Taiwanese startup AsiaYo operates very much like Airbnb, and lets travellers book rooms on its platform.
It currently boasts over 60,000 listings in 60 cities, and plans to expand to Singapore and Malaysia by Q2 2019.
Fresh from its US$7 million Series B funding round led by Alibaba Taiwan Entrepreneurs Fund and China Development Financial, AsiaYo, a Taiwan travel startup, announced today that it will be launching its services in Singapore and Malaysia in the second quarter of 2019.
Founded in 2013, the room booking platform works very much like how Airbnb does, and currently boasts over 60,000 listings in 60 cities.
Screenshot from AsiaYo
The startup is said to be “expanding aggressively”, and also announced partnerships with South Korean unicorn startup Yanolja and Alibaba Group’s Fliggy platform.
Yanolja is said to be South Korea’s largest accommodation booking platform, and “one of Korea’s more successful unicorn startups”.
With the partnership, AsiaYo will add more Korean listings to its platform and estimates that the revenue from the Korean market will experience double-digit growth this year.
AsiaYo’s partnership with Alibaba Group’s Fliggy platform comes with the former’s interest in exploring the Chinese market. It is hoped that the collaboration will help the platform attract more Chinese tourists to make reservations for self-guided trips to various countries throughout Asia.
Chinese tourists have been reported to make over 30 million trips to Asian countries yearly.
AsiaYo is also planning to release a Japanese version of its platform in the second half of 2019.
Dr. Pan Yaozhang is the Head of Data Science at Shopee and formerly at Grab.
She’s been credited to building the team from scratch, and now it has over 30 full-time data scientists and more than 10 data science interns.
Most great things aren’t built in a day – take Rome for example.
So is building a successful ecommerce platform like Shopee.
Launched in Singapore in 2015, Shopee has went from being a buy-and-sell site to becoming the one-stop shop for shoppers looking to get a good deal on trustworthy products offered by trusted merchants, and is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
But what drives their intuitive user interface and what goes on behind the mechanics that help merchants get more sales?
It’s the largest data science competition for students ever organised in Singapore, according to Shopee, and it will come to a close on 23 March.
We had the opportunity to do a Q&A with Shopee’s Head of Data Science, Dr. Pan Yaozhang, who was formerly at Grab as the Data Science Lead.
She was also a research scientist at GreenWave Systems and the Institute for Infocomm Research at A*STAR, and holds a Ph.D. degree from the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, and the B.Eng and the M.Eng degrees from Harbin Institute of Technology, China.
Image Credit: Shopee
1. What do you do at Shopee, and what does your day at work look like?
As head of the data science team at Shopee, my daily work is divided largely into three areas:
Team management – As a manager, it is my duty to motivate and inspire my employees. I do so by helping them understand the purpose and impact of their work on Shopee’s business strategy, and motivate them to come up with creative and noble data science solutions to drive the e-commerce business. I also help to build the team structure and set the team rules and best practices.
Project execution – I oversee all projects so as to ensure that they run well and developed in a timely manner. I also help to connect the team with the other functions in Shopee, such as the business units, the regional operations team, the marketing team and the product team.
Keeping abreast of new technology – Artificial intelligence and data science are growing rapidly, and it is important that we stay abreast on the latest technologies and equip the team and the whole company with these new tools. I help to keep the team at Shopee updated with the latest technological developments through workshops and internal technical sharing sessions.
2. You have been credited as the person who built Shopee’s data science team from scratch. What are some qualities a data scientist should have to land a spot on your team?
It is vital that the potential hire has a comprehensive understanding of Shopee’s business model, and displays a keen interest in the e-commerce industry.
Candidates with strong technical and research capabilities also stand out as they can quickly familiarise themselves with advanced scientific methods such as Natural Language Processing, Deep Learning, Computer Vision, and more.
I also look out for candidates with engineering abilities so that they can deploy algorithms and models into real products while ensuring system performance is kept at the optimum.
Image Credit: Shopee
3. What is the role that data analytics play at Shopee?
Data is at the core of Shopee.
Since the beginning, Shopee has been using data for business monitoring, analysing business insights to track performance, and using data-driven insights to back our decisions.
Currently, the role of the data science team at Shopee is to use artificial intelligence and data science technology to drive the business, optimise important business processes and improve key business metrics.
Our mission is to drive Shopee towards being a business driven by big data and serve our customers better using data science solutions.
The team uses best practices of artificial intelligence technology to build better products and services for customers.
For example, using a scripted machine learning model, we are able to detect potential fraud automatically.
This reduces time spent on detection and allows more time to be invested into optimising other areas relating to user protection.
We also built personalised recommendation algorithms that allow buyers to discover products that they may like and a machine translation engine to help translate product information so that sellers can comfortably sell their products overseas with automatic product translations.
Using all kinds of artificial intelligence technology and big data platforms, we are able to utilise valuable data to improve the user experience, help buyers find the right products and automate our internal teams’ business processes to improve work efficiency and reduce costs.
Image Credit: Shopee
4. How can Shopee merchants make use of their data to drive business and generate more sales?
Using data, Shopee has built a variety of tools to help our sellers drive business and increase sales.
For example, Shopee provides a paid advertisement service, where merchants are able to buy certain keywords that will help to increase exposure to their products.
In order to help merchants benefit more from this service, we recommend keywords based on their historical performance, that will potentially lead to more clicks and conversions.
5. What kind of problems do you encounter working with data, and how do you fix them?
One of the biggest challenges we face in Shopee with regard to data is the problem of scaling.
We deal with a huge volume of data, and scaling such a huge amount causes computational problems when developing models and algorithms.
To overcome this and tackle real-world big data problems, we strive to familiarise ourselves with the skills required to manage big data platforms and tools.
We also occasionally invite university professors in to share more about the latest technologies on high-performance computing and big data technology.
Shopee’s top software engineers also provide training sessions on code optimisation and more.
6. Shopee is currently developing an E-Commerce Knowledge Graph – a system first made by Google and then popularised in China. Putting it simply, how does this benefit all of Shopee users?
The manifestation of the Google Knowledge Graph in a Google search
The graph-based method has gained popularity and became a hot topic of research in recent years.
The Knowledge Graph is the latest in a series of efforts in which Google has adopted technology from the semantic web, also known as the “Giant Global Graph”.
Under e-commerce scenarios, by utilising Natural Language Processing (NLP), we want to analyse product titles and descriptions given by sellers and turn it into rich and structural information that is optimised for customers.
The e-commerce Knowledge Graph is a fundamental module for Shopee’s data science team.
This project came about in an effort to keep Shopee up-to-date on the latest technology.
We use natural language processing and computer visions to extract key data from products and users, and store it in a graph database.
This allows the data to be easily analysed and subjected to various scenarios for ease of data query, insights generation, and model building.
Ultimately, the e-commerce Knowledge Graph powers smarter search and recommendations on Shopee.
Shopee users benefit through a variety of features such as an improved recommendation engine, which personalises the homepage, daily discovery module, and popular trends.
This allows users to shop their preferred products and creates a more user-friendly browsing experience.
Furthermore, search engine optimisation helps users to find their desired products easily.
7. Besides the eventual launch of Shopee’s own E-Commerce Knowledge Graph, what are some upcoming projects you’ll be working on?
Besides the e-commerce Knowledge Graph, my team is working on using a machine translation engine to help sellers overcome language barriers when selling products across countries.
Our in-house machine translation engine would support in translating product information such as the titles and descriptions.
8. What advice would you give to those looking to pursue a career in data science or analytics?
I encourage students and fresh graduates to gain more data science-related working experience through internships.
An internship will give them the opportunity to learn from professionals, gain practical experience in the data science field, and allow them to build a strong professional network.
They should also speak with industry professionals and consider learning programming language.
Software engineers who already possess a strong knowledge of algorithms and model implementation experiences should focus on understanding the business strategy of the firm they are working for.
Practising advanced self-learning techniques and consistently attending training workshops would keep them up-to-date and get hands-on with the latest data science platforms, tools and techniques.
You can check out the NDSC here, or if you’re looking to join the Shopee team, click here.
Harriston is a Malaysian brand of chocolates founded in 2005 by S.C. Teng, and is now run by his family.
They offer 150 different types of chocolates that include distinct Malaysian ingredients such as durian, curry, ginger, and tongkat ali.
To date, they’ve sold to over 8 million customers from more than 80 different countries.
For a chocolate business started in 2005, it’s a bold thing to claim that your products are as good as the ones made by the giants from Switzerland and Belgium. But go ahead and ask Queenie Teng of Malaysian chocolate manufacturers Harriston, and you’ll get a response that’s as confident as you’ll find.
“There’s no
doubt Belgium and Switzerland produce some of the best chocolates,
and I feel that Harriston’s chocolates are up to par with the best
as well,” she said.
Going on a stroll down memory lane, it was Queenie’s father S.C. Teng, a former tour guide who founded the company more than ten years ago out of a huge love for chocolates.
“My father has
been in love with chocolates ever since he was a child and he
realised from a young age that chocolate made people smile,” she
said. “Hence he was adamant on building his very own world-famous
chocolate emporium in Malaysia.”
Back then, the brand went by the names Cocoa Boutique and then Chocolate Gallery, and it was only a while later when S.C. decided to name the company after his favourite Beatles member George Harrison.
“Carrying the same
energy day-in and day-out, my father decided to name the company
after someone that inspired him,” Queenie explained. “So instead
of naming the company ‘Harrison’, he took the letter T from
‘Teng’ and incorporated it into Harriston, thus the company was
born!”
Drawing The Global Crowd
Today, Harriston is run by the Teng family, with S.C., his wife, and his daughters Queenie and Wei Tzyy all heavily involved in the day-to-day running of the company and over 200 individuals from all over Malaysia involved in manufacturing and sales.
Image Credit: Harriston
But the interesting fact about Harriston is the clientele that frequent them the most—tourists. Queenie explained that so far, there’s been a surprisingly large amount of foreign customers at their locations in KL, Penang, and Genting Highlands, with their customer count standing at over 8 million from over 80 countries around the world.
