Open For Business

After an exhaustive day, battling humidity and pollutants, the last thing you want is to come home to stifling air. We speak with Chris Lim and Strife Lim, the duo behind Sterra, an air and water purifier brand that has transformed over 3000 homes in Singapore. Sterra is now set to redefine Malaysia's indoor experience and we’ll be discussing Sterra's journey, innovation, and plans for the future.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ahead of the upcoming state elections happening tomorrow, Open For Business takes a slight detour to the East Coast, specifically Terengganu, to speak to Indah Sari Otomobil, a car retailer that has been in the business in the state since the late 80s. The father and son duo, Kenny Teo and Kenneth Teo sat down with us to share how it all started for them, the car industry and demand for vehicles in Terengganu and whether Terengganu's reputation as a swing state has affected business throughout all these years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amid growing concerns about traffic congestion, inefficient use of private vehicles, and a rising demand for convenient and affordable transport options, TREVO offers a compelling solution. Learn how this platform uses cutting-edge algorithms to manage trade-offs, providing an optimal fleet size and reducing operational costs while increasing accessibility and efficiency. We hear from Susan Teoh, General Manager of TREVO about how they’re contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions and traffic congestion while enhancing last-mile connectivity. Discover the impact of emerging technologies on transportation and car-sharing markets and how TREVO navigates the challenges posed by regulatory issues, data privacy, and liability.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You can take the Malaysian out of Malaysia, but you can’t take Malaysia out of the Malaysian. Home or abroad, you can be sure that it’s only a matter of time before Malaysians succumb to their cravings and need a dose of our delicious local food – but what do you do if you're studying abroad, say in the UK?Enter Halal Street UK – a Halal e-marketplace established in 2014 based in the UK. Their website is a one-stop marketplace to purchase curated Malaysian food products from small and medium enterprises based in Malaysia straight to consumers in the UK market. So not only does this tap into the Malaysian market in the UK, but taps into the much larger muslim market in the UK. Pew Research Center data shows that in 2016, 6% of the UK population was muslim, around 4.1 million people. Only France and Germany had larger numbers in Europe. We speak to Simon Suresh, Founder and CEO of Halal Street UK, to explore the potential of the halal market in the UK and how the platform connects local SMEs, particularly in the F&B segment, with the UK and European markets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Once upon a time, there was a final year university student who wasn’t too happy about the parking situation at his campus. So he took to YouTube, created his own channel, and uploaded a video about it. That channel's name? dmingthing.That was around 12 years and 526,000 subscribers ago.How did a vlog about the horrible carpark situation in a university lead to 66 million views on YouTube and help build a creative and social media agency? What does it take to turn a YouTube Channel into a business that survives beyond the personalities on screen?We find out with the creators of dmingthing and Co-Founders of creative and social media agency Blankslate Ho Ming Han, Ho Ming Yue, and Bryan Lim Yong Tiam.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We hear from Keith Khor, the founder of Intelligent Consultancy, a firm dedicated to helping with financial literacy in Malaysia. Having navigated an unconventional path to success, Keith now leads a team committed to empowering Malaysians to make informed financial decisions. We'll explore the company's services, from guidance on bank loans to debt consolidation, and delve into why financial literacy is so vital today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If a box of cereal is expiring next month, would you buy it? What if I told you it was 40% off? Now would you buy it? If you answered yes, then you’re going to want to stick around. Near To is a local business that’s trying to reduce food waste by intercepting perfectly edible food products that are headed for landfills and selling them at cheaper prices, some at half their market price. This concept of discounting foods that are ‘near to’ expiry isn’t new and in fact standalone NTE (near to expiry) stores are already found overseas.So today we ask the age-old question, is one supplier’s ‘near to expiry’ food another retailer's treasure? To find out, we speak with Nicholas Tan and Edmond Yap, the Co-founders of Near To. We get into what inspired this venture and whether there’s truly money to be made by intercepting and selling ‘near to expiry’ food products.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remember that old saying “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”? Well turns out, scientifically it is even more true than we thought. Reports have indicated that your breakfast choices not only have an impact on your day but even have a lasting impact on your long-term health.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Between the accelerated digitalization from the pandemic, the continued growth and evolution of e-commerce, and government pushes for cashless payments, digital payments have boomed. And while e-wallets, online bank transfers, and NFC paywave are typically how we interact with this, like the Autobots, there’s a lot more here than meets the eye.One big element of digital payments is the magic of recurring payments. A tech stack that enables you to set it and forget when it comes to your monthly investment deposits, regular insurance premium payments, and most importantly, your monthly subscriptions to services like Netflix and Spotify.Today on the show, we’re speaking to a homemade recurring payments solution that has recently graduated to full stack payment gateway following a majority stake acquisition by Indian payment gateway provider Razorpay in early 2022.With more than 700 clients including Tune Protect, CTOS, and Mary Kay, we speak to Curlec Founder and CEO Zac Liew about Curlec’s journey from founding in 2018, working with Razorpay, and the pathway and strategy to RM10 billion Gross Transaction Value (GTV) in Malaysia by end-2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A month ago, EPF CEO Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said that as of May 2023 only 18% of total members met the basic savings by age, which will enable them to have at least RM1,000 a month over a 20-year retirement period from age 55.There are many reasons for these concerning numbers, including stagnant incomes, but the areas that today’s guests are addressing is financial literacy and financial planning.Through their digital financial planning app CashKu, Advisonomics founders Raevendren Ramachandran and Asgari Stephens want to improve financial literacy among Malaysians by creating awareness and accessibility to resources and products around savings, retirement planning and financial literacy.Today on the show, the founders of Advisonomics get into, among other things, how much a digital platform can move the needle to address our concerning retirement statistics, the business model that drives this business, and the role that CashKu plays in the financial services space.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.