Open For Business

This morning on the show, we speak with David Ng, Founder at Savor, a local F&B outlet aiming to encourage healthier lifestyles with their plant based meals.

David started the business with his wife, Beverly, and business partner, Peter back in 2019 after originally starting in the lifestyle coaching field. Their commitment to health and wellness goes beyond the plate as they have not only established a vibrant plant-based restaurant for consumers to enjoy vegan food but they also provide curated meal plans in their mission to enhance health and wellness for their consumers.

With that in mind, we’ll be talking about the inception story of Savor from how it started to where the business is at today, the challenges and hurdles they had to overcome in what’s becoming a very tough F&B industry and what’s in the works for Savor going forward.

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In this episode of Open For Business, we sit down with Casper Foo and Lye Yu Min, the co-founders of co-working space Sandbox. Launched in 2017 with an initial RM300,000 investment, Sandbox has grown into a community-driven space attracting freelancers, digital nomads, and entrepreneurs.

As they compete with larger players like WORQ and Common Ground, Casper and Yu Min share the challenges they’ve faced, their vision for the future, and how Sandbox is creating a unique niche in the co-working landscape.

Tune in to learn more about their growth journey and what it takes to succeed in the co-working industry.

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What does it take to build a localized large language model (LLM) in Malaysia?

In this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Khalil Nooh, Co-Founder & CEO of Mesolitica, about how his startup is developing Malaysia’s own LLM, MaLLaM, and the challenges of AI sovereignty in the region. Khalil dives into his journey from early Natural Language Processing projects to creating an LLM tailored for the Malaysian context.

Key areas covered include:

- The evolution from chatbots and NLP to large language models (LLMs)

- The inspiration and technical challenges behind building MaLLaM

- How Mesolitica is leveraging AI for local businesses and government use

- The importance of AI sovereignty and local data governance

- Mesolitica’s approach to developing cost-efficient AI models

- How Mesolitica plans to scale its LLM across Southeast Asia

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Be it in the morning, evening, or throughout the day, tea has never been left out of the list of Malaysian staples, with a variety of flavours for everyone to enjoy.

In this episode, we bring you one of the flavours with Kavievanan Subramaniam, the Founder of Tea Thambi, a local name that has become renowned for its distinctive and pleasant masala chai in Kuala Lumpur.

Kavievanan started his journey in 2020, during the challenging days of the pandemic, by selling masala tea on a bicycle through the streets of Little India in Brickfields. What began as a humble venture has now grown into a chain of roadside stalls and a café, with another café already in the works.

We speak to him about the inspiration behind Tea Thambi, the challenges he faced in establishing the business, and the strategies he used to achieve such rapid growth. We also discuss future expansion and Kavievanan's vision for Tea Thambi and its impact on the local community.

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In this episode of Open For Business, we sit down with Inbaraj Suppiah, Founder of JomHack, to explore his journey from running a creative agency (Pixaworks Creative Sdn Bhd) to leading hackathons that help businesses foster innovation, acquire talent, and solve complex challenges. Tune in to learn how JomHack and Inbaraj have become a key players in corporate innovation and community building, and what the future holds for this exciting venture in the tech ecosystem.

Among other things, we dive into:

- The origins of JomHack and how Inbaraj transitioned from running a creative agency to designing and executing hackathons and innovation programs.

- How hackathons help businesses drive innovation, acquire talent, and test new ideas in a short time.

- The importance of community building and how it has played a central role in JomHack's success.

- Inbaraj’s insights on working with government agencies, corporates, and startups to create impactful innovation programs.

- The key steps involved in organizing a successful hackathon and the common misconceptions about what hackathons truly are.

- What’s next for JomHack and Inbaraj’s future ambitions.

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In this episode, we sit down with Peter Vesterbacka, the visionary entrepreneur best known for his role in turning Angry Birds into a global phenomenon during his time at Rovio Entertainment. Beyond gaming, Peter has been a key figure in the startup and education ecosystems, driving innovation and future-thinking in a variety of fields. We explore his journey from building one of the most recognisable mobile games to his current ventures, and gain insight into his thoughts on the future of technology, entrepreneurship, and education.

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From a pregnancy craving to a multi-million ringgit business, in this episode of Open For Business, we sit down with Rosli Manaf, Co-Founder of Homebaker@Clover, to explore the journey of building a successful bakery chain specialising in cinnamon rolls.

Rosli shares how this passion project grew into a thriving business with 11 outlets across the Klang Valley, the challenges of scaling in the ever competitive and complex F&B market, and his ambition to make Homebaker@Clover the Krispy Kreme of cinnamon rolls.

Tune in to learn:

- The transition from a corporate career in IT and telecommunications to starting an artisanal bakery.

- How focusing on cinnamon rolls helped Homebaker@Clover stand out.

- The challenges, mistakes and lessons learnt of scaling a food business while maintaining quality.

- Future growth plans, including franchising and potential international expansion.

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In this episode of Open For Business, we speak to Cindy Woon, Founder and Chief Happiness Officer of Belly Happy, a business offering a range of snacks, homemade drinks, and ready-to-eat meals.

Cindy shares how she left her corporate job to pursue her entrepreneurial journey, the early challenges of starting Belly Happy, and how the business has grown from bazaars to partnerships with hotels.

Tune in to learn:

- Why Cindy made the shift from a corporate career to starting her own business.

- How Belly Happy sources and develops its range of snacks.

- The strategies Cindy is using to expand into new markets and grow the business.

- Her plans for the future and what’s next for Belly Happy.

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Today on the show, we speak with Ilyas Alsagoff, Co-Founder and Director at Sugar and I, a local bakery outlet that sells homemade desserts and are famously known for their bomboloni.

Founded in 2013 by Ilyas and his sister, Sharifah Nur Ilisa, Sugar and I began when the siblings started baking brownies for their parents with a heartwarming mission: to bring joy through baking. 9 years later, their passion for baking has now become a growing business, with over 10 products on the menu, custom-made cake and cookie services and TTDI being their fifth store outlet as of today.

With that in mind, we speak with Ilyas on the journey the siblings took from baking brownies for their parents to selling bomboloni across multiple stores in KL, the challenges faced by the business in a very tough and competitive F&B industry as well as their foreseeable expansion plans moving forward.

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In this episode of Open For Business, we delve into the story of Katch, a platform aiming to simplify the health, fitness, and wellness industries by integrating booking management and other backend processes with platform services (think ClassPass), and marketing. We explore how Katch is trying to address the sector's challenges like improving visibility, reducing high commission fees, and unifying fragmented management systems, aiming to carve a niche in a market dominated by giants like ClassPass.

Joining us are co-founders Lee Cheng Yun and Brendan Siew, who will share insights on Katch's inception, its growth, and the strategies they believe will allow them to compete with established industry players.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

- Why Lee Cheng Yun and Brendan Siew ventured into the health and fitness sector and the gaps they aim to fill with Katch's innovative solutions.

- The evolution of Katch from its early days to its current operations, including how they have tackled initial challenges and plans to sustain growth.

- How Katch differentiates itself from competitors like ClassPass through its integration of other technologies such as POS systems, booking management, and more

- Katch's business model and how it plans to achieve ambitious targets, including acquiring 400,000 users and hitting RM21 million in revenue by 2025.

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