“A large part of
our revenue comes from tourists who visit Malaysia,” she said. “If
you were to come over to any of our outlets nationwide, you’ll
notice buses of tourists stopping by everyday to taste our unique
local creations.”
She revealed that the reason for this was Harriston’s unique and extensive offerings (over 150 different chocolate products to choose from) that include ingredients such as real durian flesh, papaya, curry, and tongkat ali among other things.
“We truly take pride in the creative work being put into the creation of our chocolates where we infuse them with true Malaysian flavours,” she added. “The commitment to bringing authentic flavours has garnered much attention from customers around the world.”
Image Credit: Harriston
Remembering Their Roots
But
beyond their popularity among tourists, Harriston also now wants to
engage more with their Malaysian audience and to let them know that
there’s a great chocolate brand on home soil.
“Previously,
our company focused on tourists and they constitute a big portion of
our supporters,” Queenie said. “But now, reaching out to locals
and gaining their trust is something else we’re currently focusing
on.”
“We
want to distinguish our brand and quality from direct and indirect
competitors within the local chocolate industry,” she added. “In
terms of market growth, we’re positive of what will come as we’re
expanding our influence and reach each day.”
Ultimately,
the end goal for Harriston is to become a world-class
chocolate brand, and one that Malaysians can be proud of.
“For us at
Harriston, we’re constantly on the prowl to make more uniquely
Malaysian chocolates for our people to enjoy and celebrate together,”
Queenie said. “But to be more specific, our main goal is to be a
world-renowned chocolate maker from Malaysia, capitalising on our
country’s position as one of the top chocolate exporters in the
world.”
More Than Just A Business
As of current, their business has grown to become more than just a manufacturer and seller of chocolates, with a number of their outlets also offering chocolate related experiences such as educational tours and workshops to get more people to appreciate the art of chocolate-making.
Image Credit: Harriston
“We educate our
patrons on the products they consume, and this contributes to the
current cultural and societal values of our generation,” Queenie
mentioned.
S.C. Teng with his family, including Executive Director Queenie (second from right), and CEO Wei Tzyy (far right) / Image Credit: Harriston
Additionally, Harriston does its part to give back to society by actively contributing to charities. Last year, they collaborated with Kelab Rahman Putra to help raise RM50,000 for orphans from Rumah Anak Yatim Mary, and has also contributed to the Sabah Earthquake Relief Fund, and the Penang Handicapped Welfare Association, just to name a few.
“We participate in
quite a number of CSR programs as we see the company as a responsible
citizen of Malaysia, too!” Queenie said. “For instance, we donate
a portion of our proceedings from purchases of our 80% Dark
Chocolates to the Cocoa Horizon Foundation.”
“This is done in
hopes of elevating the quality of life for these hard-working
individuals and also our way of thanking them for all they’ve done
in the past few years—without them we’d not be able to do what we
do today.”
Targetting The Top Rung
Looking ahead,
Harriston will be looking to solidify their status as a premium
chocolate brand both here and around the world, and Queenie thinks
that the success they’ve enjoyed so far is a good indicator of how
well Malaysia can develop as producer of chocolates.
“I think it’s
great that more and more Malaysians are starting to realise that we
can compete on the global stage,” she said. “Our chocolates and
chocolatiers are really up there with the rest of the world.”
“To have more and
more artisanal chocolate makers popping up also gives us great
competition and the drive to be even better.”
Proving this point, Harriston has recently managed to form a partnership with international chocolate giant Barry Callebaut to introduce their Ruby chocolates to the local region for the firs time, and they’ve also launched a premium sub brand called Harriston Chocolatier offering more upscale chocolate offerings.
Team member of Harriston and Barry Callebaut marking their collaboration / Image Credit: Harriston
“When we started,
people questioned if it was feasible for us to create our own
home-grown chocolates,” Queenie said. “We’ve never let those
questions stop us—if we can produce chocolates in Malaysia under
this hot weather, you can do what excites you, too.”
The newly opened Harriston Chocolatier / Image Credit: Harriston
“Our mission has always been to spread more smiles and we’re glad to know that we’ve reached out to so many people already!”
To know more about Harriston and their chocolate products, you can visit their website or Facebook page.
GogoKids is a platform that connects kid activity providers and parents.
The platform not only acts as a medium for connecting both parties, but also provides a free activity management tool for providers while becoming their marketing arm.
In a constantly changing environment, having life skills is an essential part of being able to meet the challenges of everyday life. To deal with the increasing pace and change of modern life nowadays, kids need new life skills such as the ability to deal with stress and frustration.
To nurture such skills, it’s important that they start from young and the best method to learn it isn’t through school as it is mostly academically-based.
Hence, there are plenty of activities out there that are actually catered for kids to learn life skills, either through playing or the figurative classroom outside of school.
However, there seems to be a divide between parents and activity providers according to Liam, the co-founder of GogoKids, a platform that connects both activity providers and parents.
With a background and experience in organising kid activities such as kids’ camps and flea markets, Malaysian mobile app developer Liam understands that this is a pain point within the industry.
“Activity providers would face problems such as lack of marketing exposure, difficulties in participant recruitment, the mess of admin jobs, and payments,” said Liam.
Partnering up with Yan Chun who is also actively involved in organising such activities, and Steve who is a full stack tech developer, the trio then created GogoKids.
Solving Problems For Both Sides
GogoKids was officially established in May 2018 after the trio observed that although academics provide kids with very strong foundations, skill-based learning is still very impactful in shaping and building a person’s character.
“Parents play a big role too, as they are the biggest influence of their kids,” said Liam. “That’s why GogoKids was established to raise the awareness of skill based learning among parents.”
According to Liam, he also found out that parents lacked one dedicated channel with complete information to help them look for activities for their kids. They either had to Google it or were referred to it by parents.
On the other hand, they came across a lot of freelancers or centres who organised a lot of activities, but often times they couldn’t grow big because they lacked of resources and marketing exposure.
Hence, GogoKids aims to solve both of these problems by leveraging off the power of tech. They’ve now built an online marketplace in an app which is able to gather all the activity providers in one platform so parents can have easy access to them.
Not Just Connecting
A look at the GogoKids app / Image Credit: GogoKids
Although there are already a few competitors in this particular space, Liam mentioned that GogoKid’s business model isn’t the same.
At GogoKids, they aim to help providers by offering a hassle-free activity management tool and by becoming their marketing arm to promote their activities; helping them in handling enquiries, rescheduling, refunds, and more.
“In terms of digital marketing, we are more towards the content and branding approach,” he said. “We do write-ups on their activities as well as the values that they are trying to provide.”
As for parents, their app aims to provide parents with a seamless activity searching experience.
“With comprehensive activity info, transparency of ratings and review, parents can easily find what’s suitable for their kids,” Liam said.
Besides that, the app has been designed with families in mind, as it emphasises activities that have the parenting element. He further added that in the future, the platform will have parenting / family related articles.
The business model currently works in such a way that providers can list their activities for free, while GogoKids will only collect a percentage of it whenever there’s a successful transaction. However, there are plans to expand their revenue streams based on their tech development in the future.
Since launching in August 2018, the platform has recorded around 800 transactions and according to Liam, GogoKids are on their way to making their first million this year based on their current monthly revenue.
Go-Going Further
Image Credit: GogoKids
As the platform is still new, acquiring users has been a challenge because there’s still a lack of confidence among the public towards the platform.
“We have to spend more effort and resources to do marketing as well as user education to build brand confidence among users,” he said.
Liam added that they overcame this by forming strategic alliances with other startups to come up with creative marketing collaborations. This includes leveraging the resources these startups use to run carnivals and roadshows to make their brand known among the public.
“We learnt that as a startup, we have to always think out of the box, break the norm and hack our way out whenever we are stuck in a difficult situation,” said Liam.
Speaking on milestones, he mentioned that one such achievement would be becoming the second runner up in the PUMM TEC Pitching Competition.
Other than that, he is proud to say that within 6 months they’ve registered a total of 5000 users on the platform and over a hundred activity providers across Malaysia.
With the ultimate goal of creating an app not just for parents to buy activity tickets, but also more of a medium to access to all sorts of useful family / parenting information, Liam and the team have plans to upgrade the app by adding in the latest tech such as Artificial Intelligence to provide more accurate matching and suggestions.
If you would like to try out GogoKids, you can download the app for Android devices here and iOS devices here.
A personal touch is often needed to revamp a house to really make it feel like an ideal home.
It’s not an easy process and can become a confusing ordeal when you’re trying to decide how to even kickstart the whole project.
We’ve compiled a list of online platforms that provide the right kind of services, whether it be to help you start the whole makeover from scratch, or something simpler such as finding Pinterest-esque furniture to give your home that aesthetic vibe.
Step one: Finding the ideal space.
Image Credit: propertyguru.com.my
The first thing is to make sure your house is in the right location and space.
Research comes in handy here. Have a list of what you’re looking for, such as the neighbourhood surroundings or the amenities that the building may come with.
Once you have a few areas in mind, the internet is now your best friend.
Below are a few property websites that simplify the searching process based on factors such as pricing, location, and also have more particular details like the size of the allocated area.
Once you’re happy with your owned space, it’s time to take another step forward with the overall structure and layout of the place.
Being aesthetically pleasing is one thing, but every house needs to be functional to live in. So renovations and installations can be considered when building that ideal home.
You can take a look at services like Recommend, which lists down renovators and contractors to help out if you’d like to restructure your home.
When it comes to functionality, it’s important to really make sure the wiring and plumbing of your house is settled so that you can move on to really decorating the insides.
Image Credit: Recommend
For this, you can check out services like Kaodim and ServisHero; both have services such as aircond installations, plumbing repairs, or even just hiring someone for a good ol’ spring cleaning (it can really do wonders).
Sometimes it’s the things we easily overlook that could actually make a difference in how cosy your home can feel, like having a good hot water system.
You can look into brands like Centon who has products such as instant and storage water heaters, providing you with a sensational shower experience and other hot water needs throughout the house.
