Conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the technology that allows chatbots to respond to natural languages, similar to a human. However, unlike the latter, a chatbot never gets tired and can provide round-the-clock support with fewer errors.

A chatbot powered by advanced conversational AI delivers a better customer experience by helping businesses increase customer engagement and improve operational efficiency.

Bangkok Bank’s innovation programme InnoHub and Singapore-based fintech startup Pand.ai have joined hands to develop TT01, a Thai conversational AI engine. It is the first time such an engine has been built in-house by a Thailand bank.

Development began earlier this year and the engine was fully developed in October. Bangkok Bank will use the engine as a digital sales assistant for its sales and relationship managers. The chatbot is scheduled to launch in Q1 2021.

Pao Sriprasertsuk, Head of Bangkok Bank Innovation Department, and Shin Wee Chuang, Co-founder and CEO of Pand.ai shared in an interview with e27 their take on topics, including developing a Thai conversational AI engine, the keys to ensuring the older generation can benefit from new technologies and future digitalisation trends in the banking industry among others.

Below are the edited excerpts from the interview:

What were the key challenges faced when creating the AI engine and how did the team overcome them?

Chuang: The biggest challenge we faced was that our data scientists were not native Thai speakers. When it came to building a Thai AI engine, this resulted in a loss of efficiency.

The data scientists had to refer back to the Thai speakers in the team to check if everything is correct. Hence, it was not as intuitive and efficient as developing an AI engine in their native language.

Also Read: Artificial intelligence is a key consideration for companies looking to adapt operations to optimise user experience

Since we were collaborating with Bangkok Bank, we had two sets of data scientists, one each from Bangkok Bank and Pand.ai. Therefore, we split the workload; the processes that required the knowledge of the Thai language were handled by the Bangkok Bank team, while we handled those that did not depend as much on the ability to understand the Thai language.

It was a collaborative effort for which both sides pitched in with what they were good at.

Why are there a lack of Thai chatbots in the market?

Chuang: One of the primary factors, I believe, is the lack of market opportunities. There are a lot of people speaking Thai and Thailand itself accounts for close to 70 million people.

However, in the grand scheme of things, when compared to the number of people speaking English, Mandarin or Spanish, the number of people conversing in Thai pales in comparison to these major languages.

That would that limit the commercial appeal of developing a Thai conversational AI engine.

Secondly, AI is a big field, and natural language processing (NLP), which powers conversational AI, is a subsegment of it. Not every data scientist’s speciality is in NLP.

They could specialise in computer vision and be largely clueless about NLP. Therefore, among the data science community, the number working on NLP is small and it is even rarer to find a Thai native speaker among them.

Does digitalisation represent a “must-have” rather than a “nice to have” for banks today?

Sriprasertsuk: Digitalisation has become a must-have, as it drives key competencies for banks in this digital age. Banks are now expected to provide ‘good’ digital services.

Definition of ‘good’ may vary by individual. To some, it may mean ease of usage and real-time support. To others, it might be tailored recommendations and security features.

Ultimately, these services can be only driven by digital technologies such as automation, data analytics, and AI. They also reduce unit costs while allowing banks to serve customers at scale in a wider, faster, and cheaper way.

Also Read: 4 ways the banking sector can respond to the digital transformation

However, that does not mean that traditional relationship-based banking or physical bank branches will disappear completely.

We do believe that human elements, such as relationship and offline services, will still play an important role as one of the key competitive advantages for banks.

How do you ensure a diverse customer base (especially the older generation) can keep up with the rapid introduction of technological solutions?

Sriprasertsuk: Empathy is key. Different customer segments have different needs and these needs are ever-changing.

For the older generation, learning new technologies remains one of the biggest hurdles for them.

However, it may be surprising to find that they manage to use ‘Paotang’, an e-wallet where Thai government provides government subsidies to the public in the form of e-money in order to boost the economic recovery during COVID-19.

The seniors were able to use the e-wallet due to the help of their families, friends and merchants, who helped guide them through the process, and they mastered it after a few tryouts.

Therefore, support from the people around seniors is a helpful enabler for them to learn and adopt new technologies.

Driven by customer research and Big Data analytics, banks will also need to be empathetic and design solutions that are catered to the needs of their customers.

