Open For Business

For many, the online space was the only form of revenue for some companies until it was safe to conduct business as normal again. Cyberjaya Farmer's Market naturally had this digital adoption forced on them as well. When the MCO was announced, the Market committee had to figure out a way to give their merchants an online space, and they had to do it FAST.    We had Atirah Tan Abdullah on the line with us to talk about that switch from offline to online, as well as some of the challenges they’re facing at the moment.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the “relaxed MCO” scheduled to end next week, barring another extension, cinemas could go back into business sooner than expected. The question is, will people be confident enough to spend a couple of hours in a crowded space while COVID-19 is still around? And also, with almost nothing to screen before July… why would cinemas reopen to begin with? To help us understand this situation better, we got in touch with Yeoh Oon Lai, CEO of TGV Cinemas, to fill us in on what’s happening (literally) behind closed cinema doors, and how the industry is preparing to make a comeback when it’s safe to do so. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Game developers Streamline Media have delivered in the most grueling of game development circumstances prior to Covid-19, and look to be aceing the test of this crisis as well. We speak to CEO Alex Fernandez about the Streamline game plan, their ethos of putting people before profit, and what they’re doing to help others hit their development goals.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on Voice of SMEs, we turned our attention to the concerts-and-live-events scene to learn about how they’re coping, as well as what it means from a financial standpoint to cancel concerts that have already been booked ahead of time.  We got in touch with Ratna Kumar Nadarajan, founder of Mojo Projects, to help us expand on these issues. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Extraordinary Endeavor, it’s all about Mergers & Acquisitions. Edwin Tay, the CEO & Co-Founder of EasyUni and Ron Ramanan, the CEO and Co-Founder of GoQuo ask all the questions to our mentor for today, Matthew Bartus, Partner at Cooley.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Agrain was set up back in 2018 with the simple goal of serving simple, healthy delicious food at great value. They believe that healthy eating shouldn’t come at a steep price or bland taste, and their food is made from scratch with natural ingredients without any preservatives, MSG, or added chemicals.   To find out how they’ve been dealing with things during this period we managed to get hold of Kendrick Tan, CEO and cofounder to tell us what they’ve been up to, and how they’ve been getting involved with the community.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite the limitations during this MCO, U Mobile has once again partnered with local businesses and talents to support their creative endeavours and continue to spread the message of giving and positivity right through Ramadan and Raya. We speak with Tiffany Chew, Head of Corporate Branding & Communications at U Mobile about their different initiatives and how this resonates with the U Mobile brand.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trevor has been running a successful bar and restaurant in the heart of Beijing for the last few years, targeting both locals and expats alike. Known for their hearty and home-cooked food, cold drinks and lively atmosphere, Plan-B has been a staple of the local community. That was until the pandemic hit, and everything changed. We get a look into how an SME in China has been dealing with the challenges of Covid-19, and what we could learn here in Malaysia.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Those who are able to offer their products online have at least had that as a revenue stream during the MCO. But what about the personalised, hands-on element of many beauty and skincare services? Sothys’ managing director, Cheryl Lee, joined us on a call to tell us her perspective on how they will navigate their operations as a “high-touch” sector in the future as well as their performance over the past few months.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The beauty and skincare industry especially was a strange field to navigate during the MCO, with the general approach to dolling up for the workplace switching over to putting on your makeup for video conference calls. So to find out more about how this industry fared, we had co-founders of Pinkbox Cereal, Shafiqah Shafie & Mohd Iylia join us on the show.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.