The goal of an ideal home is to create a space that keeps you mentally happy, and coming home to a nice warm shower or bath after a long day sounds like it could greatly help.
Step three: Decorate, decorate, decorate!
Now comes the fun part: bringing to life what you already have in your head.
Image Credit: BuildEasy
Everyone has different ideas on what the interior of their ideal home looks like. We can’t recommend a service that fits everyone’s needs so we shortlisted a few that cover interior designing in general.
If you have a theme in mind but you don’t really know how to execute it, sites like Atap.co are a good place to start. Their website has sections where you can browse for ideas or look for professional architects and contractors if you already have an idea in mind.
Another platform that can aid you from start to finish with your interior designing is BuildEasy; they have designers to help sketch out the right blueprints as well as experts in terms of furnishing the place with the right aesthetic.
If you’re looking to just switch out some old furniture or add some new pieces to give it that modern look, here are some furniture stores you can take a look at that offer products fitting with the trends of many #housegoals.
This step is optional because it depends on what you’re getting done for your ideal home.
If you’re moving into a new place entirely or you went on a crazy shopping spree with new furniture/decor, you’d probably need a good transporting service to help carry all these items into your crib.
A number of platforms offer this service, including:
Generally, what these platforms have in common is that you can make requests to rent these lorries online and get an immediate quotation for the pricing. Some of them also offer extra perks like shrink wrapping or assembly service if you’re looking to add on those as well.
If you’re not looking for such big vehicles, you could check out services like SoCar that lets you rent a 7-seater to move your items right after your shopping spree.
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A lot of resources are freely available online to help you find ways to bring your ideal home into reality, and most of them can almost be done immediately.
And while aesthetics makes things more cosy, having a safe home is also crucial. Just like how even the smallest touches can elevate your house from “alright” to “haven”, opting for brands that offer features with added protection to your household could be something worth looking into.
For example, Centon Water Heaters uses in-house PentaFecta safety technology to bring some of the best safety features to their products, shielding you with maximum protection against dangerous situations like electrical hazards and scalding hazards.
Image Credit: Centon
There are 2 models with this technology built-in: the Vintage and Okido series. If you’re living in a building that already has high water pressure (such as condos), you can opt for the Okido series that feature a slim and compact design without a pump.
The Vintage series is more of a luxury model with a built-in pump (which boosts water flow up to 400%) that comes with an optional rain shower set.
Image Credit: Centon
Specially for our readers, you can get a 9% discount off all Centon Water Heaters if you purchase from the Onsen.my website. You’ll just need to key in the promo code “CENTONHOC2019” during checkout to redeem it.
Home is where the heart is, so why not make it a proper heaven to live in?
This article was written in collaboration with Centon.
For more information on Centon Water Heaters, you can check out their official website here.
If you’re interested in purchasing, you can also browse through Centon Water Heaters via
I’m not a particularly big believer in brand loyalty when it comes to smartphones. Having been a user of both iOS and Android, I can say that each system has its pros and cons that gives you a different experience.
But after being an iPhone 6s user for the past 5 years, I was due for an upgrade and the new Samsung Galaxy S10 drew me in immediately.
I bought myself the regular S10 model in Prism White and so far after using it for close to two weeks, there are many features that I have been enjoying immensely (even with the painful transition process of transferring backups to Android).
Here’re 8 key features about the S10 that I believe make it a smartphone worth checking out in 2019.
1) The fit-to-hand feel.
As per its predecessors, Samsung kept with their Infinity Display with the S10 but altering it in a way where it’s now known as the Infinite-O Display (where the front-facing camera lens is embedded directly in the screen).
With a goal of having a smartphone with the best possible screen to body ratio, the hole-punch camera actually helps give off the impression of a borderless piece of glass.
Because of that, the phone can appear bigger than it actually is. The design is quite slim and light, which makes it really nice to hold (as someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy bulky big phones).
The S10 comes with a 6.1-inch diagonal display which actually makes it almost as big as some of the previous Plus models. I’ve been enjoying having more room to watch my movies, read books, and play games on the immersive 19:9 Infinity-O Display.
2) The precise display cutout.
Compared to the S10 Plus that has an oval-shaped cutout, the S10 sports a simple hole-punch-size cutout for its single selfie lens, which I find far less distracting.
GIF Credit: Vulcan Post
Reading articles is quite fun to do with the bigger screen space, and when taking selfies or playing games with the phone, the hole-punch never took away from the experience.
I will say that when taking photos of myself, the obvious cutout actually helped me focus directly at the lens which is a great feat for someone like me who usually can’t seem to have proper eye contact with the camera lens.
FYI: If you’re bothered by the hole-punch, try using one of Samsung’s cleverly designed wallpapers to hide it. It won’t help much when you’re streaming videos or browsing the web, but the disguise looks pretty damn good when you show it off to friends.
3) The Dynamic AMOLED display.
The S10’s screen comes with a Dynamic AMOLED display, which has gotten the highest grade from the screen testing experts at DisplayMate.
If you’re not really much of a numbers person (like me) and you can’t tell from those type of ratings, just take a look at the stunning brilliant colours of the S10 screen that shows why the S10 display is one of the best on the current market.
It supports HDR10+ content as well as HDR10+ video recording. Added with top-notch photo capture, the S10 does extremely well in making content pop on screen better than most smartphones.
GIF Credit: Vulcan Post
The S10 screen also has improved blue light filters, which do a better job of cutting down on the slice of colors that usually makes it harder for people to fall asleep. Overall, I’d say the S10’s display is pretty close to perfect.
4) The cameras.
One of my main criterias when choosing a smartphone comes down to its camera, and I was pretty intrigued by the S10’s camera that comes with a set of powerful lenses that helps capture photos in exquisite detail.
The S10 comes with Samsung’s all-new 123-degree Ultra Wide lens, along with 12MP, Wide-angle, Dual Aperture, Super Speed Dual Pixel lens. There’s also an additional 12MP Telephoto (zoom) lens and a 10MP, UHD, Dual Pixel front-facing camera that’s perfect for taking high-quality selfies.
I really like how the S10 can switch to the type of image users want to capture based on the scene, so you can go from zooms to portraits, to ultra-wide landscapes and group shots.
GIF Credit: Vulcan Post
But a feature that I’ve been appreciating lately has been the Instagram mode that’s integrated to Samsung’s stock camera app, meaning the photos and videos are taken with the phone’s camera instead of through the Instagram app which could decrease the quality.
It basically brings the filters directly to the camera software and I can upload my photos straight to my Instagram Stories without leaving Samsung’s default camera software.
GIF Credit: Vulcan Post
The feature also includes the usual Instagram stickers, editing tools, text, hashtags and more, but there’s little mode options such as the beloved Superzoom and Boomerang. Hopefully there’ll be an update soon to include those.
5) The PowerShare feature.
The S10 comes with a 3,400-mAh battery, which means that the device doesn’t last as long on a charge but it can still go a long time without needing to top off the battery.
So when it comes to the Wireless PowerShare function, I use it sparingly. This feature essentially lets me wirelessly-charge compatible phones and wearables just by laying it on the back of the S10.
GIF Credit: Vulcan Post
When charging other phones, it is a little slow so I mainly use this feature to charge my Galaxy Buds. It’s very efficient and saves me time in needing to find a port to charge my devices when I’m out and about.
GIF Credit: Vulcan Post
FYI: You can still use your S10 while charging the other phone, but do note that this feature will drain your phone’s battery faster. However, the charging is stopped to prevent draining the S10’s battery when its battery level is below 30%.
6) The in-display fingerprint scanner.
Being the first smartphone in the world to use an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, I was quite excited to test it out and so far, I’m impressed.
GIF Credit: Vulcan Post
As the scanner utilises ultrasonic waves to map out my fingerprint’s unique pattern, it’s been a speedy process in unlocking my phone. The scanner also features an anti-spoofing algorithm that lets it recognize my real, physical fingerprint and reject images or copies of it—which makes it faster and safer than an optical fingerprint scanner.
Instead of holding the thumb down, I usually like to just tap the scanner so that it can unlock faster and it’s been nice to not have to turn on the display to access this feature.
Protip: To help make the reading of your fingerprint better, you can add multiple versions of your own fingerprint at the “Biometrics and security” section in your settings.
7) The strong processor.
The S10 comes with Exynos 9820 and 8GB of RAM, making it one of the fastest phones on the market.
GIF Credit: Vulcan Post
Graphics-intensive games like PUBG have been great to play on the S10 as the phone handles the burden well—games hardly lag while the phone doesn’t really heat up.
8) The headphone jack.
Let’s get this out of the way since some may find it insignificant.
When researching on potential options for my next phone, looking for smartphones that still had the headphone jack was actually a big deciding factor. Even if I prefer listening to my playlists with wireless audio devices, having the 3.5mm headphone jack there gives me a sense of satisfaction because there’s an option of using it if needed.
I don’t need to bother with adaptors and I relish the fact that I can easily charge my phone and listen to music at the same time.
Worth An Upgrade?
For its retail price of RM3,299, I have no regrets getting the S10.
The S10 offers what I generally look for when upgrading smartphones; superfast performance, a beautiful display, wireless PowerShare, great camera quality and battery life, and with a less distracting camera cutout than on the larger, pricier S10 Plus.
If you’re looking for an all-rounder phone that’s packed with the latest technology, I’d say it’s worth a look.
For more information on the Samsung Galaxy S10, you can check out their official website here.
This article is written is collaboration with Samsung.
Apple has unveiled Apple Arcade, their game subscription service.
Games will be playable offline, compatible across Apple devices, and will have no ads and ads tracking.
Apple Arcade is due to launch in fall 2019 in 150 countries.
Just last week, Google announced the launch of Google Stadia, a game streaming service that will let users play games via their browser without needing to wait for content to be downloaded to a device.
Pricing details and available titles for the service are currently unavailable, and gamers in Asia would be disappointed to know that the service will only be launched in the United States, Canada and “much of” Europe “sometime this year”.