Take the chatbot as an example, where customers may struggle to get the right keyword to ask a chatbot.

By adding human elements to the chatbot such as programming to analyse the intention of a user or remembering the context of a conversation, it can make an educated response to a user’s inquiry and create a better customer experience.

In what areas of banking do you see technology has the greatest impact in the near future?

Sriprasertsuk: AI and Big Data analytics are technologies that would provide big leaps to this digital era for all industries, not only the banking sectors.

For banking, AI has transformed every aspect of bank function, allowing banks to deliver personalised digital banking experiences, which are seamless across touch-points. AI can also enhance the efficiency of banking processes, reduce costs, improve security and strengthen risk management.

Also Read: Reimagining anti-money laundering processes with blockchain technology

Distributed ledger technology (DLT), more commonly known as the blockchain technology, is expected to play an important role in the future of financial services, although it still needs improvement.

DLT helps enhance security, traceability, efficiency and speed of transactions. The technology allows banks to collaborate better with stakeholders in trade flow, from improving traceability to greatly reducing time and costs.

Additionally, DLT also enables the concept of smart contract and programmable money that could lead to a wide variety of new digital financial products.

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Huawei Pay, the mobile payment service by Chinese telecom giant Huawei, has announced a partnership with Aleta Planet and UnionPay International.

The duo will partner to introduce a mobile payment solution combining Near Field Communication (NFC) and QR code payments for Singapore Huawei users.

Launched in May 2020, Huawei Pay allows Huawei users in the city-state to carry out mobile transactions on their smart devices. Users can transact in-store and in-app using the mobile payment solution upon adding their bank card to the Huawei Wallet app.

The mobile payment platform said in a statement it provides an improved in-store payment experience by offering both NFC and QR code payment methods for greater flexibility. Users can choose to pay with either method in retail stores.

Also Read: 4 expected transitions of online payments in Asia in the next five years

Aleta Planet is a virtual card service provider allowing users to pay, remit and collect payments through the UnionPay network. The Singapore fintech firm remarked it is the first partner supporting both NFC and QR code payments via Huawei Pay within Asia-Pacific.

To access the payment service, users are required to download Aleta Planet’s “AP-1” mobile app from Huawei’s app store and apply for an AP-1 virtual card. Upon successful application, users can add their card to their mobile wallet and begin cashless NFC and QR code transactions at various merchant locations.

“By using Huawei Pay, the AP-1 users can handily make NFC and QR code payments, as well as enjoy a slew of exclusive privileges available,” said Shane Shan, Director of Huawei Mobile Services, Asia Pacific.

Aleta Planet’s AP-1 virtual card users will be entitled to a slew of UnionPay promotions and rewards including dining and lifestyle offers as stated on UnionPay’s website.

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Image Credit: Unsplash

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What do startups want the most? Investment? Space? Early adopters?

As someone who has been through the startup journey, I can certainly say that it is neither of these that startups need the most. 

What they need is people. A team of stalwarts who are great at what they do and can solve problems. Now building a team is definitely a big deal for startup founders. It is difficult finding the right mix of technical and non-technical personnel to assemble. 

Also, the chances of finding them all in one place — from the same city or country is even slimmer. 

But, as Bob Dylan once sang: “The Times They Are A Changin.”

When you are running a startup, you no longer need all your team members in one place. You can have them scattered across the globe and still manage to scale your operations. Thanks to countless communication and collaboration software, managing a remote team is a cake walk for startup founders. 

You can have a developer from Japan, a UX designer from Ukraine, a QA tester from India, and a project manager from the US. 

However, there is a catch. Managing a remote team is not the same as managing an in-house team. You need to approach remote team management from a different angle to keep teams motivated, productive, and also to scale your startup. 

Make a management mind shift

At the core of every successful startup is one common trait — a positive management mindset. In management parlance, a positive mindset can be construed as different things: hunger to drive growth, passion to break and build new things, setting new milestones, etc. 

However, while scaling your startup with a remote team, you need a totally different management approach. To begin with, micromanaging is a big no-no. It would be extremely tempting for a startup to track the outcome of every single task assigned to team members. 

