DHL Express, the world’s leading international express service provider, has been awarded the Global Express Provider of the Year at the 8th Payload Asia Awards. This is the sixth time that DHL Express has won the award, which recognises excellence among air cargo companies and the positive impact it has made on the logistics industry to ensure packages are delivered safely and on time.
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“The award is a huge encouragement for our employees across the region and a testament to all the effort that the team has put in amid the stringent Covid-19 restrictions in place. Over the past year, we have been focused on our role to keep supply chains moving and facilitate cross-border trade. In fact, the airfreight industry has been key to getting vaccines around the world in double fast time. DHL is proud to have delivered more than 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to over 160 countries worldwide, as well as more than 3,500 oxygen concentrators across India, fulfilling our purpose of ‘Connecting people, improving lives’,” said Ken Lee, CEO of DHL Express Asia Pacific.
“As e-commerce adoption continues to gain momentum, these are equally exciting times for the industry. With the passion, dedication and can-do spirit of our employees, I am confident we will constantly seek out innovative solutions to enhance our operations and deliver quality services to our customers.”
To cope with the exponential growth in shipment volume across the region, DHL Express has adjusted its flight network to ensure the timely delivery of shipments. In fact, with B2B e-commerce set to continue to gain momentum, global logistics will help businesses stay connected and trade around the world.
This year, DHL Express has bolstered its flight network by adding close to 2,350 tonnes to its airfreight capacity to serve growing demand between Asia Pacific and the U.S. and Europe. Seeing an increase in shipment volume from Vietnam and Penang, it also began to dedicate direct flights to these two cities from its Central Asia Hub in Hong Kong, aimed at shortening transit times between cities. Most recently, it converted a Boeing B737-800 aircraft to add 30 percent in gross payload for customers in Bangkok, Hanoi and Hong Kong. Customers from these three markets will be able tap on the burgeoning e-commerce opportunities and expand their cross-border presence.
Now in its eighth year, the Payload Asia Awards recognizes the best companies in the air cargo market that have evolved as they expand to new markets and disrupt existing business models in view of sustainability and growth. This year’s awards comprise 17 categories judged by an esteemed panel of judges, and winners are selected based on a set of criteria evaluating the strength of customer service, business growth, operational performance, development strategy as well as customer and product innovation.
Anchor Food Professionals makes a comeback with its nationwide campaign – Anchor Legendairy Dream Rewards – which runs from 1 September to 31 December 2021. This year, the campaign extends its support to more than 1,300 bakeries, restaurants, and cafés across Malaysia.
Anchor Legendairy Dream Rewards Campaign Poster
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It is through the upsurge of digitisation and the need to increase digital outreach methods, Anchor Food Professionals takes this opportunity to support local food expand their digital space by assisting in various social and digital efforts. With that, the brand aims to help these Malaysian food operators gain further digital access to their targeted consumers.
According to Jack Tan, Foodservice Director of Fonterra Brands Malaysia’s, Anchor Food Professionals recognises the importance of having an online brand presence as many consumers are becoming more receptive towards social and e-commerce platforms. “While the pandemic has brought upon many challenges for many local food entrepreneurs, it also presented many opportunities. Digitalisation being one of them, it brings a greater advantage for businesses today to expand their reach to a wider pool of consumers. With that, Anchor Food Professionals strives to support local food operators in accelerating their digital presence across the nation through this campaign,” said Tan.
Beyond providing support for local food operators during these trying times, Anchor Food Professionals amplifies its campaign efforts with a nationwide consumer contest which helps provide Malaysians with a boost of morale. Participants will stand a chance to win attractive prizes worth up to RM100,000 for every receipt submitted. To take part, consumers only need to purchase a minimum of RM8 worth of Anchor product-infused dishes and submit a photo of the receipt through the designated contest website. Receipts from dine-ins, take-aways, and order deliveries of participating outlets are eligible for submission. Through this contest, Anchor Food Professionals has partnered with a selection of local chains as well as reputable outlets in the likes of Secret Recipe, The Coffee Bean and Tealeaf, US Pizza, RT Pastry, Daboba, Brew House, and many more. Now, consumers can enjoy a taste of Anchor through their favourite meals and win prizes.
