to successfully export 80 percent of its production to over 20 countries across Asia.
Boon Yeap joins us to discuss the technical and commercial divide between couverture and compound chocolate and why it matters so much to food manufacturers. We explore the harsh economics of industrial manufacturing amid volatile global cocoa prices, the strategic thinking behind their recent consumer-facing pivot, and how Le Bourne plans to expand its global footprint over the next five years.
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What started in 2005 as a developer training center called iTrain has evolved into 1337 Ventures, one of Malaysia's key players in the startup business and investing ecosystem. Over twenty years, Founder and CEO Bikesh Lakhmichand has backed startups and founders, guiding them through the "Valley of Death."
However, with early-stage venture capital tightening across Southeast Asia, 1337 Ventures is shifting its playbook. Bikesh joins BFM’s Open for Business to discuss why the firm is expanding its focus toward traditional small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-market companies, helping them professionalise board structures, clean up financial governance, and prepare for institutional capital or public listings
Bikesh also shares his pragmatic framework for vetting AI startups, the mechanics of 5x–10x founder buyouts as an alternative exit path, 1337's rollout of boutique private equity and multi-strategy funds, and plans to bridge Indian deep-tech solutions into Southeast Asia.
We Discuss The 20-Year Evolution: Moving from training 2007 "appreneurs" to establishing Malaysia's first structured pre-accelerators and equity crowdfunding platforms. * The "AI Litmus Test": Why AI is a horizontal enabler rather than a vertical, and why shallow wrappers are getting crushed by frontier models. * The "No-AI" Pitch Rule: If removing every instance of "AI" from a pitch deck collapses the core value proposition, the startup is a feature, not a defensible business. * Pivot to Non-Tech SMEs: Why traditional mid-market companies with real earnings are the new priority in investing. * The Multi-Strategy Playbook: Building a full-spectrum fund spanning early-stage equity, venture debt, and boutique private equity. * Get Paid First:* Why a founder’s absolute first priority is securing paying customers before ever calling an investor.
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When Nuraizah Shamsul Baharin last appeared on the show in March 2024, MADCash was focused on building an alternative credit score for women marginalised by traditional banking through zero-interest microloans. Since then, the platform has scaled massively, disbursing over RM4 million to more than 1,500 female entrepreneurs across Malaysia, Singapore, and Tajikistan. This tangible impact recently earned them major international acclaim, winning the Catapult Inclusion Southeast Asia 2025 prize and becoming the very first Malaysian company to win the prestigious EFICA award in Dubai by live audience vote.
Despite this global recognition and rapid growth, MADCash is undergoing a profound structural evolution. Realising that their foundational principle of purely zero-interest funding is unsustainable beyond project-to-project lending, the team is boldly shifting to Murabahah financing. By implementing this Shariah-compliant, cost-plus model, the platform can generate its own revenue from lending activities, drastically reducing its dependence on corporate social responsibility funds and unpredictable charity grants.
With current revenue hitting RM1.2 million and growing at 139 percent year on year, the company is targeting break-even this year and full profitability by 2027. As MADCash seeks to raise RM10 million in Murabahah funds to reach 2,000 more women, Nuraizah returns to the studio to unpack the deep philosophical and operational realities of evolving a model built on giving money away into one that must financially sustain itself.
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What began as a tool to help kindergartens, tuition centers, and music academies digitise their paperwork has evolved into an operating platform for 3,000 learning centers across Southeast Asia. Today, AOne manages everything from scheduling and attendance tracking to automated tuition billing.
Founder and CEO Dr. Darren Gouk returns to BFM’s Open for Business as AOne attempts to raise up to RM6 million at a pre-money valuation of RM20 million via equity crowdfunding (ECF) campaign on pitchIN.
He addresses the company's path to profitability, its RM3.5 million break-even target, and the stickiness of this platform.
Darren also details how AOne is deploying fresh capital into predictive agent AI, unlocking direct-to-consumer marketplace monetisation for parents, and positioning the business for an eventual M&A exit with global EdTech conglomerates.
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If you have ever made a glass of rose syrup at home in Malaysia, there is a strong chance the bottle featured a slanting yellow label with a rose flower on it. That iconic bottle comes from Teluk Intan, Perak, produced by Ameen Products. Founded in 1982 by Hj Amanulla Khan, the company was born out of a stark realisation that there were no Muslim-owned syrup producers in Malaysia. Starting from his home to serve neighbours, he steadily expanded the operation to supply wholesalers, retailers, and eventually major supermarkets across Peninsular Malaysia.
Today, Ameen Products is run by his son Mohammed Irfan Amanulla Khan, and operates at a massive scale, supplying major food and beverage chains like Chatime, Kenny Rogers, The Chicken Rice Shop, and Big Apple. The business has also established a robust international footprint, exporting to markets including Singapore, Fiji, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
Irfan joins us to discuss the commercial realities of carrying his father's business across four decades. We break down the complex economics of Malaysian cordial manufacturing, explore the strategic push into the functional beverage market with their new Nutrasip line, and reveal the ambitious plans for a brand new manufacturing facility that will power the next forty years of Ameen Products.
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What began as decades of plant genetics and biotechnology research at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) has evolved into Nomatech, an agricultural spin-off commercialising clinically validated functional rice varieties like Primera Red Rice. Today, the company manages the entire supply chain, from breeding the seeds and working with contract farmers all the way to store shelves.
However, moving from academic research grants to industrial scale presents a severe operational bottleneck: transitioning from linear, organic growth (120 metric tons annually) to exponential commercial output (1,000+ metric tons) requires significant growth capital.
Managing Director and Founder Emeritus Professor Wickineswari Ratnam joins BFM’s Open for Business to discuss Nomatech’s current equity crowdfunding (ECF) campaign on pitchIN, seeking RM1.5 million to RM2 million at a pre-money valuation of RM7.7 million.
She addresses investor concerns around high debt gearing and details her strategy to achieve a 12-fold revenue increase to RM16 million by 2029. She also discusses securing international export permits, licensing functional IP for nutraceuticals and gut-health formulations, and her long-term path toward a public stock exchange listing.
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Can a Malaysian indie game studio go head-to-head with the world’s biggest gaming companies? Metronomik founder Wan Hazmer believes Malaysia has the talent but turning that talent into a global business is the real challenge.
From building No Straight Roads to creating a studio capable of producing international hits, Hazmer shares the realities of running a game company like the cost of development, finding global audiences, attracting creative talent, and why owning original IP matters in the gaming industry.
We discuss:
- Why building a game studio is harder than making a game.
- How Metronomik competes in a crowded global gaming market.
- The challenges of funding and monetising original game IPs in Malaysia.
- Why Malaysia has the talent and resources to become a gaming hub.
- What it takes to build a sustainable indie studio.
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In 2018, Hendra Wardi won the MDEC IP Creators Challenge with a highly original concept: a comedy about two teenage skeletons working in a zombie grocery store surrounded by classic Southeast Asian ghosts. It took eight years of persistence to bring that idea to life. In March 2026, Kisah Bawah Tanah finally premiered on Astro Prima, making history as Malaysia's first adult animated series. With a feature film in early discussion, the unmistakably Malaysian show is now expanding its reach into Indonesia and Thailand.
The IP found its creative home at Hendra's Bawah Tanah Sdn Bhd, but it required the operational muscle of Edmund Chan's Animasia Studio to become a reality. Animasia brings 21 years of industry experience, having evolved from selling children's books to licensing homegrown animation to Disney Channel Asia and producing content for heavyweights like A24 Films and Amazon. Together, the two founders navigated a highly challenging landscape marked by severe funding gaps, a small domestic market, and significant talent scarcity to finally get the show on the air.
Hendra and Edmund join us to discuss the financial and creative realities of building a Malaysian animation IP from scratch. They outline the sheer endurance required to survive an eight-year development cycle and unpack the business mechanics behind their regional expansion strategy. They also address the massive disruption of artificial intelligence within the creative sector and how Animasia's new AI hybrid production joint venture, RawrAsia Studio, aims to adapt to the future of the global animation industry.
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What began in 2012 as an enterprise PC broker has evolved into one of Southeast Asia’s largest re-commerce operators, processing over half a million pre-owned devices annually across Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines.
Founder and CEO Julius Lim joins BFM’s Open for Business to unpack how CompAsia built a vertically integrated ecosystem that generated RM180 million in revenue and nearly RM20 million in profit after tax last year.
He details the operational shift from pure-play e-commerce to an aggressive 85-store physical retail footprint, explaining how brick-and-mortar touchpoints serve as both a customer acquisition channel and a direct device-sourcing engine.
Julius also breaks down the mechanics of their high-margin Renew and Go program, his approach to managing consumer credit risk, and why debt capacity is driving their planned RM400 million to RM500 million Main Market IPO by 2027.
We Discuss:
- The Evolution from Enterprise PCs to Smartphones: Why the initial B2B computer brokerage model shifted in 2017 to capture higher-velocity, higher-value consumer smartphone demand.
- Overcoming the Trust Deficit: Professionalising secondhand trade-ins through proprietary white-label diagnostic software, automated AI grading, and certified data wiping.
- The Offline Retail Paradox: Why CompAsia aggressively expanded from 7 to 85 physical stores to solve sourcing bottlenecks and lower customer acquisition costs.
- The Renew and Go Profit Engine: Structuring a 36-month installment and 12-month upgrade cycle to target underbanked consumers without credit cards.
- The 2027 Main Market IPO Rationale: Why going public is essential to unlocking the debt and equity capital required to fund inventory and scale the program to 1 million subscribers.
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What began with a single stand-up comedy show at Zouk KL’s Velvet Underground in 2009 has expanded into a regional live entertainment force, selling over 500,000 tickets, hosting 350 global talents, and touring across 30 cities.
Co-Founder and CEO Rizal Kamal joins BFM’s Open for Business to unpack LOL Asia’s 17-year journey, the brutal economics of the live events trade, and why he’s pushing past the transactional promoter trap to build a scalable, asset-owning intellectual property (IP) engine.
He breaks down how the company is capitalizing on shifting post-pandemic consumer behaviors, where traditional clubbing and alcohol consumption are in decline, and audiences demand high-value, sober live experiences like their new wellness concept, Thrive Play.
Rizal also details his asset-light regional expansion across Australia and Southeast Asia, how AI acts as a "genius partner" for rapid event prototyping, and why he is working with a 60-association coalition to abolish Malaysia's British era entertainment tax.
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For years, Secondlifeasia was recognized as a hardware-heavy device repair business. But as the company sets out to raise RM5 million at a near-RM38 million valuation, it is undergoing a high-stakes operational shift.
Squeezed by a structural hardware margin trap, driven by Apple’s iron grip on parts pricing and surging component costs, the company is facing the decline of repair culture, as consumers choose instant trade-ins over physical part replacements.
The answer to this? Software.
Secondlifeasia claims it can transform into a scalable ecosystem for financed, pre-loved devices.
Co-Founder and CEO Jerome Teh joins Open for Business to defend their new trajectory. We dive into the assumptions underpinning their financial projections and dissect their signature "switch-off deterrent", a proprietary, remote device-locking technology designed to mitigate an $11 billion global fraud problem and turn high-risk pre-loved electronics into safe, high-yield financial assets for risk-averse financiers.
Finally, we question the true execution risk of their pivot and regional playbook as they attempt to scale across the highly fragmented consumer markets of Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
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Following a RM96 million acquisition by German-listed DDB, Jon Woon, Founder and CEO of Infinium Robotics, unpacks what’s next for the indoor autonomous drone space.
We discuss how the company successfully pivoted from an economically unviable restaurant food-delivery experiment into a logistics play, the development of patent-pending indoor navigation software that flies entirely without GPS signals, and how a single autonomous drone can audit up to 20,000 pallet locations over a single weekend.
Jon also shares how Infinium actively de-risked its business from low-cost Chinese hardware competition by transforming into a drone-agnostic system integrator, leveraging a resilient 70% OPEX rental revenue model to seamlessly scale across Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia.
Finally, we explore the next frontier of logistics through Physical AI and digital twin technology, explaining why a massive global automation gap, where 90% of warehouses still rely on manual stock-taking, presents a massive runway for their upcoming expansion into Europe and North America.
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Open your brand's Instagram and honestly ask if you would follow the account if you did not work there. Most corporate social media pages function like boring bulletin boards, treating creators merely as distribution channels with audiences attached. Recognising this flaw after a decade leading Gushcloud Malaysia, Wan Hou Yin left to launch empwr in January 2026 alongside a former colleague and one of Malaysia's most recognisable digital talents.
That talent is Mohamad Sofian Abdullah, better known as Sofyank. Famous for his VFX collaborations with Hollywood stars and winning Zach King's Ultimate VFX Challenge, Sofyank is not just a client on the agency roster — he is a co-founder. This distinction drives empwr's entire business thesis. By treating creators as genuine creative partners, the agency leverages their cultural instincts to produce content audiences actually want to watch. This approach rapidly built a bootstrapped, seven-figure business that reached profitability in just three months, highlighted by a massive Dutch Lady livestream with Khairul Aming that generated RM400,000 in sales.
Hou Yin and Sofian join us to discuss the fundamental difference between a traditional influencer campaign and a genuine creator collaboration. We examine the commercial realities of running their fast-growing agency, what it actually changes when you bring a top-tier digital creator into the boardroom, and whether the traditional advertising industry is finally ready to let go of outdated marketing strategies.
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In 2008, Alann Tan returned from New Zealand with his degree but no business plan, driven home by his father's cancer diagnosis. To survive, he and his brother opened a humble market stall selling pineapple tarts and Chinese New Year kuih. Despite a RM500,000 early loss that nearly wiped them out, that small survival mechanism quietly laid the foundation for what is now a sophisticated, multi-brand wellness and gifting empire.
Today, JYY Group is a fully bootstrapped, profitable enterprise generating tens of millions in annual revenue across Malaysia. The portfolio is strategically split across three distinct pillars: Jin Ye Ye for festive hampers, JYNNS for modern daily wellness, and the heritage bird's nest brand Lo Hong Ka. Acquiring Lo Hong Ka and its manufacturing plant in 2022 allowed the group to take full control of its production, fueling an expansion to over 30 retail outlets and preparing the company for significant capital expenditure to build a new industrial park and regional headquarters.
The group's ultimate ambition is to elevate Malaysian natural assets onto the global stage, specifically aiming to do for local Trigona honey what New Zealand did for Manuka. This vision recently materialised with the launch of the MY Treasure flagship at KLIA2, positioning curated Malaysian products as premium gifts for international travellers. Alann joins us to discuss the financial mechanics of running a multi-brand retail ecosystem, the strategic value of owning your own manufacturing, and what it truly takes to build a premium positioning for an underdog ingredient.
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Traditional hotels often force guests to pay for luxury features they simply do not use. Recognising this gap, Benny Ong and his co-founders launched KiN Hotel Group in 2023. Coming from diverse backgrounds in technology, marketing, and real estate, they viewed their complete lack of hospitality experience as a massive competitive advantage. By treating operations as a blank canvas and avoiding legacy corporate structures, they implemented a philosophy of "value engineering” - stripping away expensive grand lobbies and converting underutilised rooms into practical, modern spaces like modular mini-gyms.
This lean, technology-driven approach quickly proved highly successful. Their first proof of concept in Vietnam saw average room rates jump from $45 USD to over $100 USD per night while maintaining an impressive 90 percent occupancy rate. Rather than buying buildings or relying heavily on traditional management contracts, KiN Hotel Group operates an asset-light model focused on long-term leases and rapid refurbishments. By dealing directly with vendors, they can completely turn over a property in just eight weeks, allowing them to target a return on equity within three to four years.
Benny joins us to discuss the operational realities of scaling an independent hotel brand with a target of adding up to 2,000 rooms annually. They explore the strategic thinking behind their recent RM19.8 million, 20-year lease for Kuala Lumpur's Maya Hotel, how they plan to heavily integrate artificial intelligence to offset rising labour costs, and their ambitious roadmap toward a potential public listing by 2030 as they expand aggressively across Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and China.
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Traditional cross-border payments are plagued by a severe lack of predictability. Relying on an outdated correspondent banking network and the SWIFT system, global money transfers are often slow and leave customers waiting without any clarity on when their funds will arrive. Raj Kamal, an executive with two decades of experience in the payments industry, realised the core issue was a lack of universal regulation. In 2022, he founded TransFi, betting that fiat-pegged stablecoins could provide instant settlement without the need for trusted counterparties, effectively bypassing the cumbersome legacy system entirely.
Focusing heavily on emerging markets, TransFi allows customers to transact using familiar local payment methods like DuitNow. Behind the scenes, the platform seamlessly converts the local currency into stablecoins to move the value across borders, before instantly paying it out in the recipient's local currency. This ensures a faster, highly predictable experience where the end-user never actually has to handle cryptocurrency. To manage this safely at scale, the company heavily integrates AI for rigorous global compliance checks, real-time transaction reconciliation, and automated customer service capabilities.
Serving institutions, large remittance companies, and e-commerce merchants, TransFi operates at a cost up to 50 percent lower than traditional alternatives. This operational efficiency has driven massive growth, leading to a $19.2 million Series A funding round led by Turing Financial Group in March 2026. Having already processed over $1 billion in volume with 16 times revenue growth since their seed round, Raj joins us to discuss his strategy for hitting $5 billion in transaction volume this fiscal year and why he believes stablecoins will completely reshape the global payments industry by 2030.
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In April 2019, Muhammad Hamizan Zaidi opened Affogato, a popular coffee and ice cream dessert cafe in Kuching. Capitalising on a loyal community following, the concept soon expanded into a second lot right next door to become Oregano by Affogato, a pasta-forward restaurant blending Sarawakian ingredients with Italian fusion. Together, these ventures built the foundation of a seven-figure multi-brand F&B business.
Encouraged by his success in Sarawak, Mizan made the bold decision to expand into Petaling Jaya. However, the operational realities of West Malaysia proved vastly different from his home base. Facing the stark contrasts and intense pressures of running an F&B outlet in Kuala Lumpur compared to Kuching, the Petaling Jaya expansion struggled. To rescue the business, Mizan successfully secured capital from new investors, executing a major strategic pivot that saw the PJ location completely rebrand from Oregano into Warung Jakarta.
Mizan joins us to discuss the realities of expanding an independent F&B brand across the South China Sea. We explore the distinct differences in consumer behaviour and operational demands between the Kuching and KL markets. He also shares the heavy emotional responsibility of managing a team through a business rescue, and why his ultimate goal for his portfolio is building deep, sustainable artisan character rather than chasing aggressive scale.
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While the rest of Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem was chasing consumer-driven "unicorn" narratives and burning cash on a race for user growth at all costs, Indelible Ventures took a completely different path. Since its launch, this early-stage venture capital firm has avoided consumer hype to bet heavily on B2B enterprise software.
Managing Partner Kevin Brockland joins us to explain why he avoids consumer tech and how the B2B landscape is reaching a critical turning point. He also discusses why a growing number of Malaysian founders are choosing to completely bootstrap using AI tools rather than seek dilutive venture funding, why the fundraising environment for VCs is the worst it’s been in a decade, and how early-stage capital is migrating away from overrated markets toward overlooked regions like the Philippines and Japan.
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Most fashion businesses begin with a gap in the market. Kayla Batik Design began with a mother who couldn't find colourful batik clothing for her one-year-old daughter. So she decided to make it herself.
What started as designing a single dress for her toddler, has become a fully bootstrapped, profitable modern batik brand stocked in boutiques and department stores across Malaysia and as far as George Town, Penang.
Kayla Batik Design makes contemporary batik clothing and lifestyle accessories for all ages: from baby bibs and kimonos to adult shirts and dresses, scarves, bags, and coasters. All designed by founder Jaime Sya, made by local tailors, using hand-stamped cotton batik.
Jaime joins us to talk about what it takes to build a design-led brand when you're learning as you go — the inventory gambles, the quality control nightmares, and why she believes consistency and customer listening are the only strategy that actually works.
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Matcha took a decade to go from Japanese tea ceremony to global café staple. Shivaani Suppiah believes pandan, that fragrant green leaf that flavours everything from kaya to nasi lemak across Southeast Asia, is ready for the same journey. Her target market: India. Her base: Pondicherry, a former French colony on the southeastern coast, chosen specifically for its mix of locals, international travellers, and food-curious entrepreneurs.
It's Pandan Only launched in mid-2025 and has already sold out every batch it has produced, with 60 to 76 percent product margins. The flagship product is a fully vegan Pandan Coconut Spread or kaya, currently supplied by Malaysian bakery VickedGood while Shivaani sets up her own commercial kitchen in Pondicherry. She walks into cafés with samples. She runs tasting events. And she is raising her first seed round of approximately RM42,000 to buy a 125-litre commercial machine and scale production to meet the waitlist already forming.
Shivaani joins us to talk about what it actually takes to introduce a completely unknown flavour to a new country from scratch — the on-the-ground hustle, the margins behind a premium artisan product, and the bigger argument that Malaysia has ingredients the world has not yet discovered.
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When Mathew Howe was last on Open For Business in July 2024, Grobrix had just announced its partnership with Green City Growers in Boston and was projecting 500% quarterly revenue growth from its Farming-as-a-Service subscription model. The question then was whether a banker-turned-urban-farmer with a patented Lego-inspired green wall system could build a serious commercial business across Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and North America.
Two years on, the answer is coming into focus.
Grobrix now manages over 70 commercial farming locations across Singapore, KL, and Boston. Clients include CBRE, LinkedIn, and W Hotels. Annual recurring revenue has crossed $1 million. And the company is rolling out Grobrix 2.0: an IoT and cloud-connected version of the wall that allows remote monitoring and control of each farm from anywhere in the world.
But the story Mathew most wants to tell is not about technology. It is about what happens when a corporate office grows its own food, and why he believes urban farming is the most underrated tool in the corporate wellness playbook.
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Most professional networking events fail because they focus on collecting business cards rather than building genuine connections. Jude Ashvin realised this after experiencing a highly curated after-work social event in Belgium. Drawing on his background managing the business and logistics for the Malaysian live band Rhythm Nation, he decided to bring this refined approach home to Kuala Lumpur to tackle the growing epidemic of professional loneliness.
Launched in January 2025, Just After Work is a networking platform designed specifically for the evening post-work window. Instead of sterile hotel ballrooms, the platform hosts vetted attendees at carefully selected venues to ensure high-quality interactions.
Jude talks to us about how Just After Work successfully vets and matches attendees to create a high-trust environment, the rollout of recurring concepts like Padel & Connect and The Women's Circle, and their upcoming regional expansion into Jakarta and Singapore ahead of a major networking festival in 2027.
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Hagen Chen originally built a fully bootstrapped, seven-figure F&B group starting with Toast Maker, a healthy sandwich and coffee concept for busy professionals. However, his latest venture marks a significant pivot. Stepping away from health-focused cafe fare, Hagen recently launched Jiran-jiran, a brand new community-centric concept dedicated to serving traditional Malaysian nasi lemak.
What makes Jiran-jiran particularly unique is how it was created. Hagen set himself an intense operational challenge to conceptualise, build, and launch the entire brand from scratch in exactly 60 days. This rapid execution ties directly into his core business thesis. He argues that a food brand's true competition is not the similar shop down the street, but the entire timeframe of a person's hunger. If a business fails to satisfy a hidden need within that specific window, they lose the customer completely.
Hagen joins us to discuss the intense reality of successfully launching a restaurant concept in under two months, the operational mechanics of running a central kitchen to support a multi-brand group, and what healthy food brands often get wrong about the local market.
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Most cafes do not survive ten years, and those that do typically rely on relentless expansion to stay afloat. Naj & Belle reached this rare milestone by doing the exact opposite. Founded in 2015 by Annabelle Liau and Datuk Najib Hamid of The Serai Group, the premium dessert and dining cafe launched in Subang with a foundation built on a deep family passion for hospitality. Famous for introducing Malaysia's first Watermelon Cake, the brand quickly expanded to a second outlet in Bangsar and began aggressively pushing toward a third, fourth, and eventually fifth location.
That is when Bryan Chen, armed with a culinary background and years of watching the founders build the brand, made a critical intervention. Recognising the operational strain of rapid scaling, he made the difficult call to halt expansion, close underperforming locations, and completely overhaul their internal systems. By choosing to scale back and tighten their backend operations, the team prioritised business health over top-line growth. Today, Naj & Belle stands as a fully bootstrapped, seven-figure, family-run enterprise operating two highly sustainable outlets.
Second-generation operators and Directors Bryan and Leora Chen talk to us about what it actually costs to manage premium food margins and labour, why they deliberately walked away from a multi-outlet expansion strategy, and their strategic plans for the next decade, which include a growing events arm, halal certification, and the dream of opening in Penang.
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Across Malaysia and Southeast Asia, thousands of profitable businesses are quietly approaching a major crisis. Their founders are entering their sixties and seventies, and the next generation either does not want to take over or is simply not ready to lead. This succession gap leaves many highly successful enterprises in a vulnerable position, threatening businesses that took decades of hard work to build.
GenCap Partners was established to step directly into this void. Founded in August 2024, the Singapore and Malaysia-based acquisition firm targets the lower mid-market, focusing on businesses generating RM10 million to RM50 million in revenue. By raising capital and partnering with experienced operators, GenCap has already acquired a medical software provider, an accounting firm, and a premium preschool in under two years.
Co-founders Zachary Lee and Zad Ngor explain why acquiring an established, profitable company is often a much smarter entrepreneurial path than building a tech startup from scratch. They explore the operational realities behind their three recent acquisitions, their ambition to build the region's first serial acquirer of SMEs, and what retiring Malaysian founders must know to confidently sell their life's work.
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MicFront is not a traditional public speaking class; it is a psychology-first education model. Co-founded in 2017 by Mas Mahathir and licensed counsellor Dr Jolynn Ch'ng, the academy operates on the thesis that speaking anxiety is a psychological barrier rather than a mechanical flaw. This distinct curriculum differentiator has proven highly successful commercially, allowing the company to scale rapidly into a multi-vertical education business.
Mahathir and Dr. Jolynn talk to us about how they successfully transitioned the business away from relying solely on founder-driven marketing to build a sustainable network, the specific criteria they look for when selecting franchisees, and the commercial strategy behind their upcoming attempt at the Malaysian Book of Records with a massive 1000-student speaking event.
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KC Purusotman began his career at just 15 years old by throwing parties. Twenty-five years later, he operates one of Malaysia's most diverse and dynamic hospitality companies. Continuum Hospitality Group manages an expansive portfolio that features the Pinkfish Music & Arts Festival alongside prominent nightclubs like Kyo KL. In the culinary space, the group also operates the rapidly expanding Malay fine dining brand Cili Kampung and the Italian restaurant Stefania. Beyond traditional hospitality, KC co-founded Lion Music Group, the label responsible for launching the hit Malaysian girl group Dolla.
The journey to this scale was heavily tested during the pandemic. To survive the lockdowns that severely impacted the F&B industry, KC took out two personal loans and bought out a partner, betting everything that the post-pandemic experience economy would eventually return stronger than ever. That calculated risk paid off. Today, the group is aggressively expanding, pushing Pinkfish into massive arena shows and preparing to take its dining concepts regional.
KC joins us to discuss what it truly takes to build, manage, and scale an operation that spans dining, nightlife, and music. We break down the complex financial realities of running a high-end nightclub, explore why building a music label made strategic business sense for a hospitality operator, and examine his ambitious roadmap to take his homegrown Malaysian brands to an international audience.
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Frontline staff in hospitality and facility management are often treated as the forgotten workforce. Many lack corporate email addresses and are forced to endure long, tedious training sessions through traditional learning management systems. Matthew Spriegel saw this disconnect and founded Atiom, a behavioural technology platform built specifically for service industries. Acting more like TikTok than Netflix, the mobile app delivers bite-sized, daily microlearning modules to build atomic habits without overwhelming the user.
Instead of reading PowerPoint slides, employees use Atiom to practice handling difficult guest scenarios through AI-powered roleplay in a safe environment. The platform also offers peer recognition, real-time feedback, and a gamified points system to keep staff engaged and improve daily performance. Importantly, Matthew insists their AI strategy is strictly designed to augment human potential and support service connections, rather than replace human workers entirely.
This focus on frequency over volume has proven highly successful. Atiom has doubled its revenue for three consecutive years without relying on massive institutional funding rounds. Currently serving major hotel groups like Accor and IHG, the company is now expanding aggressively into the facility management sector to support the hidden workers behind global corporate offices. Matthew joins us to discuss the business of behavioural change and his vision to build the category-defining performance platform for service-first industries.
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In 2016, a faded 1930s Art Deco building in Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown sold for RM29 million. Once the tallest building in the city, its architectural history had been completely obscured by commercial signboards and neglect. Justin Chen and his family's Singapore-based real estate group, Arcc Holdings, acquired the building and spent six years carefully determining its commercial future.
The result is Else, a 49-key boutique hotel that opened in September 2022 to fill a clear gap in the Malaysian hospitality market. Rather than importing foreign concepts, the property champions local creative talent through collaborations with Malaysian designers, chefs, and artists. Three years later, the hotel is operationally profitable, growing at a steady 15 to 20 percent year-on-year, and holds the rare distinction of being the only Malaysian property to earn both a Michelin Key and a spot on the Tatler Asia Top 100 Hotels list.
Justin joins us to discuss the financial realities of heritage hospitality, and what the group plans to build next now that they have successfully proven their concept.
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Every business deal relies on knowing exactly who you are dealing with, but mapping corporate relationships across Asia is an incredibly challenging task. Daryl Neo spent years as a regulator at the Singapore Exchange, manually tracing ownership chains and trying to uncover who was truly behind complex business structures. As corporate networks expanded and data volumes exploded, this painstaking process became entirely unsustainable.
In 2011, Daryl and his co-founder Charles Poon left the SGX to build Handshakes, the tool they always wished they had. Today, it is the largest aggregator of ASEAN and China private market data, visually mapping corporate relationships and hidden connections to reduce due diligence workflows from months to hours. Backed by investors like Nikkei Inc, SPH Media, and S&P Global, the platform has successfully exposed the networks behind cross-border investment scams, penny stock crashes, and major conflict-of-interest cases.
Daryl talks to us about the significance of having global financial giants on their cap table, the introduction of their new AI Map Summariser, and why Malaysian business leaders need to shift their mindset from viewing due diligence as a boring compliance cost to treating it as a valuable intelligence asset.
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Small business owners often look at a declining pipeline and assume they have a sales problem, but what they usually have is a leadership deficit. Lacking the capital to hire a high-quality, full-time sales director, many SMEs resort to one-off, traditional sales training workshops. However, these event-based sessions often fail to produce sustainable results because they do not embed actual behavior changes or apply a data-driven, scientific rigor to the company's daily sales process.
SalesGeek was founded to bridge this exact gap. Created by Richard Few, the company operates a fractional sales leadership model, providing businesses with part-time sales directors for as little as 5 percent of a full-time executive's salary. Through a rapidly growing franchise system, SalesGeek deploys highly experienced sales professionals to work directly with founders. These directors refine go-to-market strategies, build robust data processes, and actively mentor local teams over an average two-year engagement until they successfully make themselves redundant.
Now establishing Malaysia as their Southeast Asian hub, Richard joins us to unpack the unit economics of a global, completely investor-free franchise. We discuss the severe limitations of traditional corporate sales roles that drive top talent toward franchise ownership, the financial structure distinguishing their "solo" and "scale-up" models, and why Malaysia's high concentration of SMEs makes it the perfect market for their expansion.
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Operating a restaurant in Singapore is exceptionally challenging. With world-leading commercial rents, strict labour laws, and volatile food costs, traditional F&B margins are razor-thin. Joseph Ryan spent years navigating this system, opening major outlets like Five Guys for the Zouk Group in Malaysia. Seeing these structural flaws worsen after the pandemic, he realised the industry needed a completely new approach.
His answer is Freshpod. Founded in 2021 with an ex-Goldman Sachs banker, this autonomous food kiosk bypasses traditional restaurant leases entirely. Operating without a chef or cashier, the fully refrigerated machines assemble fresh, customisable meal bowls in under 90 seconds. Following three years of R&D, they are now deployed in high-footfall locations like Gleneagles Hospital and Grab's headquarters, and are replenished daily.
With over 60 locations locked in for expansion, Joseph joins us to discuss the business of automated food delivery. We explore the complex engineering required to keep machine-dispensed food fresh and safe, how the kiosk financial model compares to a traditional brick-and-mortar restaurant, and their possible expansion into Malaysia.
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When Choy Peng Yew last appeared on the show in early 2023, Pet World was on a massive growth trajectory. As Malaysia's largest homegrown pet food manufacturer behind household brands like ProDiet, ProBalance, and Delizios, the company was scaling at an impressive 27% CAGR. At the time, financial headlines were buzzing about a potential US$100M public listing in Singapore. However, the IPO never materialised. Instead, the company shifted its mandate from public markets toward strategic partnerships and private expansion.
Amidst this corporate restructuring, Pet World quietly accomplished something entirely unexpected. Producing over 100,000 tonnes of pet food annually, the company partnered with SPCA Selangor and Singapore-based Nutrition Technologies to formulate Malaysia's first dog food using Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) protein. This leap into sustainable, insect-based nutrition signals a major shift in the company's product direction and their approach to the evolving global pet wellness market.
Choy Peng Yew returns to the studio to unpack what the last two years have actually looked like from the inside. We discuss the strategic decision to pursue regional partnerships over a public listing, the science and commercial viability behind sustainable insect protein, and the company's aggressive expansion strategy across Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, and the Middle East as they navigate the pet food market in 2026.
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Fresh off an $8 million Series A funding round co-led personally by the CEO of Bybit, David Low, Co-Founder and CEO of Hata, unpacks what’s next for this young crypto exchange.
We discuss how the platform accumulated over 225,000 users and passed RM100 million in assets under custody, the heavy capital requirements needed to incentivise professional market makers for deep order-book liquidity, and how they cleaned up their cap table to streamline corporate execution.
David also shares how Hata is actively de-risking its business from market volatility by shifting away from purely activity-based trading fees toward institutional custody solutions, staking products, and hands-on corporate B2B onboarding.
Finally, we explore the Securities Commission's newly updated regulatory guidelines, explaining why faster coin-listing paths coupled with higher capital requirements are a net positive for maturing Malaysia's Web3 ecosystem.
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Red Communications has been running since 1999 — 26 years of producing television, film, branded content, and digital programming for audiences that the industry had largely ignored: women, young people, families. The 3R show ran for 15 years and was funded entirely by sponsors. Gol & Gincu became a film and a TV series. Kami did the same. Oh My English ran for six years on Astro. Club Mickey Mouse ran for five years on Disney. The company has produced 14 films. The 15th, Khadam, opens in cinemas on 11 June 2026.
Between the first film and the 15th: a breast cancer diagnosis in 2012, a six-month treatment hiatus during which RM1 million in reserves disappeared and RM1 million in debt appeared, a pandemic that nearly took the company, and a decision to sell a stake to Astro just to stay afloat.
Founder and Executive Producer of Red Communications Lina Tan talks to us about what the business of creativity actually looks like — the budgets, the red tape, the streaming disruption, the influencer competition, and the specific madness of trying to get a Malaysian film made and seen.
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In Japan and South Korea, parking a car is entirely automated. You drive into a bay, turn off your engine, and walk away while a robotic system lifts and stores your vehicle in a multi-level tower. There are no ramps, no circling for spots, and no wasted space. Yet in Malaysia, this highly efficient infrastructure remains virtually unseen.
Ir. Yow Kai Yong has spent the last 14 years trying to change that. A consultant engineer with two decades of experience in Malaysia's property development sector, he started Parktech Solutions in 2011 with four other co-founders. As co-founders eventually left due to a sluggish market, he became the last person standing, officially taking over the company in 2021. Today, that persistence is paying off in a massive way. Parktech Solutions is now preparing to install one of the largest automated car parking systems in ASEAN at Milla Residence in Wangsa Maju. Built in partnership with Beverly Group and South Korea's Samjung Tech, the project features 2,358 bays and 21 car lifts, pushing the company's order book to a RM100 million.
Kai Yong joins us to discuss the business and mechanics of automated car parking systems. We cover what it takes to survive for over a decade pushing a product the local market wasn't ready for, the sudden shift driving their eight-figure revenue projections for 2026, and why robotic parking is no longer just a luxury convenience, but a critical sustainability and urban density play that Malaysian developers can no longer ignore.
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After a 30-year career at PETRONAS, a pandemic-induced mental health challenge pushed Zalina Abdul Rahim to completely rethink her retirement. Retreating to her family's farm in Hulu Langat, she witnessed three distinct crises converging at once: a generation of city children completely disconnected from nature, neighbouring farmers losing their entire harvests to lockdowns, and devastating local floods that demanded immediate community action.
Her response was not a casual retirement hobby. In 2021, Zalina launched Ekar Lui Farm School, a bootstrapped enterprise offering STEM and sustainability-based learning in a real-world agricultural setting. Catering to mainstream schools, corporate leadership programmes, and neurodivergent children, the social enterprise has proven its market demand, growing its operations by 200 percent in 2025 without a single ringgit of external investment.
Zalina talks to us about the tight unit economics of keeping animals fed and children engaged on a bootstrapped budget, how she gained access to grants and collaborations which helped accelerate growth, and what it takes to build a viable ESG education hub that prioritises purpose over pure profit.
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The enterprise AI market is currently flooded with polished demos, confident sales pitches, and massive invoices. But behind the scenes, many of these highly touted agents and automation platforms break the moment they encounter real data, real users, and edge cases. Genta AI Solutions has been hired repeatedly to fix this exact problem, stepping in to replace failing AI systems built by other vendors. It is a costly industry reality that most tech companies refuse to talk about.
What makes this story unusual is the person telling it. Mahmoud Ashraf (Komy) is a 22-year-old final-year cybersecurity student at Asia Pacific University in Kuala Lumpur. He founded Genta in late 2024 and bootstrapped it to high six-figure revenues in under a year with zero ad spend. Serving enterprise clients across the US and Europe, Genta builds custom AI agents with a strict "no platform lock-in" policy, ensuring clients actually own the infrastructure that gets built.
Komy joins us to expose the growing gap between AI marketing and actual AI engineering. We discuss what it really takes to build reliable artificial intelligence for operations-heavy businesses, why client ownership is becoming the ultimate dealbreaker in enterprise procurement, and how he navigates the grueling balance of running a scaling global business while completing his final year of university.
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Edwin Yap's family built the physical infrastructure of retail. As the leaders of Jemco Group, they grew the family business into Malaysia's largest producer of the shelving, racking, and logistics systems that hold supermarkets and warehouses together across Southeast Asia. Taking over the company during the pandemic, Edwin spent years observing the shop floor and realised the next essential layer of retail infrastructure wouldn't be a static fixture. It would be a robot.
To capitalise on this shift, Edwin launched MR. ROBOT, a startup betting that humanoid and service robots are moving from science fiction to the shop floor faster than most business leaders realise. He recently secured a US$5 million funding round from an investor lineup that includes MR D.I.Y. International, China's AgiBot, and The Hub's Investment Group, signed an MOU at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, and is now developing a RM10 million ASEAN-first robotics data collection centre to power the next generation of physical AI.
Edwin joins us to unpack the business of "embodied AI", how they are already driving a 20 percent sales uplift at customer events, and the honest reality of what humanoid robots can and cannot do in 2026.
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With a massive network of 30 hospitals serving over 3 million patients annually, KPJ Healthcare faces the massive challenge of ensuring consistent, high-quality care across facilities of varying sizes and ages. To achieve this, the group is rolling out the KPJ Health System (KPJHS) — an integrated framework designed to standardise treatment, control costs, and manage patient expectations across the entire network.
Positioned as Malaysia's first private academic health system, KPJHS is built on the core pillars of practice, education, and research & innovation. By centralising highly specialised medical expertise into regional Centers of Excellence (COEs) via a hub-and-spoke model, KPJ ensures patients with complex conditions receive seamless, top-tier care without needing to repeat diagnostic tests or navigate a messy referral process.
Prof. Dato' Dr. Hanafiah Harunarashid, Chief Medical Director of KPJ Healthcare, joins us to unpack this ambitious operational transformation. We discuss the strategy behind launching 15 COEs by 2030, how a real-time clinical dashboard measures surgical outcomes against global benchmarks like the Mayo Clinic, and the five-year cultural shift required to put the patient at the absolute center of the healthcare system.
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After spending decades in clinical medicine and digital health, Dr. Raymond Choy analysed over three million data points on drug pricing and uncovered a massive inefficiency. In just a four-week trial tracking only six drugs, one insurer saved RM100,000. The waste in the system wasn't theoretical. It was quantifiable.
To fix this broken journey, Dr. Raymond and commercial lead Fabian Lim launched HEYDOC Health. Dubbed the "Waze of Healthcare," the platform doesn't try to replace traditional doctors, clinics, or pharmacies. Instead, it acts as an intelligent orchestrator. Powered by an AI intelligence layer called RightK and a RM29.90 monthly subscription known as FutureK, the platform connects every touchpoint in the outpatient journey to make the entire system smarter, cheaper, and infinitely easier for patients to navigate.
Dr. Raymond and Fabian join us to discuss scaling the business to a RM7m ARR, the validation from their recent Foodpanda pilot, and whether a simple 1-ringgit-a-day subscription can actually solve the quiet sustainability crisis plaguing Malaysian primary care.
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To compete at the international level, Malaysian National Figure Skaters Eunice and Edmund Lai train six hours a day on ice that costs money, with coaches that cost money, in a system that offers very little financial support. For most national athletes in this position, the choice is simple: find a wealthy sponsor or quit the sport entirely.
Instead of waiting for a sponsor, Eunice and Edmund decided to build their own financial engine. They founded Grano Break, an artisan granola brand designed specifically to fund their athletic ambitions: every bag sold is a micro-sponsorship of the duo that directly funds their international coaching and competition fees.
The duo, together with their mother Selina Ling join us to discuss the hidden financial realities of being a national athlete in Malaysia, their pivot into OEM manufacturing, and the intense discipline required to build a profitable business while simultaneously training to represent the country on the global stage.
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In 2017, Spark Liang quit a comfortable job as a Thomson Reuters analyst to make financial literacy videos from his bedroom. Within six months, he organically grew 100,000 Facebook followers and successfully raised RM1.5 million from them through equity crowdfunding on Ata Plus. In a rare startup success story, he bought back those early shares, giving his original investors a massive 300 percent return.
However, the journey wasn't entirely smooth. After discovering the harsh reality that everyday consumers rarely want to pay for financial education, Spark executed a major business pivot toward B2B corporate training. Today, FinSpark has evolved from a simple media channel into a diversified seven-figure corporate group. The ecosystem now spans financial media, SC-licensed corporate consulting under MMC Financial, and even a TVET institution known as SUMA College.
Spark joins us to unpack the realities of monetising an online following, why identifying a problem doesn't always equal a viable market, and the group's ambitious five-year roadmap toward a public listing.
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Malaysia's corporate training market runs on slides, seminars, and motivational talks. It is also, by most accounts, not working. Burnout is at record levels. Trust between leaders and teams is eroding. And the soft skills that make the difference — self-awareness, emotional presence, the ability to genuinely listen — are exactly the ones a classroom cannot teach.
Nurul Atiqah Anuar believes the answer might be standing in a paddock.
A Chartered Governance Professional who spent a decade in boardrooms across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, she co-founded Setenang — a leadership development programme built around one of the oldest non-verbal feedback systems in the world: horses. Not riding them. But standing with them, leading them, and being read by them.
Atiqah joins us to talk about how a 500kg animal with no interest in your job title, your KPIs, or your quarterly results will show you — in real time and without filters — exactly who you are as a leader.
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Childhood friends and lifelong gamers Kashif Khairul and Rizal Azlan co-founded 1+1 Studios in 2024 with one conviction: that the best co-op games should bring people closer together, not just put them side by side. Their debut title, Duo Quest, is a co-op roguelite deckbuilder where your friendship is literally a game mechanic — you answer questions about each other to generate attacks, meaning the better you know your partner, the harder you hit.
The game has not yet launched commercially. But it has already won an award at Gamescom Asia in Bangkok, been nominated for Best Multiplayer at Gamescom LATAM 2026, drawn over 5,000 players to a closed playtest, and gone viral in Japan with over a million views. All this from a six-person studio in Kuala Lumpur, with no external funding.
Kashif and Rizal join us to discuss the gap in the co-op game market, why friendship became the design brief, what Malaysian indie developers need to break through and whether the local scene is more ready than it looks.
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Andrew Anthony has been in the events industry since 1995 — when he was still in school, working as an event crewmember to fund his own education, with RM50 and a late brother who showed him the ropes. Three decades later, Define International has ran what Google called their first ever business listing activation in Malaysia, handled a landmark event involving the United States Presidential office, won gold at the MAHB Marketing Excellence Awards, launched a nine-storey ship at Keppel Shipyard in Singapore, and built a list of over 3,000 clients.
And he has done all of this without a single ringgit of external investment.
Andrew joins us to discuss the RM18 billion industry that policymakers are still not taking seriously enough, the payment terms problem that has plagued the events industry for decades, and the stubbornness of doing things right.
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ESG guidance and advisory firm Joshua Rayan Communications (JRC) was established in 2007 with one clear conviction: that sustainability reporting should be done properly, personally, and affordably. Today, the bootstrapped, seven-figure firm boasts a near 100% client closure rate and serves corporate giants like Sunway, BAT, Ranhill, and MMC across Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Rather than treating ESG as a simple box-ticking reporting exercise, JRC provides end-to-end advisory. Using a unique "vanguard system" where senior leaders remain actively involved in project execution, they help clients identify critical data gaps long before a final report is drafted.
Founder and CEO Joshua Rayan joins us to unpack the business of sustainability reporting in a highly competitive market. We discuss running a 20-person consultancy with a "no-boss" culture, why homegrown ESG practitioners want to be more actively engaged in national policy and standard-setting rooms, and the firm’s ambitious five-year roadmap toward an IPO.
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In November 2022, two grounded pilots came on Open For Business to talk about a smash burger stall they'd started from a home kitchen during the pandemic. The story was charming — airline pilots flipping burgers at night markets — but the business was still early, still scrappy, still unproven.
A lot has changed since then. Grill Haven now has a proper restaurant in Plaza Damansara, Bukit Damansara. FY2025 revenue hit RM3.65 million, up some 48% year-on-year. The team has been to Japan, twice. And they have their sights set on Johor, Penang, and a multi-brand F&B empire.
We catch up with co-founder First Officer Afiq Nazar to find out what the last three years actually looked like from the inside — the discipline, the growing pains, and whether two pilots can really build a restaurant group without choosing between the cockpit and the kitchen.
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In 1977, Theresa Padilla moved from Mexico to the United States with nothing. Three years later, she took a job as a press operator at a small plastics company in Oxnard, California. That company was Rakar Inc. - founded in 1951 to make electrical connectors and insulators for the US military.
Forty years later, she bought it.
Today, Rakar is a Tier 2 supplier to NASA, Boeing, SpaceX, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and the US Defense Logistics Agency. Theresa's son Diego, Executive Vice President and Advanced Manufacturing Lead, runs strategy and communications alongside her.
This is the story of an immigrant woman who rose from the factory floor to run one of America's most specialised aerospace suppliers, and why she believes Malaysia is the next chapter.
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By 2048, Malaysia will officially be an aged nation, yet currently, only 14.7 percent of our elderly are actually ageing healthily. The traditional eldercare market is almost entirely focused on clinical nursing homes, leaving a massive gap for seniors who are medically stable but socially isolated. After witnessing this crisis firsthand in the home care sector, co-founders Gan Pooi Chan and Sandyeep Sandhu realised the real crisis in the care economy wasn't just a shortage of medical beds — it was a severe shortage of belonging.
To solve this, PC and Sandyeep launched Kampungku in 2023. Actively rejecting the traditional "daycare" label, they built an engaging clubhouse where independent seniors can exercise, socialise, and rebuild their community on their own terms. Treating seniors as active participants rather than patients has proven to be a highly viable business model, with the company reaching full profitability and stabilising at a 15 percent quarter-on-quarter growth rate.
PC and Sandy join us to unpack the dynamics of preventative eldercare and the structural challenges facing the industry. We discuss why lumping active senior centres into the same tax category as beauty and wellness is an unfair policy burdening middle-class families, the looming 60 percent nursing shortage threatening the sector, and a highly anticipated "larger-than-life" partnership that could completely change the scale of Kampungku's operations.
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LEGO is one of the most valuable toy brands in the world. It is also, for a large portion of its most devoted fans, out of reach — either because the official sets don't go far enough in complexity, or because building a truly ambitious custom creation costs a small fortune in loose bricks.
EasternBrick was built to solve that problem. Founded by Wong Keit Sean & Bilal Raja — both veterans of Lumos, the smart bicycle helmet startup that raised USD 2.9 million on Kickstarter and made Oprah's Favourite Things list — EasternBrick is a LEGO-compatible brick company focused on large, complex sets for adults. Sets that go where LEGO doesn't.
But EasternBrick is not just another alternative brick brand. It's also a quiet act of justice for the independent designers whose creations get stolen by cheap factories and sold without credit or compensation. Sean and Bilal talk to us about building a global D2C business from Malaysia with zero paid marketing, low-seven-figure revenue in under six months, and a pre-order model that has kept the business profitable from day one.
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Malaysia spends over RM1 billion importing onions every single year. For decades, it was assumed that our local soil and climate were fundamentally hostile to the crop, making it cheaper to rely entirely on foreign manpower and imports. Shahrizal Denci is stepping into that massive market gap to prove that assumption wrong. As the founder of Bantu Tani, an agricultural social enterprise based in Sabah, he is building Malaysia’s first comprehensive onion ecosystem from scratch.
After completely failing his first two crop cycles, Shahrizal partnered with MARDI to refine the growing model to successfully cultivate the resilient BAW2 shallot variety. Today, Bantu Tani has produced over 200 tons and developed a high-margin seed that harvests in just 70 days. Backed by a RM2.4 million grant from the Ministry of Economy, they are currently expanding across 40 acres, and building critical post-harvest infrastructure—after discovering that a lack of proper drying houses was initially causing a 20% loss in their harvests.
Shahrizal joins us to discuss their journey; how a 40-hour bus and boat trip to Sulawesi, Indonesia solved their drying bottleneck, and how their farm is actively helping rural communities earn over RM2,000 a month while pushing Malaysia toward its 2030 goal of 30% self-sufficiency.
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Most conversations about the future of technology are framed entirely around Artificial Intelligence. But what if the next massive leap in computing isn't artificial at all? Cortical Labs is pioneering a new paradigm known as "Synthetic Biological Intelligence," developing systems that merge living, lab-grown neurons with traditional silicon hardware.
Powered by real brain cells cultivated from just 10 millilitres of the founder's own blood, these biological computing units consume the energy of a basic pocket calculator, yet possess the ability to learn in real-time. Cortical Labs has already demonstrated this by teaching 200,000 neurons to play video games like Pong and Doom. Now, they are transitioning from a sci-fi kitchen experiment into a commercial enterprise, raising capital to scale their hardware manufacturing right here in Malaysia.
Founder and CEO of Cortical Labs Dr. Chong Hon Weng joins us to unpack the realities of biological computing, the physical energy limits of traditional AI, and the ethics of computing with living neurons.
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For three decades, Cyberview has operated primarily as the landowner and custodian of Cyberjaya. Now, the agency is making a massive strategic pivot to become an active, innovation-led property developer. As the city celebrates its 30th anniversary, Cyberview is rolling out its new Strategic Plan 2026–2030 and a comprehensive 5-year Masterplan aimed at unlocking land value, generating recurring income, and deepening the local technology ecosystem.
CEO of Cyberview, Kamarul Ariffin Abdul Samad joins us to unpack this major transition. We discuss the competitive realities of entering the Malaysian property market, how "placemaking" can solve the challenge of retaining top tech talent , and the strategic roadmap to ensuring Cyberjaya remains the preferred destination for Foreign Direct Investment in Southeast Asia.
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How did Selkirk scale a "mom-and-pop" hobby into a $200 million pickleball performance powerhouse?
In 2014, long before pickleball became America's fastest-growing sport, two teenage brothers opted out of college to start making pickleball paddles. Today, Selkirk Sport is a premium market leader, recently securing a $30 million private equity investment at a $200 million valuation.
As they target $100 million in revenue for 2026, the founders tell us their story, but also reveal why they have anchored their global "Orchestration" hub in Kuala Lumpur to dominate the Asian market.
Tune In To Find Out:
- The 1,900% Surge: The internal mechanics of scaling from a garage to a $200M valuation, and surviving an overnight 70% revenue crash.
- The Vertical Moat: Why Selkirk killed the high-margin "dropshipping" model to double down on in-house US manufacturing and R&D.
- The $30M Trigger: Why they finally accepted private equity after 10 years of self-funding to dominate the coming industry consolidation.
- The M&A Hunt: Their strategy for acquiring strategic brands that "fit the ecosystem" to reinforce the Selkirk brand while driving top-line revenue.
- The KL HQ Strategy: Why the founders are hiring 50+ staff in Malaysia to control the software and supply chain layer of their global empire.
- The "Boomstick" Investment: How spending 8x more on R&D and hiring an in-house patent attorney created a high-tech barrier to entry.
Photo Credit: Selkirk Sport
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In Malaysia's RM6 billion early childhood education market, the default playbook is simple: pack in as many children as possible, keep educator costs low, and lean on academic drills to justify premium fees. Justina Chen wants nothing to do with that model.
A former PwC consultant and World Bank policy researcher turned UCL-trained early years educator, Justina co-founded Wonder Village in 2023 — a deliberately tiny nursery and preschool in PJ with a maximum of 26 children and ratios as low as 1:2. The business is bootstrapped, not yet profitable, and completely intentional about all of it.
She joins us to talk about the business of building slowly — and why in a sector obsessed with scale, restraint might be the real competitive advantage.
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Senang has quietly become one of Malaysia's most interesting insurtech stories. The company hit EBITDA profitability in 2024. Gross Written Premium reached RM44.9 million. They've expanded to the Philippines. And they've gone from a micro-insurance startup to something far more ambitious: a unified embedded finance platform that now covers protection, savings, and alternative credit.
But Senang has also gotten strange, in the best possible way. They've launched a pet insurance product that identifies your dog by its nose print; no microchip required. And a traffic delay insurance that pays out automatically when you're stuck on the PLUS highway, without you ever filing a claim.
CEO & Founder Sharian Raj returns to Open For Business to explain what 'embedded finance' actually means in 2026 and why he thinks Senang is building the financial supermarket for the 140 million Southeast Asians who have been underserved by traditional finance their entire lives.
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For independent hotels and boutique operators across Southeast Asia, managing guest communication can be a logistical nightmare. Understaffed front desks are overwhelmed by fragmented messages across WhatsApp, Agoda, Airbnb, and direct emails. When communication breaks down, response times drop, guest satisfaction plummets, and critical opportunities to drive additional revenue are completely lost.
Enter Janus Digital. Lee Wei Chee, Director of Janus Digital, is building an AI-native, omnichannel guest engagement platform tailored specifically for the regional hospitality market. Rather than treating customer service as a costly operational headache, Janus centralizes all guest communications and uses artificial intelligence to automate workflows, answer FAQs, and push timely upsells—turning everyday chats into a high-intent sales channel.
Wei Chee joins us to discuss how AI chat automation is evolving from a luxury into a mandatory operational tool for small hotels, the exact return on investment for a RM399 monthly software subscription, and how AI-driven analytics can uncover hidden service gaps to unlock new revenue streams.
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Debbie Soh started her career as a home tutor before pivoting to an online model during the pandemic. By leveraging free, short-form math content on social media, she built a massive organic funnel that has propelled her bootstrapped company, Debbie Soh Education, into the seven-figure revenue range. Today, she’s expanding her revenue streams into e-commerce, publishing, and branded content.
Debbie joins us to talk about the unfiltered reality of scaling an education business. We discuss the profit margins of digital tuition, the challenge of building a team that can keep up with a founder-led brand, and the hidden burnout that comes with trying to balance purpose with profitability.
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Adrian Goh has been in the pet care game since 2004, eventually launching Wet Nose in 2011 to create a completely bootstrapped, neighbourhood pet hub.
Currently generating up to RM800,000 in annual revenue, the business relies on localised word-of-mouth customer acquisition and specialised pet care knowledge to retain its client base against the heavy discounts of online competitors.
Adrian joins us to discuss the financial realities of running a service-based retail shop. We explore the unit economics of pet grooming versus product sales, the occupational hazards and liability of handling aggressive pets, and the strategic pivot toward opening a daycare facility to stabilise post-pandemic cash flow.
Image Credit: Wet Nose Pet Shop
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Virunthu at KL Town is currently recognised as Malaysia’s largest Indian food court, operating a vibrant, community-driven dining ecosystem. The platform was created to solve the high barrier to entry for small F&B entrepreneurs by removing the burden of standalone restaurant costs. Hosting over 17 diverse local and international food vendors under one roof, Virunthu combines authentic dining with live entertainment and cultural experiences.
The business generates revenue through a mix of fixed stall rentals, revenue-sharing agreements, and in-house beverage sales, recently scaling into the mid-to-high six-figure revenue range.
Founder Gopal Rajandren joins us to discuss the financial mechanics of running a multi-vendor hospitality hub. We also explore the unit economics of revenue-sharing versus fixed rental, the operational challenge of maintaining strict quality control across 17 independent chefs, and the strategy to scale this cultural dining destination into a nationwide brand.
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The Hooton Retreat is a premium glamping and eco-tourism site in Negeri Sembilan.
By leveraging its direct adjacency to a permanent forest reserve, the business positions itself as a distraction-free destination for high-spending tourists and corporate leadership teams.
Founded in September 2018, the completely bootstrapped operation has scaled to generate 7-figure annual revenues and was recently recognised by Tourism Malaysia as a primary touristic highlight in the state.
Founder Bryan Gan joins us to discuss the capital efficiency required to build a glamping site, the operational challenges of executing massive outdoor festivals, and the strategic roadmap to position the entire brand for a high-value acquisition within the next five years.
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Transforming a creative passion into a sustainable business requires strict pricing strategies and solid operational systems. Lakhshmi Priya Suppiah, a former interior architect, launched Ministry of Cakes to build a full-time, bootstrapped bakery brand specialising in premium, custom-designed celebration cakes.
Today, the business generates up to RM300,000 in annual revenue and services major corporate clients, navigating the difficult transition from a home-based kitchen to a physical cafe and event space.
Lakhshmi joins us to discuss the financial mechanics of the premium baking industry, the unit economics of highly customised orders, the operational challenges of executing massive corporate catering events, and the strategy required to scale a creative, design-heavy business without relying solely on the founder.
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Founded in 2020, TYMBA Education Group entered the market to address low pass rates and limited access to accounting qualifications outside major cities in Malaysia. Originally operating as a bootstrapped entity, the company has since achieved 55% year-on-year revenue growth and expanded its footprint across five ASEAN countries.
Recently, TYMBA secured a RM10 million investment from VentureTECH to aggressively scale its proprietary digital learning platform, TYMBAFlex, and deepen its regional presence.
CEO Airil Razali returns to Open For Business to share the company's evolution. We discuss the financial mechanics of transitioning from a bootstrapped startup to an institutionally funded EdTech group, the operational challenge of maintaining ACCA Platinum standards across borders, and whether TYMBA has successfully moved the needle on local demographic representation in the accounting sector since his last interview.
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The Ministry of Education recently updated its guidelines to allow optional Standard 1 enrolment for six-year-olds. While this policy provides families with flexibility, it has sparked anxiety among parents trying to assess if their child is genuinely prepared for a structured primary school environment.
Recognising this immediate market uncertainty, Smart Reader Kids has launched a School Readiness Check and tailored preparation programmes to bridge the gap between preschool and Standard 1.
But beyond classroom curriculums, Smart Reader Worldwide operates a highly lucrative, multi-million ringgit franchise ecosystem. Executive Director of Smart Reader Kids, Keefe Ong joins us to discuss the definition of school readiness, the financial mechanics of their franchise model, the strategy behind bootstrapped regional expansion into Cambodia and Australia, and the operational challenge of maintaining strict quality control across a massive international network.
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Every single day, millions of students step onto a school bus and embark on what is largely an "invisible journey." For the hour they are on the road, parents are left guessing, schools have limited oversight, and drivers are forced to manage routes using paper registers and endless WhatsApp messages. Despite moving our most valuable assets, the school transport sector has remained surprisingly untouched by modern logistics technology.
Bus Buddy is stepping in to digitize this blind spot. Backed by the synergy of a 40-year-old traditional bus company and the tech firm Asia Mobiliti, Bus Buddy is a child-centric mobility platform connecting families, schools, and transporters.
CEO Samuel Yee joins us to talk about the business of student mobility, how growing up in a traditional school bus family inspired a highly scalable SaaS platform, and the ambitious Phase 2 roadmap to become a massive aggregator for child-friendly transport.
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The Kuala Lumpur F&B industry can be brutal. Most trendy dining spots survive for two or three years before becoming obsolete. Yet, 14 years on, The Marini’s Group remains one of the city's most formidable, independently owned hospitality empires.
Founded by Modesto Marini and Elizabeth Hew-Marini, the group operates some of the most lucrative and iconic venues in the capital, including Marini’s on 57, the Michelin-selected steakhouse Marble 8, the Spanish-Nikkei concept Mesa on 51, and the high-energy nightclub, Müro. But beyond the glamour of celebrity guests and panoramic skyline views lies a highly disciplined business operation.
Elizabeth joins us to discuss the financial mechanics of ultra-premium hospitality, the unit economics of securing rooftop real estate, and why they have refused to hand their empire over to private equity.
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Gurcharanvir Singh built his company because he had a dream about washing shoes.
Three years later, Guchi Cuci is a highly profitable, 5-figure home-based shoe cleaning service that has doubled its revenue every single year since inception. Operating entirely without commercial rent, Gurcharanvir leverages on organic TikTok virality to acquire customers, specifically targeting the "lazy or busy" demographic. Even more impressively, he manages this growing operation alongside a full-time career as an architect, a part-time job at a gym, and training for KL Fashion Week.
Gurcharanvir joins us to dissect the exact metrics behind his micro-business. We also look at the unit economics of pricing a service at the cost of a meal, the challenge of calculating Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) through social media algorithms, and the capital expenditure required to transition from cleaning sneakers to detailing cars.
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For years, the Malaysian property market has been dominated by a legacy "discovery-only" portal model. Real estate agents are forced to pay RM3,000 to RM8,000 in upfront annual subscriptions just to list properties, with zero performance guarantees. The result? Agents receive high volumes of raw traffic, but only 2% to 3% actually convert into real appointments.
Enter MyRumahBaru (MRB). Co-founded by Melvin Soh, Ching Yaw Hao, and Anthony Chin, MRB is an AI-powered property platform designed to destroy the traditional subscription model. Instead of charging for listings, MRB provides unlimited free listings and utilises an AI chatbot to converse with, pre-qualify, and financially vet buyers (including Debt Service Ratio calculations). Agents and developers are only charged a flat RM200 fee when a verified buyer actually shows up for an appointment. This model has successfully driven buyer show-up rates to over 90%.
Melvin joins us to dissect the hard metrics behind MRB's growth, the unit economics of a pay-per-performance marketplace, and why incumbent portals are structurally trapped from copying their technology.
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Fukuro Malaysia was founded in 2019 to fill the "missing middle" in the kitchenware market. Co-founders Daryl Lai and Kevin Lau recognised that local brands were trapped in a race to the bottom on price and quality, while international brands dominated the expensive, premium tier. Applying an FMCG approach to kitchen essentials, they bootstrapped Fukuro into a highly profitable brand generating RM14 million in annual revenue, with a presence in over 1,300 offline retail stores across Malaysia.
Daryl joins us in the studio to dissect the hard metrics behind Fukuro’s growth. We also discuss treating physical shelf space as a customer acquisition channel, the strategy for protecting unit margins against multinational competitors, and the roadmap to hitting RM50 million in annual revenue organically.
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Amachi’s Palagaram is a brand dedicated entirely to preserving traditional Indian sweets and savories. What began as a heartfelt weekend project operating out of a family home in Subang Jaya—offering customers a warm, "1 Malaysia" open-house vibe—has now blossomed into a fully commercialised F&B operation.
Aaron Jay Dason and Narmatha Shanmugam join us to share the deeply personal journey of keeping their grandmother's legacy alive. We explore the emotional weight of commercialising cultural comfort food, the financial mechanics of moving from a rent-free family kitchen to a commercial retail space, and the delicate balance of building a fast-growing, 7-figure heritage brand as a husband-and-wife team.
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In Southeast Asia, nearly 40% of food is wasted before it ever reaches the consumer. Much of this spoilage happens in the "last mile"—the chaotic journey between massive edge-of-city cold warehouses and the neighborhood restaurants, wet markets, and food courts that actually serve the community. For these SMEs, traditional cold rooms are a financial nightmare, often demanding over RM50,000 in upfront capital for equipment that frequently breaks down.
Founded in 2024, Polar Cold is replacing this broken system with a decentralised network of hyperlocal, energy-efficient cold rooms. Co-founders Jonathan Harvey and Joe Khoo have built a rental model that provides SMEs with industrial-grade, IoT-monitored cold storage for a fixed monthly fee.
Joe join us to unpack the operational reality of Hardware-as-a-Service, the hidden costs of tropical refrigeration, and their upcoming expansion into Malaysia.
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In 2023, after years of utilising seed and VC funding to scale their operations, BloomThis co-founders Penny Choo and Giden Lim executed a rare strategic move: they bought their company back. Today, the fully independent, vertically integrated floral and gifting e-commerce platform is generating 8-figure annual revenues with healthy 7-figure profit margins across Malaysia and Singapore.
Penny joins us to dissect the hard metrics behind their success. We scrutinise the unit economics of a perishable supply chain, how to protect brand equity against the cheap discounting of TikTok social commerce, and the strategy behind driving customer retention in an industry reliant on episodic, once-a-year purchases.
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Perimenopause is rarely discussed in boardrooms, yet it causes 1 in 4 women to consider leaving the workforce — often at the absolute peak of their careers and earning potential.
Joanne Ho knows this firsthand. After successfully building Malaysia’s first retail cupcake chain - Cupcake Chic, and scaling an online flower delivery business - Happy Bunch, Joanne found herself stepping away from her work. She assumed she was dealing with severe executive burnout. In reality, she was experiencing perimenopause.
Realising that millions of women lack the language, awareness, and access to personalised hormonal care, she launched Menopause Asia in October 2025. The bootstrapped digital health platform connects midlife women directly with licensed doctors for hormone therapy, metabolic health programmes, and lifestyle support.
Joanne shares the emotional and strategic journey of building a health-tech startup, plus the steep learning curve of entering a regulated medical space, and why supporting women through midlife is not just a healthcare issue, but a critical corporate retention strategy.
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For decades, Mum’s Place was an institutional dining destination in Petaling Jaya, famous for its comforting, Peranakan-influenced Malaysian dishes. When the original founders, Christopher De Mello and Jennifer Tee, retired and closed the restaurant in December 2021, it left a massive hole in the local culinary scene.
But in January 2026, niece and nephew duo Nureen and Zareef Thajudeen, stepped up to resurrect the beloved brand. But instead of trying to replicate the massive scale of the original restaurant — which spanned 5 shop lots and employed 16 cooks — the new generation has completely scaled down, operating at a quarter of the original capacity and shrinking the menu from 120 dishes down to just 30.
Zareef and Nureen join us in the studio to discuss the immense pressure of cooking for a deeply nostalgic customer base. We also dissect the decision to shrink operations to maintain quality, the unit economics of a bootstrapped family revival, and the operational paradox of trying to scale "home-cooked meals" through a future central kitchen.
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The local Malaysian beauty industry is dominated by aggressive marketing, promising consumers "flawless skin in 3 days" and chasing the latest viral TikTok trends.
But when Sarah Shah Nor suffered from severe postpartum eczema, she realized those harsh, trend-chasing products were exactly what sensitive skin couldn't handle.
Leaving behind her background in the fashion industry, Sarah founded Cuura—a beauty and wellness brand built on gentle, effective, and innovative skincare designed specifically for busy working mothers. Today, Cuura has scaled into a 7-figure, highly profitable, and 100% bootstrapped business that includes both physical retail stores and the Cuura Skin Spa.
Sarah talks to us about the operational reality of building a beauty brand from scratch, the financial discipline required to bootstrap a physical retail and spa business, and the deeply emotional, often lonely "messy middle" of trying to scale an empire while navigating motherhood.
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Healthcare systems globally are buckling under the weight of administrative tasks. In Malaysia, where the doctor-to-patient ratio hovers around 1:450, frontline clinicians are facing severe burnout, spending hours after their shifts typing up medical notes. Enter Heidi: a Melbourne-based HealthTech startup providing a B2B SaaS AI Care Partner. Originally launched as an AI medical scribe to transcribe and structure clinical notes in real-time, the platform is evolving into a comprehensive workflow tool handling patient communications and ad-free clinical research.
In just 18 months, Heidi has supported over 73 million patient consults. Backed by a US$65 million Series B led by Point72 Private Investments, the company is now valued at US$465 million and executing a US$9 million expansion into Malaysia.
CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Tom Kelly talks to us about building clinical software, while we dissect the early, messy iterations of the Heidi MVP, and why "moving fast and breaking things" has no place in modern medicine.
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Most F&B founders measure success by the number of retail outlets they open. But Christine Tham and Leong Hoo Yin quickly realised that relying solely on retail is a "single-layer" business model that inevitably leads to a plateau. Founded in 2022, Gelatomania started as a retail brand but quickly pivoted to a much larger ambition: building an integrated, end-to-end gelato ecosystem for the Asian market. Recognising that Southeast Asia was heavily dependent on expensive, non-localised European brands for ingredients and equipment, Christine and Leong began offering Professional Gelato Training, B2B wholesale supply, and custom recipe development. To date, their academy has graduated over 5,500 "Gelato-maniacs" and helped launch several competing retail brands.
The co-founders join us to share the strategy behind their ecosystem play, the operational nightmare of competing against legacy European ingredient giants, and why true F&B defensibility comes from controlling the supply chain, not just the recipe.
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Is it possible to run a highly profitable retail business in premium shopping malls by selling products for just RM5 on the honour system?
Adrian Ung, a seasoned commercial leader with 30 years of corporate experience, believed it was. In 2022, he co-founded Books For A Better World (BFBW), a social enterprise dedicated to giving pre-loved books a second life. Sourcing books from public donations and organisations like The Salvation Army, BFBW operates a network of affordable bookstores across the Klang Valley—including IPC, Avenue K, and 1 Mont Kiara. To keep overheads low, BFBW relies heavily on a self-service QR-code payment system and a dedicated workforce of senior citizen volunteers. Today, the bootstrapped social enterprise generates six-figure annual revenues while donating a portion of its proceeds back to charity.
Adrian joins us in the studio to unpack the operational tightrope of running a hybrid social enterprise, retail theft, the logistics of sorting thousands of donated books, how to negotiate with premium mall landlords, and why purpose-driven businesses actually command stronger community loyalty.
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Gu On is not your average Korean BBQ joint. Launched in July 2023, the brand specialises in traditional Korean smoked meats, rich bone broths, and modern interpretations of Korean classics. But what truly sets Gu On apart is its rapid growth model. By leveraging a strategic "intrapreneurial" partnership and utilising a pre-existing central kitchen, founder Shuen Kuan bypassed the gruelling early-stage operational hurdles most F&B startups face. In less than two years, Gu On has scaled to three premium locations—including The Exchange TRX and The Starling—and generates combined annual revenues in the 8-figure range.
Shuen Kuan joins us in the studio to unpack the realities of scaling a multi-million ringgit restaurant group at lightning speed, as well as the massive roadblock currently paralysing their growth: Malaysia's severe F&B labour crisis. With foreign worker quotas frozen and local hiring pools shrinking for non-halal establishments, we explore what happens when a highly profitable brand has the capital to expand, but literally cannot find the manpower to do it.
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Sustainability is often treated as a corporate branding exercise, but in reality, it is a deeply operational, systems-level problem. Replacing plastic sounds great in a boardroom, but making sustainable materials perform, scale, and integrate into real-world supply chains is notoriously difficult.
After spending 20 years in the oil and gas sector, Rajes Kandasamy left the corporate world to tackle this exact problem. She founded Bina BioX, a Petaling Jaya-based startup developing high-performance biomaterials—like mycelium packaging and coffee-based composites—from agricultural waste.
Currently in the prototype-to-pilot stage, Bina BioX is navigating the gruelling journey of scaling physical manufacturing without a massive VC war chest. Rajes joins us in the studio to discuss the unglamorous reality of material science, why true sustainability doesn't have to carry a "green premium," and how they are convincing luxury hotels and corporate brands to adopt their circular materials.
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Malaysia is sitting on a goldmine of natural biodiversity, yet local functional foods often suffer from a massive "trust deficit" due to adulterated products and poor branding. Tengku Ariputra decided to change that. Armed with RM5,000 crowdfunded from friends and family, he started handwriting labels and selling wild Tualang honey at local street markets.
Today, his bootstrapped brand, Honey I'm Home, has transitioned from street-selling to securing high-volume B2B corporate partnerships with heavyweights like Sunway Medical Group, Starhill, and Traders Hotel. By partnering with indigenous Orang Asli communities, such as the Batek Tribe in Taman Negara, they source 100% pure, seasonal wild honey, positioning it as a premium lifestyle superfood.
Ari joins us in the studio to discuss his street-selling hustle, the logistical nightmare of shipping a "sticky" product, and his ambitious plan to integrate clinical biotech testing to put Malaysian honey on the global map.
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Since 1985, Litt Tak has been the silent engine behind Malaysia’s toy industry. As the official distributor for global giants like Bandai, Takara Tomy, and Spin Master, they are responsible for putting everything from Gundam model kits and Tomica diecast cars to Cocomelon and Shopkins on the shelves of major retailers nationwide. But the toy industry is undergoing a massive shift. Toys are no longer just for children; the "Kidult" market has transformed collectibles into a lifestyle necessity. To capture this demographic, the 41-year-old legacy business is helping global brand owners pivot toward experiential retail. In December 2025, Tomy and Toys "R" Us launched Southeast Asia’s first TOMICA Brand Store in Suria KLCC, with Litt Tak serving as the crucial local distribution anchor. Now, they are gearing up to facilitate Malaysia’s first-ever Gundam Base Store.
Tan Ee Chian, Executive Director of Litt Tak, talks to us about surviving as a "middleman" for four decades, the economics of these new experiential toy stores, and the challenge of managing a sprawling portfolio of global IP rights.
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For decades, tau fu fah and soy milk were largely considered traditional Chinese street food, but as dessert cafes booming with bubble tea, bingsu, and ice cream took over the Klang Valley, traditional desserts were left behind. In 2018, siblings Carmen, Joe, and Kelly Lau decided to change that. Drawing from their father’s 30-year legacy as the founder of Ipoh’s famous Woong Kee Bean Curd, they launched Dáo Desserts. Their mission was clear: take a cherished, traditional family recipe and modernise it for a new generation in a trendy, comfortable cafe environment.
Carmen and Kelly Lau join us in the studio to discuss the unvarnished reality of building a modern F&B brand out of a family legacy. We explore the messy dynamics of working with siblings, the operational headaches of scaling a highly perishable product, how they survive the fiercely competitive dessert market, and their ambitious plan to take Malaysian tau fu fah global.
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In a city overflowing with cafes and brunch spots, how does a home-cooked pancake on a balcony become one of KL's most talked-about dining experiences? Retrenched from a 9-year corporate career, Haermana Sivamohan craved genuine connection in a fast-paced, superficial world. In May 2025, she launched Construct KL out of her home in Bukit Tunku—inviting complete strangers to sit at her table, eat her gourmet pancakes, and actually talk to each other without the pretence of "networking." Fast forward 10 months, Construct KL has broken even, achieved viral organic growth, and become a highly sought-after private dining booking. But running a solo F&B operation from your home comes with an invisible, gruelling backend.
Haermana joins us in the studio to discuss the lonely solo-founder journey, the hidden operational nightmares of experiential dining, and how to turn a bootstrapped supper club into a six-figure business without losing its soul.
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For most Malaysians, a trip to the local laundromat means sitting in a stuffy room staring at a phone while a machine spins. But what if you could turn that mundane routine into an elevated, relaxing ritual? Founded in early 2026 by high school buddies Nicholas and Khaisong, Randy's Laundromat in Ara Damansara is tackling this exact problem by merging a fully functional laundromat with a trendy cafe serving artisan coolers and ciabatta sandwiches. But when you combine two difficult business models—F&B and heavy utility machinery—the operational challenges double. Plus, they face a unique marketing hurdle: convincing the cafe-hopping crowd that their aesthetic washing machines aren't just an Instagram gimmick, but a functional service.
Co-founders Nicholas and Khaisong join us in the studio to discuss the economics of bootstrapping a hybrid retail space, the challenge of changing deeply ingrained consumer behaviours, and their ambition to become Malaysia's leading lifestyle laundromat.
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When the pandemic decimated the events industry in 2020, Melissa and Ethan found themselves retrenched. With just RM500 and no grand ambitions, they banded together to survive. Six years later, their survival plan has evolved into MET Communications (MetComms)—a highly profitable, mid-to-high six-figure boutique marketing agency. Their specialty? Putting "bums on seats." Unlike general creative agencies that focus on vanity metrics, MetComms specializes exclusively in driving targeted registrations, delegates, and sponsors for large-scale B2B business events, conferences, and exhibitions across Southeast Asia.
Co-founders Melissa and Ethan join us in the studio to discuss the ups and downs of running a lean agency, the mechanics of marketing to highly niche B2B audiences, and the psychological battle of trusting junior staff so the founders can finally stop "doing the work."
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For over two decades, Joo East has been the silent architect behind Malaysia’s vibrant pasar malam and street food scene. Founded in Kuantan by a former pasar pagi trader, the bootstrapped family business fundamentally changed the local landscape - convincing local councils to mandate standardized square canopies and transitioning night markets from messy, makeshift stalls into structured retail hubs.
Now, second-generation leaders Kalsey Tan, Managing Director and Bobby Tan, Marketing & PR Director join us to share the unvarnished reality of dragging a 20-year-old traditional business into the digital age. They unpack their father’s grueling early hustle—which involved selling the family car to fulfil a massive corporate order for Milo—and how their recent pivot to TikTok effectively doubled their revenue to RM1.6 million.
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In January 2026, Series A digital health company Angsana Health executed a strategic move - they acquired MiyaHealth's subsidiaries and its Managed Care Organization, MiyaCare. This move instantly gave them a network of over 4,000 providers across Malaysia, the Philippines, and Poland. But how does a startup turn a massive legacy network into a modern, data-driven health ecosystem?
Angsana Health CEO Dr. Khor Swee Kheng, and Director of Business Development Aisha Adam join us in the studio to discuss the leap from health policy to private enterprise, the trials of selling digital health to the gig economy, and how they plan to leverage their Series A war chest to rebuild the "front door" of primary care.
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Two years ago, DS Willie Tan left a 20-year career in media advertising to take over Master Ee, an ageing reflexology shop located in a notoriously quiet mall in Petaling Jaya. Within a year, he applied corporate branding and rigorous operational discipline to transform it into a six-figure business with over 1,000 five-star Google reviews.
DS Willie joins us to discuss the unglamorous reality of physical retail—managing payroll, rent, and retaining therapists—his strategy for building a recognisable wellness brand, and why he chose to buy a struggling business instead of starting his own.
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When Muns and Pareesha started The Wedding Diaries in 2023, the concept of a "wedding content creator" didn't really exist in Malaysia. Betting on a global cultural shift, the duo left their full-time careers in marketing and advertising to pioneer this new category locally. Fast forward to today, they have bootstrapped a highly profitable, six-figure business in a single year entirely through organic social media growth. Armed with iPhones and a commitment to authentic, unscripted storytelling, they deliver ready-to-post content within 24 hours so couples and guests can actually stay present.
Founders Muns and Pareesha join us in the studio to discuss the uphill battle of educating a market, the operational bottlenecks of being a two-person powerhouse, and how they protect their premium brand in the age of AI and emerging freelance competitors.
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Major enterprises are rushing to deploy AI, but many are hitting a brick wall: their underlying data is a mess. AI is only as smart as the context it’s given, and without proper data lineage, ownership, and quality controls, enterprise AI initiatives are doomed to stay in the experimental phase. Enter Decube. Founded by Jatin Solanki, Decube is building the "context layer" for enterprise data—a platform that sits between raw data and AI models to ensure the data is trustworthy, explainable, and production-ready.
Fresh off a $3 million funding round led by Taiwania Hive Ventures (bringing their total funding to $5 million), Jatin joins us in the studio to discuss how they manage to integrate with massive legacy systems in just 40 minutes, why Decube is keeping its core engineering talent in Malaysia while expanding across APAC, and how a neutral startup survives when cloud giants like AWS and Google are looming in the background.
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Is "regenerative business" a practical reality, or just an ESG buzzword? Benjamin Parent decided to find out by doing something extreme: quitting his corporate job to cycle from France to Japan. His project, Trees on the Way, is a three-year global expedition to interview 21 "regenerative" entrepreneurs who are actively redesigning capitalism to respect planetary boundaries. Operating on a model inspired by Kate Raworth's "Doughnut Economics," Benjamin is also pledging to plant one tree for every 21 kilometers pedaled.
Currently passing through Malaysia on his way to Japan, Benjamin joins us in the studio to discuss the logistics of funding a global expedition, the stark realities of trying to implement Doughnut Economics in developing nations, and whether businesses can actually create value while saving the planet
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For years, kombucha was dismissed as a niche, "hipster" health drink. Now, WonderBrew has transformed it into a mainstream Malaysian beverage, scaling from a home kitchen in 2018 to over 2,000 retail touchpoints today. But how do you mass-produce a living, fermenting beverage without compromising its quality—or having it explode on the supermarket shelf?
Co-founders Joseph Poh (CEO) and Loke Boon Eng (COO) join us to share their story:
- WonderBrew’s journey from a Subang Jaya home kitchen to generating RM3 million in annual revenue.
- The operational realities of scaling a "living" product and transitioning to giant stainless steel vats.
- The rigorous process and gradual revenue payoff of becoming Malaysia's first Halal-certified kombucha brand.
- How the 35% equity deal with Loob Holdings (makers of Tealive) integrated a corporate, data-driven playbook into an artisan brand.
- Regional expansion plans, their new honey-based line 'Jun Tea', and whether the endgame points to an IPO or a full acquisition.
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How do you scale "good vibes" & namaste into a sustainable, 8-figure business? On the surface, the boutique fitness industry looks like a beautiful blend of aesthetics, mindfulness, and calm. But underneath that highly curated exterior is a fiercely competitive, operationally intense environment where your core product, the instructor, literally walks out the door every single night.
When The Flow Studio opened its first location in Bangsar in 2018, it started as a bootstrapped venture designed to bring high-quality, low-impact movement to Kuala Lumpur. By fiercely defending its brand consistency, hyper-localising its community offerings, and pricing its classes as "attainable luxury," the brand aggressively scaled its footprint, building a loyal customer base and 12-studios across Malaysia and Singapore.
To sustain that growth and institutionalise the brand, the company had to evolve. Tiffany Yow, CEO and Co-Founder of The Flow Studio, joins Open for Business to unpack her transition from a bootstrapped founder to a private equity-backed CEO. She reveals the rigorous unit economics behind their vertically integrated business, the operational playbook for systemising a premium brand experience, and why she partnered with impact investor Bintang Capital Partners to prepare for the company's next major financial milestone.
Learn More About:
- Attainable Luxury: How The Flow Studio justifies its premium brand experience at an average market price (like an RM55 group reformer class) to make intelligent, low-impact movement accessible to the masses.
- Systemising the Vibes: The operational playbook for maintaining strict brand consistency across 12 venues, from the signature studio scent to rigorous internal instructor training, so clients trust the brand over the individual teacher.
- Vertical Integration: How the business diversified its revenue streams beyond drop-in classes by launching US-accredited teacher training programs, retail merchandise, and HRD-certified corporate wellness retreats.
- The B Corp Ambition: Why the company is pursuing B Corp certification, and the strategic importance of operating a 95% female workforce that creates flexible career pathways for single mothers and returning professionals.
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Advanced diagnostics often remain locked inside centralised laboratories and are technically impressive, but inaccessible to many who need them most. Ablesen is attempting to bridge that gap.
Founded by Zainiharyati Mohd Zain and selected as one of the top startups in the 2025 PACE Bootcamp by ARTEM Ventures, Ablesen develops rapid, sensor-based diagnostic platforms designed for deployment beyond traditional lab environments. Currently at the MVP to early-commercialisation stage and fully bootstrapped, the company is navigating the complex journey from scientific validation to regulatory readiness and market entry.
