Open For Business

In 2017, Adrian Chia turned a holiday joke into Big Tiny, a "tiny house" hospitality group that now manages over 1,000 keys across 22 countries.With RM150 million in revenue (2025) and positive cash flow since 2018, the company has big, non-tiny, ambitions ahead. The journey began with SG$200,000 of their own money and a prototype that took six months to build in Adrian’s own garden before being shipped to the Australian wilderness.Backed by SG$4.2 million in funding, Big Tiny now operates an end-to-end model where they design, manufacture, and manage these "tiny hotels" on other people's land. Adrian joins BFM to unpack: The IKEA of Housing: How a patented flatpack design allows professional teams to ship units globally and assemble a fully functional "tiny hotel" in just three hours.The "Micro-Hotelier" Ecosystem: How Big Tiny connects investors, land partners, and hospitality management.The Asset-Light Loophole: Mitigating land risk by registering homes with VINs so they can be moved if a landowner relationship sours.The "Sale & Leaseback" Engine: How selling units to investors funded rapid expansion while retaining management rights.The Pandemic Stress Test: How transparency saved the company when revenue hit zero, retaining 95% of investors.The 50/50 Goal: Shifting the revenue mix from manufacturing sales to recurring rental income.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Malaysia’s fragmented primary care landscape, Dr. Saifulhaziq Noorman is building something more structured. Through Kyno Primary Care and its 14-clinic Poliklinik Amalmedik network, he’s attempting to scale a healthcare business that blends specialist services with community clinics. And now, he’s raising capital via equity crowdfunding to accelerate that vision.We explore the commercial logic behind the model, how the group generates revenue, why this is the right time to bring in investors, and what it takes to scale a clinic network in a tightly regulated industry. From unit economics to expansion strategy, this conversation goes beyond medicine and into the mechanics of building a healthcare business in MalaysiaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For many heirs in Malaysia’s family businesses, the biggest decision is not how to grow what they inherit, but whether to stay at all. Kelvin Khandhar, a third-generation carpet trader, chose to step away after nearly a decade to start Victoria Carpets from scratch. He joins us to talk about the unspoken pressures of succession, why leaving can feel harder than starting over, and how a new generation is redefining value, quality, and long-term thinking in traditional industries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if your truck battery never failed again?For a logistics firm, a dead battery is more than just a nuisance, it’s a broken timeline, spoiled cargo, and lost revenue. Dennis Yong, CEO of VXI Crest, is out to eliminate that risk by turning the humble starter battery into a visible, data-driven asset.Through a joint venture called Advanced Accumulators, Dennis is replacing traditional lead-acid batteries with IoT-enabled Lithium Ferrous Phosphate (LFP) technology. These "smart" batteries store up to 400% more energy at half the weight and allow fleet managers to monitor health in real-time. They even feature an "Over-the-Air Jumpstart", a remote function that lets a manager start a stalled truck from a dashboard hundreds of miles away.Dennis explains why he’s betting on the underserved "marathon runners" of the road, commercial trucks and vans, and how his "frenemy" strategy with industry veterans YSK Marketing and FJ Union is helping him scale a regional battery empire across Malaysia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Building a catering business is easy to start, and notoriously hard to scale. For Andrew Chee, Founder and CEO of RunningMen Celebrations Group, the challenge wasn’t just serving good food, but building a system that could deliver consistency, creativity, and reliability at scale.In this episode, Andrew breaks down how RunningMen grew from a student-run venture into a multi-format halal catering and events business, the gap they spotted in a crowded market, and the operational decisions that shaped their positioning today. We explore how the company thinks about revenue, service design, and execution in a low-margin industry, and what the next phase of growth looks like as RunningMen plans aheadSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In an industry often defined by high-speed logistics and international imports, Brenda James of Nook Flowers is carving out a different path in Malaysia. Known for her "Grown Not Flown" philosophy, Brenda joins us to discuss the intricacies of "Responsible Floristry", from championing local Cameron Highlands growers to championing circular based systems. We dive into the business logic behind her boldest decisions, including stepping back from the Valentine’s Day rush to preserve quality and supply chain integrity.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Venon Tian, Group COO of ZUS Coffee — the operator behind a 1,000+ outlet, app-first Southeast Asian chain. He discusses using flavoured “fun” drinks to win non-coffee drinkers. He explains why building ZUS’s own app unlocked crucial data. He outlines hyper-local menus, navigating fierce price competition, and strategies for fast regional expansion.

Malaysia has top hospitals, competitive pricing, and a strong reputation in medical tourism yet much of the demand is still controlled by foreign intermediaries.Wan Mahsuri Wan Ahmad Kamal, Founder and CEO of Medisuri, an AI-powered medical tourism platform is aiming to reposition Malaysia as a trusted global healthcare hub. We unpack the gap Medisuri is trying to solve, how the business fits into the medical tourism value chain, its monetisation strategy, early fundraising journey, and what scaling this platform could look like in the years ahead.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michelle Chin, founder of HerDuit and co-founder/COO at Oyen, is a creator who blends personal finance with startup leadership. She talks about pivoting HerDuit from pure money content to holistic growth, the TikTok-era need for 3-second hooks, scaling content with a small team and AI, and turning creator work into B2B revenue like workshops.

Two years ago, Applecrumby was navigating its transition from a long bootstrapped journey into its next growth phase. Today, the company is expanding beyond baby care into kids skincare, scaling its retail presence, and rethinking what sustainable growth looks like for a consumer brand built on trust.Co-founders Sean Tan and Jesmine Tan join us to break down what has changed since our last conversation in 2024, how their revenue mix and operations have evolved, the commercial logic behind their move into kids skincare, the economics of selling across online and physical retail, and how they are balancing scale with profitability as they plan for 2026 and beyond.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.