“As an extension to last year’s successful campaign, we wanted to bring back the happiness for our valued partners and consumers with even more exciting prizes to be won. Our goal at Anchor Food Professionals has always been to provide everyday solutions to current situations, with the hope of uplifting the nation in every possible way. We hope that this campaign can capture the spirit of togetherness and happiness through these difficult times,” he added.
ClearMask LLC, a privately held American medical supply company, announced today that its ClearMask™ is the world’s first and only fully transparent surgical mask that is both CE-marked and FDA-cleared. To date, no other transparent masks meet both certifications.
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The ClearMask™ transparent surgical masks meet the CE Marking requirements as a Class I medical device under the European Union Medical Device Regulation (2017/745) and can be used in hospitals, clinics, schools, and other settings. The mask is optimized for maximum clarity and comfort, meeting applicable EN 14683 requirements for fluid resistance, microbial cleanliness, and biocompatibility, which offers a high level of protection for medical use in environments such as operating rooms.
In the United States, the ClearMask™ brand received FDA clearance as a Class II medical device on April 6, 2020, and meets applicable ASTM Level 3 requirements in the United States for fluid resistance and flammability. The ClearMask™ transparent surgical mask also passed additional tests in accordance with the transparent mask guidelines released by the United Kingdom, including tests for resistance to penetration of microorganisms (ASTM F1671) and visibility (EN 166).
During the pandemic, the ClearMask™ brand has helped provide protection against the transfer of aerosols, fluids, and sprays, and has been widely adopted as the new standard to help improve communication and trust where masks are required. With its fully transparent, anti-fog plastic barrier, the ClearMask™ brand increases visual communication, which may help avoid costly errors and adverse outcomes. As demonstrated in a first-of-its-kind study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the ClearMask™ is also critical in establishing rapport and earning trust.
The company started developing the transparent mask in 2017 after their deaf co-founder suffered an adverse experience during her surgery. Traditional surgical masks blocked her providers’ faces, impeding effective communication and essential safety checks.
“When the pandemic began, our mission was to bring a human-centered mask to everyone who needed it, especially children, older adults, deaf and hard of hearing people, and those who heavily depend on visual communication. ClearMask continues to fight against the current pandemic and we are here to stay,” said Allysa Dittmar, President of ClearMask.
To date, the company has provided over 18 million masks in the United States and globally. The company has partnered with several distributors, including Cardinal Health, Grainger, Henry Schein, McKesson, and Oaktree Products, and is currently onboarding distributors for the CE-marked masks. The masks can be purchased in the United States through ClearMask’s website at www.buy.theclearmask.com, and countries outside the United States may purchase the masks here.
by Dr. Edward Mah Mun Jeun – Consultant Cardiologist, Sri Kota Specialist Medical Centre.The heart basically functions as a pump. It pumps normally at a rate of 60 to 100 beats per minute, and this can increase to 160-180 beats per minute during vigorous exercise. The heart is able to pump because it is made of muscles which are able to contract, just like the muscles in your arm. However, heart muscles are quite special, it that it does not fatigue; as you can imagine, the heart muscle does not stop working, or take a break (you would be in trouble if it did!)
To continue contracting, just like any other machine, it needs to be provided with a constant source of energy. This is achieved through a network of blood vessels which supply the heart with blood rich in oxygen and glucose, which is like fuel for living cells.
Cardiovascular disease, in layman’s terms, usually refers to Coronary Artery Disease, which is a disease where the Coronary Arteries to the heart get narrowed and start blocking off. Strictly speaking, when you say Cardiovascular disease, it refers to any of the myriad conditions that can affect the heart or the blood vessels of the body, but for this discussion we will limit it to disease of the blood vessels of the heart.
The blood vessels of the heart can get damaged and occluded by several factors, the common ones being cigarette smoking, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, chronic stress and unfortunately, bad genes. These factors work over time to narrow down one or more of the coronary arteries by building up plaque within the artery (consider it a collection of a mixture of cholesterol). At a critical juncture, the artery gets narrowed so that it compromises the blood supply to a particular part of the heart. As you can imagine, as the vessel narrows, less blood is able to flow through the narrowed segment. It is like if you pinch your garden hose while watering your plants, less water can flow through the hose. If you pinch it hard enough, no water can flow through it.