It is not certain when it will be hitting our shores.
One thing gamers can look forward to, however, is the upcoming launch of Apple’s game subcription service Apple Arcade.
Play Offline, Across Apple Devices
Image Credit: Apple
Apple has just unveiled Apple Arcade, a game subscription service that will give users a chance to try out its full collection of games without needing to take the risk of paying upfront for them.
Subscribers get access to the full experience of games on the platform, including all features, content and even future updates, a relief for those who aren’t too fond of in-app purchases.
Games are playable offline, and many of them will offer support for game controllers.
Apple Arcade games are playable across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, and users can pick up where they left off in a game even if they switch devices.
An Apple Arcade subscription will also allow access for up to 6 family members.
Where Cards Fall, a puzzle game from the creators of the popular Alto’s Adventure
Apple Arcade will have no ads, ad tracking or additional purchases, and will respect user privacy.
Games Available, Launch Dates
Apple Arcade will feature a collection of 100 brand new, exclusive games that aren’t available on any other mobile platform or in any other subscription service.
The tech giant also revealed that they have worked with renowned game creators like Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy), Ken Wong (Monument Valley), Will Wright (SimCity, The Sims) and “dozens more” for original releases.
Beyond a Steel Sky, the upcoming sequel for Beneath a Steel Sky (1994)
New games will be added regularly to the service.
Apple Arcade will also include a selection of games on the App Store, which has nearly 300,000 free and paid games at the moment.
More than just handpicking games for the Apple Arcade, Apple also revealed that it is contributing to development costs and working closely with game creators.
The service will feature games from creators and studios like Annapurna Interactive, Bossa Studios, Cartoon Network, Finji, Giant Squid, Klei Entertainment, Konami, LEGO, Mistwalker Corporation, SEGA, Snowman, ustwo games and more.
“The App Store is the world’s biggest and most successful game platform. Now we are going to take games even further with Apple Arcade, the first game subscription service for mobile, desktop and the living room,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.
Apple Arcade will be launched in fall 2019 in more than 150 countries from a new tab on the App Store.
Singtel wants its users to ‘get out more often’ with the recent launch of its all-new digital plan.
Aptly called GOMO, it’s a no-contract SIM-only plan which offers 20GB of data, 200 minutes of talktime, 200 SMSes and free Caller ID for S$20 a month.
Users can add more data anytime for only S$10 (10GB with 100 mins + 100 SMSes).
Subscribers also stand to enjoy dining offers such as 1-for-1 discounts at selected cafes and restaurants.
According to Singtel, the lifestyle rewards will be expanded to include ride-hailing, entertainment events and activities, and travel-related promotions.
Customers who sign up for GOMO mobile plan before 30 April will receive a free GOMO Travel SIM worth S$20.
Free 1-Year Amazon Prime Membership
Singtel has also partnered with Amazon Prime to launch an offer that allows subscribers to receive free one-year Amazon Prime Membership.
Amazon Prime offers free international shipping on orders above S$60, as well as other shopping and entertainment benefits.
Prime membership also grants access to video-streaming services Amazon Prime Video and Twitch Prime.
This membership is valued at S$2.99 a month, which means Singtel customers will get to save S$35.88 for the whole year.
Eligible customers are those who sign up for a new 1Gbps fibre broadband plan and fibre broadband customers who sign up for a new Combo mobile plan or 12-month SIM Only plan.
Customers with both mobile and fibre services who re-contract either plan also qualify to sign up.
According to the founders of matchmaking service Destini IS, dating Singaporean men is a “trend” among Japanese ladies nowadays.
Launched just one month ago, their business wants to act as the metaphorical bridge between Singaporean and Japanese singles.
They say that the grass is greener on the other side, and this is definitely the case when it comes to describing Singaporeans of the opposite sex.
For instance, terms like “unfashionable”, “no effort”, “unromantic” surface when I asked Singaporean female colleagues and friends about their general impressions of Singaporean men.
Similarly, I’ve heard Singaporean men complain that Singaporean women are “materialistic”, “demanding”, and “proud”.
According to the founders of Singapore-based matchmaking agency Destini IS, however, Japanese women have a much more favourable impression of our local men.
Image Credit: Destini IS
Singaporean men are kind, gentlemanly and more independent, letting their wives have their own careers.
Destini IS is founded by Japanese expats Hitomi Endo and Hiromi Kiuchi, and has the aim of becoming a metaphorical bridge between Singaporean and Japanese singles.
The friends have been living in Singapore for over 10 years now, and Hitomi runs a language school, while Hiromi works as an Aroma Therapist Consultant.
On why they decided to open a matchmaking company, they shared that Japanese women interested in meeting Singaporean men is actually a “trend” now.
A video by Destini IS on what Japanese women think about Singapore and Singaporean men
“Singaporean Men Tend To Treat Women More Equally”
More than just a trend (perhaps sparked by movie ‘Crazy Rich Asians’), the founders shared that in comparison to Japanese men, Singaporean men treat women “more equally”.
Their Japanese counterparts are known to be more traditional in their mindset and still expect women to play the role of homemaker and prioritise the needs of her husband and children.
The feelings are mutual, too, according to Hitomi and Hiromi.
During a Destini IS member event
Singaporean men they spoke to revealed that they are “attracted to the way Japanese ladies present themselves, with careful attention to personal grooming which gives them a certain charm and femininity”.
Starting Up With No Professional Matchmaking Experience
The duo don’t have any experience in the matchmaking industry prior to starting up, but that didn’t stop them from clinching a partnership with IBJ, the biggest marriage agency in Japan.
“Hitomi had always been interested in getting involved in the matchmaking business, and obtained the partnership with IBJ. [She] is also part of the Japan Marriage Counselor Federation.”
Hitomi counselling a Destini IS member
As for challenges setting up, the founders shared that they needed to translate the existing databases and documents from Japanese to English, and needed to pay extra attention to ensuring that contracts were crafted based on Singapore law.
More Than 20 Members Within One Month Of Launch
During a Destini IS networking session
Since launch on 15 February, Destini IS has seen signups of “more than 20 members”, and there have been “a few initial matches so far”.
“However, it will probably take a few months before any of them become actual successful matches.”
Japanese language lessons for Destini IS members
Interested parties can request for a free consultation, but would need to pay enrollment fees should they choose to sign up for the programme.
Their programme comes in 3 different tiers, but all of them include invitations to member-exclusive parties and access to the IBJ database.
Image Credit: Destini IS
Currently, their main clientele are Singaporean men looking for Japanese partners, but “Singaporean women interested in meeting Japanese men can [also] sign up to be matchmade with them”.
Interested in finding a Japanese partner? Check out Destini IS here.
Slots were quickly filled up, and the telco is once again relaunching this offer!
What the TPG mobile plan entails
“This will be a SIM-only plan, which includes unlimited data, unlimited mobile-to-mobile calls, 20 local SMS messages, and 20 minutes of outgoing calls to local fixed lines per month,” the telco said in a press release.
Do note that a 4G VoLTE compatible device is required for making and receiving calls and data speeds will be capped at 2GB/day.
Successful applicants will be issued new phone numbers, and porting from another operator is not applicable.
Customers will also be happy to know that the trial plan will come with no lock-in contract, and that they will be notified of the standard monthly charge “at least two months before the end of the 12-month free trial period”.
On its website, TPG states that this trial may be withdrawn at any time so better hurry to register your interest here!
Upon confirmation, TPG will send you an email with instructions on how to collect your TPG SIM card from any one of their pick-up locations.
Malaysian female portal Nuren Group announced a successful Series A+ funding round featuring Malaysia Debt Ventures Bhd (MDV), InnoVen Capital, and 500 TukTuks.
They’ll use this funding to strengthen their online Motherhood brand in Thailand, as well as improve their portals in all existing markets.
Yesterday, online female resource platform Nuren Group announced their success in acquiring an undisclosed amount of funds through a Series A+ round, with investors such as Malaysia Debt Ventures Bhd (MDV), InnoVen Capital, and 500 TukTuks all involved. This round of funding comes after Nuren Group’s previous funding success where Gobi Partners led a round that saw the Malaysian platform net close to RM10 million.
For those unfamiliar, Nuren Group focuses on female family matters—particularly the stages from marriage to motherhood and beyond. Under their banner is a host of female-centric online portals that include Wedding.com.my and Motherhood.com.my, with their content localised to each focused target market—Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
These portals allow
their users to view content and information about weddings,
parenting, and family issues, and also allows them to find related
products and services all within the same platform.
All this is indicative of how Nuren Group has evolved since its inception in 2013.
From first starting off as a website for bridal ideas and services, the group now is also a comprehensive provider of motherhood services and products.
For example, you can find things such as parental classes and baby warehouse sales on their portal.
As of today, Nuren Group has consolidated its presence in three key markets, with their community now including 2.5 million Southeast Asian mothers, 1.2 million monthly users, and 6 million monthly page views.
On their latest funding success, co-founder Petrina Goh explained that it was down to Nuren’s strong track records of growth within the past two years.
“We’ve more than
doubled our revenues, and our community has grown ten times,” she
said. “We’ve also demonstrated improved financial performance,
with our Malaysian arm set to become profitable this year.”
Strong In Thailand
With this latest
funding, Nuren Group will now aim to strengthen its presence in
Thailand, a country that they view as prime for accelerated growth
due to the double-digit growth in monthly users.
“We launched Motherhood.co.th in 2017, which is the localised version of our platform for the Thai market,” Petrina explained. “We now have over 400 brands and over 10,000 products listed on the website.”
“The Thai market
has always been the centre of attention for well-known beauty and
female brands,” she added. “But unbeknown to many, the Thai
market is also home to many good quality baby brands.”
“With our regional presence, it’s our dream to bring these brands closer to Southeast Asian parents and help them access good quality products for their babies,” she said.
Aside from strengthening in the Thai market, Nuren Group will also take this opportunity to embolden its Motherhood brand across all markets, with the funds going to user acquisitions, improving user experiences, and various marketing activities.
