Malaysian entrepreneurs flying the flag high share their vision this Merdeka Day

It is the time of the month when Malaysians gear up for Merdeka Day and show their sense of national pride explicitly by displaying the Jalur Gemilang (national flag). Malaysia has grown from strength to strength since becoming independent in 1957. According to the World Bank, the country has successfully diversified its economy from one that is agriculture and commodity-based, to one that has become an important hub for manufacturing and services sectors.Amidst this growth in the economy and awareness of “Brand Malaysia”, it is also important to recognise the entrepreneurs who have flown the Malaysian flag high all this while. A+M speaks to Malaysian entrepreneurs on their journey and hopes this Merdeka Day.Joel Neoh, founder, FaveFave is a mobile payment and deals platform in Southeast Asia.A+M: How has your journey as a Malaysian entrepreneur been like?Neoh: I’ve been an entrepreneur since my early twenties, and along the way acquired two companies. The first is an eCommerce company based in Malaysia where we were focused on building it across Southeast Asia, and then Groupon came our way and bought our company.The second company was a digital media company focused on social media advertising which ended up being a US$20 million merger. Along the way, we acquired a few companies too, including taking over Groupon Southeast Asia, in some sense coming full circle to where Fave is, over 300 people across three countries and 35 cities.How would I describe this journey not just as an entrepreneur, but a Malaysian entrepreneur? It’s been one of humble beginnings, self-discovery and curiosity fueled by a passion for helping others realise their goals. To truly build a business out of not just Malaysia, the experience itself needs to be defined by working alongside fellow talented and driven people towards a shared objective. It’s important to think about the “Why” – the mission."A lot of teams have their heads down and get so caught up in the ‘What we do’ and this is ‘How we do it’, but the ‘Why’ is what will help us build a successful business."And once we’re solving a problem, it’s important to think of a bigger picture which is often regional or even global. What I’d like to see more of are more Malaysian companies building their presence across the region – whether that’s Southeast Asia, Asia, or even global.A+M: What was your vision when you first started out and where are you at right now?Neoh: As a 20-year-old entrepreneur, I was passionate and focused on helping others. For example, my first startup revolved around a job-matching service for fellow university students seeking part-time employment. As the business grew and scaled, I gradually realised how challenging and complicated it became especially for those who weren’t as technologically savvy.Since then, I have made it my life’s work to help fellow entrepreneurs scale and grow their businesses with the aid of digital technology. The way we’ve built businesses is not by focusing on short wins and successes."One of my founding principles is to fall in love with the problem, and not the solution."There’s always more that we can do to solve a problem and make a difference. For instance, with Fave, we’re a platform which improves the lives and convenience of people through our merchants. In this aspect, we’ve barely covered a small percent of the market. It’s exciting to think of the journey ahead!A+M: What do you hope to achieve moving forward?Neoh: Different people have different passions, and things that make them happy. That’s the diversity that either divides people or often times brings people together – my hope is that it’s more the latter. And so, when I think of the bigger picture, five years from now, I feel that where we need to be somewhere that makes me happy, and more importantly the people around me happy.To make people happy, every decision we make needs to be a win for our merchants, their consumers and of course for Fave. I hope to continue growing Fave into a regional super app for merchants, a lot of the problems that we address and the solutions we develop are relevant to the over 600 million population in Southeast Asia with the digital revolution in full swing.A+M: Any hopes for Merdeka Day?Neoh: As Malaysians, I hope we continue to focus on what makes us strong – a sense of pride, diversity and culture! There’s a lot of talented people in Malaysia. I hope that the younger generation continues to stay positive, progressive and proactive in light of an increasingly globalised world, by looking outward and growing inward.Bryan Loo, founder, Loob HoldingsLoob Holdings manages a diverse portfolio of F&B brands in Malaysia such as Tealive and Gindaco.A+M: What has your journey as a Malaysian entrepreneur been like?Loo: It has been tremendously fulfilling! Never did I think that we would be able to grow the F&B company with over 2,000 young Malaysians under our employment today. It’s truly an honour to have them share the same dream – which is to build a Malaysian-born international tea brand.A+M: What was your vision when you first started out and where are you at right now?Loo: Since the beginning, the idea has always been to modernise tea drinking for Malaysians. The only difference now is Tealive being a completely homegrown brand, which is an empowering position because it gave us purpose to put Malaysia on the world map.A+M: What do you hope to achieve moving forward?Loo: Back then, I would not have thought about legacy. I would have just started businesses and sold them. But after having a family of my own with three kids, I knew I want to leave behind a legacy that can inspire and be passed on to the next generation.A+M: Any hopes for Merdeka Day?Loo: I hope Tealive’s journey towards becoming a homegrown international brand would become an inspiration to Malaysian youths. A leading example to be bold and relentless in pursuing their dreams. A reminder that breakthroughs are always possible. Show the world what Malaysians are made of! We will always have your back.Jessica Li, co-founder, DahmakanDahmakan is a Malaysia-based cloud kitchen start-up.A+M: What has your journey as a Malaysian entrepreneur been like?Li: It’s been a really great adventure. When we first started dahmakan, we were deciding between launching in Thailand, Indonesia or Malaysia. We eventually landed on Malaysia due to how simple it was to set up a business here, that English was commonly spoken and Malaysians being so welcoming of new ideas.A+M: What was your vision when you first started out and where are you at right now?Li: Our vision for dahmakan when we first started out is still