In a similar way, the narrowed artery can get say, 90% narrowed, or even completely blocked. This gives rise to two clinical scenarios. One is where the vessel is badly narrowed (say 90%), where the patient then has greatly diminished blood supply to the heart muscle. The person may not have chest pain or shortness of breath at rest (where the heart is beating relatively slowly, but he would get these symptoms the moment he exerts himself, because when you exert yourself, the body needs more blood supply, and the heart has to speed up and pump harder. This is called effort angina or chest pain on exertion. The second scenario is a more serious condition where the coronary artery suddenly blocks off completely and no blood can flow through the occlusion at all. This is commonly called a heart attack, and it can potentially stop the heart, killing the patient.
The symptoms of angina and a heart attack can be quite variable, but normally would include chest pain and shortness of breath. As alluded to earlier, angina usually is brought on by exertion. The pain is classically described as a heavy or gripping sensation over the chest, and can radiate to the left shoulder and arm, or up to the neck. In severe cases, it can be accompanied by shortness of breath and occasionally, undue sweating.
In angina (ie: narrowed artery) the symptoms are ameliorated by stopping the physical activity that it on. In a heart attack, these symptoms are more pronounced and unrelenting. The artery is completely blocked, therefore the chest pain is persistent. It can be accompanied by profuse sweating, nausea and even vomiting. In severe cases, the patient may even pass out due to the heart transiently stopping. As you can imagine, this is a very dangerous situation and warrants immediate/emergency treatment.
Dr. Edward Mah Mun Jeun – Consultant Cardiologist, Sri Kota Specialist Medical Centre.
Coronary Artery Disease as per above is highly treatable. Bad narrowing in the coronary arteries can be corrected by putting a stent (a kind of tube made of fine wires) across the narrowing and opening up the occlusion using specialised balloons. This fixes the immediate problem, and improves blood flow down the artery. Of course, it is only part of the treatment. The artery may have other areas affected by the conditions that resulted in the narrowing of the artery and it needs to be addressed. This requires treatment to control blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. This is achieved by taking medication and lifestyle changes. Smoking cessation is very important in heart patients as well.
The risk for heart disease differ between the sexes. Men are 10 times more likely to develop heart disease compared to women, well this is true for younger women. After menopause, the risk for heart disease becomes even between men and women.
In certain patients with very bad blockages in the arteries or blockages which are deemed high risk for angioplasty, your doctor may suggest Bypass Surgery. This involves taking a vein from your leg and using it to “bypass” the blockages by linking the coronary arteries to the aorta (the main vessel from the heart).
Now we continue from paragraph 6:
Heart disease in the sexes also differ in terms of susceptibility to the risk factors. Women are more likely get heart disease if they smoke heavily, more so than men. Older women also tend to take calcium supplements, which actually increases your risk for calcium deposits in the arteries!
In terms of advice for the young and old, I feel the advice is fairly similar. Good healthy eating habits and regular exercise are important. Healthy eating basically is eating in moderation. Don’t over-eat! Cut down on saturated fats (fatty meats, innards and oils), processed meats (sausages, spam) and fried foods. Also reduce your carbohydrate intake. We should include more fruits and vegetables in our diet, and cut down on snacks in between meals. Aim to keep your BMI below 25. Exercise should be tailored to the person’s age. Younger people should aim for aerobic activity that doubles the resting heart rate to about 130-140/min for 20 minutes 5 times a week. A slow jog or playing football or racket sports should easily achieve this. As we get older, vigorous activity may result in injuries, so in the over-50’s I think brisk walking for 30 minutes is good enough.
It is never too early or late to institute these lifestyle changes so that your heart remains healthy.
Over 420,000 individual and Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) customers in Malaysia have received Repayment Assistance worth more than RM77 billion from Maybank and Maybank Islamic as at 31 August 2021 to help them ride through the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Credit: The Star
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These customers, who have some 500,000 loan/financing accounts, represent close to one third of the Bank’s total Malaysia consumer and small to mid-sized business loan/financing portfolio based on outstanding balance.