Plenty Of Space For Growth
Speaking on Motherhood.com.my’s prospects, Petrina mentioned that its window of opportunity still remains wide open due to the under-representation of parenting e-commerce and content available online.
“We’re in a space where motherhood is largely under-represented compared to other categories that have largely been disrupted, such as fashion and beauty,” she said. “In comparison with other marketplaces and e-commerce platforms, we’re very community driven, and we give new parents product recommendations for their parenting journey in order to make informed buying decisions through our marketplace.”
At the same time,
Petrina also revealed that the challenge for Nuren Group now was to
ensure customer retention and loyalty, with the big threat now being
the propensity for other domestic marketplaces to bring in much
cheaper OEM (original equipment manufacturer) products instead of
originals—something Nuren Group is averse to doing.
“Merchants and platforms like us will have to master the combination of show-rooming, web-rooming, holding events, demoing products, good in-store experiences, and focusing on after-sales services,” she said. “We also foresee e-commerce companies using data to predict spending and trend-setting to perform above peers.”
You can find our more about Nuren Group’s online resources on their official website.
WonderBrew is a Malaysian producer and seller of kombucha drinks started by Joseph Poh and his co-founders Adam and Boon.
Founded in November 2018, WonderBrew sells their products online as well as in various retail outlets across the Klang Valley.
They plan to leverage upon millennial Malaysians’ demand for healthier options in the market to build their business.
There’s a new F&B item slowly gaining popularity in the Klang Valley called kombucha, a drink created through the process of fermenting SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast).
For those unfamiliar with kombucha, the drink throughout its various interpretations has been around for more than 200 years, and supposedly comes with a host of nutritional and health benefits. These include maintaining a healthy gut, an improved immune system, higher energy levels, and better digestion amongst other things.
Thus, the drink follows the healthy-eating trend that’s been gaining popularity over the past few years, and lately, there have been more and more producers of kombucha in KL especially.
One such producer of kombucha products is WonderBrew, a new company founded by Ipoh-born Joseph Poh (formerly a trading and investment banker, and also the first franchisee of Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart in Malaysia) and his two partners Adam and Boon in November 2018.
The idea for WonderBrew came to Joseph after hearing good things about kombucha from Adam who had some stomach discomfort on a trip to Bali, where the drink helped to alleviate his symptoms.
“After
hearing that, I
went and tried it at a local grocer—Ben’s—and fell in love with
it after taking my first sip,” Joseph explained. “Then
I started drinking it more to improve my gut’s health.”
Subsequently, Joseph went on to do more research about kombucha online and eventually ended up attending a workshop where he met his second co-founder Boon who had plenty of experience brewing and selling kombucha products since 2016.
One thing led to another, and eventually the idea to create a business off kombucha materialised.
“Based on three factors—great taste, affordability, accessibility, I knew I had a business opportunity to fill a market gap with a possibly great team,” Joseph said. “Seeing as we had different backgrounds and strengths that complement one another, I initiated meet-ups to explore a partnership, and the rest is history.”
A Meticulous Brew
Right now, WonderBrew exists as a three-man operation and is run out of a commercial kitchen where their products are made fresh daily. Their versions of kombucha come in a variety of flavours such as passion fruit, green tea, and beets.
Image Credit: WonderBrew
They use organic ingredients sourced from local organic farmers, and abstain from using artificial additives and preservatives in order to output as pure of a product as possible.
“When we started off, our kombucha was brewed in a home kitchen,” Joseph said. “However, we found that there were limitations to home brewing—although our kitchen was clean, we found it difficult to explain and prove to some customers our standards of hygiene.”
“Thus, we made a decision to upgrade our brewing within a commercial kitchen to ensure quality and safety in every batch, and we also took the opportunity to design the commercial kitchen to provide an optimum environment for kombucha brewing,” he said.
Other things that WonderBrew does to ensure their products remain as pure as possible include using glass jars during fermentation to prevent leaching, close monitoring, and brewing in small batches.
WonderBrew’s kombucha products are now sold at prices of RM12.90 per bottle and can be bought online (with doorstep delivery), as well in Ben’s Independent Grocer, Village Grocer, and a number of fitness centres, cafes, and co-working spaces around the Klang Valley.
Simple Supply & Demand
Speaking on the longevity of kombucha, Joseph is of the opinion that there’s plenty of opportunities for his product to become successful, especially considering the rising interest in health trends among millennial Malaysians.
Image Credit: WonderBrew
“The world is getting more health-conscious, and in Malaysia, people are starting to pick up health trends from the West,” he said. “For instance, we started seeing the boom of creative workout studios such as Ministry Of Burn, healthy eating such as Goodness Greens and Rawsome, and fermented products such askefir, sauerkraut, and kombucha.”
“Perhaps it’s not difficult to see the reasons behind this—people are exposed to work stress, pollution, unhealthy local cuisine, unhealthy lifestyles, and also easier access to health information online,” he added.
But before looking to grab at more of the market, Joseph and his team have to first weather the storm of limited resources, just like all new businesses do.
“We’re more cautious when it comes to spending our resources, despite the many plans we have for WonderBrew,” Joseph explained. “Now we plan and prioritise our goals to achieve healthy and sustainable growth, and we’re very much about self-sustenance from cash flow generated from sales.”
This coupled with the challenge of having a tight cash flow due to operational demands means that Joseph and his crew are always planning way ahead and are always taking on multiple responsibilities to ensure the brand can grow—something they don’t necessarily mind.
“Being a startup means sometimes you may have to do everything by yourself, even though you’re not an expert at it,” he said. “Currently, we’re running on a three-man team and despite each of us having our own roles, we don’t mind going beyond that to help each other out.”
“Personally, I enjoyed and learned so much from my partners when we work together,” he continued.
Image Credit: WonderBrew
So Far, So Wonderful
But so far, WonderBrew has managed to do pretty well for themselves, putting their products in 13 different locations in their very first month and adding on six more in the subsequent month, and then doubling their growth within that same time span.
“We’re very glad that some of the big and reputable retailers like Village Grocer and Ben’s are willing to take a chance on us though we’re a new brand,” Joseph said. “Hopefully with them on-board, we’ll be able to open more doors in the future.”
The founders of WonderBrew / Image Credit: WonderBrew
Looking ahead, Joseph said that WonderBrew will look to expand their distribution channels to other major Malaysian cities such as Penang and Johor, with their target being 100 locations by the end of 2019. This will work in tandem with their plans to work with corporate clients more, and grow their number of clients.
“Aside from the different ways of distribution, we’ll continue work on improving and maintaining high product standards,” Joseph said. “For instance, we’re in the midst of applying for halal certification with JAKIM to ensure confidence in consumers and bring the first halal-certified kombucha to the local community by this year.”
Founders were inspired by their mother’s unchanging style of buying the same type of sunglasses each time she loses a pair on her travels.
Rocket Eyewear is stocked at the upcoming Design Orchard, Gallery & Co., Tanjong Beach Club, and more.
They are also available at COMO Hotels and Four Seasons at their properties in Bali, Phuket, Maldives, and Turks and Caicos.
Most people would ideally want to start their business using as little capital as possible.
But siblings Ong En Ming (32) and Ong Ker-Shing (43) decided to take “a huge leap of faith” and launched Rocket Eyewear with 3,800 pairs of P3 sunglasses on 23 September 2017.
For the unacquainted, the P3 sunglasses was created by the U.S. army and has been worn by celebrities like Grace Kelly and James Dean.
Ming (left) and Shing (right) with their mother (middle) / Image Credit: Rocket Eyewear
The inspiration to launch Rocket Eyewear came from their mother’s “knack for losing her sunglasses in extraordinary places”, they wrote on their website.
So Ming and Shing made a pair of travel-inspired P3 sunglasses for her because every time she lost a pair, she would go back to getting the same frame.
“She liked them so much she wanted two. So we made more, and we hope you like them too!”
Now, Rocket has been dubbed “the cool kids’ brand in the Lion City” by Channel NewsAsia (CNA) and “the Singapore sunglasses brand that fashion insiders are raving about” by Harpers Bazaar.
Master Of One
Image Credit: Rocket Eyewear
In the interview with Harpers Bazaar, they revealed that it took nine months to launch Rocket, including the designing and manufacturing processes.
On what their considerations were when it came to the design and production, Ming explained, “Choosing to focus on just one shape has added a magical simplicity to our production.”
“Whereas other companies have to spread their energies across various different SKUs, we focus all our energy on making a single kickass product.”
Image Credit: Rocket Eyewear
In the interview with CNA, Ming reckoned that it might not be the “smartest business decision” to take a “hyper-focused” approach.
His conviction stems from his admiration for brands that take a stand and have a strong sense of purpose, he told us.
“Instead of being a jack of all trades trying to make something for everyone, you focus on doing one thing really well, and you ace it,” Ming shared.
“We exist because our mum had really cool sunglasses that she kept losing, so we made more of them for her. Everyone has a mum, so I guess that resonates!”
The Ong siblings with their mother in Kyoto, Japan / Image Credit: Rocket Eyewear
As for how the brand name ‘Rocket’ came about, Ming explained that he wanted to name it after their mother but she prefers to be “low-key” so he had to come up with a new one.
“One night, I went to bed and dreamt of a rocket soaring up into the sky against all odds, and I was like, ‘Boom, that’s our name.'”
Coming up with the Raised ‘Asian’ Fit and Standard ‘European’ Fit frames was a subconscious move that became a unique selling point for them.
“We sort of just knew we had to design different fits to cater to the incredible diversity of individuals living in Singapore,” they shared.
A Singaporean Brand For The World
Co-founder Ming / Image Credit: Rocket Eyewear
Both siblings are Harvard College alumni; Ming studied Economics and Shing studied Fine Arts before she went on to the Harvard’s Graduate School of Design where she studied Architecture and Landscape.
With their time spent abroad, I thought they may have an advantage starting their business overseas.
But the siblings believe “Singapore has a great reputation”, thanks to our tourism board.
“From day one, Rocket was meant to be a Singaporean brand for the world as opposed to an international brand for Singaporeans.”