We explore the realities of building a deep-tech startup in Malaysia, from governance lessons and fundraising strategy to product development, commercial viability, and the ambition to scale regionally.
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How does a homegrown, 20-year-old beverage brand survive the influx of massive foreign competitors like Mixue? Coolblog CEO Sueli Lew joins us to unpack the company's evolution from a founder-led business to a private equity-backed franchise empire generating RM70 million in revenue. We discuss their hypermarket strategy, the unit economics of their 300+ stores, and Archipelago Capital Partners' ultimate exit strategy.
Founded in Johor Bahru in 2005, the brand aggressively scaled its initial footprint by targeting hypermarkets and secondary towns, quietly building a massive loyal customer base while bigger competitors fought over expensive, premium urban storefronts.
To sustain that scale and defend its market share in today's brutal F&B environment, Coolblog had to grow up. Now backed by Archipelago Capital Partners, the company has professionalised its operations, overhauled its supply chain, and dialed in its franchise economics to prepare for its next major financial milestone.
Learn More About:
- The 50/50 Playbook: Why maintaining an even split between corporate-owned and franchisee-owned stores gives the headquarters vital "skin in the game" for product testing and operational empathy.
- Franchise Economics: A breakdown of the numbers behind their 300-store network, from the initial setup cost to the financial mechanics.
- Supply Chain as a Moat: The strategic necessity of running an in-house distribution center to rapidly fulfill unexpected demand surges for viral items, like their Kunafa Pistachio Chocolate drink.
- Institutionalising the Business: How the private equity buyout led to the establishment of dedicated business development, Halal compliance, and quality control teams, replacing legacy systems like manual punch cards with biometric scanners.
- The Private Equity Endgame: Archipelago Capital Partners' midterm ambition for Coolblog, including potential exit strategies like a strategic merger, a listing, or an acquisition by a foreign entity within the next 12 to 24 months.
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BateriHub doubled from 100 to 200 branches in a year, promising roadside battery support within the hour. But what does it really take to scale reliability across Malaysia?
With over 800,000 vehicles sold in 2025 alone, breakdown scenarios are no longer rare inconveniences. They’re part of everyday mobility. In this conversation, Stanly Ng, General Manager of BateriHub, explains how the company built a fully direct-owned nationwide network covering 500+ service areas across 11 states and why control, not franchising, underpins its growth strategy.
We explore the operational strain behind rapid expansion, what healthy unit economics look like for each branch, and how the next phase toward 300 outlets and East Malaysia will be funded. As volumes grow, so does responsibility. We also discuss how used batteries are handled, and what accountability should look like in Malaysia’s automotive aftermarket.
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Most digital agencies sell rankings and traffic. Growth.pro sells visibility within AI systems.
Founder and CEO, Alvin Koay, has built an AI-first SEO agency designed for a world where search engines are no longer the only gatekeepers. Instead of focusing purely on keywords, the company helps brands structure their digital presence for AI citations and measurable commercial outcomes.
In this conversation, we explore how Growth.pro makes money, how they are different in a crowded agency market, the operational challenges of running an AI-driven marketing business, and what’s next for the business going forward.
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Running a restaurant is notoriously brutal. Running one successfully for over three decades is rare. Scaling it into a 9-figure, multi-brand F&B empire, while keeping it entirely in the family, is something else entirely.
Founded in 1990 as a single restaurant in Shah Alam, Serai Group has evolved into a hospitality powerhouse behind concepts like Serai, Jibby & Co, and Jibby East Grill, alongside a strong B2B business.
To unpack this 30-year generational success story, Founder Rina Abdullah, alongside daughter Datin Qistina Taff and son-in-law Datuk Mohd Najib Abdul Hamid, join the show to discuss building the Serai Group legacy.
Learn About:
- Family in the Boardroom: How a mother, daughter, and son-in-law structure corporate decision-making, manage inevitable disagreements, and separate family dynamics from business strategy.
- From 1 Restaurant to a Portfolio: The evolution into a multi-brand group.
- Scaling Without Losing Control: The operational realities and growing pains of expanding a massive F&B footprint.
- The Capital Question: After 30+ years of independent, self-funded growth, is the family finally open to bringing in outside capital and institutional investors?
- The Next Decade: What lies ahead for the Serai Group empire and their thoughts on generational succession.
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From making less than RM1 a day as a Penang food blog, to ringing the bell on a RM75 million ACE Market IPO. Foodie Media’s co-founders share their recipe.
In 2016, it was just a side hustle, a simple food blog called Penang Foodie fueled by cents from AdSense. Fast forward 9 years, and that side hustle has transformed into a digital media juggernaut with over 46 million followers across a portfolio of 37 lifestyle brands, ranging from KL Foodie to Malaysia Homie.
Fresh off their 2025 ACE Market debut and now armed with RM50 million in cash reserves (as of their Q1 results), husband-and-wife duo Lim Pinn Yang and Ang Rui Mei join BFM’s Open For Business to unpack their story from scrappy content creators to public company executives.
Learn about:
- The "4 C's" Engine: How they evolved from pure media publishing to monetising Creators (KOLs), Commerce (live streaming), and Community (offline events like the KL Foodie Fest).
- The Pasar Pagi Playbook: How Ping Yang's childhood mornings watching his father sell multi-tools at the morning market helped shape the company's content-to-commerce philosophy.
- Co-Founder & Spouse Dynamics: The messy reality of dating while building a startup, resolving fierce disagreements, and learning to divide operational roles.
- Surviving the Algorithm: How they mitigate platform risk ("rented land") across Meta, Google, and ByteDance to sustain 46 million followers.
- The IPO Reality Check: Navigating a RM75M public listing, why you shouldn't build a company just to go public, and the psychological toll of checking your own stock ticker.
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Aquaculture is one of the fastest-growing food production sectors, but it’s also exposed to volatility, rising feed costs, water quality risks, and unpredictable climate patterns. AquFish believes artificial intelligence can change that.
Founded by Rafiq Razali, AquFish is building AI and machine learning tools designed to help fish farms move from reactive decision-making to predictive operations. By combining sensors, analytics, and real-time monitoring, the company aims to improve yield, reduce losses, and optimise farm performance.
We explore how the idea came about, the technology stack behind smart aquaculture, where the business stands in terms of fundraising, and what it takes to scale an agri-tech startup in Malaysia’s evolving food security landscape.
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Would you trust a TikTok live streamer to sell you car servicing? Armed with US$6 million (RM24 million) in recent funding, ServAuto is betting that you will.
Co-Founder & COO Phoy Yong Hao unpacks how they are digitalising the traditional workshop ecosystem. The ex-Carsome executive breaks down how ServAuto uses an online-to-offline (O2O) model driven heavily by TikTok live commerce, having already served 30,000 customers and expanded to 150 workshops in just one year.
Learn about:
- The TikTok Conversion Engine: Why ServAuto relies heavily on TikTok live streams to answer high-intent customer questions and drive actual sales (with a claimed 10 million monthly views).
- The "Mom & Pop" Consolidation: How ServAuto standardises pricing, parts sourcing, and customer retention for neighbourhood workshops without outright replacing them.
- Tinting as Customer Acquisition: Why window tinting acts as the ultimate entry point for new car owners, bringing them into the ServAuto ecosystem.
- Preventing Platform Leakage: How ServAuto stops workshops and customers from bypassing their platform by controlling product quality and offering unbeatable wholesale parts pricing.
- The Carsome Synergy: The strategic advantage of sharing investors, an after-sales partnership, and a direct talent pipeline (via Carsome Academy) with the used-car giant.
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Once known for its 120-day pre-order white shirts, Oxwhite has since evolved into an omnichannel retail brand with physical stores, a broader product range, and fresh capital raised through equity crowdfunding.
Co-founder CK Chang joins us to discuss Oxwhite’s shift from online disruptor to retail player, the challenges of scaling beyond a single product, and what the next chapter of growth looks like.
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In 2017, Adrian Chia turned a holiday joke into Big Tiny, a "tiny house" hospitality group that now manages over 1,000 keys across 22 countries.
With RM150 million in revenue (2025) and positive cash flow since 2018, the company has big, non-tiny, ambitions ahead. The journey began with SG$200,000 of their own money and a prototype that took six months to build in Adrian’s own garden before being shipped to the Australian wilderness.
Backed by SG$4.2 million in funding, Big Tiny now operates an end-to-end model where they design, manufacture, and manage these "tiny hotels" on other people's land. Adrian joins BFM to unpack:
- The IKEA of Housing: How a patented flatpack design allows professional teams to ship units globally and assemble a fully functional "tiny hotel" in just three hours.
- The "Micro-Hotelier" Ecosystem: How Big Tiny connects investors, land partners, and hospitality management.
- The Asset-Light Loophole: Mitigating land risk by registering homes with VINs so they can be moved if a landowner relationship sours.
- The "Sale & Leaseback" Engine: How selling units to investors funded rapid expansion while retaining management rights.
- The Pandemic Stress Test: How transparency saved the company when revenue hit zero, retaining 95% of investors.
- The 50/50 Goal: Shifting the revenue mix from manufacturing sales to recurring rental income.
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In Malaysia’s fragmented primary care landscape, Dr. Saifulhaziq Noorman is building something more structured. Through Kyno Primary Care and its 14-clinic Poliklinik Amalmedik network, he’s attempting to scale a healthcare business that blends specialist services with community clinics. And now, he’s raising capital via equity crowdfunding to accelerate that vision.
We explore the commercial logic behind the model, how the group generates revenue, why this is the right time to bring in investors, and what it takes to scale a clinic network in a tightly regulated industry.
From unit economics to expansion strategy, this conversation goes beyond medicine and into the mechanics of building a healthcare business in Malaysia
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For many heirs in Malaysia’s family businesses, the biggest decision is not how to grow what they inherit, but whether to stay at all. Kelvin Khandhar, a third-generation carpet trader, chose to step away after nearly a decade to start Victoria Carpets from scratch.
He joins us to talk about the unspoken pressures of succession, why leaving can feel harder than starting over, and how a new generation is redefining value, quality, and long-term thinking in traditional industries.
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What if your truck battery never failed again?
For a logistics firm, a dead battery is more than just a nuisance, it’s a broken timeline, spoiled cargo, and lost revenue. Dennis Yong, CEO of VXI Crest, is out to eliminate that risk by turning the humble starter battery into a visible, data-driven asset.
Through a joint venture called Advanced Accumulators, Dennis is replacing traditional lead-acid batteries with IoT-enabled Lithium Ferrous Phosphate (LFP) technology. These "smart" batteries store up to 400% more energy at half the weight and allow fleet managers to monitor health in real-time. They even feature an "Over-the-Air Jumpstart", a remote function that lets a manager start a stalled truck from a dashboard hundreds of miles away.
Dennis explains why he’s betting on the underserved "marathon runners" of the road, commercial trucks and vans, and how his "frenemy" strategy with industry veterans YSK Marketing and FJ Union is helping him scale a regional battery empire across Malaysia.
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Building a catering business is easy to start, and notoriously hard to scale. For Andrew Chee, Founder and CEO of RunningMen Celebrations Group, the challenge wasn’t just serving good food, but building a system that could deliver consistency, creativity, and reliability at scale.
In this episode, Andrew breaks down how RunningMen grew from a student-run venture into a multi-format halal catering and events business, the gap they spotted in a crowded market, and the operational decisions that shaped their positioning today.
We explore how the company thinks about revenue, service design, and execution in a low-margin industry, and what the next phase of growth looks like as RunningMen plans ahead
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In an industry often defined by high-speed logistics and international imports, Brenda James of Nook Flowers is carving out a different path in Malaysia. Known for her "Grown Not Flown" philosophy, Brenda joins us to discuss the intricacies of "Responsible Floristry", from championing local Cameron Highlands growers to championing circular based systems. We dive into the business logic behind her boldest decisions, including stepping back from the Valentine’s Day rush to preserve quality and supply chain integrity.
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From a single kiosk to beating Starbucks and becoming Malaysia’s largest coffee chain in just 6 years.
The journey began just months before the pandemic in 2019. Today, ZUS Coffee has cemented the "App-to-Cup" model as the new industry standard, overtaking the legacy giant by outlet count.
Venon Tian, Group COO of ZUS Coffee, joins BFM Open For Business to decode the strategy behind the disruption. Unlike competitors that focused on the "Third Place" experience, ZUS treated coffee more like an e-commerce product, leveraging data to convert frappuccino drinkers into espresso loyalists.
But the disruptor is now facing its own disruption. With the "Second China Shock" bringing aggressive tech-native competitors like Luckin Coffee into the scene and giants like Mixue crowding the RM10 price bracket, Venon explains how ZUS plans to defend its dominance while expanding into new markets, including Pakistan.
We discuss:
- The "Fun Drink" Funnel: How Zus uses flavoured drinks (like Watermelon Lattes) as a customer acquisition tool to bridge the gap for non-coffee drinkers.
- Data over Delivery: Why Zus insisted on building its own app rather than relying solely on Grab or Foodpanda, allowing them to track exactly when users drop off or increase consumption.
- The "Avengers" Structure: How the company navigated the potential chaos of having eight co-founders by professionalising management and adopting Amazon’s "Humble is Cool" culture.
- Hyper-Localisation: From selling curry puffs in Malaysia to launching Ube Lattes in the Philippines and Tom Yum Americanos in Thailand.
- The Global Ambition: Why Zus is expanding into Pakistan and how they balance owned-and-operated stores with master franchising for rapid regional scale.
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Malaysia has top hospitals, competitive pricing, and a strong reputation in medical tourism yet much of the demand is still controlled by foreign intermediaries.
Wan Mahsuri Wan Ahmad Kamal, Founder and CEO of Medisuri, an AI-powered medical tourism platform is aiming to reposition Malaysia as a trusted global healthcare hub. We unpack the gap Medisuri is trying to solve, how the business fits into the medical tourism value chain, its monetisation strategy, early fundraising journey, and what scaling this platform could look like in the years ahead.
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What do you do when you’ve built a loyal audience and 5 years of momentum, but you feel trapped by the very niche that built you?
Michelle Chin, founder of Her Duit, recently announced a strategic overhaul of her personal finance brand, expanding beyond money into leadership, career, and life design. She joins BFM to deconstruct the mechanics of this pivot and why she refused to let the brand run on "momentum and guilt."
We also explore the harsh reality of the modern social media landscape, where the "Instagram Community" era has been replaced by the TikTok era’s algorithmic entertainment. Michelle explains why creators must now "buy attention" in the first 3 seconds to earn the right to deliver substance, and how she balances her identity as a "Founder Creator" running a VC-backed insurtech startup by day and a media brand by night.
We discuss:
- The Strategic Pivot: How Michelle transitioned from pure personal finance to holistic growth content to answer the question: "I have the money, now what?
- The Attention Economy: Understanding the shift to short-form video where knowledge is no longer king, hooks are.
- The "Her Duit" Machine: How Michelle scaled from spending 8 hours on one post to a streamlined operation using a virtual assistant, video editors, and AI tools like Claude for synthesis.
- The Worst Advice: Why "one-size-fits-all" financial rules (like saving 50% of income) are dangerous and induce shame. Monetisation & Synergies: Moving from B2C content to B2B employee wellness workshops, and how her role as a startup COO informs her content strategy (and vice versa).
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Two years ago, Applecrumby was navigating its transition from a long bootstrapped journey into its next growth phase. Today, the company is expanding beyond baby care into kids skincare, scaling its retail presence, and rethinking what sustainable growth looks like for a consumer brand built on trust.
Co-founders Sean Tan and Jesmine Tan join us to break down what has changed since our last conversation in 2024, how their revenue mix and operations have evolved, the commercial logic behind their move into kids skincare, the economics of selling across online and physical retail, and how they are balancing scale with profitability as they plan for 2026 and beyond.
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Many professionals have deep expertise but struggle to turn that into a credible, sustainable career as a trainer, facilitator, or industry practitioner. Riley Goh is aiming to change that dynamic with The Lighthouse Academia, a Malaysia–Singapore based academy that helps practitioners professionalise their craft and build real training careers. Through accredited programmes, consulting, and courseware development, the company works with individuals, corporations, and government bodies to raise the standards of professional training.
In this conversation, we explore how Riley’s training-the-trainers model works as a business, how the company makes money, and what growth looks like for a business that’s in a niche market.
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In 2022, brothers Joshua and Joel Lim set out to eliminate single-use plastics with BeeBag, a gamified reusable bag venture. But after facing a hard truth, that corporates viewed sustainability merely as a "marketing initiative" rather than a necessity, they made the difficult decision to pivot, swapping sustainability for scalability.
Rebranding as Buzz, they are now turning financial apps like Touch 'n Go eWallet into hyper-targeted commerce media networks, acquiring 230,000 users in just 100 days.
The co-founders join us to discuss the journey from "Saving the Planet" to "Saving Brands Money." We explore the "new math" of leveraging item-level data, the economics of behavior-modifying cashbacks, and why they believe banking apps are about to become the next big billboard.
We discuss:
- The "Kill Signal": How the founders recognised the lack of Product-Market Fit in BeeBag despite early funding, and the difficult conversation that led to abandoning their original green tech vision.
- The "Item-Level" Holy Grail: Why FMCG brands should care more about what you bought (Item Data) than where you shopped (Merchant Data), and how Buzz bridges this gap.
- The Receipt Loophole: How Buzz bypasses the nightmare of integrating with thousands of Point-of-Sale (POS) systems by simply paying users to snap photos of their receipts.
- Commerce Media 101: The shift from social media ads (based on likes) to financial app ads (based on transaction history), and why banks are positioned to be the publishers of the future.
- Lean Economics: How they avoided the notorious "cash burn" of B2C loyalty apps by piggybacking on existing platforms (B2B2C) like Touch 'n Go to acquire users for free.
- The Exit Strategy: The roadmap to a $400,000 raise and regional expansion by 2027, with the ultimate goal of an M&A exit via a fintech or media giant.
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In an F&B landscape often defined by rapid burnout and aggressive discounting, Arieni Ritzal has taken a different path. Since her last visit to the studio, Gula Cakery has evolved from a boutique success into a disciplined enterprise with 19 outlets and record sales in 2025. We explore how she navigated the “founder’s bottleneck” and the specific systems required to maintain “home-baked” quality at a nationwide scale.
The conversation dives into the mechanics of financial prudence and the reality of expanding beyond the Klang Valley in 2026. Arieni shares candid insights on why many F&B brands fail to scale and explains why she prioritises internal talent development over celebrity hype to future-proof her brand against rising costs and labour shortages.
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Grassroots sports have always had the talent, the passion, and the stories but rarely the technology.
AirUpThere Technologies is trying to change that. Since 2018, the Malaysian startup has been building AI-powered camera systems and a sports streaming platform called Huddle, designed to help schools, academies, and amateur leagues broadcast games, analyse performance, and create professional-grade sports content without a production crew.
We speak with co-founder Andri Khusahry about how they turned a passion for sport into a scalable sports-tech business, the commercial logic behind automated broadcasting and analytics, and how they’re positioning Huddle in a fast-growing global sports tech market. We also explore the realities of monetising sports data, navigating privacy concerns, and what it takes to scale a Malaysian tech platform across the region.
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Two years ago, TTRacing was already a fast-growing gaming chair brand making its mark across Southeast Asia. Since then, the business has continued to evolve, expanding its product portfolio, strengthening its regional presence, and navigating the realities of scaling in a highly competitive consumer category.
In this episode of Open For Business, we catch up with Founder and CEO Henry Ting to unpack how TTRacing has grown since 2024, how its revenue mix and operations have changed, the commercial logic behind its product and market expansion, and how the company is balancing growth with profitability. We also look ahead to what the next phase of TTRacing could look like as the brand moves beyond its gaming roots and charts its ambitions for the years ahead.
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1.9 million. That’s how many living quarters are vacant here in Malaysia, nearly 20% of the total, according to the 2020 Census. This puts hard numbers to a feeling many of us have: Malaysia has a housing paradox. We see "For Sale" signs and empty houses, yet many Malaysians still feel priced out of owning a home.
UrbanMetry’s Cha-Ly Koh and Stirling Yiin discuss Urby, their platform selected for the Securities Commission's regulatory sandbox. Urby uses data algorithms to identify dilapidated homes, facilitates fractional ownership to renovate them, and sells them to genuine homebuyers, aiming to turn "ghost houses" into community assets.
We discuss:
- Not Flippers: How Urby distinguishes itself from property speculators by purchasing undervalued assets and injecting value through renovation, rather than just bridging price differentials.
- Social Assets: Why mature neighborhoods with dilapidated infrastructure are actually goldmines for "social capital", nostalgia, existing networks, and food culture that have tangible monetary value.
- The Algorithm: How UrbanMetry uses data to determine the true current asset value, ensuring renovation costs don't push the property price above what the neighborhood can afford.
- Nor For "Crypto Bros"?: Why their target demographic isn't young male speculators, but rather women aged 27–40 who feel underserved by "boring" financial products and want tangible agency in community rejuvenation.
- The Unit Economics: A breakdown of the fractional ownership model, short-term vs. long-term notes, and how the platform utilises "put options" to protect investor principal.
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What does it really take to bridge the gap between a child’s imagination and a viable business model?
In this episode of Open For Business, we explore the evolution of Goodday KidSTART 3.0, Malaysia’s largest "kidpreneur" platform, which recently culminated in a national TV series finale. We sit down with Amy Gan, Vice President of Marketing at Etika Sdn. Bhd., and Pearl Liang, the 12-year-old champion behind the innovative "AI Unicon."
From a pool of over 8,000 entries, Pearl emerged victorious with an AI-powered solution designed to solve the universal struggle of finding the right school uniform size. We discuss why Etika moved this program from a closed-door pitch to a 4-episode reality show on Astro, and how industry mentors from Cradle Fund and the Asia School of Business are helping professionalise the passions of children as young as seven.
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Is it possible to reduce an investment portfolio's risk by adding a highly volatile asset like Bitcoin? Halogen Capital Co-Founders Hann Liew and Lucas Ooi certainly think so.
While the investment thesis might be a point of debate, the business traction is undeniable. Founded in 2023, Halogen has grown from zero to RM400 million in AUM, with institutions making up 70%-80% of that figure.
Adding fuel to this momentum, they closed a RM13.3 million funding round in December led by Kenanga Private Equity, alongside 500 Global.
While headlines focus on Bitcoin's price action, Halogen has quietly built a moat by doing the unglamorous work: manufacturing familiar financial products (like Unit Trusts) around complex digital assets. This strategy has allowed them to bypass retail speculation and tap into the deep pockets of banks, insurers, and high-net-worth individuals.
In this deep dive, we move beyond the hype to understand the infrastructure of modern fund management. Hann and Lucas explain why they believe that major banks can't simply "copy-paste" their strategy, why they built their own cloud-native back-office system, and how they plan to use their recent RM13.3 million funding to tokenise Real World Assets (RWA) like bonds and real estate.
We discuss:
- The Trump Effect & Mainstream Adoption: How the US political shift has forced research houses to take crypto seriously, moving it from a niche gamble to a top-tier alternative asset.
- The Portfolio Thesis: Why they believe that adding a volatile asset like Bitcoin to a traditional 60/40 portfolio can actually reduce overall risk due to low correlation.
- The "Infrastructure Moat": Why major institutions can't easily copy-paste Halogen's strategy, and the complexities of building a self-custody, compliance-heavy back-office system.
- Manufacturing Trust: How Halogen bridged the gap between "wild west" crypto and conservative banking compliance by wrapping digital assets in regulated wholesale fund structures.
- Beyond Bitcoin: The roadmap for turning bonds, sukuk, and real estate into digital tokens to improve market access and liquidity for investors.
- The Tech-Agnostic Future: Halogen’s long-term vision to export Sharia-compliant crypto products globally and evolve into a fund manager that can handle any asset class, on or off-chain.
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What does it take to build a business when the stakes are high and your time is already accounted for?
In this episode of Open For Business, we sit down with Thiban Chandra, founder of TechX Malaysia, to explore the reality of the corporate side-hustle. From his career as a reservoir engineer in the oil and gas industry to launching a home audio and Hi-Fi venture, Thiban shares how he identified a gap in the Malaysian market for accessible luxury.
We dive into the financial risks of self-funding through bonuses and credit cards, the necessity of deep collaboration in a niche industry, and the influence of Howard Schultz’s Pour Your Hearts Into It on his entrepreneurial philosophy.
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What does it really take to turn passion into a sustainable business?
In this episode of Open For Business, we sit down with Janice Siew, founder of Petiteserie and Jan’s Gelato & Bakes, to explore the decisions behind the craft.
From seven years in corporate banking to classical French pâtisserie, Janice shares how discipline, restraint, and long-term thinking shaped her journey. We look at why she started quietly as a wholesale business, how the pandemic forced a rapid pivot to direct-to-consumer sales, and what it takes to blend French technique with deeply Malaysian flavours like cendol and onde onde.
This is not a conversation about chasing trends or overnight success. It’s about building deliberately, doing things properly, and understanding when growth should be slowed down rather than rushed.
A story of craft, commerce, and the professionalisation of passion.
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The F&B industry is often romanticised, but for Shareen Ramli, the reality is far grittier. Yet, for 23 years, she has stayed in the game, evolving from making curry puffs at 2 a.m. to running the 105-seater Siti Li Dining & Foodhall.
BFM Open For Business sits down with Shareen to discuss why she compares the trade to being a "stuntwoman", full of invisible bruises, and her mission to preserve the cosmopolitan heritage of Malay cuisine.
We discuss:
- The "Stuntwoman" Reality: Shareen opens up about the resilience needed to survive 23 years, comparing the industry to an action movie where the audience doesn't see the "invisible bruises" of evictions and financial crises.
- The "Lost" Heritage: Why Siti Li focuses on "Cosmopolitan Malay" cuisine, a nod to the 15th-century port cities influenced by Portuguese, Dutch, and Chinese flavors.
- Begging for Sugar: The desperate lengths taken during the pandemic, including pleading with police to allow couriers to source artisan Gula Melaka from Malacca.
- Vertical vs. Horizontal: Instead of opening more outlets, Siti Li is focusing on the supply chain and a "Malay Kitchen Pantry" line (bottled sauces, artisan Keropok, cookies).
- The "Third Space" Vision: Why Shareen wants Siti Li to be more than a restaurant, a community hub where customers bring their parents to share the intimacy of a meal.
- “Comel Cekodok” and Nasi Lemak: The story behind their signature Cekodok dish and Shareen’s criteria for what makes a "good" Nasi Lemak.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we sit down with Dr Shian Lee, the aerospace engineer behind Alphaswift Industries.
This is not a shiny drones conversation. It’s about what happens when machines start carrying real responsibility. We talk about why the sky might actually be easier for autonomy than the ground, why “fake it till you make it” has no place in aerospace, and how oil palm plantations became an unlikely training ground for future passenger flight.
It’s a conversation about ambition, caution, physics, regulation, and what it really means to build technology that can’t afford to fail.
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Founded in 2017 as a simple telemedicine app, Doctor Anywhere (DA) became a pandemic darling, raising nearly $176 million from heavyweights like IHH Healthcare and Temasek-linked Pavilion Capital. But in a surprising twist, the digital disruptor spent ~$80 million USD in late 2022 to acquire Asian Healthcare Specialists, shifting from an asset-light tech model to owning traditional brick-and-mortar clinics.
Lim Wai Mun, the "accidental founder" turned CEO, joins BFM to discuss:
- The "Accidental Founder": How a private equity financier with zero medical background ended up building a regional healthcare giant across 6 countries.
- The $80M Pivot: Why DA acquired a traditional specialist group (Orthopedics, Urology, etc.) to bridge the trust gap that pure tech couldn't solve.
- The "Decentralised Hospital": Wai Mun explains his vision of deconstructing the hospital, moving care out of expensive central hubs into smaller, accessible modules to lower costs for everyone.
- The "Connector of Care": How DA manages the conflicting agendas of the three key healthcare stakeholders: the Payer (wants to save money), the Provider (wants to earn money), and the Patient (wants to get well).
- Financial Discipline: Why DA has never operated at a negative gross margin, and Wai Mun’s take on why the "growth at all costs" era is dead.
- The Future: The launch of "Soda by DA" and the 5-year ambition to become Southeast Asia’s leading "Insure-Health-Tech" company.
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How do you turn nostalgia into a scalable business in one of Malaysia’s most crowded food and beverage markets?
On this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Nick Ng, Founder and CEO of Hock Kee Kopitiam, about building a modern kopitiam brand rooted in heritage, community, and made-to-order tradition.
From opening a single outlet in Johor Bahru with no prior restaurant experience to growing a multi-outlet chain across Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Johor, Nick shares what it takes to stay relevant while scaling. We explore how Hock Kee maintains consistency across outlets, how its revenue mix has evolved, the impact of Halal certification and tourism-linked collaborations, and the operational pressures of running a fast-growing F&B business.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we look at why coworking seems to have lost its way and whether a quieter, more stripped-back model is the answer.
We speak with Timothy Tiah, founder of Jerry Coworking Space, about building a business that deliberately rejects community theatre, lifestyle branding, and forced interaction. With automated, private offices across the Klang Valley and beyond, Jerry positions itself as infrastructure rather than experience.
We explore coworking fatigue, automation, revenue realities, and what it says about modern work when the most attractive promise might simply be a quiet room and no one asking questions.
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In late November, Costco filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the “Liberation Day tariffs", and the White House remained surprisingly silent.
BFM speaks with Bryan DeAngelis of Penta Group to decode this "quiet rebellion." Corporate America is finally "unbending the knee," but they are doing it with a new playbook: filing lawsuits based strictly on business logic while avoiding the public shaming that bruises the President's ego.
We discuss:
- The Costco Strategy: Why the retailer’s decision to sue quietly after Thanksgiving, relying on "brand math" rather than PR stunts, possibly saved them from a Truth Social firestorm.
- The "Business Lane": How companies are learning to push back against policies like tariffs by framing them strictly as shareholder protection rather than political opposition.
- Political Volatility & Populism: With the President's poll numbers sinking, Bryan explains why the administration is leaning harder into populist rhetoric (like the attack on institutional housing investors) to regain momentum.
- The 2026 Midterm Outlook: Why "razor-thin" margins in Congress mean Democrats could flip the House even before November, and how this gridlock will force the President to rule almost exclusively through Executive Orders.
The Erosion of Authority: From GOP resignations to state-level defiance on redistricting, we analyse whether the White House is losing its grip on its own party.
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Restaurants are under pressure like never before like rising costs, staff shortages, shrinking margins, and systems that were never designed for today’s pace of business.
We speak with Squall Tan, CEO of FeedMe, about how a simple frustration with slow service and wrong orders led to the creation of a full F&B operating system now used across the region.
Squall shares how FeedMe evolved from a homegrown POS into an integrated platform that helps restaurants automate ordering, reduce operational blind spots, and make smarter, data-driven decisions.
From why most F&B businesses fail, to how AI is reshaping restaurant operations and what it takes to scale a food-tech company across Asia, this is a discussion on how technology is quietly redefining the F&B industry.
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In 2015, advertising veterans Chantelle Teoh and Kelvin Long grew tired of the generic, "embarrassing" souvenirs found at Central Market. They wanted products that actually spoke the language of Malaysians, literally.
Starting with a single t-shirt design complaining about cigarette prices ("Mahal Bro"), APOM (A Piece of Malaysia) has grown from a bazaar pop-up into a 7-figure retail brand with five stores, including Bangsar Village and The Campus, Ampang.
The husband-and-wife duo joins BFM to discuss the journey from "Bazaars to Bangunan." We explore how they navigate the "Dreamer vs. Integrator" dynamic as a married couple, the operational PTSD of the 2020 pandemic, and why they believe the future of retail lies in data-driven humor.
We discuss:
- The Origin Story: Moving from the "Doof" bean bag business to APOM as a creative release from client work.
- Product Market Fit: How they tested witty designs like the "Mahal Bro" and "Jalan Bapak Kau" shirts at bazaars to validate the concept before committing to a lease.
- Retail Operations: The reality of scaling from selling single items to managing hundreds of SKUs, warehousing, and the financial "flywheel" of margins and Opex.
- The Co-Founder Dynamic: How a husband-and-wife team functions by respecting the split between the "Dreamer" and the "Integrator".
- The Cringe Filter: The difficult product development cycle of walking the fine line between witty cultural commentary and "cringey" humor.
- The "Blast" Campaign: How they pivoted during the pandemic lockdowns to support 14 local designers when tourism vanished overnight.
- Future Vision: The plan to expand beyond KL and build a "Departmental Store" concept to house top-quality Malaysian goods.
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Founded in 2018, Sagtec Global Limited was a three-person operation in Kuala Lumpur, aiming to digitise Malaysia's F&B sector. Fast forward to March 2025, and Sagtec listed on the NASDAQ at an IPO price of $3.60. But the public markets have been unforgiving, the stock has since lost nearly 50% of its value.
Kevin joins BFM to unpack the realities of a NASDAQ listing. We discuss why he spent $2.1 million (nearly 30% of his raised capital) on listing fees, why he chose the US over a local exchange for "branding and credibility," and how he plans to recover shareholder confidence.
We discuss:
- The Origin Story: Why Kevin quit a stable job in 2018 to digitize an industry still relying on handwritten orders, and how the pandemic became his biggest tailwind.
- The NASDAQ Reality Check: Why list in the US? Kevin defends the decision as a branding play to open doors in markets like Thailand, despite the stock’s poor performance and lack of US investor understanding.
- The $2.1 Million Lesson: The true cost of listing and why Kevin admits he underestimated the need for Investor Relations (IR) post-IPO.
- From SaaS to RaaS: The shift to "Robot-as-a-Service." How Sagtec plans to deploy robotic arms for cooking and prep to generate recurring revenue from multi-chain restaurants.
- The AI Pivot: Is it just buzzwords? Kevin explains how they are integrating AI not for chat, but for data analytics, helping restaurant owners identify best-selling items and peak hours automatically.
- Risk Management: Addressing the concentration risk where 3 customers make up 60% of revenue and 2 vendors account for 60% of costs, and the plan to diversify through direct sales.
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On this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Paul Dass, Managing Director of Green Street Farms, about what it means to grow food with care in the heart of a city.
Green Street Farms uses aquaponics, a natural system where fish and plants support one another, to produce fresh food while working in rhythm with nature. But beyond the method, this is a story about intention: choosing to grow slowly, thoughtfully, and in a way that stays connected to the people who eat the food.
Paul shares the personal journey behind the farm, the lessons learned from working with living systems, and how reconnecting people to where their food comes from can quietly change how we think about nourishment, responsibility, and care.
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Startup accelerators are everywhere, but few operate like AppWorks. Based in Taiwan with a sizable footprint in Southeast Asia, the firm runs an accelerator that takes zero equity and charges zero fees, a model sustained by its associated VC funds.
Alyssa Chen, Principal of the AppWorks Accelerator, joins BFM to explain how this "founder-first" model acts as the top-of-funnel engine for an ecosystem that has raised $6.6 billion in funding across 650 active startups.
We dive into their strategic pivot for 2026, targeting "outlier" founders in Manufacturing AI, Defense Tech, and Onchain Banking, and how they are building a cross-border corridor linking Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore.
We discuss:
- The "Freemium" Model: How AppWorks sustains a fee-free, equity-free accelerator by using it as a high-quality deal flow pipeline for its VC funds.
- Vetting "Outliers": Why a free program still requires a grueling 30-question application and interview process to filter out value-seekers and find true execution-focused founders.
- The 2026 "Request for Startups": Why AppWorks is pivoting to hard tech. Alyssa explains the focus on Manufacturing AI (leveraging Taiwan’s hardware strength), Defense Tech (dual-use commercial applications), and Onchain Banking.
- The Southeast Asia Thesis: Despite the region's "exit bottleneck," Alyssa argues that the ecosystem is maturing, with founders shifting from "growth at all costs" to profitability and cash flow.
- The Taiwan-Malaysia Bridge: How AppWorks is actively linking markets, using Taiwan for R&D and revenue, Singapore for capital and legal structure, and Malaysia for talent and team building.
- Alumni Power: How a network of 2,000+ founders (including 900 CEOs) drives the ecosystem, with 570 active startups helping each other navigate fundraising and expansion.
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Private credit has exploded over the last decade. But is it a necessary structural shift or a "shadow banking" bubble waiting to pop?
David Z Wang, Co-Founder & CEO of fintech firm Helicap Group, joins BFM to make the case for connecting global investors to Asia's massive private credit opportunity.
Backed by S$20 million in paid-up capital from the likes of Kenanga Group, Phillip Capital, Saison Capital, and Tikehau Capital, Helicap has helped deploy around US$700 million to the region's "underbanked" sector. The firm mainly targets licensed non-bank financial institutions as distribution points to indirectly serve millions of MSMEs and individuals.
We discuss:
- The Bubble Question: While US private credit faces scrutiny, David explains why Asia is different. With only 3-5% of the global market share despite holding 60% of the population, he believes the region offers growth without the saturation risks seen in the West.
- Principal Protection vs. Volume: Unlike platforms chasing rapid GMV growth, Helicap claims to adopt a slower, investor-first approach. We explore their co-investment model — where they say they put their own skin in the game for 90% of deals — to align incentives and prioritize capital preservation.
- Helicap vs. P2P Platforms: Why invest with them when P2P platforms and bond funds already exist? David argues that for investors with larger capital sums, manually picking loans is unmanageable. He explains how Helicap’s structure handles diversification and diligence, offering what he describes as a passive, institutional-grade alternative.
- Defining the 'Underbanked': David clarifies the critical strategy of targeting the "underbanked" (those with income but no credit) rather than the "unbanked." By lending via licensed B2B partners, the company claims to secure better data visibility and lower default risks.
- The Malaysia Expansion: With Kenanga Group as a strategic backer, Helicap is making a major play for the Malaysian market. We discuss their stated plans to bring institutional-grade technology to local SMEs and partner with local P2P players to offer Ringgit-based products.
- The 2026 Roadmap: With David reporting that profitability has been secured in 2025, what's next? He outlines the shift from constant fundraising to operational excellence, focusing on risk management, team growth, and deep integration with regional partners to cement their position in Asia.
- M&A vs IPO: With strategic backers like Kenanga on the cap table, is an acquisition inevitable? David opens up about Helicap’s long-term trajectory, weighing the stability of joining a banking giant versus the ambition of remaining an independent, IPO-bound fintech.
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Malaysians are investing more than ever, but many are doing so in a market flooded with hype, social media tips, and unverified “gurus.” The result? Emotional decision-making, rising losses, and growing distrust among retail investors.
We speak with Warren Mak, CEO and Co-Founder of Ted Optimus, about why so many Malaysians struggle to invest sustainably, and how his platform aims to help investors slow down, think rationally, and separate real opportunities from costly noise.
He shares how his experience in investor education led him to build Trade Wizard, a platform that combines AI-powered stock insights with practical financial education, designed specifically for local retail traders.
From scam culture and Telegram tips to building discipline, trust, and long-term investing habits, we take a candid look at what smarter investing in Malaysia could, and should look like.
Image credit: Shutterstock
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While skeptics dismiss the current wave of startups as mere AI 'wrappers,' a grassroots movement in Kuala Lumpur is ignoring the noise and building anyway. It begs the question: is it really just an 'AI wrapper' if it solves a fundamental business problem?
Joseph Chin, City Organizer for AI Tinkerers Kuala Lumpur, joins BFM’s Open For Business to discuss how a small meetup grew into a thriving network of nearly 2,000 members. A former software engineer turned solo founder, Joseph also shares the journey of bootstrapping DocuAsk.ai to profitability, acquiring nearly 300,000 users along the way.
We discuss:
- The "Wrapper" Debate: Joseph argues that while some AI products are lazy wrappers, others (like his own) act as essential bridges, making complex models palatable for end-users, much like Uber is an "AWS wrapper."
- Distribution as the Moat: Why building great software is no longer enough. Joseph explains his painful pivot from engineer to operator, realising that mediocre software with great distribution beats the alternative every time.
- The Pivot to Profit: How he saved his bootstrapped startup by firing marketing agencies and learning digital ads himself, a move that tripled performance and led to profitability.
- The AI Tinkerers Explosion: Inside the rapid growth of the KL chapter. Joseph shares how loneliness as a solo founder sparked a community that now inspires members to quit their jobs and launch startups.
- Shattering Talent Myths: We discuss the massive turnout for recent local hackathons (almost 2,000 RSVPs), debunking the long-held assumption that Malaysia lacks the deep tech talent or hunger to build world-class products.
- The Value of "Tinkering": Why action beats theory. Joseph advocates for hackathons not just for product creation, but as a forcing function to break self-imposed limitations and accelerate learning velocity.
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For many entrepreneurs, the idea of living and working anywhere in the world is the ultimate goal. But for Andrew Henderson, it’s more than a dream—it’s a business model. He’s the founder of Nomad Capitalist, a consultancy that helps high-net-worth individuals and entrepreneurs build global lifestyles through offshore strategies, second citizenships, and optimised tax structures.
Based partly in Malaysia, Andrew has become one of the most recognised voices in the offshore world, featured in outlets like Bloomberg, Forbes, and CNN. Today, we’re finding out why Malaysia is emerging as one of the world’s most attractive bases for global entrepreneurs, how Nomad Capitalist operates behind the scenes, and what it really means to “go where you’re treated best.”
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The AI sector is frothy, filled with "wrappers" disguised as deep tech and companies blurring the line between innovation and snake oil. Yet, Agnes AI claims to be different. By combining a "Snapchat-style" social feed with an enterprise-grade productivity suite, they aim to capture the 99% of Southeast Asian users who aren't paying for ChatGPT.
Bruce Yang, Co-Founder and CEO, joins us to explain why Agnes AI is building a "mobile funnel" to drive desktop software sales. He breaks down their transition from Sapiens AI, their claim of "Sovereign AI" (training their own models rather than relying on APIs), and their ambitious goal to replace your entire office stack, from Word to Slack.
Image Credit: Shutterstock
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The Southeast Asian payments landscape is a fierce battleground, crowded with global giants like Stripe and Adyen, regional heavyweights, and local gateways. Yet, HitPay has carved out a lucrative niche, processing over $1 billion annually for more than 10,000 businesses across the region.
CEO Aditya Haripurkar joins us to explain why the region needed an "SMB-first" payments player. He details HitPay’s journey from e-wallet and a Venmo parallel to securing a $16 million Series A led by Tiger Global, driven by a 100% compound annual growth rate.
We discuss:
- The Boom: How HitPay went from processing $100k to $20 million monthly in under two years.
- Differentiation: Why focusing on "omni-channel" and local payment methods beats the enterprise-first approach.
- The Business Model: Why HitPay gives away POS software and website builders for free.
- Capital Efficiency: processing $1 billion annually with a team of just 36 employees.
Future Trends: Why HitPay is integrating stablecoin payments for Singaporean merchants.
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When most people think of buffets, they think of indulgence, not innovation. But for treatsure Co-Founder and CEO Preston Wong, surplus food became a business opportunity. After gaining traction in Singapore with its “buffet-in-a-box” concept, treatsure is now partnering with top hotels like The Westin and Grand Millennium to reduce food waste in Malaysia’s hospitality sector. In this episode, Preston shares how treatsure balances sustainability with profitability, and what it takes to scale a purpose-driven business across borders.
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The non-bank lending industry, comprising licensed money lenders, pawnshops, and used car dealers, often operates on paper ledgers and Excel sheets. Johnny Tin, a former banking tech consultant, left his 9-to-5 to change that.
He joins us to discuss Arkmind, his company attempting to digitalise this unglamorous sector. We explore how Arkmind bootstrapped its way to RM1 million in annual revenue, the impact of the Consumer Credit Act, and how they are helping traditional lenders use AI to approve loans in hours instead of days.
We discuss:
- Why non-bank lenders are still stuck on paper and physical ledgers.
- Building an end-to-end digital lending system, from licensing to collection.
- Bootstrapping from RM100k and pivoting from project fees to SaaS.
- How Arkmind uses client data to build custom AI credit scoring engines.
- Targeting 40% annual growth and expanding into Islamic loans and BNPL.
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Prof. Dr. Billy Tang’s journey from paraplegic farmer to global changemaker is at the heart of PWD Smart FarmAbility, a disability-led social enterprise transforming food security and community resilience. After an accident that left him paralysed, Billy reimagined how agriculture could work for people with limited mobility, low income, or no farming experience.
The result: the HOPE Box and Soil-U-tion™ Model, a regenerative, zero-synthetic system now used across many households,Program Pendidikan Khas Integrasi (PPKI) / Special Education Integrated Programme schools, elderly homes and refugee communities. It produces clean vegetables every 10 – 14 days and tilapia protein every few months, while restoring microbial soil life and reducing food bills.
In this conversation, Billy shares his personal turning point, the business engine behind PWD Smart FarmAbility, the realities of scaling social innovation, and why disability-led leadership belongs at the centre of Malaysia’s future food story.
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While the rest of Southeast Asia was chasing the "super app" dream and burning cash on subsidies, Qualgro took a different path. For the last decade, this VC firm has quietly focused on the "boring back end of the internet", B2B software, data, and AI.
General Partner Weisheng Neo joins us to explain why this approach is paying off.
He also discusses why the NASDAQ isn't always the best exit for regional startups (and why the Tokyo Stock Exchange might be), why he views the current funding climate as a "natural correction" rather than a crisis, and how to build companies for "quality growth" in an era of high interest rates.
We discuss:
- Why Qualgro bet on B2B software over consumer tech.
- The "mid-market ceiling": Why $200-400M exits are the sweet spot for SEA.
- The Appier case study: Why they listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
- Identifying "AI-native" startups vs. ChatGPT wrappers.
- Why "management by consensus" is a death knell for startups.
Image Credit: Shutterstock
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With a 50/50 revenue split between local and international markets, Superdough has quietly grown into an 8-figure entertainment powerhouse. Already operating across the US, South Korea, and the UAE, the company behind Breakout and Hauntu is now accelerating its global expansion with unique new models.
Co-founders Johnny Ong and Kelly Low join us to share their strategy for scaling mid-tier entertainment concepts abroad. They discuss their new "student-run" franchise partnership in Texas, their major upcoming expansion into Montreal, and why they are pivoting to the kids' market with Spy Game Jr.
We discuss:
- The journey to 8-figure annual revenue and 25% YoY growth.
- Their strategy for managing a 50/50 local vs. international portfolio.
- The unique "student-run" franchise model with a US school district.
- Why they created Spy Game Jr. to capture the kids' market.
- How AI is helping them visualize and balance game puzzles faster.
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Malaysia’s property market is crowded, competitive, and increasingly shaped by branding that goes far beyond logos and brochures. In this episode, we speak with Evon Chong and Aaron Bok, Co-Founders of IMAJEN, a property-focused branding consultancy that specialises in curating desire for places through storytelling, identity and experience design. We explore how the founders came together, how they built a profitable premium agency from the ground up, the operational challenges behind scaling a taste-led business, and their ambitions to grow IMAJEN into a regional creative force.
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Founded in 2001 with just RM10,000 in savings and RM110,000 borrowed from friends and family, Symbiotica Specialty Ingredients has grown into a major Malaysian manufacturer, exporting active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to 70 countries. After 23 years of organic growth, the company entered a new chapter in 2024 when Ekuinas acquired an 80% stake.
Founder and CEO Ajoy Gopinath Prabhu joins us to share his 24-year journey. He discusses how Symbiotica carved a niche in the high-value steroid market, the rigorous path to US FDA approval, and why he chose to partner with private equity to professionalise the family business for its next phase of growth.
Ajoy has been nominated for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 Malaysia Awards in the Master Entrepreneur Category, alongside other notable figures like Dato' Davis Chong (Solarvest), Datuk Kamarul Redzuan Muhamed of Uzma Bhd, and ZUS Coffee founders Ian Chua and Venon Tian.
We discuss:
- The journey from a RM10K trading startup to a RM125M manufacturer.
- How Symbiotica competes globally with giants from India and China.
- The rigorous process of achieving US FDA and international certifications.
- Why the founders sold an 80% stake to Ekuinas after 23 years.
- The transition from an owner-operated family business to a corporatised entity.
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Malaysia’s gaming industry has crossed the billion-dollar mark, but a critical talent shortage threatens its momentum — from programmers and tools engineers to live-ops developers. Curine Ventures and Xsolla launched the Xsolla Curine Academy (XCA) in 2023 to close that gap, by building industry-ready creators through hands-on training, mentorship, and direct alignment with studios, universities, and publishers.
In this conversation with Kaveh Wong, Founder of Curine Ventures and Co-Founder of Xsolla Curine Academy (XCA), we explore the academy’s business model, how it stays commercially relevant through industry partnerships, and its vision to build a realistic and sustainable talent engine for Malaysia’s next phase of gaming growth.
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When Michelle Hah stepped into her family’s fire safety business, it was already a trusted name built on decades of service. But she saw the potential to go further. Under her leadership, Fire Fighter Industry evolved from a small supplier of extinguishers into one of Malaysia’s largest integrated fire safety providers, spanning design, installation, and compliance. In this conversation, Michelle shares how she modernised a legacy company, built resilience in a highly regulated sector, and charted a sustainable path forward rooted in both mission and growth.
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18 months ago, co-working operator WORQ planned to raise RM40 million to fuel its expansion. But halfway through the process, they stepped back from the raise, claiming that it wasn’t because they couldn't get the funds, but because they had hit the startup "holy grail": generating enough internal cash flow to fund their own growth.
Co-founders Stephanie Ping and Andrew Yeow join us to break down key wins and challenges since our last conversation in February 2024, the mechanics of their landlord partnership model, why and how they act as a footfall attraction for buildings, and their upcoming expansion into "Urban Wellness" via WORQ Wellness, with offices featuring pools and jacuzzis, launching in Jan 2026.
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What started in 2010 as a simple wedding RSVP tool has evolved into a complete event technology platform. After a crucial pivot away from the consumer market, Evenesis now powers corporate events and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions), combining software with essential on-the-ground managed services.
Founder and CEO Ts. Yusno Yunos joins us to share his 15-year journey of bootstrapping (with the help of grants) to profitability before finally taking strategic investment from VentureTECH.
He discusses why the "free-to-use" model failed in the wedding market, how managed services became their key differentiator against global SaaS competitors, and their ambitious plans to expand into Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
We discuss:
- The pivot from a B2C wedding app to a B2B corporate event platform.
- Why they bootstrapped for 14 years before taking VentureTECH investment.
- The "managed services" differentiator: why pure SaaS doesn't work in SEA.
- Using AI for business matching and "event health checks."
- Their expansion strategy for Indonesia, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia.
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In a crowded footwear market, how does a 62-year-old Danish brand stay relevant? For ECCO, it starts with a unique "cow-to-shoe" philosophy, owning the entire value chain from tannery to retail floor. But facing a post-pandemic market downturn and a "promo pandemic" of endless discounts, the brand is rethinking its strategy.
Managing Director Benjamin Chin joins us to discuss how ECCO Malaysia & Singapore is navigating this challenging retail landscape. He explains their shift to "glocalization" (global brand, local relevance), the evolution of their brand promise beyond just "comfort," and how they are managing the complexities of an omni-channel world where the customer journey is no longer linear.
We discuss:
- The "cow-to-shoe" business model and why owning the supply chain matters.
- Navigating the "promo pandemic" and the bullwhip effect of inventory.
- "Glocalization": Adapting a Danish brand for the Malaysian market (and weather).
- The omni-channel reality: Why physical stores and e-commerce are no longer separate.
- Moving beyond "comfort" to build an emotional connection with customers.
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Caring for ageing parents is becoming one of Asia’s fastest-growing emotional and practical challenges. Yet much of that burden remains invisible.
We speak with Ivan Mun, Founder of ELLO, about how personal loss led him to build AI-powered caregiving technology designed to monitor seniors without intruding on their dignity or independence. Can artificial intelligence truly provide peace of mind at home? And in a crowded care-tech market, how does a young startup earn trust when stakes are this personal?
We explore how technology may reshape the future of caregiving and what it means for families across a rapidly ageing region.
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In June 2023, How Meng Hock led a management buyout (MBO) of OMS Energy from Sumitomo Corporation to prevent the company from liquidation. Less than two years later, he successfully listed the company on the NASDAQ, raising over $33 million.
However, the transition to public life has been turbulent. Since its IPO in May 2025, the stock has faced significant volatility, dropping around 40% from its listing price.
How Meng Hock joins us to deconstruct this whirlwind journey. He opens up about the complex financial engineering behind the buyout, the "James Bond" level secrecy required to keep the business stable, and the realities of navigating Investor Relations as a foreign issuer in the US.
We discuss:
- The MBO Deal: How he acquired the company for $2 million cash plus taking on existing debt to save 600 jobs and lessons learnt from the process.
- Accounting Anomalies: Unpacking the $49 million "bargain purchase gain"
- The NASDAQ Lesson: Why deep market liquidity doesn't guarantee stock performance and other lessons from listing on the Nasdaq
- Leadership Shifts: The psychological weight of no longer having a "guy upstairs" to defer to.
- Strategy: Why he views the future as "Energy Addition" rather than just transition.
For founders and CEOs considering an exit or listing, this is a candid look at the mechanics of an MBO and the relentless demands of the public markets.
Image Credit: OMS Energy Technologies
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It started as a one-year experiment to cure a career frustration. Eight years later, Lit Books has become a favourite among many readers, particularly those who enjoy a more curated and meaningful book browsing experience. But behind the curated shelves and cozy atmosphere lies the tough reality of running an independent bookstore in Malaysia.
Co-founder Fong Min Hun joins us to share the story of Lit Books. He discusses the transition from journalism and consulting to retail, the operational challenges of slow logistics and cash flow, and how they survived the pandemic by hand-delivering books via the LRT.
We discuss:
- The "do it or shut up" moment that launched Lit Books.
- The commercial reality of being "two months away from shuttering."
- Why cash flow, not just profit, keeps a business alive.
- How they expanded to e-commerce overnight during the pandemic.
- And much more...
Some book mentions and recommendations from Min Hun:
- The South by Tash Aw
- Fierce Land by Omar Musa
- Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
- Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
- Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
- Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
- Meltdown: Scandal, Sleaze and the Collapse of Credit Suisse by Duncan Mavin
For book lovers and aspiring retailers, this is a candid look at the passion and pragmatism needed to keep an independent business alive.
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Ladore Signature wants to ride "Rent-to-Own" (RTO) furniture all the way to an ACE Market listing. But with current revenues around RM500k, is their target of hitting RM25 million by 2029 ambitious... or delusional?
Business Development Director Kun Chi Jun and Strategy Officer Ray Chung join us to defend their strategy. They unpack their role as the direct-to-consumer brand of the larger group, explaining why they believe acquiring 10,000 tenants is realistic and is the magic number to fuel an IPO.
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Andrey Leskov, the Co-Founder of illumi, an AI-native whiteboard, aims to help teams turn scattered AI chats into visual workflows that build context, compound knowledge, and speed up complex work holistically. Why did the company feel this was a blind spot in the current wave of AI adoption, how did it lead them to build illumi, and what have they learned so far from helping early teams to rethink how they collaborate in an AI-driven workplace? We dive deeper into all that and more in this conversation.
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What started in 2014 as a lifestyle investment to feed his wife's love for cakes has grown into 43 outlets, with more en route. Vanilla Crepe has expanded from a single cafe to 43 outlets and over 100 distribution points, recently breaking past 8-figure annual revenues.
CEO Nelson Liew joins us to share the story behind this growth. He discusses their unique mix of owned vs. franchised outlets, how they manage costs through strong supplier partnerships, and their ambitious vision to become Malaysia's largest integrated F&B platform.
We discuss:
- The "accidental" start: from a lifestyle cafe to a scalable business.
- How they pivoted from retail to owning the IP and central kitchen.
- The strategy behind their owned-to-franchise model.
- Their "pandemic-proof" growth: doubling store count during the MCO.
- Future plans: international expansion to Indonesia and FMCG products.
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Malaysian drone company Aonic, with top-line revenue near RM300 million, is executing a major strategic push: its own “Made In Malaysia” proprietary hardware, the Mist Tec 50 drone. This shift is driven by a core insight: after-sales costs for imported drones were too expensive for local farmers.
Founder and CEO Cheong Jin Xi (JX) joins us to unpack this evolution. He details why Aonic’s competitive edge lies in its comprehensive ecosystem, including physical service centers, proprietary software, and a financing arm, and how this model is set to drive the company’s expansion into robotics and new global markets.
We discuss:
- The strategic expansion from distribution to IP development.
- The core competitive edge: why their proprietary solution makes drones better fit for local needs, cheaper and more accessible.
- How the integrated ecosystem (hardware, software, financing, service centers, and training) creates value.
- The advantage of being "Made in Malaysia" for exports to Western markets.
- The unique risk management of Aonic Flex, which aligns collections with harvest cycles.
The future roadmap: plans for expansion into robotics and ground/underwater drones.
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What does it mean to modernise upon family legacy in a traditional space? For Emily Chin and Medalized, it meant moving from "big plastic trophies" to creative design and bespoke awards that aim to tell a brand's story. Now, as the "Legacy Curator" of Medalized, she's taking it one step further: experimenting with content creation.
We discuss:
- The family legacy in the "boring" awards industry.
- Her journey from accounting to starting Medalized.
- The pivot from "big plastic trophies" to bespoke, custom designs.
- Her strategy for competing with low-cost manufacturing from China.
- The future vision: creating "meaning behind the awards" by expanding to content
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Today, we’re looking at a brand that has quietly transformed kitchens across the world. Thermomix, the smart kitchen appliance by Vorwerk, has sold over 10 million units globally, and recently celebrated a major milestone with the launch of its first experiential flagship store in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.
At the same time, the company unveiled its latest innovation, the Thermomix TM7, a step forward in the brand’s mission to revolutionise home cooking. Revealing more about Thermomix’s Southeast Asian expansion, its unique business model, and what innovation looks like in the modern kitchen is Christine Wong, General Manager of Vorwerk Singapore and Malaysia.
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Satu Creative operates as a 7-figure social enterprise, but you won't find them on an official accreditation list. After evolving from a creative agency, the firm now focuses on capacity building; running workshops and accelerators for entrepreneurs, but also corporates.
Founder and CEO Azuar Zainuddin joins us to share his unique hybrid business model.
We discuss:
- The evolution from a creative agency to a 7-figure social enterprise.
- Their hybrid model: using corporate training to "pay the bills" for social impact.
- Why they prioritise partnerships over a large team to scale their reach.
- How they are redesigning programmes to address the "privilege gap."
- Measuring success beyond "vanity metrics" by focusing on revenue and job creation.
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Can animals help humans heal? Rajagopal Yagambram, Founder of Planet Zoo Malaysia, believes they can. After nearly two decades in agrotourism, he’s built a one-of-a-kind animal behaviour centre where petting a rabbit isn’t just fun… it’s therapy. He shares how Planet Zoo blends business, education, and empathy to turn animal encounters into wellness experiences for all ages.
From starting the business and animal care to creating sustainable revenue and partnerships, Rajagopal opens up about what it really takes to run a modern petting zoo — one that aims to make Malaysians not only happier, but more connected to nature and kindness itself.
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Punita Nook Naidu, Co-Founder of H2O DataTech, shares how the Malaysian climate-tech company is turning complex climate and water data into actionable intelligence for governments, businesses, and regulators.Through its platform Airnomik, H2O DataTech helps organisations assess site-specific environmental risks, from floods and droughts to water quality.
She discusses how her team combines AI, engineering, and policy expertise to close the gap between scientific data and real-world decision-making, the challenges of scaling a climate-tech business, and what it takes to make environmental analytics both practical and profitable.
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Grace Oh, Founder of Sol Menopause, Asia’s medically reviewed menopause app, shares how her platform is changing the way women manage midlife health at home, at work, and beyond. Designed to be both evidence-based and community-driven, Sol aims to break the stigma around menopause by providing women with trustworthy guidance, holistic support, and a space to understand and advocate for their wellbeing. We discuss what led Grace to create Sol, how she’s aiming to tackle one of healthcare’s most underserved conversations, and what it means to build a business that’s both purpose-driven and data-informed.
Image Credit: Shutterstock
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The on-demand home services space is notoriously difficult, with high-profile failures like Kaodim. So why is Tim Goi, a founder of a traditional B2B cleaning company, now entering the fray with his new app, Okay Tasks?
Tim Goi joins us to discuss:
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The strategic pivot from a B2B service to a B2C tech platform.
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How Okay Tasks plans to succeed where platforms like Kaodim failed.
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Their 20% transaction fee model and 250k ECF raise.
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Why finding cleaners (supply) is a bigger challenge than finding customers.
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Their strategy for building trust (insurance and partner agencies).
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Wellness, it’s a word we hear constantly these days. But for many women, particularly in Malaysia, it’s more than a buzzword. It’s a balancing act between work, family, identity, and the pursuit of something deeper, connection and purpose.
Earlier this year, a small idea built on friendship, shared passion, and a mission to help women Connect, Recharge, and Grow turned into one of Malaysia’s most talked-about wellness events. And now, it’s back, bigger, bolder, and more intentional than ever.
The Women’s Wellness Festival 2.0 returns this November at Parc Subang, featuring over 30 workshops, talks, and experiences spanning emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. Behind it are three remarkable founders, Diane Chia of Millennia Village, Raja Jesrina Arshad of PurelyB, and Sarah Lian of Supparetreat, who’ve combined their expertise in longevity, ancestral healing, and holistic empowerment to create a truly women-led movement.
We explore the business behind wellness, how they’ve built a collaborative ecosystem that turns purpose into profit, and what it really takes to make wellbeing sustainable, not just for a day, but for a lifetime.
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With the bold claim of "Making Teh Tarik Great Again", this new F&B brand is on a mission to elevate Malaysia's unofficial national drink. But this is no ordinary startup, it's built on a 96-year family legacy in the B2B tea supply business.
Founder Koh Peng Chye joins us to share his story. He explains why he expanded from his family's established B2B trade to a B2C brand, driven by a frustration with inconsistent brewing, and details his ambitious plan to scale by automating the perfect "leaf to cup" experience before expanding.
We discuss:
- The mission to establish a global brand for Teh Tarik.
- The strategic expansion from a 96-year-old B2B tea supplier to a B2C brand.
- Their "leaf to cup" quality control advantage over funded competitors.
- The scaling strategy: developing bespoke machinery to automate the brewing process.
- Their "living lab" outlet and plans for FMCG and future fundraising.
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For 70 years, Wah Chan has been a Malaysian household name in jewelry. Now, with the third generation stepping in, the brand is navigating a major "reinvention". How does a 70-year-old legacy brand adapt to the modern market while staying true to its roots?
Executive Director Amanda Koo joins us to share her unique story. A computer scientist who first built her own successful digital jewelry brand in Singapore, Amanda discusses her journey into the family business, the lessons she learned from her father, and her mandate to build deeper, emotion-based customer relationships alongside digital expansion.
We discuss:
- The 70-year history of Wah Chan, from a Pahang goldsmith to a 9-figure business.
- Amanda's journey from computer science to founding her own digital jewelry brand.
- The challenges of navigating generational leadership in a family business.
- Her mandate to "reinvent" the brand by focusing on emotion and digital growth.
- Why the 55-outlet, 9-figure company has no plans for a stock exchange listing.
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Today’s story is about reinvention and what it really takes to build something completely new when the odds aren’t really in your favour.
Kristy Ting, Founder of Side Gig Accelerator, realised her savings and EPF weren’t going to be enough for the life she wanted for her family. She took a leap from dispensing prescriptions to designing sales funnels, and eventually launched the Side Gig Accelerator, a programme that helps everyday people who want to earn extra money learn a new, marketable skill through online channels.
Her students today range from 25-year-olds to retirees in their 70s, with the intention to show how online income isn’t just for the tech-savvy but it’s for anyone willing to take that first step.
In this conversation, we discuss how she built a seven-figure coaching and consulting business from scratch and what she’s learned about breaking limiting beliefs along the way.
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Could a subscription model for outpatient care, like "Netflix for healthcare", be sustainable? FEV3R is betting it can. For a fixed monthly fee, the health tech company offers unlimited virtual consultations, medication delivery, and 24/7 doctor access.
Co-Founder and CEO Adlan Hercus joins us to share the story behind his "round two" startup. He discusses the lessons from his first failed venture, the unique unit economics of their model, and how they manage costs by sourcing drugs directly and using AI to improve efficiency, all while aiming to disrupt the traditional panel clinic system.
We discuss:
- Their "Netflix for healthcare" subscription model for outpatient care.
- How they can offer unlimited consultations and still be sustainable.
- Why this is the founder's second round venture after a first attempt 20 years ago.
- Their virtual-first system using in-house, 24/7 doctors.
- Their growth strategy, including regional white-label partnerships.
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Why is this Silicon Valley VC bullish on Southeast Asian tech companies, despite faltering IPOs, blowups, and a scarcity of exits?
Launched in 2024, Raisewell Ventures has raised over $35 million to invest in AI, climate, and manufacturing tech, with a longer term aim to cross-pollinate between Silicon Valley and Southeast Asia.
With 14 deals already completed, Founder and Managing Partner Jeep Kline joins us to share her unique strategy. She explains why she's bullish on this region, why deep tech requires 12-15 year "patient capital", and much more.
We discuss:
- Why SEA tech needs to cross-pollinate with Silicon Valley.
- Why deep tech and "hard tech" require 12-15 year "patient capital".
- The 3 pillars (academia, capital, government) needed to build a tech economy.
- A new approach to solving Southeast Asia's chronic exit problem.
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After a dramatic pivot from a failed Bitcoin startup at Y Combinator, Xendit has since raised over US$500 million since 2015, growing into a payments unicorn.
Founder and CEO Moses Lo joins us to share his 10-year journey, detailing their "simplicity, speed, and service" competitive edge, their expansion into a financing business, and the lessons learned from navigating Southeast Asia's fragmented markets.
We discuss:
- The early pivots from Bitcoin remittance to a payments powerhouse.
- Their "simplicity, speed, and service" strategy for winning in fragmented markets.
- The expansion into financing, underwriting loans against payment flows.
- Their strategic expansion from Southeast Asia into Latin America.
For founders and leaders in the tech space, this is a deep dive into navigating pivots, scaling in Southeast Asia, and tackling new markets.
Note: The US$70 billion annual payment processing figure cited in this episode was reported by Bloomberg, as republished by The Edge Malaysia on 24 October 2025 here. It looks to be the main source of this figure.
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What started as a way for game publishers to escape the ‘app tax’ has evolved into a global monetisation and distribution platform. Fresh from acquiring its European counterpart Recharge, Coda now processes nearly $2 billion in commerce annually.
CEO Shane Happach, the company's first non-founder CEO, joins us to discuss this new chapter. He shares his mantra of "profitable global growth," the strategy behind the Recharge acquisition, and how Coda is expanding beyond gaming to help any digital business abstract the complexity of global payments and distribution.
We discuss:
- The evolution from a payments provider to a full-stack monetisation platform.
- The strategy behind the acquisition of Recharge and their European expansion.
- Their ‘profitable global growth’ mantra and future M&A outlook.
- How regulatory tailwinds are opening up app ecosystems for third-party payments.
- Their plans for geographic expansion into markets like Brazil and Japan.
This episode of Open For Business is powered by PETRONAS SmartPay, the simpler and better solution for all your business needs.
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The packaged food and beverage space is overflowing with brands claiming to be “natural”, “premium” or “healthy”, but few survive beyond the packaging. Alvin Andrew, the self-proclaimed King of Processed Foods, reveals why most founders shouldn’t even be in the game, the truth about what makes a product scalable, and how to build something that actually sells at home and abroad.
This episode of Open For Business is powered by PETRONAS SmartPay, the simpler and better solution for all your business needs.
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Data centres are no longer just information warehouses; they are high-density hubs, or ‘airports for internet traffic’, and the demand for power is exploding from 6 kilowatts a rack to over 150.
Wong Weng Yew, a 20-year industry veteran and the founder of Open DC, joins us to share his journey. He explains his pivot from a traditional ISP to building a RM70 million (projected) data centre business, his unique focus on telco-neutral hubs, and how his new facilities are being built to handle the intense power demands of AI workloads.
We discuss:
- His 20-year journey from an ISP to a data centre operator.
- Open DC's unique role as an ‘airport for internet traffic’.
- How AI is demanding a massive increase in "rack density" (power per rack).
- Why enterprises are now outsourcing their high-power AI infrastructure.
- The growth strategy that put them on track for RM70M in revenue by 2026.
This episode of Open For Business is powered by PETRONAS SmartPay, the simpler and better solution for all your business needs.
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Running a transport company in Malaysia is no small feat, especially with rising fuel costs and the challenge of keeping track of dozens of drivers and vehicles.
Ginderpal Singh Harnek Singh, Managing Director of Shaziman Transport, shares his entrepreneurial journey, how he keeps his fleet running efficiently, and how tools like PETRONAS SmartPay are helping businesses better manage one of their biggest expenses — fuel.
This episode of Open For Business is powered by PETRONAS SmartPay, the simpler and better solution for all your business needs.
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With the recent launch of its direct ETF Explorer and a long-awaited Shariah Global Portfolio, is digital wealth manager StashAway signaling a major evolution in its business model? Malaysia Country Manager Wong Wai Ken joins us to share the story behind this new chapter.
We discuss:
- The self-disruptive expansion to a transaction model for their new ETF Explorer.
- Whether ETF Explorer is an attempt to address low-fee brokers
- Why the Shariah Global Portfolio was led by the Malaysian team.
- Why it took 7 years to bring to market
- How their offering fits into the larger landscape of shariah investment options
- Their focus on deepening customer engagement, instead of pure user acquisition.
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Marking its 10th anniversary, IGL Coatings has grown into an eight-figure business exporting its surface protection solutions to 50 markets. But this milestone comes at a challenging time, with new US tariffs impacting its largest market.
Founder and CEO Keong Chun Chieh joins us to reflect on his 10-year journey. He discusses the on-the-ground reality of navigating tariffs, his strategic push to grow the B2C side of the business, the crucial lessons he's learned about IP protection, and his "north star" goal of hitting $100 million in annual revenue.
We discuss:
- The 10-year journey from a startup to an 8-figure manufacturer & exporter.
- The real-world impact of US tariffs and the strategy for navigating them.
- Why a 19% tariff Is better than uncertainty
- Their strategic push to grow the B2C segment to diversify risk.
- The crucial importance of IP protection and listening to customer feedback.
- Their new strategic partnership with Petronas to localise their supply chain.
This episode of Open For Business is powered by PETRONAS SmartPay, the simpler and better solution for all your business needs.
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We sit down with Shaerfatwa Intannadwah, Founder and Managing Director of Roboshop Technologies, to explore how a small series of robotics workshops has grown into a full-fledged EdTech ecosystem aiming to shape Malaysia’s next generation of tech talent.
Since its founding in 2019, Roboshop has been helping teachers and students not just adopt technology, but truly thrive in technology-driven classrooms — building confidence and creativity through hands-on learning in AI, robotics, IoT, and coding. From hosting national competitions like Let’s Code to preparing students for the 2025 AI Competition in Singapore, the company has become a bridge between education and innovation.
Intan shares how Roboshop is changing what it means to teach and learn in the digital age, and why nurturing future-ready talent may be Malaysia’s most important investment yet.
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William Koh, CEO and Managing Director of ALUMASTER, joins us to explore how a Sarawak-based aluminium solutions provider grew from a small local operation into one of East Malaysia’s most trusted names in high-quality windows, doors, and façade systems.
In an industry defined by tight margins, rising costs, and competition, ALUMASTER’s story is one of quiet resilience — built on craftsmanship, consistency, and a clear sense of purpose. From supply chain pressures to evolving building standards, William shares how the company has adapted, innovated, and positioned itself in Malaysia’s fast-changing construction landscape.
From sustainability and design innovation to regional expansion, we take a grounded look at how one homegrown brand continues to build growth, one project at a time.
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How does a former NASA scientist team up with a former Wall Street trader to build a deep tech company that manipulates atoms without a multi-million-dollar clean room? For NanoSkunkWorkX (nSWX), it’s about breaking the rules of nanotechnology.
Co-founders Dr. Amani Salim and Iqbal Shamsul join us to share their incredible journey. They discuss their core technology that "stitches together" graphene to solve fundamental bottlenecks in compute, energy, and healthcare, and their ambitious strategy to achieve "technological sovereignty" for Malaysia through strategic global partnerships.
We discuss:
- The journey from a NASA-funded research project to a deep tech startup.
- The NASA-meets-Wall Street origin story.
- The "Skunk Works" philosophy and their mission to build a world-class Malaysian innovator.
- Their unique low-cost platform for manipulating graphene.
- Their commercialization strategy, including a contract with a foreign military.
- Their ambitious vision for "technological sovereignty."
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What can Malaysian entrepreneurs and policymakers learn from one of the world's most advanced digital economies? Two of our own, Michele Chai of Kintry and Sasibai Kimis of Earth Heir, recently returned from a UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) eTradeforWomen Study Tour to China, getting an inside look at giants like Alibaba, JD Logistics, and Tencent.
The two founders join us to share their eye-opening takeaways. After a quick take on Malaysia's Budget 2026, they dive into their experiences in China, discussing the incredible efficiency of its logistics, the rapid adoption of AI, and the powerful "enabling environment" that helps businesses solve problems at speed.
We discuss:
- Key takeaways from Budget 2026 for SMEs and social enterprises.
- An inside look at the advanced logistics of giants like JD Logistics and Alibaba.
- China's rapid AI adoption and its real-world impact on jobs and society.
- The importance of China's "enabling environment" for business growth.
- The unique business philosophies that tie culture, family, and storytelling to commerce.
For entrepreneurs and business leaders, this is a fascinating look at the future of digital commerce and the lessons Malaysia can learn from a global leader.
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Cipher is an AI engine built by Ambitionz, a bootstrapped gaming software company led by Pavel Bains, that helps creators and studios design, build, and monetise games faster than ever. Unlike general AI models, Cipher “thinks like a game developer” — understanding the nuances of gameplay, asset optimization, and monetization, while empowering creators to focus on what truly matters: creativity and storytelling.
Rooted in a philosophy inspired by hip-hop’s collaborative “cypher” and the indie record label movement of the ’90s, Ambitionz champions independence, culture, and creativity for Asia’s next generation of game entrepreneurs.
We speak with Pavel Bains, CEO of Ambitionz, about the pivot that led to Cipher, how AI is transforming the game development cycle from months to weeks, and why the future of gaming lies not in hyperrealism, but in empowering everyday creators to build worlds of their own.
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Image Credit: Shutterstock
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As Malaysia digests the announcements from Budget 2026, how are entrepreneurs and startup founders viewing the road ahead? Beyond the headline numbers, what are the real-world implications for costs, growth, and strategy in the coming year?
Seasoned entrepreneur and investor Yeoh Chen Chow, of 1% Advisory & Coaching, joins us to provide a founder's perspective on the budget. He discusses the on-the-ground impact of rising costs, the critical need for continuous learning in a fast-changing world, and how businesses can strategically leverage key trends like AI to boost productivity.
We discuss:
- Chen Chow’s first impressions of Budget 2026 and what it signals.
- The business realities of rising costs, including the 8% SST on rentals.
- The growing importance of AI and the need to educate educators.
- Why continuous learning is a non-negotiable for modern entrepreneurs.
- The entrepreneurial mindset needed for 2026: resourceful, resilient, and responsible.
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Can gig work be both flexible and fair? TROOPERS thinks so. With 400,000 verified users and RM50 million in worker earnings, the platform is redefining what it means to take on part-time and flexible jobs in Malaysia.
Co-Founder and CEO Joshua Tan, and COO Craig Goonting explain how TROOPERS built trust with workers through zero commission fees, free training, and insurance coverage, while helping businesses reduce hiring time and gain access to on-demand talent. From small eateries to major banks and retailers, TROOPERS has become the go-to HR tech platform for flexible manpower.
Looking ahead, TROOPERS is setting its sights on Southeast Asia, bringing its AI-powered matching and scalable workforce solutions to new markets. We explore how BetterPlace’s acquisition has accelerated this vision, and what the future of gig work in the region might look like.
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From a humble roadside stall to five thriving outlets in just three years, Mokky’s Pizza is rewriting the rules of Malaysia’s billion-ringgit pizza industry. Built on authenticity, consistency, and a sense of community, the brand has turned customers into advocates and grown into a serious contender against giants like Pizza Hut and Domino’s.
Umar Abdul Aziz, Co-Founder of Mokky’s Pizza shares how he and his co-founders scaled so quickly, the gaps they are filling in the market, and why they’re raising RM3 million to fund further expansion, with ambitions of one day going public.
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Founded in 2013, Global TechSolutions (GTS) began as a local start-up offering customised equipment solutions for semiconductor manufacturers. Over the past decade, they have grown into a regional player with operations across Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the U.S.
We speak with Kenneth Lee, CEO of GTS, about the company’s growth journey, the strategies that facilitated its regional expansion, and how it’s navigating today’s semiconductor landscape — from supply chain challenges to AI-driven opportunities.
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Let’s go on an adventure… and a journey, with Jacinta Lim, Co-Founder of Seek Sophie, the travel platform curating hidden-gem experiences across Asia that are meaningful, sustainable, and deeply personal.
From jungle treks and dive trips to creative workshops and cultural encounters, Seek Sophie moves beyond cookie-cutter tours and tourist traps. By connecting travellers with independent guides and small local businesses, Jacinta and her team are proving that travel can be both transformative and responsible, supporting livelihoods, protecting nature, and creating stories that last long after the trip is over.
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What started 14 years ago as a temporary home baking project has grown into Xiao by Crustz, a 7-figure patisserie. For founder Xiao-Ly Koh, the journey has been a constant balancing act between her identity as a chef and the demands of being an entrepreneur.
Chef and Founder Xiao-Ly Koh joins us to share her story. She discusses her mission to introduce modern French pastry to Malaysians, the strategic pivots she made along the way (from customised cakes to a rotating menu), and her journey from a home kitchen to a bustling 60-seater cafe with ambitions to hit RM10 million in revenue.
We discuss:
- The 14-year journey from a home baker to a seven-figure business.
- The balancing act: navigating the tension between being a chef and an entrepreneur.
- The rotating menu strategy and the story behind her hero product, the "Kaya Toast."
- The evolution from a home business to a full-scale retail store.
- Her ambitious goal to reach RM10 million in revenue by expanding into new products.
For F&B founders and aspiring chefs, this is a deep dive into the realities of building a sustainable artisanal brand in a competitive market.
This episode of Open For Business is powered by PETRONAS SmartPay, the simpler and better solution for all your business needs.
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From fashion editor to gelato entrepreneur, Miranda Yeoh has built Paolo Paolo Gelato (PPG) into a premium artisanal brand that’s crossed the seven-figure mark, hit profitability within its first year, and attracted collaborations with global names like Nespresso. With three stores open and a fourth on the way, PPG is now navigating the tricky “in-between” stage — growing beyond a single outlet without losing its artisanal soul.
In this conversation, Miranda shares how her background in media and marketing shaped the brand, why support systems matter as much as business plans, and what it takes to scale intentionally in Malaysia’s competitive F&B landscape.
Miranda Yeoh will be speaking at ZafigoX 2025 Women's Festival on 11–12 October 2025 at Menara KEN TTDI, Kuala Lumpur.
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Backed by 500 Global, AI startup Awatar Innovations is on a mission to build the next generation of agentic chatbots. But what does it really take to build a deep tech company in Malaysia's burgeoning but challenging AI landscape?
The co-founding trio. Premesh Chandran, Eshwaren M, and Razlan Rizal, join us to share their story. They discuss their unique team dynamic, their strategy of using free consumer tools like Sakura AI as marketing for their deeper B2B enterprise solutions, and their plan to raise a $500k seed round to fuel their growth.
We discuss:
- The vision to build agentic AI chatbots for businesses.
- The unique challenges of building an AI startup in Malaysia (high costs, education gap).
- Their product strategy: using free tools like Sakura AI to drive B2B leads.
- Their business model, from free entry-level bots to full enterprise solutions.
- Their plan to raise a $500k seed round for team and market expansion.
For aspiring AI founders and investors, this is an inside look at the journey and strategy of an early-stage Malaysian tech venture.
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XION is a Web3 “invisible” trust protocol designed to remove the barriers that keep everyday users from adopting blockchain. Founded by Anthony “Burnt Banksy” Anzalone, the platform aims to eliminate the need for wallets, seed phrases, and gas fees for people and SMEs to transact and verify value as easily as sending an email. With features like USDC gas, Apple ID logins, and seamless proof integrations, XION aims to bring tokenization — from sukuk to unit trusts and invoices — into the mainstream.
We speak with Anthony Anzalone, Founder & CEO of XION, about making Web3 accessible to non-technical users, the opportunities and risks in Malaysia’s $43 billion tokenisation potential, and the regulatory groundwork needed to make it real.
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Launched in 2024, Webull Malaysia is a licensed digital broker regulated by the Securities Commission, offering access to Bursa Securities, Bursa Derivatives, and U.S. markets through its app. With low fees, real-time data, and a user-friendly interface, the platform aims to make investing more transparent and accessible to Malaysians. Kenneth Chan, CEO of Webull Malaysiashares the storyon how the company is positioning itself in Malaysia’s retail investing space, what differentiates them from competitors, and their plans for expansion and product innovation in the region.
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Self-storage is no longer just for de-cluttering your home. For Singapore-based Work+Store, it has become a flexible operational hub for SMEs and e-commerce retailers, offering everything from packing stations and last-mile support to specialised wine storage.
CEO Danny Wong joins us to share their journey of building a modern self-storage business. He discusses their "co-warehousing" model that provides crucial support for e-commerce businesses, their strategy of optimising older buildings into flexible spaces, and why Malaysian SMEs are increasingly using their platform to establish a foothold in Singapore.
We discuss:
- The evolution of self-storage from personal use to a B2B operational hub.
- Their "co-warehousing" model with packing stations and fulfillment support.
- The rise of specialised solutions like air-conditioned and wine storage.
- How they act as an incubator for growing e-commerce brands.
- Why Malaysian businesses are using flexible storage to enter the Singapore market.
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What began as a single attraction built around paint bombs has since exploded into one of Malaysia’s most dynamic entertainment experiences. Bomb Battle, licensed by Mission Group, has evolved from an interactive escape room concept into a full-fledged multi-entertainment hub, drawing in families, young adults, and corporate groups with experiences designed to last beyond novelty.
We welcome back Datin Sheehan Tee, Founder of Bomb Battle. She shares how the company has grown since our last conversation, the challenges and lessons along the way, the response from new and repeat audiences, and what expansion, both local and regional, looks like for the brand.
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Jens Bohnwagner, CEO at XSQUARE Technologies, leads a Singapore-based startup that simplifies warehouse operations with in-house automation software solutions.
Founded in 2019 with backing from the Goldbell Group, a mobility and industrial solutions provider, XSQUARE set out to deliver practical value in real-world warehouses. Since then, the company has worked with global leaders such as Coca-Cola, GSK, and Katoen Natie, and is now eyeing expansion into the Middle East.
This conversation explores how XSQUARE is redefining intralogistics, the role of its Series A funding round in fueling growth, and what lies ahead as it scales further.
Image credit: Shutterstock
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Since 2019, P2P financing platform microLEAP has dispersed over RM420 million while maintaining a claimed industry-low default rate of 0.36%. We dive into how this ex-banker built this profitable fintech by focusing on risk first and revenue second.
Founder and CEO Tunku Danny joins us to share his journey from a stable banking career to starting microLEAP with one year of savings. He discusses their evolution from a micro-financing platform to a broader SME lender, their unique credit assessment process using psychometric tests, and their vision to become a regional Islamic P2P leader.
We discuss:
- The journey to dispersing over RM420M with a 0.36% default rate.
- Their "risk-first, revenue-second" philosophy for sustainable growth.
- Their unique credit assessment model, including the use of psychometric tests.
- Their strategy for becoming a profitable and Sharia-compliant platform.
- Their plans for regional expansion into Indonesia and the Philippines.
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When you think of Malaysia’s favourite herbal drinks like mata kucing, lin chee kang, or sea coconut longan, chances are you picture them at a pasar malam or in a traditional kopitiam. But a new brand is giving these classics a fresh stage. Lin Chee King is bringing heritage recipes into a modern kiosk format, with bold branding and a vision to make them a staple for today’s on-the-go consumers.
We speak with its Co-Founders, Feeza Faeiz and Nicol Ruhan, about what sparked the idea, the challenges of scaling a heritage drink business, and what it takes to make Malaysians fall in love again with flavours that have been around for generations.
