Enterprise Explores

After Budget 2023 was announced last week, the travel and tourism industry was not entirely happy about it because the ministry is the third smallest in this year’s allocation. Some say it’s too low to help and even the minister himself will be requesting additional funding. To help us understand more about the current tourism landscape and whether the funding really missed the mark, we speak to H...

Last Friday, Prime Minister and Finance Minister tabled a revised national budget. With a total increase of RM15.8 million, how much can MSMEs benefit from this budget compared to the proposed budget last October? What should MSMEs pay close attention to? We speak to Fung Mei Lin, Entrepreneurial & Private Business Leader, PwC Malaysia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tables his government’s budget in Parliament, BizBytes focuses on using Budget 2023 to boost youth employment through SMEs and the digital economy with Dr. Siti Nurul Munawwarah Roslan, Lecturer at Taylor’s University’s School of Accounting and Finance. BizBytes also got into: -Helping SMEs digitalise -Looking into alternative data for credit risk assessments -Helpi...

While Malaysia’s startup ecosystem has shown a lot of promise and potential, it still lags behind in the region, particularly when compared to Singapore or Indonesia. On the eve of the tabling of Budget 2023 2.0, we explore what the government can do to better support and stimulate Malaysia’s startup ecosystem to close the gap with regional peers. Helping us with this is Aaron Sarma, General Partn...

The instability, insecurity and relentless upheaval of the past several years has left workers anxious. And now, as layoffs proliferate, and pay fails to keep pace with rising inflation, they’re still worrying – in some cases, more than ever. Research from Cigna International Health 2023 survey indicates Gen Z is emerging as the most stressed demographic in the workplace, and struggling to cope. I...

Tenure and age are somewhat intertwined - we age; we accumulate experience. But being in a company for 40 years is different from being 50 and starting a new role at a new company. Is it being older? Or is being at a company for a longer period able to have more of a positive impact on company performance? We discuss this with Deepa George, Managing Consultant from MyHRC Services. Photo Credit: Sh...

In the most recent Auditor-General report , several questions were raised about the records stored in the MySejahtera app. The report found that weaknesses included a ‘super-admin’ account that had downloaded information and that the app had been attacked 1.12 million times as of October 27th, 2021 - however the report did not go so far as to say whether these attacks had been successful or not. W...

Academias have always been split about using tech innovations in the classroom - we all remember the debate years ago about using laptops or smartphones during lessons. But technology is always evolving, and now with ChatGPT in place, should academias adapt or resist? And how can they combat plagiarism among students who love the technology? We speak to Professor Chengyi Lin, Affiliate Professor o...

Farm Fresh’s Loi Tuan Ee talks to us about how an entrepreneur's life changes after IPO, buying Inside Scoop, and ensuring that Farm Fresh does not “lose its soul”. We also get into: -Managing the pressures that come with leading a public listed company -How Endeavour has played a positive role in his entrepreneurial journey -Why entrepreneurs need tough love, not ‘Yes People’ See omnystudio.com/l...

A month ago, a new e-wallet player entered Malaysia -  TrueMoney, a Thai unicorn. That said, given that Malaysia already feels like such a crowded market in the cashless payments space, does TrueMoney really have a chance to gain traction here? And if so, how? We speak to Dale Kim, the Managing Director of International Business at TrueMoney’s parent company - Ascend Group, to find out. Among...

Some people think it’s over commercialized, and some think it’s a good excuse to celebrate love and romance.  Despite differing opinions about it, it is a marketing strategy that has worked well over the years.  With that being said, how are SMEs doing on this special day? We’ll be speaking to Penny Choo, Co-founder of BloomThis, a Malaysian online florist, and Marcus Low, the Founder of...

According to Crunchbase, more than 77,000 workers in U.S.-based tech companies have been laid off in mass job cuts so far in 2023. However, one BigTech company has managed to avoid mass layoffs so far - Apple.  We explore this with Jack Kelly, Founder and CEO of WeCruitr, and Senior Contributing Writer for Forbes, including areas such as: -How Apple has managed to avoid mass layoffs so far. -...

