Open For Business

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, educa...

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 Natur...

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 nut...

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...

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 a...

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,...

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...

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...

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,...

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 disco...

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...

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. See omn...

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 Proces...

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 an...

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 bus...

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. See omnystudi...

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 C...

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. See omnystudio.com...

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 Sa...

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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/l...

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 Websi...

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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.