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Eighteen months after our last chat, Colony's CEO Timothy Tiah is back with a story of wins, setbacks, and strategic pivots. From navigating new SST and electricity tariff hikes to making the tough call to close a RM5 million venue, what does it take to lead a premium co-working brand in today's challenging market?
Timothy joins us to share an update on his journey, discussing the acquisition of catering company Dough by Meg (and its surprise viral granola hit) and his own emergence as a content creator to drive business growth and reduce marketing costs.
We discuss:
- Navigating the bottom-line impact of new SST and electricity tariff hikes.
- The strategic decision to close a RM5 million underperforming venue.
- The acquisition of Dough by Meg and its unexpected expansion into a retail granola brand.
- How the CEO's personal content creation is driving real B2B and B2C sales.
- The key criteria for selecting new, highly profitable locations.
For entrepreneurs and business leaders, this is a candid and insightful conversation on navigating costs, making tough calls, and finding new growth engines in unexpected places.
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What started as a RM1,500 side hustle during the pandemic has exploded into Hygr, an eight-figure beauty and personal care brand. After a viral TikTok video catapulted them into the spotlight, how did two former lawyers turn their DIY project into a full-fledged business with its own GMP-certified factory?
Co-founders Ivor Lim and Chew Hoi Meng join us to share their incredible bootstrapping journey. They discuss the challenges that forced them to become manufacturers, their social media-driven approach to product development, and their strategy for building a sustainable, eco-friendly brand in a competitive market.
We discuss:
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The journey from a RM1,500 side hustle to an 8-figure business.
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How a single viral TikTok video became their major turning point.
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The manufacturing challenges that forced them to build their own GMP factory.
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Their social media strategy for both marketing and product development.
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Their playbook for self-funding and bootstrapping a high-growth brand.
For aspiring entrepreneurs in the D2C and beauty space, this dives into bootstrapping, brand building, and leveraging social media to scale.
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With an alarming 80% math failure rate plaguing some schools, Malaysia faces a critical educational challenge. EdTech startup Tupai is on a mission to solve this, not just with an AI-powered tutor, but with a unique peer-to-peer learning community that is already delivering results.
Co-founders Edmond Yap and Andre Sequerah join us to share their journey from beta to a commercial launch that has seen students improve from 'F' to 'B' grades. They discuss their two-pronged solution, their B2B sales strategy via corporate foundations, and their plan to raise RM1.5 million through equity crowdfunding to scale their impact.
We discuss:
- Their mission to solve the 80% math failure rate in Malaysia.
- Their unique approach combining an AI tutor with a peer learning community.
- The impressive results from their school pilots (students going from 'F' to 'B').
- Their monetisation strategy through corporate foundations and CSR.
- Their plan to raise RM1.5 million via Equity Crowdfunding (ECF) to scale.
For impact investors, educators, and corporate leaders, this is a deep dive into an outcome-driven company tackling one of the nation's biggest challenges.
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From a simple app for errands in 2014, GoGet has evolved into a digital staffing powerhouse with nearly 400,000 verified workers and an eight-figure annual revenue. As a pioneer in Malaysia's gig economy, what is the story behind their 11-year journey?
Co-Founder and CEO Franchesca Chia joins us to share her experience. She discusses their evolution from a consumer-focused app to a primarily B2B platform, their proactive role in advocating for gig worker protection, and their exciting new venture: a workforce management SaaS tool for the traditional staffing industry.
We discuss:
- The 11-year journey from a B2C errand app to an 8-figure B2B platform.
- Their proactive role in advocating for gig worker rights, including EPF integration.
- The "digital resume" feature that provides data-driven verification of skills.
- Their new chapter: launching a workforce management SaaS tool for the industry.
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From a single outlet in 2003, The Olive Tree Group has grown into a hospitality empire with 30 restaurants and bars across seven states and two countries. At the helm is Founder and Managing Director Leslie Gomez, whose vision has been to serve not just food, but experiences that bring people together.
In this conversation, Leslie reflects on the capital and grit needed to expand, the realities of profitability in Malaysia’s F&B industry, and how creativity, from immersive atmospheres to award-winning cuisine, keeps the group ahead. He also shares why food and hospitality carry meaning beyond the table, shaping the way we connect and celebrate as a community.
We discuss:
- The 20+ year journey from one outlet to a RM100M+ F&B group.
- The strategy of being self-funded: "one successful outlet gives birth to another."
- Why understanding location, demographics, and landlord relations are key.
- The creative process behind their diverse portfolio of restaurant brands.
- The long-term vision: reaching 50 outlets and a potential public listing.
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Having built a successful gig platform for e-commerce and retail, Qwork is now taking on a bigger challenge: solving the talent mismatch in Malaysia's heavy industries. They're launching the Qwork Manpower Hub (QMH), a new subsidiary focused on building a skilled local talent pipeline for "3D" jobs.
Co-founder and Chief Strategy & Financial Officer Dr. Mimi Aminah joins us to unpack this evolution. She discusses their "train and place" model for creating career progression, the strategic separation of their operations and tech businesses, and their plan to fund this new venture through equity crowdfunding.
We discuss:
- The launch of the Qwork Manpower Hub (QMH) for heavy industries.
- Their "train and place" model for building a local TVET talent pipeline.
- The unique strategy of funding a new subsidiary via equity crowdfunding.
- How they create clear career progression for workers across different industries.
- The strategic separation of their operations and technology businesses.
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For almost 30 years, the smell of a freshly baked Rotiboy bun has been an iconic part of the Malaysian food experience, but behind this is a story of near-failure, resilience, and a "last stand" that involved selling a family car to survive.
Founder Hiro Tan joins us to share his incredible journey. From making pau as a child and struggling with RM60-a-day sales in his first Klang Valley outlet, to a pivotal turning point at Wisma Sentral that sparked a regional franchise, this is the story behind one of Malaysia's beloved food brands.
We discuss:
- The 30-year journey from a struggling Penang bakery to a global brand.
- The "last stand" moment that saved the business from the brink of failure.
- The two key lessons learned: the need for expertise and sufficient capital.
- The evolution of their business model into manufacturing and franchising.
- The founder's current focus on building a lasting legacy and succession planning.
For entrepreneurs and anyone who loves a true story of resilience, this is a dive into the heart and hustle behind an iconic Malaysian brand.
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A shareholder clash sparked a 7-figure Superapp pivot? What started in 2016 as a niche proptech company has evolved into FusionQB, a mid-7-figure business that builds customer data platforms and super apps for over 60 enterprise clients. Now managing over a million customer profiles, what's the story behind their successful pivot?
Co-founders Alvin Chooi and Stephen Lim join us to share their journey. They explain the crucial difference between a traditional CRM and a modern Customer Data Platform (CDP), their pivot from a single industry to a broader market, and their new focus on integrating AI to drive customer engagement and growth.
We discuss:
- The key difference between a traditional CRM and a Customer Data Platform (CDP).
- The story behind their pivot from proptech to an industry-agnostic platform.
- Their three-pronged business model combining retainers, projects, and profit-sharing.
- How they use unified data to enable targeted remarketing and save costs.
- Their future roadmap, including next-gen AI solutions and regional expansion.
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What started as a single food truck to help one person in need has evolved into Pepper Labs, an eight-figure social enterprise that has impacted over 400,000 lives. But how do you scale social impact while remaining a commercially viable, profitable business?
Managing Director Thanaselan Rajendran joins us to share their incredible 10-year journey. He discusses the critical difference between a social enterprise and a charity, their innovative "Dapur Digital" community kitchens, and how they partner with giants like Microsoft and Google to bridge the digital divide with large-scale AI training.
We discuss:
- The 10-year journey from a single food truck to an 8-figure business.
- The crucial difference between a social enterprise and a charity.
- Their "Dapur Digital" model for empowering micro-entrepreneurs in PPR communities
- How they are bridging the digital divide with large-scale AI training.
- Their ambitious vision to become an "impact-based conglomerate."
For social entrepreneurs, corporate foundations, and policymakers, this is a fascinating story in building a scalable, sustainable, and impact-focused organisation.
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Fresh off its rebrand, Razorpay Curlec is navigating a critical new phase: the post-founder, post-acquisition era. With a new CEO at the helm, the fast-growing payment gateway is now tasked with leveraging its parent company's global scale to win in Malaysia's hyper-competitive fintech market.
New Country Head and CEO Kevin Lee joins us to discuss his mandate for this new chapter. He shares insights on the strategic value of combining local expertise with a global tech stack, his playbook for scaling the business, and how Razorpay's deep focus on AI is shaping their product roadmap.
We discuss:
- The strategy that led to 70% year-on-year volume growth.
- The challenges of navigating a post-founder leadership transition.
- How they are expanding from recurring payments to a full "Pains and Payouts" suite.
- Their competitive strategy against both global giants and local incumbents.
- How their parent company's AI philosophy is driving innovation.
For leaders in the fintech and payments space, this is a deep dive into strategy, scale, and the realities of a post-acquisition journey.
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From breakfast tables in Germany to boardrooms across Asia, Sebastian Krack’s journey with Hyatt Hotels has been one of passion, innovation, and leadership. Now stepping in as General Manager of Hyatt Centric City Centre Kuala Lumpur, he shares how bold ideas like Le Petit Chef are reshaping dining, why hotels must go beyond room nights to deliver true experiences, and his vision for making Hyatt Centric a destination that reflects the spirit of Kuala Lumpur itself.
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What started as a passion project in 2022 has since grown into By The Billions (BTB), a platform that blends automotive storytelling, 4x4 expeditions, and lifestyle festivals that bring together adventurers, car enthusiasts, and brands. Ned Nazlan, Founder of By The Billions, reflects on evolving a community into a business, the challenges of scaling, and why Malaysia’s appetite for outdoor adventure is only just beginning.
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For many service-based SMEs in the health and wellness space, managing operations is a chaotic mix of spreadsheets, WhatsApp messages, and manual payment tracking. Singapore-based startup Vibefam is on a mission to fix this with its AI-powered "growth operating system."
Co-founder and CEO Serene Lim joins us to share their journey of building a platform that automates operations, boosts revenue, and has achieved an incredible 98% customer retention rate. She discusses their pivot from a community-focused app to a powerful business tool, their use of AI for churn prediction, and their strategy for a $1 million seed round to fuel expansion across Southeast Asia.
We discuss:
- The "growth operating system" for service-based SMEs.
- How they achieved a 98% monthly customer retention rate.
- The pivot from a community app to a valuable business operations tool.
- How they use AI to predict customer churn and optimize class slots.
- Their plan to raise a $1M seed round to expand across Southeast Asia.
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While our favourite apps know what we want to watch next, our banking apps often remain transactional and impersonal. Singapore-based Fintech Moneythor is on a mission to change that, providing an AI-powered engine to transform the customer experience into what they call "deep banking."
CEO Martin Frick joins us to share their journey of building a profitable, eight-figure revenue business that serves top-tier banks across the globe. He discusses his mandate as the professional CEO brought in to scale the company, their high-margin B2B SaaS model, and their playbook for the next phase of growth.
We discuss:
- The concept of "deep banking": personalised, proactive, and beyond banking.
- The journey of a highly profitable, founder-led fintech.
- The playbook for scaling a B2B SaaS company, including geographic expansion.
- The leadership transition from a founder to a professional CEO.
- Their high-margin, recurring revenue business model.
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Riaz Mehta, Founder & CEO of Ritestream, an International Emmy-nominated producer turned Web3 entrepreneur shares how his journey from creating global TV hits like The Contender Asia to joining the CryptoKnights collective inspired him to build Ritestream, a decentralised platform where creators can fund, distribute, and monetise content using blockchain, NFTs, and smart contracts.
We dive into the early challenges of launching a Web3 startup, from fundraising to building an MVP, and explore how Ritestream’s flagship reality show, CryptoKnights, became the “Shark Tank of Web3.” Riaz also tells us his vision for the future of entertainment at the intersection of Web3, AI, and creator-driven content.
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Launched in the midst of the 2020 pandemic, Malaysian footwear brand Machino is on a mission to prove you don't have to sacrifice comfort for style. Now a seven-figure business with ambitions to hit eight figures this year, what's the story behind these two sisters and their shoe brand?
Co-founders Esther and Amy Tai join us to share their journey of building a D2C brand from scratch. They discuss their "comfort-first" R&D process, their modern omnichannel strategy powered by TikTok Shop, and how their signature "Hana flower" design has become a valuable piece of intellectual property.
We discuss:
- The journey of building a 7-figure D2C footwear brand.
- Their "comfort-first" R&D process using unique foam insoles.
- How they leverage their "Hana flower" IP for branding and major collaborations.
- Their omnichannel strategy, including the surprising power of TikTok Shop.
- Their plans for new product categories and international expansion.
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From Musang King durian to Vietnamese coffee, XO-ice have blended the best of Asia with the craftsmanship of Italy, creating gelato that’s lower in calories, lower in sugar, and higher in protein, and yes, you can eat it straight from the freezer. Jennifer Lee and Donatien Monod, the co-founders of XO-ice, join us to talk about turning an indulgence into something you can enjoy with a little less guilt and a lot more flavour.
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What began as a PhD project inspired by Tun Dr. Mahathir has grown into a profitable biotech firm with over RM13 million in annual revenue. By successfully cultivating the once "uncultivatable" Tiger Milk Mushroom, Ligno Biotech has turned a Malaysian national treasure into a patented and commercial success story.
Co-founders Ng Szu Ting and Dr. Tan Chon Seng join us to share their journey from researchers to entrepreneurs. They detail how they developed their patented technology, the decade-long process of market education, and their ambitious goal to grow into a RM60 million global business.
We discuss:
- The long journey of commercialising a PhD research project.
- How they developed a patented cultivation technology for a "national treasure."
- Their three-pronged business model combining B2B, OEM, and a house brand.
- How continuous R&D serves as their key competitive advantage.
- Their strategy for global expansion and the road to RM60 million in revenue.
For entrepreneurs in deep tech and biotech, this explores the long, challenging journey from lab to market.
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What started as a chance meeting between two flight attendants has grown into an 11-year journey of producing circus shows in Malaysia. This is the story of the Swiss Dream Circus, a bootstrapped, passion-driven venture in the high-stakes world of live entertainment.
Co-founders Marco Baumgartner and Ismail Stork join us to pull back the curtain on the "circus behind the circus". They discuss their mission to create high-quality family entertainment, the immense logistical and financial challenges of producing a million-ringgit annual show, and their vision to establish the circus as a beloved Malaysian institution.
We discuss:
- The journey from flight attendants to circus co-founders.
- The "circus behind the circus": the real costs and operational hurdles.
- Why a live circus experience remains relevant in a digital age.
- Their business model and the challenge of balancing passion and profit.
- Their long-term vision for Swiss Dream Circus in Malaysia.
For entrepreneurs in the events and entertainment space, this is a look at the challenging but rewarding world of turning a passion into a business.
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Tempeh and gourmet — not a pairing you’d expect. Yet Ethan Wong, Founder of Truly Gourmet, has turned a humble Malaysian staple into a thriving premium food brand. From perfecting a seven-day fermentation process to creating products that feel indulgent yet accessible, Ethan shares how he’s redefining what "gourmet” can mean in a diverse, price-sensitive market.
In this conversation, we uncover the strategies, decisions, and turning points that shaped Truly Gourmet’s growth, from securing capital and scaling production, to balancing quality with market demand. Ethan also reflects on how he’s navigated challenges in the F&B scene, and the mindset that has kept the brand resilient and profitable.
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After a grueling three-year journey involving 57 investor conversations, digital health startup Naluri has closed its $14 million Series B round. Now covering over 1 million lives across Southeast Asia, what does this hard-won capital mean for their future, and what lessons did their founder learn along the way?
CEO and Co-founder Azran Osman-Rani joins us to share the story of Naluri's path to scale. He discusses their integrated health model that combines mental and physical well-being, the strategic partnership with lead investor TELUS that is reshaping their expansion plans, and their roadmap to profitability within a year.
We discuss:
- The 3-year, 57-pitch journey to close a $14M Series B.
- How they scaled to cover over 1 million employees across Southeast Asia.
- Their integrated model connecting mental and physical health.
- AI’s potential to improve efficiency and productivity.
- Their new expansion strategy fueled by a strategic partnership with TELUS.
For founders navigating the fundraising 'death valley,' and for leaders in the HealthTech space, this is a dive into the complexities of fundraising, strategic partnerships, and scaling in Southeast Asia.
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Last-mile delivery is the invisible backbone of city life. But it’s also a major source of congestion, noise, and carbon emissions. Yoann Gueguen and Onno Pfeiffer, co-founders of Diolko, a Klang Valley-based startup and Southeast Asia’s first urban logistics-on-rail solution join us to discuss the origins of their idea, the challenges of integrating rail transport into last-mile logistics, and how they’re cutting delivery emissions by up to 90%. We also explore their rapid growth since launching in 2024, securing big-name clients like L’Oréal and CEVA Logistics, and their ambitions to expand across the ASEAN region.
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How does an American expat become the founder of Malaysia's only B Corp-certified batik brand? For Amy Blair, what started as a project to help one woman has grown into Batik Boutique, a multi-million ringgit social enterprise on a mission to take Malaysian heritage to the world.
Founder and CEO Amy Blair joins us to share her 12-year journey. She discusses how she navigated criticism as a foreigner in a heritage craft, the strategic pivot during the pandemic that transformed her business, and her vision for building a premium, global brand.
We discuss:
- The 12-year journey of building a premium social enterprise.
- Navigating the challenges of being an expat founder in a heritage craft.
- How a pivot to face masks during COVID-19 unlocked their now best-selling apparel line.
- The importance of B Corp certification for global brand building.
- Their growth strategy to hit RM7 million in revenue and expand internationally.
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In an age of retrenchment tsunamis and career uncertainty, many midlife professionals are asking: what's next? For our guest, the answer isn't just finding another job, it's about embracing an entrepreneurial mindset to build your 'Act 2.'
Dash Dhakshinamoorthy, Co-founder of Act 2, joins us to discuss his mission to help both individuals repurpose their careers and organizations find their next growth engine. He explains his philosophy of "effectual entrepreneurship", a research-backed method for leveraging uncertainty with affordable losses to turn transitions into opportunities.
We discuss:
- How to reframe entrepreneurship as leveraging uncertainty, not taking huge risks.
- The "Act 2" philosophy for repurposing your midlife career for fulfillment.
- Why founder development is more important than venture success.
- How large corporations can build an entrepreneurial mindset to find new growth.
- An introduction to the "effectual entrepreneurship" methodology.
For mid-career professionals navigating a pivot, and for leaders trying to foster innovation, this is a guide to building an entrepreneurial mindset for what comes next.
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Needle, an AI-powered marketing platform from Singapore, starts by helping founders generate ideas and determine business and marketing priorities and then provides personalised recommendations for effective tactics. We speak with Kiyan Foroughi, CEO and Co-Founder at Needle about the rationale behind their inception and their fundraising journey, how they developed their platform that’s backed by AI and how Kiyan aims to grow and scale the business going forward after securing a seed funding round.
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In Malaysia's crowded grab-and-go coffee scene, a new player has exploded onto the market, opening 50 outlets in under two years. Backed by $2.5 million in funding, Koppiku is betting it can win by targeting the often "underserved middle segment" of the market.
Founder and CEO Rajiv Bhanot joins us to share the story behind their rapid growth. He discusses his journey from medical doctor to F&B entrepreneur, the strategy of offering an "aspirational, yet affordable" product, and the crucial lessons learned from a year of intense experimentation to fine-tune their playbook for scaling.
We discuss:
- The strategy that grew the company to 50 outlets in under two years.
- Why they are targeting the "underserved middle segment" of the coffee market.
- How they use data and customer feedback to drive rapid product innovation.
- Their "playbook for scale" learned from extensive location experimentation.
- The unit economics of a high-volume, low-ticket F&B business.
For F&B entrepreneurs and investors, this is a dive into hyper-growth, brand positioning, and the realities of Malaysia's coffee wars.
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Plant-based living was once seen as a niche trend in Malaysia, a passing fad, or something at odds with our love for sambal and satay. But with VegFest now in its seventh edition, it’s clear that something deeper is taking root.
Gulshan Kaur Rai and Mandeep Singh Sidhu share how Malaysia VegFest grew from a small idea into a thriving movement. We dive into the cultural pushback, the business opportunities, and the values driving a lifestyle shift that’s as much about justice and sustainability as it is about food.
Is Malaysia ready for a plant-forward future? And what does it really take to change the way a nation eats, and thinks?
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US-based Aircraft Propeller Service (APS), a leading independent propeller MRO company, has opened its first-ever Asian facility right here in Selangor. But in a competitive region, why did they choose Malaysia as the hub for their Asia-Pacific ambitions?
Fergus Lopez, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at APS, joins us to detail the strategic rationale behind their investment. He discusses their unique competitive advantage as the only licensed source for proprietary OEM repairs in the region and their plan to build a "center of excellence" with a 100% Malaysian, highly-trained workforce.
We discuss:
- The strategic reasons for choosing Malaysia as their APAC hub.
- Their competitive advantage as a licensed MRO for proprietary repairs.
- How the Malaysian facility operates as a "center of excellence."
- The booming turboprop market in Asia and their plan to capture it.
- Their long-term vision to expand beyond propellers into a major MRO player.
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What does a five-star hotel opening say about the direction of a city, or the confidence of a global brand?
We speak with Till Martin, General Manager of the soon-to-launch Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown. With over three decades at Hyatt and a career spent opening hotels across Asia and the Middle East, Till shares why KL Midtown was chosen, how Hyatt views Malaysia as a growth market, and what it takes to lead in a hospitality landscape that’s rapidly evolving.
From cultural sensitivity and team-building to the practical challenges of post-pandemic hotel launches, this conversation explores what it means to bet on place, people, and purpose.
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Confetto, a digital marketing agency from Singapore specialising in social media and content creation for brands targeting Gen Zs, has quickly become one of the region’s rising stars. Founded by fashion designer Silvia Teh and her husband, the company began as a tech platform helping SMEs automate brand visuals, but a bold pivot turned it into a full-fledged creative agency. Now in its third year, Confetto has scaled to 7-figure revenue, captured the attention of Gen Z audiences across Southeast Asia, and done it all without external funding. We discuss how the pivot from tech to content transformed their growth, how Confetto keeps content culturally relevant and entertaining, as well as what the future looks like for the business.
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What started with just RM1,000 and a stroke of luck during the pandemic has grown into a RM500,000-a-year fitness business. But for Movement Dynamics, the journey is about more than just personal training; it's about building a brand that people aspire to be a part of through content, events, and corporate wellness.
Founder Kevin Khaandor joins us to share his five-year journey of evolving his business from a traditional personal training studio to a comprehensive fitness brand. He discusses the strategic pivot to the more profitable B2B corporate wellness and events, and his long-term vision to build a content-driven brand with a future fitness app.
We discuss:
- The five-year journey from a RM1k investment to a RM500k business.
- Why they expanded from B2C personal training to high-margin B2B corporate wellness and events.
- The strategy of using "satellite gyms" to scale in an asset-light way.
- How they use content as a key driver for business growth.
- The long-term vision to build a fitness brand people aspire to join.
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Just six months in, Singapore-based Inductiv is developing an enterprise-grade GenAI platform designed for startups and businesses in complex industries like finance and healthcare. Championing this is Saurav Dhungana, a data scientist with deep experience in U.S. healthcare, telecom, and fintech. This episode dives into how Inductiv is approaching AI agent development for enterprises of all sizes, the unique challenges of building in APAC, and what it takes to go from MVP to market-ready in a rapidly evolving AI landscape.
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Can a business built around Nasi Lemak become a global brand like Nando's? That's Nale’s ambitious mission, but their biggest challenge is convincing Malaysians to pay a premium for a beloved roadside classic.
Founder and CEO Andreas Domingo joins us to share his journey of building a brand that has generated over RM36 million in revenue since 2019. He discusses his unique premium positioning, a new dual-brand strategy for mass-market expansion, and his plans to venture into the FMCG space.
We discuss:
- The mission to elevate Nasi Lemak into a globally recognised dish.
- The strategy behind their premium positioning and mall-based locations.
- The financial journey to over RM10 million in annual revenue.
- Their new dual-brand strategy with "Nale" (premium) and "Naku" (mass-market).
- Their plans to expand into FMCG and eventually go global.
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As palm oil plantations expand, the conflict between humans and wildlife escalates, often with tragic results. Sarawak-based AIoT startup Satok Bridge Digital was founded to tackle this critical issue, offering a technology-driven alternative to violence.
CEO Tham Tat Wai joins us to share their story of building a sustainable, mission-driven tech company. He explains their flagship product ‘Gajah Safe’, an AI-powered early warning system for elephants, and discusses how their core expertise in Vision AI is being applied to solve a range of other rural and industrial problems.
We discuss:
- Their mission to resolve human-wildlife conflict with humane technology.
- How their ‘Gajah Safe’ early warning system for elephants works.
- Their core expertise in Vision AI and their various innovative "pet projects."
- The "Data Bridge," their unique IoT device with swappable modules for rural areas.
- Their sustainable, self-reliant approach to funding and business growth.
For entrepreneurs in deep tech and conservation, this is a fascinating look at a mission-driven company with a passion for solving real-world problems.
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What started as a shared skincare struggle between two young Malaysians has grown into Dododots, a pimple patch brand that’s caught the attention of TikTok and beyond. In just four years, the brand has sold over a million packs globally. To explore further into their inception story, the challenges the business has faced in a unique market and the ambitions ahead, we speak with Ethan Wong and Esther Erin, Co-founders at Dododots.
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For 11 years, Strangers at 47 has been a beloved neighbourhood cafe, famous for its savory crepes. But behind the cozy vibes is a story of resilience, adaptation, and the relentless hustle of surviving in the tough F&B industry.
Co-founders Lim Sing Yi and Sean Ooi join us to share their journey from "fearless" young graduates to seasoned F&B veterans. They discuss the financial realities of running a cafe with thin margins, their strategy to boost profitability by expanding into catering and e-commerce, and their ambitious plans to launch a new flagship store.
We discuss:
- The 11-year journey of building a beloved neighbourhood cafe.
- The financial realities of running an F&B business on 6-8% net margins.
- Their strategy to boost profitability by expanding into catering and e-commerce.
- The biggest ongoing challenge in F&B: hiring and retaining talent.
- Their future plans, including the launch of a new flagship store.
For aspiring and current F&B entrepreneurs, this is an honest and insightful look at what it truly takes to build a sustainable and beloved brand from the ground up.
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Marcus Khoo, founder and CEO of Pure Mylk, shares how they’re helping F&B brands bring clean-label products to life, what it takes to innovate in a crowded market, and why Malaysia could be a food-tech launchpad for the region. He also talks about the operational challenges faced by the business and their ambitions ahead.
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Warehouse automation has long been seen as a multi-million dollar game reserved for giants. Backed by Pentamaster, Malaysian deep tech startup Pingspace is attempting to change that, making advanced robotics accessible to all businesses through a Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS) model for its automated cube-based storage systems that function like "giant vending machines."
Founder and CEO Chuah Di Ken joins us to share his journey of building a hardware-heavy startup. He discusses their HaaS model, how their technology makes warehouses 4x more space-efficient, and their ambitious plan to grow from RM10 million to RM40 million in revenue next year.
We discuss:
- The "Matrix Storage System" and how it makes warehouses more efficient.
- The Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS) model that makes automation affordable.
- The strategic and familial (father-son) relationship with Pentamaster, which is both an investor but also Pingspace’s manufacturer.
- The founder's journey from food science to deep tech robotics.
- Their growth plan for scaling in Malaysia and expanding overseas.
For business owners in logistics and manufacturing, and anyone interested in the future of automation, this is a look at a Malaysian company building the warehouse of the future.
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How does a magic producer pivot to the wellness industry and build a business generating nearly half a million ringgit in monthly revenue in just over a year? For David Lai, founder of Warrior Plunge, the secrets of the stage are the same secrets to selling high-ticket products.
David joins us to share his entrepreneurial journey, from producing shows for magic's biggest stars to selling premium cold plunges and saunas. He discusses his unique marketing philosophy, the strategy that grew sales exponentially, and how he leveraged "indirect showrooms" at gyms and pickleball courts to build his brand.
We discuss:
- The transition from magic producer to wellness entrepreneur.
- The strategy that grew sales to nearly RM500k a month in under 18 months.
- The art of selling high-ticket price products.
- How to use "indirect showrooms" to drive high-ticket sales.
- The importance of after-sales service and building customer trust.
- His plan is to pivot from products to a physical wellness hub.
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Co-owners Sam Fakhoury and Moustafa Elbaadwihi took over a struggling barbershop and transformed it into Kingsmen Barbershop, a premium grooming brand fit for kings. At their Bukit Damansara location, Kingsmen is redefining what it means to step into a barbershop, with an experience designed to relax, refresh, and recharge the modern gentleman.
In this episode, Directors Sam (CEO) and Moustafa (CFO) share how they combined their backgrounds in engineering and finance with a passion for craftsmanship to build a thriving business. They discuss their decision to stay hands-on, with Sam being both CEO and barber, and how that shapes everything from customer relationships to team culture.
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What if your daily coffee was served not by a person, but by a vending machine? Malaysian startup Otter Barista is deploying its "cafe in a box" vending machines across the Klang Valley, aiming to solve the demand for affordable, consistent, and convenient coffee, especially in high-traffic locations like hospitals.
Founder and CEO Eeyong Ho joins us to share her journey of building a seven-figure robotic coffee business. She discusses their strategy for overcoming the stigma of vending machine coffee through quality beans and superior service, how they use IoT to manage a growing fleet of machines, and their ambitious plans to scale to over 300 locations.
We discuss:
- The "cafe in a box" model for reducing rental and manpower costs.
- Their strategy for winning in high-demand locations like hospitals.
- How they use IoT and proactive maintenance to ensure quality and hygiene.
- The importance of branding to "humanise" an automated service.
- Their growth plan to scale from 70 to 300 machines via strategic partnerships.
For founders in the F&B and retail tech space, this is a dive into building an automated, hardware-based business from the ground up.
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Bilingual education demand is surging and MapleBear is tapping into Malaysia’s multicultural market with its globally respected Canadian curriculum.
With Malaysia’s growing parental focus on cognitive development and future employability, and government plans for a bilingual preschool curriculum by 2026, MapleBear’s entry is perfectly timed. This episode with Rafael Mangini, Marketing Director of MapleBear Canadian School, explores their global approach to early childhood education, how it nurtures holistic, future-ready learners, and what their expansion means for Malaysia’s education landscape.
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Processing over $2 billion in annual transactions, Aleta Planet has carved out a powerful niche in the crowded fintech space. Their secret? A laser focus on solving the complexities of cross-border payments with China, particularly in the challenging perishable food and fruit sector.
Founder and Group Chairman Ryan Gwee joins us to share his journey of building a profitable payments powerhouse. He discusses their "China-centric" strategy, their client-driven approach to product development, and their next big bet: the M Plus super app targeting the Muslim market in Southeast Asia.
We discuss:
- Their "China-centric" strategy for differentiating in a crowded market.
- How they became a leader in perishable food payments and financing.
- Their client-driven approach to product development and organic growth.
- The story behind their new venture: the M Plus super app for SEA.
- Their journey of building an in-house tech stack over four years.
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As enterprises rush to adopt AI, many are inadvertently creating "AI chaos", a complex mess of disconnected tools, data silos, and major governance blind spots. Startup Shieldbase AI aims to solve this with a new kind of platform: a unifying operating system for enterprise AI.
CEO and Co-Founder Diego Rojas joins us to explain his mission to provide a single layer for AI governance, security, and orchestration. He discusses their B2B model focused on regulated sectors, how their platform allows companies to set clear policies for AI usage, and their strategy for building a defensible deep tech business.
We discuss:
- The problem of "AI chaos" and why it's a risk for enterprises.
- How their "AI operating system" provides centralised governance and control.
- Their "paid pilot" strategy for winning enterprise clients.
- The importance of the "human factor" and upskilling in the AI era.
- Their growth plans for the Japan and Asia Pacific markets.
For C-suite executives, IT leaders, and CISOs navigating the complexities of AI adoption, this is an essential look at the future of enterprise-grade AI governance.
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Singapore-based SynVista Energy is investing US$50 million to build a large-scale energy storage manufacturing facility. But what makes Malaysia the right hub for their regional ambitions, and what does this mean for the future of clean energy in Southeast Asia?
Executive Director Peter Phang joins us to break down the strategy behind this major investment. He explains their core product, AI-powered Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) that act like "giant power banks", and how they are crucial for stabilising the grid as more renewables come online.
We discuss:
- The strategy behind their $50M investment in a Malaysian manufacturing hub.
- How their AI-powered BESS helps manage energy costs and grid stability.
- Why Malaysia was chosen over regional competitors for this facility.
- Their plan to build a "center of excellence" and develop local talent.
- The key growth drivers for the energy storage market in ASEAN.
For leaders in the energy and manufacturing sectors, and investors in CleanTech, this is a dive into the business of energy storage and a case study in building a high-tech hub in Malaysia.
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Having surpassed $1 billion in assets under management and serving nearly 450,000 customers globally, Wahed is a key player in the Islamic wealth tech space. But as the company scales, how does its leadership team avoid common missteps while staying true to its core mission?
Group CEO Mohsin Siddiqui discusses his role as the operator tasked with taking the company to the next level, their strategy of making "fewer, deeper strategic bets," and their expansion into new products like fractional real estate and active ETFs.
We discuss:
- The playbook for scaling from a $10M to a $100M revenue target.
- How they maintain an "unbelievably low" customer acquisition cost.
- Their expansion into new asset classes like fractional real estate.
- Navigating the crucial founder-to-CEO leadership transition.
- Their experience working with the Malaysian SC in a regulatory sandbox.
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Wellness used to be a yoga mat and a green smoothie. These days, it's a billion-dollar industry, a tourism strategy, and, in the case of one Singaporean festival, a full-blown fitness concert.
Today, we’re talking about GLOW Festival, the wellness and movement event that’s grown from a niche fitness gathering to Southeast Asia’s biggest stage for sweat, beats, and short-haul getaways. It’s also catching the eye of Malaysians looking to stretch more than just their hamstrings.
At the helm is Martin Capstick, a man who’s shaped pro golf tours, K-pop mega concerts, and art exhibitions, and now, mass wellness experiences. He shares how to turn something as fuzzy as "wellness" into a sharp, scalable brand, and why a fitness festival might just be good business.
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After a personal family crisis involving his goddaughter's mental health struggles, this founder set out on a new mission. His startup, Zoala, built an AI-powered mental health platform to provide a crucial early warning system for schools and workplaces, backed by $1.5 million in funding.
Founder and CEO Jeff Lee joins us to share his journey and explain how Zoala aims to supplement, not replace, professional care. He discusses their B2B model, how the platform uses AI to help users process challenges while alerting professionals when needed, and their plans to expand into key markets like Malaysia.
We discuss:
- The powerful personal story that sparked the company's mission.
- How their AI acts as an "early warning system" in schools and workplaces.
- Their B2B model and why they chose it over a direct-to-consumer approach.
- The importance of co-founders with complementary skills (ops, AI ethics).
- Their plan to raise $1M to expand into Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
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Traditional hiring is broken, rewarding polished resumes over actual skills. Singapore-based startup LeapIn aims to fix this by replacing CVs with an "AI recruiter" that assesses skills and potential, not just keywords.
Founder and CEO Sara Zhu joins us to share her journey of building a profitable, seven-figure HR Tech company. She explains how their AI-powered platform uses video interviews to analyse a candidate's language, emotion, and behavior with over 95% prediction accuracy, and how they train custom models on a company's own top performers to ensure success.
We discuss:
- How their AI recruiter analyses behavior to predict soft skills.
- Their "skills-first" approach to replacing the traditional CV.
- How they train custom AI models using a company's internal data.
- Their B2B model that has led to profitability and 100% client retention.
- Their Series A fundraising plans for regional expansion into Malaysia and beyond.
For HR leaders, talent acquisition managers, and founders looking to build better teams, this is a dive into the future of hiring and AI-powered talent management.
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Founded in 2004, Summer Academy has grown from a single learning centre into a full education network. And now, it’s launching Malaysia’s first Dutch-inspired secondary school, with happiness as the foundation for lifelong learning.
We speak with its Directors, Yanesly Widjaja and Julie Lee, about the evolution of Summer Academy and the opening of Summer International Secondary School (SISS) in Malaysia. We explore what it means to build a school rooted in joy, student ownership and real-world relevance, and why rethinking education starts with rethinking success.
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Angeline Mahsuri Cheah left a career in B2B tech sales to start her own venture from scratch, sparked by a single client request. Five years later, her technology consulting business, Citrus Cloud, is generating multi-million ringgit revenues serving major clients in the telco and financial sectors.
Angeline shares her founder journey, from the early days of freelancing to forming a joint venture to tackle larger, more complex projects. She discusses her personalized approach to winning B2B clients, the art of pricing and project management, and the key lessons she learned about navigating the non-tech challenges of starting a business.
We discuss:
- The leap from a corporate tech career to solo entrepreneurship.
- The journey from a freelance side project to a structured company.
- How they win B2B clients through pilot tests and proof-of-concepts.
- The art of pricing services and managing project profitability.
- Key advice on navigating the early challenges of a new business.
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Heirloom vanilla once grew in Malaysia, and Alfred Phua is on a mission to bring it back. Through Vanilla Impact Story, he’s building more than just a business — he’s restoring a forgotten crop, empowering rural farmers, and preserving a slice of agricultural heritage.
In this episode, Alfred shares what drew him to vanilla, what it really took to get the business off the ground, and why he believes storytelling is just as powerful as farming in creating lasting impact. It’s a conversation about purpose, patience, and turning one spice into a social movement.
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Indonesia's healthcare system faces a critical staffing gap, leaving hospitals under-resourced while many medical professionals seek flexible work. Healthpro.id, an on-demand platform connecting facilities with vetted healthcare workers, is tackling this challenge head-on, having already deployed over 32,000 shifts since its launch.
Co-founder Rendy Alfuadi joins us to share their journey of finding product-market fit. He discusses the crucial pivot that took them from just $400 to over $52,000 in monthly revenue, their B2B business model that is already profitable, and their plans to scale towards a $2 million annual revenue target.
We discuss:
- The strategic pivot that unlocked their rapid growth and profitability.
- Their B2B business model and the unit economics behind it.
- How they built a defensible moat in a high-barrier-to-entry market.
- Their strategy for managing the supply of licensed healthcare workers.
- Their future targets, including a $2M revenue goal and a potential acquisition exit.
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After a family member fell ill from an unregistered supplement, Nash Mohamad set out to fix a broken industry. His biotech startup, Alt Synergy, is now building an AI-powered platform to help brands, especially micro-influencers, launch compliant functional food products without needing a scientific background.
Co-founder and CEO Nash Mohamad joins us to explain how their platform acts as a bridge between brand owners and compliant OEM manufacturers. He discusses their unique business model, their strategy for using Malaysia's halal certification as a key advantage for international growth, and their vision for bringing trust and traceability to the wellness industry.
We discuss:
- How their AI platform simplifies product R&D and ensures compliance.
- Their focus on the micro-influencer and small brand market.
- The business model combining launch fees, subscriptions, and distribution.
- How they aim to leverage Malaysia's halal certification for global expansion.
- Their plan to build traceability features and expand into enterprise services.
For entrepreneurs in the wellness space, or anyone interested in how AI is transforming product development, this is a look at a unique B2B startup with big ambitions.
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Large-scale productions used to dominate the animation industry, but a new wave of creators is proving otherwise.
We speak with Charlie Chan, Managing Director of Metal Brain Studio, about how Malaysian-made Oko Lele became a worldwide sensation on YouTube, amassing 3.6 million subscribers and over 4 billion views. From monetising content like an independent creator to licensing IP and launching merchandise, we explore the unique path of growing a slapstick series into a scalable business, and what it would take to build Southeast Asia’s next global franchise.
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In a "red ocean" flooded with digital marketing agencies, how does a new player stand out and deliver results that go beyond just creative ideas? For Kredence Creative Solutions (KCS), the answer lies in a results-driven, full-funnel strategy that has seen them grow from a small startup to a seven-figure agency purely on the back of client referrals.
Co-Founder and CEO Tan Suet Keem joins us to share the journey of launching in 2020 and scaling the business from serving SMEs to landing big brands. She discusses their evolution towards "humanising digital" through online-to-offline solutions and their ambitious vision to build a marketing holding group.
We discuss:
- Their strategy for thriving in a "red ocean" agency market.
- The evolution from performance marketing to an integrated O2O approach.
- How they grew to a 7-figure agency purely on client referrals.
- Their plan to scale beyond services with e-commerce and ebooks.
- The long-term vision to become a holding group and pursue an IPO.
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Finding a reliable and trustworthy handyman in Malaysia can be a frustrating gamble of opaque pricing and uncertain quality. Handibee is trying to fix this broken market with a different approach: a membership-based home warranty service that offers homeowners peace of mind.
Founder and CEO Mohamed Shakir joins us to share how a personal negative experience inspired him to launch Handibee. He breaks down their unique business model, where members get access to certified technicians at fixed hourly rates, and how they plan to scale by partnering with property developers to reach their profitability target of 15,000 homes.
We discuss:
- The membership-based model for home repairs and maintenance.
- How they differentiate from on-demand platforms by focusing on trust.
- Their growth strategy through partnerships with property developers.
- How their risk aggregation model works (like insurance for repairs).
- Their path to profitability and future plans for expansion.
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Approaching the RM1 billion milestone and serving over 320,000 users, wealth tech platform Versa is a key player in Malaysia's wealthtech scene. But in a competitive market, how do you build a business focused on fostering long-term financial habits, not just facilitating short-term transactions?
Founder and CEO Teoh Wei Xiang joins us to share Versa's journey and its strategic evolution. He discusses their recent RM30 million Series A funding round, their new focus on using AI for personalisation, and the playbook for scaling a mobile-first wealth platform for the next generation of investors.
We discuss:
- The strategy for reaching the RM1 billion asset milestone.
- Why they focus on "selling financial behaviors," not just funds.
- How their Series A funding will be used for AI, product, and growth.
- The importance of their partnership with lead investor AHAM Capital.
- Their path to profitability by balancing acquisition costs and customer lifetime value.
For founders in the fintech space and anyone interested in building a consumer tech brand, this is an exploration into product strategy, digital-first marketing, and the future of wealth management.
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Most people think vegetarian food means salad bowls, grain bowls, and the occasional tofu stir-fry. But what if it could also mean laksa, sambal petai pizza, or even orh-luak – all without the meat, and still full of flavour?
That’s the idea behind Roots, a modern vegetarian fusion restaurant founded by Ian Tan and his brothers. Ian shares how he turned familiar Malaysian favourites into plant-based dishes that appeal to vegetarians and meat-eaters alike, and what it takes to build a brand that balances creativity, culture, and business sense.
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As the pickleball craze sweeps Malaysia, creating a crowded market and talk of a potential bubble, how does a first-mover build a brand that lasts? For Pickle Social Club (PSC), the answer isn't just about courts, it's about creating an integrated wellness ecosystem, a "fourth space" for play, recovery, and community.
Founder Mark Choo, who also co-founded Tribe Boxing and is Executive Director of Soul Society F&B group, joins us to share PSC's story. He details how he turned old tennis courts into a thriving business that achieved payback on its seven-figure investment in just eight months, and his strategy for navigating the increasingly competitive landscape.
We discuss:
- The "four Ps" strategy (Product, Play, Property, Platform).
- How they achieved payback on their 7-figure capex in under a year.
- The power of an integrated ecosystem with fitness, F&B, and recovery.
- Their plan to outlast the hype by focusing on experience, not price.
- Their Southeast Asia expansion plans and what they seek in a partner.
For entrepreneurs in the consumer and wellness space, this is a masterclass in strategy, execution, and building a defensible moat in a trending market.
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Not all innovations are about speed or convenience. Some are about dignity, access, and independence.
eBrelle is a Braille-based smart device that lets blind and visually impaired users read, learn, and work, turning digital files into real-time Braille.
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Nor Afifah Shabani, Founder and CEO, and Md Fadzli Mohamed, the Non-Executive Director of Edote, the company behind eBrelle, about building inclusive assistive tech, expanding access to education and how innovation can be both purpose-driven and commercially viable.
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What began in 2017 as a side hustle to solve Kuala Lumpur's parking shortage has evolved into a B2B2C technology company targeting RM15-20 million in revenues this year. ParkIt is no longer just a marketplace connecting drivers to empty bays; it's an end-to-end parking solutions provider for major asset owners, including Sunway Malls and the Kajang MRT line.
Founder and CEO Kyan Liew shares the eight-year journey of ParkIt. He discusses the crucial pivot from a peer-to-peer platform to a B2B-focused model, the strategy behind winning a major public sector contract, and how the company has become EBITDA positive while scaling rapidly.
We discuss:
- The evolution from a C2C marketplace to a B2B solutions provider.
- The founder's "2X mindset" for doubling the business year-on-year.
- Key lessons on scaling with lean teams and efficient processes.
- Their ecosystem play, expanding from parking into insurance services.
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How do you make complex STEM subjects like robotics and coding engaging for students, especially those in underserved communities who feel left behind by technology? Malaysian edtech startup GoTechUp believes the answer is gamification, turning learning into a series of captivating missions and simulations.
Ainaa Rosli, CEO and Co-Founder of GoTechUp, joins us to share their journey from a single simulator to building an aggregator platform for gamified learning. She discusses their unique strategy of co-creating content with educators, their focus on making STEM a tool within other subjects, and how they track student progression with data to ensure learning is effective, not just fun.
We discuss:
- The mission to become the "Netflix for gamified education."
- Their strategy of co-creating educational games directly with teachers.
- How gamification and data can track student progression.
- The focus on reaching underserved communities with engaging tech tools.
- Their pre-seed fundraising journey and plans for scaling.
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Smart logistics is fast becoming a critical enabler of Malaysia’s aerospace ambitions, and one company helping make that happen is Triangle Worldwide.
Behind every aircraft part and engineering breakthrough, there’s a logistics system working quietly in the background, one that must be fast, precise, secure, and globally connected. From handling time-critical Aircraft on Ground (AOG) scenarios to navigating complex compliance requirements and ensuring end-to-end visibility, the demands in aerospace logistics are uniquely demanding.
In this episode, we speak with Marc Philip, CEO of Triangle Worldwide, about the shift toward predictive logistics, the role of digital tools in building trust and transparency, and how Malaysia can strengthen its position in high-value manufacturing by getting the logistics equation right.
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What if learning about money felt less like a lecture and more like a game? Vespid, a Malaysian startup, is building the "Duolingo for personal finance" to make financial literacy accessible and engaging for young people. But the journey here wasn't straightforward.
Co-Founder and CEO Edrea Lee shares the story of Vespid's major pivot, from an ambitious plan to be the "Robinhood for Malaysia" to a gamified education platform. She details how they validated this new direction, the lessons learned from an evolving founding team, and their current B2B strategy of partnering with financial institutions.
We discuss:
- The pivot from an investment platform to a gamified EdTech app.
- How gamification (streaks, points, rewards) boosts user retention.
- Their B2B strategy for commercialisation and monetisation.
- The evolution of the founding team and lessons in entrepreneurship.
- Their pre-seed funding journey and plans for scaling.
For founders navigating a pivot, or anyone interested in the intersection of EdTech, FinTech, and gamification, this conversation is for you.
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Mascon Technologies, a Singapore-based Maritime Tech start-up founded in 2022 aims to help digitise, verify and simplify the work done on the ships - quite literally - and in the office. We speak with Mascon’s CEO and Co-Founder, Hakim Sanwan, about their inception story, the challenges of building a tech company in the maritime sector, their ambitions ahead, and how Mascon is positioning itself within a complex and traditional industry.
Image Credit: Shutterstock
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Many Malaysian SMEs generate healthy profits but still struggle with cash flow and fail to secure funding. Why? The problem often lies in the gap between accounting (looking backward) and finance (planning forward). DashAdd, an AI-powered platform, aims to bridge this gap for good.
Co-Founder and CEO Awzair Hamid explains how his pre-seed startup is building an AI financial analyst named "Tawfeeq" to give SMEs clarity on their numbers. He discusses their vision to automate financial forecasting, simplify performance tracking, and match businesses with the right funding opportunities.
We discuss:
- The critical difference between accounting and finance for business owners.
- How they hope their AI agent, Tawfeeq, will simplify complex financial data.
- The strategy to create a funding-matching ecosystem for SMEs.
- Their go-to-market plan through strategic partnerships.
- Insights from their pre-seed funding journey with HASAN.VC.
For startup founders and SME owners who feel overwhelmed by their numbers, this conversation offers a glimpse into the future of automated financial strategy.
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How does a homegrown Malaysian badminton brand, with roots in 1980s shuttlecock manufacturing, scale to an eight-figure business with a presence in over 40 countries? For Absolute Protech Sports, the answer lies in branding, product innovation, and a deep understanding of what players want.
Founder and Managing Director Dato’ Ronnie Chong shares the four-decade journey of Protech. He discusses the transition from a family manufacturing business to a modern marketing and distribution powerhouse, and why they are making a significant bet on the meteoric rise of pickleball, but also why they’re looking into padel.
We discuss:
- The strategy for growing from an 8-figure to a 9-figure business.
- How to compete with global sports giants on quality and price.
- Why Protech is betting big on pickleball as the "new social sport."
- Product innovation, from hybrid shuttlecocks to pickleball floor mats.
- Key lessons on organic growth, delegation, and building a brand.
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We speak with Edward Ling, the founder of Edvance, a Malaysian fintech company that helps families afford private and international school fees, while giving schools more stability in how they manage their cash flow about why he thinks fixing the school payment system might be the most overlooked way to improve education in Malaysia.
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Could working in your browser with tools like Google Docs and Salesforce be the biggest cyber threat facing enterprises today? According to Vivek Ramachandran, founder of SquareX, the answer is a resounding yes. He argues that as work has moved entirely online, traditional security has been left blind to a new generation of sophisticated, browser-native attacks.
This is precisely why his cybersecurity firm raised $30 million.
Vivek explains how his team is pioneering a new category, Browser Detection and Response, to protect the new enterprise endpoint: the web browser itself. He unpacks the strategy, SaaS model, and vision required to tackle this critical, underserved market.
We discuss:
- Why the web browser is the new front line for cyber attacks.
- The critical security gaps left by traditional antivirus and EDR.
- Key lessons from raising $30M to build a new product category.
- Using thought leadership at Defcon & Black Hat to win enterprise clients.
- The journey from a successful exit to tackling a new global problem.
Whether you're a CISO, tech founder, or an investor tracking the future of cybersecurity, this is a masterclass in why you need to rethink where the real threats lie.
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The Truly Loving Company is Malaysia’s first social enterprise to adopt a corporate profit model for goods—developing, manufacturing, and marketing a range of high-quality household cleaning products under the TLC brand. Julia Chong, the Founder and CEO of TLC joins us to break down their bigger mission, how the company plans to scale its social impact as well as the challenges to set up a social enterprise in Malaysia.
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What if venture capital wasn’t built to chase unicorns in Southeast Asia, but to build camels instead?
On Open For Business, Umar Munshi, Managing Partner of HASAN.VC, unpacks how his firm is rethinking venture capital for Southeast Asia and beyond, with a focus on ethical, halal-aligned startups grounded in resilience, not hype.
We explore the origins and philosophy behind HASAN.VC’s Camel Manifesto, which champions long-term sustainability over hypergrowth.
Umar shares lessons from his equity crowdfunding journey with Ethis Group, why traditional VC models fail in fragmented markets, and how HASAN is building a more founder-friendly ecosystem, including a hands-on accelerator and a new venture studio in Kota Bharu.
We also discuss:
- Why the Silicon Valley VC model doesn’t fit Southeast Asia
- Red flags founders should watch for in investors
- Shariah-compliant alternatives to SAFE notes
- How HASAN.VC is building an angel-powered VC fund
- What ethical investing means in practice, and why it’s for everyone
Whether you're a founder, funder, or just curious about values-driven capital, this is a must-listen.
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With over 100,000 users across 1,000 companies, BrioHR is fast becoming a potential major HR tech player. But how does a Malaysian-based startup take on global giants like Deel and Employment Hero?
For Co-Founder and CEO Benjamin Croc, the answer lies in localisation, strong client relationships, and a relentless focus on usability and AI integration.
On Open For Business, Benjamin shares BrioHR’s journey from tackling onboarding pain points to building a full-stack HR platform, and how they plan to use their $6.5 million Series A funding to scale regionally, deepen their product, and double down on AI.
We discuss:
- How BrioHR localizes HR tech for Southeast Asian needs
- Using AI to improve claims, job descriptions, and engagement
- Business model, margins, and pathway to profitability
- Lessons from their fundraising journey and Series A process
- Growth targets, Series B goals, and long-term exit plans
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Most people don’t think of algae when it comes to climate action, but it might just be one of the most powerful tools we’ve got. We speak with Jean Tan, Co-Founder and Chief Ecosystem Officer of Atoz Carbon Cycle Platform. Her team is using microalgae to do more than just capture carbon – it’s helping crops grow better, improving soil, and even supporting the food chain – all through one integrated system.
Jean explains how this tiny organism is already making a big impact, the real benefits seen by farmers and businesses, and why she believes ESG shouldn’t be seen as a cost but as a smart investment in long-term value.
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Harith Ridzuan, also known as The Green Carpenter, transformed his family’s woodworking business into a sustainable manufacturing company that’s now working with everyone from local cafés to global brands. Now, he's taking a bold new step by launching a retail space for The Green Factory.
Today, on Open For Business, we explore what’s behind the move, how it's being funded, and his vision for it — along with the challenges of running a values-driven business and whether purpose still pays the bills.
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ChatGPT, AI tutors & the future of student advice, that’s the focus of today’s Open For Business.
As students shift from Google searches to ChatGPT prompts, how does that change the way they choose universities and plan their future? Founded in 2014 to tackle the chaos of online education forums, EduAdvisor has grown into a sizable education consulting platform, guiding over 5,000 student enrollments annually and reaching more than 4 million students through organic search, social media, and now AI tools.
In this episode, Co-Founder Loh Sue May and Director of Enrolment Lee Ching Wei talk about EduAdvisor’s journey, their AI-powered SPM tutor app EduBijak, and how they’re adapting to a rapidly changing digital discovery landscape.
We explore:
- How EduAdvisor built organic reach with smart content & student insights
- The rise of ChatGPT as an advice source and the dangers of misinformation
- Why EduBijak is free, ad-free, and a long-term brand builder
- Balancing trust, transparency, and impact in the content arms race
- What EduAdvisor’s model tells us about the future of student recruitment
Whether you're a parent, educator, or startup founder, this is a window into how tech is reshaping education advice in Malaysia and beyond.
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With over 2,500 centers onboard and over $64 million in annual gross transaction volume, AOne is quietly transforming the education sector with its all-in-one SaaS platform. But can it win against deeply entrenched behaviors in the industry?
In this episode, Dr. Darren Gouk, Founder & CEO of AOne, shares his journey from nutritional chemistry to edtech founder, the reason behind their 2019 private from marketplace to SaaS, and how they’re helping learning centres & academies digitise operations and scale.
We unpack:
- Why he built AOne and the early challenges of convincing learning centers to digitise
- Why they shifted focus from bookings to backend solutions for educators
- Their roadmap to deepen services, expand regionally, and raise funds
- How AOne balances product development with customer adoption
- How AOne is evolving from SaaS product to platform ecosystem for learning centres
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Justine Cakes & Kueh founder didn’t plan on starting a kueh business. She began with cakes, baking on the side while holding a corporate job. Today, Justine Lim is known for turning Malaysian desserts and dishes from pulut tai tai to nasi lemak and chicken rice cakes, into eye-catching creations that still feel familiar. In this episode, she shares how it all started, what pushed her to take it full-time, and how she’s learned to run a business that stays true to her roots, while still surprising people with every bite.
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ZUZU Hospitality is a tech-enabled revenue platform helping independent hotels digitise, optimise, and compete in a travel ecosystem dominated by big brands and OTAs. With over 2,500 hotels onboarded across Southeast Asia and India, and US$30 million raised to date, the startup is taking on a global challenge: making tech work for small players in a highly fragmented, competitive industry.
In this episode of Open For Business, co-founder and CEO Vikram Malhi, formerly Managing Director at Expedia Asia, shares how ZUZU helps hotels level up through a performance-based model that bundles tech, channel optimization, and OTA expertise. He reflects on building during a pandemic, near-term profitability, and his vision to help 10,000 hotels scale in the AI era.
We also dive into:
- The staggering size of the independent hotel market
- Why most small hotels struggle with OTA (online travel agent) optimization
- ZUZU’s automation-first approach to revenue and operations
- How AI powers guest comms, reviews, and pricing decisions
- Growth plans and what it’ll take to scale beyond 8 figures
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In this episode, we speak with Richard and Rachael Prentice, the husband-and-wife co-founders of Rise and Plunge, Malaysia’s first dedicated contrast therapy spa offering private, Scandinavian-inspired experiences combining infrared saunas and cold plunges. We explore their journey from corporate careers to entrepreneurship, the science behind contrast therapy, and how they’re working to make cold plunge and sauna therapy more accessible at home. Plus, we'll also dive into how they scaled from DIY ice baths to a seven-figure wellness business, and what’s next for this ambitious duo.
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What began as an internal tool has grown into a Malaysian-built challenger to Mailchimp. But in a crowded global market, how does Enginemailer really stand out?
According to Fleet Commander Jeffri Shahul Hamid, it starts with unlimited subscribers, a pay-as-you-use model, and tools for both marketing and transactional emails. That’s how his team quietly built a platform now powering half a billion emails a month across 140+ countries.
In this episode, we explore:
- The 22-year journey from digital and tech agency to SaaS scale-up
- How Enginemailer gained global traction through AppSumo
- Why building product before promotion paid off
- The engine behind their ultra-low churn and organic growth
- How AI powers their automation, spam filtering, and more
- What it takes to scale profitably on hyperscalers like Azure
Whether you’re building a SaaS, scaling an SME, or tired of paying more as your subscriber list grows — this is a masterclass in product-led growth. Made in Malaysia.
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Yeoh Chen Chow is one of the most recognizable names in Malaysia’s startup scene. From co-founding Fave to scaling Groupon and KFit, he’s now launched 1% Advisory & Coaching, a minute-by-minute, fractional advisory firm helping business leaders make better decisions, faster.
In this episode of Open For Business, we dive into Chen Chow’s entrepreneurial journey, from small-town beginnings to startup exits, and why he’s now focused on empowering others. He reflects on the tough lessons from co-founder dynamics, managing acquisitions and exits, and why living simply helps him focus on impact.
We also explore:
- The origins and model behind 1% Advisory & Coaching
- What most founders get wrong about leadership and scale
- Lessons from the Groupon Taiwan turnaround
- How to build trust in high-stakes co-founder relationships
- Why coaching, like business, is all about fit and clarity
- His vision to become a "Business GP" for the startup world
Whether you’re a founder, exec, or aspiring entrepreneur, this conversation is packed with hard-earned lessons and practical insights for anyone looking to build, and sustain, their ventures or careers.
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Owning a hotel sounds glamorous, but beneath the surface lies a high-risk, capital-heavy, and often misunderstood business. Dr. Timmy Ho, Managing Director of Pragmatique, a boutique hotel asset management consultancy, joins us to break down the realities facing hotel owners in Malaysia.
Since 2021, Pragmatique has guided hotel owners through the entire investment cycle, from site selection and financing to operations and eventual exit. In this conversation, we explore:
- What hotel asset managers actually do (and why they’re often called “nannies” and “whip crackers”)
- Why many hotels underperform financially, and what investors often get wrong
- The structural fragility of Malaysia’s hotel market, including oversupply and stagnant room rates
- How Pragmatique helps clients benchmark performance, reduce waste, and plan for the long haul
- Why this boutique consultancy focuses on depth over scale, and how it plans to grow organically through like-minded collaborators
Whether you’re a property developer, investor, or just curious about what it really takes to make hotels work, this is one for the playlist.
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In 2009, JWC started as a small café in Johor with just 16 seats. Today, it has grown into an eight-figure, multi-company coffee group with retail outlets, a coffee academy, a roastery, and a fast-growing wholesale business. In this episode, we speak with Nelson Lai, Founder & CEO of JWC Global, and Michael Tan, Wholesale Director of JWC Roastery, about this company's journey from bootstrapped beginnings to building an integrated coffee ecosystem.
We dive into:
- How JWC grew from a café into an 8-figure, multi-vertical business.
- The surprising profitability of their coffee academy.
- Their wholesale growth strategy, from five to seven figures.
- How JWC tackles supply chain risks through direct sourcing.
- Expansion ambitions, including exports, regional markets, and future fundraising.
Discover how JWC balances coffee craft, business scale, and people development to grow Malaysia’s homegrown coffee presence at home and abroad.
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Today, on Open for Business, we speak with SEEd.Lab, QuinTerra and ArtsProud , three entities using business as a force for good.
QuinTerra is tackling food waste by using black soldier flies to break down organic waste, paired with aquaponic farming to grow food more sustainably. Meanwhile, ArtsProud helps seniors reconnect through the power of art. Using music, movement, and creativity, their programmes lift spirits, sharpen minds, and combat loneliness. And at the heart of it all is SEEd.Lab, the platform helping ideas like these grow into real-world solutions. This is a conversation about purpose, passion, and solving everyday problems in ways that make life a little better for everyone.
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iPay88 Co-Founder Chan Kok Long reflects on over 20 years building one of Malaysia’s pioneering fintech companies; sharing lessons from the exit, self-actualisation, and his new beginnings in MedTech.
Chan looks back on overcoming early skepticism toward digital payments in 2006, navigating a strategic acquisition by Japan’s NTT Data in 2015, and what made it a “good exit”, in this view. He also explains why he stayed on for nearly a decade post-acquisition.
We also explore Chan’s next chapter, a new mission in medical technology aimed at making healthcare, especially wound care, more accessible and affordable for all Malaysians. Drawing from personal experiences, Chan shares why this pivot matters to him and his vision of positioning Malaysia as a medical tech hub for Southeast Asia.
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In this episode, we speak with Nisha Paramjothi, founder of EnPrivacy, a B2B SaaS platform focused on tackling data privacy risks in the era of public LLMs and AI. We dive into the story behind EnPrivacy, from its inception to the real-world challenges of building a startup at the intersection of AI and compliance. Nisha shares insights into the mission driving the platform, the hurdles they’ve encountered along the way, and what’s next as they aim to shape the future of responsible AI use in business.
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In this episode, we explore the future of retail with Shaji Rajappan, COO and Co-founder of Retailetics — the startup behind ezyCart, an AI-powered self-checkout solution aiming to transform the supermarket experience. Born in 2018 from a vision to solve inefficiencies in traditional retail, Retailetics combines machine learning and computer vision to bring smart, seamless shopping to brick-and-mortar stores. Shaji shares the journey behind building a retail tech startup in Southeast Asia, the challenges of scaling hardware and software in tandem, and how Retailetics is shaping the next wave of consumer experiences through automation.
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Founded in 2006, Infobip quietly powers some of the world’s biggest brands, including Meta, Uber, and Microsoft, across more than 70 offices worldwide. CEO and Co-Founder Silvio Kutić joins us to unpack how Infobip bootstrapped its way to a billion euros in revenue before ever raising external capital, becoming Croatia’s first unicorn after a $200 million equity round in 2020.
We explore the company's early struggles, its pivot to a full-stack cloud communications platform, and the cultural foundations that enabled Infobip’s disciplined, international growth. Silvio also shares insights into Infobip’s strategic acquisitions, its competitive advantages in an evolving CPaaS market, and the role AI will play in future customer engagement.
Plus, we dive into how North America and Asia-Pacific fit into their global ambitions, their views on profitability, and whether an IPO could be on the horizon.
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In 2024, Razer Fintech rebranded to Fiuu, marking a bold new chapter for one of Malaysia’s largest B2B payment platforms. But why walk away from a globally recognized brand like Razer?
In this episode of Open For Business, Eng Sheng Guan, CEO and Co-Founder of Fiuu, shares the company’s 20-year journey, from pioneering e-commerce shopping carts in the early 2000s to processing over RM44 billion in transactions annually across eight markets today.
We explore the strategic rationale behind the rebrand, Fiuu’s growth from NetBuilder to MOLPay to Razer Fintech, and how the company is positioning itself against global giants like Stripe and Adyen.
He also unpacks Fiuu’s unique advantages, including custom infrastructure, high transaction success rates, and a cloud-driven scaling strategy, while shedding light on their future expansion plans into Indonesia, Singapore, and beyond.
With sights set on breaking into 9-figure USD revenue and navigating emerging trends like AI and seamless payments, Fiuu’s story offers insights into the evolving payments landscape in Southeast Asia.
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We take a flavourful dive into the world of Korean fried chicken with Terry Goh, CEO of KyoChon Malaysia. From its South Korean roots in 1991 to its Malaysian debut in 2014, KyoChon has become a household name in Malaysia’s F&B scene, now boasting 36 outlets nationwide. Terry shares the story behind the brand’s expansion into Malaysia, the strategies that fueled its rapid growth, and how KyoChon continues to stand out in an increasingly crowded and competitive market.
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From humble beginnings selling pancakes and hustling through odd jobs, to building one of Malaysia’s most recognisable names in sport climbing, Camp5 is a brand that has helped shape the climbing ecosystem here and across Southeast Asia.
As they celebrate 20 years in the business, we speak with Patrick Andrey and Jeremy Peet, Co-Founders of Camp5, about the early struggles, finding product-market fit in an unfamiliar landscape, and how climbing has gone from niche hobby to Olympic sport.
We also dive into the launch of the Asian Climbing Summit, the future of climbing in Asia, and why building a tight-knit community is still at the heart of everything they do.
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With inconsistent revenues and a price-to-sales ratio nearing 57 (based on 2023 revenue), Get It Fresh is chasing RM2.6M to scale its dairy delivery model and build a fresh food marketplace. Can the vision match reality?
In this episode of Open For Business, we dive into the story of Get It Fresh, an e-commerce dairy startup and budding food marketplace raising funds via equity crowdfunding at a valuation of RM10.4 million.
Founder Yahya Carlos Lont and Co-Founder Abdul Awwal Mahmood share their five-year journey building a glass-bottled milk delivery business, the logistics-intensive model behind it, and how this fits into their broader ambition of becoming a “Get It Fresh”-approved food platform and marketplace.
We explore the economics behind their 8-figure valuation, the cold chain logistics challenges, their cautious go-to-market strategy, and the ambitious revenue projections fueling investor hopes.
They also unpack their tech development plans, platform strategy for third-party suppliers, and long-term exit paths.
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On this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Adel bin Muhamed Ishak, Co-Founder of Little Fat Duck — Malaysia’s first HALAL Italian and French fast food chain. From starting in a second-hand truck to expanding into catering, events, and manufacturing, Adel shares how he navigated early challenges, adapted Western dishes for local tastes, and built a resilient F&B brand.
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In a market ruled by swipes, one 20-year-old matchmaking agency is keeping dating alive IRL.
In this episode of Open For Business, Violet Lim—Co-Founder and CEO of Lunch Actually, and now Group CEO of the newly formed Lunch Actually Paktor Group, shares how her team is navigating the swipe-saturated dating landscape with an 8-figure concierge-style business.
We unpack Violet’s journey from lunch dating pioneer to regional category leader, and how the group is tackling online dating fatigue with curated matches, coaching, and long-term relationship outcomes, not quick dopamine hits.
We explore:
- Why Lunch Actually targets busy professionals over casual swipers
- How coaching, tech, and human matchmaking come together
- The economics behind an 8-figure love business
- Their M&A-fueled expansion across Asia
- What a potential IPO or strategic exit could look like
If you’re curious how a high-touch service is scaling in a tech-first world—or how to build a love business that lasts—this episode is for you.
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Pickleball is booming, but is it a bubble? In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Au Kai Zen and Antony Au, Co-Founders of Pickle Park, about why they believe they’ve found the winning formula both on and off the court.
Backed by the team behind Kenny Hills, Pickle Park is a lifestyle-driven pickleball concept that goes beyond court rentals, blending sport, social connection, and hospitality to deliver a premium experience.
We unpack:
- Why Pickle Park fuses F&B, design, and sport to build a lifestyle brand
- How they monetise underutilised real estate and unlock revenue beyond bookings
- Key revenue streams from events, partnerships, F&B, and future merchandise
- 2025 expansion plans, and why they prioritise location and loyalty over speed
- How their in-house app and tiered rewards program could drive retention
Whether you're curious about the economics behind pickleball or the strategy behind building an experiential consumer brand, this episode delivers sharp insights—and a few spicy serves.
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Drowning remains one of Malaysia’s silent epidemics, yet few talk about who’s truly responsible for water safety, or how it can be turned into a viable business.
In this episode of Open For Business, we explore how Red Rescue is addressing this urgent concern not just by placing lifeguards poolside, but by building a full-fledged academy, running training programmes, and offering safety solutions to clients like international schools, sports centres, and major waterparks.
We dive into the business of lifesaving with Manigandaa Keertan, Founder & CEO of Red Rescue — exploring the demand for certified water safety professionals, and how Red Rescue is tackling lifeguard shortages with a purpose-first, solution-oriented mindset.
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CoachHub has raised $350 million to build a global digital coaching platform, but can coaching really scale like software?
Matti Niebelschütz, Founder and CEO of CoachHub, unpacks how the Berlin-based startup transformed coaching into a scalable, tech-powered solution serving 1,000+ enterprise clients and backed by a network of 3,500+ coaches across 90 countries.
We explore CoachHub’s journey from a scrappy WordPress MVP to a $231M revenue business, its transition to profitability in Q4 2024, and its strategy to stay competitive in a tighter capital environment. Matti shares insights into CoachHub’s enterprise sales engine, rigorous coach vetting (with a 3% acceptance rate), AI-powered coaching with “AIMY,” and the company’s land-and-expand model driving global growth.
He also discusses their expansion across Asia, use of debt financing for AI and product development, and what the path to IPO—or continued private growth—might look like.
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What if leadership training didn’t look like another workshop or classroom but more like stepping on stage, facing your fears, and performing with a live band?
That’s exactly what Gig For Good sets out to do — using music and performance not just to entertain, but to transform. It’s a bold, human-centred approach to leadership, teamwork, and personal growth, built on courage, creativity, and connection.
We speak to the Founder and Programme Director of Gig For Good, Tan Hui Choon, and Co-Producer and Co-Lead Trainer, Alesia Dhana, about why stepping out of your comfort zone (and into the spotlight) might just be the ultimate lesson in leadership, and how businesses today need to rethink the way we build brave teams and future-ready leaders.
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CardUp started as a simple idea: let people pay rent with credit cards to earn rewards. But that consumer-centric product evolved into a scalable B2B payments solution, unlocking credit card-based cash flow for SMEs.
In this episode of Open For Business, Diana Lim, Vice President of Partnerships and founding team member at CardUp, walks us through the platform’s early days, their product-market fit journey, and the pivot into SME solutions. We also unpack the rationale behind CardUp’s 2022 acquisition by Funding Societies, and how the deal supercharged expansion, cross-selling, and new product development.
Diana breaks down CardUp’s current product mix, its receivables solutions, and why their installment plan rollout in Malaysia could reshape SME financing. We also explore post-acquisition autonomy, regional expansion into Indonesia, and what it takes to make a payments model profitable in an era of lean startups and capital efficiency.
From USD 1B in transaction volume to doubling growth post-acquisition, this is the story of how and why CardUp tackled the payments space.
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Limitless Technology built a profitable 9-figure gifting machine, and it all started with Google Search optimisation. CEO and Co-Founder Niklas Frassa gets into how they scaled brands like Flower Chimp, LVLY, and CakeRush through SEO, smart M&A, and shared infrastructure, turning flowers, cakes, and gifts into an e-commerce powerhouse.
Founded in Kuala Lumpur in 2016, Limitless powers DTC brands such as Flower Chimp, CakeRush, LVLY, and Happy Bunch, and has evolved into a vertically integrated e-commerce platform with nine-figure annual revenues and operations across five markets, including Australia.
Niklas unpacks how Limitless bootstrapped its way to profitability, scaled operations using a shared infrastructure model, and used customer insights to drive product localisation and brand differentiation. We dive into their acquisition strategy, M&A financing structure, and how they balance backend efficiency with brand autonomy.
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What if we could supercharge photosynthesis and boost crop yields using science born right here in Malaysia? That’s exactly what Qarbotech is doing. In this episode of Enterprise Explores, we speak with the startup’s three co-founders, Dr Suraya Abdul Rashid, Amirul Merican, and Chor Chee Hoe, about their groundbreaking technology, their global recognition, and the surprising struggle to gain local support.
They discuss the science behind QarboGrow, the challenges of scaling up, and what needs to shift in Malaysia’s investment mindset for deeptech to thrive.
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A golf superapp raised USD $2M — but is the problem really big enough to justify that kind of funding? In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with David Wong, Founder and CEO of Deemples, a Malaysian-born golf-tech startup that began as a simple way to find golf buddies and has evolved into a full-fledged super app for golfers.
From tee-time bookings and group game matchmaking to bundled golf trips and community events, Deemples is building a regional golf ecosystem. David shares how the company tripled its GMV since 2023, closed a USD $2 million round in 2024, and launched in Thailand, Southeast Asia’s largest golf market.
We unpack how Deemples is driving stickiness through social features, cashback incentives, and brand engagement, and how it’s earned partnerships with 80% of Malaysia’s golf courses. David also reveals why larger platforms haven’t cracked this vertical, how offline activations are fueling growth, and why Deemples could be on track for a global acquisition.
If you’re into vertical marketplaces, super apps, or niche community platforms — this one’s for you.
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Staying cool in Malaysia’s tropical heat is tough, but Ultifresh has a solution. Founded by Frank Yap and Gerald Eng in Singapore in 2018, Ultifresh creates sustainable, anti-microbial garments that eliminate 99.94% of bacteria. The result? Clothes that stay fresh longer, require less washing, and help conserve water — all without sacrificing comfort.
In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Frank and Gerald about expanding Ultifresh from Singapore to Malaysia, the challenges of making sustainable fashion accessible, and how their innovative fabrics are changing the way we think about everyday wear.
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Cracked screens, complex claims. As smartphone use surges and digital lifestyles evolve, device insurance offers peace of mind for consumers, but for insurers, it’s an operational headache. The real challenge isn’t selling policies, it’s delivering claims efficiently and at scale.
In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Melanie Hawgood, Co-Founder and CEO of Nexacore, a Malaysia-based insurtech startup solving the “last mile” problem in device insurance and extended warranty claims. Nexacore provides a white-label, back-end platform that streamlines repair, replacement, and logistics, helping insurers deliver faster, more cost-effective claims without building the infrastructure themselves – all without competing for policy distribution.
We explore Nexacore’s unique B2B model, how it integrates with insurers and telcos, and why the company is raising RM1.5–2 million to scale across Southeast Asia. Melanie also shares early traction with a major telco-backed program, their revenue strategy, and future plans beyond smartphone insurance, including regional expansion and new warranty verticals.
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What does it take to build a business around outdoor fitness in Malaysia’s unpredictable weather and competitive fitness scene? In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Sanjay Kumar, Founder of Madfoxx Training, an outdoor strength and conditioning brand offering bootcamp-style sessions in parks and car parks.
Started as a weekend hustle in 2018 while Sanjay worked as a PE teacher and taekwondo coach, Madfoxx has grown to four locations and nearly 100 active members. The brand recently took a bold step by investing RM200,000 into a custom-built gym-on-wheels, aiming to bring functional fitness anywhere.
We dive into Sanjay’s entrepreneurial journey, how he built credibility in a saturated fitness market, and insights into this customer retention. We also discuss his future plans and goals.
Whether you're in fitness or just love stories of turning passion into small business, you’ll want to tune in to this one.
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When you think of nose strips, you might imagine skincare routines or snoring aids. But what if nose strips could also enhance your workouts and improve sleep? That’s the idea behind PeakFlowTape, founded by Kooi Yi Xuan and Gan Chen Jie. Launched just last year, PeakFlowTape aims to make nasal breathing an essential part of both fitness and rest.
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From automating tedious expense claims to unlocking consumer data trapped in third-party retail, this episode explores whether Xtractify is just AI hype, or solving real problems.
After raising RM2 million and setting its sights on RM1 million in revenue by 2025, Xtractify is betting on AI-powered automation, especially through WhatsApp, to help businesses streamline operations and extract hidden value.
On this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Elvis Lau, Founder and CEO of Xtractify, a Malaysian startup claiming to offer plug-and-play AI tools that work with minimal changes to existing systems. The company is targeting industries like retail and F&B with two core products: AI-driven business automation and a WhatsApp-based customer acquisition engine.
Elvis breaks down how their AI engine builds on top of existing LLMs, enhanced by proprietary training methods, self-refinement algorithms, and small language models for secure, business-specific results. He also discusses their hybrid SaaS + pay-per-use model, how they’re navigating product-market fit, and the trust challenges AI startups face.
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Slippery mats are a common challenge shared by yoga enthusiasts. Recognising a significant gap in the local market for high-quality, eco-friendly yoga mats, Wolo Yoga was founded in 2021. The company is dedicated to providing vegan leather mats that not only enhance grip and durability but also contribute to environmental sustainability. Initiatives include planting a tree for each product sold and supporting carbon offset projects.
Today on Open For Business, we speak to Dean Yeong, Co-Founder of Wolo Yoga. We'll explore the origins of Wolo Yoga, delve into the research and development process of their products, and discuss their deep commitment to sustainability practices.
Co-Produced by: Wei San Lee
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Manual bookkeeping and accounting is tedious, error-prone, and outdated, but can automation & AI fix it? In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Hazli Johar, Co-Founder and CEO of Cynco, an AI-powered bookkeeping platform built specifically for startups and SMEs.
Hazli breaks down how Cynco wants to differ from industry giants like QuickBooks and Xero by focusing on business owners, not accountants. We explore the platform’s automation features, from document processing to categorization using narrow AI models, along with its SaaS pricing model, user feedback, and traction since soft launching in late 2024.
We also dive into Cynco’s product-market fit journey, its current $125,000 pre-seed raise, and growth targets of 1,000 users and $70,000 revenue by end-2025. Hazli explains why they believe their lean, focused approach can outmaneuver slower incumbents, and what it’ll take to keep scaling sustainably.
Is Cynco truly building the future of accounting, or is this just another fintech longshot in a crowded market? Tune in to find out.
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Every oil & gas company wants better & faster insights from their deep and complex. Can Rosary Labs’ AI tools deliver smarter decisions, or is it just more AI hype?
Rosary Labs began life as V-Cred under PETRONAS Innovation Garage, aiming to close the SME credit gap with alternative data. Fast forward to today, the rebranded AI startup is carving out a niche in high-value enterprise sectors (energy, utilities, and legal) developing vertical AI tools that help experts extract insights and act on complex data.
Co-founders Lau May and Tan Nian Wei break down their journey from corporate incubator to bootstrapped startup backed by Cradle, MYHackathon, and MPRC. We explore how Rosary Labs uses large language models and intelligent agentic workflows to support subject matter experts, the commercialisation strategy behind their enterprise products, and the challenges of selling AI to industries steeped in legacy systems.
We also unpack their projected seven-figure revenue, evolving pricing models, and long-term vision to remove data friction, one domain at a time.
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With more people seeking simple, effective ways to stay healthy, one local brand is helping Malaysians get their daily greens… no blender required.
Meet HGHY Nutrition, short for “Healthy Gut, Happy You”, a wellness brand on a mission to make gut health easy, accessible, and actually enjoyable. Their hero product, My Daily Greens, is a nutrient-rich blend designed to support digestion, immunity, focus, and overall well-being, all in one scoop.
It’s wellness without the overwhelm, and it all started with founders, Rita Mangan, a certified health coach and yoga teacher, and Kal Izad, whose shared mission is to help you feel good from the inside out.
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mindnrobotics, a Malaysian IOT and robotics company, has spent over a decade building automation solutions, but recently has focused its efforts on the agriculture and plantations industry. In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Founder & CEO Ts. Zhafri Baharudin and Co-Founder & COO Shahid Bakar about their company’s 15-year journey, including its pivot from general robotics to AI-powered agri-tech, and what they’re trying to do.
We explore how solutions like CanopyNet (a mobile mesh network designed for palm oil plantations) aim to tackle labor shortages and enable smart farming. While still bootstrapped, mindnrobotics has grown steadily, now generating 7-figure annual revenue with 30% growth. With commercial pilots underway and funding conversations in motion, the team is looking to scale its innovations across Southeast Asia. They also share their long-term vision for building a globally competitive, locally grounded robotics firm focused on food security, sustainability, and tech enablement.
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How does one padel club with big dreams justify a RM91 million valuation?
Founded in Stockholm and now trying to make waves in Southeast Asia, ASCARO claims it’s not your average padel club. Launched in Malaysia in 2023, the company became profitable in its first year at 1 Utama and now has bold expansion plans. In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Managing Director Daniel Liljekvist and COO Nicholas Caoile to unpack ASCARO’s journey from padel apparel brand to premium club concept.
With projections of RM90.8 million in revenue and RM41.4 million in net profit by 2027, ASCARO is raising up to RM20 million via equity crowdfunding to fund four new locations across Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. But with a pre-money valuation of RM91 million and ambitions for a future IPO or acquisition, the big question is: is this too big a swing?
The duo shares their multi-revenue model, expansion playbook, and how ASCARO aims to build a new kind of inclusive country club for Southeast Asia, while navigating execution risk, scalability, and investor scrutiny.
AI generated Key Highlights:
- Origins & Evolution: Started as a premium padel apparel brand in Stockholm (2021) before evolving into a padel and social club concept.
- Malaysia Expansion: Launched in 1 Utama in 2023 and turned a profit within the first year.
- Business Model: Combines B2C (court rentals, coaching, merchandise) with a strong B2B focus (events, corporate partnerships, sponsorships).
- Financials: 2024: RM5.4M revenue, RM1.1M pre-tax profit – 2025 (projected): RM36.9M revenue, RM15.7M net profit – 2027 (projected): RM90.8M revenue, RM41.4M net profit
- Funding Strategy: Raising up to RM20M via equity crowdfunding at a RM91M pre-money valuation to fund four new clubs (3 in KL, 1 in Jakarta).
- Scalability: Targeting 15 clubs by 2027, leveraging modular concepts, shared cost structures, and strong location selection near corporate hubs.
- Strategic Partnerships: Incentivising key partners and talent with equity; exploring landlord co-investment models and international collaborations.
- Risks & Challenges: Execution risk across multiple markets – High construction and fit-out costs – Market still in early-stage adoption in Southeast Asia
- Exit Plans: Aiming for IPO or acquisition within four years; positioning for regional scale and investor appeal through expansion and digital offerings.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Koh Cha-Ly, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at UrbanMetry, a data analytics company in Malaysia that provides AI-powered solutions to help cities and governments analyse large amounts of city data through their proprietary algorithms. Also with us is Chloe Yiin, Product Growth Manager of Urbanwave or Urban NX, a home co-ownership program run by UrbanMetry to help people upcycle homes in well-loved neighbourhoods by providing cash for renovations. We discuss their journey into the AI space with Urbanwave and how it works as well as how they aim to create a sustainable path to home ownership.
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Founded in 2015, Pott Glasses has grown from bazaars to 8 retail outlets, all without external funding. The company broke past 8-figures in revenue 2-3 years back, and is now eyeing RM100 million as its next major target in the next few years.
Pott Glasses is a homegrown boutique eyewear brand attempting to redefine the consumer experience through its signature 4D Optical Styling, which considers eye power, occupation, face shape, and usage to deliver personalised recommendations.
In this episode of Open For Business, we explore why and how the founders built their brand in a market dominated by local chains and international names. We also dive into their growth strategy, which includes opening 8 more outlets in the next 2 years, expanding their sunglasses line, rolling out ESG initiatives, and launching a new niche brand, all while exploring strategic partnerships to expand brand awareness and distribution.
Tune in to find out how Pott Glasses is reshaping Malaysia’s eyewear landscape, one face at a time.
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CashOut, a digital contest management platform that uses gamification to drive sales and customer engagement is aiming to change how businesses and marketers create marketing campaigns. In this episode, we speak with the co-founders, Jess and Brahma, why they started this platform as well as how they aim to grow and scale this business after the official launch next month. We’ll also talk about how the platform works and its competitive advantages along with the unique challenges to run and manage this platform.
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Exiting a startup in Southeast Asia isn’t easy. IPOs are rare, valuations are tricky, and local buyers often fall short. So how do VCs and founders maximise their exits?
