Enterprise Explores

Going into 2023, one of the key things concerned was a global recession , and this continues to be the case . Now while definitions of what constitutes recession differ around the world, it essentially means a shrinking economy, ultimately due to lower business and consumer spending. In fact, some numbers overnight show that U.S. retail sales fell by the most in a year in December, further highlig...

The Year of Rabbit is hopping in.  With talks about recession looming and Malaysians looking to tighten their spending, how are SMEs faring this festive season? Are customers spending more than before?  Are businesses in full bloom? We speak to Raymond Khue (Q), Executive Director of household dried meat/bakwa brand Oloiya ,  and Amy and Ester Tai, the Founders and Sister-Duo of loc...

Open AI’s ChatGPT has caused quite a stir, with some thinking it could disrupt Google's very important and very lucrative Search business.  While we have seen stories of startups disrupting incumbents, over the last 15 years or so the norm seems to have been that these potential disruptors are acquired or copied before being able to do any serious damage.  So for founders and entrepreneu...

Last week, two regional fintech unicorns entered Malaysia, offering payments solutions and e-wallet capabilities. With so many cashless payment options out there, too many to some, where could two new players potentially fit in? Vincent Fong, Chief Editor of Fintech news Malaysia helps us uncover all of that. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Many business owners might have a love/hate relationship with planning. But planning out your business strategy for the whole year is indispensable to set goals for your business and how to achieve them. We speak to Chan Leong Teng, CEO of Skribble to talk about the Dos and Don’ts of building your business strategy for the new year. See omnystudio.c...

Funding is a key part of a startups’ journey and growth. In the last few years Equity Crowdfunding has become an important avenue for Malaysian businesses to raise funds . This includes companies such as logistics player TheLorry.com, P2P lender Fundaztic , homegrown robo advisor Akru, and many more. In fact in 2021, around RM221 million was raised by 104 issuers, representing a 73.5% ju...

Are your employees leaving one after another lately? Well, when it comes to hiring and retaining talent in companies, there are many mistakes that your company is making that you might or might not be aware of. We sit down with Camelia Loh, Founder & CEO of Kabel, an HR Tech company, to discuss these mistakes that might help you figure out what you can do to help with employee recruitment and...

China is reopening and we can expect an influx of Chinese tourists soon , especially this Chinese New Year and after. To get perspectives of tourism and travel business owners and the overall industry, today we’re speaking to Nigel Wong, Honorary Treasurer & Spokesperson, of MATTA - the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents. Photo Credit : Shutterstock | Atstock Productions See...

It’s already 2023. Malaysian companies can no longer avoid adopting ESG into their systems. But a common concern is still that ESG may be costly and time-consuming. Is this a myth or reality? To help us better understand the current ESG landscape, common misconceptions, and why it matters for SMEs and startups, we speak to Ahila Ganesan, Founder of Future LinQ. Photo Credit : Shutterstock | Blue P...

According to a recent ECA International research, while we deal with the rising cost of living - our soy sauce, fuel, rice and cooking oil, Malaysia is in fact one of the cheaper places for expatriates to work at. We speak to Lee Quane, Regional Director for Asia at ECA International to understand more about being a relatively cheaper country to work in and what this means to our country. Photo Cr...

It’s now 2023, which means some big changes for how businesses operate as the amended Employment Act came into force, effective January 1st.  The amendments were initially supposed to come into play in September 2022, but was deferred as it seemed like companies were generally not ready, with some, including the Malaysian Employers Federation, attributing this to businesses still having to ma...

After 2 years of pandemic, Malaysia’s travel and tourism industry is seeing better days. How has the industry fared in 2022 and are things going to get better in 2023?  Photo Credit : Shutterstock | Ground Picture See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Should businesses aim towards growth or profitability ? That is the discussion many companies are facing and also struggling to balance. We speak to Ray Chou, CEO of Infront Consulting Group, Master Business Coach at OwnersCircle and President of EO Malaysia for some thoughts on how to approach this fundamental question behind most businesses to start off the new year. Photo Credit : Shutterstock...

