Open For Business

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...

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 pro...

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 Di...

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...

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...

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 V...

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 Recruitf...

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, CE...

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 supe...

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...

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...

Chin Jia Zhuang, De Lettuce B.E.A.R. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 simp...

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 softw...

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 o...

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....

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 i...

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,...

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 we...

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 he...

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 lite...

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 conc...

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 r...

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...