The Good Technologist: Recent Episodes
Better.sg
What does technology used for good look like? A https://better.sg production, this show explores the process, politics and impacts of technology applied to address social issues. Lots of heart, plenty of truth and a bunch of brilliance from our guests - this is your next binge. Hosted by Rovik Robert. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-good-technologist/support
This episode unpacks the US$1 billion industry known as Femtech, which refers to innovations designed to support, improve and promote women’s health. We were privileged to be able to speak with two established members from the Femtech space who shared with us the developments in Singapore and the region, the challenges faced, and what the future holds for femtech:
- Lindsay Davis, Co-founder of Femtech Association of Asia, Asia’s first and only industry network for professionals making a positive impact on women’s health through technology, and
- Jingjin Liu, CEO & Founder of Zazazu, Asia’s first sexual well-being hub in Southeast Asia that synchronises education, consultation and product curation to empower women to own their sexuality.
Learn more about the reasons you should pay attention to the femtech space and the opportunities for those who wish to participate, all in our latest episode!
Today's guests are Desiree and Zikun. Desiree and Zikun are part of the team behind the ToBeYou mobile game that helps dismantle stereotypes, and reduce prejudice - ultimately fostering greater empathy and inclusiveness among Singaporeans. The game was one of the winners of MCCY: Mission Unite Hackathon and has been published in various media including The Straits Times, Business Times, and Tamil Murasu.
Today, we are going to hear from two major players behind the award-winning game on how the team navigated the delicate and sensitive topics of race and identity, and encouraged introspection and empathy in real life by the players, in turn contributing to a higher cultural sensitivity as a nation.
Today's guest is Dr Jade Kua. An accomplished paediatric emergency specialist, Dr Jade is also the Director of the DARE programme which stands for ‘Dispatcher-Assisted first responder’. The program seeks to teach anyone to do hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use automated external defibrillators in case of emergencies. In addition to the launch of its nationwide campaign, DARE also launched an app with much success – there were positive signs in the uptake and interest internationally as well.
Five years after the launch of the DARE app, Dr Jade realised that the needs of the masses have changed. Much of the resources offered in the app could also be easily accessible from other platforms, which prompted her and her team to make the decision to decommission the app five years after its successful launch. Today, Dr Jade shares with us the process of seeing the app go from cradle to grave.
Learn about what it takes to pivot an app, and how TechforGood project teams need to be able to have honest conversations on the future of their tech products.
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Today's guest is Jeremy Au, a multi-hyphenate, but someone who squarely believes in investing in people and great ideas. Besides being an angel investor in multiple businesses, Jeremy also spearheads Monk Hill Venture’s key initiatives from venture scouts to thought leadership.
Jeremy has a number of social enterprises and initiatives under his belt. For one, he co-founded CozyKin, an early education marketplace, and led the startup as CEO from 0 to Series A to sale. He also co-founded and bootstrapped Conjunct Consulting, an impact consulting platform that we have actually talked about in our previous episodes with Jia Chuan.
In this interview, we hear about Jeremy’s past projects, talk about his views on bringing his two worlds of investing and social impact together, and discuss how TechforGood projects should think differently about sustainability and financing.
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Today's guest is Teymoor, the CEO and Publisher of Tech for Impact Asia, which helps the developing countries of the Asia Pacific plan and organise their economic development around sustainable technologies, profiling visionaries, thought leaders and investors on their platform. Teymoor also has extensive experience as a journalist, interviewer and moderator, having anchored shows across CNBC, Al Jazeera and the BBC.
In this interview, we hear about Teymoor’s journey and his reflections on the work at Tech for Impact Asia, as well as discuss how the Singapore TechforGood community can learn from and contribute to what’s happening in the region.
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Engineering Good empowers disadvantaged communities by improving their quality of life through sustainable engineering solutions and improved engineering capacity at the local community level. There are a number of initiatives that the non-profit runs.
May-Ann volunteers with Engineering Good’s Computers against Covid initiative, and also heads the Digital Literacy program. The Computers Against Covid initiative focuses on collecting, refurbishing, and distributing used laptops to underprivileged children who need them for Home-Based Learning (HBL).