We dive into this with Kairous Capital, a venture capital and private equity firm managing $200 million AUM, with a cross-border focus between Southeast Asia and China. Managing Partner Joseph Lee and Partner Adrian Hia share how they’ve backed 21+ companies, secured 4.5 exits, and developed a scaling and exit strategy for startups.
We explore:
- Why 80% of their exits come from trade sales, not IPOs
- The “time machine” arbitrage between China & Southeast Asia
- How AI, digitalization, and SME transformation funds fit into their investment thesis
- The challenges of fundraising in today’s VC climate, including how LPs are picking firms to back
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A school reunion eventually led to an AI-powered edtech that raised RM16 million, and is now an 8-figure business with over 1 million users and on track for profitability in 2025.
Pandai wants to reshape education in Malaysia and beyond with its AI-powered learning platform. Founded in 2020, the edtech startup has scaled to over 1 million users, providing personalised learning, gamified assessments, and real-time teacher support. CEO and Founder Khairul Anwar shares how Pandai differentiates itself in a competitive landscape, including its curriculum integration, AI-driven tutoring, and B2B partnerships with corporate sponsors and government agencies.
A Y Combinator-backed company, Pandai has raised over RM16 million from investors like 500 Global, RHL Ventures, and Harvard Endowment, while maintaining rapid revenue growth of 2-3X annually. With eight-figure revenues and profitability expected in 2025, Pandai is pushing its expansion across Southeast Asia, navigating challenges such as localisation and market competition.
In this conversation, we dive into the company’s scaling strategy, its AI-driven student analytics, and the future of edtech in Malaysia. Is an IPO or strategic acquisition on the horizon?
Tune in to find out how Pandai is transforming learning and what’s next for the startup.
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Securing financing can be a major hurdle for SMEs, especially those without traditional collateral. Enter Bee Informatica, a digital microfinance platform blending AI-driven credit assessments with microloan principles to provide quick, unsecured loans to underserved businesses in Malaysia. Fumiko Inada, Co-Founder and CEO of Bee Informatica, joins us to share how the company is reshaping SME financing with AI-powered risk assessment, its approach to responsible lending, and how it maintains a low non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of just 1.4%.
We also discuss the expected impact of Malaysia’s upcoming Consumer Credit Act, how Bee Informatica differentiates itself from banks and P2P lenders, and what the future holds, including expansion plans and a potential IPO in Tokyo by 2030.
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Radius Khor, Co-Founder & Director of Kee Nguyễn, a Malaysian startup that’s bringing Vietnamese-style coffee to the local market. Founded in 2019 alongside his co-founder Henry, Kee Nguyễn has quickly become a go-to brand for working professionals in business districts, offering a taste of Vietnam in every cup.
In this insightful conversation, Radius shares the story behind the creation of Kee Nguyễn, the hurdles they’ve faced, and how they’ve managed to grow their brand in the competitive F&B industry. From overcoming challenges to scaling their operations, Radius opens up about the strategies that have helped Kee Nguyễn thrive and what the future holds for the business as it continues to expand.
Tune in to hear about the entrepreneurial journey behind Kee Nguyễn and gain valuable insights into building a successful coffee brand from the ground up!
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With a $10 million Series A in the bag and backing from Gobi Partners, 500 Global, Headline, and Endeavor Catalyst, what’s next for iMotorbike?
Since launching in 2016, iMotorbike has evolved from a classifieds site into a full-fledged e-commerce platform for buying and selling pre-owned motorcycles. In this episode of Open For Business, co-founders Gil Carmo (CEO) and Sharmeen Looi (CMO) share how their 2021 pivot introduced a 6-day return policy, warranties, and financing options, transforming iMotorbike into a trusted one-stop center for motorcycles.
Now, with fresh capital, they’re scaling in Malaysia (Johor & Penang), doubling down on Vietnam, and expanding into Taiwan, while also growing their showroom network and inspection centers. We explore their 3X annual growth, their TikTok-driven marketing strategy, and how they’re setting the stage for profitable expansion and a potential IPO or M&A exit.
Here are 6 AI-Generated highlights from the conversation:
- From Classifieds to E-Commerce – Pivoted in 2021 to a full-service platform, streamlining buying, selling, and financing.
- $10M Series A Funding – Backed by top VCs, fueling regional expansion into Vietnam, Taiwan & Malaysia.
- 3X Yearly Growth & Scaling Strategy – Tripling revenue annually, targeting 5X growth in 2025.
- Physical Showrooms & Inspection Centers – Expanding beyond digital with 46,806 sq. ft. showrooms & 15 inspection centers.
- Marketing & Community Growth via TikTok – 1.6M+ TikTok views, engaging riders through events & Telegram groups.
- The Road Ahead: Profitability & Expansion Plans – Aiming for profitable showrooms, future Series B funding & IPO/M&A exit.
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Founded in 2012, Swift Bridge Technologies is a Malaysian company that makes high-tech cables used in telecommunications, semiconductors, medical devices, and even space tech. These aren’t just ordinary cables, they’re high-frequency RF (radio frequency) cables that enable ultra-fast and reliable connections, especially in industries like 5G, aerospace, and advanced testing equipment.
The company recently secured investment from Kumpulan Modal Perdana (KMP), a Malaysian Ministry of Finance venture capital firm, to drive R&D expansion, next-generation RF cables up to 145GHz, and local production growth.
In this episode of Open For Business, Dato Chong Soon Kheng, Co-Founder and CEO of Swift Bridge Technologies, shares how the company built its niche in Asia’s semiconductor supply chain, its plans to scale to RM100 million revenue, and its strategic expansion into EV charging stations. We also dive into their role in the global RF industry, key growth drivers like 6G, and how Swift Bridge is positioning itself against global competitors.
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Sasha Tan, Founder and Principal Brand Strategist of The Brand Shaper, a local enterprise that provides PR & Marketing Solutions, joins us to discuss her journey from an entrepreneur to a brand strategist and unpack key lessons she’s learned along the way. From the importance of understanding your audience to the role of authenticity in brand communication, we discuss how Brand Shaper aims to help businesses create lasting impressions through strategic branding, the challenges that come to shape and position a brand as well as her ambitions and tips on how startups can develop a strong brand foundation.
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Founded in 2015, A&D Nature has blossomed into a profitable one-stop centre for plant enthusiasts, generating RM1.16 million in revenue and RM117,213 in net profit in the first eight months of 2024. In this episode, A&D Nature’s Founder and Managing Director, Dayvenn Khaw, and Co-Founder and Operations Director, Yek Sheen Chee, share how they grew the business from a single kiosk to a 7-figure operation.
We explore the challenges of managing a plant-based retail business, their strategies to reach RM4 million in revenue by 2028, and how they maintain profitability.
A&D Nature offers a wide range of products and services, including retail plant sales, corporate gifts, and the popular '007 Fertilizer,' which drives repeat sales and customer growth. With 80% of their plants produced in-house and a thriving online segment contributing 40% of revenue, the company is now launching an equity crowdfunding (ECF) campaign to raise up to RM500,000 for its next phase of growth.
Please note that investments in ECF campaigns carry significant risks. These are generally early-stage businesses that may face challenges, including the risk of failure, which could result in losing part or all of your investment. Additionally, this is an illiquid asset, you may not be able to liquidate or sell your shares easily.
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Eco-friendly products are sprouting across Malaysia, but are they truly sustainable? And are Malaysians willing to pay or go out of their way to purchase them? We explore these questions with Tan Yet Mee, the Founder of ecoMinim, a homegrown brand offering plant-based, biodegradable home and personal care products. In this episode, we discuss what it takes to build a sustainable business, the challenges of competing with big brands, and the future of conscious consumer choices in Malaysia.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Azizul Othman and Al Khan Abdul Gani, Co-Founders of Lekir Tech, the AI startup behind the Assistnify AI Agent and platform. Founded in 2019, Lekir Tech has built a bootstrapped business offering AI-driven workflow automation, SaaS solutions, and business intelligence tools to government agencies, enterprises, and SMEs.
With over 80% year-on-year revenue growth and 7-figure revenues, profitable Lekir Tech shares how they achieved this without external funding, the challenges of scaling a tech company, and what sets Assistnify apart from other software tools.
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This 2-year old TikTok media company is on track to make RM40 million in revenue in 2025. In this episode of Open For Business, BFM sits down with Yubin Ng and Joel Lim, Co-Founders of MantaYaY, a pioneering media company that has harnessed the power of TikTok to build a thriving business. Founded in 2023, MantaYaY started as a TikTok agency in Malaysia and has rapidly expanded its offerings to include influencer marketing, content creation, live streaming, and e-commerce services.
The company manages over 3,000 content creators and boasts a strong foothold in the gaming sector. With 2024 revenues exceeding RM15 million and projections for RM40 million in 2025, MantaYaY's growth trajectory is nothing short of impressive. The interview explores the company's unique strategy of combining talent management, digital production, and e-commerce to connect brands with TikTok's massive audience.
Yubin and Joel share insights into their business model, how they monetise digital content, and the key challenges of scaling a new media company in a fast-paced digital landscape. They also discuss their institutional fundraising efforts to secure market leadership and expand into new regions, including the UK and Japan.
Tune in to discover how MantaYaY is redefining media and commerce on TikTok.
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In this episode, we explore the booming sport of pickleball, a fast-growing activity that's taking Malaysia — and the world — by storm. Join us as we sit down with Janet Teo, the founder of Picklefox, a local business specialising in pickleball equipment and accessories. From high-quality pickleball paddles, grips, and eyewear, to being an official distributor of top brands like Ronbus, Proton, and Paddletek, Picklefox is making waves in the pickleball community after officially launching the business in May 2024. Janet’s mission is to make pickleball accessible to players of all ages and skill levels, with products that cater to both beginners and pros. In today’s conversation, we discuss the inspiration behind Janet's journey, the early challenges of starting a pickleball business, and her exciting plans for the future — including a dedicated pickleball facility and multiple retail locations across Kuala Lumpur. Tune in to hear more about Janet's passion for pickleball, her entrepreneurial journey, and her vision for scaling Picklefox in the rapidly growing pickleball market.
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Since 2014, Australia-based Valta Technology Group has been automating finance and procurement processes through a blend of technology and consulting, with operations in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
Jussi Karjalainen, Founder and CEO, shares Valta’s journey to AUD $5 million in annual revenue, its unique market positioning, and how the company aims to leverage e-invoicing mandates and incentives to drive both value for clients beyond compliance and Valta’s own growth.
We also delve into Valta’s AI-driven innovations, the challenges of bootstrapping a tech business, and why Malaysia is its fastest-growing market.
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In this episode, we sit down with Tejvinder Singh, Co-Founder and CEO of Great Pyramid, a leading HR solutions provider in Malaysia. Founded in 2015, Great Pyramid offers a comprehensive range of services, from immigration solutions and talent acquisition to workforce management and HR consultancy. Today, they serve over 450 clients globally, including major brands like Qatar Airways, ByteDance, and Harvey Norman. Join us as Tejvinder shares the story behind Great Pyramid’s journey—how they built their business from the ground up, overcame challenges, scaled to new heights, and navigated the changing landscape of HR.
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From a side hustle to a nearly seven-figure tech business, Daren Tan, Founder and CEO of ALPHV, shares his journey from freelancing in 2017 to leading a fast-growing company. ALPHV, incorporated in 2023, now operates across four key pillars: software development (Alpha Tech), corporate training (Alpha Academy), developer relations (Developer Kaki), and tech job placement (Alpha Recruit).
Daren’s entrepreneurial journey began during his master’s studies in data science, freelancing to sharpen his skills while identifying a growing demand for software developers among startups. This led to the creation of Developer Kaki, an organic 54,000-strong developer community that has become a valuable asset for talent sourcing and industry collaborations with companies like Akamai, F5 Group, and Nvidia.
In this episode of Open For Business, we explore the ALPHV ecosystem, the business models powering its growth, and the financial roadmap ahead. With plans to expand AI-driven training, scale its job portal, and double its revenue in 2025, Daren shares his insights on bootstrapping a tech company, building thriving online communities, and navigating the evolving digital economy.
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As ASEAN’s digital demand surges, so does the need for telecom infrastructure to keep us connected. On Open For Business, we speak with Suresh Sidhu, CEO & Founder of EdgePoint Infrastructure, about how the company has built over 15,600 towers across Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and its plans to surpass 20,000 towers in the coming years.
A telecom industry veteran, Suresh previously led EDOTCO Group and has over 20 years of experience, dating back to the rollout of 3G in Malaysia. Now, backed by DigitalBridge, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and the IFC, he shares his journey from corporate leadership to entrepreneurship, the business model behind telecom towers, and how EdgePoint differentiates itself in an asset-heavy industry.
We also dive into the impact of 5G, M&A, and AI-driven connectivity on future growth, the challenges of scaling telecom infrastructure, and whether an IPO or private sale is the likely exit strategy for EdgePoint’s investors.
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In this episode, we speak with Royston G. King, the founder of Master Scaling, a company focused on helping businesses rapidly grow through digital marketing and strategic scaling techniques. He’s an investor, a multiple best-selling author, and has been recognized on platforms like Forbes for his contributions to business and entrepreneurship. We'll be discussing his journey into entrepreneurship, how Master Scaling helps businesses achieve exponential growth, the challenges he’s faced along the way, and what’s next for him in the world of digital business.
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Is pet influencer marketing really a thing? In this episode of Open For Business, we chat with June Kweh, Founder of Hey Pawfriends!, a platform that connects pet brands with pet influencers (yes, that’s a thing!). The idea came about after brands started approaching her to promote pet products on her dog’s Instagram account with Hey Pawfriends! launched in mid-2024. Leveraging her background in e-commerce and digital marketing, with stints at Group M, Lazada, and Shopee, June was driven by the need to address the fragmentation and lack of structure for pet creators.
Hey Pawfriends! operates on three key pillars: a self-serve platform for SMEs to discover pet influencers, agency services for larger brands needing managed campaigns, and an emerging e-commerce initiative that empowers pet creators to launch their own product collaborations. In our conversation, June gets into how her platform aims to tackle the unique challenges of the pet creator economy, as well as her own challenges building the product, educating potential clients about the value proposition, and generating revenue on a lean, bootstrapped budget. The conversation also dives into strategic growth priorities for 2025, including expansion plans and the potential to raise external funding.
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In this episode, we’re joined by Tan Ding Jie, Co-Founder at Prefer, a Singapore-based coffee startup that’s transforming the industry with their innovative “bean-free” coffee. Founded in 2022, Prefer manufactures sustainable and affordable ground coffee compatible with standard espresso machines, catering to businesses such as cafes, coffee chains, distributors, and flavor houses. In February 2024, Prefer secured US$2 million in seed funding, led by Forge Ventures and joined by global investors like 500 Global and Philippine coffee startup Pickup Coffee. With that in mind, DJ shares the story behind Prefer’s creation, the challenges of scaling a coffee startup, and the ambitious goals they have for the future of sustainable coffee.
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Asia Digital Engineering (ADE), the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) arm of Capital A, aims to redefine aviation maintenance in Southeast Asia. In this episode of Open For Business, CEO Mahesh Kumar details ADE’s evolution from AirAsia’s in-house engineering team to a full-fledged third-party MRO provider. With a state-of-the-art 14-line hangar at KLIA and expansion into markets including Indonesia, Cambodia, and the Philippines—with plans to enter Thailand and the US—ADE is setting ambitious growth targets.
Mahesh explains how ADE’s comprehensive services, from line and base maintenance to workshops and digital solutions like AEROTRADE and ELEVADE, are engineered for cost efficiency and rapid turnaround. He also highlights the company’s strategy for boosting third-party revenue through organic growth and strategic M&A, alongside investments in workforce development via training partnerships.
Whether you’re in aviation or interested in disruptive business models, this conversation offers insights into navigating a capital-intensive industry and driving sustainable growth in a competitive global landscape.
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How can brands better connect with digital creators (at scale) to elevate their storytelling? Enter Cult Creative, a Malaysian creator-first platform that connects brands with a dynamic network of content creators. Founded in 2020 by Shermaine Wong, Cult Creative began as a simple matchmaking tool and has evolved into an ecosystem that streamlines brand collaborations and empowers creators with campaign management and analytics.
After securing RM500,000 from The Hive Southeast Asia and receiving grant support from Cradle Fund, Cult Creative is continuing its expansion drive, aiming to 3X revenue in 2025. In this episode, Shermaine shares insights on the platform’s evolution and teases the upcoming launch of new features, including the Creator Academy and enhanced Creator Platform, along with strategies for driving sustained growth in a competitive market.
Shermaine won the Founder to Watch award at Cradle Fund’s PLUGIN 2024 conference in December.
Here are some AI-generated key highlights from the conversation:
Creator Economy Transformation: Cult Creative connects brands with nano and micro-influencers to power marketing campaigns and drive high-quality creator-generated content.
Streamlined Platform: The newly launched creator platform simplifies administrative tasks by handling agreements, invoicing, and ensuring 30-day payment cycles for creators.
Strategic Partnerships: Collaborations with agencies expand access to larger brands, allowing agencies to focus on client management while Cult Creative taps into broader markets.
Market Trends & Growth: Leveraging trends like TikTok’s dominance and the rise of UGC, the platform offers a unique value proposition with its Creator Academy, empowering creators to scale their skills and careers.
Financial Performance & Future Plans: After achieving 4.2x revenue growth in 2024 (RM1.52M) and paying out nearly RM700K to creators, Cult Creative is targeting 3x growth in 2025 (RM5M) through initiatives like a new brand and agency dashboard, regional expansion into Singapore and Hong Kong, and integrating AI for enhanced productivity and efficiency.
Financial Performance & Future Plans: After achieving 4.2x revenue growth in 2024 (RM1.52M) and paying out nearly RM700K to creators, Cult Creative is targeting 3x growth in 2025 (RM5M) through initiatives like a new brand and agency dashboard, regional expansion into Singapore and Hong Kong, and integrating AI for enhanced productivity and efficiency.
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Autism Cafe Project is more than just a business. It’s a place where young adults on the autism spectrum gain real work experience, build confidence, and find purpose.
Founded by Mohd Adli Yahya, this social enterprise was born out of a father’s love and a mission to create meaningful opportunities for those often overlooked in the workforce. But turning this vision into reality wasn’t easy, with challenges in funding, public awareness, and shifting mindsets about inclusivity.
In this episode, we explore how Autism Cafe Project is empowering families, breaking misconceptions about hiring people with autism, and why businesses should step up to create more inclusive workplaces.
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Established in 1957, Xin Seng Fatt Industries has been brewing soy sauce for over three generations, supplying restaurants and food businesses with traditionally fermented soy sauce. In 2019, under the third generation leadership, the company entered the consumer retail space with Mu Artisan Soy Sauce, a premium, handcrafted soy sauce brand.
In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Shirley Chia, third-generation Director of Xin Seng Fatt Industries and Founder of Mu Artisan Soy Sauce, as she shares her journey of launching the consumer brand and integrating it into the company’s long-term strategy. We explore the challenges of scaling artisanal production, the delicate balance between B2B and B2C operations, and innovative approaches to brand building in today’s competitive market. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or an industry enthusiast, discover how blending heritage with modern business strategies can create lasting success.
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In this episode, we speak with Catherine Goh, CEO at Santan, a brand under AirAsia's non-airline subsidiary, RedBeat Ventures. As of December 2019, Santan marked their first foray into the retail food business, serving meals from countries in ASEAN, including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. We’ll discuss how this all came about, the challenges she had to overcome to bring Malaysia’s famous nasi lemak to the skies and her ambitions ahead for the business in 2025 and beyond.
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From failures & setbacks to success & profit, on this episode of Open for Business, we speak with Bryant Gan, Founder and CEO of Niagawan Plus—a Malaysian cloud-based accounting software company dedicated to simplifying financial management for small businesses. On the back of winning the All-Star Award at Cradle Fund’s PLUGIN 2024 conference, Bryant shares his entrepreneurial journey with us, from developing an MVP for a friend to seizing a critical market gap in finance management.
Founded in 2016, Niagawan Plus now serves over 30,000 paying customers through innovative product design and savvy digital marketing. Bryant explains how the company stands out in a crowded SaaS space, emphasising the importance of effective customer acquisition and retention. He also discusses the potential growth boost from Malaysia’s upcoming LHDN e-Invoicing mandate. The conversation delves into the challenges of scaling a SaaS business, lessons learned from past ventures, and strategic plans for future expansion.
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Managing distributed and multi-site teams often leads to mountains of paperwork and hampers productivity. In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with John Lee, Founder and CEO of Caction, about how digitisation can streamline workflows and solve these challenges.
Founded in 2017 by John Lee, a former GE engineer, Caction wants to improve how companies manage distributed workforces by digitising processes that traditionally relied on tedious paperwork. John explains how their SaaS solution not only automates attendance and job scheduling but also converts real-time data from field operations into actionable insights for better decision-making. With a client roster featuring major names like Hyundai Elevator, and Kone, Caction says it has saved millions of man-hours across industries.
In our conversation, John also shares the challenges of scaling a tech startup, customising software to meet diverse client needs, and driving customer retention in a competitive market.
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In this episode Open For Business, we dive into how MYCRS Sdn Bhd is trying to transform the construction industry by digitising concrete testing. Founded in 2021 by Thomas Yap—whose 18 years of experience include landmark projects like the Burj Khalifa and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge—MYCRS aims to bring transparency and reliability to material testing. Thomas explains how the company is tackling data manipulation in concrete testing through innovative R&D, leveraging advanced technology to ensure accurate results.
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Today on Open For Business, we’re serving up some pizzas. We speak with Alan Goh, the Founder of Round, a pizzeria dedicated to authentic Neapolitan flavours and traditional pizza-making techniques. But behind every perfectly charred crust and fresh mozzarella topping lies a journey of risk, reinvention, and the pursuit of quality. What does it take to carve out a niche in Malaysia’s competitive F&B scene? From securing capital to standing out in a crowded market, we uncover the realities of running a pizzeria, and whether there’s a secret ingredient to lasting success.
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Originally founded in 2016 and restructured in 2022 as The Farm Shop, the company has rapidly scaled its operations—achieving RM4.6 million in revenue in 2024 and setting ambitious targets of RM14.4 million in 2025 and RM56 million by 2026.
In this episode of Open For Business, Founder and Managing Director Dr. Tan I-Lene delves into the company’s vertically integrated model, which spans sourcing high-quality dairy from local farms, processing it, and delivering fresh products through retail outlets, direct-to-home channels, and HORECA partnerships.
Dr. Tan discusses the challenges of maintaining product quality and brand authenticity amid rapid growth, innovative strategies such as the “godfather offer” subscription model, and the broader implications for food security and sustainability.
Whether you’re a business leader in agriculture or an investor intrigued by food tech, this episode provides valuable insights into building a resilient and scalable business in Malaysia’s competitive dairy industry.
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In this episode of Open for Business, we explore the journey of Vepro Group, a Malaysian robotics and automation company founded in 2003 by graduates of the University of Malaya. Over 23 years, Vepro Group has grown steadily and now aims to reach RM100 million in revenue by 2030. Today, the company represents and collaborates with major brands such as Fuji and Omron and is a member of the International Federation of Robotics. Vepro Group specialises in industrial automation, offering solutions in robotics, automated packaging, palletising, and end-of-line systems.
Managing Director and CEO Chu Chee Seng shares insights into the company’s early days—starting with RM300,000 in capital raised from savings, borrowings, and support from friends and family—and its evolution into a business generating around RM30 million in revenue last year, with a target of RM100 million by 2030. They discuss the dual business model that blends consultancy with a growing SaaS offering, the importance of standardising processes through products like the Rakan Robot, and strategies for regional expansion across ASEAN.
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Join us as we chat with Duncan Ross, Founder of Xzotic Pens, a Malaysian-based company specializing in personalized, hand-turned wooden pens. Founded in 2021, Xzotic Pens has quickly become a standout in the fine writing industry, with seven retail stores across Selangor and Johor Bahru. In this episode, Duncan shares his journey of turning a passion for craftsmanship into a thriving business, the challenges along the way, and how he’s scaling in Malaysia’s competitive market.
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Discover how a Sarawak startup is leveraging AI to enhance environmental sustainability in agriculture and forestry. In this episode of Open For Business, we take a closer look at EB Tech, a technology startup using artificial intelligence to tackle environmental challenges. Founded in 2021/2022, EB Tech initially developed AI solutions for the palm oil sector—employing robotics and autonomous drones to address operational inefficiencies—before pivoting to broader sustainability initiatives such as carbon credit management and nature-based solutions.
CEO Moses Vincent and CFO Ashweein Narayanan explain how EB Tech integrates deep learning, computer vision, and robotics into a hybrid business model that combines software-as-a-service with project consultancy. They discuss the practical challenges of scaling a tech venture in a capital-intensive industry and share their plans for forming strategic partnerships in markets such as Thailand and Taiwan.
The conversation also highlights emerging industry trends and external validation, including EB Tech’s Rising Star Award at Cradle Fund’s inaugural PLUGIN conference for Malaysian startups in December 2024.
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Join us in this episode of Open For Business as we chat with Wajih Ghauri, Founder of Katin Life, a luxury bedding brand that’s redefining comfort, quality, and ethical values with its premium Egyptian cotton products. Launched in 2023, Katin Life has already achieved six-figure monthly sales and is Malaysia’s highest-rated bedding brand. With recent expansions into Singapore and Pakistan, Wajih is now eyeing new markets and using modern strategies like live commerce and personalized customer engagement to fuel growth. In this conversation, we explore Wajih’s entrepreneurial journey, the challenges he faced, and what’s next for Katin Life in 2025.
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In this episode, we dive into the intricacies of biohacking with the co-founders of AMANI, an exclusive, members-only club designed to help corporate executives optimise their mind, body, and soul for peak performance. With 96% of senior leaders experiencing some level of burnout, AMANI aims to address this gap with a unique approach tailored for the Malaysian market, where biohacking is still emerging. Join us as Yann and Anabelle share their journey, the challenges they’ve faced, and their vision for the future of this groundbreaking business.
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On Open For Business, we speak with Jamie Lim, the founder of Zoey’s Homemade by Zoey Food Supply, a brand that has grown from a home-based venture into a thriving business with RM4.8 million in revenue in 2023. Jamie shares her journey, from starting the business during a personal challenge to raising RM2 million in equity crowdfunding. Tune in to hear how Zoey Food Supply champions preservative-free, frozen meals while navigating scaling challenges and ambitious growth plans, with a target of RM10 million in revenue by 2025.
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Today on Open For Business, we’re melting into the world of Chocolate Concierge, a brand redefining chocolate by showcasing Malaysia’s rich cacao heritage and crafting bold, unforgettable flavours. Founded by Ong Ning Geng, it’s more than just a chocolatier — it’s a quest to create meaningful experiences through sustainable practices and local innovation. We'll explore how Chocolate Concierge is becoming the go-to brand for thoughtful gifting and indulgence.
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With so many fast-growing beverage brands crowding the market, is there really room for one focusing on juices and smoothies? The former CEO of Foodpanda Malaysia and Brunei certainly thinks so, having raised USD 1 million in seed funding from 500 Global and BEENEXT to fuel his new venture, Being Juice.
In this episode of Open for Business, we explore how this Malaysian startup is tapping into the booming “to-go” market by blending nutrition with convenience. Founder and CEO Sayantan Das shares how Being Juice aims to reshape consumer snacking, positioning fruit-based drinks as healthier, between-meal options.
With 8 outlets launched since April 2023—including one in the Philippines—and a fresh USD 1 million seed round, the company highlights the pivotal roles of technology, data, and lean operations in driving rapid expansion.
Drawing on lessons from his previous leadership role at Foodpanda, Sayantan discusses the challenges of building an authentic, service-driven experience, maintaining cost-efficiency, and ensuring speedy turnaround times. He also outlines ambitions for cross-border growth, aiming to build a new wave of beverage culture across Southeast Asia.
Listen in to learn more about:
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The rationale for positioning juices and smoothies as “healthy snacking”
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Balancing rapid expansion with operational sustainability
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Improving margins through lean store formats and data insights
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Lessons from a major food-tech venture and how they apply here
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Approaches to scaling across Malaysia and the Philippines
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Building a service-first culture for top-notch customer experiences
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Using product R&D to keep offerings fresh, natural, and sugar-free
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How a million-dollar seed round powers future growth and potential cross-border partnerships
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Collektr in 2025: 10X revenue, raise Series A funding, push regionally, hire right. In this episode of Open for Business, we explore how Malaysian startup Collektr is tapping into the booming collectibles market, blending nostalgia with investment potential. From trading cards and comics to sneakers and beyond, Collektr wants to transform how enthusiasts trade, value, and showcase collectibles.
With over 40,000 users and $1.3 million raised in Pre-Series A funding, Founder and CEO Adlin Yusman shares the platform’s journey, highlighting the pivotal roles of AI, technology, live streaming, and community. Drawing on lessons learned from the failure of his previous venture, BeMalas, Adlin, discusses the challenges of ensuring authenticity, facilitating high-value transactions, and navigating a high-value collectibles market. He also highlights Collektr’s impressive growth since its launch in April 2023 and the company’s ambitious plans for regional expansion and achieving 10X revenue growth by 2025.
Adlin also shares his preference for an M&A exit strategy to deliver liquidity for investors and reveals that the company is actively raising its Series A round to capitalise on the growing collectibles boom.
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Discover the journey of Double C, a wellness brand focused on handmade remedies and aromatherapy, with a holistic approach to enhancing physical and emotional well-being. From crafting unique therapeutic products to overcoming entrepreneurial challenges and fostering a community through education, this conversation with certified aromatherapist and Founder of Double C, Christine Looi, discusses the art of balancing passion, creativity, and sustainability.
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How can home renovation become both more affordable and more environmentally friendly? In this episode of Open For Business, we spotlight a Malaysian startup that’s transforming surplus and overstocked building materials into savings for homeowners while cutting down on construction waste.
Founded in 2017, HOMA is now an 8-figure revenue business that runs an online marketplace that reintroduces “new but unsold” supplies back into the renovation ecosystem, helping customers save money and reducing unnecessary landfill waste. We delve into its founding story, uncover how the platform serves both suppliers and end users, and examine the importance of sustainability in its business model.
We also explore the venture’s growth trajectory, including a successful Pre-Series A fundraise of US$1.5 million that’s powering expansions beyond Malaysia. Plus, discover why the team wants to tap into an M&A first and an IPO later to grow the business in the longer term.
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Today, we explore the story of a café that’s redefining the art of artisanal baking. Set in a warm, inviting atmosphere and with carefully crafted baked goods, Dou Dou Bake combines sustainability, mindfulness, and impeccable design to create a unique sensory experience. Keith Koay, the Founder of Dou Dou Bake, shares his journey, from the inspiration behind this iconic café to the challenges of scaling an artisanal business, and uncover what makes it stand out in both taste and experience.
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From supplying kopitiams to launching grab-and-go kiosks, this 81-year-old Penang coffee roastery is determined to modernise its Nanyang heritage and scale nationwide, and maybe take on ZUS. In this episode, we explore how a fourth-generation CEO balances family legacy with modern strategy—preserving artisanal roasting methods while introducing newer product lines like instant coffee and Nitro-infused local brews.
We delve into the rationale behind concept stores, the challenges of bridging tradition with innovation, and how these shifts cater to evolving consumer tastes. We also discuss why the company is seeking equity funding to fuel its ambitious expansion—while keeping an ACE Market listing in view.
Along the way, discover how it manages rising coffee bean prices, invests in equipment upgrades, and pioneers a kiosk model to bring old-world flavours to new generations of coffee lovers across Malaysia.
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A pregnancy craving launched an online sourdough bakery that now wants to be the homemade alternative to Subway and O’Briens. In this episode, we explore how this husband-wife duo shifted from online to B2B and B2C retail—testing cloud kitchens, kiosk models, and central production to carve a niche in Malaysia’s competitive F&B space. DIve into how they balance product quality, branding, and expansion plans as they strive to become a go-to local sandwich chain.
Here are some AI-generated highlights of key areas covered in the conversation:
- Pandemic Beginnings: What started as a personal sourdough craving in Kota Bharu led to an online store and unexpected demand, fueling the move into the Klang Valley.
- Cloud Kitchen Trials: To minimise overhead, the business initially relied on a cloud kitchen model, offering a lower-risk way to test the market in Kuala Lumpur.
- B2B to B2C Pivot: After supplying major retail marts, the founders realised that consignment-based sales lacked control, steering them to build their own brand presence via brick-and-mortar outlets.
- Focus on Sandwiches: Adapting to local breakfast and lunch habits, they are shifting to a sandwich-centric model—blending artisanal sourdough with grab-and-go convenience to meet Malaysia’s F&B needs.
- Scaling with Central Kitchens: Centralising production ensures consistent product quality while reducing costs, allowing for multiple retail kiosks and expansion into mature neighborhoods.
- Balancing Costs and Margins: They share insights on navigating overhead challenges, from refining kiosk concepts to adjusting product offerings, in pursuit of healthier profit margins.
- Sights on Expansion: Future plans include opening more sandwich outlets, securing potential funding through equity sales, and leveraging strategic partnerships while maintaining control of product quality.
- A Homegrown Vision: Aiming to become a recognised local sandwich brand—on par with global chains—the founders remain committed to artisanal quality and a distinctly Malaysian identity.
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Today on Open For Business, we speak to Edwin Wang, Co-Founder and CEO of Signature Market, a brand that’s making nutritious meals and healthy snacking more accessible to Malaysians. From its humble beginnings to becoming a household name both online and in stores, Signature Market’s journey is one of resilience and growth. We uncover the story behind its success, explore the challenges faced, and discover the exciting plans that lie ahead for the brand.
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Why and how did a B2C storage company pivot into a B2B e-commerce fulfillment platform, now supporting over 38 local and international brands and managing fulfillment for more than 100 online stores across platforms like Shopee, Lazada, TikTokShop, and Shopify? In this episode of Open For Business, we uncover the story of FlyBear, a Malaysian e-commerce fulfillment company, with Co-Founder and Managing Director, David Buri.
FlyBear’s mission is clear: to help businesses focus on growth while it handles the complexities of warehousing, picking, packing, and delivery.
Join us as we dive into FlyBear’s origin story, its spin-off from Storage Bloc in 2021, the journey from storage to fulfillment, and the pivotal milestones along the way. We’ll also discuss the challenges of building a logistics business, key areas of growth ahead, and whether an M&A or IPO could be in FlyBear’s future.
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Today on the show, we’re joined by Wan Emir Astar and Falah Hamidi, Co-Founders at ReMeal, a platform aiming to help cafes and restaurants sell their surplus food at discounted prices. ReMeal's journey began in 2023, with the launch of their app on the App Store and Google Play Store by mid-2024 and today, they have expanded to 16 active stores and over 40 vendors in the onboarding process with some notable ones including Celsius Coffee and Gula Cakery. We speak with two out of the four co-founders to discuss the mission and vision of ReMeal to successfully tackle the issue of food waste, the challenges they’re facing to achieve this and their ambitions to further develop ReMeal going forward.
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How does a Malaysian-based SaaS company challenge global giants like Adobe and Canva? Meet Pixlr Group, an AI-powered creative tools provider with over 10 million active users, transforming how individuals and businesses create content and communicate.
In this episode of Open for Business, Warren Leow, CEO of Pixlr Group, takes us through the company’s journey from its origins in Sweden to its acquisition by Imagine Group in Malaysia. Learn how Pixlr evolved from a basic photo editing tool to a comprehensive AI-driven creative ecosystem, catering to semi-professional and professional users worldwide.
Here are some AI-generated highlights of key areas covered in the conversation:
- Pixlr’s Evolution: Originally founded in 2008 by Swedish developer Ola Sevandersson and later acquired by Autodesk, Pixlr transitioned to Malaysian ownership in 2016/17 under INMAGINE Group. With a complete rebuild using HTML5 and AI integration, Pixlr has transformed into an ecosystem of creative tools catering to global audiences.
- AI-Powered Creativity: Pixlr integrates cutting-edge AI features, including generative fill, background removal, and animation tools, enabling faster, smarter, and more cost-efficient content creation. The tools reduce production time from weeks to minutes, offering transformative value for semi-professionals and businesses alike.
- Warren’s Leadership: From his beginnings in Ipoh and a corporate career in energy trading at BP and consulting at Bain, Warren brought his global experience to Pixlr. As CEO, he has driven the company’s professionalisation and positioned it for growth, balancing the founders’ vision with operational execution.
- Global SaaS Strategy: Pixlr’s revenue is 99% global, with key markets in North America, Europe, and APAC. Its SaaS model leverages freemium offerings, subscription-based products, and partnerships to scale internationally.
- Competitive Positioning: Positioned between Canva’s simplicity and Adobe’s high-end professional tools, Pixlr targets the semi-professional market. Its user-friendly tools offer powerful features without the prohibitive costs of competitors like Adobe.
- Recognitions and Milestones: Pixlr was the only Southeast Asian company recognised with an ‘Add to Chrome’ badge at Google I/O 2024, affirming its position as a world-class product.
- Bootstrapping Success: As part of INMAGINE Group, Pixlr has been largely bootstrapped, growing organically while maintaining profitability. Despite limited funding, it has achieved eight-figure revenue and continues to invest in product innovation and operational rigor.
- Future Growth Plans: Warren outlines Pixlr’s ambitious target of 50% compounded annual growth, with plans to deepen its existing product offerings, introduce new AI-powered tools, and explore corporate exercises like IPOs or M&As to maximise value.
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How do you teach kids financial literacy while ensuring their spending is safe? Enter Vircle, a Malaysian fintech that blends cashless payments with a child-safe, parent-friendly financial platform.
Vircle was born out of a need to address challenges in managing children’s spending in an increasingly digital and cashless world while improving financial literacy and safety. Inspired by personal experiences, Founder Gokula Krishnan Subramaniam set out to create a solution that empowers parents to monitor and manage their children’s financial habits while safeguarding them from risks like bullying and unauthorised transactions.
The fintech platform initially tackled issues within schools, introducing cashless payment cards with parental controls, but today is evolving into a more comprehensive family financial management solution with programmable Visa cards, real-time transaction monitoring, and advanced spending controls. While its B2B model caters to schools, the company’s expanding consumer offerings focus on broader family financial needs, all rooted in a commitment to safe and responsible spending.
Gokula and Vircle won the Cradle’s Trailblazer Startup of the Year at the PLUGIN 2024 conference in December.
Here are some AI-generated highlights of key areas covered in the conversation:
- Purpose-Bound Money Innovation: Vircle’s proprietary entitlement-based system lets parents allocate, track, and control their children's spending without transferring money directly into a child’s account. This ensures legal compliance while fostering financial literacy.
- Cashless School Ecosystem: Vircle’s school-focused cashless payment cards integrate real-time alerts, meal-ordering systems, and marketplace features, offering financial oversight for parents and operational efficiency for schools.
- Programmable Visa Cards: Advanced parental controls restrict spending categories and channels, ensuring safe financial management for children. Unexpected use cases have emerged, such as adoption by families for elderly relatives and domestic staff.
- Growth Through Partnerships: Collaborations with institutions like U Mobile have helped Vircle penetrate public schools, while ongoing partnerships with banks and telcos aim to expand their ecosystem and address diverse family financial needs.
- Overcoming Funding Challenges: Starting as a bootstrapped venture, Vircle has raised over RM3 million from investors like 1337 Ventures, 500 Global, Gobi Partners, Dana Impak, and Kumpulan Modal Perdana. Founder Gokula even sold his car in the early days to keep operations running, reflecting the resilience behind its success.
- Future Expansion and Innovations: Plans include regional expansion, a spinoff brand for non-school segments, a college education savings platform, and white-label solutions to support large-scale partnerships.
- Resilience in Entrepreneurship: Gokula Krishnan’s journey underscores the challenges of building a fintech in a regulated space, navigating funding hurdles, and developing unique, family-centric features.
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On the show today, we’re joined by Kenn Leandre, Founder & CEO at Kakuchopurei, a multi-platformed business based in KL aiming to tick all the boxes when it comes to video games, pop culture and esports media. After his previous role as the first editor of IGN Asia in 2012, Kenn started Kakuchopurei in 2017with ex-Gamespot Asia editors to make gaming more accessible to everyone - content and events wise. Today, the company has hit over 4 million monthly views on YouTube with over 400 thousand monthly social media reach as of 2024. We’ll be taking a deep dive into Kenn’s journey from IGN Asia to now an active entrepreneur, the challenges and hurdles he faced to not only to start a business in a very underrated industry here in Malaysia but also to stay unique and relevant with their target audience as well as their ambitions ahead in 2025.
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Founded in 2018, Singapore-based Portcast leverages AI and machine learning to optimize global supply chains through real-time transportation visibility and predictive analytics. By processing over 5 million data points daily from 370 carriers, 800 ports, and sources like geolocation and ERP systems, Portcast wants to deliver actionable insights that drive efficiency and transparency.
Led by Nidhi Gupta, Portcast recently raised $6.5 million in Series A funding to accelerate its mission of transforming global trade. With clients like Sumitomo Warehouse, FreshCo, and AIT Corp, Portcast is positioning itself as the go-to platform for supply chain efficiency in a competitive landscape.
In this episode of Open For Business, Nidhi Gupta, Founder and CEO of Portcast, shares her journey from working at DHL to launching her own venture. We delve into the company's origins, the challenges of scaling a data-driven business, and its future ambitions. Discover how Portcast is redefining logistics with AI-driven insights, tackling inefficiencies, and building a global moat.
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From bean to cup, cafes are more than just spaces to enjoy coffee — they are stories waiting to be told. Today, we sit down with the co-founders of Flint Cafe & Roastery, Azri Jamaludin and Daniel Fleischer, on how they are carving a niche in Malaysia’s vibrant and highly competitive cafe culture. Launched with a passion for coffee, Flint integrates a coffee bar, roastery, and artisanal western and local cuisine within a modern courtyard gallery. In this conversation, we discuss the origins of Flint Cafe & Roastery, explore the challenges of building and running a cafe and roastery, and what keeps them ahead of the curve.
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From baking at home with limited resources to navigating factory spaces and certifications, what started as a personal mission to address her own health challenges has turned into a full-time business for Ramya Ragupathi, Founder and Director of Oh My Goodness!
Specialising in foods free from gluten, dairy, and refined sugar, Ramya has built a brand that caters to consumers seeking allergen-friendly, accessible, and delicious alternatives.
Oh My Goodness! is now entering the Malaysian market with a partnership with The Food Purveyor, targeting customers through premium stores like Village Grocer and Ben’s Independent Grocer.
Here are some highlights from the conversation:
- Personal Health Journey: Ramya's health issues led her to a food elimination diet, sparking her passion for allergen-friendly foods.
- Founding Story: Oh My Goodness! started as a personal baking experiment and grew into a full-fledged business, with initial products like the signature dark chocolate cake.
- Challenges of Starting Up: From baking at home to shared factory spaces, Ramya navigated regulatory hurdles and financial challenges while staying true to her vision.
- Product Philosophy: A focus on natural ingredients, consumer transparency, and food safety certifications, including Muis Halal and ISO 22000.
- Malaysian Market Entry: Partnering with The Food Purveyor, the company is expanding into Village Grocer and Bens Independent Grocer with plans to grow its product range.
- Entrepreneurial Resilience: Overcoming pandemic setbacks, balancing personal consultancy work, and reinvesting into her business to achieve profitability.
- Future Goals: Scaling regionally, introducing new products like a gluten-free pandan cake, and staying committed to creating accessible, delicious allergen-free food.
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Katrine Cheong, Founder and Director of Little Precious Postnatal Care, wants to redefine postpartum recovery in Malaysia by offering a hotel-like experience combined with expert-driven care, featuring customised confinement meals, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practices, professional staff, and even mental health support.
Since its establishment, Little Precious has prioritised both comfort and professionalism, and wants to set itself apart from conventional confinement centers. Despite launching during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the center has steadily grown, earning trust for its holistic approach to mother and baby care.
In this episode of Open for Business, we dive into Katrine’s journey from architect to entrepreneur, how Little Precious stands out in the postnatal care landscape, and her vision for shaping postpartum experiences in Malaysia.
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Food isn’t just about feeding people — it’s about connection, community, and stories. We sit down with Chan Yilyn and William Cheah, the co-founders of Santapan, a social enterprise born from a passion for simple, heartfelt cooking and a mission to uplift communities.
From their journey of turning a dream into reality to the challenges of balancing purpose with profitability, we explore how they’ve crafted a brand that resonates with people. Learn how they keep quality and heart at the centre of everything they do, while paving the way for a more inclusive and impactful food industry. It’s a conversation about food, resilience, and the power of bringing people together.
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“Just keep swimming”, in this episode of Open For Business, we explore how SEA Games medalist Ryan Kee turned his passion for swimming into a thriving business.
Sailfish Swim Academy was established in 2016 by SEA Games medalist Ryan Kee to tackle multiple challenges: reducing drowning incidents among children, creating career pathways for ex-athletes and fresh graduates, and discovering talent for Selangor through Persatuan Renang Amatur Selangor (PRAS).
Operating across seven locations in the Klang Valley, the academy offers lessons tailored to children as young as four months old.
In this episode of Open for Business, we speak with Founder Ryan Kee and Managing Director Ethan Chew about Sailfish’s journey—from its humble beginnings to becoming a thriving academy. We discuss their approach to program development, building a mission-driven team, navigating the challenges of scaling, and their ambitious plans for expanding swim education in Malaysia.
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In today’s episode, Raymond Miranda, founder of Myhejo Method, shares how his personalised tool helps people turn fear into growth through storytelling, coaching, and community. Based in Berlin, Raymond rebranded his Malaysian startup, Laborastory, to Myhejo, after developing a framework from his script writing exercise, Fear and its Opposite. In our discussion, we’ll get into his entrepreneurial journey, thoughts on the future of scriptwriting, and the intersection of storytelling, psychology, and conscious tech in mental health and personal development.
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From 1 store to 86, Nini Tan of DobiQueen shares how she turned a family business pivot into a multimillion-ringgit laundry chain.
We dive into DobiQueen’s mission to redefine convenience, empowering busy professionals and families to “buy back time.” Co-Founder and Executive Director Nini Tan reflects on navigating an asset-heavy business model, the lessons learned scaling from 1 to nearly 90 outlets, and her ambitious plans for regional expansion and future growth.
Here are some key highlights from the conversation:
- Founding Story: Pivoting from the family photography business Foto-ZZoom to self-service laundromats, addressing the needs of time-strapped families and busy professionals.
- Business Model: Operating an asset-heavy business with a premium mass-market positioning. Providing added-value services such as crease-free drying, folding, and pickup delivery.
- Scaling Journey: Expanding from a single outlet in 2015 to nearly 90 outlets today. Overcoming challenges tied to scaling a capital-intensive business while driving operational innovation.
- Customer Focus: Educating customers on the benefits of outsourcing laundry. Leveraging strategies to encourage first-time trials and foster long-term brand loyalty.
- Future Ambitions: Exploring equity fundraising and IPO options to fuel regional growth. Innovating with digital-first solutions like pickup services and targeting markets beyond Klang Valley and Malaysia.
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From personal branding to professional empowerment, Ranukka Singham, Founder and Managing Director, Image Revamp, has built a niche in helping individuals and organisations refine their presence and elevate their influence. Starting as a side hustle in 2017, ImageRevamp has grown into a professional branding consultancy and training provider, with frameworks and customized programs that cater to individual and corporate clients.
Breaking new ground in 2023, ImageRevamp surpassed seven figures in revenue, achieving 80% year-on-year growth. Leveraging a unique branding framework that spans seven pillars—from appearance to growth—the business is scaling with a team of 30 trainers and expanding its footprint into regional markets like Singapore, Brunei, and beyond.
In this episode of Open for Business, we explore ImageRevamp’s journey from side hustle to 7 figure business, its approach to scaling, and how it’s carving out a unique space in the competitive world of professional training.
Key Highlights from the Conversation
- Origins: Ranukka’s career pivot from corporate training to launching ImageRevamp as a side hustle, eventually scaling it into a full-time business.
- Framework: The evolution of ImageRevamp’s branding framework from four pillars (ABCD) to seven, incorporating emotional wellbeing, financial literacy, and growth.
- COVID Pivot: How the pandemic accelerated ImageRevamp’s digital transformation, enabling global reach in markets like India, Uganda, and Southeast Asia.
- Scaling Strategy: Transitioning from a solopreneur to managing a team of 30 trainers, while maintaining the personalized touch ImageRevamp is known for.
- Market Positioning: Leveraging LinkedIn visibility, corporate expertise, and a niche focus on professional branding to stand out in a saturated training industry.
- Key Milestones: Surpassing seven figures in revenue with 80% year-on-year growth in 2023, marking the company’s strongest performance to date.
- Regional Expansion: Plans to grow its presence in Singapore, Brunei, and the Philippines, offering trainers international exposure and elevating ImageRevamp’s regional influence.
- Long-Term Vision: Empowering organisations and individuals while expanding the company’s footprint, with a focus on continuous innovation and relevance in an evolving professional landscape.
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We speak with Arieni Ritzal, founder of Gula Cakery, a homegrown bakery that has grown from humble beginnings into a beloved name with multiple outlets across the Klang Valley. Arieni shares her journey from baking with her grandmother’s recipe book to honing her craft in Paris and eventually building a thriving business despite the odds.
We’ll explore the challenges of running a bakery, how Gula Cakery continues to stand out with over 55 varieties of freshly baked goods daily, and the importance of family and perseverance in Arieni’s journey.
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“F&B isn’t easy,” but Edwin Chan YOLOed into it with just RM5,000, a KitchenAid, and his parents’ kitchen.
Ten years ago, Chef and Founder of Elevete Patisserie, Edwin Chan, left his full-time kitchen job to pursue his passion as a home baker. What started as a small homebaking venture has since evolved into a multimillion-ringgit business, focusing on supplying cafes and businesses while maintaining a Direct-To-Consumer presence exclusively online (unless you know Edwin personally!).
Known for blending French pastry techniques with Malaysian flavors, Elevete has grown into a 30-person team, securing retail spots in AEON and IKEA Singapore along the way.
In this episode of Open For Business, we explore Edwin’s journey from a humble home bakery to a full-fledged baking facility, the challenges of scaling while preserving artisanal quality (if even possible), and how Elevete sees the path ahead in such a competitive market.
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In today’s episode, we speak with Lawrence Liou, Managing Director of Aenon Solutions, a Penang-based company offering solutions in automation, barcoding and RFID technology. Founded in 2020, the company has gained significant attention from both local and international MNCs, with its flagship products receiving strong demand.
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Swipey, co-founded by Kalyana Mohan and Rouvin Thiruchelvam in 2021, started with a clear mission: to simplify financial management for businesses. What began with virtual corporate cards has grown into a financial operating system designed for businesses. Today, Swipey serves over 2,000 businesses, processes over RM120 million annually, and is on track to hit $1 million ARR in 2024, with ambitious plans to grow to $5 million ARR in 2025.
In this episode of Open for Business, Kalyana and Rouvin share insights into their data-driven approach to product development, the importance of trust in fintech, and their journey from corporate careers to entrepreneurship.
With plans to expand their CFO tech platform, capture more market share, and potentially partner with digital banks, Swipey aims to redefine financial operations for modern businesses.
Here are some key highlights from the conversation:
- Origins: How the founders transitioned from corporate careers to addressing SME pain points in financial management.
- Early Challenges: Developing their MVP during COVID, prioritising milestones, and funding their early-stage growth.
- Product Evolution: Starting with virtual corporate cards and expanding to a full CFO tech platform, including accounts payable solutions and financial automation.
- Growth Milestones: Serving over 2,000 businesses, achieving $1M ARR, and targeting $5M ARR by 2025.
- Market Strategy: Leveraging trust, word of mouth, and low customer acquisition costs to grow their user base.
- Future Plans: Scaling their CFO tech ecosystem, expanding revenue streams, and exploring partnerships with digital banks and global financial institutions.
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From pastry kitchens and whisks to classrooms and business plans, Chef Niklesh Sharma, Founder and Managing Director of the Academy of Pastry & Culinary Arts (APCA), has been an entrepreneur in the culinary education space since 2010. Starting with a campus in Malaysia, APCA has expanded to three campuses in India, as well as locations in the Philippines and Indonesia.
Focusing on hands-on training, APCA aims to meet the growing demand for skilled culinary professionals.
In this episode of Open for Business, Chef Niklesh discusses his journey from chef to educator, the challenges of scaling APCA across borders, and the importance of tailoring programs to industry needs. He also shares insights on managing growth and what’s next for APCA.
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We speak to Johnson Goh, Co-Founder and CEO of MindHive, a Malaysian startup transforming how businesses drive employee engagement and productivity. With innovative tools that decode workplace behaviour, MindHive helps leaders build more motivated and high-performing teams. A finalist in the Alliance Bank 2024 BizSmart Challenge, MindHive is on a mission to empower organisations with smarter solutions to enhance workforce efficiency.
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How is CADS helping organisations unlock the power of data and AI?
Since its founding in 2015, the Center of Applied Data Science (CADS) has been on a mission to close the gap between data literacy and the evolving needs of modern businesses. Through its AI-driven platform, CADS.ai, the company enables organizations to align workforce skills with future demands, optimizing talent management and driving impactful business outcomes.
In this episode of Open For Business, Sharala Axryd, Founder and CEO of CADS, shares her journey from telecommunications engineer to tech entrepreneur, the pivotal moments that shaped CADS, and the insights gained from building a $5M USD ARR business.
Here are some key highlights from the conversation:
- Origins: CADS was born out of Sharala’s mission to bridge Malaysia’s data literacy gap, inspired by her personal experiences with brain drain and the need to upskill local talent.
- Pivot to SaaS: Initially focused on corporate training, CADS transitioned to a scalable SaaS model in 2020, centering on its proprietary CADS.ai platform.
- Business Model: CADS generates revenue through enterprise SaaS subscriptions, offering workforce assessments, customized learning paths, and integrated skill management tools.
- Key Achievements: CADS reports $5M USD ARR, 30–40% annual growth, and profitability since inception, positioning itself as a leader in AI-driven talent management.
- Market Expansion: With Malaysia contributing 80–90% of revenue, CADS is targeting regional growth in markets like Singapore, Indonesia, and Australia.
- Funding and Future Plans: After bootstrapping for nearly a decade, CADS is now seeking external funding to accelerate global expansion and scale its platform.
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Donuts are more than just a sweet treat. They are a universal comfort food that brings joy to people of all ages. But in a world where consumers are increasingly seeking unique flavours, premium quality, and memorable experiences, the humble donut is evolving into a canvas for creativity.
Donut Plan, an artisanal doughnut shop, seems to have captured the hearts,and taste buds, of its audience. Today, we speak with Lau Jia Sen, the Founder of Donut Plan, to uncover the story behind the business, the challenges of running a business in a competitive food industry, and his sweet plans for the future.
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From producing just 10 jars a day to 650 SKUs daily, what began as a home kitchen experiment to create natural, toxin-free bone broth for their picky-eating son has evolved into a thriving seven-figure business. In this episode of Open for Business, we delve into The Daily Broth’s journey from side hustle to full-fledged enterprise.
We speak with Rahayu Parmatasari and Tengku Arif Asad, co-founders of The Daily Broth, about how they transitioned out of corporate careers, scaled operations while preserving quality, and navigated the challenges of funding and logistics.
Here are some key highlights from the conversation:
- Origins: Inspired by a personal need for nutritious food for their son, the founders started with a single pot and a dream.
- Scaling Up: Expanded from a home kitchen to a production facility with 20 staff, in-house delivery riders, and a food scientist ensuring quality control.
- Certifications and Growth: Securing Halal and HACCP certifications to unlock B2B opportunities and export markets like Australia and the Middle East.
- Funding the Growth: Bootstrapped the business without external funding, reinvesting profits to scale operations and enhance capabilities.
- Brand Promise: How they maintain their commitment to nutrition, safety, and toxin-free preparation in every jar of broth.
- Future Vision: Aiming to become a household staple and a trusted health food option in hospitals worldwide.
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From simplifying rental processes to introducing zero-deposit models and insurance protections, Wong Whei Meng, Founder and CEO of Speedhome, has focused on solving the pain points of landlords and tenants alike. With innovations like tenant screenings and integrated insurance protections, Speedhome is positioning itself as a comprehensive property management platform.
Breaking its loss-making streak, Speedhome is on track to achieve profitability this year. The company reported a 75% on-year increase in gross profit to just under RM5 million as of September 2024, with a net profit of RM1 million and EBITDA of RM2 million. Now, as it gears up for regional expansion and an IPO by 2027/2028, Speedhome is launching its fourth equity crowdfunding (ECF) round, targeting RM10 million at a valuation of RM114 million.
In this episode of Open for Business, we explore Speedhome’s journey, its innovative business model, and its bold plans for scaling regionally—all while staying laser-focused on profitability and customer retention.
Here are some key highlights from the conversation:
- Origins: Speedhome was born out of Wong’s personal frustrations as a landlord, inspiring him to build a platform that empowers landlords with control and simplifies processes for tenants.
- Insurance Innovation: SPEEDHOME introduced rental guarantees, eviction support, and other insurance protections, significantly enhancing landlord confidence.
- Business Model: Speedhome generates revenue through insurance commissions, tenancy fees, and a subscription model incentivising good tenant behavior.
- Key Milestones: Set to achieve full year profitability in 2024, Speedhome generated RM10 million in revenue as of September, with projections to close the year at RM14 million.
- Social Impact: By mandating tenant credit checks and offering zero-deposit options, Speedhome has tackled biases in the rental market and improved landlord-tenant relationships.
- Market Opportunity: With just 1% market penetration in the RM7.9 billion Klang Valley rental market, Speedhome plans to expand into Johor, Penang, and Melaka.
- New Market Opportunity: Speedhome aims to integrate software solutions for non-transacted properties, making property management seamless across the ecosystem.
- IPO Preparation: The company’s fourth equity crowdfunding round targets RM10 million to fund regional expansion, enhance its platform, and tap into untapped markets, all aimed at IPO readiness by 2027–2028.
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In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Jay Jayabalathilagam, the Founder and CEO of Volt Motorsports, a pioneering company at the forefront of changing the hybrid vehicle market. Dr. Jay shares his journey from the inception of Volt Motorsports to the development of their groundbreaking Extended Hybrid Battery eWarranty system, "HiiVolt." As Malaysia's first provider of a fully digital hybrid battery warranty, Volt Motorsports is transforming the way hybrid vehicle owners and dealerships approach battery protection, offering unmatched reliability, sustainability, and peace of mind.
Along the course of the conversation, we dive deep into the challenges faced by hybrid vehicle owners, how Volt's innovative technology is tackling these hurdles, and the company's commitment to reducing automotive waste and carbon footprints. We’ll also look at how Volt Motorsports is not only providing cost-effective, eco-friendly solutions but is also leading the charge towards a greener, more sustainable future in Malaysia’s automotive industry.
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Vanzo Asia started in 2018 with a focus on car air fresheners and has since grown into a homegrown brand that made RM5.1 million in profit on RM40.86 million revenue in FY2023. Co-Founder and MD Allan Wong discusses Vanzo origins, its product range expansion, and how their upcoming ACE Market IPO will help strengthen its retail presence and branding efforts, marking a new chapter in its growth story.
Allan has been nominated for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 Malaysia awards in the Emerging Entrepreneur category—a distinction previously awarded to brands like ZUS Coffee, Empire Sushi, and financing platform Capbay.
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Fast fashion might be trendy, but who says tradition can’t be trendy? In this episode, we speak with Jeffery Goh, the founder and designer of Inisaya, the brand that is reimagining the traditional Malaysian batik into modern-wear. With their commitment to local craftsmanship and sustainability, Inisaya celebrates individuality and cultural pride through their fusion of heritage and contemporary aesthetics. Today, Jeffery shares with us his journey, the inspiration behind Inisaya, and his vision for modernising tradition.
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From trading rubber gloves to manufacturing eco-friendly cleaning products, Yeo Eng Foo, Founder of ReadyCare Signature, shares how his Malaysian brand has grown to offer USDA-certified, halal, and vegan bio-based cleaning solutions across multiple ASEAN markets. In this episode of Open for Business, we explore ReadyCare’s origins, its innovative R&D process, and plans for expansion—all while staying committed to sustainability.
Here are some key highlights from the conversation:
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Yeo Eng Foo started his career trading rubber gloves and personal care products, supplying to major clients like Walmart. This experience highlighted global demand for sustainable products and inspired him to transition into bio-based cleaning solutions.
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The idea for ReadyCare emerged in 2016 when Walmart requested recyclable packaging for gloves. Unable to find local suppliers, Yeo identified a gap in the market for eco-friendly products and started researching bio-based cleaning solutions.
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With no chemistry or manufacturing background, Yeo took a leap of faith, investing over RM1 million in machinery before even finalising product formulas. He built an in-house R&D team to develop stable, plant-based cleaning solutions tailored to market needs.
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ReadyCare offers USDA bio-based, halal-certified, vegan-friendly, and MyHijau-certified products. Its lineup includes star items like bio-based dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, and the region’s first USDA-certified toilet bowl cleaner.
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ReadyCare designs products specifically for regional needs, such as dishwashing liquids effective against greasy Asian cuisine. Their R&D ensures products are eco-friendly without compromising cleaning performance or safety.
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Initially faced with scepticism about product effectiveness, ReadyCare built trust by offering free samples and demonstrating tangible benefits like gentler effects on skin and effective grease removal.
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In just three years, ReadyCare Signature achieved seven-figure annual revenues. The brand also exports to Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines, with Singapore and Indonesia launches in progress.
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Yeo’s plans include scaling up through refillable vending machines to reduce plastic waste and expanding into untapped markets. He envisions ReadyCare becoming a global leader in bio-based cleaning solutions with eventual plans for an IPO to fuel growth.
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From a one-off project supplying workstations to a RM75 million acquisition, Wilstech’s journey is one of growth, adaptation, and strategic decisions. In this episode of Open For Business, Wilson Low, Founder and CEO of Wilstech, shares how the Malaysian B2B IT solutions provider scaled from a RM100,000 family loan to achieving RM23 million in revenue in 2023. We dive into its acquisition by Systech Bhd, lessons from the journey, and the road ahead.
Here are some key highlights from the conversation:
- Wilstech’s Origins: Wilson Low launched Wilstech in 2018 with a RM100,000 family loan, starting with a single project supplying workstations to the government.
- A Shift to Digital Solutions: Initially focused on hardware, the company pivoted to digital solutions like mobile apps, software development, and business automation systems to address the digitalization needs of Malaysian SMEs.
- Star Products Driving Growth: Wilstech’s offerings include the WilsONE Business Automation System and eMOBIQ, a no-code app platform that empowers SMEs to streamline operations efficiently and affordably.
- Revenue Milestones: Wilstech achieved RM23 million in revenue in 2023 and RM14 million in just the first six months of 2024, driven by both SME solutions and government tenders.
- Strategic Acquisition: Earlier this year, Systech Bhd acquired Wilstech for RM75 million in a cash-and-stock deal, marking a major milestone and offering synergies like enhanced resources, funding, and government connections.
- Meeting Growth Challenges: Wilson highlighted the challenges of early sales, scaling the business, and navigating M&A decisions, including choosing an acquisition over pursuing an IPO.
- Future Ambitions: With an obligation to meet a RM5 million profit guarantee for FY2024, Wilstech is eyeing expansion into AI, big data, and smart city solutions, all while staying focused on its SME customer base.
- Long-Term Vision: Wilson envisions Wilstech potentially spinning off as an independent entity within the Systech group, with ambitions to establish itself as a leader in SME-focused innovations.
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Today, we feature Ascendance, a Malaysian youth-driven organisation that’s reshaping the way young people approach education and entrepreneurship. Founded by students for students, Ascendance empowers individuals to discover their passions, develop real-world skills, and achieve personal and professional growth through innovative programmes, mentorship, and hands-on experiences. In this conversation with Harsha Ravindran, CEO, and Sanadtkumar Ganesan, COO, and Co-Founders of Ascendance, we look into their journey, the challenges they’ve overcome, and how they continue to inspire and transform the lives of youth across the nation and beyond.
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From Malaysia to world - how Amplio Ingredients wants to leverage local herbs and bring them into the global supplement supply chain. In this episode of Open For Business, we dive into the origins and ambitions of this Malaysian health supplement ingredient supplier with Executive Director and COO Cheong Wai Loon.
Amplio Ingredients specialises in sourcing health supplement ingredients from global manufacturers while providing formulation support for clients, as well as regulatory advice for end products. They cater to industries ranging from functional foods and nutraceuticals to personal care.
In this episode, we explore Amplio’s journey—from its origins and evolution to its growth strategies. Cheong Wai Loon shares insights into the company’s future, including whether an IPO or M&A could be on the cards, as well as key lessons learned from Sunzen Biotech’s acquisition and subsequent divestment of a 70% stake in Amplio. We also discuss how Amplio collaborates with local universities and research centres to advance its products and ingredient offerings, leveraging local herbs.
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In this episode, we're joined by Ben Jihad, founder of Jeet Academy, a local martial arts training centre that offers techniques from Krav Maga and Jeet Kune Do to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Western boxing. Jeet Academy prepares individuals of all backgrounds with the skills and confidence to tackle life’s challenges—both figuratively and, as we’ll explore, quite literally.
Ben’s journey from a lawyer in Brussels to a self-defence expert in Malaysia was sparked by a life-changing experience in 2007 and now as an entrepreneur, Ben not only leads Jeet Academy but also consults for industries like filming and has expertise in fight choreography as well as stunt planning.
In our conversation, we dive into Ben’s personal journey, the founding philosophy of Jeet Academy, and what’s next for the academy going forward.
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“I wanted to create something out of nothing”. Starting with a relatively small RM50,000 investment, Leon Goh transformed a small soft-serve mix operation into Gourmet Ingredients, a multi-category manufacturer producing premix powders for beverages, soups, sauces, and more, that’s targeting RM100 million in annual revenue by 2029.
In this episode of Open For Business, we explore how Leon, founder and CEO of Gourmet Ingredients, built this premix powder powerhouse, now supplying F&B outlets nationwide and exporting to five ASEAN countries, as well as his ambitious plans to localise supply chains across ASEAN.
Key insights from the conversation include:
- Leon’s Entrepreneurial Path: From investment analyst to food manufacturing innovator, Leon shares the inspirations and challenges behind his transition to food manufacturing.
- Building from Scratch: Started with RM50,000, a single blender, and small batches for ice cream shops. Overcame early scepticism and barriers by focusing on product quality and consistency.
- Expanding Product Lines: How Gourmet Ingredients pivoted during the pandemic to add new product lines, making beverages a major part of their business.
- Menu Solutions Concept: Leon’s strategic shift toward becoming a “food menu solutions” provider, helping F&B clients with ready-to-use products across appetisers, main courses, beverages, and desserts.
- ASEAN Expansion Strategy: Plans to expand into new ASEAN markets, establish local factories in Vietnam and Indonesia, and increase exports from 30% to 70% of revenue.
- Innovation and Consistency: Ensuring quality and food safety with international certifications (ISO, HALAL, HACCP) and ongoing R&D for constant product improvement.
- Future FMCG Ambitions: Leon’s vision to launch a consumer-facing line, leveraging experience from developing private-label products for established brands.
- Funding and Growth Outlook: Why Gourmet Ingredients remains self-funded through bank financing and potential considerations for M&A or an IPO as the business scales.
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How did Innov8tif transform from a bootstrapped startup to serving 70% of Malaysia’s telecommunications and banking sectors? In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with George Lee, Founder and CEO of Innov8tif Solutions, about the company’s journey, their groundbreaking innovations like IC microprint verification, and the announced RM40 million strategic partnership with Datasonic Group.
George has been nominated for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 Malaysia awards in the Technology Entrepreneur Category.
George shares insights into the challenges of scaling a tech business, the evolving eKYC landscape, and Innov8tif’s plans to expand regionally while maintaining its leadership in secure digital onboarding.
Among other things, we get into:
- Entrepreneurial Journey: How George Lee and his co-founder started Innov8tif with RM60K, and how they moved from software development and consultancy and into the eKYC business.
- Innovation in eKYC: Innov8tif’s patented solutions, such as IC microprint verification, and their impact on secure digital onboarding.
- Market Leadership: Serving 70% of Malaysia’s telco and banking sectors and the strategies behind maintaining this dominant position.
- Strategic Acquisition: Insights into Datasonic Group’s RM40 million acquisition and how it will drive Innov8tif’s growth and innovation, as well as advice on strategic partnerships.
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Childcare is one of the most pressing challenges facing Malaysian families today. With concerns over learning environments for children, safety and the delicate balance between work and family life, parents are struggling to find reliable, childcare options that ensure their children’s well-being.
In today’s episode, we are joined by Daisy Ng, the Founder and Chief Education Officer of Trinity Kids, a playschool dedicated to reshaping the childcare landscape in Malaysia. Daisy shares with their mission to create a safe, nurturing environment where children can thrive, while also supporting modern working families. We will also dive into Daisy’s journey to founding Trinity Kids, the challenges and opportunities within the local childcare industry, and her aspirations for accessible, affordable childcare for Malaysian families.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Imran Abdullah, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Positano Risto, a muslim-friendly Italian dining experience inspired by the Amalfi Coast.
Launched in Singapore in 2017, Positano Risto has since expanded to Kuala Lumpur, bringing authentic Italian flavours to the region while priding itself on being muslim friendly. Imran shares the journey behind the brand’s creation, the challenge of balancing authentic Italian tastes with muslim-friendly requirements, and Positano Risto’s expansion plans.
Tune in to learn about Imran’s vision, his unique approach to the F&B industry, and the strategies guiding Positano Risto’s future growth.
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On this episode of Open For Business, we explore how Visual Retale is using technology to transform the out-of-home (OOH) advertising landscape in Malaysia. Established a decade ago, Visual Retale has evolved from an OOH media owner to a comprehensive OOH media practice, boasting a network of over 32,000 outdoor and indoor screens across Malaysia.
Sai, the founder, joins us to discuss their latest tool, Playdooh, launched in September Playdooh provides dynamic solutions tailored for advertisers by integrating over 62 data points, including geographic, demographic, and psychographic information. By mapping screens based on location and audience attributes, Playdooh enables brands to strategically place ads that align with their target demographics and reach desired locations with precision.
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From cabin crew to automotive CEO. In this episode of Open For Business, we dive into the remarkable journey of Feytech Holdings, a Malaysian automotive accessories manufacturer that has grown from producing small-scale leather seat covers to supplying complete car seats for global OEMs.
CEO Connie Go, who took the company public earlier this year with a successful RM114 million IPO on Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market, joins us to share how this family business has transformed over the last 20 years into a vertically integrated, one-stop solution for automotive interiors.
Connie has been nominated for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 Malaysia Awards in the Woman Entrepreneur category.
Key insights include:
- Feytech’s Evolution: From a replacement equipment manufacturer to a Tier 1 OEM supplier with full car seat manufacturing capabilities.
- Vertical Integration: As the only Malaysian automotive supplier offering both seat covers and car seats, Feytech stands out in cost efficiency and convenience.
- Growth Strategy Post-IPO: How IPO proceeds will fund expansion, a new corporate office, potential M&A, and market entry into Malaysia’s central region.
- Competitive Advantage: The unique benefits of vertical integration, cost control, and quality standards that attract OEM partnerships, particularly for CKD projects.
- Connie’s Path to Leadership: From 15 years as a cabin crew member to CEO, using skills from aviation to drive Feytech’s business.
- Navigating Public Company Challenges: Adapting corporate governance and transparency for public markets, with advice for entrepreneurs considering IPOs.
- Future Expansion: Ambitions to diversify into additional automotive parts, secure new OEM projects, and maintain profitability in a competitive landscape.
- Women in Leadership: Connie’s perspective on breaking gender stereotypes in manufacturing and her hopes for a future with fewer industry barriers.
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Can a hot dog be more than simple franchised fast food here in Malaysia? In this episode of Open For Business, we explore the journey of Sausage Sizzle, a homegrown Malaysian brand on a mission to elevate the humble hot dog into a premium dining experience. Co-Founder Nazri Adam shares how Sausage Sizzle grew from a single stall into a recognized brand, with aspirations to expand through both food trucks and potentially fully-fledged outlets.
Nazri discusses the brand’s evolution from event-based sales to multiple licensed locations, followed by a strategic shift to a streamlined model focused on quality and customer experience. Key insights include:
Origins and Vision: How Sausage Sizzle was founded in 2019 to bring locally sourced, quality sausages to Malaysian street food culture, aiming to elevate the humble hot dog into a gourmet experience.
Growth and Challenges: The journey from a single outlet to multiple locations and events, and the pivotal challenges faced, including the impact of COVID-19 and adapting to customer preferences.
Shift in Strategy: Insights into Sausage Sizzle’s recent shift from licensing 18 outlets to a streamlined, owned-and-operated model, with a focus on quality control and customer experience.
Product Innovation and Simplified Menu: The transition from customizable hot dogs to a curated menu, aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and providing a consistent customer experience.
Balancing Quality with Affordability: Challenges and strategies around offering premium ingredients in a cost-competitive market and ensuring profitability as they scale up.
The Role of a Food Truck as an R&D Hub: How their food truck acts as a testing ground for new products and marketing strategies, enabling agile adaptations to customer feedback and market demands.
Future Ambitions and Expansion Plans: Sausage Sizzle’s goal to expand with owned outlets and potentially a full sit-down restaurant, while building a stronger brand presence in Malaysia’s premium street food scene.
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From car mats to a regional brand on track to hit RM100 million in annual revenue, in this episode of Open For Business, we explore the journey of Malaysian brand Trapo with Co-Founders and Co-CEOs, Tzong Lee and Zare Lee, and how these self-identified ‘accidental entrepreneurs’ built this automotive accessories brand.
Founded in 2016 with a focus on eco-friendly car mats, Trapo has since expanded into a wide range of car accessories, now operating 25 outlets across Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. Tzong and Zare share insights into Trapo’s evolution, overcoming the challenges of scaling in a competitive market, and their vision for sustainable growth.
They reveal strategies for differentiating Trapo, their approach to product innovation, and how they’re navigating the demands of a crowded industry. We also discuss Trapo’s future, from potential IPO ambitions to further regional expansion.
Additionally, Tzong and Zare have been nominated for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 Malaysia awards in the Emerging Entrepreneur category—a distinction previously awarded to brands like ZUS Coffee, Empire Sushi, and financing platform Capbay.
Tune in to discover how Trapo aims to make its mark as the “Apple of Car Accessories” across Southeast Asia.
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Is AI the answer to Malaysia’s math failure rate? How could AI transform math in schools? In this episode of Open For Business, we explore how Malaysia-based startup AI Teacher is aiming to revolutionise math education for secondary students with Tupai.ai.
Co-founded by Edmond Yap and Andre Sequerah, Tupai.ai uses AI to create a personalised and engaging math tutoring experience, with the ultimate goal of helping students improve their SPM grades. The platform, currently in beta, is attempting to address both practical and emotional barriers to math learning through adaptive and interactive features.
Edmond and Andre share insights into Tupai.ai’s journey, from the early motivations and challenges to the strategies they believe could make or break their success. We also dive into their funding approach, future expansion plans, and the role of AI in transforming education.
Tune in to discover how this innovative platform is set to change math education in Malaysia.
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Sigma School, founded in 2022, is more than just an online coding bootcamp — it is a bold initiative that aims to redefine tech education in Malaysia. With a focus on real-world skills and job readiness, Sigma School offers a 3-month intensive programme with a unique guarantee: either secure a tech job or get your money back.
Today, we’re joined by Deric Yee, the founder of Sigma School, to dive into his journey, the challenges of building an impactful edtech platform, and his vision for the future of tech education.
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Can local sparkling drink brand Supergulp thrive in the crowded and competitive beverage market? In this episode of Open For Business, we dive into Julian Koh’s journey from e-commerce and food tech roles at companies like Honestbee and Foodpanda to founding Supergulp — a Malaysian sparkling prebiotic drink brand.
As Julian shared with Vulcan Post, the idea for Supergulp began with a simple supermarket visit, where he came across Western sparkling prebiotic drinks. Impressed by their taste and low sugar content, he wondered why there wasn’t a similar option tailored for local tastes. That moment planted the seed for what would become Supergulp.
With no prior F&B experience, Julian drew on his background in food tech and e-commerce to create a healthier alternative for Malaysia’s bustling beverage market, blending inspiration from Western brands with a focus on local preferences.
Julian shares the challenges of launching a consumer brand, strategies to stand out in the “better-for-you” drink market, and Supergulp’s ambitious growth plans. Join us as we explore the early hurdles, the unique product development journey, and the future Julian envisions for Supergulp in Malaysia and beyond.
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We speak with Sheyong Tan, Co-Founder of BiiB, a wellness tech startup that’s changing the game in Malaysia’s fitness landscape. From Malaysia’s largest running league, RUNLIGA, to scalable corporate wellness solutions, BiiB combines community and innovation to redefine employee engagement and health. Sheyong shares his journey from R&D engineer to entrepreneur, explaining how BiiB’s platform integrates fitness, community, and technology for a unique wellness experience.
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How does a material-science aerospace engineer end up building a 9-figure logistics platform?
In this episode of Open For Business, we’re joined by Clarence Leong, Founder and CEO of EasyParcel—a company that has transformed the shipping process for micro-SMEs and SMEs.
Since its launch in 2014, EasyParcel has facilitated over 86 million delivery quotes and served 2.5 million customers across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Clarence shares his remarkable journey from aerospace engineering to entrepreneurship, and how EasyParcel has evolved into a regional player, integrating with e-commerce platforms and offering advanced logistics solutions.
We also explore the company’s growth strategies, key partnerships, and its plans for future expansion—including the potential for an IPO.
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We speak with Joshua Lin, General Manager of PriceShop Malaysia, about how the platform empowers Malaysian consumers to make smarter buying decisions in the consumer electronics space. We explore PriceShop’s approach to price comparison, ensuring accuracy and reliability through its extensive network of SME retailers and advanced technology. Joshua also shares insights on upcoming innovations, such as AI-driven features, and discusses trends in Malaysia’s electronics market, including consumer behaviour and the rise of buying scams.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Cellou Diallo, CEO of RollingPay, a company offering flexible payroll financing solutions to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Founded in 2022, RollingPay wants to help small businesses meet payroll obligations with up to 90-day repayment terms, ensuring timely employee payments—even when cash flow is tight.
We explore Cellou’s journey from Global Head of Data and AI Delivery at SWIFT to building his own business, what sets RollingPay apart from other alternative financing players, and the platform’s future plans.
NOTE: RollingPay does not operate under any clear regulatory framework as we await the Consumer Credit Act to come into effect.
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What does it take to carry a family business’s legacy forward?
In this episode of Open For Business, we explore the evolution of Sun Bus Tech, a company specializing in bus and bus body manufacturing for energy-efficient vehicles.
While Sun Bus Tech was officially formed in 2022, its roots trace back to the 1970s. Joining us is Shyan Phang, CEO of Sun Bus Tech, who shares the story of how her father started a small coachwork fabrication business, why the family exited the bus industry in 2020 only to return two years later, and her own decision to join the family business. We also dive into the challenges of transitioning leadership from one generation to the next, and much more.
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We talk with Rachel Tan, Founder of The Nurts, a platform dedicated to creating and curating purposeful tools that promote personal growth and family connections. With offerings like interactive card games and educational kits, The Nurts focuses on learning through play, supporting families and young individuals in building essential skills. Rachel shares her journey of founding The Nurts, its mission to empower lives, and how the brand is expanding in Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia.
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Confide Platform, your company’s future compliance command centre? In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Pav Gill, Founder and CEO of Confide Platform—a platform designed to streamline compliance and risk management for organisations.
Pav shares his remarkable journey, from exposing the €24 billion Wirecard scandal to creating a tech solution that helps companies manage sensitive reports and protect whistleblowers.
We explore how his experience at Wirecard shaped Confide Platform, the challenges of building a compliance-focused tech startup, and how the platform could redefine the future of corporate risk management by automating and simplifying compliance, governance, and whistleblowing.
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In this episode, we sit down with Howard Obbard, Co-Founder and Director of Furniture and Choice Malaysia as we explore how this renowned UK-based brand is making its mark in the Malaysian market with its exceptional British craftsmanship and competitive prices. By blending its expertise in premium furniture with local artistry, Furniture and Choice Malaysia is not only transforming homes but also boosting the local economy by creating jobs and championing sustainability.
Tune in as we delve into the challenges and triumphs of re-establishing a global brand in Malaysia’s competitive market, and how the company is pushing the boundaries of innovation and design to offer Malaysians premium, locally-made products.
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Are businesses and brands overlooking a vibrant and growing market? In this episode of Open for Business, we speak with Preethi Sanjeevi and Ramakrishnan CN, Co-Founders of Greytt—a platform that aims to offer curated services tailored to people over 50, starting with fitness, but eventually travel and much more.
We explore the story behind Greytt’s creation, what it means to redefine ageing, why this demographic is often misunderstood, and the opportunities they see in this underserved market. Plus, we dive into how the founders' backgrounds in digital marketing and tech are shaping their vision of targeting and serving people between the ages of 50 and 70.
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How did a college dropout selling PCs and web hosting services build a 9-figure digital powerhouse? In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Chan Kee Siak, Founder and CEO of Exabytes Group, an all-in-one provider of business, cloud, digital, and eCommerce solutions.
Founded in 2001 as a small web hosting service in Penang, Exabytes now serves 160,000 businesses across 121 countries, with core markets in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Chan shares how he started at 19, pivoted to web hosting, and grew Exabytes through M&A strategies and securing a US$10.7 million investment from Ekuinas in 2019.
Now a nine-figure revenue company with 20% annual growth, Exabytes thrives on recurring revenue from SMEs and plans further expansion, M&A, and an IPO within three years. Chan outlines the company’s growth drivers, including cloud solutions and deeper penetration into Indonesia’s market.
Tune in for an inspiring look at Chan Kee Siak’s entrepreneurial journey and the future of Exabytes.
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On this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Andy Chaw, Founder of Trendz360. They’re a global lifestyle group with wholly owned subsidiaries in 8 markets, with Singapore being their central base of operations. Andy will be giving us a sense of the growth and evolution of Trendz360 from inception to the global brand distributor that the business is today, the challenges of managing a global company and how they have evolved over the years as well as his vision for the future of lifestyle retail and wholesale distribution with Trendz360.
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How did a Silicon Valley property play become a global corporate innovation driver and VC firm? In this episode of Open For Business, Jojo Flores, Co-Founder of Plug and Play, shares how a Silicon Valley real estate play in 2006/2007 has turned into a global innovation platform and early-stage startup investor. Plug and Play now operates across 50+ locations, running accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and a venture capital firm.
We discuss their journey, expansion into APAC, and their perspective on the future of innovation in the region. Key points we dive into include:
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The story behind the founding of Plug and Play and its early beginnings in real estate.
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How Plug and Play became a hub for startups like Dropbox, Lending Club, and PayPal.
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The role of corporate partnerships in Plug and Play’s accelerator and innovation programs.
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Plug and Play’s investment strategy and how they choose the startups they invest in.
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The expansion into Southeast Asia and insights on Malaysia’s innovation potential.
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Today on Open For Business, Augustine Edwards talks about how he founded AES Academy. From a kid fascinated by loudspeakers his brother gave him, he turned his passion into a full-blown career, mastering the art of audio engineering. AES Academy is a launchpad for the next wave of audio wizards, blending technical expertise with creative innovation. He shares the ups and downs of starting an academy, the evolving audio scene in Malaysia and the future prospects of the audio engineering field.
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BookXcess began in 2007 with just 5,000 remaindered books. Today, it’s on track to hit RM100 million in sales, working directly with publishers to fulfil its mission of making books more affordable and accessible.
In 2009, Andrew Yap and Jacqueline Ng launched the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale, which has since become a global cultural phenomenon and has expanded to 37 cities in 14 countries, attracting 3 million visitors annually and selling over 15 million books.
From nearly going out of business during the pandemic, the company has rebounded, now operating over 22 outlets nationwide and 3 more in Singapore. In 2023, they achieved USD$4 million in profits and are set to surpass RM100 million in revenue this year, with plans to explore an IPO in 2026.
In this conversation, we explore:
- Andrew’s journey in building these two iconic brands.
the business model behind BookXcess and how they are working with publishers to play the high volume game
- Why BookXcess takes the risk of owning the books they sell instead of using consignment.
the challenges they’ve faced, including the logistical challenges of moving millions of books.
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How BookXcess is innovating with store designs and layouts, BookBots, “blind dates” with books, and more.
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Andrew’s vision for the future of BookXcess and Big Bad Wolf as they continue to grow in an evolving market.
