Open For Business

For medical professionals, treating COVID-19 induced complications is tricky because of how new the virus is. There isn’t enough data to refer to in order to treat patients at risk of developing pneumonia or other breathing issues. Or is there? We speak to Eduardo Gonzalez, Vice President of Skymind Neurobionix, about using AI to assist doctors and nurses in proactively treating patients for complications even before they begin. Technology is a tool we’ve always had at our disposal, and controversial concepts like Artificial Intelligence might just be the key to stopping COVID-19 once and for all. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While traditional brick & mortar businesses suffer during this pandemic, many agile retailers have found a lifeline by taking their businesses online. We’ve heard how online sales are booming in certain segments, like healthcare and supplements, as well as hygiene products, but there are merchants that are still struggling during this extended lockdown as their products are not what we would consider essential items at this time.Now this poses a unique problem for Lamboplace. Founded by in 2018, Lamboplace is a fairly new online marketplace that offers trusted quality products in the lifestyle categories such as fashion, beauty, gadgets and home. And this is the stuff no one’s really looking to purchase right now, because of the economic and financial uncertainty that’s plaguing every other segment of the population. So we caught up with CEO of Lamboplace, Dato Jason Yap to get some insights into how the ecommerce space has been affected by Covid-19 and what Lamboplace is doing to help merchants on the platform weather this storm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s been a huge emphasis on hygiene and sanitization lately thanks to COVID-19, with lots of employers sanitizing their workspaces and people keeping their homes cleaner than ever before in hopes of warding off the virus. Jes Min - she’s the CEO and Co-founder of the Recommend Group, has dealt with these areas of expertise for a very long time. Recommend is a platform that helps customers look for home-related services like home maintenance, sanitization, aircon cleaning, as well as interior design. They basically connect customers to the few thousand service providers in Malaysia who are on their app. Jes Min speaks on what business has been like for the past few weeks.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It goes without saying that the Movement Control Order has been affecting businesses everywhere. The situation isn’t good and a lot of SMEs may be on the verge of bankruptcy soon if they don’t pivot or find other ways to make money. But according to Raymond Miranda, entrepreneurs could turn that sense of fear into creative solutions to save their business.  Raymond is the CEO and Founder of a coaching consultancy called Labora[s]tory and was recently featured in an article on THE EDGE MARKETS titled ‘Ditching The Loop of Panic and Fear’ for local SMEs. We got in touch with Raymond to expand on this, as a slightly more positive way to start the week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on Voice of SMEs, we were joined by Mallory Loone, co-founder and lead trainer at Work Inspires, a people engagement company. She shared a slightly different perspective on the MCO extension, that hopefully helps  "MCO Monday" sound a bit more like "Motivational Monday" again. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People Systems Consultancy is one of the oldest social enterprises in Malaysia with over 15 years of experience. Executive director Raymond Gabriel shares his thoughts on how social enterprises and NGOs can work through periods of crisis and how PSC themselves have adapted to operating during the COVID-19 pandemic & Movement Control Order.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Up until recently, NGOs and social enterprises were helping these communities make sense of COVID-19 and the Movement Control Order. That was, until the government put a stop-work order on all these initiatives to enforce social distancing. While this is a necessary move, some might argue that a single body may not be sufficient in keeping marginalized communities from going hungry in the coming weeks. Joycelyn Lee, Co-Founder of PitStop Community Cafe shares with us how, as a social enterprise, they too have been forced to “close shop” because of all the restrictions in place.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some companies have stepped up to offer some services. But there are simple solutions too - like a Facebook group.   Sara Jalil Low and 2 of her friends decided that it might be a good idea to set up a Facebook group that would help them find the food that they wanted, using local food producers and helping to bridge that gap between food operators and customers - and the called it ‘MY Food Directory and Delivery C19’.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our second episode of Extraordinary Endeavor, we hear from Chari TVT, Senior Advisor at Duff & Phelps answering questions from Aaron Patel, Founder & CEO of iHandal about cash flow to sustain your business during this Movement Control Order.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's not business as usual anymore. Covid-19 has changed the way many businesses operate and the Government has since launched an aid package for SMEs. In this BFM Webinar Series, we will hear from entrepreneurs on their take of life after MCO and the new norm. This is an extraction of our Webinar Series, watch the video here: http://www.bit.ly/bfmwebinar2See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.