Open For Business

With an abundance of dairy-free milk alternatives on the market, which one do you choose? Do you go with Coconut, Almond, Soy, Hemp, Flax? All of these are healthier more sustainable alternatives to dairy. However, they still leave an impact and a carbon footprint. There is however another contender to the market, the humble pea. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Divers have been “dry” for the better part of this year, thanks to Covid-19. But that hasn’t stopped Flow Dive Centre from creating content and activities to whet the diving community’s appetite and spur “revenge diving” for when the coast is clear. We speak to Flow co-founder Melanie Hwa about the bespoke dive centre’s approach to diversifying their business, a move that helped keep them afloat during turbulent times. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the local food delivery scene is dominated by two major players, the local catering network is ripe for technological innovation. That's why SmartBite decided to change their focus from a B2C provider to a B2B partner. Alessandro Voltolini, co-founder of SmartBite, joins us to talk about their well-timed pivot, engaging a market that's ready to tech players, and expansion plans amidst the global "lockdown" that we're in. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It has been amazing to see Malaysians come together in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many efforts by individuals and businesses alike to support the many different kinds of frontliners. One of those startups was Savor Of Life, and co-founder and CEO Dr. Shaun Kuan discusses how they helped out frontliners and how their business performed during the MCO.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Digital transformation has been the be-all, end-all of survival for many SMEs over the past few months, and the F&B industry in particular has taken to the Internet in fine form. Christopher de Mello, owner of popular Peranakan & Nyonya restaurant, Mum’s Place, discusses their steps towards e-commerce after nearly 2 decades of purely offline operation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If there’s one product on the planet that manages to put a smile on most peoples’ faces - it’s ice-cream. A simple dessert that takes us back to a simpler time and place in our childhood. Of course, this particular comfort food has been fairly difficult to get hold of during the pandemic - perhaps when it’s needed the most. We managed to catch up with the Co-founders of Lezzetto, Jamal and Shanaz, who have a passion for creating ice-cream and love the idea of creating smiles and flavours.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Like most businesses this year, Malaysian adtech startup AdEasy has had to shake things up during the MCO to remain relevant, and help support other businesses in the ecosystem. Co-Founder Therine Goh talks to us about the idea behind Southeast Asia’s first online marketplace for buying offline advertisement space, and their recent #AdEasyJagaSME initiative which shines the spotlight on local SMEs so they can survive the pandemic and stay afloat. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

B40 coffee farmers in Sabah produce a range of quality coffee seeds, but without proper distribution and heavy reliance on the “middle man”, they struggle to make ends meet. In an effort to sell sustainable coffee while helping the Sabahan farmers earn the profits they deserve, BosCo decided to only use beans from Sabah while controlling markups and price hikes in the process. We speak to Viviantie Sarjuni, one half of the duo behind Borneo Specialty Coffee (BosCo), about the decision to become a social enterprise, the effects of the MCO on their supply chain, as well as the speed at which they wish to grow their coffee outletsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What should a high performing day look like in order for you to successfully get your company flourishing? Jeevan Sahadevan, founder of Leverage Lab provides a formula that anyone at any level of management can use to have high performing days everyday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After wrapping up our Extraordinary Endeavor series, we catch up with Arthur Chan of Endeavor Malaysia to talk about how they coped with the changes during this pandemic and what lies ahead for the rest of the year for the entrepreneurs in Malaysia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.