Open For Business

Founded by mother-son pairing Gwen and David, King Living had its humble start at Paddy’s Markets in Sydney over 40 years ago.

Today, with its steel construction and modular sofa designs, King Living is a leading Australian furniture manufacturer-retailer with 18 branches across Australia, with another 10 overseas spread across Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, New Zealand, Canada, and China.

King Living’s journey entered a new chapter around 8 years ago when David King stepped away from the day-to-day and Anna Carrabs took up the role as CEO. After 7 years in charge of the company, Anna stepped down in November and today’s guest on the show took up the baton.

Photo Credits: LinkedIn | David Woollcott

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s no running away from it, gig work is becoming a bigger part of the labour market, and gigwork isn’t just ride hailing or food delivery, it can encompass freelancers, project-based workers and part-time hires.

Managing this kind of work force can be complicated for businesses and troublesome for temporary gig workers due to potential exposure to unsafe working environments, delayed payments, and exploitation.

Cidekick is a platform that wants to manage this balance by making gig work management easier on both sides of the equation. This include the screening, hiring, and monitoring of on-ground workers for events, creative talent for marketing and promotion, or other temporary manpower needs.

While a clear need in the market, how does it stack up against other more notable players like Fiverr or Upwork or job matching platforms like GoGet or TROOPERS, that was recently acquired by BetterPlace?

To find out, we’re speaking with Philip Phua, Founder and CEO of Cidekick. We’ll get into how they have built this solution, where it fits in the talent management stack, and what lies ahead for this startup.

There’s no running away from it, gig work is becoming a bigger part of the labour market, and gigwork isn’t just ride hailing or food delivery, it can encompass freelancers, project-based workers and part-time hires.

Managing this kind of work force can be complicated for businesses and troublesome for temporary gig workers due to potential exposure to unsafe working environments, delayed payments, and exploitation.

Cidekick is a platform that wants to manage this balance by making gig work management easier on both sides of the equation. This include the screening, hiring, and monitoring of on-ground workers for events, creative talent for marketing and promotion, or other temporary manpower needs.

While a clear need in the market, how does it stack up against other more notable players like Fiverr or Upwork or job matching platforms like GoGet or TROOPERS, that was recently acquired by BetterPlace?

To find out, we’re speaking with Philip Phua, Founder and CEO of Cidekick. We’ll get into how they have built this solution, where it fits in the talent management stack, and what lies ahead for this startup.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Promo Partners is a company that specialises in redemption programs and licensed character promotions that has access to intellectual property from Disney, Pokemon, Universal Studios, Warner Bros, and DreamWorks. With this they have worked with companies like AEON, Giant, Guardian, 7-Eleven, Shell, and Family Mart to build marketing initiatives and redemption programs that are generally used to acquire new customers and boost short-term sales, but it can also help build customer retention over the long term.

To learn more about this, we speak with Gary Chin, Founder and Director of Promo Partners.

Promo Partners is a company that specialises in redemption programs and licensed character promotions that has access to intellectual property from Disney, Pokemon, Universal Studios, Warner Bros, and DreamWorks. With this they have worked with companies like AEON, Giant, Guardian, 7-Eleven, Shell, and Family Mart to build marketing initiatives and redemption programs that are generally used to acquire new customers and boost short-term sales, but it can also help build customer retention over the long term.

To learn more about this, we speak with Gary Chin, Founder and Director of Promo Partners.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Itxotic, a Malaysian visual AI startup. Currently in its market penetration stage, Itxotic has secured a significant contract with a key player in the oil and gas industry, despite fierce competition from advanced-stage competitors in Australia and France.

Itxotic's solution not only enhances efficiency in the oil and gas sector, but also positively impacts the environment with potential applications across industries like road transportation and plantations.

We speak to the founder Amar Zolkipli.

Itxotic, a Malaysian visual AI startup. Currently in its market penetration stage, Itxotic has secured a significant contract with a key player in the oil and gas industry, despite fierce competition from advanced-stage competitors in Australia and France.

Itxotic's solution not only enhances efficiency in the oil and gas sector, but also positively impacts the environment with potential applications across industries like road transportation and plantations.

We speak to the founder Amar Zolkipli.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s a key issue that many tenants or potential renters face when they’re looking to rent a property - that’s the initial cash deposit that can significantly impact a renter’s liquidity position. At the same time, landlords want that deposit to help financially protect themselves and their properties.

And the answer to this conundrum is? Well, tech it seems.

Founded in 2018, Blue Duck Tech is a fintech company that provides financial services in the real estate landscape in Malaysia. Their key offering, a Zero Deposit Program to help replace the old rental deposit model with one that strikes a balance between tenants and landlords.

Earnest Wong, Founder and CEO of Blue Duck Tech, joins us to get into the business model and technology that drives this startup, how they manage the associated risks, and what’s next for them.

There’s a key issue that many tenants or potential renters face when they’re looking to rent a property - that’s the initial cash deposit that can significantly impact a renter’s liquidity position. At the same time, landlords want that deposit to help financially protect themselves and their properties.

And the answer to this conundrum is? Well, tech it seems.

Founded in 2018, Blue Duck Tech is a fintech company that provides financial services in the real estate landscape in Malaysia. Their key offering, a Zero Deposit Program to help replace the old rental deposit model with one that strikes a balance between tenants and landlords.

Earnest Wong, Founder and CEO of Blue Duck Tech, joins us to get into the business model and technology that drives this startup, how they manage the associated risks, and what’s next for them.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

80% of Malaysians don’t have valid wills and there’s more than RM90 billion worth of unclaimed assets nationwide. That’s what the President of the Malaysian Institute of Estate Planners (MIEP) said 9 months ago.

Wills and estate planning are some of the least appealing areas of personal finance, but they are essential in ensuring that your money and assets are distributed in a way that you feel best protects your loved ones and dependants. Sure part of the issue lies in the taboo around talking about death, but another part is the potential expense of the process and the inaccessibility of writing solutions or services.

CreateWills is trying to address this by digitalising the process, but can a digital product truly replace a lawyer or estate planning professional’s expertise in this nuanced and sensitive space? We speak to Raymond Gabriel, Founder and CEO, CreateWills to find out.

We also get into CreateWills business prospects, trajectory, and future plans.