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No entrepreneur left behind? That seems to be the driving force behind GUIDE, an early-stage venture studio and advisory firm founded by Neil Cheong and Alvin Chin.
In this episode of Open for Business, we explore how GUIDE aims to provide venture education, hands-on support, and mentorship to founders and entrepreneurs, all while building a scalable business for themselves.
We delve into their transition from Ignition Chamber to GUIDE, their unique approach to advisory services, and their ambition to grow a content-driven business that supports a thriving entrepreneurial community.
Key Areas of Conversation:
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Founder Support: GUIDE’s focus on early-stage businesses, offering education, mentorship, and ecosystem-building support.
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Evolution from Ignition Chamber: The formation of GUIDE and why they’re focusing on content to scale their business.
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Business Model & Scalability: How GUIDE balances advisory services with a scalable educational membership model.
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1% Equity Model: GUIDE’s innovative equity-based fee structure to support founders.
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Future Vision: GUIDE’s plans to scale founder programs and foster a vibrant entrepreneurial community.
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We speak with Ting Mao, Founder at Sunnystep, a science-based footwear company for walking enthusiasts, active travellers and urban families. We’ll be discussing the story behind Sunnystep and how it all started after a horrible injury, the differences between their products with other more renowned footwear brands, the challenges faced and opportunities ahead for the business.
Image Credit: mysunnystep.com
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“A lot of studio owners are very distracted. So when it comes to looking at who are our worthy rival, I will look at the founders. Then I will kind of know whether or not they will still be our rival in a year’s time. ”
Curious how a small 1200 sq ft fitness studio in Melaka expanded into Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, and the larger ambition behind these moves? In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with CJ Lee, Co-Founder of MOVE Private Fitness, about their journey from launching a boutique studio in 2020 to scaling across six locations, including Bangkok. With a focus on delivering premium, personalised fitness services to the T20 demographic, MOVE is gearing up for its next phase of growth.
Key Areas of Conversation:
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What inspired MOVE and the challenges faced in the early days.
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How MOVE stands out in a crowded fitness market by specialising and not getting distracted by fitness trends
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The story behind expanding MOVE to KL and Bangkok and plans for further regional growth.
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Insights into MOVE’s upcoming fundraising round and how the capital will fuel further expansion.
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Tune in to discover how MOVE Private Fitness is trying to reshape the fitness industry and what lies ahead in its ambitious growth journey.
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This morning on the show, we speak with David Ng, Founder at Savor, a local F&B outlet aiming to encourage healthier lifestyles with their plant based meals.
David started the business with his wife, Beverly, and business partner, Peter back in 2019 after originally starting in the lifestyle coaching field. Their commitment to health and wellness goes beyond the plate as they have not only established a vibrant plant-based restaurant for consumers to enjoy vegan food but they also provide curated meal plans in their mission to enhance health and wellness for their consumers.
With that in mind, we’ll be talking about the inception story of Savor from how it started to where the business is at today, the challenges and hurdles they had to overcome in what’s becoming a very tough F&B industry and what’s in the works for Savor going forward.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we sit down with Casper Foo and Lye Yu Min, the co-founders of co-working space Sandbox. Launched in 2017 with an initial RM300,000 investment, Sandbox has grown into a community-driven space attracting freelancers, digital nomads, and entrepreneurs.
As they compete with larger players like WORQ and Common Ground, Casper and Yu Min share the challenges they’ve faced, their vision for the future, and how Sandbox is creating a unique niche in the co-working landscape.
Tune in to learn more about their growth journey and what it takes to succeed in the co-working industry.
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What does it take to build a localized large language model (LLM) in Malaysia?
In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Khalil Nooh, Co-Founder & CEO of Mesolitica, about how his startup is developing Malaysia’s own LLM, MaLLaM, and the challenges of AI sovereignty in the region. Khalil dives into his journey from early Natural Language Processing projects to creating an LLM tailored for the Malaysian context.
Key areas covered include:
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The evolution from chatbots and NLP to large language models (LLMs)
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The inspiration and technical challenges behind building MaLLaM
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How Mesolitica is leveraging AI for local businesses and government use
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The importance of AI sovereignty and local data governance
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Mesolitica’s approach to developing cost-efficient AI models
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How Mesolitica plans to scale its LLM across Southeast Asia
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Be it in the morning, evening, or throughout the day, tea has never been left out of the list of Malaysian staples, with a variety of flavours for everyone to enjoy.
In this episode, we bring you one of the flavours with Kavievanan Subramaniam, the Founder of Tea Thambi, a local name that has become renowned for its distinctive and pleasant masala chai in Kuala Lumpur.
Kavievanan started his journey in 2020, during the challenging days of the pandemic, by selling masala tea on a bicycle through the streets of Little India in Brickfields. What began as a humble venture has now grown into a chain of roadside stalls and a café, with another café already in the works.
We speak to him about the inspiration behind Tea Thambi, the challenges he faced in establishing the business, and the strategies he used to achieve such rapid growth. We also discuss future expansion and Kavievanan's vision for Tea Thambi and its impact on the local community.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we sit down with Inbaraj Suppiah, Founder of JomHack, to explore his journey from running a creative agency (Pixaworks Creative Sdn Bhd) to leading hackathons that help businesses foster innovation, acquire talent, and solve complex challenges. Tune in to learn how JomHack and Inbaraj have become a key players in corporate innovation and community building, and what the future holds for this exciting venture in the tech ecosystem.
Among other things, we dive into:
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The origins of JomHack and how Inbaraj transitioned from running a creative agency to designing and executing hackathons and innovation programs.
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How hackathons help businesses drive innovation, acquire talent, and test new ideas in a short time.
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The importance of community building and how it has played a central role in JomHack's success.
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Inbaraj’s insights on working with government agencies, corporates, and startups to create impactful innovation programs.
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The key steps involved in organizing a successful hackathon and the common misconceptions about what hackathons truly are.
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What’s next for JomHack and Inbaraj’s future ambitions.
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In this episode, we sit down with Peter Vesterbacka, the visionary entrepreneur best known for his role in turning Angry Birds into a global phenomenon during his time at Rovio Entertainment. Beyond gaming, Peter has been a key figure in the startup and education ecosystems, driving innovation and future-thinking in a variety of fields. We explore his journey from building one of the most recognisable mobile games to his current ventures, and gain insight into his thoughts on the future of technology, entrepreneurship, and education.
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From a pregnancy craving to a multi-million ringgit business, in this episode of Open For Business, we sit down with Rosli Manaf, Co-Founder of Homebaker@Clover, to explore the journey of building a successful bakery chain specialising in cinnamon rolls.
Rosli shares how this passion project grew into a thriving business with 11 outlets across the Klang Valley, the challenges of scaling in the ever competitive and complex F&B market, and his ambition to make Homebaker@Clover the Krispy Kreme of cinnamon rolls.
Tune in to learn:
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The transition from a corporate career in IT and telecommunications to starting an artisanal bakery.
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How focusing on cinnamon rolls helped Homebaker@Clover stand out.
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The challenges, mistakes and lessons learnt of scaling a food business while maintaining quality.
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Future growth plans, including franchising and potential international expansion.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we speak to Cindy Woon, Founder and Chief Happiness Officer of Belly Happy, a business offering a range of snacks, homemade drinks, and ready-to-eat meals.
Cindy shares how she left her corporate job to pursue her entrepreneurial journey, the early challenges of starting Belly Happy, and how the business has grown from bazaars to partnerships with hotels.
Tune in to learn:
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Why Cindy made the shift from a corporate career to starting her own business.
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How Belly Happy sources and develops its range of snacks.
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The strategies Cindy is using to expand into new markets and grow the business.
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Her plans for the future and what’s next for Belly Happy.
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Today on the show, we speak with Ilyas Alsagoff, Co-Founder and Director at Sugar and I, a local bakery outlet that sells homemade desserts and are famously known for their bomboloni.
Founded in 2013 by Ilyas and his sister, Sharifah Nur Ilisa, Sugar and I began when the siblings started baking brownies for their parents with a heartwarming mission: to bring joy through baking. 9 years later, their passion for baking has now become a growing business, with over 10 products on the menu, custom-made cake and cookie services and TTDI being their fifth store outlet as of today.
With that in mind, we speak with Ilyas on the journey the siblings took from baking brownies for their parents to selling bomboloni across multiple stores in KL, the challenges faced by the business in a very tough and competitive F&B industry as well as their foreseeable expansion plans moving forward.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we delve into the story of Katch, a platform aiming to simplify the health, fitness, and wellness industries by integrating booking management and other backend processes with platform services (think ClassPass), and marketing. We explore how Katch is trying to address the sector's challenges like improving visibility, reducing high commission fees, and unifying fragmented management systems, aiming to carve a niche in a market dominated by giants like ClassPass.
Joining us are co-founders Lee Cheng Yun and Brendan Siew, who will share insights on Katch's inception, its growth, and the strategies they believe will allow them to compete with established industry players.
In this conversation, you’ll learn:
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Why Lee Cheng Yun and Brendan Siew ventured into the health and fitness sector and the gaps they aim to fill with Katch's innovative solutions.
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The evolution of Katch from its early days to its current operations, including how they have tackled initial challenges and plans to sustain growth.
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How Katch differentiates itself from competitors like ClassPass through its integration of other technologies such as POS systems, booking management, and more
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Katch's business model and how it plans to achieve ambitious targets, including acquiring 400,000 users and hitting RM21 million in revenue by 2025.
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The pet tech market, according to reports by Research Nester and Global Market Insights, is projected to grow significantly in the coming years. The market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 16% from 2023. This growth is driven by increasing pet ownership, technological advancements, and a rising focus on pet health and wellness.
Today, we speak with Richard Nilsson, Founder and CEO of MyPetGo. This pet tech platform leverages technology to provide personalised, convenient, and community-driven solutions for pet owners as we find out more about the inception of MyPetGo and the future of pet tech.
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Today on the show, we speak with Seth Casden, CEO & Co-Founder at Hologenix. They’re a material science company that develops products that amplify human potential, including their flagship product CELLIANT.
It’s a bio-responsive infrared textile that transforms body heat into full-spectrum infrared energy. Seth founded the company back in 2002 after previously working as a financial analyst and stints in private equity.
After raising over $10 million and establishing partnerships with global brands like AEON, Decathlon, Under Armour and Duluth Trading Company, Hologenix was named to the Inc. 5000 of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S. for the third year in a row back in 2021.
With that, Seth will be helping us unpack the origin story of Hologenix, the challenges and hurdles faced by the business and how they have evolved since 2002 as well as the ambitions and opportunities ahead for the business going forward.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we sit down with Ian Wong and Kimberly Law, co-founders of Uno Advisers, a financial planning firm with a mission to empower women through personalised financial planning. Founded in 2021 and officially launching in 2023, Uno Advisers says it is taking a fresh, client-focused approach to the traditionally product-pushing financial services industry.
Ian and Kimberly share how their backgrounds led them to start Uno Advisers, the challenges they’ve faced in building the business, and why their focus is on supporting women in their financial journeys. They also discuss how they differentiate themselves in a competitive market and their view on the future of financial planning in Malaysia.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
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How Uno Advisers is trying to fill a gap in Malaysia’s financial planning industry by focusing on holistic, client-first strategies.
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The importance of tailoring financial services to women and why they are their target demographic
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The challenges of launching a new financial planning firm in a market dominated by larger, more established players.
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Insights into Uno’s business model, growth strategy, and the potential future of financial planning in Malaysia.
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Co-founded by the twin brothers, Andy Gan and Chris Gan, back in 2014, TWINS Education has earned a reputation for excellence over the years, offering personalised learning experiences for student’s needs. With a focus on International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) and A-level tuition. Additionally, TWINS Education also offers IELTS preparation courses, and enrichment programmes such as English primary tuition and French classes.
Back in 2021, the business transitioned from Partnership into becoming a Limited Company and since then, the business has passed over 2 million in revenue as of 2023, with ambitions to surpass the 2.5 million mark this year.
In today’s conversation, we’re joined by Andy and Chris who will be giving us a sense behind the inception of TWINS Education, the challenges and hurdles they had to overcome as well as their future ambitions for this business.
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Today on the show, we speak with Melly Ling, CEO and Co-Founder of Mole, a local startup that has built an all-in-one networking platform with their very own business card and networking app.
They are essentially a networking tool that connects people at events and conferences, with the aim of turning every interaction into lasting insights. To tackle the downsides of networking events, Mole has introduced their very own, Mole card, an attendee's information digital card and an event management platform with the Mole App to be a power tool for event organisers.
Mole was founded in June 2022 and having bootstrapped at the start, the platform secured early-stage funding from Antler last year to fund the development of their digital business card and the networking app tailored for SMEs in Malaysia. Since then, the business has grown to new heights and is now looking at expanding their business card platform to other parts of Southeast Asia by next year.
On the show today, Melly will be giving us a sense of her journey in the tech world and how that led to the inception of Mole, the challenges she had to overcome with over a decade of experience in digital marketing, copywriting, design, and journalism as well as her long-term ambitions for the business beyond 2024.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Kristoffer Jacek Soh and Benjamin Long, co-founders of Beep Technologies, a company that started by enabling cashless transactions for vending machines and has since evolved to address Southeast Asia’s fragmented EV charging ecosystem.
Founded in 2018, Beep now operates Southeast Asia’s largest EV roaming network through its Voltality platform, connecting over 5,000 charging stations. Join us as we explore the journey of Beep, from its early days in vending solutions to its current efforts to unify EV charging infrastructure in the region. We discuss the challenges of navigating a highly fragmented market, the importance of partnerships, and more.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
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How Beep pushed from cashless transactions to the EV charging space.
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The role of Voltality in connecting fragmented EV charging networks.
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Key challenges and strategies for overcoming them in the Southeast Asian market.
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Insights into Beep’s growth strategy, including partnerships with operators like Sime Darby and Grab.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we sit down with Chang Lih Yen and Chan Qi Yang, Co-founders and Managing Directors of FinKnight, a Malaysia-based financial advisory startup. Initially launched as Beetle Knight Advisory, the company rebranded to FinKnight in 2023 to better reflect its mission of simplifying financial management for startups and SMEs. To support this ambition, FinKnight secured funding from First Move and Gobi Partners, which will be used to fuel their expansion across Malaysia and beyond.
Join us as we dive into their journey, from their backgrounds in finance to co-founding FinKnight to help other businesses with their finance workloads and financial planning, including bookkeeping, advisory, fundraising, and more.
In this conversation, you’ll learn:
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The problem FinKnight is solving for startups and SMEs.
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How the company’s rebranding reflects its evolution and future plans.
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Key strategies for scaling and acquiring customers in a cost-conscious market.
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Insights into FinKnight’s business model and growth ambitions.
Tune in to hear the story of how FinKnight is working to become a partner for businesses in need of finance expertise, bookkeeping, and advisory.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today, we speak with Sharma Lachu, Founder & CEO of Accendo Technologies. They’re a talent intelligence platform that integrates with core HRMS solutions that allow organisations to understand their talent’s potential roles and career paths, identify their risks, conceptualise strategies, assess role fit, and create development plans linked to their career growth.
Formerly known as Arcane Solutions, the company was rebranded to Accendo Technologies back in 2013 with a particular focus on talent development and upskilling using technology and AI-driven innovations.
In 2019, Accendo was included in the Deloitte Fast 500 Asia Pacific Technology list, being one of only 8 companies in SE Asia that made it to Deloitte’s annual ranking of the fastest-growing Asia Pacific companies in the hardware, software, communications, media, life sciences and clean technology industries.
Earlier this year, the business raised funding rounds from OSK Ventures International and The Hive Southeast Asia with global expansion in mind.
Along the course of the conversation, Sharma will be giving us a better sense of the early days at Accendo Technologies and what drove their rapid growth as well as the vision for the company moving forward.
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“What I discovered was that business owners, especially SMEs, are petrified of employing people. It’s a huge problem that we wanted to solve.” Benjamin Thompson, Co-Founder and CEO of Employment Hero.
In this episode of Open For Business, we explore Employment Hero’s journey from a simple HR platform to becoming a “fully-autonomous” HR tech solution for SMEs. We dive into why Employment Hero is striving to build the first employment operating system (OS) to simplify hiring, retention, and firing for SMEs, and why it’s raised US$411 million to achieve this goal.
Joining us is Benjamin Thompson, Co-Founder and CEO of Employment Hero, who shares the company's origins, how it has evolved over the last 10 years, and the conviction behind his bold vision and why he believes Employment Hero is on track to become bigger than Atlassian.
In this conversation, you’ll learn:
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The personal motivation behind starting Employment Hero and how it evolved from Ben’s experience as an employment lawyer.
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How Employment Hero turned its HR platform into a comprehensive solution for SMEs.
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Why Employment Hero is confident it will one day surpass Atlassian, and how its total addressable market is driving this vision.
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Insights into the company’s US$411 million fundraising journey and how the funds are being deployed to fuel international growth and AI-driven recruitment solutions.
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The challenges of scaling a SaaS business, why it’s so capital-intensive, and how Employment Hero is navigating a path to profitability.
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How Employment Hero plans to leverage AI to disrupt traditional recruitment practices with their "SmartMatch" tool, creating a real-time talent pool for businesses.
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Today, we are switching it up a notch and taking you on an “exhilarating” journey behind the scenes of Skyline Luge Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s newest adventure attraction. As the 8th Skyline Luge park globally and the 2nd in Southeast Asia, this “thrilling” (depending on your thrill appetite or level) destination offers a unique blend of gravity-fueled excitement and scenic beauty in the heart of the Klang Valley.
We explore the origins of this luge park concept, its latest innovations like Malaysia’s first spiral zipline, and how it is shaping the local tourism landscape with Gavin Barnes, the General Manager of Skyline Luge Kuala Lumpur. Get ready to discover what makes Skyline Luge a memorable experience for adventurers of all ages.
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Is turning everyday vehicles into billboards the key to breaking through ad overload?
In this episode of Open For Business, we explore how VOOH Media is attempting to transform the advertising landscape by turning everyday vehicles into mobile billboards. Joining us is Rajvinder Rai Singh, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of VOOH Media, who shares his journey from digital marketing and e-commerce to leading VOOH’s charge in vehicle out-of-home advertising.
Rajvinder discusses the challenges and opportunities in this unique advertising space, how VOOH Media is differentiating itself from competitors, and how the company leverages data to try and deliver high ROI for brands. He also dives into the future of vehicle advertising and the growth strategies VOOH Media is implementing to drive success in a crowded market.
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1 ton of food waste + Black Soldier Fly larvae = 100kg of animal feed + 200kg of fertiliser!? Does this mean that the secret to managing biowaste is hidden in fly larvae?
Founded in 2019, Entomal Biotech uses Black Soldier Fly larvae to transform organic waste into new products while reducing carbon emissions (compared to leaving the food waste in a landfill).
Having made US$310,000 in revenue in 2023 and on track to grow 4.7 times to US$1.48 million in 2024, Entomal has big ambitions ahead, aiming to hit US$3.7 million in 2025 and US$5.2 million in 2026.
However, given that the use of Black Soldier Flies isn’t proprietary IP or technology, what is going to stop a hungrier competitor from coming in and eating their lunch (or in this case their biowaste)? We get into that, and much more, in this episode of Open For Business with Yanni Ching, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Entomal Biotech.
Among other things, Yanni shares with us:
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The inspiration behind starting Entomal Biotech.
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Differentiation in a non-proprietary tech market.
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Entomal’s value proposition and current offerings.
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Challenges and milestones from inception to commercialization.
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Ensuring quality and compliance in biowaste management.
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Revenue growth, profitability, and future financial expectations.
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Funding, investors, and strategic plans for scaling the business.
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When you go through security bag scans, have you ever wondered about how it works or do you just find it a hassle and wish the checks would move faster? Well, today look into the world of security technology in the field of cargo and baggage scanning solutions.
We speak to Lee Yuh Jiunn, the General Manager of Billion Prima, a Malaysian company specialising in developing and deploying cargo scanners. With over 15 years of experience, the company has evolved from a service provider to a manufacturer, focusing on X-ray scanners, optical character recognition systems, and radiation detection technologies.
In today’s episode, Lee YJ shares about the inception of the company, and how its innovations set Billion Prima apart from other players in this niche industry.
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Could turning ugly fruits into gelato be worth quitting university? For Hailey Yong, it was.
At just 20, Hailey, CEO and Founder of The Unusual Greens, left her studies behind to pursue TUG Gelato full-time, an enterprise that transforms imperfect and surplus fruits into delicious gelato. What began as a student competition idea in the HULT Prize has grown from a home kitchen project to a 123 sqft central kitchen, and now to two outlets, including a fully-equipped central kitchen.
Among other things, Hailey discusses the early challenges of convincing others—starting with her own family—of her vision, the R&D process that began in her own kitchen, and how she eventually transitioned her project from a side hustle to a full-time business.
She also delves into the importance of staying true to her mission while continuously innovating to stand out in a crowded market. Finally, Hailey talks about her future plans, including potential expansion and the possibility of external funding, all while staying committed to the cause of food sustainability.
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OGAWA, an iconic household name in the health and wellness industry that most Malaysians are familiar with – it doesn’t sound Malaysian but did you know that it is indeed a Malaysian brand?
What started as a passion for enhancing lives through innovative wellness solutions, and from its humble beginnings in 1996, OGAWA has grown into a recognisable brand, changing the way we think about relaxation and well-being.
In our conversation today withLeong Boon Hong, the Director of OGAWA Malaysia, we uncover the story behind the company’s journey – how it navigated early challenges, embraced technological advancements, and carved a niche in a highly competitive wellness industry, creating a healthier, more relaxed world.
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Does Malaysia really need another regulated crypto exchange? We explore that very question as we dive into the journey of HATA, Malaysia's latest digital asset exchange platform, with David Low, Co-Founder and CEO of HATA.
Founded in 2023, HATA is Malaysia’s 5th licensed Digital Asset Exchange (DAX) and the first to receive full approval from the Securities Commission (SC) since the regulator reopened DAX licence applications in November 2022.
David is no stranger to the crypto space having previously been the General Manager of Luno’s Asia Pacific operations. He was with Luno for 5 years as the crypto player scaled its regional business.
Together, we discuss what sets HATA apart in a competitive market, the challenges of navigating regulatory compliance, and the strategies HATA is employing to capture market share and drive growth.
Whether you’re a crypto enthusiast, investor, fellow entrepreneur, or simply curious about the future of digital assets in Malaysia, this conversation provides interesting insights into the dynamic world of Digital Asset Exchanges in Malaysia.
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Founded in 2015, IGL Coatings develops and manufactures surface protection solutions, particularly known for its low and zero Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) ceramic coatings.
In the last 9 years, it has expanded its presence to over 50 countries and aims to offer high-performance, eco-friendly functional coatings for automotive, marine, aviation, and industrial applications.
With a stated commitment to sustainability, IGL Coatings has developed products that it says not only perform exceptionally but also contribute to reducing environmental impact. Their recent strategic alliance with CommerceDotAsia Ventures and recognition by the Financial Times as one of Malaysia’s high-growth manufacturing companies highlight their continued success and ambition.
The company was recently shortlisted as one of the 8 companies for Cohort 5 of the Scale Up by Endeavor, a program that works with early-stage, high-potential entrepreneurs.
Today, we explore Keong’s entrepreneurial journey, the challenges he faced, and what lies ahead for IGL Coatings as they continue to push ahead.
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Supply chains and warehouses are the lifeblood of any high-volume business, yet many still operate with outdated methods. In today’s competitive environment, where margins are slim and every advantage counts, this could be a costly mistake.
In this episode of Open For Business, we explore how Hatio, a provider of omnichannel fulfillment services and technology, is revolutionizing the supply chain industry in Southeast Asia. Founded in 2012 as HatioLab in South Korea, Hatio expanded to Malaysia in 2019 under the leadership of co-founders Zhen Cui and Bernard Hor. Their mission? To transform traditional warehouses into smart, efficient operations that can thrive in today’s fast-paced market.
We delve into Hatio’s journey, examining how they’re helping businesses like POS Malaysia and Spritzer embrace digital transformation, the challenges they’ve overcome, and the strategies they’re using to drive growth in a highly competitive landscape.
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On August 21st, BFM hosted the Enterprise Breakaway: From Farm to Franchise event, where industry experts and seasoned F&B operators explored the critical elements required to build a successful and lasting F&B business in Malaysia.
In the panel session titled "Start, Survive, and Thrive," BFM spoke with Patrick Sim, Managing Director of Secret Recipe, and Jessica Li, Co-Founder and COO of Pop Meals. Both shared their unique perspectives on managing and scaling F&B businesses, emphasising the importance of data-driven decision-making and operational simplicity in achieving long-term success.
Patrick discussed the challenges of sustaining and growing Secret Recipe, a brand that has been around for 27 years. He delved into the importance of maintaining a strong brand identity, the need for continuous investment in innovation, and the strategic decisions that have enabled Secret Recipe to thrive in a highly competitive market.
Jessica offered insights into how Pop Meals, formerly known as DahMakan, transitioned from a cloud kitchen model to a physical store presence. She highlighted how integrating technology and leveraging data have been crucial in refining their product offerings and enhancing customer experience. Jessica also shared the lessons learned from pivoting the business model and the value of staying attuned to customer feedback to drive growth and brand loyalty.
Key topics covered:
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The role of data-driven decision-making in scaling F&B businesses
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Strategies for maintaining brand consistency and customer loyalty
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The transition from a cloud kitchen model to physical stores
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The importance of operational simplicity in managing F&B operations
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Lessons learned from scaling a legacy brand like Secret Recipe
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How Pop Meals leverages technology to innovate and stay competitive
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Long-term growth strategies for F&B businesses in a dynamic market
Whether you’re a seasoned F&B operator or an entrepreneur looking to break into the industry, this episode provides invaluable insights into the strategies and mindset required to build a successful and sustainable F&B brand.
Tune in to hear how Patrick and Jessica are navigating the complexities of the F&B industry and what it takes to not just survive, but thrive.
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On August 21st, BFM hosted the Enterprise Breakaway: From Farm to Franchise event, where industry experts and seasoned F&B operators explored what it takes to build a successful and lasting F&B franchise in Malaysia.
In the Founder Fireside: Building a Malaysian Franchise session, I spoke with Bryan Loo, the Founder and CEO of Loob Holdings, the organisation behind the Tealive brand and the up-and-coming coffee chain, BaskBear.
Bryan shares his journey from being a biotechnology graduate to becoming a powerhouse in the F&B industry—a path that began with a chance encounter at a franchise exhibition in Taiwan.
During this engaging conversation, Bryan discusses the strategic decisions that fueled Tealive’s rapid expansion from a humble startup to nearly a thousand outlets, both locally and internationally. He delves into the challenges of navigating the competitive F&B landscape, the importance of processes and professionalisation, and the critical role of innovation and adaptability in staying ahead.
Bryan also opens up about the lessons learned from early missteps in overseas expansion, the importance of choosing the right business partners, and how Tealive is positioning itself for future growth in Southeast Asia and beyond.
Key topics covered:
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Bryan’s accidental entry into the F&B industry and the early days of Tealive
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Strategic decisions behind Tealive’s rapid local and international expansion
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Navigating challenges in the competitive F&B landscape
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The role of innovation, adaptability, and professionalisation in scaling a brand
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Lessons learned from early overseas expansion attempts
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The importance of choosing the right business partners
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Tealive’s future growth strategies in Southeast Asia and beyond
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or an established business leader, this episode offers valuable insights into building and scaling a successful F&B brand in a dynamic market.
Tune in to hear how an "accidental entrepreneur" became an F&B titan.
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How did Wonderboys Cleaning turn RM4,000 in startup capital into a business that makes RM600,000 in annual revenue?
From doom scrolling on Instagram at 2 a.m. to building a thriving cleaning services business, today we dive into Sathya Selvarajah’s journey with Wonderboys Cleaning. Launched in 2019 with just RM4,000 in startup capital, what began as a university side hustle has grown into a full-fledged business generating RM600,000 in annual revenue with strong margins.
With over 500 clients serviced, including well-known names like Kapten Batik and Common Ground, and a partnership with Knight Frank, this episode of Open For Business explores how Sathya started and grew Wonderboys Cleaning, the challenges he faced, the strategies he used to scale, and his plans to expand beyond KL.
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On this episode of Open For Business, we welcome Dino Loh, Director of Swing & Pillows, Malaysia's largest co-living and hotel chain operator. Dino shares insights into the company's recent expansion into Bukit Bintang with the acquisition of five hotels under the Kingston brand. This move strengthens Swing & Pillows' presence in key locations, offering a range of accommodations from entry-level to premium. We’ll discuss how this acquisition positions the brand for future growth and its strategy to dominate Malaysia’s hospitality sector. Tune in for a closer look at the company’s vision for the future.
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Tired of swiping? Swipeless is on a mission to bring back real-life dating through curated, offline activities.
This platform connects singles not through screens, but through shared experiences—think pizza-making workshops, hiking trips, quiz nights, and board game sessions. With about 700 members and growing, Swipeless is focused on enhancing genuine interactions in an increasingly digital world. Founder Shan Li aims to rekindle the magic of in-person connections with a fresh, curated approach.
Shan Li is no stranger to entrepreneurship; she co-founded the successful mum-and-baby e-commerce business Baby Dash, which raised RM2 million through equity crowdfunding in 2017. As a partner at ScaleUp Malaysia and with over 20 years of experience—including 12 years at CIMB—Shan Li brings a wealth of knowledge from both the corporate and startup worlds.
In this episode, we explore the story behind Swipeless, the unique opportunity Shan Li sees in reviving real-life connections, and her journey from corporate life to pioneering new ventures in the digital age.
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Salad Atelier, possibly the first name to come to mind when one craves a fresh and delicious salad, especially when you think of its poke bowls and the joy of customising your own meal to perfection.
As Salad Atelier celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, we speak with the Founder, Dylan Lee, to reflect on a decade of growth and innovation. Salad Atelier has added flavour to the Malaysian food scene with its commitment to healthy, delicious, and sustainable dining. With over 30 outlets and plans to expand to 38 by year-end, Salad Atelier displays the characteristics of perseverance, creativity, and consumer engagement.
In this conversation with Dylan, we follow the journey of Salad Atelier, from overcoming initial challenges to achieving progressive growth, exploring the strategies that have driven its success. We also discuss the importance of sustainability, how Salad Atelier adapts to local tastes, and Dylan’s vision for the future.
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What started as a mission into sonography as a practitioner 15 years ago, has grown into a multifaceted pregnancy care ecosystem, which also includes education and training for aspiring sonographers and mobile apps for parents and expectant parents.
We dive into the entrepreneurial journey of Jezzlyn Siu, Managing Director of Sono Holding. From her beginnings as a sonographer, Jezzlyn has built a thriving enterprise that not only provides ultrasound services, but also educates aspiring sonographers and offers digital tools for expectant parents.
We dive into how Sonobee Ultrasound grew to a network of 61 service centres across Malaysia, capturing a significant share of the market, but also discuss the strategic restructuring that led to the formation of Sono Holding, encompassing three key subsidiaries—Sonobee Ultrasound, Bebee Asia, and Dacas Education—and the synergy between these businesses.
Jezzlyn shares the challenges faced in scaling the business, the strategies employed to expand and maintain their market position, and how the recent investment from Artem Ventures is set to drive further growth. Plus, we'll look at her ambitions for the future of Sono Holding and how the company plans to continue innovating in the pregnancy care industry.
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How can homeowners make the switch to solar energy without breaking the bank?
Founded in 2022, Okapi Solar is on a mission to make solar power more accessible to homeowners by offering financing solutions that eliminate the high upfront costs typically associated with solar panel installations. Okapi buys the solar panels first, and then leases it to homeowners.
Zhern Yung and Christopher, both with backgrounds in banking and engineering, share their journey of leaving the corporate world to venture into entrepreneurship. They discuss the challenges and opportunities they’ve encountered in the solar energy sector, and how their experience has shaped Okapi’s approach to financing.
Okapi Solar’s financing plans are designed specifically for landed residential properties, allowing homeowners to install solar panels with zero upfront payment and fixed monthly lease payments over a period of up to 10 years. The co-founders delve into the company’s business model, the balance between raising and deploying funds, and the importance of evaluating customer creditworthiness to maintain a healthy business.
As Okapi Solar targets financing 100 residential solar energy systems per month by the first quarter of 2025, Zhern Yung and Christopher also discuss their future plans, including scaling their operations, expanding partnerships with solar installers, and much more.
Tune in to learn how Okapi Technologies is lowering the barrier to solar power adoption, and what lies ahead for this innovative startup.
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We talk to Harith Aqil, the founder of LOOKOO, a local F&B startup that’s set to change how we think about doughnuts with their unique twist—doughnut balls. Inspired by his time in Melbourne, Harith launched LOOKOO in 2022 with the help of his childhood best friend. Their delicious doughnut balls have quickly gained popularity, available not only in their physical store but also through food delivery platforms like GrabFood, Foodpanda, and ShopeeFood.
We discuss with Harith about his journey from the 9-5 world to the entrepreneurial path, exploring the motivations behind starting LOOKOO, the challenges faced in the F&B industry, and the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for the brand.
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In a world dominated by smartphones and tablets, is there still room for a premium stationery and notebook brand?
As Mossery celebrates its 10th anniversary as a full-time business, we sit down with Jun Lim, co-founder and CEO of Mossery, to explore the brand’s evolution from a pet project among graphic design students to a homegrown stationery brand with an international presence.
We delve into Mossery's unique journey, discussing the founding story and early challenges, the brand’s design philosophy and working with illustrators and designers across the world, and how these collaborations have helped Mossery grow its presence beyond Malaysian borders. These collaborations have helped Mossery stand out in a crowded market and appeal to a global audience, with 85% of its sales coming from international markets, particularly the United States.
Beyond that, we also explore how and why the company is adapting its business model to meet evolving consumer demands, with Jun sharing that Mosery will be shifting to a B2B focus. He also provides a glimpse into the company’s financial strategies, including bootstrapping the business and managing the logistics of customised production, and he shares his vision for Mossery’s future in both digital and physical spaces, including potential strategic partnerships and plans for further expansion.
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Founded in 2015 by a group of friends united by a passion for fitness and a commitment to healthy living, Soluxe Nutrition emerged from a shared desire to redefine the world of nutrition. Dissatisfied with the artificial-laden products that dominated the market, these long-time fitness enthusiasts embarked on a mission to create an alternative that not only supports optimal health but also stays true to the power of natural, plant-based ingredients.
What began as a small startup with a single focus on premium pea protein has blossomed into a journey of growth. Soluxe Nutrition now offers a range of 11 protein varieties and a superfood green, all developed with meticulous attention to quality and sustainability.
Today, we speak with the Co-Founder of Soluxe Nutrition, Wilson Quah, about his passion, perseverance, and pioneering spirit that have propelled Soluxe Nutrition to what it is today in the health and wellness industry.
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With his 20 years of experience in the rubber industry, Steven founded Geomax Rubber in 2018 with the aim to revolutionise the footwear industry by upcycling rejected nitrile gloves into eco-friendly soles and shoes. The company has developed an effective method of converting rejected nitrile gloves into high-performance eco-friendly rubber compounds, leading to the creation of their unique product line under the brand Solewell. Their offerings include safety shoes, sandals, boots, and soles.
Today, we dive into the past, present, and future of this venture, including their unique value proposition, the challenges faced, and their ambitious plans ahead. We’ll explore what led Steven down this very specific path, the partnership with recycling industry players Andrew Siah and Danny Lee, and their expansion into new market segments like women’s footwear and school shoes.
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ReU Living builds communities for senior living and post-hospitalization recovery. It's a joint venture between eldercare solutions provider Meaningfull Life Sdn Bhd and Tan & Tan Developments Berhad, a wholly owned subsidiary of IGB Bhd.
Anna Chew, following her experience at CARE Concierge, co-founded ReU Living to fill a crucial gap in the market by offering premium eldercare services and post-hospitalization recovery.
Described by The Edge as a “retirement village, elder care centre, and a convalescent home all rolled into one,” ReU Living combines advanced physiotherapy with holistic treatments, including traditional Chinese medicine. Their first facility, located at MiCasa Hotel along Jalan Tun Razak, boasts 108 bedrooms with fees starting at RM7,500 a month for long-term stay.
Today, we'll explore the creation of ReU Living, its partnership with Tan & Tan, the challenges faced, and their ambitions for the senior living industry.
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We speak with Yeo Kwong Jin, Founder at Fiskor, a contemporary Malaysian cracker brand which uses cutting edge technology in the production of lekor chips. We’ll discuss Jin’s rationale for entering the lekor business as well as how the business is managing the challenges in a tough and challenging F&B industry and their future ambitions going forward.
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CloudJoi is a ticketing service, streaming platform, and community hub designed for the performing arts. Founded in 2020 as CloudTheatre, the company has undergone several rebranding phases, evolving into CloudJoi in 2022. Since its inception, the platform has supported over 1,800 shows, partnered with more than 400 organizers, facilitated the sale of over 600,000 tickets, and generated over RM30 million in Gross Merchandise Value.
With strategic funding from Cradle in 2022 and expansion into Taiwan in 2023, CloudJoi continues to grow and innovate. Join us as we speak with Dennis Lee, CEO, and Kevin Teh, COO, to discuss their journey, the evolution of CloudJoi, and their ambitious plans for the future.
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We hear from Big Tiny, a property development company transforming the dream of serene, nature-immersed living into a reality. Founded by Jeff Yeo and his co-founders Adrian and Dave, Big Tiny combines eco-friendly tiny homes with the beauty of nature, offering a sustainable travel experience. With an initial investment of S$100,000, they broke even in their first year and now boast a portfolio of 300 tiny houses across the globe. In this episode, Jeff Yeo shares their journey from inception to international expansion, the challenges faced, and their future ambitions.
Image Credit: Big Tiny
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Paywatch is a financial services company that provides earned wage access (EWA) services to help employees get banked, receive credit, and improve their access to financial products.
Richard Kim, Co-Founder and CEO of Paywatch, founded the business in 2019 with his brother Alex. Together, they have built Paywatch as the only bank-backed and regulator-approved Earned Wage Access solution in Asia. Today, they have expanded their business not only in Malaysia and South Korea but also in other Asia Pacific countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, with their eyes set on Thailand and Vietnam ahead.
As of June, Paywatch had processed over $58 million in salaries through its system and was growing month-over-month by as much as 15%. Their user base is spread across South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, with notable clients including KFC, Pizza Hut (part of QSR Brands), Wilmar International, PayNet, and Jaya Grocer, among others.
Last month, Paywatch raised US$30 million (approximately RM141 million) in funding from a mix of equity and credit facilities to continue its growth and expansion plans.
In this conversation, Richard will give us a sense of why he started Paywatch, the problem he aims to address, the business opportunities present, the challenges in turning it into reality, and their growth path ahead.
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Founded in 2017 with the aim to redefine workspaces, Infinity8 today offers dynamic coworking environments that cater to both local and international businesses. With a focus on flexibility and comprehensive support services, Infinity8 provides not just physical space but also recruitment, HR payroll, and enterprise solutions. These offerings make it a differentiating player in easing market entry for foreign companies and supporting Malaysia's economic framework.
Today we speak to Lee Sheah Liang, the Co-Founder of Infinity8, on its journey from a 1,400 sq ft first floor lot and just 4 coworkers in Johor and explore the profound impact coworking spaces have on the local economy, and the strategic importance of Infinity8's expansions.
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Today, we speak with Ashvin Praveen, Co-founder and CEO of Cleve.ai. They're an AI-powered content workspace for creators to create, get inspired, and organise content with one tool.
Ashvin founded the business back in December 2023 with his co-founders, Lizzie and Rashad, after the company secured funding from Antler, the global early-stage VC firm, earlier this year. Since their inception, Cleve has now grown to have over 120 weekly active users and steadily growing after also securing funding from Antler, the global early-stage VC firm, earlier this year.
In today’s conversation, Ashvin will be giving us a sense of how the idea of starting up an AI-powered workspace came about, some of the early challenges the company is currently facing and what’s in store for the business moving forward.
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On this episode of Open for Business, we dive into the world of mental wellness with Madiha Fuad, Founder and CEO of PlusVibes. Launched in 2020 during the pandemic, PlusVibes is a platform that combines digital and in-person mental health services, bringing together mental health associations, volunteer listeners, and campaigners on an all-in-one app.
With over 50,000 users, PlusVibes provides tools for self-development and motivation, including data reports on employee well-being and curated workshops with subject matter experts. Madiha shares her journey from journalism and F&B to creating a mental wellness platform, the challenges she faced, and the ambitions for PlusVibes in 2024 and beyond.
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We speak with Paresh Subramaniyam, Founder and CEO of Engage Life, a wellness company offering holistic health and well-being solutions for individuals and businesses. With clients like Motorola Solutions Malaysia, SME Bank Malaysia, Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia, and Continental Automotive Components Malaysia, Engage Life covers various dimensions of wellness, including environmental, physical, financial, mental, and social well-being. Paresh will share the journey of founding Engage Life, the challenges faced, and how the company has achieved recognition and funding through initiatives like the Digital Health Innovation Challenge 2021 and the MY Startup Accelerator Cohort 2.
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"The stress. The quantum of stress. To prepare a case that you need to do the submissions the next day, (that can take) 15-16 hours. You ask the young lawyer, they can't do it, they say they want a work-life balance. A lot of junior lawyers are leaving the profession because of the intense workload and lack of balance."
In this episode of Open for Business, we sit down with Francis Lui, Founder, CEO, and CTO of NexLaw.ai, an AI-powered legal trial copilot that provides innovative AI-driven solutions in litigation and dispute trial preparation.
Founded in 2023 by Francis and his wife Bernie Law, NexLaw.ai utilizes advanced AI algorithms to streamline various facets of legal work. The company’s services cover commercial and criminal law across major jurisdictions including the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Singapore. With a successful initial funding round from 500 Global in Silicon Valley, NexLaw.ai is now aiming to raise an additional $10 million to accelerate its growth.
Partnering with NVIDIA Inception, a program dedicated to nurturing startups with advanced technology, NexLaw.ai is poised to drive significant advancements in the legal AI industry. In this episode, Francis shares the motivations behind venturing into legal tech, the challenges faced in building the business, and the company’s ambitious plans for the future.
Tune in to learn more about how NexLaw.ai is transforming the legal industry, the role of AI in legal trial preparation, and the strategic steps the company is taking to expand its reach and impact.
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How do you feel when you hear the phrase team building? When your company tells you that you are going on an offsite team building weekend, do you moan and groan, or do you feel supercharged about it? Hopefully, today’s episode on Open for Business will help you - employers and employees alike - see team building in a different light.
In the business world today, team building has evolved beyond simple icebreakers and trust falls. It has become a vital component of corporate culture and organisational success, driven by the growing recognition of the importance of fostering collaboration, communication, and cohesion among employees.
Companies are seeking out activities that not only promote teamwork but also enhance problem-solving skills, boost morale, and improve overall workplace productivity. As businesses navigate the complexities of a post-pandemic world, the role of team building in fostering resilience, adaptability, and unity has become even more crucial, especially with the rise of remote and hybrid work environments.
So, how does one push the boundaries of traditional team building? We speak with the Founder and CEO of ATAG, Arthur Woo, to uncover the story behind ATAG, explore the challenges and triumphs along the company's journey, and gain insights into the future of team building in today’s corporate landscape.
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In this episode of Open for Business, we speak with Dalia Alkatiri, Founder and Managing Director of Bakin Love, a Malaysian-based baking business that sells fail-proof baking premixes to consumers and businesses.
Founded in December 2022, Bakin Love is present across e-commerce platforms like Lazada, Shopee, TikTok, and The Noor, but also physical retailers like Village Grocer.
Dalia shares her journey from being a startup advisor to an active business owner, the challenges she faced along the way, and Bakin Love’s ambitious plans for expansion ahead.
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In recent years, Malaysia's digital economy has undergone a remarkable transformation, fundamentally reshaping how consumers interact with businesses and services. The travel sector, in particular, has seen significant shifts, with online transactions becoming an integral part of daily life. This rapid digitalisation, accelerated by the pandemic a few years ago, has changed consumer behaviour and driven substantial economic value through digital platform business models.
Amidst this progressively developing landscape, online bus ticketing platform, redBus, has emerged as one of the forerunners in the travel industry. Established in India in 2006 and now operating in Malaysia since 2015, as well as in multiple countries, redBus leverages technology to offer seamless and personalised travel experiences. By harnessing the power of generative AI, redBus optimises operations and enhances customer satisfaction, empowering both travel operators and end consumers.
Today, we speak with Krishnan Ramaswami, the Chief Business Officer for International Business at redBus, on how the company is navigating Malaysia's dynamic digital economy, its growth journey, and future technological adoption.
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With their patented modular edible hydroponic green walls, Grobrix is on a mission to reconnect urban communities with the source of their food, promoting healthier and more sustainable lifestyles.
Started between 2019 and 2021, Grobrix has built a presence in more than 70 commercial locations across Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, with ambitious plans to triple its urban farming footprint in 2024. They are building on their current success in Singapore and Malaysia while expanding into North America through their recently announced partnership with Green City Growers. In just two years, Grobrix has reportedly grown quarterly revenue by over 500%, driven by the company’s transition from a business-to-consumer service to a business-to-business model.
From the trading floor to green walls, Mathew joins us today to explore Grobrix’s journey, including their subscription-based Farming as a Service model, the strategic move to B2B, their expansion into the North American market, and the exciting developments with Grobrix 2.0. Join us as we delve into all this and much more.
Image Credit: Grobrix
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On this episode of Open for Business, we discuss the evolution of expense management platforms in Malaysia with Ivan Alias, Deputy Chief Commercial Officer at Merchantrade Asia.
We'll explore how Merchantrade Asia's latest corporate solution, Merchantrade Money Biz, which is also Malaysia's first corporate wallet, is redefining expense management for businesses of varying sizes and how businesses can navigate the challenges and opportunities in this ever-changing tech environment.
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Among some of the key findings from Malaysia’s National Health and Morbidity Survey 2023 includes the fact that 15% of adults in Malaysia have diabetes, 29% have hypertension, 33% have high cholesterol, and that 54% are overweight. These health issues are not unique to Malaysia and in response to similar trends in Singapore, Novi Health has entered the chat in an attempt to address these rising concerns.
Founded in 2019 by Dr. Sue-Anne Toh, Dr. Joanne Tay, and Dr. Kyle Tan, Novi Health specialises in diabetes care and weight management, integrating clinical treatments with behavioural and lifestyle interventions, but expects to expand into health optimization and improving health longevity in the near future. In 2022, Novi Health raised $5 million in a Series A round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures to power this ambition.
Today, on Open for Business, we dive into how Dr. Sue Anne Toh and her co-founders built Novi Health, the business promise and potential, and what the path ahead looks like for this HealthTech company.
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Founded in 2018, POMEN has moved from being a B2C platform to a B2B one, now helping connect companies like PETRONAS and Maxis with workshops to help manage their fleets. On top of that, it is also trying to help workshops streamline operations, manage customer relationships, and more.
On the back of launching a new product called ENGARAGE - the company aims to double the number of workshops on the platform and enroll 3,000 workshops across Malaysia by March 2025. Today we drive into the world of automotive workshop management to learn more about the company, and how and why it’s trying to transform the automotive service industry, what they are looking for in future external investors, and much more.
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Malaysia's cuisine is a captivating blend of flavours reflecting the country's rich cultural diversity. With influences from Malay, Chinese, Indian, and indigenous traditions, Malaysian food offers a unique and tantalising blend of spices, herbs, and ingredients.
Within this culinary landscape, the pickle industry holds a special place. Pickles, a beloved staple in Malaysian households, are celebrated for their ability to enhance dishes with bold, complex flavours, making them a cherished part of Malaysia's gastronomic heritage.
Homegrown Pick A Pickle has carved a niche with its artisanal approach to homemade pickles and pastes. This business merges traditional recipes with contemporary twists, offering a delightful array of tangy pickles and savoury pastes that capture the essence of local flavours.
Founded with a passion for preserving culinary heritage, Pick A Pickle products are a culmination of creativity, and the rich gastronomic tapestry of Malaysia. Whether one is a connoisseur of spicy tang or a seeker of unique taste experiences, Pick A Pickle takes you on a journey through the authentic taste of home-cooked goodness, one jar at a time.
Today, we speak with Co-Founders Allan and Audrie Yeo to learn more about this father-daughter family business and their journey in bringing traditional Malaysian flavours to a wider audience, as well as their vision for the future of Pick A Pickle.
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Founded in April 2023, Notti Pet Food is a local pet food brand that wants to elevate pet kibble and recently secured RM2.4 million in seed funding from venture capital firms 500 Global and First Move to accelerate its mission.
The company crossed RM1 million in revenue in 6 months and is on track to hit RM2 million in revenue for its first year in business. With aims to hit 8-figures in revenue in the next 2 years, Notti will be focused on accelerating growth through new products and further market expansion into the Philippines and Singapore.
At present, the company produces slow-baked kibble, using human-grade meat alongside fruits, vegetables, probiotics, and prebiotics., and is in over 100 pet shops, mostly in Malaysia, but with a minor presence in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.
Today, we'll dive into the origins of Notti Pet Food, from its inception just over a year ago to Ke Yee's ambitions for the future now that she’s secured RM2.4 million in seed funding, which all kind of started from a LinkedIn comment.
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Aonic was born as a commercial drone solutions provider for enterprises looking to modernise their operation workflow. While they are no stranger to the commercial drone industry, they are looking to expand beyond the skies and to build an ecosystem beyond just their core drone capabilities. Cheong Jin Xi, founder and CEO of Aonic, gives us a peek into this unique industry.
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By 2030, Malaysia is expected to transition into an ageing society, with individuals above age 60 and older to make up 15% of the population, and this is a business opportunity that multiple businesses are looking to address, and Sukha is a new contender in the ring.
Starting back in December 2022, Sukha Golden Sanctuary initially focused on specialised support to elderly individuals with dementia and other cognitive impairments. Today the company says it has a Retirement Clubhouse concept and positions itself as focusing on holistic well-being and having a community-based care model, which we will flesh out further in the show.
To expand their services and set up the Sukha Senior Resort in PJ New Town, Sukha is trying to raise between RM3.6 million and RM6 million by offering up to 16.7% of the company via equity crowdfunding on PitchIn. This fundraise values the company at RM30 million.
So, on top of exploring this fundraising exercise, we will dive into the story behind Sukha Golden's inception and their positioning in the senior living industry, as well as the company’s growth trajectory and projected pathway to a RM1 billion IPO in 6-10 years time.
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Leaving Wall Street to revolutionize Islamic finance, solo founder Junaid Wahedna raised $82 million in his mission to eliminate interest from Muslim lives worldwide. With that funding, he built a robo-advisor model that’s profitable in the three main countries Wahed operates in: the US, the UK, and Malaysia. These markets contribute almost equally to Wahed’s approximate $1 billion in AUM. That said, Wahed is still not profitable on the group level.
However, now that the base model works, Junaid has handed the role of CEO to COO Mohsin Siddiqui, who has been tasked with replicating the business model and scaling the company into markets across the world, aiming to take Wahed from $10 million to $100 million in revenue. Junaid has transitioned to the role of Chairman to focus on overall strategy, building new products, and advancing the larger mission.
Join us on this episode of "Open for Business" as we dive into an inspiring conversation with Junaid Wahedna. He shares his entrepreneurial journey, from leaving a lucrative career on Wall Street to creating a platform that caters to the needs of the Muslim community by offering Sharia-compliant investment solutions. Junaid recounts how a taxi ride in New York sparked the idea for Wahed back in 2015, leading to raising $75-$82 million over the last nine years and establishing offices in 11 countries, including Malaysia.
Don't miss out on this captivating discussion with Junaid Wahedna, only on Open for Business.
Key Takeaways:1. Inspiration from a Taxi Ride: The idea for Wahed was sparked during a taxi ride in New York when a Bangladeshi driver shared his struggle with Sharia-compliant investments. He didn't want to keep his money in a bank because he was a practicing Muslim and wanted to avoid interest, so he had put all his savings into Apple stock on the advice of his imam. 2. Mission-Driven Business: Wahed's core mission is to provide Sharia-compliant investment solutions, aiming to eliminate interest from all aspects of its customers' financial lives, reflecting the company's commitment to its values and the community it serves. 3. Organic Growth Powered by Referrals: Wahed has achieved significant growth through organic means, leveraging community trust and referrals rather than relying heavily on traditional marketing methods. 4. Solo Founder Success: Despite conventional VC wisdom favoring co-founders, Junaid Wahedna believes that many of the most successful entrepreneurs possess an autocratic personality and emphasizes the importance of control. 5. Raising Capital While Maintaining Control: Junaid successfully raised between $75-$82 million without giving up control, issuing only common stock and not giving any board seats to investors. 6. Global Expansion: Wahed has expanded to multiple differing markets (the US, UK, Malaysia, and UAE), demonstrating the scalability and international appeal of Sharia-compliant investment products. 7. Diverse Product Offerings: Wahed's product portfolio includes a robo-advisor platform, ETFs, equity crowdfunding, and a gold-backed debit card, illustrating the company's innovative approach to addressing various financial needs within the Muslim community. 8. Balancing Faith and Business: Junaid emphasizes the importance of balancing faith-based values with business decisions, ensuring that Wahed stays true to its mission while achieving profitability. 9. Efficient and Lean Operations: Wahed's ability to break even quickly in new markets, highlights the company's focus on operational efficiency and cost management. Their new UAE operations currently on track to break even within one year. 10. Acquisition Strategy: Wahed strategically acquires companies to accelerate growth and enhance its product offerings, such as the acquisition of a digital banking app in the UK for its infrastructure and team.
Future Plans and IPO Considerations: While an IPO is seen as a potential path for liquidity and community ownership, Wahed remains focused on its long-term growth strategy and maintaining control to continue its mission-driven work
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Established in 2012, Complete Human Network helps companies deal with their electronic equipment needs, allowing enterprises to optimise their IT budget and minimise IT-related hassles by leveraging Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) and Enterprise Mobility as-a-Service (EMaaS) solutions, packaging IT devices and software services on a subscription basis.
In today’s conversation, Chai Peng will give us a sense of the journey she’s been on with CHN and the business of enterprise mobility, the underlying business performance and growth, as well as her ambitions ahead.
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Evlos is an artificial intelligence (AI) company that provides AI-powered computer vision solutions to manufacturers all over Malaysia.
Announced last month, the company secured its first institutional funding round from Kumpulan Modal Perdana (KMP), a tech-focused venture capital owned by the Minister of Finance (Incorporated), which will be used to expand the team and power growth ahead.
Shankar and Rahul, the Co-Founders of Evlos, will walk us through the shift from Cedar Technologies to Evlos and the value proposition today, how they’ve built this business over the last 5 years, and their ambitions ahead.
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Today we speak with Dr. Matt Kan, the Founder of Chiropractic First Group. With over two decades of experience, Dr. Kan has been advocating for chiropractic care in Malaysia, where back pain and bone and joint complications affect several million people here.
Inspired by a personal encounter with the healing power of chiropractic, Dr. Kan has dedicated his life to debunking myths and raising awareness about the vital role of our spines in overall health. He will shed light on the science behind chiropractic adjustments, and how this approach can restore mobility, relieve pain, and support the body's natural ability to heal itself.
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From pandemic project to Nasdaq listing later this year, Jin Tan started ReSkills back in 2020 as an online educational portal with the aim of making learning accessible and affordable where the portal connected learners with trainers from across the globe. Today it's a subscription-based online learning platform offering global access to daily live learning sessions and other career-oriented materials. All for USD$1 a month.
Last week, in conjunction with its 4th anniversary, the company unveiled a 5-year roadmap and announced that it is taking steps to list on the NASDAQ as part of its vision to become the world’s primary AI-powered global Learning Hub.
Today on Open for Business, you will learn about the newly announced roadmap and ReSkills strategies for expanding its international footprint, but before that we’ll go back to the origins of this company and explore the journey Jin has been on over the last 4 years.
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In the bustling landscape of healthcare innovation, one company is making waves with its products and with a purpose. Rightfully sounding like a company on a purpose, bpositive, is a social enterprise founded in April 2023 by Corey Bryant, a veteran with nearly two decades in the medical device industry. From its adorable, superhero-themed bandages to its impactful Buy1Help1 initiative, bpositive is redefining what it means to be a healthcare provider.
As Malaysia faces the challenges of an ageing population and rising non-communicable diseases, bpositive’s entrance into the Malaysian market is timely. We speak with Corey Bryant, the Founder of bpositive, to learn more about his company, its ethos and inroads into Malaysia.
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BidMyAsset is a Malaysian-based auction platform for second-hand and manufacturing machinery and equipment, and while it may have been founded in 2022, its roots go back to 2005 through its parent company Khoshee Auctioneers.
The platform helps business owners buy and sell industrial equipment as well as dispose of movable assets like machinery, equipment and industrial surplus, with the company saying it has facilitated transactions across Southeast Asia. This includes brands such as Ann Joo Berhad and Panasonic Appliance.
Today we explore BidMyAsset's approach to asset management and disposal, as well as why Jeevan embarked on this journey and what brought him into the auction business. We will also get into the company’s ambitions and growth trajectory.
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Founded in 2023, Seedflex raised seed funding from 500 Global in Q4 last year to launch its shariah-compliant digital financing solution “Pay-As-You-Sell Advance” (PAYS Advance) across Southeast Asia, starting first in Malaysia as announced in April.
Seedflex said that their PAYS Advance solution offers a frictionless line of credit for cashless merchants that can automatically adjust based on future revenue projections. Interestingly, repayments can be done as fractional deductions from future sales.
The firm had started rolling out this solution to micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) businesses, but aims to expand the service to a wider group of cashless merchants later this year with aims to expand to other Southeast Asian markets next year.
On this episode of Open for Business, we’ll get into Seedflex’s backstory and their expansion into Malaysia, how they built this credit solution as well as how it’s powered, what kind of partners they’re looking to onboard, their growth strategy, and their larger ambitions ahead.
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We speak with Jeremy Dev, Founder at Far Post Academy, a Malaysian based startup that offers futsal lessons for kids aged 4 years and above.
They offer training programs that are designed to hone technical and tactical skills through professional drills, strategic planning, and real-world exposure through representing the academy at games and tournaments. Since the pandemic, the academy has enrolled over 200 kids in the Klang Valley region and are looking at further expansion into other states in Malaysia.
In today’s discussion, Jeremy will give us a sense of how the academy has evolved over the last 3 years, the challenges they had to pull through as well as the ambitions and hurdles ahead in 2024 and beyond.
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We speak with Ann Sze Pang and Tan Jin Xue, Co-Founders of Neo Livin, a tech-driven DTC furniture platform changing the way people shop for furniture. Neo Livin offers high-quality, affordable products through a unique community showroom model, integrating technology and sustainability.
With over 1,000 homes served and multiple awards, Neo Livin has transformed from a small startup to a leader in the industry. We discuss their journey, the challenges of scaling a homegrown business, and their vision for the future of sustainable furniture shopping.
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"If you can build your company without raising money, do it because then you're in control. There's this idea that you're really cool if you've got some venture money. And I want to say the coolest is if you own the whole thing yourself." Robin Chase, Co-Founder of Zipcar, GoLoco, Buzzcar, Veniam, and NUMO.
In this episode of "Open for Business," we speak to serial entrepreneur and transportation innovator Robin Chase. Robin is co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest car sharing company in the world; Buzzcar, a peer-to-peer car sharing service in France (now merged with Drivy); and GoLoco, an online ride sharing community. She is also co-founder of Veniam, a network company connecting vehicles to the cloud. More recently she established NUMO, a nonprofit aimed at leveraging new urban mobility technologies for sustainable city development.
From starting Zipcar back in 2000, Robin has decades of experience in revolutionizing urban mobility and entrepreneurship, and she shares her unique insights and the key lessons she's learned along the way.
Among other things, Robin discusses:
- Her motivation for diving into urban mobility and the challenges she faced along the way.
- The importance of timing and being at the right place at the right time in business.
- The concept of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and its critical role in launching successful ventures.
- Navigating the complex dynamics of fundraising and maintaining control over your company.
- Her vision for the future of transportation, including the rise of electric bikes and smaller vehicles.
There’s a lot to learn from Robin's experiences over the last 24 years, including practical advice on how to approach entrepreneurship, the importance of innovation, and how to adapt to ever-changing market conditions.
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“My mum said to me, stop playing with cars or turn it into a business. So I turned it into a business.”
Established in 2004, Automotive Synergy started life as Malaysia’s distributor of satellite navigation systems with Garmin, as satnav became more popular, Automotive Synergy’s business expanded, developing key connections with car manufacturers such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, and BMW, as well as oil and gas companies like Mobil and Shell. However with the rise of the smartphone and apps such as Google Maps and Waze, satnav as a standalone product lost prominence and faced ‘Blackberry Level’ disruption.
Thankfully the business had shifted its focus to providing car care chemicals, before distributing other automotive care products and establishing export markets in various countries for its own in-house products.
With all that in mind, we explore the origins of Automotive Synergy, how the company pivoted as the satellite navigation business changed, and the ambitions ahead for this company.
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We speak with Ivan Lee, Co-Founder of The Tapping Tapir, a Malaysian beverage company known for its unique range of artisanal sodas made from natural ingredients. The Tapping Tapir began its journey at local artisanal markets in Kuala Lumpur and has grown significantly since its inception.
Ivan shares insights on the challenges and opportunities of scaling a homegrown business in the post-pandemic world. We discuss strategies for navigating supply chain disruptions, maintaining product quality, and leveraging digital marketing to reach a wider audience.
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Solaroo is a wholly owned subsidiary under Pekat Group Bhd that deals in smaller scale solar photovoltaic systems for residential, commercial and industrial projects.
For the most part, Solaroo looks to be Pekat’s residential solar PV system specialist that complements the group’s other subsidiaries. Established in 1999, Pekat Group pivoted over to Photovoltaic (PV) Renewable Energy Technology in 2006 and has since finished over 195MWp of PV projects.
In this edition of Open for Business, we will learn more about the role that Solaroo plays in the group as well as why Johann built the business under Pekat Group and Solaroo’s relationship with the group. Beyond that we’ll also learn how Solaroo differentiates itself in a competitive market as more and more residential solar players enter the market as well as Solaroo’s ambitions ahead.
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We speak with the founders of CONTEN.T, an award-winning BrandTech company specialising in creating advanced digital experiences using first-party data. With collaborations with top brands like COACH, Calvin Klein, Adidas, and Gucci, CONTEN.T has delivered over 200 innovative digital experiences, including AR/VR, gamification, and AI-driven projects. Our discussion will cover their growth since their last appearance on BFM in 2021, new developments in first-party data strategies, and the impact of their work on brand engagement.
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From selling 20 shirts at a free night bazaar to hitting 8-figures in revenue in 2022 with aims to hit RM50 million in 3 years time, on this edition of Open for Business, we explore the rise of Kapten Batik with Co-Founders Farhan Omar and Ekram Faiz.
Pulling all their savings together, these engineering students-turned-batik fashion entrepreneurs started this venture in 2017 with RM40,000 in capital with the aim of modernising and reinvigorating batik in Malaysia. From weekend bazaars, Kapten Batik took a big step forward in December 2019 opening its first flagship store in Publika Shopping Gallery. Today it has 7 stores, a warehouse HQ in Puchong, and another 7 consignment boutiques in select resorts and hotels.
Farhan and Ekram share their journey from selling at bazaars to opening multiple stores, their product development process, and the challenges they faced. Additionally, they delve into their marketing strategies, sustainability goals, and future plans for expansion, including potential international markets and exploring new business verticals like cafes and boutique resorts, as well as potential fundraising plans to grow and what they’re potentially looking for in investors.
In case you don’t have the time, here are 7 AI-Generated key takeaways from the interview:
Origin and Motivation: Kapten Batik was founded in 2017 by Farhan Omar and Ekram Faiz. They identified a gap in the market as young people were not wearing batik. They aimed to modernize traditional batik to make it suitable for everyday wear.
Business Development: The business started small, selling at social media and weekend bazaars, eventually opening their first flagship store in Publika Shopping Gallery in December 2019. Today, they have seven stores, a warehouse HQ in Puchong, and seven consignment boutiques in select resorts and hotels.
Product Innovation: Initially, they focused on batik-inspired, printed designs to offer a more affordable price point. They researched materials and designs, often traveling to Indonesia for inspiration. Their product line has since expanded to include various materials, such as European linen and sustainable fabrics like recycled plastic for activewear.
Market Acceptance: The brand quickly gained traction, with their products selling well at bazaars. Their first major validation came from a successful bazaar at Trec KL. This early success gave them the confidence to invest more into the business.
Pandemic Response: During the pandemic, Kapten Batik already had an online store, which helped them pivot quickly. They launched aggressive marketing campaigns to clear seasonal stock and opened their second store in Bangsar Shopping Center in December 2021, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.
Growth and Expansion: Kapten Batik has grown significantly, achieving eight figures in revenue by 2022. They aim for 30% annual growth and plan to expand their physical stores and penetrate international markets like Singapore and London. They also plan to open a store in KLIA to attract tourists.
Fundraising Plans: Although Kapten Batik has been self-funded and has taken bank loans, the founders are now considering equity funding for future expansion. They are looking for strategic partners who can provide business expertise and support their growth in regional and international markets. They have started entertaining conversations with potential investors to explore these opportunities.
Future Vision: The founders envision Kapten Batik becoming a luxury brand with a strong international presence. They also plan to diversify beyond fashion into areas like cafes and boutique resorts, potentially starting in destinations like Bali.
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Orangeleaf Consultancy, founded by Ellice and Tim Hendricks, is changing Malaysia’s tech industry with their low-code platform expertise. Starting as a two-person team, they have grown to a 30-strong team, focusing on developing local talent and driving digital transformation.
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Founded in 2018, Store N Go provides warehousing services and tailored product handling, storage, packaging materials, kitting services, and distribution solutions. The company is also the first in Malaysia to integrate influencer marketing solutions with warehousing and fulfilment services. Currently, Store N Go’s influencer marketing solutions span a growing in-house team of 24 influencers on TikTok and they cover a variety of consumer interests from beauty to lifestyle.
Kee Lion was on the show back in 2022 to discuss what the early stages of the company looked like and since then, Store N Go has grown as a e-fulfilment service provider in Malaysia, with a portfolio of over 80 brands, 38 originating from Malaysia. In 2023, Store N Go processed more than 4 million parcels and connected local startups and SMEs with an average increase in sales of 99.28%, compared to March 2022.
In today’s conversation, Kee Lion will give us a sense of how his past experiences with Nike, Johnson and Johnson & L’Oreal, helped shape the idea of starting up this business, the prominence and importance of TikTok Shop and social commerce, and the ambitions ahead for Store N Go.
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We’re joined by Toh Kean Wee, the Founder and Managing Director of TPE, one of the largest whiteboard and writing instrument manufacturers in Malaysia. Starting from humble beginnings in a 1,000 Sq. Ft. cottage in 2008, TPE has grown into a modern 50,000 Sq. Ft. manufacturing facility, meeting high export market demands.
Mr. Toh has navigated the competitive whiteboard manufacturing industry, establishing TPE as a significant market player. His entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen have driven TPE’s growth in both domestic and global markets. As the whiteboard industry evolves, Mr. Toh shares valuable insights into emerging trends and TPE’s future role in the industry.
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On this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Lakshita Wijerathne, CEO at Eutech Cybernetic, a Smart Technology solutions provider that owns Iviva, a full-fledged smart property management platform that enables efficient management of spaces, buildings and cities.
With over 20 years of experience and headquartered in Singapore, Eutech works with a global network of partners in 15 countries, seven smart precincts and cities as well as a 300m square footage area of spaces across Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East. Their solutions are catered for owners and operators in the real estate industry with the Iviva platform.
Along the course of the conversation, Lakshita give us a sense of how Iviva was established, what differentiates it with other smart technology platforms in the market and what the future holds for Eutech in the foreseeable future.
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“To our surprise, we realised probably 6 or 7 out of 10 customers that walked in didn't really know us, (before that,) we thought we were famous. That was a huge awakening call”.
Founded in 2013 by Nicole Wong and Stan Chui, Sometime has evolved from an online-only business to a brand with multiple physical outlets and collaborations with designers across Asia.
In this episode of Open for Business, we speak with Stan Chooi, co-founder and CEO of the Malaysian fashion brand, Sometime. Stan shares his transition from the advertising industry to fashion, his partnership with Nicole Wong, the challenges of starting this business, and the rationale behind the brand's offline push. Stan also gets into the role of strategic partnerships and potential future considerations for funding and business expansion.
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In recent years, Malaysia has been faced with a rising student dropout rate, with over 14,506 students leaving school prematurely in 2023 alone. That’s according to the National Social Council. This alarming trend highlights the urgent need for innovative ways or solutions to keep students engaged and invested in their education.
With this in mind, MyFuturity Global aims to step in with an application, called StudentQR, designed to transform the education landscape through real-time monitoring and gamification.
In this episode, we speak with Syed Huzaifah Syed Omar, the Founder and CEO of MyFuturity Global, a company that specialises in mobile app content for various industries such as education and training, architecture, film and healthcare, who will share his insights on addressing this critical issue and how StudentQR aims to reshape the future of education in Malaysia.
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Founded in 2022, Patriot Biotech describes itself as a group of scientists, inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs who want to bring molecular-based biotechnology to the masses in Malaysia and the world, while nurturing and building local talent and technology.
Today on Open For Business, we explore the ambitions of this startup, their focus on genomics and its applications to aquaculture and value to academia and universities in Malaysia. We’ll also explore Gan's journey to Australia and back, and how that’s informed the way he’s built Patriot Biotech, why he left academia and a stable career, and how he’s built a bootstrapped and profitable business.
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“If there is a time to start a business, it is now, while we’re young.”
A lunch between co-workers in their mid-20s in 2014 turned into a startup that has raised RM46 million, is now close to profitability, and wants to generate RM80-90 million in revenue in 2024 powered by its growth in Indonesia.
In 2014, 5 months after an initial discussion over lunch in 2014, Goh Chee Hau and Nadhir Ashafiq started TheLorry. The goal was to connect drivers and their vehicles with business and consumer transport and logistics jobs, with the vision that this would all be powered by proprietary tracking, route optimization and payments technology.
With just a handful of drivers in the early days, today TheLorry is present in 4 countries in the region, namely Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia, and partners more than 7,000 drivers who provide services like professional house moving, furniture dismantling and disposing, and B2B logistics.
The startup is no stranger to funding rounds. Back in 2016, it raised US$1.5 million in its Series A round, close to RM24 million in its Series B funding round in 2019, and most recently, RM4.1 million through ECF on pitchIN last year.
On this episode of Open For Business, you will learn about TheLorry’s origins and ambitions, their evolution over the last decade, and what the path ahead looks like for this Malaysian-born startup.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we venture into the advanced field of technology, focusing on engineering, manufacturing and product development with Projet Technology — a company founded out of a passion for tackling the complex challenges within its industry.
From reducing lead times and managing resource constraints to facilitating high mix low volume orders, Projet Technology is on a path to transform manufacturing for multiple industries including E&E/Semiconductor, Medical, and Aerospace.
We speak to Allen Tan, Founder & Managing Director, and Co-Founder Lua Yew Jin, of Projet Technology.
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In this episode, we speak with Dhawal Shah, Regional Managing Director and Co-founder of 2Stallions, a boutique digital marketing agency with headquarters in Singapore and teams across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and India.
Started with his schoolmate-turned-university friend Razy back in 2012, 2Stallions has spent over the last decade providing small businesses with digital marketing services to help them compete with the big guns without a big marketing budget. Among other things, the firm provides client-centric digital marketing solutions — from SEO, SEM, and Performance Marketing to Social Media Marketing and Website Development.
Along the course of this conversation, Dhawal gives us a sense of how his love for coding shaped his career and eventually led to starting up 2Stallions, what makes their business model unique in a competitive market as well as what’s in store for the company since the revamp back in April.
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We explore IWG Malaysia's ambitious expansion as they gear up to launch four new workspaces in the country. Two of these new centres will be situated in the Klang Valley, while the other two will find their home in Johor Bahru, catering to the growing community of hybrid workers. These new locations, representing Regus and HQ, will enhance IWG Malaysia's portfolio, providing a diverse range of workspace solutions to support businesses in their hybrid work arrangements. The launch, set between April and September, will further strengthen IWG's global presence, adding to its network of over 4,000 locations in 120 countries. Tune in as we uncover how these workspaces align with Malaysia's push for more employee-friendly models, offering insights into how IWG's expansion will shape the future of flexible work environments.
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“And I took that personally”. That was how the eccentric founder of Tokpork, Phon Yung Hou, felt when he was making RM300 a day in sales which paled in comparison to the others around him at Restoran Yum Me Place. There may have been a tease or two from the business owners around him that Tokpork was more hobby than business.
Phon wasn’t always in the business of selling Nasi Lemak, but with the support from his former boss Leon Foong, the former Uber Malaysia boss and then SOCAR Malaysia CEO, he eventually got into the nasi lemak business, after testing a few other food ideas. With Leon helping Phon with the stall deposit, Phon used his last pay-check from SOCAR as working capital and set up shop at a kopitiam in the Bukit Damansara, which he still operates from today.
Things were tough at the start, but as he says in this conversion, “it’s about the game” and he wanted to continue to play it. In the early days Phon was only making RM300 a day in sales, but this all changed following a KL Foodie video which ignited his business. The morning after the video was released, Phon was sold out before lunch, even after preparing extra food.
In this episode, you will hear about the origins of this business in more detail and why he gave up his career to go into the ever challenging food business. We’ll also explore his larger ambitions, why he wants to go into entertainment (and what he means by that), and the long term ambitions to build Tokpork and eventually sell it.
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Connecting SMEs to investors, Capsphere claims that it sets itself apart from other similar players because each loan is asset-backed, or secured by an asset. Founded in 2016, the company targets businesses that have been in operations for over 1 year, with assets that can be used to secure the loan such as industrial equipment or even contracts.
Last financial year the firm generated RM355,000 in revenue on the back around RM6 million in new loans disbursed over 88 loan/notes. Looking ahead, the P2P financing platform aims to double revenue in FY2024 and again in FY2025, taking it to RM1.4 million, where it currently projects it will get to profitability.
In this episode of Open For Business, we dive into this venture’s origins and whether this model has enough of a differentiation in the P2P financing space to thrive. We’ll also dive into some of those targets and how they’re going to achieve them, as well as other ambitions ahead.
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Transitioning from corporate careers in the United States of America to building a transformative business here in Malaysia, Carmen Khor and Jeremy Andrus exemplify resilience and unwavering commitment through their journey as the founders of Libra Wellness.
They have created a beauty and wellness brand that champions mental well-being while curating sustainable and high-quality products with the guide of 3 simple principles, “to remember, to celebrate, and to care for”.
In this episode, we speak with Jeremy Andrus, Founder & CEO, and Carmen Khor, Co-Founder & Brand Director, of Libra Wellness, on their inspiring journey transitioning from PR careers in America to launching the ethical beauty brand in Malaysia. They share how they navigated challenges by holding fast to their principles of remembering their "why," celebrating wins, and prioritising self-care to maintain passion.
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KL Tech City is a venture studio that predominantly focuses on providing early stage capital for emerging technologies like Blockchain, Fintech, EV, Cleantech, and Digital trading platforms.
Apart from just providing startups with capital, they also offer supporting services including networking, strategic partnerships, and mentorship, and claim that since they invest proprietary capital, they are able to retain a dynamic and flexible approach to portfolio management.
KL Tech City says it wants to enable and power KL as an interconnected regional hub for Asia, bringing in new disruptive technologies, global talent, and investments into Malaysia.
Today we speak with Suraj and Asad about what this entails and why they are focused on KL, their investment strategy, and targets for 2024.
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Back in 2016, the e-commerce scene was just beginning to harness the full potential of online and mobile commerce, and social media marketing. Online shopping was popular but still competing with brick-and-mortar preferences in many markets, unlike the widespread adoption that we see right now.
PTT Outdoor boldly ventured where few dared. Embracing the World Wide Web as its sole marketplace, PTT Outdoor set out with a backpack full of ambition and a trail map drawn in digital ink. Today, this adventurous spirit has carved a niche for the company as a pioneer in the e-commerce landscape, selling outdoor gear to a community of enthusiasts who were just a click away from gearing up for their next big adventure.
On the Open For Business show today, we speak with Mike Chu and Jason Khoo, Co-Founders of PTT Outdoor, an outdoor camping and hiking equipment company about establishing and sustaining a successful e-commerce business.
The duo will share insights on what works and what doesn’t when moving your business online, including the importance of adapting to new platforms like TikTok live and targeting specific audiences. They will also be highlighting their journey of maintaining a purely online business, and making strategic decisions in a constantly evolving digital landscape.
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Like many founders, entrepreneurship wasn’t in the plans for Selina – she always wanted to become a doctor, and the dream was to become an Intensive Care Unit specialist. Unfortunately that dream came to an end around 8 years ago after she experienced a slipped disc, but reportedly didn't have the support she needed to recover.
She told the Vulcan Post that when she asked to be assigned lighter duties for three months as she healed, she was told she did not have a future in the anaesthesiology and ICU departments anymore, and that she should just leave and find something else to do. And this eventually led to Disruptive Doctors, a platform for doctors to connect with other like-minded doctors within the community, find mentors within their sector, upskill themselves through their academy, and find jobs.
We speak to Dr. Selina Chew to dive further into her entrepreneurial story, the shift from doctor to startup founder, the business potential here, and her ambitions ahead for this platform.
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Today on the show, we speak with Manickavasagam Palaniandy, Founder of Lean Partner–they’re a boutique consulting firm that specialises in Agile Operation Transformational Management, providing consultations in operational excellence, as well as training & certifications.
Lean Partner was founded back in 2013 and they have executed more than 2800 projects delivering more than US$ 100 million of total value with a client portfolio of over 200 organisations.
This includes the likes of Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and government-linked corporations across multiple countries in both the ASEAN and European regions that achieve a minimum of 10x ROI.
In today’s discussion, Manicka shares his 24 years of experience in the industry, emphasising on Lean Partner's commitment to driving growth and digitalisation in various industries, and how their unique approach to consultancy sets them apart in a competitive field.
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Founded in 2014, Bateriku.com wants to list in 2027, hit revenue of RM170 million in 2024, and continue to expand its margins and profitability.
On this episode of Open For Business, we speak to Founder and CEO Azarol Faizi about the 10 years journey and how his previous OEM business led to Bateriku.com, the evolution from car battery replacement service to an ecosystem, its plans for growth and how to expand margins, how the funds raised will be used, and its 2027 IPO aims.
Bateriku.com started as an on-demand car battery replacement service provider in Malaysia and has evolved into an ecosystem that connects car users to roadside assistance, trusted workshops, auto parts marketplace and ancillary services.
The company has served close to 1.5 million car owners and made RM95 million revenue in 2023, clocking in double-digit EBITDA and single-digit Profit After Tax (PAT). Bateriku expects to hit RM170 million this year.
Announced on April 1st, Bateriku.com successfully raised RM10.1 million in funding through a joint investment by VentureTECH and VentureTECH SBI, as part of a RM37 million funding round. Only their second round in 10 years of business. The first external funding round was an RM10 million round in 2022 from Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad.
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Today on Open For Business, we speak with Keith Loh, CEO of Rollti, a local startup that runs a grab-and-go concept restaurant that offers a fresh take on Malaysia's beloved Roti Canai.
Rollti prides itself on its innovative approach, featuring an automated roti canai pressing system, together with a customisable drinks station.
Their journey began with the success of their first outlet at Starling Mall, Damansara, serving over 30,000 wraps to date. Last February, Rollti celebrated the grand opening of their flagship outlet at Nu Sentral, Kuala Lumpur.
On the show today, Keith gave us a sense on the concept of starting up a contemporary culinary store, the current products and services available at Rolti, the challenges faced in the F&B industry, and their foreseeable expansion plans moving forward.
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Founded in 2006, Easybook.com started off as a platform that sold bus tickets in Malaysia and Singapore but has since grown operations regionally. Last year it made RM300 million in revenue and RM10 million in net profit, with aims to hit RM500 million in revenue and RM30 million in profit this year.
The company has raised a total fund of USD$8.5 million over 3 rounds. The first was a $500,000 round, followed by a USD$3 million round. Then in 2021, the company raised US$ 5 million Series C round from Malaysia boutique investment firm, Emissary Capital and utilised the new funds to invest in the business but also to get through the pandemic.
Easybook is focused on maintaining its first mover advantage in this space with continued expansion into Indonesia and Vietnam, and is also preparing itself for an IPO - with the company scouting for listing locations that will provide it the best valuation.
In this episode of Open For Business, dive into Easybook's origins as a pet project back in 2006 and the 18 year journey that William has been on, how the business has changed as the internet economy grew, its competitive advantage in this space, the underlying business itself, and IPO thoughts.
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In today's rapidly evolving job market, traditional methods of securing part-time work, such as word-of-mouth referrals or classified ads, are becoming increasingly outdated. Many individuals, particularly younger generations, face challenges in finding part-time opportunities that match their schedules, skills, and preferences.
Through Get Hyred, employers can easily recruit individuals for various divisions within their companies, all within proximity. Additionally, the platform enables users to earn skill badges by completing part-time jobs or engaging in training sessions, fostering financial and professional independence.
Today on the show, we speak with Muthalib to look into how Get Hyred has modernized talent development in Malaysia, highlighting the uniqueness of their business model and sharing their plans for 2024 and beyond.
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OpenAcademy is the education arm of marketing-tech consultancy OpenMinds, and is trying to bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world skills through microlearning principles.
The platform allows individuals to take 5-minute lessons in the hopes of upskilling learners on the go and covers a wide range of topics including digital marketing, website optimisation, content creation, and more.
Similar to MasterClass or Skillshare, the lessons are delivered by industry experts, with OpenAcademy leaning on local experts, aiming to make it more relevant and engaging.
Today we explore why a mar-tech company started an online education platform, why Celine decided to lead the initiative, how they're incentivising local subject matter experts to become creators on their platform, the current state of the business, and how Open Academy wants to influence the future of education.
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Today on the show, we take a look at some of the innovative strides in sustainable waste management with Mah Jun Kit, Founder and CEO of BioLoop, a pioneering startup transforming Malaysia’s palm oil waste landscape.
BioLoop utilises Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) to convert organic waste into valuable protein for aquaculture and animal feeds, significantly reducing ecological damage and greenhouse gas emissions. With over 8000 metric tons of waste processed, BioLoop not only enhances Malaysia’s environmental sustainability but also boosts its economy by creating new jobs and producing organic fertilisers.
Along the course of the conversation, Jun Kit will be helping us digest the global potential of BSFL technology and its economic and environmental impact, how Bioloop is unique in this market and what’s in the pipeline for this BSFL solutions enterprise to help Malaysia position itself as a leader in sustainable agriculture.
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Founded in 2007, Web Bytes is a software development company that specialises in software solutions for the retail and food and beverage (F&B) industries, and is 38% owned by GD Express Carrier Bhd (GDeX).
The company began as a small project attempting to reinvent retail software and yet today, it is a RM30 million business with customers such as F&B brands such as ZUS Coffee and Gigi Coffee, as well as retailers such as The Body Shop.
With over 5,000 retail merchants across Southeast Asia and billions of dollars worth of retail transactions per year, today we dive into how Web Bytes has evolved over the last 17 years, the value they bring to the retail & F&B space, how they are positioning themselves to leverage AI and Machine Learning in the retail tech space, and much more.
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“Fashion retail is not a Silicon Valley story”.
Jenn’s Wanderlust + Co journey began back in 2010 in her apartment in Melbourne, powered by a WordPress website, self-made graphic designs, and about RM10,000 in startup money. Today her Wanderlust + Co products are present in nearly 30 countries, making over 70% of its revenue from foreign markets, and has been worn by the likes of Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Selena Gomez.
On this episode of Open For Business, we dive into the 14 year journey that Jenn Low has been on, from how she started the business to when it stopped being a side hustle and how she grew it into a 7-figure business.
Among other things, we also get into how influencer marketing played into the success of the business, how Instagram and later TikTok changed the game, why she didn’t raise any external funding, the brand’s push into physical retail, her ambitions ahead, and key lessons learnt along the way as an entrepreneur.
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While technological advancements and immersive multiplayer experiences make gaming a popular leisure activity, excessive screen time poses risks to children's mental health, including addiction, diminished focus, and social skill deficiencies.
