Open For Business

Today we speak to Ms. Lim Ee Huang, Managing Director of Do Re Mi Services & Rental; they're the go-to for event production, concert events, and they have a retail front selling sound equipment on how their business has been heavily affected by the current pandemic.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Madison Technologies is a product development outfit that normally focuses on various other products and helping others to create and develop their products, but they wanted to find a way to help out in the current crisis.  So they created an easy to roll out contact tracing network for communities called CovCT , designed to help contact tracing personnel to do their job more efficiently...

What do you do when a homegrown Ice Creamery can no longer operate as they should? How do you keep a good relationship with your suppliers and your customers? What pivots are available to you? How do you ensure your ice cream business doesn’t go into a meltdown? We find out by catching up with Edmund Tan, Co-founder of Inside Scoop.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How is the retail cosmetics and grooming products industry faring during the MCO? Like everyone else, not great. One such player, Hair Depot has 20 retail outlets mostly in shopping malls, all of which have to remain closed during the Movement Control Order. With business taking significant damage over the last few weeks, Jeff Yong, Group CEO of Hair Depot shares how he has now resorted to online...

One sector that has taken a massive hit due to COVID-19 is the Events industry. By definition, events entail mass gatherings of people, which has become a sort of taboo in recent weeks. And because of that, it’s going to be a while before it goes back to “business as usual” for everyone involved in creating and organizing events.  To further expand on this, we got in touch w...

In our country's (and the world's) current crisis, many employers are starting to worry about the future of their businesses, and many employees are worrying about job security. We take a look at the WOBB  annual Work Culture Malaysia Report , and how to attract the best talent to survive a post COVID-19 world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is RM10 Billion from the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package sufficient for SMEs to survive the MCO?  Covid-19 has not only impacted businesses and the global economy but it’s also shaping the way of a new norm that we often hear recently. In this session, we unpack the recent stimulus addition and how to turn this crisis into an opportunity to stay afloat. This is an extraction o...

The Co-Founder of local ice cream company Inside Scoop, Edmund Tan sheds some light on the extent to which the recently announced SME-focused stimulus package is able to support his business during the MCO period.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Saravana Kumar, a tax lawyer and a Partner of the Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership law firm, who also happens to be Patient No.53 (now fully recovered) on the COVID-19 list of infections, recently wrote an article on THE EDGE MARKETS about how the government could alleviate the taxpayers’ burden. In light of the most recent addition to the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package, our gues...

Yesterday at 4PM, the PM announced an addition to the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package, including an allocation of RM10 billion to support and provide relief for SMEs. In this podcast, we have a chat with Adeline Chia, co-founder of Breakfast Buddy, a fully licensed western breakfast and lunch food truck operator in Damansara, who has not been able to operate at all since the MCO due to t...

Last week, we spoke to Joachim Sebastian, managing director of Everpeaks Consulting about a letter he wrote to the PM, which highlighted the red tape that SMEs would have to go through in order to get some of the benefits announced in the Prihatin Stimulus Package. In light of the most recent addition to the stimulus package - one which is more focused on helping SMEs - Joachim joins us again on t...

On the 26th of March, AirAsia released an announcement that it was enacting a temporary hibernation of most of its fleet for the time being. However, AirAsia’s online marketplace OURSHOP and its cargo and logistics platform Teleport are currently remaining operational, with Teleport utilising passenger aircraft to transport medical aid and protective equipment intended for hospitals and fron...

Freda speaks to Jeevan Sahadevan for the first Monday of the month as per usual, but in this show they focus on 8 keys for entrepreneurs to survive & thrive during the MCO.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Malaysia fights the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, usage of face masks by medical personnel and the general public has surged through the roof. Me.reka Makerspace, part of an association of decentralized ‘mask printers’, has flipped their premises to mass produce masks using 3D printers. We speak to Makerlab Coordinator, She Tze Jin, about the challenges of producing so many masks, gett...

On our first episode of Extraordinary Endeavor, we hear from Chen Chow Yeoh (CC), Co-Founder of Fave on how to plan for a better Q2 in light of the difficulties entrepreneurs face since the beginning of 2020. Asking the tough questions in this episode is Nadhir Ashafiq, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of TheLorry & Azarol Faizi, Founder and CEO of Bateriku.com. See omnystudio.com/listener...

While a vast majority of retailers around the country struggle with a dip in earnings during the MCO period, there are retailers - especially non-essential retailers that only operate out of malls - who find themselves with no choice but to close during this period. And a prolonged period of closure right now means zero cash flow for these businesses, and possible insolvency in the near future. We...

Earlier this week, the Shopping Malls Association of Malaysia told the Malaysian Insight that shopping malls nationwide could incur losses in excess of RM2 billion after the movement control order (MCO) is lifted. This is  taking into account the recovery period and loss of purchasing power, adding on the fact that it will take a considerable time for rehabilitation and recovery, and for shop...

Without dine-in customers during this MCO period, some 200,000 F&B outlets in Malaysia are facing a massive cash flow problem. This is why Storehub launched Beep Delivery; a solution that will enable thousands of F&B businesses to take online orders from their customers for delivery or pickup, handing them a lifeline during the partial lockdown. We speak to Storehub Chieftain Fong Wai Hong...

GOLOG is an online logistics and delivery platform that connects logistics users and service providers. They started out as a B2B only company but during this MCO period, they saw an opportunity and went into the B2C market, providing logistics and leveraging on their peer-to-peer platform, almost like a ride-sharing service for logistics. We speak to them on how they have stepped up and assisted...

Last Friday, the Prime Minister unveiled the new Package Prihatin/stimulus package in hopes of preserving the economy and mitigating unemployment.  Some of the initiatives introduced in the package include tax instalment and EPF contribution deferrals, additional allocations to the Special Relief Facility and micro-credit financing for SMEs. But are these all working? Recently one of our...

Copper by FAV, a modern European eatery on any other day, has mobilized its resources to feed the medical frontliners in the battle against COVID-19. Even as the Movement Control Order leaves business owners wondering, establishments like Copper have pivoted almost overnight to serve the community with their outreach efforts. We speak to founder Zeehan Zahari as she continues to channel donations...

SMEs make up more than 90% of the business establishments here in Malaysia. And they contribute to nearly 40% of the GDP and also empower millions of the workforce here in Malaysia.  Shannon Toh, an entrepreneur in the industry for nearly 10 years now, joins us today to share about how both his businesses have been impacted by the MCO and COVID-19.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...

Last Friday (27 March), the Malaysian government unveiled an economic stimulus package known as Package Prihatin or Caring Package valued at RM250bil that will benefit all Malaysians.  From the amount, RM128bil to be used to protect the welfare of the people, RM100bil to support businesses including small and medium enterprises. The billion dollar question is, has the government addresse...

Today we look back on the past 12 weeks of amazing conversations with great guests here on Beyond Performance. Jeff Sandhu slips the script and puts Dana on the hot seat as we look back on the past 3 months of the show.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back in 2015 the founders of Masala wheels had an idea. They were going to jump on the food truck bandwagon that was sweeping the nation, except they were going to do it differently - they were going to add a bit of a social enterprise spin to it. They'd sell food during the day, and then at night they would distribute food to the urban poor. Fast forward to just a couple of weeks ago and COVID-19...