Open For Business

By 2030, Malaysia is expected to transition into an ageing society, with individuals above age 60 and older to make up 15% of the population, and this is a business opportunity that multiple businesses are looking to address, and Sukha is a new contender in the ring.

Starting back in December 2022, Sukha Golden Sanctuary initially focused on specialised support to elderly individuals with dementia and other cognitive impairments. Today the company says it has a Retirement Clubhouse concept and positions itself as focusing on holistic well-being and having a community-based care model, which we will flesh out further in the show.

To expand their services and set up the Sukha Senior Resort in PJ New Town, Sukha is trying to raise between RM3.6 million and RM6 million by offering up to 16.7% of the company via equity crowdfunding on PitchIn. This fundraise values the company at RM30 million. 

So, on top of exploring this fundraising exercise, we will dive into the story behind Sukha Golden's inception and their positioning in the senior living industry, as well as the company’s growth trajectory and projected pathway to a RM1 billion IPO in 6-10 years time.

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Leaving Wall Street to revolutionize Islamic finance, solo founder Junaid Wahedna raised $82 million in his mission to eliminate interest from Muslim lives worldwide. With that funding, he built a robo-advisor model that’s profitable in the three main countries Wahed operates in: the US, the UK, and Malaysia. These markets contribute almost equally to Wahed’s approximate $1 billion in AUM. That said, Wahed is still not profitable on the group level.

However, now that the base model works, Junaid has handed the role of CEO to COO Mohsin Siddiqui, who has been tasked with replicating the business model and scaling the company into markets across the world, aiming to take Wahed from $10 million to $100 million in revenue. Junaid has transitioned to the role of Chairman to focus on overall strategy, building new products, and advancing the larger mission.

Join us on this episode of "Open for Business" as we dive into an inspiring conversation with Junaid Wahedna. He shares his entrepreneurial journey, from leaving a lucrative career on Wall Street to creating a platform that caters to the needs of the Muslim community by offering Sharia-compliant investment solutions. Junaid recounts how a taxi ride in New York sparked the idea for Wahed back in 2015, leading to raising $75-$82 million over the last nine years and establishing offices in 11 countries, including Malaysia.

Don't miss out on this captivating discussion with Junaid Wahedna, only on Open for Business.

1. Inspiration from a Taxi Ride: The idea for Wahed was sparked during a taxi ride in New York when a Bangladeshi driver shared his struggle with Sharia-compliant investments. He didn't want to keep his money in a bank because he was a practicing Muslim and wanted to avoid interest, so he had put all his savings into Apple stock on the advice of his imam.

2. Mission-Driven Business: Wahed's core mission is to provide Sharia-compliant investment solutions, aiming to eliminate interest from all aspects of its customers' financial lives, reflecting the company's commitment to its values and the community it serves.

3. Organic Growth Powered by Referrals: Wahed has achieved significant growth through organic means, leveraging community trust and referrals rather than relying heavily on traditional marketing methods.

4. Solo Founder Success: Despite conventional VC wisdom favoring co-founders, Junaid Wahedna believes that many of the most successful entrepreneurs possess an autocratic personality and emphasizes the importance of control.

5. Raising Capital While Maintaining Control: Junaid successfully raised between $75-$82 million without giving up control, issuing only common stock and not giving any board seats to investors.

6. Global Expansion: Wahed has expanded to multiple differing markets (the US, UK, Malaysia, and UAE), demonstrating the scalability and international appeal of Sharia-compliant investment products.

7. Diverse Product Offerings: Wahed's product portfolio includes a robo-advisor platform, ETFs, equity crowdfunding, and a gold-backed debit card, illustrating the company's innovative approach to addressing various financial needs within the Muslim community.

8. Balancing Faith and Business: Junaid emphasizes the importance of balancing faith-based values with business decisions, ensuring that Wahed stays true to its mission while achieving profitability.

9. Efficient and Lean Operations: Wahed's ability to break even quickly in new markets, highlights the company's focus on operational efficiency and cost management. Their new UAE operations currently on track to break even within one year.

10. Acquisition Strategy: Wahed strategically acquires companies to accelerate growth and enhance its product offerings, such as the acquisition of a digital banking app in the UK for its infrastructure and team.

Future Plans and IPO Considerations: While an IPO is seen as a potential path for liquidity and community ownership, Wahed remains focused on its long-term growth strategy and maintaining control to continue its mission-driven work

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Established in 2012, Complete Human Network helps companies deal with their electronic equipment needs, allowing enterprises to optimise their IT budget and minimise IT-related hassles by leveraging Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) and Enterprise Mobility as-a-Service (EMaaS) solutions, packaging IT devices and software services on a subscription basis.