Saad is a volunteer at EngineeringGood, who initiated Salvage Garden, an assistive tech Makerspace that engages a community of Makers, Tinkerers, Engineers, and enthusiasts towards the research and development of Assistive Tech devices and ideas. The SalvageGarden Makerspace also channels efforts towards a greener environment by repurposing or recycling leftover e-waste parts laptops donated to EngineeringGoods Computers Against Covid Campaign.
In this interview, we talk about the outcomes these programs strive for, what digital inclusion looks like in Singapore and how MayAnn and Saad see the TechforGood space.
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Moving from fast-growing tech companies like Burpple and Grab to GovTech would have definitely been a big change for Shaowei, Principal Product Manager for the TraceTogether app at GovTech. In fact, Shaowei was hired quite specifically to work on this monumental app that augments contact tracing operations but was also the topic of hot debate as people discussed issues around privacy, adoption, and effectiveness. Yet, through it all, Shaowei and his team have been able to stay consistent and deliver a product that has kept Singapore safe through all of COVID.
In this interview, we talk about the social and philosophical consequences of TraceTogether, what it means to be in the Tech for Public Good space, and what matters to Shaowei.
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Through his organization, Social Development Initiative (SDI) Academy, Sazzad has built a community of empowered migrant workers with stronger professional prospects by leveraging English language instruction to navigate safely and effectively in a foreign environment and to access growth opportunities. SDI Academy blends digital media, in-person training, and rigorous data collection to design and deliver high-quality courses which up-skill immigrants and help them assimilate into the mainstream. Most notably, SDI Academy launched the SDI Academy app, an e-learning platform with speech recognition AI technology to enable language learning at scale.
In this interview, we talk about Sazzad’s motivation in the space, the missed opportunity in serving the migrant worker and other invisible communities, and his thoughts on how to build services for communities we are very different from.
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Today's guest is Letch, former Senior Director in charge of Resilience & Engagement at the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth. Currently working in the Singapore Armed Forces, Letch is joining us in his personal capacity to talk about his passion for how technology can transform the social and philanthropy sector. He has been an advocate for unlocking the power of tech in these communities and is a proponent of the TechforGood movement. In this interview, we talk about the challenges that are seen in TechforGood adoption in the social and philanthropy sector, and his hopes for the future of these sectors. We tackle difficult questions inherent in the TechforGood space like "Why is disruption so rare?", and "Can we innovate without hurting those we care for?" There's lots of relevant insights for anyone who wants to take the digital transformation journey while continuing to serve those we benefit!
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Today's guest is Gillian Tee, Co-Founder of Homage - an on-demand marketplace that matches caregivers and those who need help; think individuals who have elderly relatives who are ill at home or nursing homes that need extra help when they are short-staffed. It's like -- an Uber for nurses. With a pool of 2,000 qualified care professionals in Southeast Asia, Homage is the largest of such a platform in the region. The company's B2B business is growing 400% year on year, and operates in Singapore, Malaysia and soon -- Indonesia. Gillian herself is a repeat entrepreneur, having co-founded Rocketrip in the US, a Y-Combinator startup, and Code Upstart, a coding school. In this interview, we talk about Gillian’s personal story, what Homage is trying to change, and how she has built support for her company within the community. Lots of honest insights and frank sharings in this episode!
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As one of the leaders in the Southeast Asian startup scene, Grab definitely has a lot of eyes on it. Operating in nearly every major Southeast Asian market, Grab supports a growing number of drivers, merchants and consumers on its platform, facilitating all kinds of services including on-demand ride hailing, food, parcel and grocery deliveries as well as e-payments. With such a massive presence and influence, Grab launched its GrabforGood social impact program in 2019 to give back to the communities it's a part of. Covering three main goals: improving digital literacy and inclusion, empowering micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses as well as building future-ready workforces, Grab has committed to “leav(ing) no man behind” Today we have Chay Pui San, Head of Public Affairs, Grab Singapore to share with us some of the details of the GrabforGood program, how Grab adds to the TechforGood ecosystem and her views on the future for the TechforGood scene in Singapore.