It is an activity that shows a lack of trust but also drains the time and energy of the founder. Such time and effort could otherwise be used for strategic thinking and planning. 

So, it is necessary for management to have a mind shift. You must have confidence and trust in your team although they are not physically present in the same building as you. 

At my company Solitaired, where we tie classic games to brain training, we’ve found that avoiding micromanagement and trusting our team has had a profound effect. Our team is taking more responsibility in their work as a result and delivering their best work.

Shifting to remote work is an opportunity to empower your team. 

Measure performance. Not hours spent online.

One question that always comes up when running a remote team is: How will I track the efficiency of my team?

In a startup, resources are precious and the way your team spends their time can make a huge impact on the business. Even the slightest delay from one person can have a snowball effect on the rest of the team. 

As you know, tracking every single task of the team is a futile exercise. Instead, track performance. In a virtual team, the best indicator of productivity and efficiency is results.

For an engineering team this could be feature releases, for a marketing team it could be campaign rollouts, or for a sales team it could be deals closed or pipelines created. 

Prioritising results over time-tracking ultimately leads to a growth and results-driven work culture — a must-have accessory for startups.

Build a virtual team culture

In a remote team, or for that matter, in any team, culture can be the invisible glue that binds together team members. It removes the distance barrier, makes people feel familiar to each other, and builds team camaraderie. 

Also read: Are your influence skills ready for remote work?

The onus is upon the founder to create a remote team culture so that every team member feels an integral part of the team. Virtual team building activities help with that. As a gaming company, we often play games together to improve camaraderie.

A healthy remote culture cultivates strong working relationships where teammates are willing to trust and hold each other accountable.

Lay down clear processes

An F1 pit crew can change a racing car’s tires in 1.923 seconds. Do you know how? They have a process that is meticulously planned. Each team member is trained to do his/her role in the best manner possible. 

A process leaves little room for error. It standardises how everyone in a team works. It brings everyone on the same page and directs efforts in the same direction towards a common goal. 

Similarly, a well-defined process ensures that new employees who are onboarded are also able to ramp up into their roles quickly. It removes the ambiguity that kicks in when there is no direct interaction between team members. 

As a best practice, create a central repository of all process documents. Ideally, they should be created separately for engineering, marketing, finance, IT, and so on. Such practices enable any remote work, new or seasoned, to work independently and effectively. 

Assemble a well-equipped toolkit

Most often, remote team collaboration does not work because team members do not have the necessary tools to communicate. 

It is only recently that tools like Slack, Asana, Trello, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, etc. have become mainstream. These tools are essential if you want to scale your startup with a remote team. 

Also read: Does remote working really work?

A well-equipped toolkit ensures that remote team members are able to perform their duties and deliver work as planned. Here is a list of tools that you can help you manage a remote team of your startup:

• Voice and video communication — Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Team
• Document collaboration — Microsoft Office, Google Suite, Zoho One
• Project management — Asana, Trello, Monday.com
• Web management — WordPress, Wix, GoDaddy, Weebly
• Design — Canva, Snappa, Prezi, Piktochart
• Cyber security — Anti virus programmes, Firewall, VPN, Azure ID
  

Plan for time zone differences

One of the most under-rated challenges of working with a remote team is time zone differences. The challenge of coordinating meetings and working across different time zones can be significant.

While managing a remote team, it is necessary to lay down specific timings during which meetings are feasible for all. Also, it is equally necessary to stipulate non-meeting hours. This will help individual team members to plan their working hours with enough rest hours in between.

For example, at my company, the team that develops our Mahjong and Freecell games is based in Eastern Europe, while the rest of our game is based in the New York area. Given the time zone differences, we always have daily meetings at 9AM EST as a unique window when all our teams are available.

Common meeting hours will ensure that every remote team member is in a productive mindset and willing to contribute to the meeting. Without their active participation, remote teams can feel disconnected to the company’s mission and goals.

Taking your startup from one to 10X

Today, scaling a startup with a remote team is easier than ever before. There are countless tools to facilitate remote work and abundant supply of remote workforce who are talented.

However, it still takes effort and planning to make remote work productive for startups. 

Setting the right management mindset, building a positive team culture, developing processes, and adjusting for time zone differences can all help your remote team function better, improving your chances of success.