Group CEO of Maybank’s Community Financial Services, Dato’ John Chong said that the proportion of loans/financing under Repayment Assistance based on outstanding balance has more than doubled within the last two months following the automatic six-month moratorium offered effective July 2021 under the Pakej Perlindungan Rakyat and Pemulihan Ekonomi (PEMULIH) programme.
“We have approved all eligible Repayment Assistance applications made under the PEMULIH programme by individual, microenterprise and SME customers and will continue to offer Repayment Assistance to borrowers requiring continued financial assistance arising from the disruption to their livelihoods due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Although we are now seeing the gradual reopening of the economy following the successful vaccination roll-out, we do understand that there remain some customers who continue to need a helping hand given the impact they have experienced from the various movement restrictions,” he explained. “Maybank remains committed in supporting all our customers who have had their livelihoods disrupted and will continue to help ease their cashflow burden, while they work towards stabilising their livelihood.”
Dato’ John added that out of the total Repayment Assistance loan/financing portfolio based on outstanding balance, 69% is under the deferred instalment (moratorium) option.
Maybank has been proactively providing Repayment Assistance to all its affected customers, particularly from the individual and SME segment, since the early days of the pandemic with its own scheme launched as early as February 2020 in the initial stages of the outbreak. Subsequently, the Bank has also consistently supported the various Repayment Assistance initiatives announced by the government beginning April 2020.
This includes the six-month blanket moratorium offered to individuals and SMEs from April to September 2020, the Targeted Repayment Assistance offered to eligible B40 individual and Microenterprise customers from November 2020 to end June 2021 and the PEMERKASA Plus programme announced in end May 2021 offering a three month moratorium or 50% reduction in instalments for six months targeted at the B40 segment, individuals who have lost their jobs and affected micro and small medium enterprises, in addition to the current PEMULIH programme.
Added Dato’ John, “For some severely affected customers, we are providing a longer period of moratorium from their loan/financing repayments, as parts of efforts to ensure they remain afloat throughout this period.”
Besides financial relief, Maybank has also been assisting SMEs through Sama-Sama Lokal, its e-commerce platform on Maybank2u app, by enabling these businesses to market their products/services online to the Bank’s significant customer base. To further assist them, the Bank charges zero commission, allowing the merchants to fully profit from their sales.
Dato’ John said Maybank continues to offer Repayment Assistance and would like to urge all customers who require it but have yet to apply, to submit their applications soon. Under the PEMULIH Repayment Assistance programme, customers can opt for a 6-month moratorium of instalments or a 50% reduction in instalment for 6 months for their loans/financing. In addition, Maybank also offers other Repayment Assistance plans which may better suit the customers’ financial circumstances.
To ensure that customers have access to the financial assistance they require, the Bank has made the application process simple and convenient. Customers can apply online via Maybank2u and receive instantaneous approval, if eligible. Alternatively, they can also apply via email or by visiting a Maybank branch or relevant centre. As all Maybank branches are currently operating by appointment only, customers are encouraged to make an appointment via Maybank EzyQ on the MAE app or our online platform Maybank2u, prior to their visits.
Customers who wish to find out more information about Maybank’s Repayment Assistance plan or are interested to apply may visit www.maybank2u.com.my/covid19. For enquiries, kindly contact the Maybank Group Customer Care Hotline at 1-300-88-6688 and press *1 for “Repayment Assistance”.
Shopee, today, expanded its services with the latest addition of ShopeeFood in Malaysia, accessible via the ShopeeFood icon on Shopee’s homepage. Through this, users can shop for all their needs, including food delivery, on Shopee.
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The service, which will be rolled out in batches, will be made available to over 8 million Malaysians living in the Klang Valley starting 24 September, offering access to a variety of eateries from popular joints such as A&W, Burger King, Nando’s, Starbucks and Tealive as well as local street food stalls.
Terence Pang, Chief Operating Officer at Shopee said, “We are delighted to include food delivery as part of the Shopee experience. Malaysians can now shop for all their essentials online, enjoy entertainment on Shopee Live, play their favorite game on Shopee Prizes and satisfy their cravings via the app.”
Pang added, “This new service will also enable food and beverage merchants to move online and reach out to more customers, driving long-term growth. We hope that our users and merchant partners will enjoy using ShopeeFood. We will continue to improve our platform and services to better serve the needs of everyone.”