In today’s conversation, Chai Peng will give us a sense of the journey she’s been on with CHN and the business of enterprise mobility, the underlying business performance and growth, as well as her ambitions ahead.

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Evlos is an artificial intelligence (AI) company that provides AI-powered computer vision solutions to manufacturers all over Malaysia.

Announced last month, the company secured its first institutional funding round from Kumpulan Modal Perdana (KMP), a tech-focused venture capital owned by the Minister of Finance (Incorporated), which will be used to expand the team and power growth ahead.

Shankar and Rahul, the Co-Founders of Evlos, will walk us through the shift from Cedar Technologies to Evlos and the value proposition today, how they’ve built this business over the last 5 years, and their ambitions ahead.

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Today we speak with Dr. Matt Kan, the Founder of Chiropractic First Group. With over two decades of experience, Dr. Kan has been advocating for chiropractic care in Malaysia, where back pain and bone and joint complications affect several million people here.

Inspired by a personal encounter with the healing power of chiropractic, Dr. Kan has dedicated his life to debunking myths and raising awareness about the vital role of our spines in overall health. He will shed light on the science behind chiropractic adjustments, and how this approach can restore mobility, relieve pain, and support the body's natural ability to heal itself.

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From pandemic project to Nasdaq listing later this year, Jin Tan started ReSkills back in 2020 as an online educational portal with the aim of making learning accessible and affordable where the portal connected learners with trainers from across the globe. Today it's a subscription-based online learning platform offering global access to daily live learning sessions and other career-oriented materials. All for USD$1 a month.

Last week, in conjunction with its 4th anniversary, the company unveiled a 5-year roadmap and announced that it is taking steps to list on the NASDAQ as part of its vision to become the world’s primary AI-powered global Learning Hub.

Today on Open for Business, you will learn about the newly announced roadmap and ReSkills strategies for expanding its international footprint, but before that we’ll go back to the origins of this company and explore the journey Jin has been on over the last 4 years.

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In the bustling landscape of healthcare innovation, one company is making waves with its products and with a purpose. Rightfully sounding like a company on a purpose, bpositive, is a social enterprise founded in April 2023 by Corey Bryant, a veteran with nearly two decades in the medical device industry. From its adorable, superhero-themed bandages to its impactful Buy1Help1 initiative, bpositive is redefining what it means to be a healthcare provider.

As Malaysia faces the challenges of an ageing population and rising non-communicable diseases, bpositive’s entrance into the Malaysian market is timely. We speak with Corey Bryant, the Founder of bpositive, to learn more about his company, its ethos and inroads into Malaysia.

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BidMyAsset is a Malaysian-based auction platform for second-hand and manufacturing machinery and equipment, and while it may have been founded in 2022, its roots go back to 2005 through its parent company Khoshee Auctioneers.

The platform helps business owners buy and sell industrial equipment as well as dispose of movable assets like machinery, equipment and industrial surplus, with the company saying it has facilitated transactions across Southeast Asia. This includes brands such as Ann Joo Berhad and Panasonic Appliance.

Today we explore BidMyAsset's approach to asset management and disposal, as well as why Jeevan embarked on this journey and what brought him into the auction business. We will also get into the company’s ambitions and growth trajectory.

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Founded in 2023, Seedflex raised seed funding from 500 Global in Q4 last year to launch its shariah-compliant digital financing solution “Pay-As-You-Sell Advance” (PAYS Advance) across Southeast Asia, starting first in Malaysia as announced in April.

Seedflex said that their PAYS Advance solution offers a frictionless line of credit for cashless merchants that can automatically adjust based on future revenue projections. Interestingly, repayments can be done as fractional deductions from future sales. 

The firm had started rolling out this solution to micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) businesses, but aims to expand the service to a wider group of cashless merchants later this year with aims to expand to other Southeast Asian markets next year.

On this episode of Open for Business, we’ll get into Seedflex’s backstory and their expansion into Malaysia, how they built this credit solution as well as how it’s powered, what kind of partners they’re looking to onboard, their growth strategy, and their larger ambitions ahead.

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We speak with Jeremy Dev, Founder at Far Post Academy, a Malaysian based startup that offers futsal lessons for kids aged 4 years and above.

They offer training programs that are designed to hone technical and tactical skills through professional drills, strategic planning, and real-world exposure through representing the academy at games and tournaments. Since the pandemic, the academy has enrolled over 200 kids in the Klang Valley region and are looking at further expansion into other states in Malaysia.

In today’s discussion, Jeremy will give us a sense of how the academy has evolved over the last 3 years, the challenges they had to pull through as well as the ambitions and hurdles ahead in 2024 and beyond.

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