Open For Business

Co-living spaces are often characterised by communal living arrangements and a strong sense of community and have become increasingly popular, particularly among working professionals who are seeking flexible and vibrant living solutions.

At the forefront of this is Bespoke Habitat, a company that has been shaping the landscape of shared spaces since its establishment in 2019. Bespoke Habitat has been creating flexible and affordable housing solutions in Singapore and now, the company has expanded its footprint to Malaysia, specifically Johor Bahru, unveiling an exclusive co-living space designed to cater to the needs of the ever-mobile working professionals.

To explore this evolving trend, the state of co-living spaces in Malaysia and what the future holds for Bespoke Habitat, I’m joined today by Ernee Ong, Co-founder of Bespoke Habitat.

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In today’s discussion, we examine the impact of data quality on large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, pivotal in industries for trend prediction and content personalisation.

Despite their potential, reliance on these AI models, used in various sectors, poses concerns about data accuracy and security, particularly as 62% of Malaysians fear AI job replacement yet 84% are willing to delegate tasks to AI.

Our interview with Genie Yuan from Couchbase, a leader in cloud-based database solutions, will delve into the importance of high-quality data for LLM accuracy, strategies to mitigate data discrepancies, and the broader implications of AI adoption in workplaces, including future AI-driven advancements.

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In this edition of Open for Business, Theodoric Chew, Co-Founder and CEO of Singapore based digital mental healthcare company Intellect speaks to BFM about how and why he built Intellect, the promise and potential of this venture, and what the path ahead looks like for this digital mental healthcare company.

Among other things, we explore Theo’s past experience building and selling content platform Existgreat at just 20 years old, how that may have helped in his Intellect journey, the role that Intellect plays in the health and wellness space, how they utilised the collective $20 million raised in their Series A round - the largest amount of funding raised by a mental health startup in Asia.

We also get into how their recent strategic partnership with IHH Healthcare will support growth ahead, exit possibilities, and more.

Founded in 2019, Intellect is a digital mental healthcare company based in Singapore, aiming to make mental healthcare and wellbeing support accessible for everyone, and now serves over 3 million members on its platform and has signed. They are backed by some famed investors such as Tiger Global, Insignia Ventures Partners, Y Combinator, and more. And last year signed a strategic partnership with IHH Healthcare, one of Asia’s largest private healthcare group

In this edition of Open for Business, Theodoric Chew, Co-Founder and CEO of Singapore based digital mental healthcare company Intellect speaks to BFM about how and why he built Intellect, the promise and potential of this venture, and what the path ahead looks like for this digital mental healthcare company.

Among other things, we explore Theo’s past experience building and selling content platform Existgreat at just 20 years old, how that may have helped in his Intellect journey, the role that Intellect plays in the health and wellness space, how they utilised the collective $20 million raised in their Series A round - the largest amount of funding raised by a mental health startup in Asia.

We also get into how their recent strategic partnership with IHH Healthcare will support growth ahead, exit possibilities, and more.

Founded in 2019, Intellect is a digital mental healthcare company based in Singapore, aiming to make mental healthcare and wellbeing support accessible for everyone, and now serves over 3 million members on its platform and has signed. They are backed by some famed investors such as Tiger Global, Insignia Ventures Partners, Y Combinator, and more. And last year signed a strategic partnership with IHH Healthcare, one of Asia’s largest private healthcare group

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In this edition of Open for Business, Colony’s Co-Founder and CEO Timothy Tiah takes us through lessons learnt, challenges faced, and journey ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of coworking. Among other things, we explore how Timothy was “duped” into this business, his concern with the financial engineering that goes on with the EBITDA profitability of some businesses, the strategy of building a premium co-working offering through Colony and a low-cost, no-frills option through Jerry Coworking Space, his preferred exit strategy, and much more.

Co-founded by husband & wife duo, Timothy Tiah & Audrey Ooi, Colony is a more luxurious take on the co-working space concept and was launched late July 2017. The idea was to transform the work experience with beautiful serviced office spaces and world-class amenities, taking inspiration from Silicon Valley offices.

They started with a team of 15 people and had 2 branches initially, and within a year raised US$5 million with Cornerstone Partners (acquiring a stake at US$15m-US$20m valuation). Today they have 6 main co-working spaces, multiple event spaces, and in 2021, introduced Jerry Coworking Space - a cheaper, fully-automated, no frills option.

In this edition of Open for Business, Colony’s Co-Founder and CEO Timothy Tiah takes us through lessons learnt, challenges faced, and journey ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of coworking. Among other things, we explore how Timothy was “duped” into this business, his concern with the financial engineering that goes on with the EBITDA profitability of some businesses, the strategy of building a premium co-working offering through Colony and a low-cost, no-frills option through Jerry Coworking Space, his preferred exit strategy, and much more.