As part of its launch, ShopeeFood will be giving new users Free Delivery vouchers with RM0 minimum spend and discount vouchers worth up to RM8. From 24 to 28 September, ShopeeFood will be offering RM10 and below meal deals for even more value, while stocks last. More ShopeeFood promotions will be announced through their Instagram page, @shopeefood_my.
Users visiting the Shopee App to check out ShopeeFood will also get to experience the festivities of Shopee’s 10.10 Brands Festival that is happening till 10 October, with more deals and promotions on September 25 Payday Sale and 10.10 Brands Festival day itself. The shopping festival offers Free Shipping Vouchers with a minimum spend of RM10 and 50% off Big Brand Discounts. Users also stand a chance to Tap and Win a Toyota Vios.
On top of that, shoppers can expect a string of entertainment when they tune in to Shopee Live and Astro Ria on 21 and 28 September, and 5 October at 9PM to catch MeleTOP Bersama Shopee 10.10 hosted by Nabil Ahmad, Shiha Zikir, Issey Fazlisham and Zulin Aziz. On 9 October at 9PM, users will see the Shopee TV Deals – 10.10 Brands Festival Show taking place on Shopee Live and TV3. Here, shoppers will have 3 extra chances to Tap and Win a Toyota Vios as well as claim 10.10 Only Vouchers of up to 95% off from their favourite brands.
Making the Shopee 10.10 Brands Festival even more exciting are three local brand ambassadors, starting with artist Alif Satar who will kick off the shopping festival, while the other two will be announced in due time.
Adding cheer to the shopping festival, ShopeePay users are entitled to receive up to 10,101 Shopee Coins every time they top up their mobile wallets from 2 till 9 October – which will be tripled during ShopeePay Day on 1 October. Better yet, users can use the Shopee Coins to offset when they pay for their ShopeeFood orders.
Based on its recent analysis of the Malaysian data center services market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes AIMS Data Centre (“AIMS”) with the 2021 Malaysia Company of the Year award. Robust infrastructure, new data center investments, and established business continuity processes have helped AIMS sustain its businesses even during this pandemic. By enhancing its data center offerings and growth strategy initiatives, the company has established a strong and competitive data center ecosystem and positioned itself for sustained growth.
AIMS consistently implements industry best practices to ensure uninterrupted services for its customers in lieu with the increased demand of data center services. Its recently launched purpose-built data center, AIMS @ Cyberjaya was awarded Uptime Institute’s Tier III certification for design and construction to operate with higher efficiency while reducing downtime and cost.
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“AIMS successfully addresses rising data center services demand in Malaysia with its dynamic interconnected data center ecosystem. It enables local enterprises to expand their businesses regionally and add greater value to their customer offerings,” said Siddhesh K. Hule, ICT research analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “Its innovative data center portfolio and focus on customer experience have made it one of Malaysia’s valued data center solution providers.”
AIMS is among the few companies in the country to provide end-to-end integrated cloud data center solutions coupled with colocation services. Its interconnected data center ecosystem allows various telecommunication carriers to connect with several domestic and foreign network services providers that AIMS hosts in Malaysia.
AIMS consistently implements industry best practices to ensure uninterrupted services for its customers in lieu with the increased demand of data center services. Its recently launched purpose-built data center, AIMS @ Cyberjaya was awarded Uptime Institute’s Tier III certification for design and construction to operate with higher efficiency while reducing downtime and cost. It has the level of resilience required to safeguard mission-critical data and deliver world-class IT solutions to customers and partners.
The company has also shown significant commitment to enforcing security standards by acquiring certifications such as PCI DSS and ISO 27000:1 to assure assets, payment transactions and sensitive data are well protected, and RMIT/TVRA compliance in 2020 to ensure its facilities are up-to-date and fully capable of handling security issues.
“AIMS prioritizes enhancing and expanding its regional connectivity by increasing its data center footprint in the country, as well as in the region,” Hule said. “Besides being a telecommunications and interconnection hub, it is also a cloud exchange hub that helps businesses seamlessly switch among renowned cloud services providers. By creating a stronger data center ecosystem for both country and regional markets, AIMS has established greater value for clients.”
