Enterprise Explores

Last week, HELP International School organised a Demo day, where Year 12 students were given the opportunity to present innovative ideas to real-world problems. This was carried out in partnership with 1337 ventures, an accelerator programme that has invested in over 50 startups across diverse areas spanning big data, fintech and social enterprises.This Demo Day was the final act of Project Purpose, a programme spanning a couple of months, developed by HELP to educate its young talents to think innovatively and create an entrepreneurial spirit. Now, the reason this caught our attention was because 1337 Ventures said they would invest RM50,000 in one of the student groups to pursue their project as an actual business. The team presented their idea of creating a braille dictionary, translating from English to Malay, which is only a part of their larger effort of creating a platform to connect youths to NGOs and social enterprises to participate in their volunteer works. Joining us on this edition of Enterprise BizBytes are two of the students from the 8-person team that received the investment from 1337 Ventures; Chong Mae Jian and Katrina Ong Kai Qing, from HELP International School, representing their group - ‘Bridge’.Bikesh Lakhmichand, founder of 1337 Ventures, was also in this conversation. He served as a mentor and coach to these and many more other students, throughout HELP’s Project Purpose.Photo Credits: 1337 VenturesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The internet is currently undergoing a significant transformation, with major social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit facing decline and upheaval. Twitter's downfall has been particularly noticeable since Elon Musk's acquisition of the company, while Reddit has been alienating its developers and users. Meanwhile, TikTok's popularity continues to rise, despite potential bans, and Instagram has morphed into an entertainment platform – and now we have Threads.We try to unpack all of this, and ask ourselves the existential question – where do we all go now?Helping us out is Amin Ashaari the Co-Founder and CEO of SoyaCincauSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A total of 4,000 companies with revenue of more than RM100 million are set to become the first group to implement the Inland Revenue Board's (IRB) new e-invoice system from June 1 next year. Following this, in 2025 it will be mandatory for businesses with turnover of more than RM50 million; then in 2026 for businesses with over RM25 million turnover and finally in 2027 for all businesses.E-invoicing could bring better transparency to the IRB, while also saving time for both IRB and taxpayers, but the bigger hope is that the introduction of an e-invoicing system for businesses will see improved tax compliance and address the leakage in taxes arising out of the shadow economy.However, with that in mind, should businesses brace themselves to potentially pay more taxes? We speak to Ts. Mahadhir Aziz, Chief Executive Officer of MDEC - the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation, about this, the rollout of the national e-invoicing initiative, and what businesses should know about it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT gained 100 million users in just 2 months. Just when we thought that was impressive, Threads has blown the record out of the water, as it gained 100 million users - in just 5 days.Today on Biz bytes, we discuss if Threads is winning the war with Twitter, and we will be looking into ChatGPT’s new feature as well as the Apple App Store’s 15 years journey and its impact. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In June, the robot takeover took another step forward as IKEA assembled its own AI chatbot called Billie. Yes, they named their AI chatbot after their bookshelves. Billie will be taking over routine customer queries and IKEA says it has handled 47% of these kinds of inquiries to call centres over the past two years.Now one of the key concerns when we hear something like this, is job losses, but IKEA says that its use of AI, currently, won’t mean job losses as they’re retraining call centre workers to become interior design advisers. Some 8,500 workers have made the switch since 2021.So while concerns over job losses have been offset for now, it does bring up another big question for businesses - how does the rise of tech and AI Chatbots change the way businesses need to think about their customer experience and service strategies?We explore the importance of Customer Experience, the need of the human element, and what the future of CX could look like with Byron Fernandez, Group Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President of TDCX, a business process outsourcing (BPO) service provider.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Once the domain of gig workers, freelancers, and start-ups, co-working spaces are now attracting interest from large companies and multinationals.Increasingly, these shared spaces are bridging the gap between property owners and businesses seeking office space, functioning much like a middleman. According to industry insiders, this shift is driven by businesses' desire to avoid managing or expanding their own office spaces.Intriguingly, co-working spaces have begun to mirror hoteliers in their operations. While they don't own the properties, they carefully craft experiences that meet the needs of their target market. We’ll be hearing from Andrew Yeow, Co-Founder and CFO, WORQ and Justin Tung, Business Development, Colony Coworking Space about the evolution of these spaces.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earlier this year, the Securities Commission (SC) registered two initial exchange offering (IEO) operators, Kapital DX Sdn Bhd and Pitch Platforms Sdn Bhd. The two registered IEO operators will be able to provide an alternative avenue for eligible companies to raise funds via the issuance of digital tokens in Malaysia. An issuer may raise funds up to RM100 million from retail, sophisticated, as well as angel investors, however this is subject to a limit of 20 times of shareholders’ funds and other investment limits provided in the SC’s Guidelines on Digital Assets.For more on IEOs, who it’s suitable for and how it differs from other funding methods, we speak to Selvarany Rasiah, founder and CEO of KLDX, and Kashminder Singh, Co-Founder of pitchIN.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yesterday Former Fave executives Audra Pakalnyte and Joel Neoh officially launched First Move, a founder-led early stage fund for consumer-focused startups across Southeast Asia. The fund is backed by 500 Global and will be providing pre-seed funding of up to US$100,000 (RM466,000) and already has a portfolio of seven companies in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. In addition to providing direct funding to startups, First Move is actively partnering with other regional venture capital firms, including 500 Global. Besides the backing of 500 Global, First Move has also established the Consumer Tech Angel Syndicate, a group of experienced founders and executives in the consumer space. Angel Syndicate members will co-invest in First Move deals. Members include founders and senior executives from D2C, e-commerce, mobility and fintech scale-ups across Southeast Asia.For more on First Moves’ first moves, we speak with First Move’s Joel Neoh and Audra Pakalnyte, former executives at Malaysian fintech firm Fave turned startup investors.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Twitter is now restricting the number of tweets users can read daily, to combat the aggressive ‘data scraping’ by third party members on its site. Why the concern? Because they are doing it - for freeWe take a look at this and other big news in the world of tech with Mr Matt-splain himself, Matt Armitage. Photo Credits: ShuttershockSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recent reports have revealed a startling prediction: as many as 4.5 million Malaysians could be out of work by 2030 if they don't upskill or reskill. This startling forecast arises from the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) across a variety of sectors, from manufacturing to healthcare and customer service.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.