Co-founded by husband & wife duo, Timothy Tiah & Audrey Ooi, Colony is a more luxurious take on the co-working space concept and was launched late July 2017. The idea was to transform the work experience with beautiful serviced office spaces and world-class amenities, taking inspiration from Silicon Valley offices.

They started with a team of 15 people and had 2 branches initially, and within a year raised US$5 million with Cornerstone Partners (acquiring a stake at US$15m-US$20m valuation). Today they have 6 main co-working spaces, multiple event spaces, and in 2021, introduced Jerry Coworking Space - a cheaper, fully-automated, no frills option.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to the Statistics Department, Malaysia’s SME contribution to the country’s GDP was around 38% in 2018. However, access to finance looks to be a key constraint for SMEs to grow. Enter Funding Societies - the largest SME digital financing platform in Southeast Asia. The platform has disbursed RM12.9 billion across more than 5 million notes in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand since its establishment in 2015.

In 2023, Funding Societies marked several milestones, such as introducing their Islamic Financing solutions to help expand their customer and funding base, to their partnership with the Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia (CGC) that will provide eligible SMEs access to longer-term financing and preferential interest rates.

On this episode of Open for Business, we speak to the Co-Founders of Funding Societies, CEO Kelvin Teo and COO Wong Kah Meng, about what started them down this path, what it was like building this regional platform, the role of Funding Societies in the financing ecosystem, and what the vision ahead looks like for Funding Societies.

Among other things, we get into:

• The Journey of Funding Societies

• The Challenges of Raising Funds

• The Role of Alternative Data Scoring in Lending

• The Evolution of Funding Societies' Product Mix

• The Impact of Digital Banks on Funding Societies

• Funding Societies' Partnerships and Collaborations

• The Business Strategy and Future Plans of Funding Societies

• The Pathway to Profitability for Funding Societies

• The Funding Strategy of Funding Societies

• The Potential Exit Strategies for Funding Societies

According to the Statistics Department, Malaysia’s SME contribution to the country’s GDP was around 38% in 2018. However, access to finance looks to be a key constraint for SMEs to grow. Enter Funding Societies - the largest SME digital financing platform in Southeast Asia. The platform has disbursed RM12.9 billion across more than 5 million notes in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand since its establishment in 2015.

In 2023, Funding Societies marked several milestones, such as introducing their Islamic Financing solutions to help expand their customer and funding base, to their partnership with the Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia (CGC) that will provide eligible SMEs access to longer-term financing and preferential interest rates.

On this episode of Open for Business, we speak to the Co-Founders of Funding Societies, CEO Kelvin Teo and COO Wong Kah Meng, about what started them down this path, what it was like building this regional platform, the role of Funding Societies in the financing ecosystem, and what the vision ahead looks like for Funding Societies.

Among other things, we get into:

• The Journey of Funding Societies

• The Challenges of Raising Funds

• The Role of Alternative Data Scoring in Lending

• The Evolution of Funding Societies' Product Mix

• The Impact of Digital Banks on Funding Societies

• Funding Societies' Partnerships and Collaborations

• The Business Strategy and Future Plans of Funding Societies

• The Pathway to Profitability for Funding Societies

• The Funding Strategy of Funding Societies

• The Potential Exit Strategies for Funding Societies

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia’s agricultural sector faces several issues: an ageing farming population, outdated agricultural practices and land availability amongst others. Social enterprise Cocojack seeks to inject new thinking and fresh approaches towards addressing some of agriculture’s long-standing challenges.

Initially a reluctant young farmer himself, marketing graduate Syed Salleh Syed Sulaiman saw a gap in current developmental programs and founded Cocojack with the aim of delivering well designed agricultural training to youth, towards developing the next generation of farmer-entrepreneurs. With increasing numbers graduating from Cocojack’s training programs, the social enterprise is now seeking to solve the land availability issue by developing a platform to match trained young farmers with owners of unutilised land packets.

We speak with the now passionate agriculturist-cum-founder Syed Salleh on Cocojack’s origin story, product development journey, business model and the future of this truly unique enterprise.

Guest Presenter: Nell Omar

Malaysia’s agricultural sector faces several issues: an ageing farming population, outdated agricultural practices and land availability amongst others. Social enterprise Cocojack seeks to inject new thinking and fresh approaches towards addressing some of agriculture’s long-standing challenges.

Initially a reluctant young farmer himself, marketing graduate Syed Salleh Syed Sulaiman saw a gap in current developmental programs and founded Cocojack with the aim of delivering well designed agricultural training to youth, towards developing the next generation of farmer-entrepreneurs. With increasing numbers graduating from Cocojack’s training programs, the social enterprise is now seeking to solve the land availability issue by developing a platform to match trained young farmers with owners of unutilised land packets.

We speak with the now passionate agriculturist-cum-founder Syed Salleh on Cocojack’s origin story, product development journey, business model and the future of this truly unique enterprise.

Guest Presenter: Nell Omar

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.