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Singapore-based car-sharing platform Tribecar announced today it has partnered with local insurance firm NTUC Income and wholesale automotive marketplace Carro to provide usage-based insurance (UBI) coverage for its fleet of rental cars.

Unlike conventional fixed costs auto insurance premiums, UBI charges are tied to the vehicle’s data, such as mileage, location and timing consumption.

Developed through a joint initiative between NTUC Income and Carro’s leasing arm Carro Leap, the UBI platform combines telematics, insurance and data analytics.

As per a press release, Tribecar has adopted this insurance programme, allowing it to provide car-sharing rentals from S$0.50 (US$0.38) per hour for its “Super Economy” Category.

Also Read: Carro raises US$110M funding as contactless car buying boosts its revenues

“It is very encouraging to see the growing interest in new insurance models like UBI within the motoring community, which is testimony to the value it brings to drivers — customisation and convenience,” said Max Tiong, Head of Digital Transformation at Income.

“With a usage-based model that allows them to pay insurance based only how much they drive, Tribecar’s customers can now enjoy a new level of flexibility with rental cars,” said Aaron Tan, Founder and CEO of Carro.

Existing commercial fleet insurance typically require motor fleet owners to pay a fixed lump sum premium even when their cars are left idle.

In contrast, UBI charges the value of insurance incurred, starting from the first kilometre. With UBI, motor fleet owners can have greater autonomy over their car insurance and have enabled car rental firms to save costs by adopting a ‘drive less, pay less’ business model.

Also Read: The future of insurance isn’t just digital; it’s efficiently digital

Since launching in 2016, Tribecar has invested over S$4 million (US$ 3.03 million) in research and technology initiatives from its profits to accelerate product development.

The startup claims its cars see a strong uptake of about 18 hours of road use every day, an indication that car-sharing vehicles can be used more effectively than privately-owned vehicles. It further remarked its effort in promoting car-sharing is in line with the push by local regulators to reduce car usage in Singapore.

“We’re also experimenting with new ways to deliver greater value for our members. Currently, we’re in talks with authorised car distributors in Singapore to roll out ‘drive before you buy’ schemes for members that may be keen to buy a new car,” said Adrian Lee, Co-founder of Tribecar.

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Image Credit: Tribecar

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Just because your business looks like it’s doing well, doesn’t mean there aren’t people and things conspiring against you.

Lori Cheek went through Shark Tank, lawsuits, and a pandemic that all tried to destroy her company, and she’s still pushing!

If you don’t see the Apple player above, click on a link below to listen directly!

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This article was first published on We Live To Build.

Image Credit: Michal Czyz on Unsplash

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Every month, the e27 team runs a ‘Startup of the Month’ poll to pick the outstanding startup and give it the extra attention it deserves.

Three startups are selected internally by taking into account various criteria, including the quality of their idea, team, product and founders, and the size of their VC funding.

The winner of January is Singapore-based Neuroglee, a company providing digital therapies for neurodegenerative diseases to improve the quality of life of the patients as well as caregivers.

Digital therapy for Alzheimer’s

An effective drug solution for neurodegenerative diseases is still far away, although an estimated 60 million people are still suffering from it. These diseases — which include Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis  or ALS) — are not only expensive to treat but also have a c effect on patients.

Extensive researches are being carried out around the world and researchers are hopeful that a new effective drug will be developed soon and and the progression of these diseases are controlled/stopped.

Also Read: Bolstering healthtech: Thailand’s bid to become Asia’s medical hub

Neuroglee is one such company, which is attempting to find a new solution to cure these chronic diseases.

Founded early this year, Neuroglee is the brainchild of Dr Aniket Singh Rajput, a PhD in Neuroscience from Nanyang Technological University. The startup aims to build a completely new care system for people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, which aims to help them preserve their cognition and independence.

According to Rajput, evidences suggest that strategies such as games and reminiscence therapy can improve mental cognition. However, there has been no “one size fits all” solution, and each patient has to deal with the same condition differently.

What sets Neuroglee apart is that it tailor-makes therapies for each patient in accordance with his/her needs through its software platform, which monitors symptoms using biomarkers such as tapping speed, speech and motions, and then recommends patients with the right treatment.

