Open For Business

In Malaysia, refugee learning centres have limited funds to hire quality teachers and many centres are having difficulty providing quality education to the students. The Other School aims to place quality teachers in refugee learning centres and at the same time, educate the world. We speak to Teoh Min Chia, co-founder of The Other School about her interesting business model for education.Image Credit: The Other School Facebook PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you know what the real difference is between ice cream and gelato? And is gelato the healthier dessert option? You can find the answers from gelato-maker Ann Gie Leong, the founder of Hummingbird & Mallows Gelato. She has been making local and botanical-inspired artisan gelatos since 2020 after working as a pastry chef in Singapore for 6 years prior to the launch of her own business. Image Credit: Hummingbird & Mallows Gelato Instagram PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The rise in popularity of custom mechanical keyboards in Malaysia is driven by a pretty healthy marketplace that's serving the community. As one of the early pioneers, Rebult Keyboards stays ahead of the rest by constantly offering more options to customers, including custom keyboard kits that were previously much more difficult to acquire locally. They join us on the show to share the story of how they got here, managing a business model that's unique to the scene, as well as designing their own unique products to share their passion for custom keyboards with the community.Image Credit: Rebult Keyboards Facebook PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the middle of the pandemic, Randall Wong found that his boutique gym business was slowing down. And like many other entrepreneurs Randall had to think about how he would sustain through a pandemic that had no fixed end date. After some research into the pandemic’s effect on people’s health, Randall saw that more and more people were developing an interest in nutrition. Shortly afterwards, and with some investment from his partners, Shakeasy was born. A smoothie bar where you can buy healthy plant-based protein smoothies.Image Credit: Shakeasy Bar Facebook PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many F&B entrepreneurs were brought down to their lowest during the pandemic, but for Arieni Ritzal, founder of Gula Cakery, the challenges only served to propel her forward into expanding her ever-growing foodie empire. She shares how she muscled her way through the lockdowns and her excitement in keeping this progress going onwards and upwards.Image Credit: Gula Cakery Facebook PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

YesHello is a software that built for the SMEs, benefits the employees and customers with a shared team inbox and manage all Customer Service and Sales WhatsApp conversations in one place without using regular Whatsapp on personal phones, hence the SMEs are not missing any business opportunities. We speak to Carliff Rizal Carleel, the brainchild behind the solution.Image Credit: YesHello Facebook PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Phil’s Pizza started in August 2020 with its first outlet in Bangsar selling pizzas. This pizza place is founded by Sara Rashid and Phillip Dominic. They share their journey of starting a business during the pandemic, and how they use creative ways to differentiate themselves in the F&B crowd.Image Credit: Phils Pizza Facebook PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Snackfood closed down back in 2020, and has found itself back in business, in a brand new location: Centrio at Pantai Hillpark. This charming gift emporium prides itself in not just providing the wonders of discovering the perfect gift, but also in elevating the in-store shopping experience for people.  We speak to Adeline Choong, founder and creative director of Snackfood, about this fresh start, and her journey in curating the store.Image Credit: Snackfood Facebook PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We catch up with Bryan Chin, founder of the Malaysian sneaker community leader, SneakerLAH which was recently valued at RM35.2 million from NAVER through its affiliate company and reseller platform, KREAM. The strategic buyout sees KREAM choosing to take 22.47% stake (RM7.48 million) into Shake Hands Sdn Bhd., the parent company to SneakerLAH. How did a small community event wind up with such a valuation? Tune in to find out.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Started in 1969, Getha is a lifestyle brand, featuring 100% natural latex. Inspired by the native word – getah, the brand name was thoughtfully chosen to represent a brand that is inherently from Malaysia, renowned for our high quality rubber and natural latex products. We speak to Melissa Tan, the CEO of Getha to share stories behind this business.Image Credit: Getha Facebook PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.