Open For Business

The skin care market in Malaysia is expected to reach $1.28 Billion by 2027. However, the beauty industry like many other industries was severely impacted during the pandemic.  We speak to Yap Yann Fang, Founder and Director of Beauty & Co on why she decided on starting her brand, how she markets her services and what the pandemic taught her as an entrepreneur.

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After almost two years in Malaysia, how is Stripe working with local businesses to help build the economic infrastructure of the internet? We catch up with APAC Business Lead, Noah Pepper, about Stripe’s learnings from working with local businesses like Flower Chimp, FashionValet and Storehub to grow and scale despite the challenges caused by COVID-19 and the Movement Control Order.

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One of the best parts of going somewhere new is tasting something new, so what if you could be culinarily transported to the likes of Germany, Norway, and even Indonesia through the wonderful world of cheese? Dexter Lim, co-founder of D’Artisan Cheese, discusses his leap into entrepreneurship from property investment, the wide and kooky variety of products he offers, and what sets his cheese apart from the grocery store staples.

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Pet insurance isn’t popular here in Malaysia, yet many people with dogs or cats in the family often find themselves burdened with expensive vet bills. Oyen, Malaysia’s first digital pet insurance, plans to close that gap in the market with affordable insurance that covers a wide range of pet-related medical issues. We speak to Kevin Hoong, CEO of Oyen, about creating awareness for pet insurance locally, foreseeing competition, and expanding the brand in the coming months.

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At the heart of an organization is the conversations we have with each other. Conversations can either build our businesses up or tear down a lot of the hard work we have put in. Ultimately what managers or leaders want or hope to achieve with their conversations is high performance. We discuss creating high performance through specific types of conversations by sharing the 7 Powerful Coaching Conversations that any executive or leader can use immediately to create amazing performance.

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Lina Tan started a production house in 1999, namely Red  Comm. The company has a diverse production slate ranging from documentaries, branded content, commercials, long and short form series to feature films. Tan has won many awards for her TV commercials and programs. In 2004, Tan formed a subsidiary company called Red Films, under which she produced the hit movie Gol & Gincu. We speak to her on her journey in film-making, how much the landscape of media has changed and how more women can be involved in this industry.  

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Many young adults have dreams of having their own place, and those dreams have for a lot of people been scuppered by the pandemic as well as rising discrepancies between pay amount and rental rates. But maybe there’s an alternative solution - perhaps co-living could be the answer. Chun Ynh Chok, director of Utopia Co-living, shares the benefits of co-living, how they’ve fared throughout the pandemic, and Utopia’s approach to a post-pandemic rental market.

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One of the biggest issues with waste management is the counterproductive carbon footprint it creates. The Asher, developed by Pamarai, solves that issue by creating its own energy and having zero impact on the environment. We speak to Pamarai’s Chairman, Datuk Razeek, and Executive Director, Pang Swee Lei, about exporting The Asher to other countries, creating a self-service model, as well as transforming the waste-turned-ash into a revenue stream. 

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You know that line - “If you build it, they will come…”? Well that’s not always true when it comes to the business world. On this episode of Failing Forward, we discuss every entrepreneur’s need to build and understand their Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and how roping your customers into the process might be your best bet yet.

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Sustainable Development Goal #2 of Zero Hunger means to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. However, Malaysia is not faring too well as we are stagnating or increasing by less than 50% to achieve this goal by 2030. One company that is attempting to change that is Agroz Group which aims to be the largest vertical indoor farm operators in the country. We speak to Gerard Lim, founder and Chief Executive Officer of AgrozGroup on the technology that he uses in his farm, carbon footprint challenges and whether he is looking for more investors.

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