CEO Roundtable bridging Asia

In this episode, I speak to Abubakari Malik Addae, Co Founder and CEO at LifeCheq

LifeCheq helps people achieve their goals through good financial decision making. LifeCheq will post content on how to achieve goals such as buying a car, saving for a house, traveling or studying further as well as discuss topics in insurance and investment.

Abubakari and I talk about:

His background and journey to founding LifeCheq

What problems he is solving now and How his business model (a platform) works

How he differentiates his services against others in the markets?

The potential market and target clients

How he found co-founders or employees in the beginning

His long term vision for LifeCheq

Who is the nicest person he has ever met in his life.

In this episode, I speak to Eric Muli, Co Founder and CEO at Odyssey Capital, also known as Lipa Later.

Lipa Later is a risk-free, point-of-sale credit option that allows retailers to sell goods and services to consumers with repayments made in affordable monthly instalments. It is the leading third-party instalment plan for retailers in East Africa currently operating in Kenya and Rwanda.

Eric and I talk about:

His background and journey to founding Lipa Later

What problems he is solving now and How his business model works

How he found co-founders or employees in the beginning

How he will evolve the business model into diverse directions focused on convenience and solutions rather than financing.

What are the biggest challenges in scaling your business and taking it to the next level?

His long term vision for Lipa Later

In this episode, I speak to Tesh Mbaabu -Co Founder and CEO at MarketForce 360

90 percent of trade in Africa is informal (often called “corner shop”), and MarketForce's software-as-a-service platform to better manage their field sales agents and distribution.

MarketForce bridges the gap in retail distribution by delivering an end-to-end platform that enables consumer brands to deliver essential goods and services to retailers and consumers.

Tesh and I talk about:

His background and journey to founding MarketForce 360

How his business model work: software-as-a-service platform

How he found co-founders or employees in the beginning

How he find smart people and motivate them to grow business together

how the company has grown since establishment and is performing now

What is the biggest challenges in scaling your business and taking it to the next level

His long term vision for MarketForce 360

THIS EPISODE IS AVAILABLE WITH SUBTITLE AT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbLluBpx3NQ&t=2109s

In this episode, I speak to Yong Park, Owner and CEO of SAMJIn Amook, 86 year old fish cake company based in Korea. The brand specializes in “amook” which is “fishcake” in Korean, a popular Korean food made from minced fish. Although the fishcake maker faced a financial crisis and its factory operating rate tumbled, Yong Park turned the crisis into an opportunity by expanding its business from business-to-business (B2B) to business-to-customer (B2C). In Samsung SDI’s newsletter for employees, the firm introduced Samjin Amook, a local fishcake maker, as a business model for successful transformation. Yong and I talk about: 1) Introduction of himself and his journey to CEO at Samjin Amook 2) History and background of Samjin Amook 3) How he came up with the idea of launching a bakery-style fish cake restaurant and successfully transforming its business model from B2B and B2C 4) Key success factors of Samjin Amook 5) Introduction of continued new ideas and products after so-called “Samjin Amook bakery” 6) Overseas expansion plans 7) A new business model (Co-growth) : from a manufacturing company to become an ecosystem leader 8) The long-term vision and beyond fishcake for Samjin Amook

In this episode, I speak to Eva Chaewon Yoo, Author of “Do business like Chinese startups" and "Cycling Silkroad” and Tech writer. Eva and I talk about:

1) Introduction of Her background

2) Three books she has written

3) How she came up with the idea of 8-month cycling journey from Seoul to London

4) Interesting backstory of preparation and fundraising campaign to finance her trip

5) The project of interviewing 10 startup CEOs in 10 Silk road countries.

6) The biggest challenges and the most difficult moments during the cycling journey?

7) The professional career plan, and long term plan?

8) Who is the nicest person she has ever met in her life,

In this episode, I speak to Ms. LE HOANG DIEP THAO, Founder and the CEO for TNI Company (King Coffee) which is headquartered in Vietnam and Trung Nguyen Instant Coffee JSC

In 2020, the TNI King Coffee international market is expanded from 60 countries to more than 120 countries and territories. Revenue and market share increased by 200%, the Russian market alone grew by up to 350% despite the on-going global pandemic.