The firm has developed a patent-pending AI technology for this.

NG-001

NG-001 is Neuroglee flagship product, which is a prescription software intended for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s Disease.

How it works? Clinicians prescribe NG-001 as a drug to the patient and Neuroglee acts as a pharmaceutical company to provide him/her with the support infrastructure, called Neuroglee Connect (NGC).

NGC will then act as an end-to-end digital support centre to fit into the clinician’s existing practice workflow.

“With NGC, clinicians can get access to dedicated case managers to support them in every step of the patient journey. This includes the facilitation of patient access to support and assist with care coverage, as well as assist clinicians with reimbursement calls, prescription and management of patients,” he said.

“So when a patient is enrolled, the clinician prescribes a therapeutic solution to the patient. This is when he starts his/her six-month journey. We have designed several mechanisms of actions, which will be tailored to that particular patient, depending on what he/she is responding to and what he/she is not good at, and we will try to improve, for example, certain aspects of emotions,” he explained. 

NG-001, according to Rajput, can be used independently and/or in conjunction with pharmacotherapy for better patient management.

From researcher to entrepreneur

Born and bred in India, Rajput did not originally intend to enter the field of neuroscience. After securing his undergrad in Robotics from Visvesvaraya Technological University India, he went on to pursue his Master’s in Robotics and Healthcare in Hong Kong.

After this, he went to MIT Labs in Singapore and started working on Human Perception and Human Control Strategy algorithms. Later, he received an offer to pursue PhD in Neuroscience in NTU.

Rajput shared that during his time in Singapore, he primarily focussed on stroke and Parkinson’s patients and built rehabilitation strategies for them. Later on, he realised there was no effective solution to treat and manage Alzheimer’s patents.

Also Read: Healthcare wearable Ybrain raises US$3.5M in Series A funding

A researcher at heart, this got him thinking about developing a solution and he decided to start Neuroglee.

Market opportunities

The startup targets market such as Singapore, the US and Japan, where neurodegenerative diseases are more common among the elderly population. The prevalence of dementia is higher in developed countries such as Japan, South Korea and the US, making it a good base for the startup to roll out its services.

Having said that, NG-001 is still in its nascent stage and needs to go through the whole proof of concept phase and be approved by regulatory agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enter foreign markets.

“Our initial focus would be to obtain the FDA approval and then roll out our products in the US and Singapore, followed by Japan,” he said.

Neuroglee, however, is not the only startup working in this space. There are companies such as Denali Therapeutics, Neurotrack and MyndYou which are providing innovative solutions, and over years, they have raised large amounts of funding from notable investors.

Funding

Last month, Neuroglee raised US$2.3 million in pre-seed funding from Eisai Co., one of Japan’s largest pharmaceutical companies, and Kuldeep Singh Rajput, the founder and CEO of predictive healthcare startup Biofourmis.

Also Read: Neuroglee bags US$2.3M in pre-seed funding to strengthen fight against Alzheimer’s

With the money, the startup will advance product development for NG-001, which is intended for the treatment and management of patients with early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Clinical trials are expected to begin in early 2021 and the startup plans to open its US operations in Boston in 2021.

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Image Credit: Neuroglee

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Digital banking is one of the most exciting themes to come out in 2020, and the hype will continue next year as leading Southeast Asian markets such as Singapore issued digital banking licenses to leading companies in the country.

Amidst this excitement, one startup stands out among the rest with its unique offering: Lucy.

Currently undergoing a trial process, Lucy is a digital bank platform that aims to empower women through entrepreneurship and financial inclusion. Setting itself apart from other digital banking platforms, the startup focusses on female migrant worker and home business owners as its target audience.

“Essentially, what we are doing is providing a range of very carefully tailored services to help female entrepreneurs at all socio-economic levels to start and grow their own businesses. The way we are doing this, as a digital platform, is entirely via our app. This will provide women who are lacking access to the financial services and support [with solutions] to help them grow and thrive,” Debbie Watkins, CEO of Lucy, explains to e27 in an interview.

While the company aims to expand its service to the whole of Southeast Asia, they start out with Singapore first. In addition to the country being a base for the co-founders, there are also opportunities that Lucy wants to seize in the country.