There’s no shortage of fresh graduates who want to change the world. Full of life, aspirational and ready to take on anything that’s thrown at them. They work hard, and genuinely want to make a difference in a world that’s often jaded, and less than forgiving.  A recent report in the American Sociological Review suggests college graduates who are looking for a role with a ‘higher purpose’ wil...

Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have launched a new venture to explore social apps, which includes their debut product Artifact. Techcrunch describes the app as  “a modern-day twist on Google Reader”, but utilising machine learning and AI. While Instagram was a highly successful startup, building a second successive winning startup is a big task, especially considering th...

After years of expansion in Southeast Asia, Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is shutting down its Thailand and Indonesian platforms . While company did not give a reason for the closure, it is largely being seen as a major setback for the company’s overseas expansion efforts. On the back of this, we speak to Aaron Sarma of ScaleUp Malaysia on how to scale up sustainably, potential pressure on start...

The domestic creative industry has been recognised by the Government as one of the high-impact strategic industries given particular focus under the 12th Malaysia Plan. The creative industry is also targeted to contribute almost RM32bil to the GDP by 2025.  MyCreative Group (aka MyCreative Ventures Sdn Bhd) is established to advance the creative industry, and drive the country's Orange Econom...

Last week, Malaysian-based fintech HelloGold announced that they would be closing down its consumer businesses in Malaysia and Thailand, its core business. In an email to depositors last week, HelloGold said that the “business in its current form is no longer commercially viable in the current market conditions,” Today on BizBytes we speak to Robin Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of HelloGold on how it go...

Employers that don't share pay ranges in a job posting may lose out on talent from soon-to-be and recent graduates. According to a new survey of recent and upcoming US post-secondary and recent graduates, 85% reported they are "less likely to apply for a job if the company does not disclose the salary range in the job posting." Does that sentiment hold true here in Malaysia? We hear from Cilia Ras...

80% of Malaysian consumers report cutting back on their non-essential spending according to insights from PwC.  In order to better navigate this challenging environment, businesses may need to start considering new and more effective marketing strategies in order to keep sales going. And one of these channels is live selling. The Enterprise team explores this with Fariz Maswan, Head of Sales...

According to Crunchbase, more than 58,000 workers in U.S.-based tech companies have been laid off in mass job cuts so far in 2023, but what’s the situation like in Malaysia for the tech sector job market? We speak to Fahad Naeem, Country Director at Randstad Malaysia to find out. Photo Credit : Shutterstock | VideoFlow See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Besides politics, it is rare for leaders in business organisations to step aside as it takes a different level of self-awareness to do so.  As leaders balance the desire for power and corporate responsibility, there is a right time to leave. When is the right time?  Should it be at the leader’s peak or lowest? How should it be done? We discuss this with Hetal Doshi, CEO & Organizatio...

In case you hadn’t heard, quite a lot of people are worried about a global recession in 2023. That said in Malaysia, some economists that The Edge spoke to earlier this month, don’t expect to see a recession but do expect a slowdown in growth. Now whether it’s a recession or a slowing of growth, this could mean a potential impact to revenue of some businesses, and while one way to deal with this i...

The hotel sector has found it to be difficult to replenish its workforce as hotel jobs are perceived as 3D -- dirty, dangerous and difficult — which has long been considered unappealing by locals. It also reported that it has problems recruiting new talents as the younger generations, Gen-Z who prefer gig economy jobs and tend not to prefer working long hours despite overtime pays. But are the Gen...

While education is largely the domain of the government, the ecosystem is filled with and supported by a variety of non-government players, whether it’s private and international schools, the very many tuition centres we have, or non-profits or social enterprises. In conjunction with International Day of Education, today on Enterprise BizBytes we explore the role that smaller, non-traditional priv...

Bloomberg recently reported that Crypto startups are facing a terrible time attracting investment following FTX's collapse, with VC investments falling to their lowest in almost 2 years, round tripping back to pre-pandemic days. That said, even before FTX fell, we saw big names in the space crumble. There was the meltdown of TerraLUNA, as well as the falls of crypto lender Celsius, crypto broker V...