To address these concerns, Bomb Battle, a team-building escape room game company introduces Bomb Battle Elite, Malaysia's newest family entertainment attraction. Spanning over 6000 square feet, it offers four innovative games with 10 missions and 50 modes across three difficulty levels, suitable for young kids and adolescents.
With that, joining us in the studio today is Datin Sheehan Tee, Founder of Bomb Battle, to discuss the inspiration behind their interactive escape room style game, their unique position in the market, and their foreseeable future plans moving forward.
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Malaysian startup Finalyst wants to help financial planners, insurance agents, and unit trust consultants improve sales conversions and better manage their relationships with clients through their financial planning platform.
With a focus on simplicity, Finalyst says that the platform supports industry players by providing personalised financial plans. That said, this isn’t the first or only product in the market to try and address this. So what makes them stand out from other solutions already in the market or will shield them from better funded players who come in later?
We explore this and much more in this episode of Open For Business. We also get into Finalyst’ origins, the team behind it, how they built Finalyst, and ambitions ahead.
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Today on the show, we’re diving into the realm of Extended Reality (XR) with Theyventhiran Nadarajah, CEO, & Jayagaren Paramasivam, CTO, Teczo Sdn Bhd . They are a technology company that provides cutting-edge Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) applications, mobile applications, metaverse development, digital twin solutions, advanced visualisation techniques, and analytics tools.
Founded back in 2021, Teczo has swiftly emerged as a pivotal player in the digital transformation landscape. With industries across the ecosystem rapidly gravitating towards digitalisation, Teczo has positioned itself as a trusted partner for organisations seeking to harness the power of technology.
Some of their services include XR apps, IoT solutions, data management and software training. These services are provided for businesses in diverse sectors such as Banking and Finance, Insurance, Healthcare, Legal, Logistics, and Education.
Along the course of our conversation, Thevyen & Jaya helped us break down the story behind Teczo, the development process of their innovative solution known as ConstructXR and what the company has in store moving forward.
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Shopmatic is a global e-commerce platform that empowers merchants to build and grow their businesses online. The company was acquired by global embedded finance firm MatchMove in 2022 in a deal worth $200 million US Dollars, enabling MatchMove to provide its Banking-as-a-Service capabilities to Shopmatic’s ecosystem of over a million e-commerce SME customers.
2 years after the deal, we speak to Nicole about her switch in role from Chief of People at MatchMove to Shopmatic’s COO, why MatchMove made the acquisition and the post-acquisition integration process, and Shopmatic’s future.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
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On this episode of Open For Business, we dive into an increasingly crucial topic within the bustling construction sector of Malaysia— safety on the job site. In an industry that is as dynamic as it is hazardous, innovative solutions are not just welcome; they're necessary.
We are joined by Frank Tan, the Co-Founder of Nuri IoT, a company at the forefront of this safety revolution with their groundbreaking smart helmet. This piece of technology is not just a hard hat, it's a sophisticated blend of Internet of Things technology, aimed at drastically reducing common yet avoidable accidents.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
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Founded in 2022, this Malaysian startup wants to help brands connect with their audience by transforming everyday vehicles into mobile billboards, while empowering car owners to earn while they drive, effectively turning KM into RM.
Having made RM800,000 in revenue in 2023, Carching is targeting RM3 million this year, while looking to raise a seed funding round of RM 2 million to power that growth, but also build out the team, and develop new products.
Today we explore Carching’s origins and what brought Jeshua into entrepreneurship, how he’s navigating a space that has seen the demise of other players, as well as potential competition from other media players and Grab. We also get into possible exit scenarios, goals for the next 5 years,, and his vision for the future of this startup.
Additionally, Jeshua doesn’t have a co-founder. We explore why and what he’s potentially looking for in one.
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In today’s fast-paced world, the dark shadow of fake certifications looms large, threatening not just the credibility of individuals but also the very foundations of our educational and professional institutions, as well as industrial certifications.
To combat and address this, Malaysian startup Certiify Solutions is on a mission to safeguard the sanctity of certifications through the power of blockchain technology.
We dive into how Certiify uses blockchain to power its solution and the depth of the problem that Norlisa wants to address, as well as explore the company's origin story and journey, where they are in their product-market fit journey and go to market strategy, and what comes next.
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We speak with Fadz Subari about how childhood memories led him to establish a homegrown aromacare brand celebrated for its artisanal scents, crafted from Malaysian herbs and plants. We will also look into their initiatives to expand globally while championing Malaysian ingredients and sustainable practices, hear about their innovative AI-driven approach to creating personalised scents, and discuss their upcoming plans for the “Scents For Every Soul” app.
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After leaving a lucrative career selling insurance policies, Peter took a leap into the world of new media in late 2018 and started Mr. Money TV. The mission: to demystify the complex world of finance for the average Malaysian through accessible and engaging content. However this move was not without its risks.
From the early days of balancing multiple jobs to keep the venture alive to their 177,000 subscribers on the main YouTube, on this edition of Open For Business we explore the inception and growth of Mr. Money TV along with Peter's ambitions for the future, and appetite to build a new media network.
On top of this, we will also dive into how he's managing the ever evolving new media landscape while trying to create a sustainable business model.
Mr. Money TV is a financial literacy media brand owned by Finlit Media Tech Group.
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In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Isaac Kon, the CEO and Founder, as well as Wong Weng Khing, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Co-founder of Heytech Sdn Bhd. They are a Malaysian-based talent and casting business founded in 2022, who came up with a casting/hiring platform known as Heycast.me.
Built in the early days of 2023, Heycast was designed to digitally connect talents with brands and agencies in the entertainment industry. The brand’s focus is to eliminate excessive commission cuts by skipping third-party avenues to ensure fairness and transparency in job compensation.
Over the course of the conversation, Isaac and Khing will help us get a better understanding on how Heycast was formed and built, the role of this platform in hiring acting talents, as well as the ongoing challenges within the casting industry that Heytech is planning to resolve with their platform.
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Founded back in November 2023, VIDANEX is the first spin-off company of IMU (also formerly known as International Medical University), with a mission to help digitalise the healthcare space and integrate AI with medical imaging solutions.
From pancreatic to breast cancer and more, this homegrown university spinoff says that its AI-driven insights will empower clinicians to make informed decisions, ultimately improving patient outcomes and ushering in a new era of precision in medicine and patient-centric care.
On top of that, their solution is supposed to help digitalise healthcare by enabling clinicians to transition seamlessly from traditional to modern processes, optimizing efficiency and improving patient care.
All of that sounds inevitably great, but what does it actually mean, look, and feel like in the real world? Well, that is something we will get into, along with the exploration of Dr. Elaine and Daniel's backgrounds, including how they came together to do this.
We also discuss the genesis of their venture and its commercialisation journey, where they are currently on their engagements with the government, and the future aspirations that drive Vidanex.
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Today on Open For Business, we speak with Keith Lester Tang, the Founder of Streetpaw, a Malaysian based company that sells pet meals, bone broths and merchandise to earn a sustainable income in their journey to support stray animals.
Over the course of the conversation, Keith will help us get a better picture on Streetpaw’s unique business model, the challenges they had to pull through from the pandemic, foreseeable expansion plans into other SEA markets, and what the future has in store for Streetpaw in 2024.
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Ex-Zalora CEO, Michele Ferrario did not want to become an entrepreneur but had a need that nobody could provide for here in the region. Despite 124 pre-launch rejections from early-stage investors, he went about trying to build it himself and Stashaway was then born.
Commonly known as robo-advisors, digital wealth managers or digital investment managers as they are known here in Malaysia, were an exciting development in the financial industry with pioneers such as Wealthfront and Betterment leading the charge 15-16 years ago, pushing the idea of making investing cheaper, easier, and more accessible. That said, the industry has struggled to find a profitable footing, with some players in the US having to adjust or pivot their models in order to make it work.
In this episode of Open For Business, we dive into how Stashaway is navigating this challenge, whether their business model actually works, and if so, what is going to get them in the black. Before that, we take a look back in 2016 and find out why the now-former CEO of Zalora switched industries and jumped into the world of wealth management, how Michele and his co-founders built Stashaway, and the key lessons he has learned from the 8 year journey with the company.
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Natureloop is a KL-based company that specialises in designing and manufacturing products made from plastic waste. Instead of being discarded, Natureloop transforms plastic waste into new products such as coasters, customisable plant pots, as well as medals and trophies.
Today on Open For Business, we speak with Brandon Chong Chee Wing, the Founder of Natureloop to breakdown their mission of turning plastic waste into a sustainable resource and signifying the company’s dedication to its quality and responsibility in the pursuit of not just creating products, but also making a positive impact on the planet.
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The Rainmakers wants to make property investing more accessible to retail investors, helping them get a fractional slice of property ownership without the typical financial strains that come with property investing.
Having raised RM620,000 in pre-seed capital, The Rainmakers are trying to raise a seed round of RM1.2 million at a pre-money valuation of RM 6 million through equity crowdfunding platform Leet Capital. They’re offering 16.67% of the company and the post-money valuation is expected to be RM7.2 million.
In this episode of Open For Business, we will delve into why The Rainmakers is raising these new funds, the motivations behind Kelv’s ambitions to make property investing more accessible, and how they’re going to make this business model work.
Note: At the top of the fundraising page is a disclaimer that reads:
G Gen Labs Sdn Bhd engages in securities-related activities and is required to obtain a license from the Securities Commission (SC). Failure to secure this license may adversely affect their business operations. Please note that Leet Capital and its affiliated companies cannot assure or guarantee that G Gen Labs Sdn Bhd will ultimately obtain the required license from the Securities Commission of Malaysia.
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Founded in 2017, Parcel Daily is a courier aggregator platform that helps optimise courier shipping cost and improve the shipping experience by connecting e-commerce businesses, big and small, with their network of service providers, such as DHL, PosLaju, and Ninjavan, among many others.
To date, they have processed more than 5 million parcels and have provided shipping solutions to more than 5000 customers, and on this edition of Open For Business we journey back to their origins 7 years ago and how they built this asset light platform, the value-add this provides to the e-commerce industry, and what lies ahead for this.
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Since their establishment in 2017, TTRacing is a gaming chair company that provides high-quality ergonomic gaming chairs and has been rapidly expanding across SouthEast Asia with stores in Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines. They are now looking at further expansion into other SEA countries including Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Henry Ting, Founder and CEO at TTRacing, to breakdown what motivated him to start a gaming chair company, how have they grown and become widely renowned in SEA over the last 7 years, and what can be expected for the company’s growth in 2024 and beyond.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
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Formerly known as Incite Foodtech, Incite Innovations Group was founded in 2020 and has seen M&A and corporate restructuring over the last few years to strengthen the business and its balance sheet so that it could go out and raise more funding as it geared up for a targeted 2024 IPO.
Today, in its consolidated, re-branded form, Incite Innovation has three core verticals, Fintech, Retail Management, and Lifestyle Ventures, which it believes can help drive business growth and efficiency in retail and food and beverage (F&B) sectors in Southeast Asia.
From fundraising and business financing, to POS systems and F&B brands like Union Coffee and WonderMama, on this episode of Open For Business, you will learn why Incite Innovation went through all this corporate restructuring and how they’re integrating these 3 core verticals, what the rebrand signals ahead, and how they’re gearing up for their IPO.
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Today on the show, we spoke with Caleen Caseryn Chua, Founder of Enliven Women, the first ever transformation event designed to uplift the spirits of women.
Coming from a finance background and formerly owning a chain of restaurants, Caleen has gone back to reliving her passion in giving back to the society by the form of yoga and mindfulness, as most of you would have heard with the Yoga For Mums event.
Over the course of the conversation, Caleen will help us break down the struggles and personal challenges she had to pull through, the shift from owning an F&B business to reliving her passion and her future plans in 2024 and beyond.
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With a bootstraped investment of RM868,000 since its establishment in 2019, Secondlifeasia, Malaysia’s largest smart device repair company, records an inclining growth of 424% year on year, and is expecting to hit an annual revenue of RM 7.0 million this year. Secondlifeasia is an Independent Repair Provider (IRP) with genuine parts and diagnostic tools sourced from Apple, as well as being a Realme Authorized Service Center for a wide range of devices, including Internet of Things (IoT) devices
Back in February, the company announced its expansion to Thailand, through a joint venture with Appidea, a technology and software development company, with an initial investment of USD250,000 and this will see Secondlifeasia setting up a total of 3 brick-and-mortar outlets in Thailand by the end of 2024.
Today on Open For Business, we spoke to Jerome Teh, CEO & Co-Founder and Alan Lee, CTO & Co-founder of Secondlifeasia, to understand the companies growth trajectory since their establishment in 2019, how the business model has evolved particularly with how much technology has developed since the pandemic era and what's in store for the business moving forward.
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Brokerage firm Malacca Securities was founded just over 60 years ago and Chia Wei got involved with the business back in 2013 after returning from the UK for what was supposed to be a “short visit” due to tightening of working visas.
Following her education at Imperial College London, Chia Wei was working at a luxury brand retail group as a merchandising analyst and had a five-year plan in mind to climb the corporate ladder. She did not have plans to join the family business and yet the story has played out differently.
Today on Open For Business, you will learn why Chia Wei stuck around in Malaysia to join the family business, what she brings to the Malacca Securities' table, including her progressive attitude to digitalisation and technology, and where she intends to lead this brokerage business, in an era define by a ‘fight to the bottom’ for brokerage fees and large international platforms, such as Moomoo, making their way into the Malaysian market.
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Behind the common misconception, pole dancing is generally known for its freedom of expressing feelings through the art of dancing that has evolved over time, from its origins in strip clubs and bars, to a more widely recognised form of fitness and art.
Pole dancing has many different styles, from exotic to sports and there are a plethora of choreographies and dancing movements that one can create and enjoy, whether it's to release stress or to improve one’s fitness and flexibility.
On this episode, we speak to Maple Loo Asaro, Founder of Bobbi’s Studios, a pole dancing studio in Bangsar to discuss the challenges in setting up a pole dancing business and how she managed it through to set up her own studio.
Over the course of the conversation today, Maple helped us to break down the stigma behind pole dancing in Malaysia, how her passion ended up becoming an active business venture and her foreseeable ventures in 2024.
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In a world where sustainability and social impact are top of mind of consumer consciousness, Earth Heir stands out as a beacon of ethical practice and artisanal excellence. Founded by Sasibai Kimis in Malaysia, Earth Heir began with preserving traditional crafts and empowering local artisans through fair trade practices and sustainable sourcing.
After a decade of creating sustainable social impact, it has expanded its mission with the launch of a curated marketplace. As Earth Heir embarks on this new chapter, it aims to further its vision of nurturing the sustainability and social impact ecosystem in Malaysia.
On this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Sasibai Kimis, the Founder and CEO of Earth Heir about its journey in preserving cultural heritage, supporting local artisans and driving a larger movement towards ethical consumerism and responsible business practices that prioritises people and the planet alongside profit.
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After almost 3 decades in the corporate world, specifically within the capital markets and asset management sphere, Rejina Rahim left her job as the Managing Director of Nomura Asset Management Malaysia and founded Wahine Capital during the COVID lockdowns.
Wahine Capital’s main vision is to empower women through financial knowledge and collaborative platforms, serving to revolutionise women's role in the economy, starting with the launch of their first product W Vault in May 2023.
On this episode of Open For Business, we explore Rejina’s move from away from corporate life and lessons learnt during the transition to startup founder and entrepreneur, the mission behind Wahine Capital and future products in the world, and how she plans to support women while building a profitable business.
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Founded in April 2020, MADCash stands for Multiply, Assist, Donate Cash and the startup funds and grows unbanked and underbanked women entrepreneurs, aiming to create an alternative credit scoring to increase their future bankability.
The company runs on a proprietary technological platform that allows donors to contribute and see whom their funds are helping at any time, and enables the seamless process of micro-funding application, approval, onboarding, disbursement and of course - repayment monitoring.
To help take MADCash to the next stage, the startup announced a pre-series A funding round of RM5 million in October. The round was led by Artem Ventures with strong support from MSW Ventures and ScaleUp Founders Fund.
On this episode of Open For Business, you will learn about MADCash’s mission, the business model that powers all this, and what the future holds for the platform.
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Imagine indulging in the ancient golden goodness of turmeric without the worry of sugar or stains—Haldy has made this a reality. Haldy launched a groundbreaking product: the World's First Sugar-free Turmeric Mints. These aren't just any mints; they are a blend of taste, health, and convenience, designed to seamlessly integrate the benefits of turmeric into your daily routine.
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Founded in 2020, Cult Creative started as a networking platform for creative professionals with a stated mission to redefine content creation and foster collaboration.
Today, it is focused on connecting brands with creators and uses technology to help brands find creators that is right for them, streamline workflows, and facilitate creator payments. To help them do this, they recently raised a RM500,000 seed round from The Hive Southeast Asia and is changing up the business model, which saw the closure of its job portal app. They also just won a grant from Cradle on the back of confidence in the new business model.
We speak with Shermaine Wong, CEO and Co-Founder of Cult Creative, to learn about how she plans to deploy the recently secured funds, what this change in business model entails, and where the company goes from here. We also get into the journey that she and her co-founders have been on since starting in the midst of the first MCO back in 2020.
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In the world of sports, golf carries a common misconception of exclusivity and barriers to entry compared to most other sports that we are familiar with. Beyond its serene landscapes, golf is a game that demands skill, strategy, and precision that requires adequate training and a sense of passion for the sport.
With technology reshaping almost all industries including the sports and leisure sector, Wedge, a boutique golf lounge and bar in Kuala Lumpur, is known for its approach to blending golf with technology and social enjoyment.
In their latest venture, Wedge has launched the Wedge Range, a community hub and an indoor golf simulation range with the aim to break down traditional barriers associated with the game of golf, whether one is a seasoned pro or a first-time golfer.
Today on Open For Business, we spoke to Tom Sarginson, Co-Founder and CEO of Wedge, to digest how this all came about, how they efficiently used technology to allow consumers to experience golfing and possible expansion plans for the business in 2024 and beyond.
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Founded in January 2017 by Yen Ming, Wilson Beh and Winnie Chua, PolicyStreet began helping consumers and businesses choose and purchase insurance policies based on their needs and requirements, with the underlying aim of making insurance more affordable, simpler, and transparent.
Fast forward to today, they’re a regional player in the Insurtech space and work with over 40 life, general, and takaful providers globally to offer a comprehensive range of products and services. As of June 2023, PolicyStreet have served over 5 million customers and achieved a sum insured of over US$6 billion (RM27.7 billion) in Malaysia.
They managed to close a US$15.3 million (RM67 million) Series B funding round with Khazanah Nasional Bhd as lead investor last June and earlier this year, the company received the regulatory approval from the Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA) to begin its Takaful and Retakaful operations. PolicyStreet is now equipped to reinsure and underwrite Takaful products, providing Syariah-compliant insurance solutions.
Venturing from insurance marketplace platform to financial advisory business, now co-creating and underwriting insurance products, on this episode of Open For Business, we learn about PolicyStreet's journey as a Malaysian Insurtech company over the last 7 years. Diving deeper into how they’re tackling the insurance industry while working with agents and incumbents, exploring what they're looking for in potential strategic partnerships with Khazanah's non-monetary value, and much more.
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Founded in 2015, Carpedia is a gig talent platform for logistic players which aims to play a role as a reliable provider of delivery manpower resources, priding itself on “simple gig jobs almost anyone can do”, requiring nothing more than a valid driving licence, ensuring that work can start within 48 hours of registration.
Given that the gig economy looks to be here to stay, with some estimates putting the number of gig workers at around 4 million here in Malaysia, with a majority being young adults aged 25 to 44, there are plenty of startups and companies that are looking to tap into the opportunity to better facilitate and support the gig economy, including today’s guest.
We speak to Hazim about their role in the gig economy, the business opportunity present here for Carpedia, why he got started with this, and the vision for this startup.
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In today’s world, it’s hard to oversee how fast technology has grown in various businesses and now, it has become a necessity for companies to integrate modern technology into their daily operations, either from having robots in manufacturing or of course, the usage of AI.
One of the pioneers in this space is Neuramatix, a Malaysian based technology service provider. Since their establishment in 2002, Neuramatix have conducted various tech research to develop and commercialise artificial neural network technologies, powered by a neural engine called NeuraBASE.
This company has continued to advocate the study and understanding of the human brain with a focus to enable the development of naturally intelligent systems and machines.
Today on the show, we spoke to Abdul Karim Hercus, Founder & Managing Director at Neuramatix to unpack how they started their venture into AI developments and what the future looks like for this company to keep up with the rapid advancements of modern day technology.
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By 2030, Malaysia is expected to transition into an ageing society, with individuals above age 60 and older to make up 15% of the population - Pacific Senior Living aims to address this market need and the evolving needs of the growing senior population.
The company is part of the Columbia Pacific Management Group, a global investor, developer, and operator of modern healthcare and senior living facilities, and with over 40 years of experience in the space, Pacific, and along with its affiliates, have built and managed hundreds of senior living and other healthcare assets globally.
Marking their entry into Malaysia, in November 2023, they opened up their first high class senior living facility here, repurposing the former four-star Merrida Hotel building in Klang, which ceased operations during the movement control order period.
Three months post-opening, we speak to Dr. Ramnan Jeyasingam, Interim CEO and Director of Health Services at Pacific Senior Living Sdn Bhd about their plans and ambitions for the Malaysian market.
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Founded back in 2020, Meals in Minutes provides frozen, portioned meals tailored for quick and effortless meal preparation, mainly targeted to busy individuals and F&B enterprises across the region.
Recently, as reported by The Business Times, this Malaysian based food startup just secured USD1.5 million in seed funding, notably 500 Global leading the investment.
Today on the show,we spoke to Brandon Lim and Khiara Mia, Co-Founders of Meals in Minutes, a Malaysia-based food startup – to understand the business model for Meals In Minutes, what makes them unique in a competitive market and their possible expansion plans into other industries as well as the foreign market.
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Syrian-born chef Ameer Alzalek’s journey into the culinary world was not always on the cards, but a ripple effect from war that pushed Ameer to leave Syria around 11 years ago. The former accountant from Damascus then found his way to Malaysia, where he says the life in the kitchen chose him as jobs were few and far between.
Ameer explored the culinary scene in Penang and Langkawi, reportedly getting his break at a boutique hotel at Langkawi, before venturing on his own with Leen’s Middle East Kitchen following his experience with Ember Modern Bistro where he refined his view on food. Starting as a pop-up selling charred hummus, today Ameer runs 2 restaurants in TTDI - Leen’s Middle East Kitchen and recently opened up S.A.J Bistronomy by Leen’s.
Today on Open For Business, you will learn more about Ameer’s journey, how he built his culinary career and subsequent restaurants, lessons learnt along the way, and his plans ahead.
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In 2023 alone, investments in robotics soared to $12.9 billion, underscoring the promising outlook for the global autonomous mobile robots industry and DF Automation looks primed to ride this wave and is currently raising funds to do so. Founded in 2012, Johor-based DF Automation specialises in producing Autonomous Mobile Robot and Automated Guided Vehicle solutions with clear objectives: Optimise workflow, enhance productivity, and slash operational costs.
This year marks DF Automation’s 12th year in the industry to support their growth ambitions, they are offering between 3.6% to 9% of the company to raise between RM3 million and RM8 million on equity crowdfunding platform pitchIN. This follows a RM3 million raise on the platform back in 2019. As of 14th of February, they have achieved 43% of the funding target, valued at RM1,285,716.
We speak to Dr Yeong Che Fai, the Chairman and Co-founder of DF Automation & Robotics to get a better understanding of the value and potential of the robotics industry, and their origins and ambitions, as well as plans for the funds they are currently raising.
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We're exploring the vibrant and essential world of aquaculture, a sector that's at the forefront of sustainable food production and marine conservation. In the heart of Malaysia, YHL Aquatic is redefining this industry with its eco-friendly and innovative approach to farming marine life, particularly shrimp and oysters.
Embracing advanced biotechnologies and sustainable methods, YHL Aquatic is not just about providing high-quality seafood; it's about preserving our oceans and ensuring food security for future generations. This company's story is one of vision, innovation, and commitment to the planet.
Joining us today is Low Yuan Heng, the founder and Managing Director of YHL Aquatic, here to share the inspiring story behind this pioneering venture.
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DoctorOnCall was founded by former management consultants Maran Virumandi and ex-colleague Hazwan Najib, with their entrepreneurship journey starting in 2015 before officially launching in May 2016.
A key problem that they initially looked to target was to support doctors and GPs in saturated major cities by helping them expand beyond the geographical boundaries of their clinic to service patients through video or voice call, therefore allowing the doctors and GPs to maximise their time and generate revenue.
Aside from trying to help doctors on the business side, DoctorOnCall is tapping into telemedicine in a bid to help improve accessibility to health care providers. Today the platform provides online medical consultation, delivers medication through its online pharmacy, hosts a medical specialist search and booking engine and features health articles and a medical information database, among other things.
On this episode of Open For Business, you will learn about DoctorOnCall’s 8 year journey and where they stand today, the role that digital health and telemedicine can play in the healthcare ecosystem, as well as what Maran’s ambitions for this company look like ahead.
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Founded in 2015 by Giden Lim and Penny Choo, BloomThis wanted to address the gaps in the floristry industry observed by the husband-wife duo, including boring floral designs, poor customer experience, and a lacklustre buying and delivery experience.
BloomThis started off as a flower subscription service but evolved into a full-on online gifting store, and has even ventured into the physical world with the opening of 3 brick-and-mortar stores.
We speak to Giden Lim, the CEO and co-founder of BloomThis, about the brand’s journey spanning the past nine years, delving into the company’s evolution, the recent expansion into physical stores, the intricacies of navigating the flower industry, why Bloomthis prioritised profitability over growth, and reasons behind why Giden and Penny bought all their shares back from investors.
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In today’s world, it’s important that parents understand the challenges of exposing gadgets to their kids. Some highlight negative effects on children's well-being and others emphasise the potential for learning and growth. In a world where these conflicting reports surround the impact of gadgets on children, myFirst has stood out in this space to bridge the gap between technology, education, and family values.
Launched in 2018, myFirst addresses the need for a digital space where children can interact safely while enjoying meaningful connections. With nearly 10 device categories, including watch phones, cameras, earbuds, 3D pens, sketch boards, and headphones, myFirst products are now available in over 42 countries including Singapore, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Spain, UK and the USA, just to name a few.
At the forefront of myFirst’s innovative approach is myFirst Circle, a community app for kids that has connected nearly 30,000 users across 100 countries, providing a secure platform for authentic social engagements. With the start of 2024 - marking new beginnings and innovation, myFirst is now thrilled to introduce myFirst 2.0 Circle, accompanied by the launch of 4 cutting-edge devices: myFirst Fone R2, myFirst Voice 2, myFirst Frame Doodle, and myFirst Frame Live.
Today on Open For Business, I’m joined in the studio by G-Jay Yong, Founder of myFirst Circle to understand the inspiration behind myFirst’s products, the impact of gadgets on children's development and what myFirst has in store for 2024 and beyond.
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Profitable Aerodyne could IPO as soon as next year. The drone solutions provider made $65 million in revenue in 2023 and expects to hit $143 million this year, with plans to raise between $100 to $200 million in its Series C funding round. Series C will mark its final pre-IPO funding round and with a dual-listing on the cards, they are expecting to list locally as well as abroad. On the shortlist of foreign exchanges includes the NYSE, the Nasdaq, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
In this episode of Open For Business, you will learn what drew Kamarul out of the corporate world and into the drone business and startup life, what the early days of building Aerodyne were like and how much the company has evolved in the last decade, as well as where the company is in its Series C funding round and why M&A continues to be a key strategy for growth.
Kamarul has his roots in audit and chartered accountancy, before getting a taste of tech that led him towards entrepreneurship when he founded Malaysia.tv in 2003, before running a production house called DKM2 in 2006. Interestingly enough it was the UAV division of his production house that became the first version of Aerodyne.
Founded in 2014, Aerodyne was just a 3-person startup, 10 years later– it’s a global business that was ranked the World's Number 1 drone service provider for 3 consecutive years. The company now operates in more than 45 countries and across various sectors like oil and gas, security and surveillance, and agriculture.
Aerodyne has raised around $80-90 million in 5 fundraising rounds and is backed by quite a list of investors, including Gobi Ventures, 500 Global, KWAP, and Petronas Ventures. The company isn't afraid to splash the cash to buy growth having 21 global M&As in the last 10 years and is looking to raise $100 million to $200 million in its Series C funding round to continue its growth story, organically and inorganically to buy market access and the technology.
Beyond this Series C round (which it expects to be its final pre-IPO round), the next key milestone for Aerodyne is their much anticipated IPO, with Kamarul saying last year that this could happen within the next 2-3 years, with a dual-listing potentially on the cards.
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With the ever-evolving landscape of logistics and distribution, companies in this sector face the ongoing challenge of providing high-quality services at an affordable cost, all while trying to push the boundaries of innovation.
Against this backdrop is Hoor Fatt Enterprise, a Malaysia based logistics company specialising in transportation services and warehouse management for cargo movement in the region.
Borrowing the concept from sea ports, Hoor Fatt has now turned their plant into a logistics hub which led them to be recognised as one of the fastest growing companies in Malaysia back in 2016. And now with a second-generation leader, the company holds a deeper vision for an eco-conscious future.
Today on Open For Business, we’ll be speaking with Loh Choon Hong, CEO of Hoor Fatt Enterprise, on what it feels like to embrace the company’s legacy, their unique business model and what the future holds for Hoor Fatt Enterprise in 2024.
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Founded in 2017, WORQ is currently present in 7 locations across the Klang Valley and an additional unique location at Perhentian Island, with more in the works, given the potential they see in the industry.
WORQ is currently on track to triple its space under management to 450,000 sq ft by 2025 and has ambitious plans to expand its space under management to a sizable 3 million sq ft by 2030.
The company started with RM1.5 million in revenue in 2017, made RM17 million last year, and is aiming for RM25 million in 2024, and on the back of 80% revenue growth and mid-teen net profit margins last year, WORQ announced in October that it raised an undisclosed pre-series B backed by 14 follow-on investors including global asset management firm PhillipCapital and the Leong family of Mah Sing Group Bhd.
Looking ahead, to support its ambition, WORQ is targeting to raise RM40 million in its Series B funding round.
We speak with CEO Stephanie Ping and CFO Andrew Yeow, to get a better understanding of how they’ve profitability navigated the last 7 years in the coworking landscape despite the downfall of WeWork, how WORQ has partnered with property players and developers to grow, and what the path ahead looks like for the Space-As-A-Service model as the aim to become the Amazon Web Services of office space.
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On this episode of Open For Business, Lennise Ng, Founder and CEO, and Aizat Rahim, Co-founder and Managing Director, get into, among other things, why and how they built Dropee and started with Dropshipping, how Red Bull gave them their big break early on in their Dropee journey, and the reasons behind the rebrand to Borong and what it signals ahead. We also get into their USD$57 million in revenue last year and expansion plans ahead, how their on-going Series B fundraising round is going as they aim for at least $10 million in funding, and why an IPO is the desired exit, instead of a trade sale.
Founded in 2017, the company formerly known as Dropee is a B2B eCommerce solution provider that looks to help businesses optimise their supply chain using various digital tools and initiatives, helping businesses better manage their inventory and stock tracking, tap into of digitalisation by enabling a smooth Offline to Online transformation, and harnessing the power of data-driven decision making to personalise orders, thus increasing customer satisfaction and driving sales.
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As we’re all busy with our daily routines at work, it is common that we face similar issues like having insufficient time to practise a sustainable work-life balance, skipping meals at work or we simply can’t find the time to put in a couple of hours for exercising.
From being in the legal field to active business owners, Collin Chang and Joslyn Yip came up with TasteBudds, a company that provides wellness products, particularly through liquid meals to people of various income levels, with a clear vision to help those with a hectic schedule. Now, they are looking to expand to overseas markets as this issue of practising a healthy work-life balance is not only common here in Malaysia, but also in many if not all major metropolitan cities as well.
With that, today on the show, we’re joined by both Collin Chang and Joslyn Yip, Co-Founders of TasteBudds, to understand their journey from being lawyers to business owners, key challenges they faced during this transition and what the future looks like for TasteBudds in 2024 and beyond.
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Hann Liew and Lucas Ooi are co-founders of fintech firm Jirnexu, the company behind RinggitPlus, and after 11 years building the company, they left their executive leadership roles in July last year. A few weeks later, along with a third co-founder Ng Moon Ho, the former director of operations at RinggitPlus, they announced their next chapter in entrepreneurship - Halogen Capital - a digital asset fund manager.
Halogen has a full Capital Markets Services (CMS) licence from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to manage digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and tokenized assets, and using the unit trust fund structure, they launched their Shariah Bitcoin Fund last year and very recently soft-launched their Shariah Ethereum Fund.
We speak to Hann and Lucas about the transition from Jirnexu to Halogen, how building a startup the second time differs from the first time, why they have ventured into Digital Assets and crypto space, and the potential ahead for this venture.
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On this episode of Open For Business, we speak to Wealth Vantage Advisory’s Rafiq Hidayat and Idham Idris about the business of financial planning, what it needs to do to keep up with the times, and why they believe that AI won’t replace Financial Planners.
We also explore the reasons behind starting this relatively new firm and why they broke away from the commission-driven agency mentality to focus on comprehensive financial planning, what’s behind their ambition to grow by 20X by 2026, and recruitment strategies given that the number of Financial Planners is key to driving a firm’s revenue growth.
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Kakitangan.com is a one-stop HR platform that wants to empower businesses to work smarter with a fully automated HR system that covers payroll, leave, claims, attendance, and more, so that you can focus on business growth.
On this episode of Open for Business, you will learn what took 2 former Microsoft Office engineers down the road of building a HR platform, the success and and failures along the way, and what it means to become the People Operating System for SMEs in Malaysia.
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Precision mechanical components are not something we talk about or come to mind everyday. This industry, however, is a critical segment of modern engineering and manufacturing, and plays a vital role in a wide array of sectors.
Enters Nibou Industries, a home-grown manufacturer that specialises in the development and production of advanced linear motion systems. However, second-generation CEO Jowin Goh takes the company on a whole new adventure, transitioning from being a key player in the automation industry to the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, producing nostalgic snacks such as jellies and puddings.
Today, we speak with Jowin Goh, CEO of Nibou Industries about the challenges of switching industries entirely and the experience of being a second-generation business owner.
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On this edition of Open For Business, we speak to Azran Osman-Rani, CEO and Co-founder of digital health startup Naluri, about his transition from the corporate world and C-Suite into the startup ecosystem and then to starting up his own venture. Among other things, you will learn the reason behind this focus on employee wellbeing and digital health, how he balances the double-edged sword of bringing on strategic investors early in a startup’s life, lessons learnt from his times with AirAsia X and iFlix that have helped him build Naluri, and what his ambitions for the company look like ahead.
Before his startup Naluri, Azran Osman-Rani started his career in management consulting, before moving to Bursa and then Astro in business transformation and business development roles. In 2007, he got his first taste of building and running a company, taking on the CEO role at AirAsia X for almost 8 years, before joining iFlix’s leadership team as Group COO and CEO for Malaysia for around 2 years.
All these experiences played a role in his journey to startup founder and how he approached building Naluri.
Founded in 2017, Naluri takes a proactive approach at tackling employee health and wellbeing in the hopes that preventive healthcare will lead to improved employee productivity, reduced healthcare claims, and ofcourse, improved real-world business results.
Naluri made around $4 million in annual revenue last year and is aiming to drive growth ahead through more geographic expansion, expanding their focus from the large enterprise space to the SME space, and looking into more products and services that compliment their existing offerings. Currently operationally profitable in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, Naluri aims to break-even this year and is working on raising its next funding round which it hopes to be in the USD$10-20 million range.
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Love, Bonito’s 14 Year Journey, Brick-And-Mortar Growth, And Tapping Into The Asian Diaspora
Starting out as a humble blogshop selling second-hand clothes in 2005, today Singapore-based e-commerce and fashion brand Love, Bonito calls itself the largest vertically integrated, omnichannel women's fashion brand in the region.
The direct-to-consumer brand was created with a commitment to accessible and thoughtful designs, specifically tailored for the Asian female demographic and is now present in multiple countries and exports to over 20 countries. In Malaysia, the firm now has 6 outlets, having recently celebrated their sixth and newest addition - the flagship store at The Exchange TRX.
In this episode of Open for Business, we speak to Dione Song, the CEO of Love, Bonito about the brand's journey from a humble blog shop to the largest vertically integrated omnichannel women's fashion brand in the region, Love Bonito's commitment to catering specifically to the Asian female demographic, the transition from an online focus to an omni-channel marketing approach, and their growth story ahead.
02:02 The Genesis of Love Bonito
03:06 The Philosophy Behind Love Bonito's Fashion
05:00 The Importance of Representation in Fashion
07:00 Dione Song's Journey to CEO of Love, Bonito
14:07 The Omni-Channel Approach of Love, Bonito
17:30 The Importance of Customer Data in Retail
20:12 Transitioning from Online to Offline Shopping
20:39 Creating Unique Offline Shopping Experiences
24:57 Expanding into New Markets
32:12 Love, Bonito’s Growth and Profitability
36:11 Future Plans and Trends in the Fashion Industry
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Samadhi - the moment when the mind achieves stillness and total meditative consciousness. True to its name, Samadhi Retreats is a sanctuary for serenity and holistic hospitality, all while harmonising with nature and embracing sustainability.
Samadhi Retreats boasts a chain of luxury hotels, resorts, and restaurants strategically situated "in the middle of nowhere," surrounded by nature. Each location aims to provide customers with a distinctive escape from the hustle and bustle of life.
Today on Open for Business, we speak to Federico Asaro, the CEO, and Founder of Samadhi Retreats. He shares insights into the unique Samadhi DNA, discussing the challenges and successes of intertwining luxury, nature, and sustainability in the hospitality scene.
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BananaBro is a chain of banana leaf restaurants founded in 2018 by Tony Lim, who isn’t a stranger to the F&B space. He previously started Boat Noodle back in 2013 and before that set up a Chatime franchise in Cambodia in 2011.
In 5 years, BananaBro has grown to over 30 outlets nationwide and made RM70 million in revenue in 2023, with EBIDTA margins around the 15%-20% range. The business is still actively expanding and is looking to take their store count to 60 by 2026. At present, Tony sees potential revenue for the Malaysian market hitting between RM150 million to RM200 million in time.
From bubble tea to thai boat noodles and now Indian banana leaf, in this edition of Open For Business we explore the business rationale and promise for building a banana leaf restaurant chain, how Tony's past experiences have helped with the starting and scaling of this venture, and much more.
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In this episode of Open for Business, you will learn about Inside Scoop’s inception 11 years ago and the journey this venture has taken, what Farm Fresh brings to the table, and the Inside Scoop on this business’s potential quantum leap ahead with Edmund Tan, Co-Founder of Inside Scoop.
Founded in 2013, Inside Scoop has evolved into a household name with over 40 outlets across the country. Last year, the company hit a significant milestone after Malaysia's largest homegrown dairy company Farm Fresh acquired a 65% stake in Inside Scoop for around RM84 million. Farm Fresh taking a bit into Inside Scoop marks a new chapter in this homegrown ice cream maker's journey.
The discussion delves into the early days of starting Inside Scoop and why the founders left lucrative careers in finance, the creation and development of the brand, and the aim to expand into the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) market with Farm Fresh now in their corner. Edmund also gets into their strategy to maintain brand authenticity, the challenges of venturing into a highly competitive market, the importance of customer experience, and the future plans for location expansion and product innovation.
01:39 The Founders' Motivation and Initial Challenges
02:10 The Birth of Inside Scoop
02:41 The Transition from Corporate to Entrepreneurship
03:19 The Importance of Financial Planning
10:00 The Role of Personal and Professional Growth
13:40 The Art of Ice Cream Making
16:06 Understanding Customer Preferences
17:02 Brand Development and Strategy
17:35 The Importance of Customer Experience in Building a Brand
18:07 Recognizing Malaysia's Manufacturing Industry
18:54 The Journey of Building and Growing a Brand
20:10 Key Marketing Strategies and Customer Acquisition
20:21 The Impact of Free Ice Cream
20:55 The Success of the Ramadan Ice Cream Buffet
21:50 Building a Relationship with a Niche Audience
23:02 Growth Expectations and Future Plans
23:55 The Acquisition by Farm Fresh and Revenue Growth
25:35 The Profitability of the Venture
29:34 The Relationship with Farm Fresh and Future Growth
31:57 The Next Stage: Consumer Packaged Goods
33:00 The Long-Term Involvement of the Founders
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Today on Open For Business, we spoke with NEFIN, a renewable energy investor, developer, and asset manager. Established almost a decade ago, the company’s journey began with a clear vision, that is to harness renewable resources to power a cleaner, and more sustainable future.
NEFIN has a diverse portfolio of renewable energy projects that span various scales and geographical locations, to address the urgent needs of climate change and environmental conservation. The company leverages technologies, including solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources, to deliver efficient and effective energy solutions.
We were joined by Chong Bor Hung, the Managing Director of NEFIN SEA, and Head of Business Development of NEFIN Group who shared his thoughts on how NEFIN navigates the challenges and opportunities of the renewable energy market.
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On Open For Business today, we are talking to a company that’s involved in an industry that’s very much talked about in recent years – the electric vehicle (EV) industry.
Established in 2016, EV Connection is a provider of sustainable energy infrastructure solutions in Malaysia, with a focus on EV charging infrastructure and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Its vision is to revolutionise the transportation sector by being innovative with EV solutions. As the world increasingly shifts towards sustainable and eco-friendly transport options, companies like EV Connection are leading the charge in making electric vehicles accessible and practical for everyday use.
Today, we speak with Lee Yuen How, the Managing Director of EV Connection, delving into the journey of the company, exploring their contributions to the EV landscape, their technologies, and strategies for navigating the challenges and opportunities in the rapidly evolving EV market.
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Heading into 2024, it’s important for parents to know where they can get care products for their babies in a timely, convenient manner with reasonable prices. However, in practice that isn’t always easy.
Parents Jesmine and Sean Tan were looking for Safe, Natural and Organic products for their own daughter back in 2011 when they realized that having to resort to importing such brands cost heavy postage fees. This led them to create Applecrumby in 2012. Applecrumby then went on to be part of the second batch of startups that made it to 500 Global’s Distro Dojo program in 2016, where they secured seed funding worth US$300,000 from the VC.
Now, Applecrumby has an e-commerce platform that has their own homegrown in-house brand of baby products. They have baby products such as diapers, wipes, skincare, cleaning products, and toothgel that are catered to parents who wish to have the option of Safe, Natural and Organic (S.N.O) baby products for their children. More recently, Applecrumby had also opened its first store-in-store in Shah Alam in a partnership with Daggeebaby.
So today on Open For Business, we spoke to Sean Tan, CEO & Co-Founder and Jesmine Tan, COO & Co-Founder of Applecrumby on their business journey since 2012 and what the future holds for their business.
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Post-pandemic, Malaysia has experienced a gradual decline in unemployment, however the paradigm shift in work dynamics during the pandemic continues, and now sees many of the younger generations placing different priorities on what they seek in a job.
Hiredly, a leading hybrid recruitment platform in the realm of talent acquisition, specifically targets Gen Y and Z, recognizing their evolving working preferences. It comprises both a job portal and a headhunting recruitment solution, focusing on junior to mid-management talents.
Today on Open for Business, we speak with Derek Toh, the Founder and CEO of Hiredly, on why he started down this path, the business model and promise of this venture, how AI has changed the game, and the future of Hiredly. We will also explore employment trends in Malaysia and the evolving demands of workplaces.
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Co-living spaces are often characterised by communal living arrangements and a strong sense of community and have become increasingly popular, particularly among working professionals who are seeking flexible and vibrant living solutions.
At the forefront of this is Bespoke Habitat, a company that has been shaping the landscape of shared spaces since its establishment in 2019. Bespoke Habitat has been creating flexible and affordable housing solutions in Singapore and now, the company has expanded its footprint to Malaysia, specifically Johor Bahru, unveiling an exclusive co-living space designed to cater to the needs of the ever-mobile working professionals.
To explore this evolving trend, the state of co-living spaces in Malaysia and what the future holds for Bespoke Habitat, I’m joined today by Ernee Ong, Co-founder of Bespoke Habitat.
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In today’s discussion, we examine the impact of data quality on large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, pivotal in industries for trend prediction and content personalisation.
Despite their potential, reliance on these AI models, used in various sectors, poses concerns about data accuracy and security, particularly as 62% of Malaysians fear AI job replacement yet 84% are willing to delegate tasks to AI.
Our interview with Genie Yuan from Couchbase, a leader in cloud-based database solutions, will delve into the importance of high-quality data for LLM accuracy, strategies to mitigate data discrepancies, and the broader implications of AI adoption in workplaces, including future AI-driven advancements.
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In this edition of Open for Business, Theodoric Chew, Co-Founder and CEO of Singapore based digital mental healthcare company Intellect speaks to BFM about how and why he built Intellect, the promise and potential of this venture, and what the path ahead looks like for this digital mental healthcare company.
Among other things, we explore Theo’s past experience building and selling content platform Existgreat at just 20 years old, how that may have helped in his Intellect journey, the role that Intellect plays in the health and wellness space, how they utilised the collective $20 million raised in their Series A round - the largest amount of funding raised by a mental health startup in Asia.
We also get into how their recent strategic partnership with IHH Healthcare will support growth ahead, exit possibilities, and more.
Founded in 2019, Intellect is a digital mental healthcare company based in Singapore, aiming to make mental healthcare and wellbeing support accessible for everyone, and now serves over 3 million members on its platform and has signed. They are backed by some famed investors such as Tiger Global, Insignia Ventures Partners, Y Combinator, and more. And last year signed a strategic partnership with IHH Healthcare, one of Asia’s largest private healthcare group
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In this edition of Open for Business, Colony’s Co-Founder and CEO Timothy Tiah takes us through lessons learnt, challenges faced, and journey ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of coworking. Among other things, we explore how Timothy was “duped” into this business, his concern with the financial engineering that goes on with the EBITDA profitability of some businesses, the strategy of building a premium co-working offering through Colony and a low-cost, no-frills option through Jerry Coworking Space, his preferred exit strategy, and much more.
Co-founded by husband & wife duo, Timothy Tiah & Audrey Ooi, Colony is a more luxurious take on the co-working space concept and was launched late July 2017. The idea was to transform the work experience with beautiful serviced office spaces and world-class amenities, taking inspiration from Silicon Valley offices.
They started with a team of 15 people and had 2 branches initially, and within a year raised US$5 million with Cornerstone Partners (acquiring a stake at US$15m-US$20m valuation). Today they have 6 main co-working spaces, multiple event spaces, and in 2021, introduced Jerry Coworking Space - a cheaper, fully-automated, no frills option.
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According to the Statistics Department, Malaysia’s SME contribution to the country’s GDP was around 38% in 2018. However, access to finance looks to be a key constraint for SMEs to grow. Enter Funding Societies - the largest SME digital financing platform in Southeast Asia. The platform has disbursed RM12.9 billion across more than 5 million notes in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand since its establishment in 2015.
In 2023, Funding Societies marked several milestones, such as introducing their Islamic Financing solutions to help expand their customer and funding base, to their partnership with the Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia (CGC) that will provide eligible SMEs access to longer-term financing and preferential interest rates.
On this episode of Open for Business, we speak to the Co-Founders of Funding Societies, CEO Kelvin Teo and COO Wong Kah Meng, about what started them down this path, what it was like building this regional platform, the role of Funding Societies in the financing ecosystem, and what the vision ahead looks like for Funding Societies.
Among other things, we get into:
- The Journey of Funding Societies
- The Challenges of Raising Funds
- The Role of Alternative Data Scoring in Lending
- The Evolution of Funding Societies' Product Mix
- The Impact of Digital Banks on Funding Societies
- Funding Societies' Partnerships and Collaborations
- The Business Strategy and Future Plans of Funding Societies
- The Pathway to Profitability for Funding Societies
- The Funding Strategy of Funding Societies
- The Potential Exit Strategies for Funding Societies
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Malaysia’s agricultural sector faces several issues: an ageing farming population, outdated agricultural practices and land availability amongst others. Social enterprise Cocojack seeks to inject new thinking and fresh approaches towards addressing some of agriculture’s long-standing challenges.
Initially a reluctant young farmer himself, marketing graduate Syed Salleh Syed Sulaiman saw a gap in current developmental programs and founded Cocojack with the aim of delivering well designed agricultural training to youth, towards developing the next generation of farmer-entrepreneurs. With increasing numbers graduating from Cocojack’s training programs, the social enterprise is now seeking to solve the land availability issue by developing a platform to match trained young farmers with owners of unutilised land packets.
We speak with the now passionate agriculturist-cum-founder Syed Salleh on Cocojack’s origin story, product development journey, business model and the future of this truly unique enterprise.
Guest Presenter: Nell Omar
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Lithium ions make the world go round. From the laptops we work on and the smartphones in our hands, to the now accelerating world of electric vehicles, lithium ion batteries are key, but as many of us experience with our phones after 2-3 years, the lifespans of these batteries are a key bottleneck here.
So is there a better, more long lasting battery technology out there? Well the answer might lie with a Singapore based startup.
Founded in 2018, VFlowTech is a Singapore-based startup working on the development of vanadium flow battery technology with a key selling point here seemingly being its 25-year expected lifespan - much better than the typical lifespans we see with lithium-ion batteries.
Earlier this year, VFlowTech raised US$10 million (RM43 million) in an oversubscribed Series A funding round. On this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Dr. Avishek Kumar, CEO and co-founder of Singapore-based VFlowTech, for the story behind this promising battery tech, whether it can compete with Lithium ion batteries, and the commercialization plan ahead.
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We hear from Alvin Andrew, founder of FUBIZO. We'll delve into how FUBIZO addresses the diverse needs of the food and beverage industry through innovative product development. We’ll look at his journey and experiences in both local and international markets, offering valuable insights into the challenges and triumphs of running a food and beverage business in the current global landscape.
Today, I’ll be speaking with Alvin Andrew, founder of FUBIZO, a company specialising in Food and Beverage product innovation.
Based in Penang, FUBIZO has developed a diverse range of products, responding to various market needs and culinary challenges. In our conversation today, we’ll explore the journey of FUBIZO, the intricacies of developing new food products, and the insights Alvin has gained in navigating both local and international markets.
This discussion aims to shed light on the realities of launching and managing a food and beverage business in today’s dynamic market
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In the aftermath of the FTX collapse in late 2022, the crypto landscape isn’t as sexy and appealing as it used to be, now playing second fiddle to Generative AI and Chat GPT, however that doesn’t mean that innovation and development in the space has come to a halt.
After years of work, last month, the Securities Commission granted approval to Malaysian startup CoKeeps to be Malaysia's first qualified Digital Asset Custodian. A pioneer in the Malaysia crypto and digital scene, CoKeeps aims to lay the right foundations to increase digital assets adoption.
Today on Open for Business, you will learn about how this homegrown startup navigated the ever-evolving crypto industry and become the first qualified Digital Asset Custodian in Malaysia. More importantly, why is this their focus in the wide wide web3 world?
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Paper-based record-keeping at medical facilities is not only antiquated, it also compromises the quality and continuity of care. Remedi aims to remedy the problem by providing simple and cost-effective digital management systems for clinics and healthcare payors, with an eye on solving the bigger challenge of shareable electronic medical records.
In this wide-ranging interview with Founder and Managing Director Khairul Faizi Khalid, we touched on how the company made their unique entrepreneurial journey work: from beginning as an extended weekend project, taking the time to develop the right business model and product features, keeping the company bootstrapped in the early stage to directions for future growth.
Guest Presenter: Nell Omar
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Hew Wee Choong of Cyclone Robotics joins us to delve into the expanding world of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in Malaysia. We'll discuss the surge in RPA adoption among Malaysian businesses, with a focus on the banking, finance, insurance, and telecommunications sectors. Hew will shed light on the challenges and opportunities in Malaysia's RPA journey, Cyclone Robotics' vision for the Malaysian market, and their role in bridging the knowledge gap in RPA adoption. We'll also explore how Cyclone Robotics is integrating AI, machine learning, and cloud services to enhance RPA and its plans for hyper automation in the Asia-Pacific region.
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In November, local upscale restaurant Dewakan picked up a second Michelin Star at the second edition of the Michelin Guide Kuala Lumpur and Penang, making it the first two-Michelin starred restaurant in Malaysia. An honour that has backed up the establishment's name that translates to ‘food from god’.
On this episode of Open for Business, you will learn what turned an educational entrepreneurial effort at a local college into this two starred Michelin restaurant, what it takes to survive and strive in the highly competitive culinary scene, and whether the restaurant business makes business sense, with Chef Darren Teoh, founder and head chef of Dewakan.
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There are an estimated 500,000 newborns in Malaysia every year generating RM3.3 billion in maternity-related spending. Aiming for a slice of that market, Happy Preggie began with the mission of providing the first platform in Malaysia to connect today’s generation of educated and discerning young parents with a curated range of quality maternity health services and professionals.
The temptation to provide more offerings in adjacent areas is ever present to a startup in the product development stage. After a few forays, the company decided to return to its core mission of providing new parents with better knowledge of and access to health and wellness services, including areas of customer demand hidden by cultural taboos, such as post-miscarriage support.
We speak about gathering customer insight, refocusing the company’s offerings, the importance of mission, and much more in this conversation with Yoong Poh Joon, founder of startup Happy Preggie.
Guest Presenter: Nell Omar
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Homegrown job solutions platform Qwork recently announced an investment from Artem Ventures that will power its growth into more industries that are prime to tap into the utilization of gig workers to help them better optimise their manpower.
Founded in 2017, Qwork has worked with over 100,000 gig workers serving clients in 11 countries in Southeast Asia, notably Zalora, Busybees Asia, Dynapack Asia, J&T Express, and Jakel, and has paid out over US$3 million to giggers, while helping saving up to 60% of operational costs for these businesses.
In 2023 alone, Qwork has connected more than 15,000 individuals with companies throughout the region who have clocked in close to 2 million working hours and spent over 280,000 hours working with partners worldwide to upskill its giggers.
On this episode of Open for Business, you will hear from Muna Munirah, CEO and Co-Founder of Qwork, about how these newly raised funds will be utilised, their plans for growth and how they will execute, and the origin story behind this startup.
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Sweatspa is a wellness spa whose journey started 9 years ago. Now, Sweatspa has 5 outlets with its most recent outlet in Bukit Jalil opening just a few months ago. In a bid to grow this much bigger, Sweatspa also recently acquired their franchise licence, something we will explore in more detail.
Beyond their consumer facing retail business and their upcoming franchising, Sweatspa also offers installation services for those seeking personal saunas at home and has a commercial solutions arm for those looking to start their own sauna business or for those looking to enhance their existing businesses in adjacent industries such as fitness, healthcare, and wellness sectors.
On this episode of Open for Business, you will learn about SweatSpa’s origin and growth story, how it markets itself and acquires customers, and most importantly, plans to leverage the new franchise licence to accelerate the growth. All this with Sabrina Tang, Founder of Sweatspa.
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Pilgrim is an Indian-based, all natural, vegan, direct-to-consumer (D2C) skincare startup brand that has caught the attention of some prominent investors. Just two months ago, Vertex Ventures, Fireside Ventures and Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office, were part of Pilgrim’s $20 million Series B funding round, which will help them accelerate the company’s growth in India.
Having generated $9.59 million in revenue in the last financial year, the company is expecting 3X growth to hit around $30 million in the next financial year, and another 2X growth to achieve $60-70 million the year after. It is also expecting to hit profitability next year.
All that and more in this conversation with Anurag Kedia, the co-founder of Pilgrim. We explore Pilgrim’s origins and growth story, insights into how to build a consumer beauty brand while optimising your marketing budget, as well as future plans including the path to profitability and IPO thoughts.
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We're joined by Lim Kar Aik, Group CEO of Revenue Monster Group, to discuss the journey of WeTix, Malaysia's leading ticket aggregator. We explore their innovative partnerships with cinema chains and e-wallet services like WeChat Pay, their expansion beyond movies to include a range of entertainment options, and how these strategic moves are shaping the future of digital ticketing in Malaysia.
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In line with World Children’s Day, we’re taking a focus at a key part of a child’s life - education, more specifically the business of children’s education.
Managing a portfolio of childhood education businesses, Jigna Doshi says she’s committed to the 'whole child' concept, balancing a child's academic, physical, social, and personal development through her range of services.
In today's Open for Business, you will discover the story behind the establishment of her education businesses, the challenges of managing multiple ventures in the ever-evolving landscape of childhood education, and what her long-term game plan is.
In the studio today is Jigna Doshi, Founder and CEO of Eduguru Childcare Services, but also Toddler Town International Preschool, Enso International Academy, and Lion City Preschool.
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The beauty and personal care industry in Malaysia is big business - garnering a revenue of around $2.68 billion in 2022 based on Statista data. With so many beauty companies vying for the top spot, how does more recent market entrant Une Olive en Provence stand out here? Well, apparently by transforming the century-old kitchen essential – olive oil – into a much desired skincare product.
Hailing exclusively from the farm in Provence, France, Une Olive en Provence utilises extra Virgin Olive Oil as a key component of its various cosmetics products. However, is that enough to make it stand out in a fiercely competitive cosmetics market, especially in a market where consumer sentiment is estimated to be at its lowest since the lockdown days of the second quarter of 2021?
Today on Open for Business, you will learn about the rationale behind importing this high-priced product into Malaysia, its brand positioning and marketing strategy, as well as insights into the intricacies of operating a distributorship here in Malaysia, with Seah Jhen Pei, Director of Une Olive Malaysia.
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While we often pay attention to the hot and sexy tech startups of the world or the big established name brands and their shelves of products that we use on a daily basis, it’s important to remember that there are plenty of lucrative businesses out there that we’ve never heard of. – Consumers might know Durex, but how many know that homegrown Karex is the biggest condom manufacturer in the world?
Malaysia has many of these kinds of businesses, big and small, and one of them is our guest today – People & Global, an Original Equipment Manufacturer or OEM of wet wipes, a product category that garnered a lot of attention in the last few years as hygiene and sanitisation became key during the pandemic.
By some estimates, the wet wipes business was a 4 billion US dollar market in 2022. That’s a sizable market for a narrow product that we take for granted on a regular basis, and it’s expected to continue to grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate of 7.8% up to 2033.
Founded in 2003, this OEM caters to both local and international markets, they produce a diverse range of hygiene products such as wet wipes and sanitary napkins to prominent clients like Watson's, Shell, Mydin, Petronas, and more.
On this episode of Open for Business, you will learn why today’s guest Patrick Wong, Founder and Managing Director, People & Global entered this business of all things, the intricate workings of this 20 year old homegrown wet wipes OEM, how profitable wet wipes manufacturing can be, and whether People & Global can be more than just an OEM through its own brand Wetty.
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Today, we’re in conversation with Professor Andrew Wong, CEO of E3 Hubs Sdn. Bhd, a man with over a quarter of a century in entrepreneurship, and an advocate for the development of and nurturing of SMEs and startups. In a world still reeling from the impact of a global pandemic, businesses across Malaysia are navigating through the challenges of inflation and political volatility, searching for a foothold to stabilise and grow.
E3 Hubs stands as a beacon of support for these businesses, providing incubation, mentorship and a thriving community network aimed at business upscaling. From leading MAD Incubator, which played a pivotal role in the growth of numerous tech startups, to steering E3 Hubs towards its goal of empowering 50,000 members, Andrew’s journey is one of resilience, innovation and an unyielding commitment to the entrepreneurial spirit. Let’s explore the insights and experience of a man who’s at the forefront of fostering entrepreneurial success in Malaysia’s dynamic business landscape.
Image Credit: LinkedIn | Andrew Wong
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The F&B business is tough, whether here in Malaysia or abroad. There’s always a constant churn of old restaurants closing down and new ones taking their place. That said, there are those that last the test of time and navigate the industry for decades.
Today on the show, we speak to Australian chef, author, television presenter, and restaurateur – David Thompson to get a better sense for the business of F&B and why he’s personally focused on Thai cuisine.
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Online shopping is such a convenience. You can buy food and groceries on Grab, buy diapers on Lazada, and shop for clothes from your favourite fashion brands, but does this consumer behaviour extend to furniture as well? That is something that today’s guest has banked on with her ecommerce business - Mojomore, a subsidiary of HVAC OEM manufacturing company TCW Group.
Founded back in 2020, Mojomore is an online furniture store selling Home & Living products made from industrial reclaimed metal and wants to be one of the top Home & Living products providers, but how realistic is that considering how competitive this space is online and without without a major physical presence for people to touch and feel their products?
We explore this, along with the journey so far, and how lucrative this business is with Mojomore Founder, Tan Wei Yi.
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No matter how good a learning app is, it will struggle to compete against Roblox and YouTube Kids.
In today's digital era, children have increasingly easy access to a wide array of technologies and parents are finding themselves faced with the dual challenge of maintaining discipline over their kids' screen time and ensuring that the content they're engaging with is both age-appropriate and educational – essentially the need to strike a balance between encouraging tech-savviness in a child and protecting a child's well-being and development.
The young parents-of-two faced that exact problem, and decided to pull together a team of experts to build an app called Carrots&Cake that focuses on improving the quality of kids' screen time based on a science-based approach by allowing parents to limit the time spent on different apps in the hopes that this will allow children to have balanced usage between educational and entertainment apps.
On this episode of Open For Business, you will learn how the co-founders of Carrots&Cake, Meredith DePaolo and Hamel Shah, are trying to address this pressing concern, why this is a business and not just a feature, and how they plan to monetise in order to make this a sustainable business.
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Today on the show, we speak with a founder that has been trying to guide and support mothers and parents since 2013 through her parenting platform - Nuren Group, which includes websites such as Motherhood.com.my, Mamahood.com.sg, and Wedding.com.my, among others under its umbrella.
10 years in, Nuren has over 5 million users, 15 million monthly views on average, and launched their Parenting SuperApp by Motherhood earlier this year. All this has helped them generate RM 50 million revenue in the last 3 years, with RM15 million generated last year and expectations of hitting RM 20 million this year. Looking ahead, they are looking at going public on the Nasdaq in 2 years.
Today you will learn the story behind Nuren Group’s birth and 10 year journey, the rationale and business value of building a superapp, and what’s next for this company with Nuren Group’s Co-Founder and CEO Petrina Goh and Creative Director Maton Shukor.
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Malaysia is not just joining the global drone racing scene—it's taking it vertical. YY Choy and Johnson Yap are at the forefront of this innovative twist, hosting Asia's inaugural vertical drone race. This next-gen sport offers racers an unmatched immersive experience, blurring the lines between virtual simulators and real-world racing. Beyond the tech and adrenaline, both emphasise its inclusivity, breaking age and gender norms. Despite initial challenges like high setup costs and limited awareness, they see a promising future, especially with potential governmental support integrating drone tech into STEM and TVET programs.
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Nebula is a cloud gaming platform founded locally in Malaysia and they’re like Netflix for gaming. With Nebula, gamers can start playing all the latest games from their smartphone, tablet and old laptops. All they need is good internet. This means gamers no longer need to buy a console or a gaming computer and in fact, they don't even need to buy the games. We speak to Daryl Wong, Founder of Nebula to learn more about what they do, and what makes them unique within this industry.
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LightBlue Consulting is a UN-awarded organisation specialised in food waste prevention in over 20 countries. With key partnerships across hotels, restaurants, and international organisations, they bring sustainability and business excellence together. Their FIT Food Waste Monitoring Tech provides data-driven solutions to commercial kitchens, generating tailored weekly reports in nine languages to reduce food waste and associated costs.
Founder Benjamin Lephilibert has trained over 2000 culinary professionals and is a frequent international speaker on food waste prevention. Benjamin was in KL recently to speak at Kita Conversations by Kita Food Festival.
Kita Conversations is an on-going dialogue on all thing’s food related with the goal to build an open platform for people working in the food and beverage industry, plus anybody interested in where food comes from, to discuss the future of food.
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HUBBO POS is pivoting to aid local eateries in implementing data-informed digital processes and expanding sales avenues, leveraging Grab's robust regional frameworks beyond just managing food orders and transactions. Serving as a comprehensive POS system, HUBBO POS employs cloud tech to effortlessly coordinate diverse restaurant order channels—dine-in, online, takeaway, and drive-thru—under one platform. This same platform also offers Grab merchants access to advanced features such as sales monitoring, stock summaries, and table coordination.
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Yesterday, India-based fintech unicorn Razorpay deepened its presence in the Malaysian market by becoming the first new member of PayNet since 2019, through its Malaysian-based unit Curlec by Razorpay, which it acquired back in early 2022.
This Paynet membership now allows Curlec to adopt the DuitNow product suite, allowing their customers to make and receive real-time payments from bank accounts and e-wallets. This marks Curlec's continued evolution from recurring payments provider to full stack payment gateway.
Backed by Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, Singapore’s GIC, Y Combinator, and other notable investors, Razorpay was valued at around $7.5 billion in its last funding round in December 2021 where it raised $375 Million in their Series-F round. To date, the company has raised a total of $741.5 million and has acquired 8 companies as part of its growth strategy.
To explore Razorpay’s origins, plans ahead, plans for Southeast Asia, and IPO timeline, we speak with Rahul Kothari, Chief Business Officer of Razorpay
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YouApp, developed by entrepreneur Douglas Gan, is a straightforward solution for anyone seeking out unique local experiences. Targeting the untapped Malaysian market, this platform offers a curated selection of activities, aiming to connect residents and tourists with intriguing opportunities typically overlooked in everyday life.
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In August, Involve Asia was named alongside 5 other Malaysian tech companies like drone-player Aerodyne, B2B wholesale platform Lapasar, and insurtech firm PolicyStreet, as Forbes Asia 100 to Watch.
Founded in 2014, the platform helps brands form marketing partnerships with global content creators, developers, and affiliates, which has become big business with more companies looking to performance-based marketing to optimise their marketing budgets. Since inception, over $2.6 billion in sales have been generated on their platform (in term of Gross Merchandise Value), with current annual sales generated coming in at $1 billion. Some of their partners and advertisers include Lazada, Grab, Marriott, and Nike, among others.
This year, Involve raised over $10 million dollars in a round led by Bintang Capital Partners and follow-on investment from returning investors like 500 Global. On this episode of Open For Business, you will hear from President and Co-founder René Menezes on how they plan to optimise that funding to grow, the initial problem they were trying to solve back in 2014 and how that has evolved over the last 9 years, and about their IPO plans.
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With Malaysia's gig economy growing to an estimated 30% of the workforce, various job platforms have emerged to meet the demand. Singapore-based FastCo is one such platform. After launching FastGig in 2022 and securing $7.5 million in Series A funding, the company aims to expand in Malaysia and beyond.
Today you will learn about the story behind their management-led-buy-out in 2021, the rationale for entering the flexi-work platform business, and how they’ve deployed their Series A $7.5 million as they look to grow in Malaysia and the region, with Julian Tan, the CEO and Founder of FastCo.
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Insurtech platform Ouch! started as a distribution platform for insurance products such as medical, motor, home, travel, and life, but has now moved away from that, atleast for now.
Supported by their fully-subscribed six-figure pre-Series A round and previous RM1.5 million seed round in 2021, Ouch launched its first in-house product - a digital takaful product called Pusara Pro, marking its entry into the takaful market as the first digital takaful operator in Bank Negara Malaysia’s Regulatory Sandbox.
On this episode of Open for Business, you will hear about what inspired this venture, how they’re going to compete with the sizable incumbents in the insurance space, and why they’ve decided to make their own in-house insurance products with CEO Shazy Noorazman.
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Manoj Menon from Twimbit will be discussing the transformative power of open finance in Malaysia. We’ll discuss the necessity of a secure, standardised framework to foster innovation and ensure customer privacy. We’ll also take a look at how enhancing Malaysia's digital footprint through open banking caters to the modern customers' demand for seamless, personalised financial solutions.
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What do Snoop Dogg, venture capital, and sneakers have in common? The answer – Asia's fastest-growing sneaker trading platform Novelship.
Last month, the Singapore-based online streetwear marketplace announced a US$9.5 million series B funding round, which comes a few months after Novelship’s partnership with American hip hop legend Snoop Dogg.
Novelship first started out as a Carousell shop before becoming an online marketplace for buyers and sellers to trade authentic sneakers, limited-edition apparels, as well as exclusive physical and digital collectibles. Today the company is moving beyond just being a marketplace and building its own fashion and streetwear brand.
Having raised a total of $21.6 million, on this episode of Open for Business, you will hear about Novelship’s move from Carousell store to Asia's fastest-growing sneaker trading platform, the value Snoop Dogg provides to their ambitions, and whether they have what it takes to become a leading fashion icon in Asia, with Richard Xia, Co-Founder and CEO of Novelship
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SEDANIA Innovator started out as IDOTTV back in 2004. Back then the focus was to develop media content which was in line with the Founders experience, but instead they ventured into telcotech, allowing mobile subscribers to request and transfer credits to other prepaid subscribers.
Since then, the company changed its name to SEDANIA Innovator in 2013 and has expanded into fintech, healthtech, and greentech through its subsidiaries Sedania Technologies, Sedania As Salam Capital, and Offspring Inc, with healthcare representing 78% of revenue last year, followed by fintech at around 15%.
Today on Open for Business, we speak to Datuk Azrin Mohd Noor, Founder and Managing Director of Sedania Innovator about SEDANIA Innovator’s journey, its current focuses, and key priorities ahead.
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Founded in 2015, Flexi Storage was established to provide hassle-free and flexible self-storage service for homes and businesses here in Malaysia. Founded by Desmond How and Alex Lee, this startup hoped to provide a solution for folks who were caught between freeing up much needed space in their homes and getting rid of items that they weren’t ready to part with.
8 years later, the company has provided secure and flexible storage for personal and business use to more than 1,600 customers, now offers over 1,000 self-storage units, spanning over 85,000 square feet (sq ft) of gross floor area (GFA), and most notably is now know as StorHub Self Storage Malaysia following a majority-stake acquisition by Singapore’s largest self-storage operator, StorHub Group.
To walk us through the 8 year journey, what this acquisition means for them, and what lies ahead with StorHub in the picture, we speak to StorHub Self Storage Malaysia’s CEO - Desmond How, and COO Alex Lee, the co-founders of the company formerly known as Flexi Storage.
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Wownana Bakehouse is a unique bakery that specialises in vegan pastries, offering a range of products that are 100% dairy-free and egg-free.
Situated in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, they pride themselves on creating delectable treats that cater to various dietary needs, their signature offering is the Signature Banana Loaf, which has garnered attention and has been featured on platforms like Tatler Dining.
The bakehouse is known for its innovative approach, blending traditional baking with modern dietary preferences.
Today on the show, we speak to the founder Fiozznah about the rise of vegan bakeries, and the sustainability of such a niche market.
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In an era of dual-income households, the demand for reliable childcare solutions is at an all-time high. Enter KiddoCare, launched in 2018, a pioneering platform connecting parents with trained babysitters, anytime, anywhere.
Founder Nadira Yusof, a working mother of six, understands the challenges parents face. Her vision created KiddoCare, bridging the gap between quality childcare and flexible job opportunities for women.
Explore KiddoCare's journey, from self-funding to strategic fundraising, and its plans for offering value-added services, including aged care. Discover why modern parents prefer KiddoCare over traditional helpers, with its focus on child development and flexibility.
Nadira shares their financial success, with eight-figure revenue this year and expectations of exponential growth. KiddoCare prepares for a Series A funding round, aiming for USD$5-8 million.
As they expand into elderly and pet care, KiddoCare aims to be the ultimate family support platform, redefining childcare and family assistance in the modern age.
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Digital Investment Managers, or roboadvisors as they’re more commonly known as, have been touted as a way to improve accessibility to investment products by going digital and lowering associated costs, such as removing sales fees and lowering annual management fees.
While names such as Stashaway and Wahed Invests may be more well known in this space, there are many other players here. One of them is Raiz Malaysia, a joint venture between Raiz Invest Australia Limited and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB).
Raiz is differentiating itself by helping users invest their spare change, similar to US roboadvisor Acorns. Essentially they round up purchases from linked debit and credit cards, and invest that amount into the portfolio, however if this isn’t your cup of tea, users can still invest normally with regular or one-time deposits.
We speak with Raiz Malaysia CEO Aidi Izham about their strategy to compete with other digital and traditional asset management firms, how much of an advantage it is having PNB in their corner, and more.
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As Malaysia’s land for waste disposal is limited and the existing landfills are rapidly reaching their capacity, it is imperative that every individual do their part to reduce, reuse and recycle. To facilitate and make it easier for consumers to transition to a more eco-friendly lifestyle, Oh Sok Peng founded Refiller Mobile in June 2022. This mobile zero-waste refillery travels around the Klang Valley offering eco-friendly household products, dried food and alternatives. With a goal to address plastic waste and environmental preservation in Malaysia, Refiller Mobile seeks to contribute to a sustainable planet for future generations.
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RecruitFirst is a HRTech company that aims to play corporate Tinder by matching companies with jobseekers to fulfil a company’s talent needs. Backed by Singapore Exchange listed recruitment and consulting company HRnetGroup Limited, RecruitFirst now has operations in 15 cities across the Asia Pacific. Mok Jing Ru, Co-Owner & Senior Consulting Manager, joins us for a conversation about Recruitfirst’s role in the HR landscape and the path ahead.
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SpaceIn wants to spearhead the space exploration activity in Malaysia. Previously, a company owned by a group of Postgraduate Students in the USM Space System Lab (USSL), SpaceIn started with a satellite educational product, CanSat Kit for Education and is also Malaysia’s only company that provides near-space platform services through High Altitude Balloon. We speak to Dr Norilmi Amilia Ismail, CEO of SpaceIn, about the trajectory of space exploration in Malaysia and the firm.
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Buying or renting property can be a tedious process, from finding something within your budget and physically locating the property, to finding the right agent or platform to work with and wading through the paperwork.
It’s no wonder why websites like iProperty and PropertyGuru have become so popular, but is the future of proptech to move away from broad searchability and build out a property superapp for all your property needs?
To find out,we speak with Teow Wei Kwang, Co-Founder of Nextsix. Nextsix is a one-stop property platform that is pioneering a GPS and data-driven search engine that links property seekers to properties available within a particular vicinity through real estate agents, but by the looks of it, has bigger aspirations as well.
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DOC2HOME is a Malaysian digital health platform offering personalized home-based healthcare, reviving the tradition of 'house calls'. As a subsidiary of DOC2US, it leverages advanced technology to provide both telehealth services and direct doctor home visits. This initiative, which began in April through a partnership with SP Setia's STAY Campaign, is championed by Dr. Raymond Choy, CEO of DOC2US and a key figure in Malaysia's digital health transformation.
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In the last few years we’ve seen Bitcoin go to the moon, and then come back down to Earth. That said, it is still up over 340% over the last 5 years and has climbed around 60-70% year to date, so it’s not all doom and gloom.
When you think about the Malaysian crypto market, or at least the regulated side of it, it’s hard to miss one key name - Luno - a regulated digital asset exchange that allows users to trade digital assets, like bitcoin. July marked Luno’s 10th year in business.
10 years ago, Luno was known as BitX and started its journey in South Africa. 4 years later, in 2017, the Luno brand was born, 2 years later you entered Europe, and in April 2022 hit a milestone of 10 million customers globally. In 2023 the number is now over 12 million. In the midst of all that, Luno was acquired by Digital Currency Group in 2020, while a key moment for the company, DCG hasn’t had the smoothest of paths since.
Today we explore Luno’s 10 year journey and what lies ahead with James Lanigan, CEO of Luno.
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Chin Jia Zhuang, De Lettuce B.E.A.R.
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Between hybrid work arrangements, talent acquisition and employee turnover, managing talent in business is getting increasingly more challenging and complicated. In a bid to expand access to talent and simplify human resources operations, MIT alumni Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang started Deel back in 2018.
Deel may have started with a focus on payroll, but today it’s a full-stack HR solution that simplifies aspects of managing an international workforce, from culture and onboarding, to local payroll and compliance. This has become even more important post-pandemic as workforces become more distributed across the world.
Today on Open for Business, we speak with Alex Bouaziz, Co-founder & CEO of Deel, about the role they play in HR and talent management, how they support companies to expand internationally via employer of record services, and how all this supports Deel's own growth.
We also speak to Alex about Deel’s appetite for acquisitions to grow and the milestones that will help determine when they will IPO.
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The proliferation of payment options has been great for consumer choice, but has made accepting payments more complex for SMEs. Qashier is a Fintech startup that is trying to address this by consolidating the different payment options into an integrated point-of-sale (POS) and payment solution for SMEs.
They also have ambitions to go beyond just sales and payments solutions and provide other software solutions to SMEs, whether it is helping them with HR, operations, or other business areas.
With over 6,000 merchants in industries like F&B, beauty, retail and service. across Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, we speak to CEO and co-founder Christopher Choo about Qashier’s origin story, what lies ahead for this startup, and how they will compete with other key players like StoreHub, PineLabs, and GHL Systems.
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Digital Banking is something that’s being keenly watched in the Southeast Asia region. We’ve seen 4 digibanks start up in Singapore, and here in Malaysia we’re expecting a few to open their doors to customers this year. While a lot of attention has been paid to players such as Grab, Sea Limited, and Ant Financial, another key player to watch in this region is WeLab.
WeLab was founded in 2013 and over the decade has raised around $900 million to fund ambitions to improve accessibility to financial services. They are involved in digital lending, digital banking, and SaaS enterprise solutions.
The 10-year old Hong Kong based fintech player made its entry into the Southeast Asian digital bank fray last year when it acquired Bank Jasa Jakarta. What does signal about its expansion strategy for Southeast Asia?
To find out, on this episode of Open for Business, we speak with Simon Loong, Founder & Group CEO of WeLab Group. Aside from their plans for Southeast Asia, we’ll also dive into WeLab’s 10 year journey, the growth across Hong Kong and Mainland China, what lies ahead for this Hong Kong unicorn, and ofcourse the pathway to IPO.
Photo Credits: Shutterstock
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After an exhaustive day, battling humidity and pollutants, the last thing you want is to come home to stifling air. We speak with Chris Lim and Strife Lim, the duo behind Sterra, an air and water purifier brand that has transformed over 3000 homes in Singapore. Sterra is now set to redefine Malaysia's indoor experience and we’ll be discussing Sterra's journey, innovation, and plans for the future.
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Tomorrow 6 States in Malaysia head to the polls after 2 weeks of campaigning to determine their state governments.
On the back of certain long standing candidates like Penang Caretaker Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy being dropped from the candidates' list and claims of lack of transparency and bias over the process coming out, today on the show we explore how this could have been handled better from a leadership perspective.
We’ll be getting into the role of leaders when it comes to maintaining transparency at the workplace, how they can handle changes and discontent, as well as how “firing” employees should be better managed.
Joining us for this discussion is Hetal Doshi, CEO & Organisational Psychologist at O Psych.
This episode was recorded before the announcement that P. Ramasamy had quit The Democratic Action Party (DAP).
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Ahead of the upcoming state elections happening tomorrow, Open For Business takes a slight detour to the East Coast, specifically Terengganu, to speak to Indah Sari Otomobil, a car retailer that has been in the business in the state since the late 80s. The father and son duo, Kenny Teo and Kenneth Teo sat down with us to share how it all started for them, the car industry and demand for vehicles in Terengganu and whether Terengganu's reputation as a swing state has affected business throughout all these years.
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Amid growing concerns about traffic congestion, inefficient use of private vehicles, and a rising demand for convenient and affordable transport options, TREVO offers a compelling solution. Learn how this platform uses cutting-edge algorithms to manage trade-offs, providing an optimal fleet size and reducing operational costs while increasing accessibility and efficiency. We hear from Susan Teoh, General Manager of TREVO about how they’re contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions and traffic congestion while enhancing last-mile connectivity. Discover the impact of emerging technologies on transportation and car-sharing markets and how TREVO navigates the challenges posed by regulatory issues, data privacy, and liability.
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You can take the Malaysian out of Malaysia, but you can’t take Malaysia out of the Malaysian. Home or abroad, you can be sure that it’s only a matter of time before Malaysians succumb to their cravings and need a dose of our delicious local food – but what do you do if you're studying abroad, say in the UK?
Enter Halal Street UK – a Halal e-marketplace established in 2014 based in the UK. Their website is a one-stop marketplace to purchase curated Malaysian food products from small and medium enterprises based in Malaysia straight to consumers in the UK market. So not only does this tap into the Malaysian market in the UK, but taps into the much larger muslim market in the UK. Pew Research Center data shows that in 2016, 6% of the UK population was muslim, around 4.1 million people. Only France and Germany had larger numbers in Europe.
We speak to Simon Suresh, Founder and CEO of Halal Street UK, to explore the potential of the halal market in the UK and how the platform connects local SMEs, particularly in the F&B segment, with the UK and European markets.
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Once upon a time, there was a final year university student who wasn’t too happy about the parking situation at his campus. So he took to YouTube, created his own channel, and uploaded a video about it. That channel's name? dmingthing.
That was around 12 years and 526,000 subscribers ago.
How did a vlog about the horrible carpark situation in a university lead to 66 million views on YouTube and help build a creative and social media agency? What does it take to turn a YouTube Channel into a business that survives beyond the personalities on screen?
We find out with the creators of dmingthing and Co-Founders of creative and social media agency Blankslate Ho Ming Han, Ho Ming Yue, and Bryan Lim Yong Tiam.
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We hear from Keith Khor, the founder of Intelligent Consultancy, a firm dedicated to helping with financial literacy in Malaysia. Having navigated an unconventional path to success, Keith now leads a team committed to empowering Malaysians to make informed financial decisions. We'll explore the company's services, from guidance on bank loans to debt consolidation, and delve into why financial literacy is so vital today.
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If a box of cereal is expiring next month, would you buy it? What if I told you it was 40% off? Now would you buy it? If you answered yes, then you’re going to want to stick around.
Near To is a local business that’s trying to reduce food waste by intercepting perfectly edible food products that are headed for landfills and selling them at cheaper prices, some at half their market price. This concept of discounting foods that are ‘near to’ expiry isn’t new and in fact standalone NTE (near to expiry) stores are already found overseas.
So today we ask the age-old question, is one supplier’s ‘near to expiry’ food another retailer's treasure?
To find out, we speak with Nicholas Tan and Edmond Yap, the Co-founders of Near To. We get into what inspired this venture and whether there’s truly money to be made by intercepting and selling ‘near to expiry’ food products.
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Remember that old saying “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”? Well turns out, scientifically it is even more true than we thought. Reports have indicated that your breakfast choices not only have an impact on your day but even have a lasting impact on your long-term health.
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Between the accelerated digitalization from the pandemic, the continued growth and evolution of e-commerce, and government pushes for cashless payments, digital payments have boomed. And while e-wallets, online bank transfers, and NFC paywave are typically how we interact with this, like the Autobots, there’s a lot more here than meets the eye.
One big element of digital payments is the magic of recurring payments. A tech stack that enables you to set it and forget when it comes to your monthly investment deposits, regular insurance premium payments, and most importantly, your monthly subscriptions to services like Netflix and Spotify.
Today on the show, we’re speaking to a homemade recurring payments solution that has recently graduated to full stack payment gateway following a majority stake acquisition by Indian payment gateway provider Razorpay in early 2022.
With more than 700 clients including Tune Protect, CTOS, and Mary Kay, we speak to Curlec Founder and CEO Zac Liew about Curlec’s journey from founding in 2018, working with Razorpay, and the pathway and strategy to RM10 billion Gross Transaction Value (GTV) in Malaysia by end-2025.
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A month ago, EPF CEO Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said that as of May 2023 only 18% of total members met the basic savings by age, which will enable them to have at least RM1,000 a month over a 20-year retirement period from age 55.
There are many reasons for these concerning numbers, including stagnant incomes, but the areas that today’s guests are addressing is financial literacy and financial planning.
Through their digital financial planning app CashKu, Advisonomics founders Raevendren Ramachandran and Asgari Stephens want to improve financial literacy among Malaysians by creating awareness and accessibility to resources and products around savings, retirement planning and financial literacy.
Today on the show, the founders of Advisonomics get into, among other things, how much a digital platform can move the needle to address our concerning retirement statistics, the business model that drives this business, and the role that CashKu plays in the financial services space.
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Rebecca and Jared Chuah's Nateskin, born out of grooming challenges, established itself as a trusted provider of simple, sustainable, and inclusive solutions. Nateskin's commitment to design excellence resulted in products that empowered personal grooming with confidence. Their first product, a unique hair trimmer, aimed to destigmatise body grooming discussions. Battling against societal taboos, Nateskin created innovative grooming products and saw impressive sales growth, hitting RM500k per month by June 2023.