Her talk focuses on the history of the Vietnamese coffee culture, and how her company turns national values into a core branding strategy to win the domestic market and to expand its global foundation.

A prestigious London based publication, Global Brands Magazine (GBM) awarded her with the title of “Most Admired CEO – Food & Beverage Industry in Vietnam” for the year 2020.

Ms. Thao and I talk about:

Her background and journey to founding King Coffee

Introduction of King Coffee and its business model.

How she differentiate King Coffee against others in the markets

What are the biggest challenges in scaling her business and taking it to the next level?

Her interest in Social impact and contribute to solving the social problem in Vietnam:

The background of TNI coffee (King coffee) sponsoring the National Soccer team

The next step and her vision with King Coffee?

The nicest person she has ever met in her life; her mother.

In this episode, I speak to  Anthony Bowers, Founder, and CEO at Tallant Asia

Tallant Asia services companies around the globe with highly skilled staff. We build teams for companies in various back-office functions. This includes roles such as software development, accounting, payroll, virtual assistants, CAD operators and more.

Anthony and I talk about:

His background and journey to founding Tallant Asia

Problems the company is solving now and how his BPO business model works

Its value propositioning for his clients

How he came up with a business idea

How to differentiate its services against others in the markets?

What is the biggest challenges in scaling your business and taking it to the next level

How he finds smart people in things he did.

The potential markets, expansion plan into other production centers and target clients

The next step and his vision for Tallant Asia

S3E4 The leading mobile financial services and digital payments company in #MyanmarIn this episode, I speak to Hal Bosher, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Wave MoneyWave Money is the leading mobile financial services provider in Myanmar operating with over 55,000 Wave shops across the country. Wave Money introduced a unique way of transferring money, bringing millions of people in Myanmar access to formal financial services. Through Wave Money, thousands of people a day are sending money anywhere and at any time. Wave Money is a joint venture between Telenor and Yoma BankHal and I talk about:1) His background and journey to Yoma Bank as CEO and now chairman at Wave Money in Myanmar2) Wave money: The business model, What problems the company is solving now. What are the key features of the app3) His angel investment: various portfolio companies he has invested4) What are the biggest challenges in running startups or business in frontier markets like Myanmar5) Advice to foreign investors that are interested in frontier markets; Patience and long term commitment to co-grow in the ecosystem6) The next step and his long term plan in frontier markets7) Who is the nicest person you have ever met and Why? the opportunity to work as CEO at Yoma bank

In this episode, I speak to  Benjamin Wong, Co Founder, and CEO at Transwap

TranSwap is a Cross-Border B2B Fintech Platform, which allows you to move money better, faster and cheaper. The technology empowers businesses to seamlessly manage and execute global financial transactions, from any local connection. Its products include e-banking, FX-services, cross-border payments, payments through debit cards (Mastercard, Visa, Union Pay and Ali Pay) and wallets; the TranSwap platform also features corresponding reporting and full administrative support for 180 currencies in 120 countries. TranSwap’s integrated services are powered by a proprietary AI portal that allows you to plug-and-play anywhere with instantaneous service execution, resulting in significant savings on transaction fees and administration costs for your operations.

Benjamin and I talk about:

His background and journey to founding TranSwap

Problems the company is solving now and how his business model works

Who are the competitors? And How to differentiate its services against others in the markets?

How he finds smart people and how to transition new employees to the company culture.

The potential market and target clients, 

What are the biggest challenges in scaling the business and taking it to the next level, e.g skilled talents, money or sales and marketing

What have been the biggest mistakes while running a startup so far, how did he deal with that situation. what is the lesson learned from that?

The next step and his vision for Transwap

In this episode, I speak to Samuel Hui, Co-Founder, and CEO at Automation for Humanity 

Automation for Humanity creates all sorts of Caregiving automation devices to give seniors a realistic chance of Aging in Place. Sit & Shower was created to find new solutions to the potential problems that the elderly and those with limited mobility encounter during bathing. Its goal is to create products that ensure safety and increase independence for our users. 

Samuel and I talk about:

His background and journey to founding Automation for Humanity

Problems the company is solving now and the business model

How he came up with a business idea 

How he differentiates his products against other competitors in the market.

About the potential markets and target clients, 

How he and his cofounders met

What is the biggest challenges in scaling the business

The long-term vision for Automation for Humanity