Open For Business

If there’s one product on the planet that manages to put a smile on most peoples’ faces - it’s ice-cream. A simple dessert that takes us back to a simpler time and place in our childhood. Of course, this particular comfort food has been fairly difficult to get hold of during the pandemic - perhaps when it’s needed the most. We managed to catch up with the Co-founders of Lez...

Like most businesses this year, Malaysian adtech startup AdEasy has had to shake things up during the MCO to remain relevant, and help support other businesses in the ecosystem. Co-Founder Therine Goh talks to us about the idea behind Southeast Asia’s first online marketplace for buying offline advertisement space, and their recent #AdEasyJagaSME initiative which shines the spotlight on loca...

B40 coffee farmers in Sabah produce a range of quality coffee seeds, but without proper distribution and heavy reliance on the “middle man”, they struggle to make ends meet. In an effort to sell sustainable coffee while helping the Sabahan farmers earn the profits they deserve, BosCo decided to only use beans from Sabah while controlling markups and price hikes in the process. We speak...

What should a high performing day look like in order for you to successfully get your company flourishing? Jeevan Sahadevan, founder of Leverage Lab provides a formula that anyone at any level of management can use to have high performing days everyday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After wrapping up our Extraordinary Endeavor series, we catch up with Arthur Chan of Endeavor Malaysia to talk about how they coped with the changes during this pandemic and what lies ahead for the rest of the year for the entrepreneurs in Malaysia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over the past few years consumers have become a lot more aware and curious about where the food that they consume comes from. This awareness has led many people to rethink their diet, and opt for a healthier, meat free diet. But of course, everyone has a sweet tooth. Heart & Halo is  a vegan vegetarian bakery that caters to everyone. We catch up with one of their founders, Arati to find o...

Malaysia is a food loving nation, and we wear our hearts on our bellies. Sadly, our food is a victim of commercial farming practices with dangerous pesticides and chemical growth enhancers commonly used. Brendan Lee from The Urban Farm joins us to discuss the possibility and reality of how we can think of our food consumption and buying habits, the benefits of organic food, and how you can even st...

Our understanding of autism and its various points on the spectrum has vastly improved over the last decade or so. We understand now that children with autism need to be taught differently, and that all it takes is proper guidance to empower different areas and abilities in their thinking patterns. We speak to Huey Sien, Principal of Seed Autism, about using her school as a learning tool for both...

Many companies struggle to get their business off the ground in Malaysia. This was the case for IGL Coatings and its founder Keong Chun Chieh, who discovered the hard way that sometimes it might be better for local startups to market their products overseas first before bringing it home. We discuss Product-Market Fit, the ‘West to East Strategy’ and if the “Malaysia First”...

In our final episode, we hear from Loi Liang Tok of Pizza Hut Malaysia at QSR Brands mentoring Fadly Sahab of ZAP Clinic from Indonesia about everything surrounding the operations of getting back to recovery mode for your business. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Babylon Vertical Farms is an Agricultural and Technological company that is committed to continuously innovate to improve their design & technology.  They do this by growing high quality hydroponic vegetables & herbs without sunlight and soil. All plants are grown indoors as close to the city centre as possible. Babylon also heavily emphasises on being an eco-friendly company as they...

What’s better than receiving a gift? Receiving a gift that was made especially for you, of course. That’s the way ana tomy plans to disrupt the gifting market. We speak to co-founder Jon Lee about the impact the local startup has had on the Malaysian gifting scene after its first year as an independent entity, and how they plan to give the world a personalised future. See omnystudio.co...

We all have old laptops, phones, keyboards, and even speakers around the house that are deemed junk, but how exactly do you dispose of electronics? No, chucking them in the bin isn’t an option. There’s an environmentally friendly way to get rid of old gadgets, and social enterprises like ERTH are tapping into its vast potential. We speak to Mo El-Fatatry, founder of ERTH, about paying...