“Perhaps, because we’d both spent so much time abroad, we’d seen the potential to build an authentic, aspirational Singapore brand with global appeal,” they said.
Co-founder Shing with her kids / Image Credit: Rocket Eyewear
Curious as to how they managed to source for the maker of the first pair of sunnies they gave their mother, Shing answered that it was done by a family friend based in Shanghai, China, whose family has been in the eyewear industry for over 30 years.
Through this family friend, the siblings humbly consider themselves “very lucky” to “have the privilege” of working directly with the same manufacturers that make for the world’s biggest luxury brands.
Ming handles operations while Shing, who also runs Singapore-based Lekker Architects alongside her husband, leads the design at Rocket.
While there are people who avoid or are more cautious working with family members, Ming and Shing, despite their 11-year age difference, have fantastic rapport.
“Shing is actually a genius, and it’s a huge privilege to work with her. We work well together because we trust each other,” Ming admitted.
“We trust that we both want what’s best for Rocket, and we trust that when we make mistakes (they’re inevitable), we’ll learn quickly from them.”
“During disagreements, the best idea wins–there’s no room for ego.”
Ming told CNA that he’s “better at translating the ideas into reality” as Shing handles everything related to design. On top of that, they’re both “pragmatic and logic-oriented”.
Perhaps another reason why they’re great partners is because they’ve had entrepreneurship experience.
Before Rocket, the Ong siblings started Two Rabbits Smoky Chilli which sold homemade chilli formulated by their mother.
“In addition to losing her sunglasses on trips with great frequency, Mum often reproduces and improves upon yummy things she tries on her travels,” Shing shared.
Years ago in Switzerland, the family tried “this ridiculously yummy, super hot chilli oil” to go with their pizzas at a pizzeria located “atop Piz Corvatsch in St. Moritz” and were blown away by its taste.
“As soon as we got home, Mum recreated the chilli oil with more onion and garlic, and the rest is history,” Shing recounted.
The chilli oil became a staple condiment in all their meals, from roast chicken sandwiches to Chinese dumplings.
“Friends loved it, so we started bottling it and offering it to them. Although people loved the chilli, the market size in Singapore is too small,” she said.
She added that Vanessa Kenchington from the Plain Vanilla Bakery “was a huge supporter” and the first person to stock Two Rabbits Smoky Chilli.
But they wound it up because landing a spot at supermarket shelves was costly and shipping costs exceeded the price of a bottle of chilli if they were to sell it online.
“In other words: GREAT product, too small of a market.”
Seeing A Sky-‘Rocketing’ Growth
Image Credit: Rocket Eyewear
Ming revealed that the company has grown 600% between the first and second year of business.
Rockets has flown to over 20 different countries in the past month, from Malaysia to Brazil, and Australia and the U.S. have become big markets, according to him.
“Europe would be, too, if it weren’t for the crazy high taxes/duties on shipments from Singapore,” he added.
While Rocket Eyewear is mainly an ecommerce business, Singaporeans can purchase them off-the-shelf at Tanjong Beach Club, Gallery & Co., The AC, Kapok, Botanic Gardens, nana & bird, and Design Orchard.
They have also partnered with COMO Hotels and Four Seasons at their properties in Bali, Phuket, Maldives, and Turks and Caicos.
Happy customers have also left over 450 5-star reviews.
As they reflected on their trajectory so far, Shing said, “There were a hundred really valid reasons not to do it, and startup costs were high. It’s not like a website or app that you can hack together a few lines of code, launch and iterate.”
“We’re huge believers in the ‘lean startup’ method, but with Rocket, it was a case of ‘go big or go home’, and we went really big, launching with 3,800 pairs of Rockets in two fits and 16 different colourways,” she continued.
“It’s madness, and we don’t advise other people to do what we did.”
The siblings are excited about collaborations and claim to be “big fans of Pink Dot”, hoping to work with them in the near future.
If you love to spruce and pamper yourself, and frequently look out for spa or beauty packages with the best value-for-money in Singapore, this is a PSA for you.
Since 2015, EZ-Link, together with the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE), has had a TRUST Programme that protects consumers’ spa package prepayments.
Basically, the programme ensures you’ll be refunded the unused value in your prepaid packages bought from beauty salons, in the event that the salon shuts down before you fully redeem it.
How it works is that EZ-Link manages the funds as a custodian, and gives payouts to the salons each time a session is redeemed. If a salon goes bust, EZ-Link returns the unused funds to its customers.
But why does TRUST target such a specific purpose?
Beauty salons frequently adopt aggressive sales tactics and get customers to sign up for prepaid packages. They may provide significant savings compared to when you purchase services separately, but usually still come up to a pretty high one-time cost.
With this, the beauty industry is a huge source of complaints made to CASE, and about half the complaints are related to customers losing their prepayment when a salon suddenly closes its business.
In 2018, CASE received 1,829 customer complaints about beauty services—topping the list among all industries.
After TRUST was set up, it has assured customers across more than 48 spa and wellness operators.
On 26 March 2019, EZ-Link announced that the TRUST programme is going digital, for consumers and merchants to easily access through an app.
Consumers will no longer have to sign up for a physical TRUST card and present it at spas and salons each time they want to redeem their treatments, as they’ve had to do up till now.
With the app for customers, users can store their contact details, track their transaction history, view their packages, and see what balance they have left unredeemed.
The merchant app, which is also supported by a web-based Merchant Administration Portal, helps business owners manage their products and catalogues, register new customers, and manage purchases, redemptions and refunds.
TRUST’s new apps are immediately available to download on Android devices—but Apple users will have to wait till mid April.
Get your beauty packages protected by TRUST, and pamper yourself without fear!
After promising to “rewrite the rules of photography” earlier this month, Huawei has officially unveiled the P30 at their announcement event in Paris today.
Unveiled by Huawei CEO Richard Yu himself, the P30 builds on the strong foundation set by last year’s P20, featuring a host of meaningful upgrades that make it a worthy addition to the brand’s already-stellar phone lineup.
Needless to say there’s a lot of information to unpack, so here’s the lowdown of everything you need to know about Huawei’s newest flagship phone.
New Year, New Look
The P30 Pro (Left) and P20 Pro (Right) / Image Credit: Vulcan Post
On the outside the P30 has received a complete makeover — the phone now sports a curved OLED display (6.1-inches for the standard, 6.47-inches for the Pro), coupled with an unobtrusive waterdrop notch for an almost bezel-less screen.
In addition to the classic black the phone also comes in “Breathing Crystal” and “Aurora” colourways, which make for a unique look that you have to see in real life to truly appreciate.
The internals, on the other hand, take a lot of cues from last year’s critically acclaimed Mate 20 Pro — you’ve got a 4,200 mAh battery (3,650 mAh for the standard P30), 8GB of RAM, reverse wireless charging, and Huawei’s 7 nanometer Kirin 980 chip.
Don’t worry about the phone having a chip that’s technically from last year, though — Geekbench scores suggest that the Kirin 980 is still one of the best processors in the market right now, and a comparison we did shows that it can even keep up with the recently released Galaxy S10+.
Four Is Better Than One
Image Credit: Vulcan Post
The P series has always been about photography, so it’s no surprise that the P30’s cameras are the star of the show.
While the standard P30 comes with a triple camera system, the P30 Pro is equipped with the world’s first Leica Quad Camera System, which includes a 40 megapixel wide lens, 20 megapixel ultra wide angle lens, 8 megapixel telephoto lens, and something called a “Time-of-Flight” camera that helps produce a greater depth of field effect.
Image Credit: Vulcan PostImage Credit: Vulcan PostImage Credit: Vulcan Post
Another feature that Huawei is particularly proud of is their propietary SuperSpectrum Sensor, which uses a Red-Yellow-Blue-Yellow (RYBY) colour model instead of the standard Red-Green-Blue (RGB) found in other phones.
The inclusion of yellow supposedly allows 40% more light to be absorbed, resulting in sharper details, more vibrant colours and better quality in low-light environments.
A new “Periscopic Zoom Design” also allows up to 5x optical zoom on the P30 pro, and if that’s not enough the digital zoom now goes all the way up to 30x and 50x on the P30 and P30 Pro respectively.
The front camera is also a whopping 32 megapixels, which puts it way ahead of the competition when it comes to selfies.
Pricing and Availability
Image Credit: Vulcan Post
If all this talk has convinced you to make the switch, you fortunately won’t have to wait too long to get one — both the P30 and P30 Pro will be available in Singapore on Saturday, the 6th of April, retailing at S$998 and S$1,398 respectively.
While the phones can be bought at…well, pretty much everywhere you’d expect to buy a phone, Huawei will also be holding a launch event on the same day at VivoCity’s Central Court from 10am to 10pm.
To sweeten the deal, customers who purchase either model at the event will also receive the Huawei Watch GT (6th April) or Freebuds Lite (7th April), along with a JBL Clip 2 portable speaker. Considering that these freebies have a combined value of up to S$470, it might make sense to be an early adopter for this one.
You can also pre-order the phone online on the 27th of March at 12pm, either through telcos or Huawei’s official online store on Lazada. The latter will be offering a unique 512GB version of the P30 Pro (S$1,698), so this looks like the way to go if you need the extra space.
The P30 looks like an optimistic start to Huawei’s 2019 lineup, and based on the company’s track record it might very well be one of the stronger phone releases of the year.
If this is a sign of things to come from the brand, then we can’t wait to see what Huawei can do with their successor to the Mate 20 Pro.
Naluri is a digital therapeutics solution founded by ex AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani that combines behavior science, data science, and digital design all into one app.
The platform also provides professional health and life coaching services by connecting users to health professionals such as health psychologists, dieticians, and fitness coaches.
Azran Osman-Rani is no stranger to the entrepreneur world as he is an experienced leader with 20 years of experience in building new, innovative, and disruptive businesses.
Known as the founding CEO of AirAsia X Berhad, he led it from a startup to IPO in 6 years and achieved annual revenues of over RM3 billion with over 2,500 employees.