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It’s likely that one of the apps you have running in the background relies on Google Cloud. With such a ubiquitous presence, it’s natural to ask how an organization like Google can make sure that its making an impact where its needed the most? COVID-19, in particular, brought to light some of these gaps and Google stepped up, providing Enterprise features for G Suite customers covering SMEs and educators. They’ve also supported a large amount of the information facilitation efforts, whether its sharing data on COVID-19 in an understandable way or creating APIs for contact tracing programs. Today we have Prem Chandiramani, from the Google Cloud team, to share with us some of the behind-the-scenes thinking behind the efforts, his thoughts on the TechforGood scene in Singapore and Asia, as well as his views on the future of the scene.
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Digital communities are not easy to build, but that doesn’t stop Kai from believing in the ability for people to get together. Kai Sotto focuses on how true communities fuel growth for companies. He helped catalyze Facebook’s growth discipline as employee #1 in Canada and launched Instagram’s business internationally. Together with partners, Bailey and Kevin, Kai now helps organizations create authentic communities as part of his group, People & Company. They also co-authored an Amazon best-selling book, Get Together, which is a hands on guide on community building. In this interview, we talk about the basics of community building in a digital space, Kai’s experience working in the digital giants,, and now his work building communities. Learn more about Better.sg here!
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Soft launched on March 22 2020, by tech entrepreneur Nigel Teo and a team of 3 others, GoodHood now has more than 6000 users. Called the “Neighborhood Everyday App”, about 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the posts on the app are from people offering help, ranging from buying groceries and dog walking, to offering cooked meals, he says. The rest are from people seeking help. In this interview, we talk about the inspiration behind the app, its impact especially during the COVID-19 crisis and Nigel’s view on TechforGood.
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We’re lucky to have two guests today who are both working on bridging the communication gap with the migrant worker community in Singapore, primarily those affected by the COVID-19 crisis. They may be addressing the same issue but they are also working on distinct projects, with each driving a different part of the solution. Our guests are:
Sudesna Roy Chowdhury who created a Bengali translation portal on a free Wix site which subsequently inspired other tools such as Translatefor.sg created by a team led by Aniruddha. This is a free translation resource tailored for all medical practitioners in Singapore in light of the recent COVID-19 outbreak in migrant worker dormitories. Languages currently include Bengali, Burmese, Telugu and Tagalog. Shaina Tan from Visualaid.sg. Visualaid is an effort led by Jason Leow and Shaina, to build a resource site of illustrated translations that can be used as flashcards to help healthcare workers communicate better with migrant workers affected by COVID-19.
In this interview, we talk about the stories behind the ideas, the crowd-sourcing effort that drove both resources, and how it was like serving the migrant worker community. Jump in!
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If you're listening to this during the COVID-19 crisis while in Singapore, you've probably heard of ChopeandSave.com, a directory of small businesses around Singapore that offer online gift cards for purchase. We get to talk to two members of the founding team - Tammie and Agrim, as they share some of the juicy details behind developing and managing the app. In this interview, we talk about what inspired this web app, what it’s like building a tech solution during the COVID-19 crisis, and how the community has rallied around this movement. Join us for this episode recorded over Zoom!
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You're at the first official episode of The Good Technologist - good on you! We're lucky to have gotten Kwok Jia Chuan as our first guest, co-founder of Conjunct Consulting, a non-profit providing consulting services for other non-profits and social enterprises. In this episode, we get to hear from Jia Chuan's eight years leading the organisation covering topics such as 1) what Conjunct Consulting does, 2) how Technology has become an area of focus and 3) what the future looks like. Let us know if you have suggestions for future guests of the show!
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Welcome to Episode 0 of The Good Technologist - yes, it's our pilot episode where we wanted to test out how the format would work! Nikhil is a member of better.sg and a big contributor to the TechforGood scene in Singapore, working at GovTech in Open Government Products but also spending his time educating others on technology. Hear about why he's committed to the work he does and some of his views on convincing organizational stakeholders to start small and build products that address issues. I couldn't have asked for a better first interviewee!
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