As the world starts to head back into the workplace, early-risers are back to looking for their closest source of caffeine. Raja Ahmad Fauzan, CEO (Coffee Enthusiastic Officer) of Coffee Star, joins us to talk about his passion for coffee, how Coffee Star’s Coffee ATMs are far more than your average vending machine, and the Coffee For Frontliners project. See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...

In today's episode, it's about marketing strategies during a pandemic. Our mentor is no stranger to the advertising world, Prashant Kumar, the Founder & CEO of Entropia and our two entrepreneurs for today are Eng Tong, the Co-Founder & CEO of Cytron Technologies and Anne Tham, the Founder & CEO of ACE EdVenture. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Behind the scenes of everyday life, applications and connected devices generate billions of “events.” These events enable the connected world around you. They ensure the train you’re riding safely reaches its destination, and they allow you to monitor your child’s data usage or make secure credit card payments, to name a few examples. We talk to Sumeet Puri about how these...

With gyms allowed to reopen again this week, we discuss the new measures the fitness industry has put in place for the safety of members, trainers and gym operators nationwide. Kamal Hezry from the F45 franchise also talks about the impact the MCO has had on the fitness business, and how virtual workouts will play a role in our fitness regime moving forward. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

There's no denying that digitalization and cloud-based POS and CRM systems are a defining factor in helping businesses survive the unprecedented crisis that is COVID-19. Digitalization helped SMEs stay alive when the economy was all but shut down. We speak to Ooi Boon Sheng, CEO of Web Bytes and Xilnex Live, about their own cloud-based solutions, how they've helped clients navigate uncertain times...

Like many SMEs around the world, food delivery enterprise dahmakan found itself in a strange predicament at the cusp of the pandemic. On the one hand, dahmakan had just achieved a new round of funding; on the other, the company needed to revise and revamp many of its operational and expansion ideas in a short period of time. Co-founder & CEO, Jonathan Weins, explains how dahmakan found a new o...

This week, it's about how to improve your sales funnel, something many would be needing as businesses reopen after the long MCO period. Our mentor for today is Vicks Kanagasingam, CEO of Xperanti IoT and our entrepreneurs are Darrel Ang, Co-Founder & Chief Business Development Officer for CapBay & Melissa Sim, CEO & Co-Founder of AdEasy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

Not that many years ago, the world was hit with the SARS pandemic - with Asia bearing the major brunt of the infection. At that time the ENVIRO Group were a fledgling company that realised they had a huge opportunity to show just how well their services work in disinfecting buildings, surfaces and the general public. Fast forward a few years, and we hear from Nitesh about what they've learned, and...

Brick House Group consists of 3 different business verticals that all connects to one another. The Grounds which is an event space, POKOK which is a restaurant / café and DAUN, the little sister to POKOK. When the MCO took effect, all 3 of these businesses were forced to close and within days turned themselves into an online grocery delivery platform that can deliver your goods within hours...

What happens when a media company that specializes in culinary content finds themselves in the middle of a Movement Control Order? And how do they move forward now when consumer behavior is vague and uncertain? We speak to Mei Rei Qua, Product Manager at KL Foodie, about content creation when content is scarce, their new app Foodie+, as well as new goals and expansion plans in a post-MCO marketpla...

This week, we look into organisational structure and how best to restructure the needs of your company in light of what's been happening. Our mentor for today is Francois van Raemdonck, partner at Bain & Company and our entrepreneurs for today are Tommy Yong, the Co-Founder and CCO of iStore iSend & Vivian Loh, the Co-Founder and COO of Mossery. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...

In honour of World Environment Day today, the co-founder of Tanamera, Mohamed Faisal bin Ahmad Fadzil, discusses how Tanamera has stuck to their core principles of using raw materials for their home spa & beauty products over the past two decades, as well as the environmental impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and how businesses can capitalise on the growing trend towards sustainable consumerism....