the same as it is now – to provide a quality, convenient, affordable food delivery product that millions of people around Southeast Asia could use everyday. It’s our belief that food delivery is fast becoming the norm and will only continue to grow, replacing traditional takeout options and cooking at home.A+M: What do you hope to achieve moving forward?Li: We’re right now rolling out a new reward system on our app and setting up for launch in Jakarta in the fourth quarter. Over the next five years, we’re looking to be in 20 markets around the region, delivering in under 20 minutes with hundreds of different meal options daily.A+M: Any hopes for Merdeka Day?Li: Merdeka is a great reminder for all Malaysians to come together and celebrate their history, the diversity of this country as well as look at how we can build an even better future.Kim Lim, co-founder, The Picha ProjectThe Picha Project is a Malaysian social enterprise seeking to empower the much marginalised community of refugees through food.A+M: What has your journey as a Malaysian entrepreneur been like?Lim: It has been an exciting one having my partners to do this with me and slowly forming a team that we want to build Picha.A+M: What was your vision when you first started out and where are you at right now?Lim: The only vision we want is that the refugees or beneficiaries that we are trying to impact to be able to live a sustainable living and send kids to education. Currently, most of our families are sending kids back for education.A+M: What do you hope to achieve moving forward?Lim: I hope to be able to create more sustainable solutions for the different community that we wish to impact or work with."We want to be as creative as we can to bring value to our customers so that they know that refugees or marginalised communities can also provide value to our everyday lives."A+M: Any hopes for Merdeka Day?Lim: I hope we come together as a nation to realise that it’s time to put away racism and our differences. Come together as one to impact the lives needed to impact because I always believe only if we come together, share resources and knowledge, we will then thrive as a nation.Sasibai Kimis, founder and CEO, Earth HeirEarth Heir offers ethnic artisans and refugees an outlet to showcase their rare handicraft.A+M: What has your journey as a Malaysian entrepreneur been like?Kimis: When I founded Earth Heir, there was only a handful of us (social enterprises) in Malaysia. There were customers who were suspicious, “How can you make money if you are helping people?”. Back then, there was little understanding of what we do, but now, almost six years later, things have changed for the better.A+M: What was your vision when you first started out and where are you at right now?Kimis: To be honest, I didn’t really have a plan when I started Earth Heir."I just saw people in need, I didn’t write a business plan, I just delved in and started helping."I don’t think I intended to even start a business! Earth Heir’s vision is “To build nations and generations as heir’s of the Earth” – this core idea has not changed since the beginning. It’s the driving force behind our decisions and how we run our business.A+M: What do you hope to achieve moving forward?Kimis: I hope Earth Heir can showcase journeys in Malaysian heritage to Malaysians and to the world. Earth Heir’s journey is, in many ways a reflection of my own journey of discovery of our shared Malaysian heritage. That the strength and beauty of our nation is very much in this diversity we have in our nation. We have an identity together – we need to celebrate that.A+M: Any hopes for Merdeka Day?Kimis: I hope more of us will seek to learn, experience and share how each of us is connected to each other – to find our shared heritage as Malaysians and as human beings.Derek Toh, founder and CEO, WOBBWOBB is a Malaysian job search platform.A+M: What has your journey as a Malaysian entrepreneur been like?Toh: It has been the best adventure I could have hoped for. Far from easy, yet deeply rewarding because everyday get to work on something I care about. I consider myself lucky because of this, despite how it could have been easier if I just had a normal job!As someone who came from a corporate environment, I started this business at 33 years old, had very little money, no connections and no business experience. So it’s been a steep learning curve as you can imagine.I have also met many inspiring people along the way, people that I respect a lot, and I get to meet them because they are interested in what I am building. I am grateful for the friendships, and the conversations are always fascinating.A+M: What was your vision when you first started out and where are you at right now?Toh: Our vision when we first started was very simple. It was that one day everyone can be in a job that they love. As we grew the company, we started realising all the various challenges we would need to solve to make this vision a reality. And everyday, the team and I are reinventing the way job search is done.Today we’ve established ourselves as a strong brand for recruiting young talent, and privileged to have many famous corporations using our services to hire. These are companies that want the best talent, and other recruitment companies want their business, but they work with us. It helps us validate that we have built something truly unique and effective in the market.A+M: What do you hope to achieve moving forward?Toh: We are going to make quality talent accessible to all employers, whether they have the resources to tell a great story, or if they are under-resourced and need help to attract talent. There are many plans to build both WOBB as a job portal, and our recruitment service Hiredly, and connect these separate services into a strong recruitment ecosystem.We have also made moves to build a presence in the Philippines, so that other countries in Southeast Asia, so we get to change the lives of talent across the region.A+M: Any hopes for Merdeka Day?Toh: If you see what trends on social media sometimes, I think its very easy to be caught in negativity and fear."But my hope is that fellow Malaysians will be guided by positivity and hope instead."To always believe that it’s never too late, its not impossible and we can achieve anything we want if we put our heart[advertising + marketing’s PR Asia will come to Malaysia this November, gathering together some of the finest minds in industry to explore the exciting and developing world of digital PR. Join us for a series of exclusive case studies, interactive and thought-provoking discussions at PR Asia on 20 November in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Register now.]