Open For Business

My Forever Doggo isn’t a shelter for strays. And it isn’t a non-profit organisation. Founded by Elisa Khong and run by a small team of passionate individuals, including Amy Wong, social media manager, My Forever Doggo is a startup that creates content to encourage love, kindness, and the adoption of doggos looking for their forever home. They do this by featuring dogs from various shelters under a single platform. We speak to Elisa and Amy about leveraging social media to spread awareness and supercharge their brand, the emotional heft of dealing with animals that need help, as well as running My Forever Doggo like a self-sustaining business.Image Credit: My Forever Doggo Facebook PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The presenters & producers of BFM 89.9 are coming together to highlight some of their personal favourite local companies for the "BFM Collective". Music Mountain is Malaysia’s first ever online on-demand drum lesson platform that aims to make music education accessible for all. We speak to co-founders Rudy Malik and Intan Razak to find out more about the idea behind Music Mountain, developing the syllabus for their drumming course, the myriad challenges of running an online music lesson platform and more. Image Credit: Music Mountain Facebook PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does it take to run a tattoo business? For Fin T, founder of FinTattoos, it’s about blending her passion for art and ink with a sense of entrepreneurship to create a full-time career. But as a solo tattoo artist, there are only so many customers Fin can take, so how does she outline the growth of her company? We speak to Fin about the shifting perception of tattoos over the last decade, as well as the perks and challenges of being a one-woman band and brand.Image Credit: Fintattoos Instagram PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia is notoriously not fantastic at reducing waste - we generate about 38,699 tonnes of garbage every day, or about 1.17kg per person. But for the sake of saving the planet for the next generation, it’s about time we made some changes. Co-founders Rick Lim & Ong Hwee Wen discuss their passion to Protect Your Next Generation, or PYNG, for short - and how they’ve set up this zero waste e-commerce platform to combat climate change. Image Credit: PYNG Zero Waste Official WebsiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Founders Kalyana Mohan and Rouvin Thiruchelvam have created Swipey, an all-in-one SME expense management platform for your business needs. They discuss how they aim to take care of all business expenses in one shot, as well as their goal of building customer-centric digital banking services and standing out in the fintech space.Image Credit: Shutterstock | Den RiseSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are no winners and losers in But Honestly, a card game that gamifies talking and fosters deeper connections between players. The cards encourage emotional awareness and mental health literacy by prompting players to open up about personal stories based on various levels of “difficulty”. In this sequel to an episode of I Love KL from 2021, we welcome Shi Qi Ting back to the station to talk about But Honestly’s post-Kickstarter success, designing comfortable yet insightful questions, and creating a wholesome card game for people of all ages. Image Credit: But Honestly Official WebsiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remember how everyone took their love for food to the next level during the pandemic? The husband and wife duo behind La Qumar was no exception to this. They took their favourite sauce, toum, and turned it into a business. Saravanakkumar Shanmugam and Lalitha Balakrishnan, the founders of La Qumar Foods tell us more about this. Image Credit: La Qumar Foods Instagram PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Muhilan and his brother, Arvind, lost their jobs due to the pandemic, they had to think of something low-risk to help keep things afloat. After finding a nostalgia-inducing minibus, The Barber Bus was born! We invite Muhilan on the show to chat about diving headfirst into entrepreneurship, keeping the functioning bus stationary in Mont Kiara, and keeping things cosy and comfortable with a limited number of daily customers. Image Credit: The Barber Bus Official WebsiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The wedding industry in Malaysia is one of its most lucrative, being valued around RM7 billion in 2018; but it was also one of the hardest hit during the pandemic with large scale events totally shutting down for 2 years. What was that like, and how quickly is that sector recovering now that many couples are sprinting post-pandemic to the altar? Benson Yin, owner of bridal gallery Two of Us, discusses taking over the business in 2016 and what sets bridal photography apart as a service.Image Credit: Two of Us Signature Studio - MY Wedding Gallery Facebook PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The pandemic brought a wave of disruption with it, and while F&B outlets were still considered essential services during periods of lockdown, they faced many other challenges that continue to resonate to this day. Chief Shucker Josh Green from Southern Rock Seafood and Shucked Oysters Bar provides his perspective on surviving the pandemic and what’s in store for both the seafood and F&B spaces, especially in light of continued supply chain disruptionsImage Credit: Shucked Oysters Bar Facebook PageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.