“The common belief is that everybody [in Singapore] as banked, but there are definitely segments that are unable to access the services that they actually need. They have bank accounts but don’t have access to the full range of financial services that they need,” Watkins says.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Ant Group, Grab’s venture win digital banking licences; What will a Grab-gojek mean for Singapore users?

In Singapore, there are two groups that are experiencing this challenge: Female migrant workers and home business owners –from web designers to bakers.

There are about 250,000 of female migrant workers in Singapore, coming from countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Myanmar. They come to the country with a dream to save enough money to start their own small business back home, but there is often situation –such as natural disasters or sudden illnesses– that force them to let go of their savings and turn to loan sharks.

The Lucy app is set to be launched in Q1 2021. In addition to using social media as part of their user acquisition strategy, the startup is also teaming up with non-profit organisations that are working closely with migrant workers in the country.

Making dreams come true

Even for those who manage to gain access to the financial solutions that they need, there is often the other challenge of understanding how to use it well. This is why Lucy also includes the educational aspect of their service.

“What people who are running small businesses really need is mentoring and peer support … because it can be quite challenging. I like to say that it can be lonely and scary to be an entrepreneur, particularly for people who have just started something by themselves. So, what we’re aiming to do is to provide them with everything that they need to succeed [in running their own business],” Watkins says.

This is especially important as Lucy’s potential customers are those that have been disappointed by conventional banking institutions before. As a solution, Lucy tries to design a platform that fits the personality and needs of its users.

Also Read: Why neobanks are better than digital banks

“What we’re doing is combining the kind of services that are tailored to the customers rather than just being some sort of generic services that banks might offer … We are also breaking down that barrier where many women feel that banks don’t really listen to them or are not a partner for them in any kind of way,” Watkins elaborates.

“Essentially, the aim is to make Lucy feel like a community … that Lucy is a person who is this kickass, fearless woman that got their back and is there alongside them, to help them succeed. I kind of like to describe Lucy as a little bit of the anti-bank. Everything that we have been doing, if you look at our website, the way our apps designed, is really designed to feel like home,” she continues.

A team of wonder women

Lucy was started by three founders with backgrounds in business, fintech, and social enterprises.

Watkins started working in a bank at only 16 years old and has built a career in the business and financial IT sectors before moving to social enterprise after a volunteer work trip to Cambodia.

Director and Co-Founder Hal Bosher had spent a decade working with the World Bank before relaunching Yoma Bank in Myanmar and co-founding Wave Money, an Ant Group-backed fintech platform.

Last but not least, Chairman Luke Janssen was previously known as the founder of Australia-based fintech company Tigerspike, which he had exited in 2017.

In September, the startup has secured a S$500,000 (US$377,000) pre-seed funding round, bringing its total funding to date to just over S$1 million (US$750,000). In line with its mission to empower female entrepreneurs, all of the 18 angel investors involved in this funding round are women based in countries from the UK to Vietnam.

It has previously secured funding from its own founders and the Savearth fund.

For its next stage of fundraising, Lucy is looking for VC firms with a strong gender perspective in its investment philosophy.

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Image Credit: Lucy

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As 2020 draws to a close and we take stock of the year, we ought to move away from the traditional powerhouses of the regional startup ecosystem and analyse the impact of the year on emerging markets within the region.

Less glamorous than the regional giants of Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam, emerging markets in Southeast Asia play an equally important role in the development of the region as they represent the potential growth.

Investors have recognised they remain an unpolished gem and thus have taken the lead in providing them with the resources to succeed.

Singapore-based private equity firm Ascent Capital announced in November that it closed a US$88 million Myanmar-focused fund to invest into companies across a variety of sectors, including consumer, education and healthcare.

While COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the region, with 1.38 million confirmed cases in Southeast Asia as of December 2020, emerging markets — Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar — have remained relatively unscathed, with Myanmar suffering the greatest impact among the three.

Despite making up 11.8 per cent of the regional population, the trio from the Mekong sub-region accounted for only 8.3 per cent of COVID-19 cases regionally.

As of December 2020 and according to official statistics from respective health ministries, Cambodia and Laos collectively accounted for only 400 confirmed cases, with no deaths reported. Myanmar has over 122,000 cases and reported close to 2,700 deaths, making it the fifth worst-hit country in the region – by the number of cases per million residents.