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents a Company of the Year award to the organization that demonstrates excellence in terms of growth strategy and implementation in its field. The award recognizes a high degree of innovation with products and technologies, and the resulting leadership in terms of customer value and market penetration.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.
Pearl FALCO today announced the launch of its annual Kickstarter initiative, Pearl of Hope, to create educational opportunities for underprivileged children in the Philippines and Himalayas.
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It is hoped that this initiative empowers the children to reach their full potential and excel in school by providing them with tuition assistance. Donors will be able to help change a child’s future with the purchase of Pearl FALCO Jewellery. Through this initiative, 10% of the proceeds from each purchase will go directly to the “Pearl of Hope” fund.
Maiko Makito, Owner and Managing Director of Pearl FALCO, commented, “This campaign complements Pearl FALCO’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) objective and commitment to provide financial assistance to the less-privileged children especially at a turbulent time like this. Education offers children the best pathway to a better life and no child should to be denied that opportunity regardless of their present circumstances. Through Pearl of Hope, we hope to provide more educational opportunities to the children for them to pursue their dreams, now and in the future.”
“We are extremely excited with this year’s Pearl of Hope Challenge, knowing that it will be timely for the Christmas season, as a gift to the children. We hope this year will be a fantastic experience for all of those taking part and raise more funds for a wonderful cause.” She added.
Since its inception in 1987, the Pearl of Hope campaign has granted more than 50 educational scholarships to underserved children all over Asia. Many of Pearl FALCO team members have donated to the program from their own salaries and the team in Ise Japan also includes recipients of the grant who have graduated from college.
With this campaign, Pearl FALCO also hopes to connect Ise Shima, the birthplace of cultured pearls, with the rest of the world, helping more people learn about timeless pearl jewellery.
How The Pearl Of Hope Challenge Works
Each Pearl FALCO necklace contains 50 pieces of 8mm Akoya pearls, with a total value of S$4250. With that, 1 Akoya pearl is approximately S$85. Each donor may choose the number of pearls they would like to purchase, making the Pearl of Hope campaign affordable for everyone.
The Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) and Penjana Kapital Sdn Bhd (Penjana Kapital) are collaborating to unlock potential investment opportunities for innovative start-ups, which in turn will position them to scale and grow regionally and beyond.
In bridging the funding gap faced by start-ups, MaGIC will funnel its alumni, in particular seed stage start-ups, to venture capitals (VCs) under the Dana Penjana Nasional (DPN) programme. For seed stage, the VCs include Tenggara Capital Partners – IMO Ventures and The Hive SouthEast Asia- Tuas Capital Partners.
The DPN, which is a matching fund-of-funds programme, is administered by Penjana Kapital. This programme, which is part of the Short-Term Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA), is aimed at bridging the funding gap in the country by incentivising private capital to facilitate the growth of start-ups and create an enabling environment for these start-ups to scale and expand their reach internationally.
The Government will match RM600 million, on a 1:1 basis, of the funds raised by the VC fund managers from foreign and private domestic investors, with a target allocation of RM1.2 billion. At its first close at end-May 2021, Penjana Kapital has raised RM850 million, with more than half from foreign investors in Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore. The successful first close means that the programme is on track to meet the target of RM1.2 billion.
MaGIC is one of the key ecosystem enablers in nurturing the growth of start-ups in Malaysia. The interventions that MaGIC offers revolve around capacity development, collaborative entrepreneurship, facilitating market and capital access to the start-ups. Since its commencement of operation in 2014, MaGIC’s programmes have impacted over 100,000 aspiring and seasoned entrepreneurs, 2,800 start-ups and created an economic value of RM2.1 billion.
By bridging the funding gap, MaGIC and Penjana Kapital aspires to reorient private capital for innovative start-ups, attract global and regional VCs into Malaysia, as well as elevate knowledge transfer, talent development and creation in the Malaysia ecosystem.
To meet these objectives, MaGIC has kicked off two key programmes – Ace Your Pitch and Strike a Pitch. 70 start-ups participated in Ace Your Pitch, which comprises a clinic session to support start-ups in enhancing their pitch presentation, which includes improving understanding of funding fundamentals, elevating their pitch deck and polishing their presentation skills.