Other than that, he was also part of the founding team at an internet video-on-demand service, iflix, as its CEO of Malaysia, and helped to scale it to 650 employees across over 20 countries in 2 years.
To top it off, he is also an Ironman triathlete and his passion for health and fitness has now brought him to his latest venture—Naluri.
“Naluri is a digital therapeutics solution that combines behavior science, data science, and digital design to help you achieve the healthy lifestyle you deserve, conveniently and affordably,” said Azran.
Facing Up To A Chronic Problem
Image Credit: Naluri
Naluri was started in mid-2017 by Azran as he set out to build a business that would help the mass population to become healthier.
Here he was supported by two co-founders who both have backgrounds in healthcare—Dr. Jeremy Ting, a healthcare and tech specialist, and Dr. Hariyati Shahrima Abdul Majid of The Biggest Loser Asia fame.
The star-studded team set out to tackle the increase in numbers of Malaysians faced with chronic diseases.
“2 out of 3 adult Malaysians, or 13 million, are wrestling with chronic diseases, and across Southeast Asia, there are over 100 million people in total,” said Azran. “And on average, it costs the healthcare system over USD1,000 per person per year—so that’s USD100 billion expenses.”
“That’s avoidable because these diseases are preventable through healthier lifestyles.”
When Health And Tech Combine
Image Credit: Naluri
Using the Naluri App platform, you can connect to a team of health professionals: including health psychologists, dietitcans, fitness coaches, holistic health coach, executive coaches, financial planners, medical advisors, and pharmacists.
“We also provide you with digital tools such as food journals, daily modules, planners, and thought journals to help you learn, plan, track your progress and get professional feedback,” Azran added.
Behaviour change is hard to do on our own and according to Azran, only 15% of people succeed in becoming healthier on their own while 58% succeed when they have coaches.
“So we provide users with professional coaches, led by a dedicated psychologist to guide you through a digital behaviour change program,” he said. “It is more convenient and accessible, more affordable, and removes the stigma and unwillingness to see a professional face-to-face.”
Also, healthcare can be complex and according to Azran, most healthcare specialists provide “siloed” advice. For example, a cardiologist tends to only focus on your heart and a dietitian tends to only focus on what you eat.
In contrast, Naluri provides users with a multi-disciplinary team of health advisors through the app.
The app comes together with an artificial-intelligence engine that analyses a user’s responses and progress, and summarises the data for professional human coaches so they can provide more precise and higher quality advice, coaching, and guidance.
Not About Mere Profits
When questioned as to how much the business has made, Azran declined to mention but said that they’re not motivated by profit, but rather motivated by trying to solve a problem first.
“We are still at a very early stage of tackling a very big problem,” he said. “Revenues and profits will come later once we have a stronger track record of delivering real positive changes to health.”
After going live officially less than a year (their app was only officially published on the AppStore / Google Play in April 2018), they already have a list of corporate clients including large global insurance companies, government-linked companies, and healthcare providers on board the platform.
Geared towards the B2B market, their contracts are tailored towards the needs of corporate partners. However, individual users can use their app for free up to 14 days before they’re required to sign up with a subscription plan.
They’re very proud of how far they’ve come seeing that they’ve helped their users lose significant weight and even help some of them to stop taking medication.
“It’s not about growth or users or revenues, it’s about changing people’s lives positively,” said Azran.
Instead of focusing on expanding and growing, their primary motivation is to go deeper and deliver meaningful health outcomes, instead of just chasing growth for growth’s sake.
“We would rather reduce chronic disease risks for 1,000 people by 50%, than to superficially promote health by encouraging 10 million users to do 10,000 steps a day but not make a deep difference to their cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure levels,” he said.
Still being relatively new in the industry, he and his team aren’t afraid of doing something wrong as they’re focused on long-term success.
“It’s about making a deep difference in people’s lives, not chasing revenue, profits, and growth just for the sake of numbers.”
Azran Osman-Rani , Co-Founder & CEO of Naluri
If you would like to find out more about Naluri, you can check out their website here and social media here.
Tech giant Apple is reportedly opening two more stores in Singapore in the coming months.
According to sources close to The Straits Times, the two stores will be located at Jewel Changi Airport and Marina Bay Sands (MBS).
The outlet at Jewel Changi Airport, according to a source close to the development, will not be ready for its exclusive sneak peek from 11 April to 16 April, but “may open as early as 17 April to coincide with Jewel’s public opening”.
The same source added that, true to Apple’s “notoriously secretive” approach when it comes to store plans, tenants at Jewel “cannot even see the state of Apple’s renovation”.
As for the MBS outlet, a “dome-like structure has emerged from the water”, and that is reportedly where the third Apple flagship store will be located.
The MBS Apple store might just be neighbours with the existing Louis Vuitton “island” store
The previous tenant of the so-called “island” store was a nightclub, and is linked to the MBS shopping section via an underwater passageway.
Haidilao founder Zhang Yong has a net worth of US$8.2 billion
In 1994, he opened the first Haidilao outlet with just four tables
Zhang’s management philosophy is very employee and customer-centric, which contributed significantly to Haidilao’s success
Haidilao’s 370 restaurants worldwide raked in US$10.4 billion in sales
Haidilao went public in September 2018. The IPO raised nearly US$1 billion and valued the company at roughly US$12 billion.
In this year’s World’s Billionaires List, Forbes has named Haidilao founder Zhang Yong as Singapore’s third richest.
With a net worth of US$6.8 billion (his real-time net worth has increased to US$8.2 billion), Zhang has also been listed as the 224th richest man in the world.
Although he is a new entrant to the list, the now-Singapore citizen is already known as China’s richest restauranteur.
The 48-year-old runs a successful Sichuan-style hotpot chain that raked in US$10.4 billion in sales from his 370 restaurants worldwide.
Beyond China, Haidilao has more than 30 outlets overseas in countries like Singapore (which has the most number of outlets), Taiwan, South Korea, the United States, Japan and Hong Kong.
Besides Haidilao, Zhang also holds a majority stake in Haidilao Catering and Hai Di Lao International Holding (parent company of Haidilao); as well as Yihai International, a food distribution and seasoning manufacturer for Haidilao.
He Was Once A Factory Worker Earning S$19/Day
Zhang Yong, co-founder and CEO of Haidilao / Image Credit: Graham Uden for Forbes
Despite the significant success Zhang enjoys today, he actually has very humble beginnings as a factory worker, earning just 93 yuan (~S$19) a month.
The high school dropout used to work as a welder in a government-run tractor factory in his hometown of Jianyang in Sichuan, China.
In 1994, he opened the first Haidilao outlet, which was a small 400-square feet space with only four tables.
He didn’t have a cooking background or possess the basic knowledge in preparing a Sichuan hotpot, but dived into it anyway because he needed to “support [himself] … [and] eat“.
Started Up Haidilao With Less Than S$2K
Haidilao was actually founded by two couples: Zhang Yong and wife Shu Ping, as well as Shi Yonghong and wife Li Haiyan.
Zhang Yong (left) and wife Shu Ping (right) / Image Credit: Getty Images
Shu Ping is now Singapore’s 14th richest individual (she is also the only woman to have made it onto the list), while Shi Yonghong is the executive director of Haidilao with a US$3.5 billion stake.
His three business partners are the ones who helped him with the early funding of Haidilao.
I was penniless, so the others were the real investors. The entire investment was less than 10,000 yuan (~S$2,011).
Though I didn’t contribute much in terms of start-up money, I assumed the position of general manager and promised the others that our assets would grow to 150,000 yuan (~S$30,171) within five years.
I swore that if I couldn’t manage it, I would compensate them. That was a huge amount of money for a group of twenty-somethings in the 1990s, so they were all a bit startled.
Zhang invested all their money in the restaurant and within a few months, Haidilao became the “largest hotpot restaurant” in the Jianyang district.
He expanded the outlet by adding a whole new floor, and opened a second outlet in 1998.
I don’t care about money. It’s your view of the world that decides your attitude towards money. If you [want to expand], you view money as a resource for investment. That is how entrepreneurs think.
In recent years, hotpot restaurants have become increasingly popular.
Banking on this trend, Haidilao has expanded online to offer food delivery services on Alibaba’s e-commerce platform and its own website.
This is to accommodate to customers who want to have Haidilao hotpot in the comfort of their own homes.
A Haidilao staff will help set up the hotpot and after the customer is done, the staff will return to help tidy up and return the tableware.
Free Manicures, Massages For Customers
Zhang didn’t even eat in an actual restaurant until he was 19 years old.
To add on, his first dining experience was horrible — the rude staff and subpar hotpot meal left him feeling very unimpressed.
This is exactly why he is so determined to offer exceptional customer service in his restaurants.
“I personally made sure that any guest who came through my door would return,” he told Forbes.
He added that he utilised strategies like discounts and free snacks, but also took customer feedback seriously.
His restaurant does not depend on chefs to prepare the food, so Zhang turns to good service and entertainment to keep customers coming back for more.
Free manicure services at Haidilao / Image Credit: Haidilao Singapore
It offers complimentary drinks and snacks, card and board games, manicure services, and even shoulder massages to waiting customers.
Beyond that, hot face towels, bib covers, protective bags for mobile phones are also offered to customers prior to dining.
Those dining solo are offered a teddy bear to accompany them.
Live noodle-pulling performance for diners / Image Credit: Wall Street Journal
Diners also get to enjoy a live noodle-pulling performance and Sichuan’s traditional mask dance, in which the performer changes his or her mask so quickly that it appears instantaneous.
Such exemplary service has brought a novel approach to the dining experience, and has been the key competitive advantage that sets Haidilao apart from its competitors.
I’m from the countryside, where rural people believe that if you take money from other people and you don’t bring benefit to them, then you are a liar.
Besides his customer-centric philosophy, Zhang also attributes his company’s success to his employees.
Most of Haidilao’s employees tick the same boxes as Zhang when he first started out: young, with limited education, and from small towns or rural areas.
For one, Haidilao makes it a point to only promote from within.