Internships are part of many university students’ training programmes to ease them into the workforce before they step into the ‘real world’. With that being said, most interns are given little to no salary. Besides, Malaysia’s minimum wage does not cover interns, unfortunately. We speak to Derek Toh, founder and CEO of Hiredly to discuss why interns are not covered under the minimum wage and whet...

Every business’ overarching dream is to expand nationwide and region-wide, or at least have their name out there in the world. But what resources do you need to expand your business? How do you expand without losing quality? How do you find the right people? We speak to the founder of Flow Studio, Tiffany Yow. Flow Studio currently has 3 branches in Malaysia and 1 in Singapore.  Photo Credit...

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you’ll have seen social media – and most of the Internet, swamped with AI images. Some of your friends might have even posted them giving examples of what they might look like as a superhero, or as a Pixar character — all manners of interpretations of the human form. And yet, all of these images are not real, convincing as they are, th...

The younger generation is more open to experimenting with different styles and one of the booming trends they love is thrifting - buying second-hand clothes. Is thrifting really sustainable? Or is it just another problem added on to overconsumption and consumerism? We speak to Melissa Tan, Climate Action and Sustainability Advocate, Country Coordinator for Fashion Revolution Malaysia to discuss wh...

We’re well into the final month of 2022 and it would be worthwhile to do a final wrap up of the year for the travel and tourism industry with a quick look towards what’s in store for the sector going into 2023. Hannah Pearson, founder of Pear Anderson joins us to give us her take. Image Credit: Global Times | VCG See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Google laying off 10,000 employees, Shopee having its third round of layoff this year, and trimming from Netflix, Twitter, Meta and the ongoing recession -  many have been laid off. And it’s predicted for layoffs to ramp up after Christmas. It creates inevitable stress and anxiety among employees wondering whether they’ll be the next to be laid off too. What can you do when you’re laid off? A...

Such as a simple 2 letter word yet something that many of us find it hard to say at work when the situation warrants it. Why is it so hard for many of us to do so at the workplace? Cilia Rasasegram, HR Consultant and Chief Experience Officer at Kindler Employee Experiences Project joins us to help us understand the perceived stigma around saying no at the workplace and how saying no every once in...

Influencer marketing has been gaining more traction with major brands engaging influencers to create awareness on their products or services. But how effective is this form of marketing? We speak to Jan Wong, Co-founder & Online Strategist at OpenMinds Resources to get his take on influencer marketing and how it can be leveraged for today’s businesses. Image Credit: Shutterstock | paulaphoto S...

Risk management guides businesses in decision-making and planning. But standard risk management processes are not perfect due to their rigid methodology. By adding a behavioural dimension to risk management, the process can be refined further to provide a clearer risk profile.    We speak to Nur Hamurcu, Partner at &SAMHOUD and Dr. Wieke Scholten, Behavioral Risk Expert at &SAMHO...

Many large and well-established organisations have started to implement ESG into their business practices. But for SMEs, ESG adoption is relatively slower due factors like costs and many are still struggling with post-pandemic recovery. We speak to Cheah Kok Hoong, president of the ESG Association of Malaysia & adjunct professor at Sunway University, to understand the present level of ESG adop...

No business should underestimate the importance of good content. And writing good content is able to draw conversions more successfully for your business because good content = good branding. But what is good (and bad) content? And how can you write good content? We speak to Chan Leong Teng, CEO of digital marketing consultantcy Skribble to talk to us all about that. Image Credit: Shutterstock | a...

Transparency is no longer just an option for businesses and startups. The fall of big names such as Theranos and FTX have brought to light the critical need to be transparent and accountable in the way businesses are run. We speak to Bikesh Lakhmichand, CEO of 1337 [Leet] Ventures to better understand the importance of transparency among today’s startups and entrepreneurs. Image Credit: Shuttersto...