In Strike a Pitch, 19 start-ups were shortlisted from 84 applicants to pitch to VCs Immersion VenturesTenggara Capital, The Hive Southeast Asia-Tuas Capital and Penjana Kapital. 8 successful start-ups will proceed to the next stage of VC assessment for further deliberation. “Being a key enabler to the ecosystem, we are aware of the challenges faced by start-ups as we regularly engage with them. We have always stressed the importance of capacity building, and we are happy to identify start-ups with potential and funnel them to Penjana Kapital and its partner VCs.
Funding has always been a key challenge for start-ups to scale up, and we seek to bridge this gap via the DPN,” said Amiruddin Abdul Shukor, Acting Chief Executive Officer of MaGIC. Taufiq Iskandar, Chief Investment Officer of Penjana Kapital, said the collaboration with MaGIC will boost DPN’s objectives to overcome innovation funding gap and accelerate Malaysia’s economic recovery whose momentum has been derailed by a more persistent COVID-19 pandemic.
“MaGIC’s experience in the start-up ecosystem, in particular tech start-ups, will help us in our quest to streamline the digitalisation and automation of Malaysian businesses through innovation. We are aware that seed stage start-ups face some funding challenges, and in collaboration with MaGIC, we believe we can help them overcome these,” he said.
Baloy has initiated a 90-day equity crowdfunding (ECF) campaign on Ethis Malaysia for their latest business venture involving the local retail industry, which has raised RM625,594.46 since it kicked off on 2 July 2021. Baloy’s unique business model offers consumers essential products at the lowest cost – approximately three to 10 percent lower than competitors – and in the most convenient way.
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The conventional Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) supply chain model has resulted in
higher pricing of goods and products once it reaches the end consumers. Baloy’s new
ecosystem not only benefits all layers of the supply chain but also solves some of the
common challenges such as cost efficiency, disintermediation, logistics and delivery capacity.
Baloy effectively differentiates itself in the local retail space by offering the lowest price
possible. Baloy achieves this by combining both Consumer to Manufacturer (C2M) and
Online to Offline (O2O) concepts in their proposed business model. Consumers are impacted by food-based inflation. Due to this global crisis, consumer demand
for food has increased and food supply chains disrupted due to restrictions. Without
innovation in supply chains, food-based inflation will continue to erode consumers’
purchasing power.
Currently running on Ethis’ equity crowdfunding platform, Baloy’s fundraising campaign
aims to reach a minimum goal of RM6,000,000 with hopes of opportunists investing and
being a part of a growing e-commerce platform that would redefine online shopping in
Malaysia. Baloy also targets to give 15 percent dividend per annum to investors on their
investment amount should the company reach the projected milestones.
This investment opportunity allows investors the ability to participate in a mega trend set in
motion by the COVID-19 pandemic. Baloy has understood the need for digital innovation in
the critical supply chain for FMCG and effectively reducing costs for consumers. This
business model brings positive disruption to a segment of the market that requires
modernisation and efficiency to ensure that it remains sustainable.
“With the Malaysian groceries and food retailing industry expected to be valued close to
RM75 billion this year, Baloy aims to capitalise on the retailing industry through their
offerings that can benefit the society at large particularly the B40 and M40 segment in
Malaysia,” says Ethis Malaysia Chief Executive Officer Wan Mohd Dazriq Wan Zulkiflee.
“At Ethis, we strongly believe in investments that bring social benefit. As such, we are
honoured and humbled to be able to support this crowdfunding campaign with an aligned
vision of creating social impact that goes hand in hand with Ethis’ circulate good ambition in the real economy.”
“Our customers are really enjoying our concept,” says Yen Chee Yung, the Co-Founder and
CEO of Baloy. “But most importantly, customers can enjoy essential products at a much
lower price especially in this pandemic. We have high hopes for investors that wish to make a change in our community to join us in this ECF campaign on Ethis as well as make monetary returns in the long run as we continue to expand and grow over the long term in this food and groceries retailing industry.”
With an aligned vision of social impact, Ethis and Baloy are able to engage in this meaningful crowdfunding campaign with hopes of garnering more investors from interested parties.
For more information about the Crowdfunding Campaign, visit:
https://ethis.co/my/project/baloy/
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