As such, employees are motivated to work harder to get promoted. There is no glass ceiling — everyone has a fair opportunity to rise through the ranks regardless of their background.
Haidilao’s service team / Image Credit: Haidilao US
Critical factors that motivate Haidilao employees are the company’s attractive incentives and welfare packages.
Outstanding employees receive benefits such as free apartments, parental subsidies, educational allowances for their children, and even a fund for natural disasters.
There are also additional incentives for employees who refer their family and friends to work there.
We rarely hire from outside. Just because you have a degree from Harvard or from Peking University, we won’t give you any special favour.
This stringent hiring process helps them acquire only competent people.
When it comes to performance evaluation, the managers are assessed based primarily on customer satisfaction and staff morale, beyond just revenue numbers.
Most of the teachers there are experienced restaurant managers, which builds a system of apprenticeship for frontline staff to learn from senior employees.
When a manager takes on a new location, he brings a third of his restaurant’s staff with him, leaving his apprentice behind as the new manager.
Alternatively, an apprentice can choose to run a new location on his own with the help of his new manager — but the latter will get a cut of the restaurant’ profit.
This practice makes managers motivated to identify talent as they receive a higher percentage of profit from their apprentice’s restaurant than from their own.
Putting faith in my staff has paid off for me. Giving them responsibility and autonomy is how you show trust.
At the end of the day, Zhang believes in fair opportunities for social mobility through paying and rewarding employees well.
This has helped to keep employee turnover low — frontline staff turnover is only at 10 per cent, while management staff turnover is near zero.
According to a Frost & Sullivan industry report, Zhang’s 60,000-strong employees have among the highest retention rates in China’s hospitality industry.
New Haidilao Outlet Opens Every 3 Days
In September 2018, Haidilao raised US$963 million in a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) in a bid to take the brand global.
SOLS 24/7 is a humanitarian organisation founded by Teacher Raj Ridvan Singh to empower poor and under-served communities throughout the SEA region.
The non-profit organisation has pivoted and started their own social enterprise to sustain the organisation and channels 80% of the profits back to their non-profit programmes.
SOLS 24/7 is a humanitarian organisation, committed to serve, educate, and empower poor and undeserved communities throughout the Southeast Asisa region with their programmes.
Founded in Cambodia in 2000, SOLS 24/7 quickly grew into one of the largest non-formal education providers in the country at that time.
Following their success in Cambodia, the Malaysian founder—Teacher Raj Ridvan Singh, then traveled to Timor-Leste in 2005 to set up SOLS 24/7 Timor-Leste during a period where civil unrest was at its peak.
It came to a point where his team was forced to evacuate the country, but they returned in 2006 to open their first main training center in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste.
After setting up base in Timor-Leste, Raj came back to his hometown in Malacca to set up SOLS 24/7 Foundation in 2007, before moving the first SOLS Academy of Innovation (previously: Youth Development Centre) and Headquarters to Kuala Lumpur in 2010.
Four Main Pillars
Image Credit: SOLS 24/7
The organisation was founded by Raj with his father and brother back in 2000. During that time, he was working as a computer systems engineer and professional DJ.
However, since 2014, he has been the only remaining founder of the initial trio, while his father and brother have continued to do social work in other countries, pushing on with their own efforts to tackle poverty through education.
SOLS 24/7’s programmes cover 4 main pillars: education, renewable energy, mental health, and technology.
Rather than focus on a particular cause, they’ve diversified across different causes.
“We believe it isn’t written anywhere that an organisation has to dedicate itself to a single cause,” he said. “Indeed, as soon as a solution reveals itself, we will attempt to implement it.”
“Why be content with solving only one problem if we have the means to solve more?”
Raj Ridvan Singh, Founder and CEO of SOLS 24/7
SOLS 24/7 is a platform for all those who want to make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate.
“To the communities we serve, we provide the opportunity to rise above their circumstances and take control of their lives through education,” he said.
“To our team members, we provide the opportunity to be the best version of themselves,” he continued. “To our partners and donors, we provide the opportunity to exercise their conscience.”
The name SOLS 24/7 stems from their immersive, life skills-based approach to teaching, calling it Science of Life Studies (SOLS).
Self-Sustaining
Solar power installations are one of the ways SOLS 24/7 makes itself sustainable / Image Credit: SOLS 24/7
Often times non-profit organisations face a tough time raising funds and keeping the organisation afloat. Raj also faced the same problem and he realised that fundraising is tough and simply not sustainable.
Hence he started a social enterprise a few years back to help sustain the organisation as oftentimes in the industry, a programme ends when the income ends.
The team currently has multiple projects that they’re working on, but Raj’s current focus is on Education and Renewable Energy.
To elaborate, his objective now is mainly to grow their education arm into a premier institution for schools and corporate Malaysia.
The education portion will be spearheaded by their English Movement initiative, while SOLS Energy grows to become the main player for renewable energy in the Malaysian market.
“With B2B and B2C models in place for our different offerings such as solar installations (SOLS Energy) and business English courses for professionals (SOLS smart/ English Movement), we are taking the steps we need to monetise the services we offer,” he said.
According to Raj, SOLS Energy are currently the largest residential solar power systems installer in the country. They have plans to build on it and grow exponentially this year by securing more commercial and residential clients, taking steps towards their vision of having solar panels on every Malaysian roof.
And although they do get funding from corporations like Berjaya Cares Foundation, Hap Seng, J.P. Morgan, Allianz, PPB Group, and 3M, they still channel 80% of the profits from their social enterprise back to the non-profit programmes to sustain the organisation.
“We want to be self sustainable with our own income, so we can ensure the work we are doing with our programmes does not end when funding ends,” said Raj.
Changing Lives
Image Credit: SOLS 24/7
Raj also mentioned that education is not something that many people are willing to fund for a long time, but it needs to be in order for it to be sustainable. Hence, although they have a group of funders, it’s a never ending challenge to get partners to help with funding.
“Having a strong core team, teachers, and volunteers to execute the programmes we have has also been a challenge which we have had to overcome,” he said.
However, all those challenges have helped them to reach where they are now as even after more than 10 years of operations, they’re still impacting and changing lives for the better.
“To date, we have trained over 350,000 students from poor communities throughout the ASEAN region and have had over 200 full-time team members from more than 50 countries join us,” he added.
Furthermore, the organisation has grown from 2 people to 250 people in Malaysia over the past 10 years. They have also went from one programme to 11 programmes in that time, covering both non-profits and social enterprises.
With the vision to bring SOLS 24/7 programmes and services to countries throughout the world, they’ve planned for the next 5 years to grow and expand their social enterprises to generate income in order to help sustain the non-profit programmes.
“We have come a long way, but we feel like we’re just getting started!”
Raj Ridvan Singh, Founder and CEO of SOLS 24/7
If you would like to find out more about SOLS 24/7, you can check out their website here and social media here.
Ride-hailing firm Gojek has launched a new benefits scheme for its driver-partners in Singapore.
Called GoalBetter, this new scheme will be piloted to selected drivers on April 1 and rolled out to all eligible drivers from June 2019.
According to Gojek, GoalBetter is built on four pillars: better earnings stability, better protection, better flexibility, and better experience.
Fuel Rebates
Image Credit: Esso
For better earnings stability, Gojek has partnered with Esso and DBS to provide its drivers with competitive fuel rebates of up to 32.4% in Singapore.
Active driver-partners can enjoy additional fuel rebates of up to 12.4%.
All Gojek driver-partners will also enjoy an upfront discount of 20% when they purchase petrol at any Esso petrol station islandwide.
With a minimum spend of $180 nett (or $225 before the 20% upfront discount) in a week, they will also be entitled to an additional weekly rebate of $7.50 with payment via DBS/POSB debit cards.
Driver-partners would need to pay a single, subsidised monthly rate — dependent on their age — to Gigacover. This ranges from $22.40 to $130.80.
This scheme will cover driver-partners for medical leave of up to 21 days and hospitalisation leave of up to 84 days.
According to Gojek, this is the “most extensive earnings protection coverage offered to private-hire drivers in Singapore”.
Top active driver-partners — those in the Gold and Platinum tiers — will enjoy free coverage for the whole quarter, fully paid for by Gojek.
Medical Consultation Services
Image Credit: Doctor Anywhere
Gojek has partnered with Singapore-based Doctor Anywhere to provide active driver-partners with convenient access to online and physical medical consultation services.
They will receive corporate access to Doctor Anywhere’s platform, with subscription fees fully paid for by Gojek.
Driver-partners will also be entitled to a partner rate for each medical consultation. They can be diagnosed and treated for common illnesses, prescribed medication, and issued medical certificates and even referrals.
Driver-partners in the Platinum tier will receive additional medical benefits fully subsidised by Gojek.
Better Flexibility And Experience
Gojek driver-partners can make unlimited real-time withdrawals of their earnings from their Gojek wallets, with no minimum requirement.
This gives driver-partners greater flexibility in securing and spending their money.
Driver-partners will also get a better experience through continuously-refined policies and user support.
For instance, the recently-updated ‘Lost & Found’ policy entitles drivers to a reward of $10 — double the previous amount of $5 — for returning lost items to riders.
User support for driver-partners has also improved, with over 90% of queries now being answered within 24 hours.
Drivers also enjoy a better experience from being a part of the Gojek community, such as through GoBlazers, a driver community and innovation programme to pilot new ride-hailing products.
Driver-partners will sign a non-disclosure agreement and be the first to experience new products and features by Gojek.
To date, GoBlazers has amassed some 20 driver-partners.
More Benefits To Come
“We are committed to supporting (our driver-partners) in achieving their goals. This means providing earnings stability, a fantastic work environment, and unwavering support to help them get closer to their goals every day, with every ride,” said Lien Choong Luen, general manager of Gojek Singapore.
Gojek said that it will continue to add new partnerships and driver benefits to GoalBetter, and create the “best offering” for all of its users.
To access the various GoalBetter benefits, driver-partners will receive a GoalBetter kit with information about the programme, instructions on getting started, and their fuel card, during the first half of April.