Despite escaping the wrath of the pandemic, emerging economies have been negatively impacted by the effects of an ensuing economic downturn.

Cambodia

According to a World Bank report, the Cambodian economy contracted by 2 percentage points in 2020.

The same report shared a rebound is anticipated and the Kingdom’s economy is projected to grow by 4 per cent in 2021 due to increased domestic activity, spurred on by the relaxation of social distancing measures and stimulus packages handed out by the government.

The local government has spent close to 5 per cent of its GDP on income assistance schemes and tax relief to help both workers and corporates tide over the downturn.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country is also increasing, driven by a free trade agreement signed between Cambodia and China in October 2020. The country’s inaugural bilateral free trade agreement is expected to boost trade between the two countries to US$10 billion by 2023.

Also Read: 500 Startups launches Angkor 500 to accelerate the development of Cambodian startups

However, challenges persist within the Kingdom.

Despite the partial recovery of the travel and tourism industry by domestic tourists, the sector remains negatively affected as international travel restrictions remain in place.

The share of respondents of a World Bank survey who were working declined from 82 per cent before the COVID-19 outbreak to 71 per cent in May 2020 — a number that remained relatively unchanged in August 2020.

This has led to a decline in household income and more will fall into poverty. The government has attempted to stem this by launching a cash transfer programme to assist the poor and vulnerable.

However, the efficacy and sustainability of such an initiative remain to be seen.

Laos

Despite having avoided a health crisis with only 41 total cases — as of writing this piece — Laos has not escaped the worldwide economic downturn.

The country’s economy is projected to contract by up to 1.8 per cent in 2020, with the downturn particularly affecting the services sector. Similar to Cambodia, the Laotian economy is expected to rebound by close to 4.5 per cent within the next two years.

Despite the seemingly minute contraction in growth this year, it comes at a period where Laos can ill-afford a slow down of its economy due to structural macroeconomic vulnerabilities stemming from its high public debt levels and low reserves buffers.

Also Read: Will Laos be home to a unicorn someday?

In a country where 11 per cent of total employment is in service industries such as travel, tourism and hospitality, the pandemic has had far-reaching economic and social consequences on Laotians. Up to 214,000 additional people are projected to fall into poverty due to the loss in jobs and a decline in income.

Labour migration remains an important livelihood option for the Lao workforce. However, many migrant workers have returned home amidst lockdowns worldwide.

It is estimated that the reverse in labour migration has resulted in a loss of US$125 million in rural household income.

Myanmar

Despite having the most number of COVID-19 cases among the three emerging markets, the Burmese economy grew by 1.7 per cent in 2020.

Although this represented a slowdown from its 6.8 per cent growth in 2019, it remains one of few in the region who have stayed in the green.

Domestically, growth in manufacturing, construction and service sectors have slowed due to a platitude of reasons including disruptions in supply chains, lockdowns and reduced demand.

However, it was observed internet-based businesses were better positioned to weather the downturn and reported increased earnings during the year.

Also Read: How understanding culture can drive the digitalisation of payments in Myanmar

Despite economists expecting Myanmar’s economy to grow by 2 per cent in 2021, concerns over the coronavirus outbreak remain. The country is experiencing a new surge in cases with over 900 daily cases reported last week.

While the government’s immediate priority should be stemming the rise of cases, it has diverted efforts to rejuvenate the economy for future growth, announcing fresh financing to support the development of industrial and urban development projects.

The future

Despite a slowdown in the growth of regional emerging markets in 2020, the outlook for these three countries remains positive. However, the projected recoveries in these economies are contingent on a successful containment of the virus.

As vaccines begin to be distributed worldwide, these countries must secure access to them — a difficult task given many wealthier countries are also vying for access.

When they do secure contracts with vaccine manufacturers, the mammoth task of vaccinating the population would be the next challenge. With a significant part of the population in these countries still residing in rural areas, local governments must have plans in place to reach these parts of the population.

Only then can the virus be contained and the emerging markets of Southeast Asia will continue on its path to economic growth.