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Did you know that Saharan ants inspired the development of an electricity-free cooling technology?
Tapping on scientific research findings of their supervisor, Dr Edwin Tso Chi-yan from the City University of Hong Kong’s School of Energy and Environment (SEE), research assistant Shirley Du and PhD student Martin Zhu, set up “i2Cool” to develop and promote zero-energy, low-cost, highly-efficient passive radiative cooling paint to save energy and reduce carbon emissions in cooling buildings.
One of the product’s they developed is a radiative paint, that when applied to the exterior wall of a building, can simultaneously reflect sunlight and dissipate the building's heat into space, resulting in a drop in the building's indoor temperature.
On this episode of Open for Business, we speak with Dr Martin Zhu, CEO and Co-founder of i2Cool Limited, about how ants inspired the tech behind this paint, why 2 academics jumped into the startup world, and what lies ahead for i2cool. I2Cool Limited is a start-up technology company, incubated by HK TECH 300 in the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and Hong Kong Science and Technology Park
Photo credits: ReThink HK
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The Electric Vehicle (EV) space has been heating up here in Malaysia. Last year we saw some 2,631 EVs sold in Malaysia through official distribution channels last year, representing a 860% gain from 2021 which saw 274 sold.
Now, selling EVs is one thing, but we need to ensure we’re building the infrastructure to support the ability to use these vehicles and that means building a charging network that is wide enough to support this boom.
While big players like Tesla and Gentari are trying to address this, there are also other players that are working on this. Powered by RISE is one such player. Founded in 2019, the local tech startup wanted to address a critical issue in the Electric Vehicle scene, the lack of accessible charging infrastructure.
Today the company isn’t just installing charging points, it has developed its own chargers and apps so that it doesn’t have to rely on other companies to succeed, but is this enough to defend against well funded competition that’s coming into the space?
We speak to Kray Chong, Founder and CEO of Powered by RISE, to get a better understanding of their role in the EV ecosystem, how they built their own technology, and whether they see moves by Gentari and Tesla as threats or opportunities to their long term story.
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Founded in 2020, Creative Factory combines traditional drawing with digital technology, and introduced the first digital oil-painting service in Malaysia. They transform special memories into unique art pieces, sparking interest among celebrities and influencers. Committed to enhancing customer experience and promoting an appreciation for modern-traditional art, they offer a variety of affordable digital oil paintings in multiple sizes.
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The Electric Vehicle space in Malaysia got big news yesterday with Tesla formally announcing its strategic expansion into the Malaysian market, and they’re not just here to sell cars, they’re looking to establish an office, build out Tesla Experience and service centres, and set up a Supercharger network.
Now that last part is something to watch, given Tesla’s experience and knowledge in the space and their brand value and recognition, how much of a threat is this foreign player to the local EV infrastructure players?
For a perspective on this, we speak with Shah Yang Razalli, Deputy CEO of Gentari - wholly owned clean energy solutions company under PETRONAS. Gentari is involved in EV charging stations here in Malaysia, but outside the EV ecosystem it’s also involved in rooftop solar panels, battery storage, hydrogen production and more. We’ll also get into the company’s mandate and their role in driving the clean energy agenda here in Malaysia.
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DrPrevents is a provider of preventive healthcare services in the Klang Valley area. With 24-hour operating medical clinics and a dedicated team of doctors and clinic assistants, DrPrevents offer healthcare solutions backed by some of the latest technology. Guided by the belief that prevention is better than cure, DrPrevents specialises in personalised and innovative medical services to empower individuals in their proactive pursuit of wellness.
We’ll be hearing from the founder, Dr. Vikneswaran Ragupathiraja.
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Although getting better in recent times, Malaysia still has a property oversupply problem, but could big data and AI be the solution? Or atleast help make sure this doesn’t continue to be a problem going forward?
That’s something UrbanMetry is banking on.
UrbanMetry is an AI-driven city and property data startup that cleans and analyses large amounts of city data, through its proprietary algorithms. The data and insights can then be used by governments, city planners, developers and financial institutions to create and back – better planned property developments and town planning. This will hopefully help manage the demands-supply mismatch so that developments match actual needs on the ground.
We speak to Cha Ly Koh, CEO and founder of UrbanMetry, about how she built this platform, whether data is truly the answer to Malaysia’s property woes, and what lies ahead for the company.
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Mowgli Venture brings to life adventures straight out of a story book. They seek to provide once-in-a-lifetime trips through raw adventures while challenging travellers out of their comfort zones.
Their team is dedicated to delivering exceptional, bespoke travel services that promise an unforgettable experience. They champion the rise of adventure tourism, guiding their clients towards undiscovered gems far from the usual tourist trails, through their expert travel consulting and customised journey packages.
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Despite being a major food exporter, Malaysia relies on imports for certain items like rice, dairy, wheat, barley, and selected fruits and vegetables. This is due to a production-consumption gap, making the country vulnerable to supply chain disruptions, exacerbated by geopolitical tensions and climate change.
We speak with Greg O'Shea, the Head of Country for Malaysia and Singapore for TMX Global, and discuss the importance of developing the entire food supply chain, not just increasing farming output. We talk about the need for simultaneous development of midstream and downstream sectors, such as food manufacturing and processing -- and how TMX are helping SMEs and MSMEs with their distribution woes.
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What do consumer brands such as Thousand Miles, Bottoms Lab, Montigo, and Cosmic Cookware have in common? They were all built by the same Malaysian startup – RPG Commerce.
RPG Commerce is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) e-commerce startup that develops consumer brands and products targeted foreign markets. Some of their in-house brands are apparel and homeware brands Thousand Miles, Bottoms Lab, Montigo, and Cosmic Cookware.
Since its launch in 2017, RPG Commerce has raised a total of US$34.5 million from Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures, East Ventures, UOB Venture Management, and RHL Ventures, but money doesn’t always buy success, especially in the consumer market, so how has one company been able to launch and operate multiple consumer brands in such a short time?
To find out, we speak to Melvin Chee, the co-founder and CEO of RPG Commerce. We’ll also get into why he started by targeting foreign markets instead of building up at home first, how they’ve managed to successfully launch these consumer brands, and what’s next for RPG.
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Media and entertainment is all about capturing and retaining your attention, and digital content and technology has been incredibly successful in capturing your eyes, ears, and time. That said, the entrepreneurs behind the BREAKOUT Escape Room, HAUNTU and Spy Game, know that immersive experiences aren’t the monopoly of tech companies and the digital world.
The immersive gaming company is bringing excitement, challenge and social interactions back to the physical world. They started with The Breakout Escape Rooms in 2014, then launched a fully immersive haunted attraction called Hauntu in 2018. During the pandemic, the company adapted and took the product online and last year Superdough launched Spy Game, a game concept that wants to deliver an adrenaline-fueled adventure.
Today, Superdough has 70 escape rooms across four countries – Malaysia, Korea, Canada, and the United States, and says its games have been played by over 1 million people globally.
We speak with Superdough’s founders, Kelly Low and Johnny Ong about how and why they built this business, the business viability and what lies ahead.
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Tin Men Capital is on a mission to unlock the potential of B2B tech startups within Southeast Asia, focusing on markets where industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, and sustainability are flourishing, particularly Malaysia.
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Founded by mother-son pairing Gwen and David, King Living had its humble start at Paddy’s Markets in Sydney over 40 years ago.
Today, with its steel construction and modular sofa designs, King Living is a leading Australian furniture manufacturer-retailer with 18 branches across Australia, with another 10 overseas spread across Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, New Zealand, Canada, and China.
King Living’s journey entered a new chapter around 8 years ago when David King stepped away from the day-to-day and Anna Carrabs took up the role as CEO. After 7 years in charge of the company, Anna stepped down in November and today’s guest on the show took up the baton.
Photo Credits: LinkedIn | David Woollcott
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There’s no running away from it, gig work is becoming a bigger part of the labour market, and gigwork isn’t just ride hailing or food delivery, it can encompass freelancers, project-based workers and part-time hires.
Managing this kind of work force can be complicated for businesses and troublesome for temporary gig workers due to potential exposure to unsafe working environments, delayed payments, and exploitation.
Cidekick is a platform that wants to manage this balance by making gig work management easier on both sides of the equation. This include the screening, hiring, and monitoring of on-ground workers for events, creative talent for marketing and promotion, or other temporary manpower needs.
While a clear need in the market, how does it stack up against other more notable players like Fiverr or Upwork or job matching platforms like GoGet or TROOPERS, that was recently acquired by BetterPlace?
To find out, we’re speaking with Philip Phua, Founder and CEO of Cidekick. We’ll get into how they have built this solution, where it fits in the talent management stack, and what lies ahead for this startup.
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Promo Partners is a company that specialises in redemption programs and licensed character promotions that has access to intellectual property from Disney, Pokemon, Universal Studios, Warner Bros, and DreamWorks. With this they have worked with companies like AEON, Giant, Guardian, 7-Eleven, Shell, and Family Mart to build marketing initiatives and redemption programs that are generally used to acquire new customers and boost short-term sales, but it can also help build customer retention over the long term.
To learn more about this, we speak with Gary Chin, Founder and Director of Promo Partners.
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Itxotic, a Malaysian visual AI startup. Currently in its market penetration stage, Itxotic has secured a significant contract with a key player in the oil and gas industry, despite fierce competition from advanced-stage competitors in Australia and France.
Itxotic's solution not only enhances efficiency in the oil and gas sector, but also positively impacts the environment with potential applications across industries like road transportation and plantations.
We speak to the founder Amar Zolkipli.
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There’s a key issue that many tenants or potential renters face when they’re looking to rent a property - that’s the initial cash deposit that can significantly impact a renter’s liquidity position. At the same time, landlords want that deposit to help financially protect themselves and their properties.
And the answer to this conundrum is? Well, tech it seems.
Founded in 2018, Blue Duck Tech is a fintech company that provides financial services in the real estate landscape in Malaysia. Their key offering, a Zero Deposit Program to help replace the old rental deposit model with one that strikes a balance between tenants and landlords.
Earnest Wong, Founder and CEO of Blue Duck Tech, joins us to get into the business model and technology that drives this startup, how they manage the associated risks, and what’s next for them.
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80% of Malaysians don’t have valid wills and there’s more than RM90 billion worth of unclaimed assets nationwide. That’s what the President of the Malaysian Institute of Estate Planners (MIEP) said 9 months ago.
Wills and estate planning are some of the least appealing areas of personal finance, but they are essential in ensuring that your money and assets are distributed in a way that you feel best protects your loved ones and dependants. Sure part of the issue lies in the taboo around talking about death, but another part is the potential expense of the process and the inaccessibility of writing solutions or services.
CreateWills is trying to address this by digitalising the process, but can a digital product truly replace a lawyer or estate planning professional’s expertise in this nuanced and sensitive space? We speak to Raymond Gabriel, Founder and CEO, CreateWills to find out.
We also get into CreateWills business prospects, trajectory, and future plans.
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Usually what you’d see a business do is build itself up in its home country before venturing overseas, but that’s not what the engineers at Intrix Group did.
Intrix began as an R&D consultancy company that was initially trying to build its business locally, but following some not-so-favourable inquiries, they then shifted their focus to countries that were willing to pay for intellectual property, which then led Intrix to the UK. 20 years later, they have expanded their range of products, attaining 19 patents, serving some of the biggest clients in the UK and the world, and even moved into the consumer market, selling all-in-one purified water taps directly to customers.
Founder and Managing Director Tee Tone Vei joins us to discuss their journey over the last 20 years, why they explored foreign markets before tapping local opportunities, the value proposition of its water purification system Intrix One Tap, and more.
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Prepare to dive into an intriguing quest of self-discovery — not of personality, but the secrets encoded in your DNA, the key to your past, present, and future.
Dr. Rachna Kairon, the innovator behind myPreciseDNA by Synapse Laboratory, is making genetic testing more accessible for a healthier Malaysia. As a seasoned pathologist, Dr. Rachna has pushed microbiology and molecular diagnostics to new frontiers, pioneering genetic testing in Malaysia's digitised healthcare landscape.
Despite challenges, from naysayers to significant investment demands, she persisted, driven by the vision of empowering everyday Malaysians to understand and manage their genetic health.
Synapse, her brainchild, is the first in Malaysia to offer private newborn screenings and affordable direct-to-consumer genetic tests.
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According to the Institute for the Future of Education, music education has become instrumental in students’ wellbeing because of the pandemic. Music education was introduced as a regular subject in all primary schools’ curriculum in Malaysia in 1983. But is music education accessible to all students or anyone in Malaysia?
Kenny Ooi, the founder and CEO of The Rondo Production, a music education and social enterprise based in Penang helps us understand what impact they are trying to make in the music education market.
Photo Credits: The Rondo Production
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The World Economic Forum reports that 400 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated annually. Current recycling efforts are ineffective due to cost and energy-intensive processes. Pamarai, a Malaysian sustainable waste management pioneer, offers a solution called The Asher.
Since 2018, The Asher has used solar power for thermal degradation of solid waste, including organics, non-organics, and various types of plastic, converting them into reusable, non-harmful ash without needing fossil fuels or external energy.
Pamarai sees The Asher as a solution to the global waste crisis, as it's simple enough to be operated anywhere by anyone.
The company aims to remove barriers to green technology, empowering organisations to invest in a cleaner, greener future.
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SPM results came out around 2 weeks ago and now over 400,000 students need to look ahead and make decisions that will set up the next phase of their lives - young adulthood. A key step for many students after SPM is pursuing higher education, which can be a daunting task considering just how many courses there are out there, the number of education institutions to consider, and the hunt for scholarships, an area where awareness can be an issue.
Uni Enrol is an online platform that is trying to address these issues. Since 2018, the startup says it has successfully assisted over 3,000 applicants secure scholarships amounting to RM50 million.
Today on Open for Business, we speak with co-founder and CEO Rickson Khaw about how Uni Enrol has helped streamline scholarship access and search for students, how they built this business, their plans to grow the business, and ofcourse, we’ll talk about AI.
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Malaysia is on its way to becoming a “super-aged society”, by 2056, which is defined by having over 20% of the population above the age of 65. The number was around 7% in 2020. This highlights the need for more aged care facilities but also the need to focus on preventative care to help elderly adults age better so that they can maintain their mobility and independence.
Driven by personal experience, this is exactly what Dr Jillian Yeoh is doing with her healthtech aged-care focused startup. She dove into Aged Care to help Malaysia’s ageing population age with grace, leading to her to starting IMM Carehub, a lifestyle rehabilitation centre which provides holistic care services that aims to cover the full range of wellness, including Physical, Mental, Nutritional and Social.
We speak with Dr. Jillian on IMM Carehub’s next steps, the future of Aged Care, and the business model that keeps all this going.
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Starting off as an app that wants to help homes with purchasing LPG cylinder cooking gas during the pandemic, Suthan Mookaiah soon rebranded the business to EDAR.com. EDAR is an umbrella of three divisions: EDARgas, EDARruncit and EDARsemula.
Suthan Mookaiah, CEO & founder of EDAR.com discusses which is the most profitable division under EDAR's umbrella, and how he can subsidise your groceries at EDARruncit by recycling.
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The world is getting busier and technology is here to help us to “do more” - our work and personal letters are all now managed with digital tools. So is traditional pen and paper stationery still relevant in today’s world?
We speak to Alvin and Jason Chen, two brothers and Executive Directors, of the CzipLee Group of Companies, to talk about the biggest challenges when running a stationery business in this digital age.
CzipLee is a stationery shop that has been run by the Chen family since 1968.
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Having witnessed firsthand the hassles of traditional eyewear shopping, Daniel Lim decided to revolutionise the process. He founded AIRVIZIO, an artificial intelligence (AI) tech company, which thrived amidst the pandemic chaos by creating an AI temperature detection system and groundbreaking augmented reality (AR) technology.
Leveraging this tech, Daniel then launched Spectaclex, Malaysia's first virtual try-on app for glasses. The app utilises AI and facial recognition to suggest frames tailored to users' face shape and skin tone. Despite the challenges of launching two businesses during a global health crisis, Daniel remained motivated by his vision for AI's potential in transforming eyewear shopping.
Now, Spectaclex is making eyewear selection a seamless, enjoyable experience and continues to enhance customer experience in the optical industry. We speak to Daniel about his journey, challenges, and Spectaclex’s plans for future innovations in the optical industry.
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In April, India-based Software-as-a-Service and workforce management platform BetterPlace acquired TROOPERS, a Malaysian firm that specializes in part-time staffing and recruitment services, in a deal estimated to be worth between US$15 million and US$20 million, according to a source who spoke to Tech in Asia. This came a month after BetterPlace acquired Indonesia-based MyRobin for an undisclosed amount.
Given this sudden push into Southeast Asia, we speak to Pravin Agarwala, Co-Founder and Group CEO of BetterPlace to get into how these acquisitions plug into BetterPlace, a deeper dive into their growth and expansion plans, and what the pathway to profitability and an IPO could look like.
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Under its MyStartup Hub (MSH) programme, the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI) has been trying to recruit global innovators to establish business hubs in Malaysia. One of these companies is Singapore-based sustainable building solutions provider Bizsu.
Founded in 2019, Bizsu wants to help businesses embrace sustainability in a way that’s practical while being kind to the bottomline. The firm claims that its main product reduces air-conditioning consumption by 25% on average.
We speak to Brice Degeyter, Bizsu’s Founder and General Manager, about tech behind this patented net, their expansion strategy beyond Singapore, and what else lies ahead for Biszu.
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Is doing laundry at a laundrette becoming a trend here in Malaysia?
We hear from Nini Tan, Co-Founder of Dobi Queen, a laundrette that has been providing wash, dry and fold services since 2015. Over the next eight years, DobiQueen plans to expand to more than 70 stores in the Klang Valley.
We'll be delving into DobiQueen's business model, profitability, and future expansion strategies.
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Kabel is a tech company that developed an app to connect young graduates with employers to help graduates find meaningful jobs. It can be said to be a dating app-like model for jobs, because job seekers can swipe left and right on jobs they are interested in, and so can employers.
Camelia Loh and Daniel Yap talk about how they co-founded the company, and how Kabel fits into the picture of youth employment.
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SF6 (Sulphur Hexafluoride) is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, 23,500 times more effective at trapping infrared radiation than an equivalent amount of CO2. According to National Grid, it remains in the atmosphere for 3,200 years, and is a vital component in switchgear technology for distribution of electricity.
We hear from Nicholas Ottersbach, Business Development Manager of Nuventura–a cleantech company that has developed an alternative to the harmful SF6 gas used in switchgear technology.
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Elderly care is becoming an increasingly more pressing concern given Malaysia’s ageing population with The World Bank noting in 2020 that Malaysia will be a “super-aged society”, by 2056, as defined by having over 20% of the population above the age of 65. For context, the number was around 7% in 2020.
While there doesn’t seem to be a silver bullet to address this concern, it does smell of business opportunity and private sector players have entered the scene. One of them is CARE Concierge.
CARE Concierge recently got a huge boost in the form of funding, it was onboarded as the first portfolio under Gobi Partners’ newly established Gobi Dana Impak Ventures (GDIV) fund. GDIV is a part of the Future Malaysia Programme, an initiative under Khazanah Nasional’s Dana Impak mandate.
We speak to Martin Yap, CARE Concierge’s Founder and CEO about how this funding will be utilised, the growth pathway ahead, and how CARE Concierge leverages tech to power its elderly care offerings.
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1 in 3 Malaysians face mental health issues, and that was based on the National Health and Morbidity Survey conducted in 2015 – 5 years before the pandemic. Pair that with a March report from the World Health Organization that found that the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a 25% increase in depression and anxiety worldwide, and we can see why mental health and wellness is becoming a more pressing issue.
In a bid to help address this, we’ve seen many mental health startups come up and on this episode of Open for Business we speak to one of them - ThoughtFull, a mental wellness startup that connects users to certified mental health professionals.
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Over the past two decades, the price of solar energy has decreased substantially, leading to greater potential for its adoption. Which is great for a country like Malaysia, where we’ve got plenty of sun.
However, according to a journal article in Clean Energy by Lin-Sea Lau and others, while global residential solar capacity is expected to grow from 58 GW in 2018 to 143 GW in 2024, many developing and emerging economies in Asia, such as Malaysia, are lagging behind for a variety of reasons including inadequate policy incentives, lack of rules and regulations, and low or subsidized household electricity tariffs.
Leading up to World Environment Day, Roshan Kanesan speaks to Zeth Lim, Founder and CEO of Verdant Solar about the role solar power can play in the energy transition, how to get around the upfront cost hurdle, the business potential of this company, and what the government can do to encourage solar power take up.
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Uzabase, Japan's largest industry and corporate database, renowned for its precise client insights and innovative tool, SPEEDA. This all-in-one solution accelerates business growth by providing comprehensive access to reports on over 560 Asian industries, created by experienced in-house analysts.
We're joined by Shafarudin Sariman, Head of Local Markets, who will discuss SPEEDA's Southeast Asian launch, the importance of Asian-focused data, strategic collaborations for exclusive resources, and Uzabase's capability to provide beyond-platform research.
We'll also delve into a recent Foodtech report as an example of Uzabase's ability to provide in-depth, ground-level insights into emerging markets and trends.
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Freshable wants to change the way people approach their food.
The Malaysian start-up delivers ready-to-cook meal kits to your doorstep, making it easier to meal plan and, hopefully, lead healthier lives. With the promise of convenience and time saving, this could certainly appeal to the time-poor, but is that a big enough market for this start-up to build a sustainable business model?
We’ll explore this, future plans, and more with co-founder and CEO Adeline Tang.
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FusionQB is a leading data-driven company that provides business super-app solutions to help businesses to increase sales conversion and improved customer experience, with customer data analytics and predictive engine.
Through their expertise, they have managed more than 300,000 customer data on their platform, establishing brand presence in various fields including real estate, healthcare, automotives and media.
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In conjunction with World Sustainability Day, we explore the conversation around plastic waste. Our Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said that the government is targeting zero use of plastic bags by 2025 at all premises.
What can be done better to reduce plastic waste?
Joshua and Joel Lim, the co-founders of BeeBag, want to reward people who use their reusable bags when they shop. What’s so special about their bags? They’ve got NFC tags. We’re here to find out what challenges lie ahead of them in this competitive sustainability space.
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Video games are often regarded as merely entertainment, yet in the last few years, the Malaysian gaming industry business has experienced rapid growth and recognition. According to SEA Gaming Industry Report 2021, the Malaysian Gaming Industry is valued at $786M, and it's the 3rd largest in SEA.
Established in 2004, OffGamers was established by three brothers to connect Gamers, Game Developers and Game Publishers in one place and make transactions between them possible, to create a perfect platform for game developers, publishers and gamers alike.
Photo Credits: Shuttershock
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Umami Meats, a sustainable seafood pioneer, is tackling the impending seafood supply collapse with lab-cultivated seafood. Using stem cell cultivation, they produce sustainable protein, offering a solution to global food security concerns.
Now expanding into Malaysia, they aim to tap into the potential of Malaysia to lead in the cultivated meats industry, a market projected to be worth over USD 25 billion by 2030.
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It’s no secret that Malaysia has a first and last mile connectivity issue. While we’ve seen billions spent on developing public transport hubs and integrating new and old train lines, anecdotally we see that there’s still a hurdle to reach these hubs.
Enter Asia Mobiliti, a mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions provider that’s trying to make urban mobility more intelligent.
From their trial of Trek Rides, an on-demand transit service that connects passengers with shared vehicles to plug the last mile gap, to their work with Airport Coach and RapidKL, to help making existing fleets more intelligent, and super apps such as Smart Selangor and AirAsia Digital (who is also an investor), Asia Mobiliti wants to plug the first and last mile gap, here and across the developing world.
Fueled by a recent funding round of around RM5 million, reportedly valuing the company at close to RM50 million, Roshan Kanesan speaks with Ramachandran Muniandy, CEO and Co-Founder of Asia Mobiliti, to get a better understanding of what all these tech buzzwords look like when applied to the real world, what else they’re working on, and the business potential of this venture.
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AVANA is a social commerce platform that started in 2016 that helps business owners sell online. They have helped over 100,000 businesses optimise their brands and automate their business capabilities online. They have since expanded into Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan as of 2021.
Yien Yee Soh is the co-founder and we last spoke in 2021 together with one of its merchants Dough Little. What are they up to now?
Photo Credits: Rebound.asia
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HRD Corp's data from January to May 2021 revealed that organizations in Malaysia invested a total of RM13. 6 million into employee training, which covered external and internal trainer fees to be in skills related to IR 4.0 by 2030. But how effective has L&D training been? How can we make L&D fun again?
eVulX is a digital simulation developer that focuses on creating digital game-like elements in corporate L&D. They have been in town for almost 3 years.
Arun Nagarajah, Founder of eVULX helps us understand the business of gamification in the L&D space to level up the experience.
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With the growing presence of online shopping platforms and e-wallets, people are leaning towards platforms such as Shopee and Lazada to obtain their everyday products. But this does not mean brick-and-mortar stores are becoming a dying breed. They do however, face stiffer competition.
Enter Retailetics, an applied technology company that is leveraging the power of AI to modernise retail shopping. Offering a three-in-one solution; named ezyList, ezyRetail, and ezyCart, users are provided a more coordinated experience for their ease from listing grocery items all the way to item checkout at the retail store effectively.
Photo Credits: Freepik | tonodiaz
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As Malaysia aims for the digital economy to contribute 22.6% to its GDP by 2025, the nation focuses on creating new jobs, internet access for all, and comprehensive online learning environments.
Dinesh Varadharajan, CPO – a low-code, no-code platform, discusses the importance of digital transformation and the need for an inclusive, democratised approach.
We’ll be addressing the resistance to digital transformation, the role of unified platforms in connecting fragmented enterprises, and the impact of citizen development in fostering an inclusive approach to digital transformation.
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Tech talent seems to be a perpetual bottleneck for Malaysian startups, but can a local tech talent platform address this problem through free coding and training modules?
Malaysian startup Krenovator develops and offers free coding and training modules, as well as job placements for individuals that go through their training. The platform currently has more than 5,000 tech talents from Malaysia and Indonesia combined.
Mahadhir Yunus, Founder and CEO of Krenovator Technology, joins us to get into how they are trying to plug the tech talent gap and how they keep up with the ever evolving nature of technology.
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Sinisana Technologies began operations in 2019 to help brands out-compete their competitors by giving consumers a behind-the-scenes look at the story of the products they are purchasing.
By combining multiple data streams throughout the supply chain, brands can back up their claims with real-world data to strengthen their brand equity and build long-term consumer loyalty.
We spoke with the one of the co-founders of Sinisana Technologies; Jonah Lau (left) about his company
Photo Credits: Marketing Magazine Asia
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Death is taboo. Even saying the word die or death makes many of us uncomfortable. But death is unavoidable.
Having gone through two biggest tragedies in the span of one year, Izumi Inoue created Bereev, a death preparation platform in 2018, in hopes to help ease the burden and paperwork that families need to go through after a family member's passing.
We discuss how Bereev compares to conventional and traditional wills, and why his users are mostly young Malaysians.
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Data is the new oil.
Data in itself does not carry any value; but if it is studied and analysed in the right hands, it opens doors to new ideas and modern innovations. The amazing value of data lies in its potential.
Incorporated on 20th October 2021, by a group of young enthusiast professionals, Databolt aims to utilise the world of data to provide solutions to transform manual industrial processes into digital systems and applications via software development and integration among others.
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THAIFEX-Anuga Asia 2023, taking place from 23-27 May, will be a vital platform for Malaysian food brands and the global F&B industry's recovery post-pandemic.
Mathias Kuepper, Managing Director & VP Asia-Pacific, Koelnmesse Pte Ltd, highlights the event's importance and insights on emerging trends. Over 2,700 exhibitors from 40 countries will showcase various industry verticals, attracting 60,000 visitors.
Key trends include sustainability, health-focused cuisine, and nutrition for ageing populations. Singapore's investment in alternative proteins and green economy jobs presents significant opportunities for Malaysian entrepreneurs and investors in the food industry.
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Travel is back. Global tourism bounced back in 2022, and that was without China’s reopening, and Malaysian startup TixCarte is set to ride on this growth, tapping into the demand for experiences in a post-pandemic world, whether it’s travel packages or concert tickets.
With ambitions to become the region’s largest B2B ticketing engine for attractions and activities in 2023, we speak to Parthiven Shan, Founder and CEO, TixCarte about the company’s role in the travel and experience industry, how they work with players like AirAsia and Boost, and how much of a money maker this business could be.
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Malaysia is known for a lot of things, more so for our enticing food and our colourful festivals. Such are the perks of having a diverse group of people and cultures living together under one roof as Malaysians. Hence, the importance of unity and tolerance cannot be stressed enough to preserve this harmony.
So in 2015, a couple of good friends decided to put their best foot forward and formed Projek57, a social enterprise which shares the vision of our 1st Prime Minister, that “Our future depends on how well many different kinds of people can live and work together” They engage with youths, from schools, colleges, universities or the Orang Asli community in spreading patriotism and admiration for fellow Malaysians.
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Candles are not so much a source of light anymore. Rather, scented candles have become a form of aromatherapy.
To get a “scents” of the scented candles markets in Malaysia, Julie Yim and Marcus Khoo, co-founders of Lilin and Co, tell us about the candle trends we see here in Malaysia, how they are competing in the market by hand pouring at least 800 candles per day and opening a physical store.
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In the world of brand strategy design, Brand Soul Consultancy stands out by specialising in crafting exceptional brand development, strategy, and architecture.
Their expertise in digital development, public relations, and content creation distinguishes them from the competition, providing businesses with the tools necessary to engage audiences effectively and enhance their brand visibility to new levels.
Photo Credits: Facebook | Brand Soul International
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Money may make the world go round, but credit keeps it moving smoothly in the business world. Traditionally credit terms have been the staple in business to business dealings, but in order to help address cash flow issues a variety of financing solutions have come about, including invoice financing, P2P financing, trade financing, and now Buy Now Pay Later or more commonly known as BNPL.
While mostly focused on supporting consumer purchases, BNPL has made it into the B2B space, which is a much larger market, worth around $125 trillion in 2018 according to Statista data.
Today on Open for Business, Roshan Kanesan explores the potential of B2B BNPL with Shafik Ali, co-founder and CEO of du-it Malaysia, a Malaysia-based Islamic Fintech firm.
du-it was recently shortlisted as one of the Top 11 startups for RHB accelerator programme.
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The future of our industries lies in automation and AI. More and more companies are embracing this new change and the Malaysian Agriculture field is no different.
Agro Stream Sdn Bhd started off as Shawal Technologies Sdn Bhd, a company that specialises in offering services such as PCB design and hardware integration.However, their interest shifted towards smart farming system development, which led them to establish their own cloud-based platform and hardware for the smart farming system.
Focusing more on hydroponics and fertigation techniques, they aim to help businesses and farmers boost work efficiency and production quality in efforts of promoting Malaysia achieving UN’s sustainable development goals.
Today, we will be talking to the co-founders of Agro Stream; Badar Ali and Muhamad Shawal
Photo Credits: Freepik | jcomp
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With the rising food insecurity in Malaysia, more and more Malaysians are adopting gardening to grow their own produce and for some, agriculture has even become a profession. Even with inflation, the demand for fresh vegetables and fruits is constantly on the rise.
This is where Qarbotech intends to lend a helping hand with their product, QarboGrow. By increasing the efficiency of a plant’s photosynthesis process, they believe vegetable and fruit production will be increased by 30% among other benefits, including a 25% reduction in the crop cycle.
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So far in 2023, ChatGPT, a text-based AI bot, is making headlines for its versatility, from generating recipes to fixing coding bugs. However, the potential misuse of ChatGPT for cybercrime raises concerns.
With Malaysia investing RM10 million to combat cyber scams, an interview with Ravi Rajendran, Vice President of APJ at Cohesity, could provide insight on AI's role in technology and businesses, the implications of ChatGPT misuse, cyber threat implications, the importance of cyber resilience, and the role of machine learning in defence against ransomware attacks.
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When you think of the big restaurant brands, odds are brands like KFC, McDonald's, and Domino's come to mind, but can homegrown startup Pop Meals change that up?
Formerly known as Dahmakan, Pop Meals wants to make everyday food affordable, convenient, and exciting by curating, cooking, and delivering data-driven meals. The startup is tapping into data, technology, and lessons learnt from Dahmakan, to create a scalable quick serve restaurant built for the omnichannel world we currently live in.
Based on Crunchbase data, Pop Meals has raised a total of $27 million in funding over 5 rounds and is on a fast expansion course across Southeast Asia, with over 35 smart outlets Pop Meal.
On the back of Pop Meals being selected at Endeavor's 33rd Virtual International Selection Panel (vISP), Jonathan Weins, Co-founder & CEO of PopMeals and Endeavor Entrepreneur, joins Roshan Kanesan on Open for Business for a look at their growth ahead, the potential profitability of the business model, and how it plans to create a brand that can rival the likes of McDonald's, KFC, and Domino's.
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Breaking news! Diamonds aren’t just a girl's best friend. Because frankly, everyone likes them.
Opening its doors in 2015, ZCOVA has established itself as one of the most recognised jewellery brands in Malaysia, modernising the diamond business by offering their products and services online. With an offering of endless choices of diamonds and designs, you can create that special piece according to your liking at any budget.
The best bang-for-buck in treating (and spoiling) yourself with a little luxury.
Photo Credits: Malaysiakini
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According to a recent World Bank Report, Malaysia has yet to realise the full potential of digital technologies to boost small media enterprise (SME) productivity. Many Malaysian firms that sought to turn to digital solutions over the last two years have only used them for basic customer-facing functions such as a social media presence.
The lack of depth and breadth of SME digitisation could raise the risk of a growing digital divide, at a time when digitalisation is becoming more crucial to stay competitive.
Dedicated to supporting SME on their digital journey and improving their productivity and competitiveness, Agmo Holdings have developed more than 100 mobile applications to help SMEs on their journey.
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Employee health and wellness programs are becoming increasingly important to C-Suites, HR managers, and insurance companies, with reports showing that they can lead to increased productivity. One company that’s looking to tap into this and run with it is GetBiib.
GetBiib wants to improve social cohesion and wellness through its platform that allows people to easily host a digital run or walk challenge.
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Computer vision is a field of AI that enables computers to meaningfully interpret images and videos, essentially enabling computers to see, understand, and act.
Malaysian A.I. startup Inference Tech is one of the companies that’s tapping into this and delivering cutting edge A.I. solutions to its clients. Getting to this stage takes time and money though, so learn how Cradle Fund was instrumental in Inference’s journey when Enterprise speaks to Izad Che Muda, CEO of Inference Tech.
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Zero Waste Earth Store (ZWES) was founded by Dr Janira Kumari and Jaclynnd Wong Yin Thing in 2019.
ZWES is a social enterprise with a circular platform that people can “Buy With Less Waste'' through Refill, Reuse, Recycle and Repurpose.
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The red and white, rainbow-shaped logo behind different school workbooks is the core memory of many Malaysian students.
Pelangi Publishing Group was established in 1979 by three teachers, and has since published educational content, publishing textbooks, workbooks, storybooks and more. Pelangi Publishing Group is also the first homegrown Malaysian publisher which listed in 2004.
Sum Lih Kang, Deputy Managing Director and Poh Swee Hiang, Publishing Director of Pelangi Publishing Group discuss Pelangi’s journey of automating conventional operations and how the publishing group is faring.
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Coworking spaces are community centres, collaboration hubs, and social spaces. A coworking space is a setting created for workers from various businesses who come to work there.
WORQ is a large-scale coworking facility and productivity community with facilities that was established in Kuala Lumpur in 2017. WORQ creates an ecosystem that connects early-stage startups with established companies which are ready for investment as well as SMEs. The WORQ team seeks to establish a community where entrepreneurs may come together to navigate the difficult and isolating road.
We are here speaking to Stephanie Ping, the CEO and Co-Founder of WORQ to explore more about her story and the coworking space.
Photo Credits: Facebook | WORQ Coworking Space
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Kenneth Worsdale, CEO of Extra Space Asia, shares his expertise on the benefits of self-storage for today's generation.
Discover how people can maximise their limited living spaces and learn about the company's innovative solutions to address the growing demand for storage in urban environments.
Tune in for valuable tips, industry insights, and Kenneth's vision for the future of self-storage in Malaysia.
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The world of business runs on credit.
Whether it’s freelance photographer or a big manufacturer, odds are cash doesn’t land in the bank immediately after making a sale, no you’ve probably offered your customer some credit terms. This can sometimes lead to cash flow issues if you’ve got your own bills to pay.
In response to this, a variety of working capital financing solutions have come about, and one of the newer ones is Zetl - Asia-Pacific’s first financing company for asset-light businesses.
Zetl is headquartered in Hong Kong and was one of 5 companies identified and qualified for support by the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI) under its MyStartupHub programme.
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Biogenes Technologies is trying to change the biotech landscape by creating and commercialising synthetic antibodies for mass use in all kinds of test kits. However building and scaling a deeptech startup like this can be challenging here in Malaysia without the right help.
We speak to Adrian Joseph, Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer, of Biogenes Technologies about the startup’s journey and mission, and how Cradle Fund has supported them along the way.
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Established in 2021, CookX Asia is an all-in-one social cooking app created for food enthusiasts and foodpreneurs that want a community for learning and sharing.
From recipe-sharing, meal planning, and grocery shopping CookX has it all–and allows the users to make a profit with it.
Photo Credits: Freepik
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Hard Rock Hotel opened its second property at Johor’s Desaru coast in 2019.
We speak to Murray Aitkens, General Manager of Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast to talk about how hoteliers are faring post-pandemic, tackling problems like labour shortage and economic recovery.
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Swimming is fun. Even more so with your family members, be it a picnic by the beach or an evening by the pool. On the other hand, it’s not as easy for couples with young ones to plan a water-fun day, especially with toddlers. But what if we told you that your 5 month thumb-sucking toddler can actually swim?
At Happy Fish they help you do just that, with baby steps. With their very-own professional instructors and heated indoor pools, your little ones will be guided to feel at ease and comfortable while surrounded with water.
Today, we will be talking to Mr Tan Jian Yong, founder of Happy Fish, a swimming school renowned to provide lessons catered for toddlers as young as 4 months old.
Photo Credits: Facebook | Happy Fish Swim School
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Over the past few years, we’ve seen a shift in the mindset of a lot of people towards taking better care of their health, especially when it comes to their diet. Plant-based diets and veganism are no longer seen as ‘alternative’ lifestyle choices, they now stand proudly front and center in the mainstream. At least, in some countries.
Here in Malaysia, there’s still a way to go. But that doesn’t stop the spirit of entrepreneurship.
Jason, a sports nutritionist, has brought a new vegan dietary supplement to market. Its main ingredient is the water lentil, a super food that is considered a complete food source, higher in protein than other plants including pea and hemp, and is comparable to whey.
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Small grocery stores and restaurants have to fight for supplies with bigger chains and players, which is often a losing battle.
Enter Lapasar - a B2B wholesale platform that has served over 10,000 SMEs across the country through its own warehousing, distribution and financial services capabilities.
With ambitions to become the largest wholesaler in Malaysia, Roshan Kanesan dives into Lapasar’s journey to hit RM1 billion in revenue and their path to profitability, with Thinesh Kumar Asogan, the Co-founder and CEO of Lapasar.
Thinesh also gets into Lapasar’s plans to develop its own consumer brands and products, use its scale to expand margins, and what he expects Lapasar to look like in 2025.
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Global Psytech consists of professionals that specialise in offering cutting-edge and scalable profiling and analytic solutions for a range of sectors. Experts from a variety of scientific fields, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, behavioural sciences, computer science, statistics, and psychometrics, make up their team. For research, development, and commercialisation reasons, they collaborate with esteemed partners both domestically and abroad.
We hear from Dr. Haniza Yon, Founder & CEO of Global Psytech to explore more.
Photo Credits: Freepik | DCStudio
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A Little Thing provides gift curation with a variety of gift boxes to choose from, but they have integrated AI into their operations. But how are they differentiating themselves in the competitive gift curation landscape?
Yeo Lee Ching, Director of A Little Thing unwraps the details.
Photo Credits: Freepik | Racool_studio
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Founded in 2020, Kapitani is an early-stage firm that promotes itself as an agri-fintech company that focuses on empowering smallholder farmers through digital and financial inclusion. Their name is an abbreviation for "capital for farmers," which reflects their goals.
We are here with Nazrul Hazeri Nazirmuddin, Co-founder and CEO of Kapitani to know more about the platform.
Photo Credits: Freepik | pressfoto
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While a zero waste business may be sustainable for the earth, is it enough to sustain the bottomline?
This is a question that has come up following NUDE: The Zero Waste Store’s announcement that it was closed until further notice.
Roshan Kanesan explores the closure with co-founders of the store, Cheryl Anne Low & Abhishek Bhattacharjee, getting into the reason they entered the zero waste business, whether it was profitable, and lessons learned from the journey.
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ShopBack, founded in 2014, enables users to earn cashback each time they perform online shopping transactions through its website or app. The cashback earned can be withdrawn to the users’ bank account of choice.
Since its inception, ShopBack has given out more than RM150 million in cashback and rewards to its users in Malaysia. ShopBack recently launched the PayLater, a Buy Now, Pay Later payment method, following the company's acquisition of hoolah, offering shoppers a seamless, convenient, and rewarding solution to pay when shopping offline or online.
Today in Open for Business, we speak with Eddy Han, General Manager of ShopBack
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Bila Bila Mart, a modern concept of kedai runcit, opened their first outlet in a Mont Kiara mall on March 16, 2020, 2 days before the first MCO was announced. The story "BilaBila" was inspired by the pride Malaysians take in their heritage, cuisine, and culture. Think as a Kedai Runcit recreated in a fresh and modern image, while being passionate champions of locally produced Malaysian businesses.
We speak to Tan Hai Liang and Lee Hui Jing, the Co-founder of Bila Bila Mart to know more about their story.
Photo Credits: Facebook | Bila Bila Mart
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How did they manage to get involved with grocery outlets within a year? And why is their manufacturer based in Korea? Co-founders Vicole Lim and Yeann Tan started their company, MATES and their sole product is known as Oatler, a meal replacement shake.
They wanted to change the landscape of the food options that we have in Malaysia to promote a better and healthier diet. They talk about how they managed to get into all Q-ra grocery stores and the challenges surrounding finding a local manufacturer.
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A technology startup founded in 2009, Bitsmedia is known for developing and publishing the world's most popular Muslim lifestyle app – MuslimPro. Bitmedia is one of the portfolios of Captii Ventures. What started as the intention of providing the most accurate prayer times for Muslims wherever they are, MuslimPro has come a long way.
We catch up with Nik on his journey so far.
Photo Credits: Freepik | marymarkevich
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Most mums buy toys. Some mums take their kids to Disneyland. But this mum? She built a theme park in the city for her children. And not just any theme park, either — an educational one that grows alongside them.
NEXTGEN Theme Park is a comprehensive and innovative one-stop cross-generational edutainment park. It is Malaysia’s largest indoor edutainment theme park, spanning 45,000 sq ft of play space. It features five experiential zones - Entertainment, Enrichment, Experience, Engagement, and Empowerment.
We speak to founder and Mumpreneur Lillian Chan.
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iMotorbike is Southeast Asia’s pioneering eCommerce platform for buying and selling pre-loved motorcycles. They market themselves as a fast, secure, and hassle-free online experience with other key features to make it a one-stop shop for the preloved motorbike ecosystem.
After a solid 2022, they’re looking to grow sales 8X to hit $20 million in 2023. Roshan Kanesan spoke to iMotorbike’s Founder and CEO Gil Carmo about how they are going to achieve this goal, the reason Gil entered the space, and more.
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The appropriate shoes can say a lot. Make a good first impression, increase your self-assurance, safeguard your feet, get you through muddy conditions, or even provide you with the extra edge you need to win a race.
Dato’ Lewre Lew has been in the shoe business since 1987 and started Lewré Bespoke in 1997 and has received numerous accolades and prizes over the years for its outstanding designs, skilled craftsmanship, and capacity to push the shoe fashion industry to new heights.
Even the Duchess of Cambridge, HRH Kate Middleton owns a pair.
Photo Credits: Kr8tif Express
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Having a comfortable and visually appealing house is what most people are looking for. But everyone knows hiring an interior designer is costly. How are The Makeover Guys trying to bridge this gap while differentiating themselves in this expensive industry?
We speak to Gavin Liew, the co-founder of The Makeover Guys to get their take on interior designing for properties in Malaysia.
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What started as allergic reactions resulted in Tan Yet Mee starting Ecominim, and there are more people than you think that have allergic reactions to cleaning products. With that in mind, the team decided to make it their mission to create gentle and eco-friendly products that are not just safe for the environment and skin but as effective as commercial cleaners.
Photo Credits: Freepik | zinkevych
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Comfort should be prioritised when designing the perfect home. It should be tailored to you and your family’s needs – it should inspire, relax, and reflect who you are. A home is a place to learn, to feel happy and calm.
‘Fuku‘, which has been borrowed from Japanese, roughly translates to good fortune and wellness – and this is what Fuku Studio hopes to introduce to people’s homes. We hear from co-founder Vilit Lau.
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What happens when you take Netflix, throw in some Disney, sprinkle in some YouTube Kids, and curate it Muslim children - well you get Durioo+ - a Malaysian video streaming startup that’s gotten quite a bit of investor attention, including from the famed Y Combinator.
A year after their launch, they’ve raised US$2.85 million (RM12.5 million) in a seed round led by Y Combinator and Gobi Partners and backed by those funds, Durioo aims to hit 100,000 subscribers in 2023 and 1 million by 2026.
Today on Open for Business, Durioo’s Founder and CEO Sinan Ismail joins Roshan Kanesan in the studio to chat about hitting those goals, the challenges ahead, the path to unicorn status, and the story behind their drastic pivot in 2020 due to YouTube’s policy changes.
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In 2013, Eaugene Eau and Fion Tan, a husband-and-wife duo, had an idea to help modern women feel confident by creating Shapee modern shapewear. In September 2016, they made the decision to introduce nursing and maternity items with the goal of bringing joy, innovation, and information through every motherhood journey after thoroughly understanding breastfeeding mothers.
Shapee has successfully entered more than 100 independent and chain baby stores in Malaysia as of the end of 2017. Today, we will be speaking to the founders of Shapee.
Photo Credits: VulcanPost
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With so many languages in the world - more than seven thousand to be exact - how can we still communicate effectively? Langwords is a language service provider startup based in Penang, Malaysia, that provides language solutions in more than 50 languages.
Co-founders of Langwords, Joy Ooi and Yin Ooi share what it is like to run a business housing translators and transcribers
Photo Credits: Shuttershock | pathdoc
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Malaysian based venture capital firm, Ficus Capital, recently announced its intent to continue investing in Malaysian and South East Asian startups with global growth potential. With its flagship RM60 million fund, Ficus SEA, the world’s first shariah compliant venture capitalist is looking for revolutionary, sustainable and purpose-driven startups that are bringing impact to the environment, social and governance (ESG) in a sustainable way.
It recently invested US400,000 in Assemblr, Indonesia’s revolutionary augmented reality platform company that helps users to create AR content via its web-based platform. Today, we will be speaking to Hasbi Asyadiq, CEO of Assemblr.
Photo Credits: Facebook | Assemblr World
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Did you know that ‘Everything, Everywhere, All At Once’ was filmed in 10 locations in California, while ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ was shot at at least 16 locations, spanning three states in Malaysia and seven buildings in Singapore. With more content producers filling the market, video production and film-making is quickly becoming mainstream.
As of February 2022, there are 30.25 million active social media users in Malaysia alone. These active social media users actively consume and create their own content, some of which eventually become micro influencers. These spell a huge door of opportunity for Malaysian home, building, land, retail and commercial property owners to list and potentially earn an income stream from leasing their sites for content creators.
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Fi Life started in 2018 after acquiring the life insurance distribution business of U For Life, Malaysia's first direct-to-consumer online life insurance service. 5 years on, Fi Life is no longer just a distributor, now building and distributing their own life, total and permanent disability, critical illness and accidental death insurance products.
We speak to Fi Life Founder Malek Ali about the journey of the last 5 years, the challenges building an insurtech startup, and what lies ahead.
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Making an Indonesian Layer Cake is no small feat, and crafting the 18 layers is, for some, a work of art. It’s also a way for some people to stay bonded to their homeland. Ambon Boenda believes in keeping with the tradition, authenticity and the continuity of layer cake recipes passed down from generation to generation.
Linda Lo, the founder and director of Ambon Boenda shares the layers of love with us.
Photo Credits: Shuttershock | Jacob Lund
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Recommend.my is a platform for locating and hiring Malaysia's service experts to provide home maintenance and cleaning services on demand since 2014. We speak with Lua Jes Min, CEO and Co-Founder of Recommend.my, to know more about how they integrate technology to match service experts to their customers.
Photo Credits: Shuttershock | Andrew Angelov
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Goodday recently concluded Malaysia’s biggest kid-preneur programme KidStart. The competition’s main objective is to encourage financial literacy and entrepreneurship among Malaysian children. 10-year-old Fatimah Basyeera won the programme with her stroke recovery software application, while Ong Joon Zach is the runner-up with his coconut extractor idea CocoCool. They discuss what their steps are moving forward.
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Malaysians are still wasting plenty of food, despite having to fork out more money for meals nowadays. According to the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp), in 2021, Malaysians generated 17,007 tonnes of food waste per day in 2021 – enough to fill one-and-a-half Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Sean Tan, CEO of Insect Feed Technologies discovered how to utilise technology to rear and breed the black soldier fly to be incorporated in upcycling food waste. Through an in-house proprietary treatment, the team then translates black soldier fly larvae into a sustainable and healthier alternative for animal feed, and replaces chemical fertilisers for plants.
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While other areas of startup funding seem to be cooling down, like our planet, climate tech is heating up. Global policy change looks to be a big growth lever for space. Whether it’s the EU’s proposed carbon tax - the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism or the US Federal Government’s proposal to require suppliers disclose emissions or climate-related data, the bottom line here is that, knowing, accounting, and planning for GreenHouse Gases will become vital if you’re doing business globally.
Enter Pantas Software, a homegrown startup looking to make carbon accounting simple and automated.
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For many of us, coffee is a daily need. However, premium or specialty coffee is often seen as a luxury only to be enjoyed on special occasions. ZUS Coffee is bucking this trend by making specialty coffee more affordable and accessible to all. They are also a digital-focused coffee chain enabling online order to offline delivery via their own app.
We speak to Venon Tian, Chief Operating Officer at ZUS Coffee to learn more about their business journey
Photo Credits: Facebook | ZUS Coffee
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It is commonly known for the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) business event industry to be one of the lucrative businesses in the market. But it is also an industry that was impacted severely by the pandemic. Evenesis is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology that provides event management solutions for event planners.
Being in business for more than 13 years, its CEO and Founder of Evenesis, Ts. Yusno Yunos, discusses his business model and how they weathered through the tough unprecedented times.
Photo Credit: Facebook | Evenesis
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Pickiddo was developed as a platform that enabled SMEs in education, such as training or tuition centres to operate better. Local SMEs are looking for digital solutions because their businesses cannot be managed effectively through manual work. Therefore, the development of the Pickiddo platform has enabled them to accelerate their business and their management.
We hear from Rasid Maasom, the founder of Pickiddo.
Photo Credit: Facebook | Pickiddo
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Workplace rewards are great. In fact, workplace rewards have traditionally been an all-important motivation for employees. That said, this form of incentive has always been a one-size-fits-all approach because it assumes that all employees feel equally rewarded by the same form of rewards.
This begs the question, is it high time we took a long hard look at the system and made appropriate adjustments to better suit an increasingly diverse workforce?
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People love their pets, but do they love them enough to buy pet insurance? That’s certainly something that Oyen is hoping for. The digital pet insurance player is aiming to insure 100,000 pets in Southeast Asia within 3 years, fueled by its seed funding round of around RM1.7 million back in 2021. That said, 100,000 is a big number, how far is Oyen from achieving that goal?
We get into this, the viability of this business model, and whether Kevin and Michelle are looking to leverage Oyen’s brand beyond pet insurance
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Ejen2u is a cloud-based agent management platform that is seeking to help digitalise the agentship industry. With leadership spanning years of experience in the agentship and business digitalisation, Ejen2u is an integrated data driven platform with the goal of helping product founders increase their business productivity and profitability.
Imran Hadi, co-founder of Ejen2u joins us to give us an insight into the business.
Photo Credits: Shuttershock | KPs Photography AND Film
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Many businesses can no longer solely rely on traditional mediums to market and improve their company, and hence turn to firms and agencies to handle the nitty gritty so businesses can focus on what they do best. But with the boom of digital marketing agencies, how are business solution providers differentiating themselves in the market?
We hear from Chan Leong Teng, CEO and Goh Wei Wen, Head of Operations of Skribble about staying ahead of the curve.
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We’re all familiar with the different scenarios of how AI has played a role in our lives. NexMind.AI decided to take it one step further by integrating AI Machine Learning into their Search Engine Optimisation software. With a goal to create smarter search robots known as SEO automation software, NexMind.AI provides an enterprise SEO platform that can help brands boost their presence and visibility on the internet.
We speak to Francis Lui, founder and CEO of NexMind.AI on how they are leveraging the power of AI to boost their service offerings.
Photo Credit: Shuttershock | MaximP
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There are plenty of food options available in Malaysia, and we’re often lauded with just how good our food options are. And there are some foods that are an institution here in Malaysia – Nasi Lemak, and even the humble Ramly burger.
Nazri and his team at Sausage Sizzle have started to introduce something that isn’t exactly Malaysian, but does have a familiar roadside setting. They produce a premium hotdog experience at a reasonable price. But how can they compete with the greats?
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The need for cybersecurity has never been greater. Technology is everywhere and whether the digitisation of society is good, bad, or ugly, what is indisputable is that we are incredibly reliant on tech. According to research and advisory company Forrester, 68% of enterprises in Asia suffered from at least one security breach in 2021. While this is an incredibly scary problem, it’s also a giant opportunity that Singapore-based cybersecurity firm Blackpanda is looking to tap into
Photo Credit: Digital News Asia
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The wedding industry is one of Malaysia's most lucrative industries, worth up to RM7 billion a year, according to the Malaysia Reserve in 2019. But we cannot forget that this industry has suffered one of the worst hits during the pandemic. Some couples even had to go through online weddings. But Precious Wedding Bridal Studio weathered through it all despite having no sales at all during the two years of pandemic. How are they doing now? And what are the wedding trends for couples who are looking to tie the knot this year?
Photo Credit: Shutterstock | Alex Gukalov
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WeHantar is a digital startup logistics company looking to bridge ASEAN by providing solutions for businesses and individuals to move goods across the region. Where many couriers charge based on weight and size, WeHantar seeks to differentiate themselves by adopting the approach of sending anything that fits into their box, within the limit of 75kg. We speak to Ash Najwan, Co-Founder and Operations Lead of WeHantar to hear about their unique approach to the courier industry.
Photo Credit : Shutterstock | Gorodenkoff
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Back in 2017, two passionate youths were dedicated to reimagining the way people eat and creating food products that are healthy, enjoyable, and convenient for people. In just two years, they are able to expand their markets into 6 different countries. Until now, their products are available in over 1000 retailers across multiple countries. They are also one of the 12 companies for the Endeavor ScaleUp Cohort 3 program. One of the founders, Justin Chan, shares their milestones.
Photo Credit : Facebook |Thips
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Most of us are probably familiar with cashless and ticketless parking, in fact, smart parking in Malaysia is valued at USD 450 million from 2022-2030 whereas the figure stands at USD 8 billion in Southeast Asia. However, surprisingly, the Southeast Asian market for parking is still 90% cash-based. This could be down to parking space owners not understanding or fearing the switch to digital. Started by 3 industry veterans, Sonicboom looks to transform traditional cash payment parking businesses to a 0 capital expenditure low operational expenditure business, by having an all-in-one terminal software that eliminates the need of upgrading the software to keep up to date with the latest payment features.
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Insurance - it’s a crucial part of any good financial plan and it’s more than just life insurance, medical card, or critical illness cover. More importantly, it’s not just for individuals, businesses need insurance as well. Senang Insurance is an insuretech that’s trying to make insurance easier for businesses, gig workers, and more. Armed with a new round of funding from TIM Ventures, we speak to Co-founder and CEO Sharian Raj about how they started and what comes next.
Photo Credit : Shutterstock | G-Stock Studio
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Arus Oil provides convenience solutions for households, F&B, and hoteliers to recycle their Used Cooking Oil (UCO) waste. The first of its kind to focus on the household market in terms of collecting UCO waste, where households can recycle as little as 5 kgs of UCO from the convenience of their homes and Arus Oil's digital platform.
Transactions of payments made are transparent and also a carbon calculation will be summarised for the user(s) to keep in track with their carbon activities by recycling their UCO.
Photo Credit : Facebook | Arus Oil
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Many Malaysians own pets and are always on the lookout to provide the best service and care for their ‘fur babies’. Petotum is looking to revolutionise the pet care ecosystem by using technology to connect both pet owners and pet businesses on a single integrated platform. We speak to Afifah Basir, Co-founder and CEO of Petotum to hear about her unique platform and motivations behind starting a pet community ecosystem.
Photo Credit : Shutterstock New Africa
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Digital marketing agencies have sprouted up in abundance over the last few years, addressing all of the needs of many businesses. To some people, digital marketing can seem like a different language, or even a different universe; so who best to help you with your digital marketing campaigns? Digital natives. We hear from Brandon Lee, Co-Founder of Pandan Social about what it's like to head up a young dynamic DM team.
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Digital assets are slowly becoming more mainstream with people having at least heard of cryptocurrency and NFTs. Unfortunately, just like physical assets, assets in digital form are also vulnerable to theft and loss. Web3Gate is looking to offer a secure yet convenient way to enjoy token gated benefits without requiring holders to connect or carry their crypto wallets. We speak to Edwin Yin, co-founder of Web3Gate to hear how they are making token gating convenient, yet safer.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock | Ground Picture
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A new vegan brand from Indonesia has entered the Malaysian market – Green Rebel Foods. Helga Angelina Tjahjadi, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Green Rebel Foods started the business with her partner Max Mandias in September 2020. She shares about the demand for plant-based meat alternatives in Indonesia and Malaysia, and what it takes to expand regionally.
Photo Credit : Facebook | Green Rebel Foods
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Established in 1974, FireFighter Industry Sdn Bhd is a manufacturer of fire extinguishers and also a one stop fire safety service provider. They are also the only Malaysian fire extinguisher manufacturer with both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications. They’ve recently been the only business accepted into Endeavor Malaysia’s ScaleUp Program under Cohort 3. Interestingly, they are the only non-startup among the listing. We speak to Brian Soo, Chief Innovation Officer at FireFighter Industry to hear about the business and their fresh approach to marketing in a serious industry.
Photo Credit: Facebook | FireFighter Industry
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The concept of Earned Wage Access (EWA) is actually a simple one: giving employees immediate access to the salary they have earned, rather than having them wait for paycheck week. With the rise in cost of living, timely access to finances and salaries have become more vital than ever. As the competition to hire and retain employees grows ever more important, EWA can make a big difference in attracting the right people to help one’s business to scale and meet customer expectations. But is it the solution that we need right now, and what are the pitfalls?
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Hayley Chang and Chew Si Khai started Del’cs back in 2020 and Hayley was only 16 at that time. They talk about their concept store located in Taman Paramount which curates thrift clothing and stocks as they want to push for sustainable fashion.
Photo Credit : Shutterstock | antoniodiaz
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MakeTimePay is a web and mobile app-based ‘on-demand work’ ecosystem that is designed to help job seekers and posters find on-demand tasks and opportunities that are matched to their skills, interests and free time. With the growing number of people getting involved with gig work platforms, how does ‘MAKE TIME PAY’ differentiate itself from other job platforms? Shahryn Azmi, Executive Director and Co-Founder of MakeTimePay joins us to talk about how they are changing the gig employment landscape.
Photo Credit : Shutterstock | 4 PM production
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According to a study published by WHO in 2020, 84% of adults will experience back pain at least once in their lifetime. This means over 22.3 million Malaysians are exposed to such risks.
Physiomobile, is a tech-enabled healthcare company that provides physiotherapy services at the convenience of its patients. As staunch believers in tech-based solutions, Physiomobile complements the previously traditional physiotherapy industry with tech-based solutions that make patient information easy to document, store, and access.
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During times of crisis, most people do turn to art for comfort and strength. Started back in 2018, Beatrice Oh is the founder and illustrator behind the beautiful illustrations of OhBeatrice. Beatrice specialises in graphic design using watercolour illustrations. She also launched her children’s book Dumpling the Tiger recently. She shares her creative journey for us to get the picture of how artists thrive in Malaysia’s art scene.
Photo Credit : Facebook | Oh Beatrice
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Eating great food is happiness, but sharing great food with family and friends doubles the happiness. Back in 2017, a mother who loves to create delicious food for her daughter and believes in sharing happiness through food started Kintry. Having survived in the market for five years, Michelle Chai, the founder of Kintry shares her journey behind this joyful brand.
Photo Credit : Facebook | Kintry
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Komuniti Tukang Jahit is an accredited social enterprise that wants to empower B40 Malaysian women, which include single mothers, single women, underprivileged women, stay at home mothers and even the OKU group. And they do that by training and providing job opportunities to these women as they work from home. They focus on making mostly making corporate gifts, customised sewn items or even tourist souvenirs. They sit down with us as they share the true story behind running a social enterprise that no one talks about.
Photo Credit : Instagram | komunititukangjahit
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HappyPreggie was founded as a marketplace for pregnancy and parenting services back in 2020. They are on a mission to make it convenient for parents or expectant couples to connect with such services while ensuring everything is simpler, safer and affordable. We speak to Yoong Poh Joon, founder and CEO of HappyPreggie to hear more about their unique platform.
Photo Credit : Shutterstock | Odua Images
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Courtsite, a Malaysian-built web app, is changing the game for budding athletes and sports enthusiasts with a centralised booking system for sports facilities. Easily accessible via any mobile or web browser, the platform allows users to digitally book sporting facilities across eight states for a variety of sports.
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Many women stop exercising once they find out that they are pregnant. Is it safe for pregnant women to exercise? Three mothers founded B studios, a fitness centre run by mothers for mothers. Loh Huey Shin and Nadia Azahari, the founders of B Studios, sat down to talk to us about fitness for mothers.
Photo Credit : Facebook | B Studios -Bumps Bubs & Burpees
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The past 2 years have not been easy for many industries especially for those involved in the travel and tourism sector. Universal Holidays Travel and Tourism has not only weathered the storm but continued to grow and function as a complete B2B Travel Management Company providing qualitative travel-related services and products consisting of hotels, furnished serviced apartments, transfers and tour packages for travellers globally. We speak to Zahira Tahir, founder and CEO of Universal Holidays Travel and Tourism to hear about her journey.
Photo Credit : Shutterstock | DimaBerlin
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Petworld is the parent company of the familiar pet food brands on retail shelves, such as ProDiet, ProBalance and Natural Clump. We spoke to Choy Peng Yew, the Group CEO of PetWorld to discuss his business operations and him being among the Top Nominees of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 Malaysia awards.
Photo Credit : Facebook | ProBalance | ProDiet
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Five decades ago, people were using bamboo or heavier aluminium poles which is less efficient for harvesting and pruning tall oil palms and coconuts. To solve this problem, TenAsia was born and became the pioneer in the development of carbon fibre composite telescopic pole technology to harvest oil palm. Casey Teh, the president of TenAsia and also one of the nominees for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Malaysia joins us today to share the story behind this unique technology.
Photo Credit : Facebook | TenAsia Corporation Sdn Bhd
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Atap connects property owners to trusted interior designers across Malaysia. Their platform allows property owners to view the profiles and portfolios of verified interior designer firms; provides educational and inspirational content on interior design and renovation, and ultimately connects property owners looking to renovate to an interior design firm of their choosing or a few recommended by the Atap team.
Photo Credit : Seow Yao Han
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Tapauware is a reusable food container service, designed to reduce single-use food delivery packaging from going into landfills. Its venture builder Jehan Omar is here with us to unpack and unload what Tapauware is all about.
Photo Credit : Facebook | Tapauware.co
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Founded in July 2021, Bantu Aid is a community friendly food aid distribution platform that connects those in need of help to the nearest foodbank & volunteers which was started by Anas Amdan. Bantu Aid is a platform under Bantu Heroes.
Anas formed a company Kasi Gegar Entertainment SDN BHD as a Music Producer. He has been actively involved in producing, composing and arranging music until today. Together with a few friends, he founded Sabah Bangkit Youth Movement which focuses on empowering the youth through performing arts & community service. Anas is also the owner of Nook Cafe Kota Kinabalu.
Photo Credit : Facebook | Bantu
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Langit Collective promotes unique and heirloom agriculture produce from smallholder farms in East Malaysia to larger markets. Sourced directly from farmers and procured at a fair price - a minimum of 35% of the retail proceeds go directly to the farmers. They also curate intentional experiential trips to these villages to bring consumers further upstream to understand and appreciate the artistry that goes into the planting and production of these quality products. Chan Zi Xiang and Lilian Chen, the co-founders of Langit Collective, share their journey with us.
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What does it take to go from serving meals on wheels to surviving lockdowns to finally finding a brick and mortar home? Azhan Benny Foo, managing partner of Tex-Mex F&B outlet Gringo’s, tells us what it’s like to take business from a food truck to a full-blown restaurant.
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Back in 2015, Carpedia was born to serve a niche market for individuals who owned idle cars but had little use for them. Everything came to a halt when the pandemic and MCO happened. From car rental to car-related gig jobs, Carpedia changed their business model to survive during the pandemic. Hazim Azhar, the co-founder and CEO of Carpedia explains how they have evolved their business into what it is today.
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Loka Made was founded in 2015 by Audrey Chew and Chong Fei Giap and it is a local lifestyle brand that wants to promote Malaysian culture by adding their own twist of fantasy and creative imagination through their illustration and products through puzzles, postcards and more.
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The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food security definition is when “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” The pandemic showcased how many in Malaysia alone were affected. Kenneth Chai, the co-founder of Airgro shares how they are addressing this need in Sarawak.
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Many of the world's best-selling food products start in a humble kitchen somewhere, and chances are, it was a mother’s recipe. Red Gold Dessert is something a little special, crafted from premium ingredients from very specific places within Iran - to say it’s unique is no understatement. A combination of Rose, Saffron and a few other secret elements, this dessert has a story to tell.
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In this fast-paced, ever-shifting world, what better way to get your brand out there than for your ads to move with and towards your targeted customers? Thilaganathan, the CEO of Truck It, discusses their mobility advertisements, their partnership with Asia Mobility Technologies, and their plans for the future.
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Did you know 33 percent of all food produced is lost or wasted? To achieve sustainability, LightBlue Consulting integrates circular business models in the move towards zero food waste to landfill and low carbon operations. Benjamin Liphilibert, the founder of LightBlue Consulting explains how they are working towards solving this food waste issue.
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For children, sometimes their best companions are their fluffy soft toys. Michelle Lim and Chan Chi Leong founded Abbie & Friends because they couldn't find good quality soft toys. They have been bringing Jellycat soft toys from the UK into the Malaysian market and have grown to be one of the premium soft toy providers in Malaysia.
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How successful are cloud kitchen spaces doing? How important are factors like partners and location in determining the success of spaces like this? Huen Su San, founder of Cookhouse, Malaysia’s first-ever shared cloud kitchen space shares the thought behind their concept.
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Like it or not, drone tech is here to stay and make a change in countless industries for the better. From agriculture to transport, from security to mining, drone tech can not only help with risk assessment, but also optimisation and maximising revenue. Therefore it makes sense that companies ensure their drones have the proper protection and are sufficiently insured.
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Lim Xin Yu and Jason Wee, the co-founders of The Asli Co, are dedicated to supporting indigenous mothers and the Orang Asli community in general. They explain the inception of this social enterprise as well as their big dreams of getting more Orang Asli children into and interested in school.
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Maintenance can be a major expense of home ownership beyond just the monthly instalments. It can be a headache considering the many things that can go wrong such as plumbing, electrical and appliance issues. Handibee is seeking to take the worry out of all this by providing a subscription service covering home repairs or replacing important appliances and components due to wear and tear. Mohamed Shakir, founder of Handibee explains their unique business.
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Reams Technologies is a solutions provider focusing mainly on maintenance management. They provide a management platform that centralises maintenance information and facilitates maintenance operations. Delvin Yeoh, CEO and Founder of Reams Technologies explains how they are trying to evolve the industry's performance with technology.
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The 4th Industrial Revolution has been a long-standing topic of conversation.
Although the manufacturing sector has led our nation's economy with digitalised logistics and warehousing technology, the growth progress of IR4.0 within our industries has been stagnant. Sustainable, yes, but the sector is hardly progressing in comparison to some of its regional peers like Singapore and Japan for instance. Gan Soon Kiat (SK), Founder and Managing Director of the warehouse automation company WoodTrees is of the opinion that manufacturers lack the know-how to utilise logistics tech.
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Digitalisation has been one of the biggest buzzwords to come out of the pandemic, but you may not have all the answers or solutions to your techy problems. That’s where companies like VLAN.Asia come in; Lance Cheang, founder & managing director, explains how they are helping businesses as the forefront technology concierge.
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The Autism Cafe Project (ACP) is a labour of love that came about from a father’s concern for his autistic son’s wellbeing and future independence. From the initial plan of providing a space for children with special needs to impart a sense of purpose in their lives, the Autism Cafe Project has evolved into a platform to train autistic youths in the entrepreneurial spirit and help them achieve a sense of independence. Mohd Adli Yahya, founder of the Autism Cafe Project shares his drive and motivation behind the initiative.
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Founded by Cynn Chua & Pei Ying in October 2018, Summorie wants to make the best notebooks and stationery for Malaysians. They share their journey, everything from pen to paper.
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Malaysian athletes always face the issues of lack of funds, which pushes many to end up as a coach or go back to the academic path. To encourage Malaysian athletes, a push in the right direction is needed to make them believe in their capability and talent by providing the appropriate resources. Thus, OVER was born, and founder Low Yi Xian shares how the business model helps Malaysian athletes.
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Pivoting from their luxury style, Sacoor Group’s launch of Sacoor Blue is inspired by the idea of living a sustainable lifestyle and taking care of the Earth. Their relaxed styles and environmentally conscious outlook echo the sentiments of the Gen Z market, which continues to voice out its concern for the planet. We hear from Hugo Carriço, Sacoor Group’s Chief Operations Officer about the pivot.
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How do you manage all the balancing factors of working in an industry as complicated as politics? Well, sometimes you need a little help. Dr. Sophie Lemiere, director of political consultancy firm SoCo, takes us through what political consultancy entails and what entrepreneurs in general can learn from it.
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Aonic was born as a commercial drone solutions provider for enterprises looking to modernise their operation workflow. While they are no stranger to the commercial drone industry, they are looking to expand beyond the skies and to build an ecosystem beyond just their core drone capabilities. Cheong Jin Xi, founder and CEO of Aonic, gives us a peek into this unique industry.
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In 2020, Alyssa Lee founded The Petal Archive with her sister by pressing and drying real fresh flowers, then embedding them in resin before transforming them into jewellery pieces. She joins us to explain the concept of jewellery as time capsules and a reflection of their customers’ individuality.
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Making a home isn’t just about the sofas you choose or the colour of your walls, but how do you know what decisions to make in creating your space? Xavier Mah, the founder of Pokok Asia shares the story of creating this home & living trends platform, and the importance of guiding home and property owners towards their dreams.
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Companies are racing towards digitalisation; and whilst this is the direction they need to be heading in, especially in 2022, it can be an expensive endeavour especially for SMEs and MSMEs. Current tools that are available for productivity and cybersecurity are either free (with caveats) or extremely expensive for a small business. This is where the partnership between Open-Xchange, BigDomain and DotAsia hopes to change things. This collaboration offers advanced email and productivity tools, and digital services with integrated cybersecurity protection, with the goal of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in digitising securely and seamlessly - all at an affordable price.
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We all have our insecurities, and we’ve all gone through awkward periods of life where we feel ashamed or worried about those insecurities. Maybe, instead of hiding those insecurities, we need to find a way to take pride in them instead. Esther Erin and Ethan Wong, co-founders of Dododots Beauty Patch, discuss how they’re using this approach with acne, and how they utilise collaborations to conduct successful marketing campaigns.
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Throwing away used furniture that’s still in good shape is a waste, but giving it away gets you nothing. On the flipside, what if you’ve got an unfurnished house or are just looking to replace furniture with attractive but inexpensive second hand options? Johnson Goh, owner of Unearth Store, shares his unique business that helps connect sellers and buyers of used furniture and other bulky items.
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Bake with Yen has become an established name for baking supplies, especially as they offer lower prices for baking ingredients in the market. Bake With Yen specialises in the manufacturing, supply & distribution, and retail of baking ingredients, premixes, accessories and tools. Alexandre Rosso, Bake With Yen’s newly appointed CEO, shares how Bake with Yen operates and their expansion plans.
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Project ID is a social enterprise that designs innovative student-centric experiences. They aim to empower students, particularly those from underserved communities, with a sense of possibility and to pursue their dreams. Since the start of the pandemic, they have run over 300 virtual workshops and continuously innovate their approach to learning. Kelvin Tan, CEO of Project ID, explains how the enterprise finds new ways to help students self-develop in areas of leadership, mental & emotional health, core values, and career aspirations.
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Tymba Education Group is a privately-owned Bumiputera Professional Accountancy Training Centre, led by founder, Airil Razali and his team of Chartered Accountants. Starting with only 30 students, TYMBA has now grown to over 2,000 students within a year, and so far have successfully produced several global prize-winners and attained consistent higher average passing rates compared to the world average.
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Many people unfortunately found themselves out of a job when the pandemic hit, with areas like the travel & tourism industry being especially affected. For some, they managed to pull themselves back up into new ventures - and since then have created new careers for themselves. Afiq Nazar, director of Grill Haven, shares how Grill Haven came from a couple of grounded pilots, and where they’re headed next.
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Shahnaz Interiors is dedicated to transforming the nation’s healthcare facilities from monolithic concrete blocks to inspiring and contemporary spaces for healing the patients. Nazrin Shahnaz, the CEO of Shahnaz Interiors shares how they intend to humanise the hospital experience, and why this is crucial in light of the pandemic.
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Founders of Bash Clothing, Cecilia Ooi and Maxine Khor, have been running their e-commerce clothing business since 2014 with more than 1,400 products ranging from clothing, accessories, shoes, and homeware available on their website. They join us to share their journey of being in the fashion industry for eight years.
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2007 marks the birth of Eyez Optometry. In a span of 15 years, it has grown with 13 outlets across the country. Its mission is to be the revolutionary optical trader that brings the industry to new heights. Founder Kevin Siew joins us to talk about his vision.
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Even though selling through Facebook Live has been gaining popularity in Southeast Asia for years, many vendors are still going through their comments afterward and using pen-and-paper to collect orders. Wong Zi Yang, CEO, explains how Upmesh automates the checkout process and ultimately, the intent for its final form as a platform where people can discover new live commerce sellers across different social media platforms.
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It takes a lot for a business to stand the test of time, especially given the comings and goings of the past decade. Jan Wong and Daryll Tan, co-founders of OpenMinds Resources, prove that while it is an uphill battle, it is not impossible to actually hit that sweet 10 year milestone.
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Packtica started out as a security printing company providing security solutions for businesses through variable data printings (VDP) as well as online authentication systems. Today, they have expanded to other Asian countries such as Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. Bryant Kooh, founder and SEA managing director of Packtica shares how they grew into the market position they are in today.
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Education should be affordable and accessible to anyone, anywhere. ReSkills is a platform that connects students and educators via interactive online courses. They seek to address rising education costs, preparing the youth with the right skill sets, and also the disruption of offline education due to the pandemic. Jin Tan, founder and CEO of ReSkills, joins us to discuss their efforts in making education accessible to all.
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Tin is a former marine and FBI agent. He’s very much aware of what the term ‘risk’ means. Now he runs his own cybersecurity firm, Polaris Infosec. With it being Cybersecurity Awareness Month, what better way than to gain some of his insights into the cybersecurity ecosystem and the growth of cyberattacks in Southeast Asia.
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Media has gotten a lot of us through the ups and downs of the pandemic, and for many, watching shows and playing video games were a useful outlet. But what about the people who worked hard to bring that kind of content to us? Ken Foong, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Lemon Sky Studios, explains how their studio has grown with the expansion of the animation and games industry.
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Innersejuk prides itself on striving beyond convention through the power of fashion technology with its proprietary material DriChill® material in the modest sportswear space. Azrul Izzam, the co-founder of Innersejuk shares their innovations in the Muslimah- leisure, sports, and activewear space.
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Bang Bang Geng is a camera and photography shop that started its operations in 2013 at Publika Shopping Gallery; founder, Chin Koon Yik, shares his journey in the industry, weathering through the tough times during the pandemic.
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Founded in 1995, Homefield Real Estate has grown from a small setting establishment in Subang Jaya to a privately owned real estate company in Klang Valley. They specialise in residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural sale, purchase and rental, project marketing and more. Munirah Mohamad, the founder and director of Homefield shares how they strive to provide quality services to the customers.
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Relationships are never easy; it takes communication, work and compromise. This is doubly so when that romantic relationship also morphs into a business relationship, too. This is the case for Husband-and-Wife duo Joyce Foo and Wilson Seah, who have been romantic partners for 16 years and business partners for 2 years now. Founded in 2020, BeautyFoo Mall is a home beauty device expert platform specialising in advanced portable home beauty devices, engaging and serving its customers primarily through its e-commerce platform.
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During the pandemic, the focus for shoppers stayed primarily on either absolute necessities or creature comforts - items that didn’t break the bank. And yet, the gold & jewellery industry stayed strong, with business starting to pick up since the reopening of international borders. In fact, the total value of gold jewellery exports increased to RM4.48bil in 2021 from RM3.15bil in 2020. Ivy Teong, founder & chief designer of jewellery studio Juwelen Design, explains how this industry managed to weather the past few years fairly unscathed.
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Have you ever felt confused when looking into different insurance plans, not knowing which one works for you? Online insurance platforms like PolicyStreet aim to step in and make things a little easier for the end consumers. Winnie Chua, the chief product officer from PolicyStreet, explains how.
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As the world grows increasingly connected, the distance and boundaries that used to separate us are becoming a thing of the past. This shows especially in the financial sector, as the fintech industry played a crucial role in enabling services such as mobile banking, payments and investments. Owen Chen, Group CEO of Neurogine shares how their goal is to bridge commerce, consumer & society in Asia-Pacific.
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Agarwood or also known as “The Wood of the Gods” is one of the most expensive fragrant dark resinous components of the Aquilaria tree. This unique resin is in high demand as it is used in the medicinal, jewellery, fragrance and essential oil industries. Currently, the agarwood market trade is estimated to be valued at USD32 billion and expected to double to USD64 billion by the end of 2029 globally - making Agarwood the world's most valuable plant species. David Liew and Adrieent Tan share how technology is helping them lead the way in agarwood inoculation.
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We Malaysians love celebrating our culture at every opportunity, especially our food; we love eating it, talking about it, and even collecting food memorabilia. Miniature creator Ling Hooi Yin, founder of TinyPinc Miniatures discusses her long-running venture in creating teeny tiny token versions of local cuisine, and how she aims to educate Malaysian consumers on the true value of artisan work.
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Education brings a brighter future. Ideas Academy aims to provide high-quality, affordable education to students in Kuala Lumpur by bridging technology and traditional education. Chairman, Jan Willem Smulders, shares how they help students to become successful contributing citizens of the world.
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Louise Chu, the founder of Claire Organics, started creating handmade soaps with all natural ingredients back in 2012. After operating for a decade, Louise is here to share Claire Organics’ journey, as well as how she benefited from the SME Digitization grant received from the Ministry of Finance from the Budget 2022 scheme.
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In today’s ultra-competitive retail market, granular data is just as important as making a sale. Comeby has managed to integrate data collection with the added functionality of a virtual store assistant to close the gap between customers and the store. Barry Ooi, the co-founder of ComeBy explains the concept behind Comeby, an all-round solution that benefits shoppers as well as store assistants.
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Store N Go, a local eFulfilment service provider, is hoping to tap into Malaysia’s RM1 trillion e-commerce market by being the first warehousing platform to provide multi-stage solutions that go beyond storage and shipping. Founder Tee Kee Lion explains their integrated solutions and how they span multiple touchpoints throughout the product journey, from early marketing strategies right up to fulfilment and after-sales services.
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Unfortunately, with the cost of living rising and salaries still fairly stagnant, many Malaysians are living check-to-check. But life can throw curveballs at you that may entirely derail your everyday approach to your finances - what happens if you need your payday earlier than expected? Justin Kong, co-founder of earned wage access platform Payd, explains how EWA can help both employees and employers in this vein.
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As we know, plastic is one of the major pollutants on the planet. Beebag is a smart, reusable bag that was created to help eliminate single-use plastic pollution. Joshua Lim and Joel Lim, the co-founders of Beebag, share their story of how modern technology can help reduce wastage.
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One thing that the pandemic taught us was about the importance of self-love and self-pampering. When Anne and Boh lost their jobs during the pandemic, they decided to tap into the self-care industry and created the artisan handmade beeswax candle brand, Anbo. They unpack how different beeswax candles are compared to conventional ones, and their bee-sy journey.
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Chef James Won, the founder of METTA Foodination, talks about his latest adventure in combining Japanese cuisine, modern French techniques, and local ingredients together.
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WORQEX, a Malaysian work-based online learning programme, provides real-world working experience to its learners.Doing away with theory-based and academia-driven syllabi, WORQEX onboards their trainees into a simulated company and coaches them through modules of popular work tasks to build a work portfolio for their job-seeking journey — all from the convenience of their homes and at their own pace.
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Most of us saw our electricity bills skyrocket during the pandemic, what with the sudden surge of having to work from home as well as the recurring heat waves necessitating constant air conditioning and fan usage. Is there a way to mitigate these issues moving forward? The solution might just be in your windows, according to Fredrick Kam, co-founder & executive director of Chiefway Malaysia, the leading smart glass manufacturer in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
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Did you know that honey has some great healing properties? Darlings Honey started when one of the founder's family members was struggling with cancer, and ended up becoming a business that could help benefit society as a whole. Danielle Pee, the co-founder of Darlings Honey, shares how this sweet business started.
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Are you a person who loves to work from home but sometimes home might not be the suitable environment for you to concentrate in? A coworking space might be a better choice for you. Sandbox is a coworking space that aims to create an environment for all entrepreneurs who are seeking for a place to work. Casper Foo and Yu Min Lye, the founders of Sandbox, share their business journey with us.
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Cloud kitchens boomed during the pandemic, with food delivery spiking high as all of us stayed dutifully at home. However, now that we're moving into endemicity, is that business model enough? Kenneth Lai, CEO and co-founder of Vacrea, talks about their three brands - Cauli & Rice, M Fried Chicken, and Aunty Sam Satay - as well as their plans to take their F&B goals to the next level.
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In Malaysia, refugee learning centres have limited funds to hire quality teachers and many centres are having difficulty providing quality education to the students. The Other School aims to place quality teachers in refugee learning centres and at the same time, educate the world. We speak to Teoh Min Chia, co-founder of The Other School about her interesting business model for education.
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Do you know what the real difference is between ice cream and gelato? And is gelato the healthier dessert option? You can find the answers from gelato-maker Ann Gie Leong, the founder of Hummingbird & Mallows Gelato. She has been making local and botanical-inspired artisan gelatos since 2020 after working as a pastry chef in Singapore for 6 years prior to the launch of her own business.
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The rise in popularity of custom mechanical keyboards in Malaysia is driven by a pretty healthy marketplace that's serving the community. As one of the early pioneers, Rebult Keyboards stays ahead of the rest by constantly offering more options to customers, including custom keyboard kits that were previously much more difficult to acquire locally. They join us on the show to share the story of how they got here, managing a business model that's unique to the scene, as well as designing their own unique products to share their passion for custom keyboards with the community.
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In the middle of the pandemic, Randall Wong found that his boutique gym business was slowing down. And like many other entrepreneurs Randall had to think about how he would sustain through a pandemic that had no fixed end date. After some research into the pandemic’s effect on people’s health, Randall saw that more and more people were developing an interest in nutrition. Shortly afterwards, and with some investment from his partners, Shakeasy was born. A smoothie bar where you can buy healthy plant-based protein smoothies.
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Many F&B entrepreneurs were brought down to their lowest during the pandemic, but for Arieni Ritzal, founder of Gula Cakery, the challenges only served to propel her forward into expanding her ever-growing foodie empire. She shares how she muscled her way through the lockdowns and her excitement in keeping this progress going onwards and upwards.
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YesHello is a software that built for the SMEs, benefits the employees and customers with a shared team inbox and manage all Customer Service and Sales WhatsApp conversations in one place without using regular Whatsapp on personal phones, hence the SMEs are not missing any business opportunities. We speak to Carliff Rizal Carleel, the brainchild behind the solution.
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Phil’s Pizza started in August 2020 with its first outlet in Bangsar selling pizzas. This pizza place is founded by Sara Rashid and Phillip Dominic. They share their journey of starting a business during the pandemic, and how they use creative ways to differentiate themselves in the F&B crowd.
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Snackfood closed down back in 2020, and has found itself back in business, in a brand new location: Centrio at Pantai Hillpark. This charming gift emporium prides itself in not just providing the wonders of discovering the perfect gift, but also in elevating the in-store shopping experience for people. We speak to Adeline Choong, founder and creative director of Snackfood, about this fresh start, and her journey in curating the store.
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We catch up with Bryan Chin, founder of the Malaysian sneaker community leader, SneakerLAH which was recently valued at RM35.2 million from NAVER through its affiliate company and reseller platform, KREAM. The strategic buyout sees KREAM choosing to take 22.47% stake (RM7.48 million) into Shake Hands Sdn Bhd., the parent company to SneakerLAH. How did a small community event wind up with such a valuation? Tune in to find out.
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Started in 1969, Getha is a lifestyle brand, featuring 100% natural latex. Inspired by the native word – getah, the brand name was thoughtfully chosen to represent a brand that is inherently from Malaysia, renowned for our high quality rubber and natural latex products. We speak to Melissa Tan, the CEO of Getha to share stories behind this business.
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In conjunction with Merdeka week, we’ll be speaking to local family businesses that thrived for generations. Chai Huat Hin was established back in 1972 selling dried seafood and traditional oriental groceries. In 2016, with the help of the founder’s granddaughter Lana Ng, they have leveled up by opening the doors to digitalisation. She shares the challenges at the initial stages of digitalisation and the success of being able to reach a younger audience, with a mission to keep the family tradition alive.
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We tend to associate batik with formal or traditional wear, but it's undeniable that batik has been making a comeback, as more local brands put a new and modern spin on batik wear for all occasions. One of those brands is Batik by Nellie Pop and Jee, run by a mother and daughter duo, doing their bit to bring slow fashion back in style. We speak to Wong Ann Jee, one of the co-founders, to find out more about how their Peranakan heritage influences their work in creating custom and unique pieces for their customers.
Image Credit: Batik by Nellie Pop & Jee Instagram Page
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Back in 2019, we had so many questions for Dylan about Split’s proposition to “pay for the customer first”. We then had so many questions about offering non-credit card instalment plans. Now, with ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ sweeping the e-commerce landscape, we have more questions about Split’s decision to go the other direction - save now, buy later, and get some discounts. We invite Dylan back on the show to talk about delaying instant gratification, enabling better financial decision making, and if ‘Save Now Buy Later’ is yet another idea that’s ahead of the curve.
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Sometimes coming up with your own idea and company is a struggle, and you want a helping hand. Enter MyLaksa, a local F&B outlet dedicated to sharing Penang Asam Laksa with the country - co-founder and managing director, Daniel Ong, explains how they’re providing entrepreneurial opportunities to aspiring business owners and how they’ve handled the struggles of the pandemic.
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Eclimo is Malaysia’s own EV motorbike maker that have been in business since 2008. They have worked with a myriad of clients which includes KFC, Polis Diraja Malaysia, Majlis Bandaraya Melaka Bersejarah and Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang.
As society grows more conscious about our carbon emissions and the environment, the EV space is heralded as the future of mobility. We’re joined by Dato’ Dennis Chuah, Founder and Executive Director of Eclimo to talk about business in the EV space.
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No, it’s not just a bag of mud! In an effort to encourage sustainability, Shamrock Botanics puts agricultural byproducts and waste through a multi-step, months-long process to produce nutrient-rich soil and fertiliser for everyday plants. We speak to founder Rachel Kwan about getting into the botany business, the types of ingredients found in Shamrock’s products, as well as catering to the sudden surge in demand for gardening supplies over the last two years.
Image Credit: Shamrockbotanics Facebook Page
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When it comes to opening and running an F&B outlet, the word passion is often heard but what are the challenges and is it a lonely, hard slog? Yeong Yeng Yee, owner of Fat Bird Ramen tells us his journey and what keeps him going despite rising cost and a shortage of workers.
Image Credit: Fat Bird Ramen Facebook Page
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When Chong Nge Seng decided to pursue his dream of owning an ice cream business, he had to quit his job and go to Italy to learn the art of gelato-making. Similarly, Brian Jeevan learned the craft in Singapore before embarking on this venture. Today, Piccoli Lotti is ready to expand, with two new outlets already opened in 2022 and more to come. We speak to Chong and Brian about navigating the competitive Malaysian market, localing ice cream, and the minimalistic approach of Piccoli Lotti’s aesthetic.
Image Credit: Piccoli Lotti Facebook Page
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Women’s fashion unfortunately still faces a level of stigmatisation, especially when it comes to our undergarments, where certain styles are deemed more appropriate than others. However, wearing a bra can be an uncomfortable or even painful experience, with underwires that literally scratch our skin or bra straps that cut into our shoulders. So what other choice do we have? Carmen Lew, founder of DTC brand NIUD, discusses their functional and inclusive bra-alternatives.
Image Credit: NIUD Facebook Page
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SmartClean is a Cleanliness & Hygiene Intelligence company, building AIOT & SAAS powered Intelligent Cleaning management solutions. Lav Agarwal, the CEO of SmartClean explains how he aims change the ways which cleanliness & hygiene in the built environment are monitored, measured and managed to improved health and hygiene standards.
Image Credit: Lav Agarwal Linkedin Profile
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My Forever Doggo isn’t a shelter for strays. And it isn’t a non-profit organisation. Founded by Elisa Khong and run by a small team of passionate individuals, including Amy Wong, social media manager, My Forever Doggo is a startup that creates content to encourage love, kindness, and the adoption of doggos looking for their forever home. They do this by featuring dogs from various shelters under a single platform. We speak to Elisa and Amy about leveraging social media to spread awareness and supercharge their brand, the emotional heft of dealing with animals that need help, as well as running My Forever Doggo like a self-sustaining business.
Image Credit: My Forever Doggo Facebook Page
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The presenters & producers of BFM 89.9 are coming together to highlight some of their personal favourite local companies for the "BFM Collective". Music Mountain is Malaysia’s first ever online on-demand drum lesson platform that aims to make music education accessible for all. We speak to co-founders Rudy Malik and Intan Razak to find out more about the idea behind Music Mountain, developing the syllabus for their drumming course, the myriad challenges of running an online music lesson platform and more.
Image Credit: Music Mountain Facebook Page
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What does it take to run a tattoo business? For Fin T, founder of FinTattoos, it’s about blending her passion for art and ink with a sense of entrepreneurship to create a full-time career. But as a solo tattoo artist, there are only so many customers Fin can take, so how does she outline the growth of her company? We speak to Fin about the shifting perception of tattoos over the last decade, as well as the perks and challenges of being a one-woman band and brand.
Image Credit: Fintattoos Instagram Page
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Malaysia is notoriously not fantastic at reducing waste - we generate about 38,699 tonnes of garbage every day, or about 1.17kg per person. But for the sake of saving the planet for the next generation, it’s about time we made some changes. Co-founders Rick Lim & Ong Hwee Wen discuss their passion to Protect Your Next Generation, or PYNG, for short - and how they’ve set up this zero waste e-commerce platform to combat climate change.
Image Credit: PYNG Zero Waste Official Website
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Founders Kalyana Mohan and Rouvin Thiruchelvam have created Swipey, an all-in-one SME expense management platform for your business needs. They discuss how they aim to take care of all business expenses in one shot, as well as their goal of building customer-centric digital banking services and standing out in the fintech space.
Image Credit: Shutterstock | Den Rise
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There are no winners and losers in But Honestly, a card game that gamifies talking and fosters deeper connections between players. The cards encourage emotional awareness and mental health literacy by prompting players to open up about personal stories based on various levels of “difficulty”. In this sequel to an episode of I Love KL from 2021, we welcome Shi Qi Ting back to the station to talk about But Honestly’s post-Kickstarter success, designing comfortable yet insightful questions, and creating a wholesome card game for people of all ages.
Image Credit: But Honestly Official Website
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Remember how everyone took their love for food to the next level during the pandemic? The husband and wife duo behind La Qumar was no exception to this. They took their favourite sauce, toum, and turned it into a business. Saravanakkumar Shanmugam and Lalitha Balakrishnan, the founders of La Qumar Foods tell us more about this.
Image Credit: La Qumar Foods Instagram Page
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When Muhilan and his brother, Arvind, lost their jobs due to the pandemic, they had to think of something low-risk to help keep things afloat. After finding a nostalgia-inducing minibus, The Barber Bus was born! We invite Muhilan on the show to chat about diving headfirst into entrepreneurship, keeping the functioning bus stationary in Mont Kiara, and keeping things cosy and comfortable with a limited number of daily customers.
Image Credit: The Barber Bus Official Website
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The wedding industry in Malaysia is one of its most lucrative, being valued around RM7 billion in 2018; but it was also one of the hardest hit during the pandemic with large scale events totally shutting down for 2 years. What was that like, and how quickly is that sector recovering now that many couples are sprinting post-pandemic to the altar? Benson Yin, owner of bridal gallery Two of Us, discusses taking over the business in 2016 and what sets bridal photography apart as a service.
Image Credit: Two of Us Signature Studio - MY Wedding Gallery Facebook Page
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The pandemic brought a wave of disruption with it, and while F&B outlets were still considered essential services during periods of lockdown, they faced many other challenges that continue to resonate to this day. Chief Shucker Josh Green from Southern Rock Seafood and Shucked Oysters Bar provides his perspective on surviving the pandemic and what’s in store for both the seafood and F&B spaces, especially in light of continued supply chain disruptions
Image Credit: Shucked Oysters Bar Facebook Page
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When we last had Adrian Cheong on the station, his company was still called The Apothecary and not Analogue Apotik. So, why the name change? It has plenty to do with branding and expansion. We invite Adrian back to discuss his range of solid colognes, localising scents for the Malaysian market, as well as the trial-and-error process of creating new scents and fragrances from scratch.
Image Credit : Analogue Apotik Faceboook Page
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Although menstrual cups have been around for decades, historically, they have been less popular compared to sanitary pads or tampons. Why is that? There are so many stigmas and taboos surrounding menstruation, including the use of menstrual cups, but two women who are on a mission to make menstrual hygiene more sustainable and accessible for everyone, are Chen Su Vien and Cheah Yivon, the co-founders of the online enterprise, the Bloody Goodshop. They join us to share more about the life-changing menstrual cups and period care products their store offers, which are both good for you, and the planet.
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Wedding invitations over WhatsApp are perfectly convenient, but there’s just something about the tactility of a finely printed invitation inside a carefully selected envelope. Former web developers Cliff Leong and Zee Jay decided to tap into the gap in this niche market via The Alphabet Press, a bespoke letterpress stationery company that designs and prints premium wedding invitations, business cards, corporate stationery, and notebooks with their vintage German presses. We speak to the co-founders about keeping the art of old school print alive and catering to the Malaysian market.
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Online transactions have never been more important, especially as we move into a more contactless, wireless world in the wake of COVID-19. Joe Kamil Ahmad, CEO & founder of BetterPay, discusses how they help merchants and businesses streamline online transactions.
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Mazer Fintech aims to develop and implement services that bridge the gap between paying expenses and cost overhead fees. They created jomSETTLE as the first financial technology platform in Malaysia that enables the settlement of payments for the underserved payee and payment recipients that do not have credit card receiving facilities. Falco Lee, the founder of jomSETTLE, tells us all about it.
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Oh Dayang handcrafts jewellery & accessories, from batik earrings to phone grips, trying to bring Malaysia’s textile art to a whole new level by making their accessories a statement piece in their customers’ daily wardrobe. Dayang Nur Syafiqah, founder of Oh Dayang, discusses the catalyst of the idea as well as how she manages the business in a two-person team with her husband.
Image Credit: Oh Dayang Website
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The presenters & producers of BFM 89.9 are coming together to highlight some of their personal favourite local companies for the "BFM Collective". Studio Three is an interior design studio focusing on a process-driven design philosophy and collaboration. Established in 2019, the studio has worked with notables names like Vivy Yusof on her LILIT and dUCk stores as well as numerous high end residences. Founder Kashfi Emir shares his entrepreneurial journey on how he started this studio and the philosophy behind it.
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The last time Vernon was on Open For Business, it was during the peak of the first Movement Control Order in 2020. A lot has changed since then, from consumer behaviour to new retail-tech trends in the market. We revisit Innergia Labs and its business intelligence tool, Sycarda, to get some insight on what’s new, what’s outdated, and what’s next for an “endemic” Malaysian retail scene.
Image Credit: Innergia Labs Facebook Page
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For those who have a little bit of a sweet tooth, indulging in desserts can get a little guilt-inducing thinking about the potential impact that has on our bodies as a whole (and, admittedly, our waistlines). As an alternative, how about healthier ice cream that’s not only made from locally sourced, natively grown fruits, but is also as a bonus absolutely adorably styled after the very fruit it’s made out of? Executive director of Koon Huat Agriculture Group, Koh Han Seng, discusses their 3D ice cream brand, Musang Wang, and how they turn local fruits into sweet aesthetic treats.
Image Credit: Musang Wang Facebook Page
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MyGuru is an online education platform that aims to help students from primary school to secondary school improve their academic performance. Established in 2013, myGuru is a digital product produced by Learning Port Sdn Bhd, and CEO Datin Shairin Sharif shares how they’ve been weathering the effects of the pandemic and what they’ve learned over the years.
Image Credit: Datin Shairin Sharif Linkedin Page
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Clear plastic cling wrap might be the cheap and convenient way to keep leftovers, but it contributes to plastic pollution to the environment, especially when it is not recyclable. With this in mind, Saffron & Serai is trying to change the cling wrap game with batik beeswax wraps. Iman Preece, founder of Saffron and Serai, discusses how she used YouTube to learn the production process, her dedication to marrying sustainability & design, and her inspirations coming from a long line of entrepreneurship.
Image Credit : http://saffronandserai.com/ Website
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As conventional agriculture becomes no longer sustainable, all eyes have turned to look for sustainable farming practices, and one of which is vertical indoor farming. Jay Desan, the co-founder of BoomGrow, discusses her aims to change the access of nutritious and sustainably produced food that we put on our plates using the latest agritech.
Image Credit: BoomGrow Instagram Page
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Batik isn’t the first thing you’d associate with words like “casual”, “contemporary” fashion, but that’s exactly what fashion designer Jeffery Goh intended to change when he first started Inisaya. Plus, by adopting the made-to-order business model, Jeffery is able to cut down on fabric wastage; turning excess materials into masks, scarves, and other complementary items. Jeffery talks about making batik fashionable for a younger crowd, challenges of navigating the Malaysian market, and long-term aspirations for Inisaya as a modern batik label.
Image Credit: https://jefferygoh.com/
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Co-founders of local shoe brand Machino, Esther and Amy Tai, discuss promoting Malaysia’s diverse culture in their branding and marketing, using batik and songket materials in their products to promote our unique heritage and culture, and how their shoes truly fit the Malaysian market.
Image Credit : Machino Facebook Page
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Yelaoshr is an education provider which provides one-to-one lessons to help students and children aged 3 to 12 who face obstacles when it comes to reading, speaking and writing in multiple languages as multilingual Malaysians. Chairman David Yap shares their struggles and successes over the years since their inception in the early 2000s.
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In conjunction with Table & Apron’s 8th year anniversary, its founder Marcus Low joins the conversation. He is here to share its journey on how it handled the challenges faced during the pandemic and its core business development since its last interview in 2017.
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2022 has completely changed consumer behaviour in regards to coworking spaces. In the last two years, coworking brand Colony launched Castra, a rooftop glamping spot, and The Rooms, a dramatically designed event space, to cater to shifting consumer needs. Timothy Tiah, executive director, expounds on the origins of both spaces, opening a glamping spot a month before the pandemic hit, and starting smaller, more affordable coworking facilities in suburban areas within the Klang Valley.
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One of the pillars of Malaysian culture is the humble kopitiam. Somehow, despite the fancy cafes and restaurants that pop up with increasing regularity, there’s just nothing as welcoming and homey as the dark coffee swirling in the white and green porcelain. One artist and entrepreneur who fell in love with just that kopitiam je ne sais quoi is Jack Yin, who discusses how he expresses his passion for kopitiams and other Malaysian cultural oddities through his art, and how his business has seen its fair share of ups and downs throughout the pandemic.
Image Credit: Jacktus.my Insatagram
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Sipjoy is a cafe-focused mobile app platform that connects local independent cafés to coffee drinkers and café goers with one-flat-price coffee pass that allows cross-café coffee redemption. They have recently won 2nd place in the ASB101k Start-Up track. Vincent Sin founder and CEO of the SipJoy App together with Evelyn Saw joins us today to unravel their coffee journey.
Image Credit : Rawpixel.com | Shutterstock
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Renovation, interior design, and remodelling are crucial stages when moving into a new home. One challenge during this time is visualising, in 3D, what different furniture and fittings might look like in a new space. Sean Lai, co-founder of SofaX, plans to close that gap by allowing users to decorate their homes virtually, before spending any money. By partnering with CrownLivin, SofaX intends to change the way new homeowners approach designing their personal space.
Image Credit : Studio Romantic, Shutterstock
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The importance of STEM education has increased significantly for our children. A lot of schools have been implementing this system into their syllabus, with efforts to break the rigidity of traditional school structure, 5T3M wants to complement school programs and provide supplementary STEM education for all children by making it. Mr EH Lim, CEO of 5T3M joins us to explain why education through technology is so important.
Image Credit: 5T3M Website
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Ley Vin Khoo and Bryan Tan, co-founders of local artisanal soy sauce brand Shoyu Bros, talk about the art of making this delicious elixir from scratch, how they’re innovating an Asian pantry staple, and the lessons they’ve learned about entrepreneurship along the way.
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Climate change is no longer a ‘when’, or an ‘if’. It’s here. We might not be able to roll back the damage that’s been done – but we might be able to mitigate any further damage by adopting renewable energy sources. In line with that, Ong Hang Ping of Fabulous Sunview explains how they’ve been harnessing solar energy to reduce carbon emissions as the premiere solar panel supplier and installation company in Malaysia
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Gini and Michelle, the second-generation business operators of Mum Mum Snacks, talk to us about convincing the founders of the traditional snack retailers to take a chance on going online. They discuss the pains of starting everything from scratch, building trust and sales online, as well as lessons learned along the way.
Image Credit: Mum Mum Snacks Facebook Page
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If you do a search on Rooftop Farms in Malaysia, you’ll find less than 20. Why has this concept not been more widely adopted, and what does it take to run one? Emil Jihan from Fresh Growcer shares his thoughts on his pesticide-free self-harvesting aquaponics farm, located on top of 1 Utama.
Image Credit: Freshgrowcer Instagram page
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During the pandemic, we saw many trends emerge. Whether it was Korean coffee, home baking, or even plant collecting. Some people switched it up and decided to launch a business on the back of these trends. One such person is Zen Thian, she decided to start making her own Kombucha - and that experiment turned into a business.
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How long has it been since you had really good cake? The people behind Kooky Cream are a passionate bunch striving for handmade, handcrafted, baked fresh daily goodies for those with a sweet tooth. Gladys Chan shares how they created a dessert cafe that takes people out from the hustle and bustle of the city for a cosy and comfortable time with loved ones.
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Incite Foodtech is a food-tech venture leveraging on a "plug-in & scale" model, as well as mergers and acquisitions. Chairman Vincent Kok discusses their plans to revolutionise the future of F&B, and how they intend on opening up new opportunities for F&B creators.
Image Credit: Incite Foodtech Linkedin page
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From the creators of Aunty Manju’s in TTDI, comes a new go-to Indian banana leaf joint in PJ that’s slowly building a reputation for its flavours, atmosphere, and service. Kadei by Manchula in Taman Megah offers full-service “Malaysian Spiced’ style dishes in an al-fresco setting, but there’s more to this F&B outlet than meets the taste buds. We speak to co-founder Suresh Gnanasekaran about the mainstay challenges in the F&B landscape - the rising prices of goods, manpower shortage, and managing customers’ expectations through it all.
Image Credit: Kadei by Manchula Facebook Page
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The world’s most spoken language is English. Whether in academia or entertainment, there is doubt of its importance if we are to compete globally. Co-founders of English education platform GuruLab, Eer Kai Song and Vicky Tan, discuss their recent US$1million seed funding as well as their dedication to making English literacy and comprehension skills more accessible.
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It’s safe to say that one of the few truly uniting factors for Malaysians is our pride in our food. But how much do we, and the rest of the world, really know about where our food comes from?
Jeslyn Ooi Shiyun, founder of Happy Dumpy, creates unique and functional gifts all based on our local cuisine, and shares her passion for storytelling and creativity, as well as her focus on supporting local suppliers and her shift to e-commerce during the pandemic.
Image Credit: Happy Dumpy Official Facebook
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Xifu is an investment platform which aims to become a one-stop app that streamlines market analytics, trading functionality, fundraising deals and more.
Sean Yap, managing director, discusses their aim of disrupting traditional broker models, and their aspiration of becoming Malaysia’s first whitelabel interactive stock broker.
Image Credit: Xifu Official Facebook
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Former radio host JJ Fernandez jumps back in the studio with us to talk about his latest venture - The Washupp Lifestyle Laundry. How quickly is there money to be made in the laundromat business? Does being a celebrity and fame help increase traffic? And does content-creation help build revenue?
JJ brings a friend into the studio to cheat on his answers, and to convince us why Washupp’s USP has the advantage over every other competitor.
Image Credit: JJ Fernandez LinkedIn
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OGEd is an Ed-Tech venture that provides a centralised e-learning experience for the oil and energy industry. It makes upskilling in the industry easier, which is necessary given the large knowledge gap that currently exists between junior and senior professionals.
The founding team collectively have 80+ years of experience in the oil & gas industry, while having 20+ years in the digital space. Khairul Imran, co-founder, expounds on his passion for education for the industry.
Image Credit: shutterstock | Pand P Studio
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We’ve all felt the frustration of driving round and round an area or a parking lot, desperately searching for that coveted empty space with bright yellow lines for ages. Well, what if you knew you had your very own parking spot reserved and ready to go?
CEO of peer to peer parking platform, ParkIt, Liew Kei Yan, discusses how he came up with this idea, misconceptions about running a tech business, and how he raised millions through equity crowdfunding and venture capitalists.
Image Credit: ParkIt Malaysia Facebook Official
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When it comes to the world of soft drinks, one alternative in particular is taking the world by storm - kombucha. Gillian Chen & Zech Pharamond, co-founders of MyBoocha, tell us more about what kombucha is, and how they’ve grown from drink-making hobbyists to full-fledged entrepreneurs.
Image Credit: Myboocha Facebook Official
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iCARES Tech provides a convenient yet secure visitor control system to the client which intends to eliminate the duplication of access card issues, provide traceable records as well as create a more secure living community. This property security management app has now expanded from Malaysia to Singapore as well.
They won third place in the recent ASB101k Competition Start-up Track and TBV Capital has invested a 6-figure amount into iCare. Franky Foo, co-founder, shares their expansion plans.
Image Credit: Integrated Community and Resident System Facebook Official
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Inspired by George Harrison of The Beatles, Harriston Chocolates started out in 2005 in Malaysia as Cocoa Boutique by SC Teng. Taking the brand further are sisters Queenie and Wei Tzyy who now own Harriston Boutique, Signature and Chocolatier. They join the conversation as they unfold their sweet journey in the confectionery industry.
Image Credit: Harriston Chocolate Official Facebook
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Our roads here in Malaysia are not without problems. No matter where you live, whether it’s the Klang valley or elsewhere, there is no doubt that you will have encountered a pothole or two? But other than driving around it and complaining, is there anything else that you can do? RepotLah is a one stop reporting platform to report non emergency issues in Malaysia. See a pothole? Repotlah! Someone smoking where they shouldn’t? Repotlah! These reports will then be sent to the relevant authorities. We speak with the founder Keasavan Hari Krishnan about how he hopes to solve some of the problems that we encounter on a daily basis.
Image Credit: Reportlah
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Sister duo Sim Li & Heidi Aw started off selling handbags and accessories, but with the launch of their multifunctional fitness bag came a wave of demand for more athletic wear. With that, they’ve since expanded into creating an entire lifestyle brand focusing on being happy, healthy, and comfortable. What could possibly be next?
Image Credit: LIVLOLA Official Website
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Embracing the gifts of nature, biotech company Life Origin focuses on producing environmentally friendly and sustainable protein by using food waste and disposable media. Life Origin produces high-quality sustainable insect protein and oil from Black Soldier Fly larvae utilising trace-able organic waste as feed for the larvae. Founder, Sio Chun Jia and Operation Production, Julius Au, return for a follow-up from their 2019 interview with a new identity - the winner of ASB 101K Competition Start-Up Track.
Image Credit: Life Origin
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BossBoleh is a digital company secretary platform that helps entrepreneurs incorporate Sdn Bhd companies online. We speak to CEO Billy Lee about using AI to automate the registration process, the major barriers for entry into the market, as well as how Boss Boleh plans to scale and ensure recurring income from its customers.
Image Credit: Boss Boleh Facebook Official
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EcoQueen is a marketplace that gathers sustainable beauty, personal care, and sells lifestyle products made by eco-conscious and ethical local brands. EcoQueen’s goal is to provide a community with opportunities to make more conscious decisions that could benefit not only themselves but also the environment. Kirubaleni Arul Dass, Director & Co-Founder of EcoQueen discusses the Malaysian’s path to sustainability.
Image Credit: EcoQueen Facebook Official
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From a two-person team receiving and packing orders from their kitchen tables and living rooms in September 2019, Wishful have now grown to a team of over 15 dedicated creative and operational talents with a mission to curate purposeful, practical and beautiful gifts that make an impact and create a lasting impression.
Image Credit: wishful.my Official
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When it comes to sustainability, it is about preserving the environment, of course, but also about preserving elements of culture, art, and design for the future. Noelle Kan, founder of batik fashion brand Kanoe, espouses her passion for batik design as well as her steps towards creating a wholly sustainable brand.
Image Credit: Kanoe Official Facebook Page
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Recently winning Asia's Most Promising SMEs at the Asia Corporate Excellence & Sustainability Awards (ACES 2021), Complete Human Network is an enterprise mobility company that provides Enterprise Mobility-as-a-Service (EMaaS) for businesses to set-up an end-to-end mobile ecosystem. Teh Chai Peng, CEO of Complete Human Network speaks to us as she unfolds her business journey and operations.
Image Credit: Complete Human Network
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KERB is a marketplace/platform business connecting car park space owners with drivers. It began in 2016 in Australia as a mobile app to optimise under-utilised parking spaces in residential properties, and recently entered the Malaysian market for a new challenge. We speak to Regional Director of Kerb Southeast Asia David Albaiceta about providing solutions for a neglected segment, working with residential and commercial partners to optimise space in the Klang Valley, as well as if sharing bays will be enough to solve our parking woes.
Image credit: KERB Official LinkedIn Page
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Next Generation Oil (Group) is a Malaysian based company that has developed a commercially viable process for the cultivation of microalgae and the extraction of carbon neutral crude algae oil, on an industrial scale. Dato Indera Mohamed Moiz, Executive Chairman and Melvin Rohan, its COO, join the conversation to discuss the future of energy generation.
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What do two café owners do, stuck in the middle of a pandemic, unable to just sit still and wait it out? Why, they open another F&B venture, of course. Their mission is very simple – to show everyone, especially non-vegans who have a very negative perception of vegan foods/cakes – that vegan goodies can be as tasty, if not tastier, than non-vegan goodies, and definitely friendlier to animals.
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One thing’s for sure, the pandemic has taught us you cannot be prepared for everything. However, you can most certainly try your best to be prepared, and what better reflects that in life than applying for insurance? The matter of insurance can get complicated, confusing, and inconvenient, so John Tan, CEO of online insurance aggregator Fatberry, explains his idea to simplify the entire process and his hopes for the future of Fatberry.
To find out more, visit Fatberry at: fatberry.com
Image Credit: Fatberry Official Website
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Research found that 50.1% of adult Malaysians are either overweight or obese. PB Health is a social enterprise aiming to improve Malaysians’ health by eating clean. They curate tasty and healthy plant-based meals, and have programmes where consumers’ health is guided and monitored by doctors and nutritionists. Co-founder of PB Health, Tim Polkowski, expounds.
Image Credit: PB Health Official Website
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Troopers was founded in 2017; since October 2021, they have achieved an average turnover of approximately RM5 million and a total headcount of 130,000. Focusing on part-time recruitment, human resource management and event consulting, its founder Joshua Tan unfolds what it takes to be in the gig economy.
Image Credit: Troopers Official Website
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Cultivated from the passion to save the environment, Palmy is a lifestyle brand that specialises in beautifully handcrafted paper and textile goods made from agricultural waste such as pineapple leaves, banana, stems and bamboo shoots.
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Book lovers know the feeling well - there are certain paperbacks you’ve read time and time again that are falling apart, hardbacks with the pages slowly coming away from the cover, but you can’t bring yourself to throw away the literature that gave you such joy. So instead of having to discard, what about giving your pre-loved books a new life? Philip Yong Kee Chung, founder of pre-loved bookstore BUKU, discusses his passion for pre-loved books and his unique approach in trusting his customers with a totally unmanned retail experience.
Image Credit: The Star Malaysia
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Pete Teo & Lisa Ngan, Founders of A Little Farm On The Hill Description: Husband and wife team musician-filmmaker Pete Teo and architect Lisa Ngan bought the farm 10 years ago. Over the years, in addition to it being an organic farm, it has turned into a community space of sorts for food and other activities. How sustainable has it been and what keeps them going? Pete and Lisa look back and share their journey and future plans.
Image Credit: A Little Farm on The Hill Facebook Page
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Ai Phing Goh, Founder of Florette The Label, has been trying to change the designer landscape, breaking old stereotypes, and making fashionable clothes affordable since 2018. She is a one-woman show for Florette the Label, which currently possesses almost 18 thousand loyal followers on Instagram, and joins the conversation as she shares her journey diving into the fashion industry.
Image Credit: Florette The Label Official Facebook Page
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Established in 2010, WQ Park Health & Rehabilitation Centre is a one-stop centre providing comprehensive rehabilitative services following injury and illness to patients of all ages from children to adults. Their services include paediatric rehabilitation, adult rehabilitation, general clinic and more. Farah Nawal Zulkharnain, CEO of WQ Park shares its journey and sheds light on a park for healing.
Image Credit: WQ Park LinkedIn Page
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MyFarm Lab is a social enterprise that empowers socio-economically disadvantaged communities through sustainable agro-technology solutions. They’ve recently formed a strategic partnership with MySkills Foundation to set up a Microgreen facility in its Kalumpang Campus. We speak with the COO Kamalan Rajagopalu and CEO Thanaselan Rajendran about the future of microgreens, urban farming and how this initiative could be expanded nationwide.
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Combining science and nature and working together Asian skin scientists to sustainably utilise this Asian flora, B&B Labs unlocks the magic of their cosmeceutical potential for high performance skincare. Co-founder and CEO of B&B Labs, Julius Lim discusses more.
Image Credit: B&B Labs Official Facebook Page
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The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every industry and person in the world. While most have been negative it has also certainly led to some interesting unintended effects that from certain perspectives, are more positive in nature. Take for instance the used car industry, sales have gone up over the past two years, owing to a series of factors including the semiconductor shortages in the manufacturing of new vehicles as well as customers in general looking to tighten their purse strings. However, with the purchase of a used vehicle, comes the topic of extended warranties - a necessary service that unfortunately has a less than ideal reputation amongst consumers. We speak with Jonathan Tham, CEO of Guard My Ride on how this reputation can be adjusted.
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Unfortunately, there are many unnecessarily gendered products out there. From razors to toys to even pens, it seems like anything can be strangely stuck to this outdated notion. So what’s the issue? Do products really need to be designed and marketed in this way? How about the products that we assume are only for one side of the customer demographic - could there be a better alternative? Dr. John Tang, founder of medical device company Twin Catalyst, explains their unisex contraceptive device called Wondaleaf, and their take on creating products that benefit people on all sides of the spectrum.
Image Credit: Wondaleaf Official Website
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Scentses + Co. is Malaysia’s designer perfume subscription service that allows subscribers to discover different designer perfumes every month. Sadira Yeong, a 26-year-old University Malaya graduate who is the Founder of Scentses + Co shares her journey with us with the mission to inspire and intrigue more consumers into the perfume world.
Image Credit: Scentses + Co. Official Facebook Page
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Kejap Food is the new drive-thru in town offering local delights like Nasi Lemak, Karipap or Teh Tarik on the go. We speak to the team behind Kejap Food about their local food drive-thru concept, the recent cash injection from Kawan Food’s, and their plans to make local delicacies a drive-thru convenience for everyone.
Image Credit: Kejap Food Official Website
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Sustenir has the ambition to improve health spans of consumers by growing fresh superfoods at the heart of Asia's mega cities. Through their disruptive superfoods growing technology that's the world's 1st ISO22000-certified indoor farm, they serve their consumers with the freshest locally grown produce. Their philosophy is that eating well will not just add years to your life, but life to your years. CEO Jack Moy joins us to discuss their sustainable foods for a more sustainable future.
Image Credit: Sustenir Malaysia Official Facebook Page
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Gyoza For Life offers Innovative and Premium quality handmade Gyozas (also known as Dumplings). They take something that's been traditionally done for thousands of years and they spin it with their out of the box flavours like Bak Kut Teh, Thai Kra Pao, and Japanese Curry.
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In times of crisis, it can be terrifying to have to wait for minutes or even hours on end for assistance; when it comes to emergency situations, efficient and effective service is the goal. Syaril Mirza, founder of towing operator aggregator ResQ, had his own brush with crisis when his car broke down and instead of being beaten down by the experience, sparked this business idea with the determination to solve the inefficiencies of the towing industry and the goal of turning the reputation of towing services towards trustworthy.
Image Credit: ResQ Official Facebook Page
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Sleep wellness engineering startup Girafthepillow spent 17 years of research and development to create a pillow that will supposedly help enhance your sleep, posture and much more. We speak to engineer turned entrepreneur Ken Leong about disrupting the sleep industry, getting consumers to invest in their Zzz’s, and putting a price on a good night’s sleep.
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Food Market Hub is an end-to-end procurement management platform that automates all back-end operations for F&B businesses. It is currently building towards the future of F&B by enabling this massively underserved segment with a complete ecosystem covering sourcing, supply chain and financing. Founder, Anthony See, and Co-Founder, Shayna Teh joins us to discuss more.
Image Credit: Food Market Hub Official Facebook Page
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Malaysia has been leading the Islamic digital economy for 8 years driven by a strong Shariah-compliant finance ecosystem and creative initiatives. However, to keep pace with global innovations, Malaysia needs more than just talent, funds and education. Forward-thinking, tech-centric service providers are necessary to mature Malaysia’s Islamic digital economy so that it can offer a wider range of services in the ever-growing fintech space. Chee Yong Mok, Managing Director of Cardtrend Systems, a homegrown digital economy enabler, believes that with more Islamic fintech industry players, a healthy competition will be created among local fintech solution providers.
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There’s an old stereotype regarding Asian families where their progeny are pressured into being doctors, engineers, or lawyers; but as the pandemic raged on, many took to the risky business of entrepreneurship instead. Ivor Lim Xian Z and Chew Hoi Meng, lawyers-turned-co-founders of natural beauty brand hygr, discuss the way they utilised the jumping off point of a viral TikTok for long-term victory, the struggles they faced that drove them towards creating this side hustle, and how sometimes defying the norm is the key to success.
Image Credit: Shutterstock | hygr. Official Facebook Page
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Wa Sushi is an F&B Ecommerce company, building “Quality Food-Made For Delivery” as they sell quality Japanese cuisine. They are the new boys in the cloud kitchen industry and also one of the top 20 Companies of ScaleUp Malaysia Cohort 3 and have successfully raised funds through ECG as well as from Quest Ventures. We speak to Felex Tan, founder and CEO of Wa Sushi to explore more on the quest for cloud kitchens.
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Lips Carpenter is a clean, sustainable, personalised beauty brand founded in Malaysia back in 2018. Their flagship product is a range of handcrafted custom-made lipstick, which allow customers to choose the shade, scent, casing of the lipstick, and have it engraved for the full-personalised beauty shopping experience. Founder Yifon Law talks to us about building a one-of-a-kind beauty brand, educating consumers about safe, sustainable, clean cosmetics, and the challenges they’ve met and overcome along the way.
Image Credit: Lips Carpenter Official Website
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Midwest Composites design and manufacture Advanced Composites and Biobased Composites for customers that want to use futuristic materials in their products and these include Aerospace, Mass Transit, Automotive & Military in Malaysia. They consult, design, prototype and manufacture for all Advanced Composites & Biocomposites needs. They also develop Biobased Composites utilising Natural Fibres and Resins to produce environmentally friendly plastics that can reduce the usage of non-recyclable plastics. Sethu Raaj Munusamy, founder of Midwest Composites, whose dream is to build spaceships with his composite materials joins us to discuss his space in the industry.
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BeWell by Shirly offers programmes that are designed to help participants improve their overall wellness through the consumption of proper nutrition and developing a deeper understanding of their body and its needs. The programmes are easily accessible through online sessions and are designed to fit into any lifestyle.
The creator of BeWell Shirly Tiong brings her expertise in pharmacology and nutrition together to help her clients build better eating habits that will cater to their needs.
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Many people during the pandemic took their day to day hobbies and monetised them into either side hustles or full fledged businesses, but of course that wasn’t purely pandemic-driven. In fact, way before that in 2015, Nur Shafinaz Binti Abdul Rahman decided to take her baking hobby to the next level, with husband and co-founder Hidzad Bin Lahuree joining later. Hidzad shares the process of making your hobby your career, their trials and tribulations throughout the pandemic, and how through all that they remain a steadfast staple of the Shah Alam bakery-cafe scene.
Image Credit: Cake Jalan Tiung Official Facebook Page
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Jazro is a robotics education company which aims to develop Digital Talents in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematic (STEM) education fields with specially curated content for students from the age of 5-17 years. Dzulfarqeish Zainuddin, Founder of Jazro tells us how he jazzes up the robotics education industry.
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Kuala Lumpur City FC is leading the pack when it comes to independent futsal teams moving away from dependency of state funds. They run the club like a business, and recently even introduced pay-per-view for fans to watch live games, effectively changing the culture of fan participation and monetisation of the sport. We speak to Founder, Technical Director and “Coach” Jerry Dinesh Pireira, about all things Business, Futsal and Money.
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Kumo develops SaaS solutions for SMEs in the beauty and medical aesthetics industry. Under their umbrella of products they have developed Aoikumo and Kumodent. Aoikumo serves the beauty, wellness, and medical aesthetics industry and KumoDent serves dental clinics. Essentially, they provide systems to help owners manage their business, while they can focus on growth. Kevin Nair, founder of Aoikumo, tells us how he clears the confusion clouds in the industry.
Image Credit: Aoikumo Official Website
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If you bought yourself a bunch of houseplants during the pandemic, you were far from alone. Many Malaysians exercised their green thumbs during the lockdown and even helped to keep some nurseries in business as they turned their business online. But for those of us that might not have been successful in keeping our green friends in the best of health, there might be a helping hand. Plantonic. It’s the world’s first 4 in 1 organic fertiliser essence that is environmentally friendly, non toxic and safe for children and pets - and it’s made entirely from plant-based ingredients.
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What if you took the feelings of indulgence, sensation, and pleasure that we associated with snacks and married them to the classic marketing adage that sex, indeed, sells? Ho Yeou Shen, founder and creative director of tudòs, and tudòs’ copywriter, Chong Yoke Sim, discuss their very cheeky marketing strategy of risqué branding for their satisfying snacks.
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Howuku is an online platform that offers an all-in-one web optimisation and analytics solution. They provide a set of easy to use UX testing tools to help you visually understand your visitors so you can focus on improving conversion rates. Now part of ScaleUp Malaysia’s latest cohort, founder & CEO Donald Ng explains future plans and possibilities.
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The creative design space is ripe for change. Outsourcing graphic designs no longer have to be costly and time-consuming, and the guys behind creative service startup Brandripe have perfected the process with their flat-fee subscription plans. We speak to co-founder and CEO Abby Kury about how they’re making creative digital assets accessible to all, helping businesses scale their creative output, and their plans to make Malaysia the global hub for creatives.
Image Credit: Brandripe Official Facebook Page
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SpareXHub provides an e-commerce marketplace for genuine auto spare parts. They believe “Every Part Has A Car” and this marketplace brings together automotive stockists, independent workshops and car owners in Malaysia’s first platform, where heavily discounted & guaranteed genuine car parts are sourced and sold in complete confidence. It aims to provide its customers with easy access to discounted original spare parts for affordable prices. Brahmamanda Maniam & Devindran Ramanathan share their 100 years of experience with us.
Registration link of SpareXHub: https://www.sparexhub.com/register.
Image Credit: Sparexhub Official Facebook Page
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What was considered a dietary fad is now a global movement growing at a fast pace. In the last ten years, we have seen global numbers of vegan options multiply by more than seven times, especially among the under 35’s. The consumer revolution is quietly taking place already, even in Malaysia. Leading this movement here in Malaysia is La Juiceria. We catch up with co-founder Anabelle to see how her business has changed over the years to reflect this change.
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With the boom in virtual and remote lessons, it’s difficult to remember that there was a time not long ago that taking online classes was a strange concept, often met with scepticism. Ng Ying Chow, founder of open educational platform 30EdTech, explains how the platform differs from traditional schools, why 30EdTech uses a freemium model, and why online learning will continue going strong.
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ResourceCo Asia is an industry player in waste recycling and waste management in Malaysia and Asia. It is a pioneer in the region for converting commercial and industrial waste into alternative energy; specifically, alternative fuels for the cement industry. It owns the region’s first waste to energy (WtE) processing plant – a state-of-the-art facility in Ipoh designed for the production of Processed Engineered Fuel (PEF) – a Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) processed from non-recyclable waste. Pavel Cech, Managing Director of ResourceCo Asia tells us all.
Image Credit: ResourceCo Asia (M) Sdn Bhd Official Facebook Page
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Intelino Sdn Bhd are revolutionising the way the hotels and hospitals manage their linen. Powered by IoT, RFID and other cutting-edge tech, their cloud-based Linen Management System addresses some of the major pain points in the industry, plus cash flow issues that have been plaguing hoteliers over the course of the pandemic. We speak with COO Benny Quah about their empowering hotels, hospitals and laundry plants with technology, and plans to expand their footprint all over Malaysia.
Image Credit: Intelino Official Website
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Guruinovatif is a platform that provides complete online resources for Teachers' Professional Development. An initiative started by Dr. Zulfikar Alimuddin out in Indonesia to help teachers adapt to the digital world, sharing content such as adapting to post-pandemic teaching, effective communication, vertical teaching and other useful insights. Part of the ongoing ScaleUp cohort and undergoing business development, Pak Zul explains the pain points of modern educators and how Guruinovatif fills that gap.
Image Credit: GuruInovatif.id Official Facebook Page
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Pgeon, a last mile delivery service, has recently introduced Pgeon Care+, an insurance programme catering to their part time delivery drivers. They are the first delivery service company in Malaysia to offer insurance to part time riders, in a move to spearhead efforts to ensure every employee is taken care of. We discuss with Clarence why he felt the need to spearhead this movement.
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The beauty and skincare industry has found a deep anchor in the ideas of self-care and clean beauty. But what defines a beauty product that is legitimately “clean” or “all-natural”? What are the benefits beyond the buzzword hype? And what goes into the manufacturing and price point of creating these products? Charlotte Chua, founder of vegan and cruelty-free deodorant brand Joi, tells all.
Image Credit: Joi Official Facebook Page
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Hav.Life is a platform that rewards steps to fitness, an app that can be found on the Google Play Store. A member of the current cycle for ScaleUp Malaysia, we understand the motivations behind a fitness startup and the challenges that they wish to resolve in our community. The founder, Abdul Paravengal sheds some light on how steps count in the overall wellbeing of Malaysians.
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The Parent Inc., formerly known as Tickled Media, is a tech company that aims to help 100 million parents have healthy pregnancies, and raise healthy families. They do this via the Asian parent community app and other digital platforms using cutting edge tech, to develop content, community-building and commerce for the mum and child space. Regional Head of Growth and General Manager of Malaysia Sarah Voon talks to us about the evolution of the TPI brand, their innovative offerings, and the challenges in designing a holistic, safe space for parents and all their growing-family needs.
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Tumboh is a social enterprise that produces plant-based products which started less than a year ago aims to find a sustainable way to constantly give back to the underprivileged community. Co-founders Lam Min Yong, the CEO and Amir Omar Anuar, the COO unfold their journey with us.
Image Credit: Tumboh.Co Official Website
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INFINITY8’s story began in 2017, with a 1400 sq ft first floor lot and just 4 coworkers - but with a bursting passion for community building. Since setting up their first coworking space, INFINITY8 has continued to develop functional and creative spaces to enhance productivity, collaboration and innovation. Now they’re venturing out of their native Johor into the Klang Valley.
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With the rise of technology over the years, it feels like putting pen to paper is almost a lost art. But with their eighth year in the business, it’s clear that Stickerrific, a stationery and art supply store, is still going strong regardless. Founder, Szetoo Weiwen, discusses the longevity of the business and how they managed to sail through the pandemic.
Image Credit: Stickerrific Official Website
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In conjunction with International Women’s Day this year, we speak with entrepreneur, instructor and fulltime mom Michelle Ho on what it takes to find success in all areas of life.
Image Credit: Kinder Soaps Official Facebook Page
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How do you stand out in a crowded marketplace, whether you’re a business or an individual? Co-founders of PopCon, Yandaro Al Amien and Nina Sharil Khan “pop confusions” and tell us how to make more impact in your marketplace.
Image Credit: PopConfest Official Facebook Page
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L Dairy is a dairy product company that specialises in producing dairy products, mostly cheese. They produce not just any cheese, but cheese made of local buffalo milk. We speak to the co-founders of L Dairy, Matthew O’Shea and Biren Mohan, to understand more about the modern operations and the future of the dairy industry.
Image Credit: L Dairy Official Facebook Page
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What does it take to sell shoes to millions of people in a market that is already saturated with footwear brands? Since its humble beginnings in Wangsa Maju over 2 decades ago, XES Shoes now has over 120 stores all across Malaysia. Founder and Managing Director, Simpson Wong Kean Hin truly believes that to produce high-quality footwear, one needs to understand the skill, dedication, and attention that goes into the craft, from the most minute details such as stitching, to the materials that make the shoe body. We hear from him about what it takes to keep striding through a pandemic.
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One of the many cheese platter companies in Malaysia, Cheese Platter KL, launched in December 2020 with only RM1000 as capital and now have been acknowledged as one of the best cheese platters in the biz. Co-founder Jessy Chahal goes into more detail about how they found such quick success, what makes them stand out from the crowd, and their plans for the future.
Image Credit: Cheese Platter KL Official Facebook Page
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American born Malaysian dubbed a controversial designer Anuar Faizal, discusses his foray into fashion from accounting - and his role as National Director of Miss Charm Malaysia.
Image Credit: Anuar Faizal Official Facebook Page
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Time and Money. A Warehouse Management System (WMS) can literally save you this, plus increase employee productivity and optimise workflow. So why are business owners still apprehensive about investing in a WMS? And why is a two-decade old IT solutions company like Intelli-Mark earmarking the WMS segment for major future growth? We get the details from Intelli-Mark themselves.
Image Credit: Intelli-Mark Official Facebook Page
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Nuren Group is a content, community, and commerce platform comprising several websites that follow women from getting married to entering motherhood. Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Petrina Goh founded Nuren with her husband in 2013, after working for five years with CIMB’s proprietary investment arm. We explore more as we speak to Petrina, one of Southeast Asia’s Top 50 Rising Women In Tech 2021.
Image Credit: Nuren Group Official Website
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Hawkr is a micro kitchen and home-food-focused delivery platform and business solution. Founded in 2020, Hawkr specialises in empowering budding home cooks to successfully set up and grow their own micro kitchen business through hands-on business and marketing solutions on top of their food delivery services. Hawkr currently features more than 100 home-cooked meal brands and is now available in the Klang Valley and Penang.
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Waste has become a massive issue during the pandemic, with the usage of disposable materials skyrocketing. Vince Koay and MC Leong, co-founders of AiruFlo, are determined to combat the issue by creating eco-friendly, durable, reusable masks that work well, look good, and help reduce disposable mask waste.
Image Credit: AiruFlo Official Facebook Page
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The physical activity market is booming with an estimated value of USD12.9 billion across the region, particularly in a post-pandemic era with fitness activities getting back into full swing. Looking to tap into this more holistic market, HeyJom has just announced an equity crowdfunding initiative that aims to garner RM2 million in funding. How do they plan to do this and what are the future plans? Co-founders Patricia Tan and James Tan discuss.
Image Credit: HeyJom Official Facebook Page
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One-stop collaborative logistics provider Pickupp Malaysia is forging ahead in its efforts to transform the logistics landscape in Malaysia through technology. Since its foray into Malaysia a few years ago, it has succeeded in blending machine learning and automation with dynamic scalability to boost supply chain efficiencies and optimise last-mile deliveries. We speak with Country Manager Navin Kandapper about how they plan to do more than just “Pickupp" the logistics game here in Malaysia.
Image Credit: Pickupp Official Website
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Founded in 2018 by Shah Farid Rashid, Fasih Mandarin is a Certified Language Center established with one goal in mind: to help people with no prior foundation in Mandarin master the language through the easiest and most effective methods. Shah Rashid joins us to elaborate on his brainchild, and their goals for furthering Mandarin proficiency in Malaysia.
Image Credit: Fasih Mandarin Official Facebook Page
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It’s hard to dismiss the fact that plant-based diets are on the increase worldwide. Next Gen is a Singapore based company behind the TiNDLE product. TiNDLE is Chicken made from plants and can, apparently, ‘taste exactly like, if not better than chicken from birds’; after their fairly successful launch in Malaysia, COO Alex Ward tells us about their bold plans for revolutionising meat-free options globally.
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For festive seasons, it can be nice for the entire family to look like a cohesive unit and for everyone to have their best feet forward; but how do you accommodate comfortable, stylish, and bright clothes that suit the whole family without visiting multiple outlets? Jay Liow & Ameera Loh, two of the three co-founders of Umbi Kids, a family-friendly clothing company, talk about their passion for family fashion and how they’ve designed apparel for every single member, big and small.
Image Credit: Umbi Kids Official Facebook Page
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1 out of 12 Malaysians is an older person, and the numbers of older persons are likely to increase to 11% of the Malaysian population, at 3.3 million people by 2020. Between 2020 and 2046, Malaysia’s 65+ population will double from 7% to 14%. Homage is a tech company that provides on-demand holistic non-medical and medical services to seniors and adults, allowing them to age and recover at home with grace, control and dignity. PC Gan, Country Manager for Homage Malaysia and Gillian Tee, Founder and CEO of Homage based out of Singapore discuss more on this.
Image Credit: Homage Malaysia Official Facebook Page
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Launched in 2018, SKALE offers customizable solutions for large corporations and a self-service platform for SMEs, designed to drive shoppers to physical stores, triggering sales conversion and to collect relevant offline data such as shopper footfall, in-store sales, and first-party data. Founder Yuet Whey Siah elaborates on designing a go-to marketing solution for retailers, and her focus on enabling offline businesses to grow in-store sales at a time when everyone else has their sights set on e-commerce.
Image Credit: LS Retail
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Matt Armitage with another of his quirky yet insightful technology topics.
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Gaia Plas was established in 2006 as a plastic manufacturer and the one-stop packaging solution provider. Trained as a secretary and with her first job as a loan officer with a bank, Norsharina Mohd Shahar of Gaia Plas is now an Executive Chairman and Founder of the company. She is also a nominee for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year award for the Woman Entrepreneur category. We speak to her to discuss more and Gaia Plas' most recent product, eJau: BioHybrid resin.
Image Credit: Gaia Plas Official Website
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Just over a year ago we spoke with Izzati and Faizah as they set out on their business venture, Refill Houz. Fast forward a year, and they've pivoted into another product that is inline with their passion of zero waste. The girls landed on a product that they hope will make a safer and more sustainable period care product that is accessible to women everywhere, the Suci Cup.
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Malaysians know full well what it’s like to be proud of our food, but we’re not the only country in the Southeast Asian region to carry that pride. Our cohorts in the Philippines, for example, have taken the world by storm with their signature fast food chain, Jollibee. But Jollibee has entered the Malaysian market - and left it - once before. Why has the chain returned - and why now? Dennis Flores, president of international business of Jollibee, for Europe, the Middle East, Australia and of course, Asia, tells all.
Image Credit: Shutterstock | at.rma
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Hasilwan was established in 1989 to provide integration specialisation solutions alongside their partners. Their strategic partnerships are evident through their track-record as system integrators of power infrastructure, engineering solution providers, and suppliers of products & services. Chief Executive Officer & Director at Hasilwan, Yong Sien Wae, discusses their strategies for the future and how they’re incorporating environmental concerns and sustainability issues into their business practices.
Image Credit: Facebook | Hasilwan Malaysia
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From thermometers and latex gloves to dental instruments and medical consumables, Lumiere32 is on a mission to supply world-class dental and medical products using best-of-breed technological infrastructure. The plan is to bridge the distribution gap between dealers and clinicians via an online B2B platform to become a single touchpoint to connect manufacturers, distributors, medical & dental professionals across the region. We speak to Founder and COO Dr. Priti Bhole about tackling the Malaysian market, adapting to stringent standards and best practices across the region, and how they plan to change the game in the dental and medical supplies space.
Image Credit: Shutterstock | Chaay_Tee
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Since taking over the reins in 2015, Ooi Lay Pheng has transformed Berjayapak from a traditional family business supplying wood pallets into an integrated industrial packaging solutions company, serving multinational corporations in Malaysia and overseas. The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2021 Nominee shares her journey in transforming the business to meet modern demands.
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Rumah-i provide integrated property management expertise across all areas of real estate and at every stage of the property rental cycle. With a simple vision – to be the best forward-thinking provider of property management services in the market, giving clients and end-users the highest level of service.
With an interesting approach to how they deal with contracts, Rumah-i are hoping to disrupt the property market locally.
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Sanren Journey is an artisanal laundry brand hailing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Founded in 2020, the brand is dedicated to elevating and improving everyday life through crafted laundry products. Spearheaded by two founders, the brand is constantly working to expand its product range with more products that can enhance day-to-day tasks. We speak to Herne Gan, co-founder of Sanren Journey about the journey that led to Sanren Journey.
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ATX (M) SDN BHD is a MSC status company specialising in the IT, Telecommunication and Services industry in Malaysia. Recognised as a top 50 rising startup in South East Asia, ATX provides e-wallet providers, traditional retail stores and kiosks with digital payments through their extensive payments network that includes more than 31,000 touch points. CEO Sashie Kumar Kovindasamy talks to us about their growth, and what to expect after their recent acquisition.
Image Credit: Shutterstock | wong yu liang
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On a mission to transform Malaysia’s fitness ecosystem, local fitness entrepreneur, Chang Yi Hern has recently acquired the homegrown, multi-award winning sportswear brand, Ultron Sportswear. With this acquisition, Chang aims to provide Malaysians with greater and more convenient access to locally-manufactured running apparel and gear, while adding to the fitness ecosystem that he’s looking to build.
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One of the biggest concerns for parents is making sure their little ones are growing up healthy and happy. But parents who have fussy eaters may struggle in this regard, and that’s where Singapore-based children’s food company HaruPlate steps in. As parents themselves, co-founders Chen Shiqin and Irvin Tan discuss how HaruPlate started as a solution to their own kid food problems, and how they aim to help other parents with their jams, sauces, and other kid-friendly treats.
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How would you like to be surprised by a message from a celebrity? Well, just Holla. Holla is a celebrity engagement platform where fans get Shoutouts with their favourite artists, performers, personalities and influencers. Is this a fad or will this be a growing phenomenon?
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Neelesh Bhatia, CEO and co-founder of Singapore-based edtech startup, Akadasia talks to us about their newly launched digital ecosystem to empower educators. Freejoo allows educators to access pedagogy-based professional development courses to upskill their teaching, use digital tools to design engaging lessons, and collaborate and network with one another respectively. How is this a game-changer? And how can a "one-size fits all” approach work when it comes to teacher training?
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Load2Go is a large truck logistics company. They don’t just deliver parcels. They deliver containers. To date, they have made 15,000 bookings and generated total 12 million sales revenues with over 2000 drivers. The brainchild of Ivan Seah shares more about his journey.
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Commerce.Asia is an All in One eCommerce ecosystem that integrates best of breed technology solutions, talent development programmes and big data insights for South East Asian businesses to succeed online. We catch up with Executive Chairman Ganesh Bangah and his quest to raise RM20 million.
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Would you bet on the King of Fruits? A recent claim by the Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture revealed durian as a new source of agricultural wealth. With an estimated global market size of US$18.72 billion in 2019 and a projected reach of US$30 billion by 2025, could durian investments be the next wave for financial protection?
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While urban businesses get to eye the fresh business tools like buy-now-pay-later or e-wallets, business owners in underdeveloped areas are still struggling with basic infrastructure needs, digital penetration and seamless logistics. This is why Quinton Group established a platform to provide a value-added digital ecosystem for the underserved communities in Malaysia. We speak to CEO Dato Alvin Ooi about empowering small business growth across rural Malaysia, and what else needs to be done to close the urban-rural digital gap in the country.
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HelloFoods is a data-driven food company that focuses on providing choices for their customers. Through the use of data for development of brands and distribution of cloud kitchens, they aim to cater to a world with ever changing taste.
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There has been a rising focus on healthier alternatives to our favourite treats. What are our options, and more importantly, do they match up to the “real” sweets? Anas Norman and Kn Norman, masters of communications and branding respectively at Sugalite, a boutique OEM company specialising in alternative sweeteners, shed some light on the issue.
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Automation has become more prevalent in our society especially with the advent of IR 4.0; Lim Chee How, CEO of AI vision tech company, Tapway, explains what AI vision tech is, the surprising variety of uses for it, and how the company has evolved over the course of the pandemic.
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SmartPeep is an AI health-tech company that develops automated monitoring system to prevent accidents and assist healthcare professionals to respond better towards patients and elderly. They aim to revolutionise elderly care by leveraging AI technology to provide better health, safety and well-being for the seniors through their AI monitoring system which monitors, tracks and detects anomalies via Deep Tech.
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The B2B trade flow is more complicated and tedious than B2C, and this made it harder for B2B businesses to transform digitally over the course of the pandemic. We speak to TK Chuah, CEO of Boostorder - an all-in-one B2B commerce enabler about speeding up the digital transformation shift amongst B2B businesses, using automation, actionable insights and fintech.
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eMLab solutions are natural based biological engineers. They are utilising effective microorganisms to get net zero carbon emissions, thus reducing climate change impact and moving towards carbon neutrality by 2050. eMLab develops carbon sequestration solutions for industry, companies and municipalities to reduce their carbon emissions. We discuss the innovation behind this cutting edge solution with Munira Shahbuddin.
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After fulfilling their dream of opening up a restaurant making their favourite Peranakan food, and dealing with a newborn, Alicia and Derson were swiped sideways by the pandemic. No longer able to rely on dine-in customers to keep their business running reliably they had to quickly come up with something to help hold onto their business, their staff, and their sanity.
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As we look at goals for the new year, one thing to consider is picking up a new skill. Maybe you might want to take a programming course, or perhaps you’re thinking about joining that new spin class at the gym. Well, another option for those that have a bit of a sweet tooth could be learning some more advanced baking recipes. Shaku Ratha Krishnan, founder of Bake & Chill, a baking recipe box service, explains how she came up with the idea, how passionate she is about making “complicated” baking recipes accessible to all, and her plans for the future.
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Jungle House has a mission to build safe houses for local honeybee populations one hive at a time. We understand the motivations behind the founders in their pursuit of caring for and improving the lives of these honeybees, their keepers, and their environment.
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Food waste releases methane gas, a greenhouse gas which causes warming in the atmosphere. CH Green is a pioneer and leading Green Technology Company that specialises in the business of organic and food waste management. CH Green was selected as one of the winners in the Selangor Maritime Gateway (SMG) Innovation Challenge entitled Upcycling River Waste to Wealth and has taken part in MAGIC’s Social Impact Challenge Accelerator (SICA). We hear about the process from Ang Lee Kaw.
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Vircle is Malaysia’s First Parental-Controlled Nurturing Solution, teaching responsible spending and consumption habits. With the goal to involve kids in their financial planning, the founder Gokula Krishnan Subramaniam discusses with us the mechanics behind it, their growth thus far and their involvement with Endeavor’s ScaleUp.
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The pandemic has sparked a rush of entrepreneurship as many realise that they are no longer satisfied with the typical 9-5. But how can you make that transition easier? SMEGO is a platform for entrepreneurs and businesses to go digital; founder and CEO Dato’ Westin Chew explains how it streamlines the entrepreneurship process, why the existing tools aren’t enough, and their big plans for crowdfunding.
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Part of the Carro Group, MyTukar is the largest digital used car platform across ASEAN that offers a full-stack service for all aspects of car ownership. The discussion with Jeffery Ong touches on his aspirations for the expansion of MyTukar and insights on the growing Malaysian online second hand car market.
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Lily's Homemade is a gluten free, low carb, Keto and kid-friendly sausage maker that's disrupting the gourmet sausage industry in Malaysia. Despite being a relatively smaller player, they’re pressuring commercial sausage makers to not only lower their prices, but produce good quality and healthier options in the market. Founders Sam and Vicky Hammett talk to us about the struggle of being small and trying to compete in a big and expensive industry, how the pandemic accelerated the company’s growth, and how they plan to continue to disrupt the market for homemade sausages in Malaysia.
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Ray Go Solar was founded in 2012 by Dato Ray Tan with a mission of building a more sustainable world by making renewable energy a way of life. From a banker, he pursued his degree in solar engineering and proceeded to establish Ray Go Solar. Talking to us more about the company is the CEO himself.
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How much do we think about our impact on sustainability? Maybe we try to recycle tupperware, maybe we try composting, and maybe we participate in Meatless Mondays. But what about the very clothes on our backs? Ariff Faisal, founder and CEO of Kualesa, a direct-to-consumer online brand selling apparel made from bamboo textiles, shares his take on sustainability and his unique contribution to the world of sustainable fashion.
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From lecturing to starting 25 businesses, Haslinda Alias shares with us why she started Gogopasar, how she plans to uplift the B40s and the future of the business.
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It’s December and it’s that time of the year when we take stock of our year, the ups and downs and what prospered us as well as what lessons we need to learn. No one better than Jeevan Sahadevan, founder of Leverage Lab to take us through this process! Jeevan will go through 21 questions that will get us thinking hard and deep about our 2021 and extract the wins and lessons that will propel us forward in 2022!!
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Malaysia and its neighbouring countries have seen a significant increase in the number of on-demand deliveries. While they have been gaining traction in the market over the past years, the pandemic has truly caused a surge in demand due to travel restrictions and standard operating procedures (SOPs) implemented by the government to prevent the further spread of the COVID-19 virus. Since setting foot on Malaysian soil in 2018, MrSpeedy, recently rebranded to Borzo, has been at the forefront of this booming industry. We speak with Lingesh Thayala, Country Manager of Borzo about their efforts to create more jobs within the industry and their future expansion plans.
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Sometimes, your brilliant startup idea needs a little kickstart; whether that’s through a bootcamp for extra knowledge, an investor for extra funding, or a mentor for extra guidance. How do you find all those resources? Usha Perumal, CEO of startup incubation company Bluepreneur Asia, discusses that as well as their dedication to empowering startups who create solutions for ocean-based sustainability.
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Orangeleaf Consulting is the leading consultancy in Mendix Low-Code throughout APAC. The consultancy provides digitization and technology innovation consultancy services and custom software system development based on the low-code software development platform Mendix, which allows for software development that is 10 times faster than traditional software programming. Co-Founders Ellice and Tim Hendricks talk to us about Mendix, their achievements and navigating through their work and married life.
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In this, the final episode of Failing Forward, Renu and Audrey reminisce and recap some of the best startup and scaleup lessons they’ve learned from entrepreneurs they’ve featured on the show over the last two and a half years.
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Science Bridge Academy is on a mission to make learning science for primary and secondary school students fun. Dr Chua Hui Yen, the founder, talks to us about why she started the company, their syllabus and her plans for the future.
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Located in the heart of Chinatown, REXKL is an indoor art, retail and food hub. It occupies a historical building constructed before the Japanese occupation that survived three fires. Privileging the reclaimed and repurposed, architects Shin Tseng and Shin Chang give Rex Cinema a new lease of life as a community hub for events, theatre, performances, screenings, facilities, exhibitions and workshops.
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Incentivising your team is absolutely crucial to the success of your business, and through the ups and downs of the pandemic it can be tough to not only motivate your staff, but measure their performance. Shane Mun, founder of SME performance reward system Vimigo discusses why he’s so passionate about performance management, the idea behind gamifying the workplace, and how the company has grown bigger and better over time.
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Mesolitica trains AIs to understand the Malay language. Khalil Nooh, the Co-Founder and CEO of the company joins us to discuss why he started the company, the solutions he hopes to offer and his aspirations for it.
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Kon Onn Sein started OA Organik 5 years ago where he focused on empowering the Orang Asli through a one-of-a-kind fair trade community enterprise farm. He joins us today to discuss the inspiration behind it, how they have grown and more.
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In conjunction with International Children’s Day, we speak to Shailaja Grace Guillory, the CEO of Toothless. At the age of 7, she started her own business called Bloom Teas and she also has a charity organisation called Little Hands Big Hearts. Not only is she an entrepreneur but an author, philanthropist, and international speaker. She talks to us about her businesses, her aspirations and her why.
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In a recent article, it was mentioned that some 70-90 billion worth of assets, mostly owned by Malays, are unclaimed as of 2020. The article also stated that these assets were frozen and could not be disbursed immediately as their owners died without making wills or any proper inheritance plans. Octowill is a next-gen digital inheritance startup which leverages on patented blockchain based technology to conveniently offer legacy planning services such as will-writing, e-nomination of beneficiaries, and managing the distribution and custody of assets.
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Reza Cockrell, founder of The Habitat Penang Hill, discusses his movement towards business sustainability through eco-tourism, the goal of making Penang Hill a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and his response to the bounce-back of the post-pandemic local tourism industry.
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NeuXP is an integrated digital banking startup in Malaysia that provides an ecosystem with innovative services and leading-edge financial management tools. They address concerns of non-residents by extending beyond what's normally made available by other providers in Europe, USA and Asia. Jeremy Mah, the CEO tells us why he started NeuXP, its future plans, and more.
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Arvinthan Rengaraju and his wife, Chan Heng Leng used to be in the events and F&B business before their toy story came to life. The pandemic forced them to make a major pivot into the toy business, and eventually online warehouse sales, where they now sell well-known products by big brands for limited flash sale events, with discounts of up to 90%. The couple (with a special appearance from a surprise guest) talk to us about their harrowing adventure in the time of Covid, and what’s next for their platform and business dreams.
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Newton Eco Technology Sdn Bhd was founded in 2014 in Malaysia and is focused on the development of energy-saving technology as well as green energy applications. It is a one-stop integrated total energy management solutions provider operating across Southeast Asia, with a strong focus in Malaysia. Executive Director, Nicole Szeto joins us to discuss the challenges they face, growth plans and more.
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As we inch towards wrapping up 2021, one of the major lessons gained as a result of the pandemic is the importance of digitisation, especially for businesses to build and maintain their presence in the market. However, while implementing digital solutions has indeed been one of the most popular trends for business owners, many are still reluctant to digitise business processes due to a number of factors - lack of familiarity and pricing being the most prominent reasons. To this end, Wilstech, a Malaysian-based business digitalisation company and recent digital solutions partner of Selangor Information Technology & Digital Economy Corporation (SIDEC), aims to empower and elevate local SMEs.
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In the age of fast fashion and rampant consumerism, customers are beginning to take a longer, harder look at how they can keep up with the latest trends while keeping sustainability in mind. Thryffy, a fashion consumer-to-consumer marketplace app, is dedicated to helping Malaysians make the shift to thrift. Co-founder Azril Harahap discusses their mission of popularising pre-loved product purchases, as well as their exciting plans for expansion.
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Fetch Me Later is a boarding place for dogs that was founded in 2019, aiming to be the Disneyland for dogs, where pups can have a “pawsome day” or stay playing with their friends and get pampered with treats. Co-founder Sarah and Carlyn talk about being two self-proclaimed “dog-crazy women”, how they’ve been coping, and their passion for keeping everyone’s furry friends happy & healthy
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Qwork is a Malaysia-based staffing and recruiting platform that aims to empower talent and businesses to sustainably navigate the gig economy. We speak with CEO and co-founder Muna Munirah about building a specialised platform for giggers and connecting them with large and reputable organisations, the battle for fair pay and income security protections, as well as laying the foundation for the future of the flexi-work workforce.
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In 2020, the Malaysia Water Purifiers Market had a value of USD 353.2 million. By 2026, it is estimated to reach USD 653.10 million. A driving factor for this growth is the increasing concerns individuals have towards their health and well-being as they want to avoid the risk of drinking contaminated water. Intrix Group however has a convenient solution to this. They have developed a system where individuals will be able to drink water directly from their taps, which is unheard of in Malaysia. Tee Tone Vei, Founder of Intrix Group shares his plans on being a game changer in the water purifier market in Malaysia and his hopes for the company.
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With the rise of e-commerce and digitalisation, it’s more important than ever for SMEs to streamline their logistics and supply chain processes. Group CEO & co-founder of digital supply chain platform Hatio Group, Bernard Hor, discusses the company’s move from Korea to Malaysia, his passion for supporting Asian SMEs, and the trials and tribulations of the logistics sector.
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RECQA is a ready-to-use platform for knowledge sharing where users can upload their learnings through web links, video, documents, images and share these with other team members. Members also have the opportunity to connect with Subject Matter Experts should they have more questions and are in need of mentorship. Co-Founders Mazlita Mat Hassan and Sean Tay discuss why they started RECQA, their involvement with the Ministry of Education and more.
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As the year draws to a close and entrepreneurs get ready for the new year and the new things it will bring, Jeevan Sahadevan, Founder of Leverage Lab brings our focus and attention to what needs to end - the Necessary Endings. These are the businesses, processes, employees, relationships and things we need to give up, in order to move forward. Jeevan shares the 8 key areas to have necessary endings for entrepreneurs and everyone else to finish strong in 2021.
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Josens is a food-tech company that aims to revolutionise the F&B industry through the manufacturing and supply of future superfoods with microalgae as its core ingredient. Jag Kaurah, CEO of Josens talks to us about how he raised funds through equity crowdfunding, his goals for the company and more.
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With less than 5% of startups likely to be successful, building one is no easy feat, especially when the odds are stacked against new founders. Just this year, the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDigital) was launched, where one of the many goals is to catalyse 5,000 startups within the next 5 years. Such lofty ambitions require both private and public sectors to band together in nurturing founders to bring their ideas and businesses to the next stage. This is a vision shared by business expert and Super Scaling founder, Alvin Poh, who currently coaches and mentors close to 50 founders of six to seven-figure ventures from Malaysia, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
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There are plenty of staple brands on the supermarket shelves that we just assume are Malaysian, but aren’t; Milo isn’t ours, Maggi isn’t ours, even Ayam Brand. However, yoghurt brand Sunglo is born and bred Malaysian, and Rahmesh Gomez, managing director of Malaysian Yoghurt Company, discusses his family’s legacy, their unique market positioning, and their plans to expand and grow.
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Being Asia’s first employee ecosystem that promotes better health, wealth and wellness, CXA strives to provide the best possible healthcare at an affordable price through early detection and disease prevention. Rosaline Chow, the Founder and CEO discusses with us why she started CXA, how the pandemic affected sales and her hopes for the company.
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On this episode of Failing Forward, CEO of BiiB Sheyong Tan talks to us about how to grow your customer base and engage users on a digital platform, as well as why entrepreneurs need to stay the course when it comes to their business values and principles, despite negative reviews, social media backlash and potential customer loss.
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Kiran Jethwa, Founder & CEO of Fumase, an Asset Management & Asset Development company based out of California with a focus on Renewable Energy, Water & Waste sectors; and geographic focus on South Asia & South East Asia. He discusses why South Asia & South East Asia, the importance of both positive environmental and social impact, and his hopes for Fumase.
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There is no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on drastic changes in consumer trends and purchasing habits. With people placing more importance on cost-saving and are constantly on the lookout for better deals, ZCITY, an instant rebate and cashback app, aims to redefine, transform, and simplify a user's e-payment gateway experience by providing deals, rewards, and promotions for every use.
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Health has come into sharp focus over the course of the pandemic, with many of us taking a much more vested interest in not just reactive but preventative courses of action. Dr Maryam Aziz, founder and CEO of Jardin Pharma, Malaysia’s first halal eco-pharmaceutical company, discusses moving from the cosmeceutical space to the pharmaceutical space, and their big plans for the future.
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It’s an occupational hazard. As a doctor, you’re constantly inundated by calls from friends and family for medical advice. But not everyone has access to a doctor when they need it. And Google is not the way to go. This is why Dr. Raymond Choy and his friends created DOC2US - so you too are just a phone call or chat away from expert medical advice, evidence-based information, referrals, as well as e-prescriptions. We discuss the startup’s growth, the pandemic’s impact on their services, and how they plan to further enhance the patient’s journey.
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Chai Kah Fei is the brains behind Baan 26 and Diet Monsta. With the goal to have calorie-controlled meals for the fitness fanatics, Kah Fei joins us to talk about the inspiration behind starting it and the steps taken to ensure its healthiness.
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Just as the pandemic was beginning to gain traction in China, and before it spread anywhere else, we spoke with the owner of the KLoé hotel Ng Ping Ho. Now, 18 months on as we hopefully see things slowly return to normal, we thought we’d drop back in to see just how things worked out for the hotel, and how they managed to survive.
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With the pandemic forcing everyone inside for the better part of two years, interior design and making your space aesthetically pleasing has taken on new meaning. Managing director of Niro Ceramic Group, Ian Kok, shares insights into the Malaysian ceramics and tile industry, the company’s innovations in digitalising interior design, and the more than 40-year history of Niro Ceramic Group.
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Having a vision to improve the drinking culture in Malaysia, Kim Choong founded ThirstMag back in 2012 and has been collaborating with industry experts and connecting drinkers. She joins us to talk about how the pandemic has affected the industry, drinking trends and more.
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The team behind edu-tech startup Youthopia believe children need more than just academic smarts to succeed in life. This is why they are focused on equipping children aged 10-16 across Southeast Asia with core life skills that will help them think critically, solve problems creatively and communicate effectively. We speak to CEO and Co-founder Manu Menon about Youthopia’s hybrid approach to the learning experience, using gamification to test critical thinking skills, and the team’s gameplan to make this the new normal in education.
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MMC runs a central kitchen and proprietary data driven food management system. The various lockdowns and ever changing SOPs have strained the F&B industry but they have managed to do well. Carmen Chuang, CEO of MMC Health & Lifestyle joins us today to discuss how they have managed to do so and more.
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It's not easy to run a business in one of the most competitive industries in Malaysia, especially during a pandemic. Once a Sous Chef and now founder, owner and head chef of Elevete Patisserie, Edwin Chan shares with us his journey of going from preparing food in his parents kitchen at 5 am in the morning, to serving over 60,000 desserts from his own central kitchen.
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When it comes to the issue of menstruation, many are hesitant to discuss or even think too hard about making this monthly cycle an easier and smoother experience. Often, people who have periods are not even aware of the true variety of options available or the effect of disposable menstrual products on our environment. Alyssa Ng, founder of menstrual product company, Breeze For You, shares her journey of discovery in this area and how she hopes to educate others about making periods a breeze.
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A vast majority of Malaysians are financially illiterate. Tackling this issue is uLearnMONEY, having been listed in Google as Malaysia’s best online financial literacy platform. Amy Seok, Founder and CEO talks to us about what needs to be improved, how they have been playing their part and more.
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It’s been almost 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic and businesses, entrepreneurs, employees and everyone else have taken huge hits. With the vaccines, there’s been strong, albeit slow recovery and it is time to end the year on a very high note! It’s time to achieve as much as you can as you close the year. It is time to Finish Strong. Jeevan Sahadevan, founder of Leveragelab to show us step by step how we can do so.
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As part of International Day of Older Persons, we speak to Anna Chew to find out more on why she started Meaningful, the plans to cater to an aging population and more.
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There are many delivery services in the market currently, and it’s extremely competitive especially as more and more people are ordering online during a pandemic. We know most of the big players, but what about the ones that we’re less familiar with? Zoom connects businesses, online e-commerce and brick & mortar retailers to on demand same day delivery specialists, ensuring fast and seamless delivery.
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Plant-based diets are becoming increasingly popular as concerns about health and the environment have grown, with many meat substitute products hitting the grocery store shelves. What is it like being in this game, and how do you compete with the crowd? Alex Ward, COO of Next Gen, a plant-based food tech company, discusses that and more.
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Lapasar is an online B2B procurement platform that allows companies to purchase general supplies for their businesses. We speak to Thinesh Kumar to discuss how the pandemic has affected them, the industries they cater to and their recent move to join Endeavor Malaysia.
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On this episode of Failing Forward, we discuss the Hunters vs. Farmers sales strategy. Do you need a team of killers to chase leads and close deals, or some long-term relationship building experts who will keep your clients with you for years to come? Knowing the difference, and helping your salesforce work to their strengths could greatly impact business.
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From having a long-standing career in law to then venturing into retail building franchised brands like Halcyon Days, Soo Shea Pin and her daughter eventually decided to start their own shoe brand called Feith London. She believes that women should look and feel good in their shoes. Shea Pin joins us to discuss the inspiration behind starting her brand, what goes into making the shoes and her plans moving forward.
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Malaysian giant freshwater prawns are known worldwide for their size and taste, and are revered at chef’s tables. Despite this, much of the freshwater prawns consumed here in Malaysia are imported, rather than bred here. The industry here in Malaysia was almost lost - and Giva Kuppusamy and his company are hoping to revive it.
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They say crisis is the mother of innovation, and when beauty and personal care outlets were closed throughout the pandemic, two university students stepped up to the challenge and created SweetPeachier, a personal care company whose star product is a hair removal device using Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) technology. Co-founder Kon Fa Rong shares their experience in juggling student life and entrepreneurship, customer education on a new personal care device, and how they took a startup capital of RM5000 and made over RM1 million in sales in the span of a year.
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Epitome is a workforce-analytic company that focuses on preparing workforces for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In 2018, they were selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur in the 83rd Endeavor International Selection Panel in Athen. Jan Lambrechts, CEO and Founder of Epitome, discusses more on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the journey with Endeavor and their future plans.
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Vendfun is a hospitality kiosk solutions provider for hotels. Its hybrid kiosks help hotel operators provide not just check-in and check-out services, but a complete elevated stay-in experience through automation. We speak with Founder Benny Wee about his pandemic pivot into the hospitality industry, and how his new kiosks are helping hotels generate income during these challenging times.
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Global Mobility Service, Inc (GMS) is innovating at the intersection of fintech, transportation, and IoT. Through its proprietary payment assurance and data collection devices and mobility service platform, GMS partners with financial institutions to offer auto loans to those who fail credit screenings. They address some of society’s most challenging issues such as financial inclusion, poverty reduction, and carbon emissions elimination. They began operations in Japan under Tokushi Nakashima in 2013 and now has offices in Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines and South Korea. We speak to the CEO and Executive Officer of GMS Philippines Inc, Kazumasa Nakashima to discuss more on their sustainability efforts and their future plans for growth.
Image Credit: Kawasaki | global.kawasaki.com
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Tanoti is a congregation of Sarawakian women weavers and artisans dedicated towards the production, promotion and proliferation of hand-crafted fabrics. From winning the World Craft Council Award of Excellence for Handicraft in 2014 and being a pioneer in upholding heritage preservation, Jacquelie Fong, Director of Tanoti discusses with us today on building the rural community of Sarawak and how they have pivoted during the various lockdowns.
Image Credit: Tatler Asia | www.tatlerasia.com
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With food and beverage outlets primarily being shut or only open for takeaway and delivery services, how did F&B point-of-sale company Slurp! fare? CEO Reza Razali shares how Slurp! expanded into the fuel retail industry, their adaptation and addition of new services and supports for their existing customers, and their exciting plans for expansion in Southeast Asia and beyond.
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Created by lawyers for lawyers, LXE is Malaysia’s first end-to-end digital platform that aims to improve communication and transparency between lawyers and their clients in the handling of litigation proceedings. We speak to the young lawyers behind the legal-tech startup about dabbling in tech, fundraising in their 20s, and their quest to digitally transform some aspects of the legal profession, for the betterment of the community at large.
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Finology started in 2017 by absorbing and reinventing Loanstreet. A year after, they activated instant home loan approvals for the real estate industry through Loanplus and in 2019, they became the first in Malaysia to allow for online renewals of motorcycle insurance and road tax. Fresh off their win at the Seedstars World Competition, we speak with co-founders Robin Ang and Jared Lim about their next move.
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Founded in July 2020, Nutribah is a start-up that adopts a farm-to-table model for its organic produce using IoT-based smart farming technology to optimise production capacity while undertaking eco-friendly farming practices to reduce environmental degradation.
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After experiences with wrong orders, inattentive waitstaff, and other bugbears of the F&B industry, a group of people joined together to create their own data-driven food ordering platform. Two of Aliments’ co-founders, Lee Teng and Kelvin Kwek, explain how they’ve adjusted to the pandemic, as well as their thoughts on the challenges the F&B industry faces in the future.
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Millions of Malaysians are unfortunately all too familiar with the struggles that have come along with nearly a year and a half of working from home (WFH). Many have reported a drain in productivity and a depletion of creativity alongside rising instances of musculoskeletal issues such as backaches with long hours in front of the laptop and poor ergonomic choices.
Balak’s - a homegrown furniture brand hailing from Penang is well aware of these struggles with its founder Lucas Eng, personally experiencing these problems and seeing them in his parents as well. This is why Lucas took the decision to pivot his business strategy and launch Balak’s with the purpose of handcrafting bespoke premium furniture that prioritises ergonomic functionality to energise, inspire and invigorate.
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With just 4 months to go before a very tough year ends, the main thing on the minds of most people is productivity. Working from home can bring about a comfort zone and a stress of its own, but whether you’re working from an office or from home, having massive productivity in the final months of 2021 is everything towards achieving your goals for the year. Jeevan Sahadevan gives us his simple and yet potent formula to achieve just that.
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As part of our 64th Merdeka Day celebrations, we’re taking a look this week at Malaysia: The Next Chapter - companies and people who exemplify the potential in Malaysia’s future. Kien Fatt Medical Store has been dispensing Chinese herbs in Petaling Street for nearly 80 years. The father and daughter duo, Ng Chee Yat & Vanessa Ng, discuss their takeover from Mr Ng’s father, their journey thus far, and how they plan on adapting with times to come.
Image Credit: Daniel Chan | TimeOut
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As part of our 64th Merdeka Day celebrations, we’re taking a look this week at Malaysia: The Next Chapter - companies and people who exemplify the potential in Malaysia’s future. Jadi Batek is one of the biggest batik and souvenir shops in Kuala Lumpur. Established in 1976, it was the only batik shop in Bukit Bintang during the 70s and 80s. Colin Yong talks to us about the evolution of the business, his efforts in reviving batik and the story behind taking the helm of the family business.
Image Credit: Jadi Batek | jadibatek.com
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As part of our 64th Merdeka Day celebrations, we’re taking a look this week at Malaysia: The Next Chapter - companies and people who exemplify the potential in Malaysia’s future. Steven Lee, proprietor of Ban Wah Textiles, shares the shop’s history stemming from the era of World War 2, his pride in passing on his family business to his son, and how he is faring through the storm of the pandemic.
Image Credit: @BanWahTextile | Facebook
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