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Image Credit: Photo by Jesse Schoff on Unsplash

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Investors are cautious but confident and optimistic about SEA; The Google e-Conomy SEA 2020 report says although unicorns are now refocusing on their basic services, most areas of investment, particularly sectors that sowed the opportunities afforded by COVID-19, will be likely to produce a healthy investment ecosystem for the region. More here

How 5-year-old live-streaming app 17LIVE acquired 60M users globally; It runs customised loyalty programmes for our customers; It has an in-house merchandise team who designs exclusive merchandise that can be used in reward programmes. More here

4 non-pandemic-related trends in 2020 that will shape the SEA startup ecosystem next year; The rise of SPAC as an alternative route to public listing and the proliferation of digital banking are among them; The proliferation of digital banking is another trend. More here

AI in the smart retail era; The tech has the capability not just to analyse numeric and text data, but also what we might call ‘sensory’ data, such as visual cues from customers as they browse products; Al can aggregate online and offline data for a holistic view of the customer and use it to find people with the intent to interact with a product. More here

Investors say these enterprise software sectors will likely remain hot in 2021; Companies that can solve the multitude of issues caused by WFH –including collaboration, security and productivity — will continue to be attractive. More here

Korean agritech startup E Green Global bags US$9.2M from YD-SK-KDB Social Value Fund; EGG plans to use the capital to expand its production facility to supply seed potatoes to its US and Chinese clients, with whom it has signed a contract worth US$92M. More here

New health app HeatraX receives funding from Indonesian government; It is an upgraded variant of thermal scanners; One of the app’s primary features is a contactless thermal screening that runs on an on-device AI; It also comes equipped with face recognition and a real-time warning feature that measures a person’s temperature. More here

What the Tech.Pass scheme means for startups and the rise of Singapore as a thriving centre of innovation; Within one to two-hour flight distance from other emerging tech cities such as Jakarta, Bangkok, Penang and HCMC, Singapore makes a strategic regional tech node; At the height of US-China trade tensions this year, Singapore continued to see increased investments from US MNCs and unicorns and Chinese tech titans alike. More here

Why the buy-now-pay-later concept makes sense for SEA; The concept is becoming increasingly popular due to a combination of factors; These include changes in human behaviour caused by COVID-19-imposed restrictions — we have more spare time but are unable to go out shopping which we compensate by shopping online. More here

This self-learning crib with a built-in monitor can spot your baby’s wake-up signs and put it back to sleep; Along with the natural-soothing-noiseless bounce, Cradlewise also plays curated music and prevents the baby from reaching the crying stage; It also enables parents to connect their phones to the cradle using an app to get a live video of the baby or listen to the baby anywhere, any time. More here

Bambooloo raises US$250K+ via ECF to expand its plastic-free home goods into UK; Bambooloo’s main goal is to provide cost-effective, safer, healthier daily essential products that help reduce water usage, carbon impact and slow deforestation; The brand recently added a bamboo-based personal safety mask-line to its products. More here

How startups can improve customer engagement and grow LTV ratio; There are many strategies but the linchpin is a deep understanding of who your customers are and what problem they come to have solved; The first thing you can do to increase customer engagement is to segment your leads and customers. More here

How hoolah aims to tackle the misconceptions of BNPL; Research detailing the impact of BNPL services in Singapore by financial comparison platform Finder showed that 27% of a thousand Singaporeans surveyed admit to being financially worse off when using a BNPL service, with impulse buying being the most common mistake. More here

Want to be an entrepreneur? Here’s why 2021 is a better year than 2020 to start a biz; The number of people around the world using the internet has grown to 4.54B in Jan 2020, an increase of 7% compared to Jan 2019; It has now become easier and more accessible for everyday people to start businesses such as e-commerce, virtual assistant work or coaching. More here

How can blockchain and other emerging technologies transform supply chains?; Blockchain adoption is slighted to dramatically improve the efficiency of cross-border transportation flows by democratising access to data and seamlessly connecting cross enterprise processes between different collaborating parties – essentially building a digital network of trust amongst stakeholders. More here

Is your product suffering from service design issues?; Service design is “the activity of planning and organising a business’s resources in order to directly improve the employee’s experience, and indirectly, the customer’s experience; The discord between product design and service design can lead to some baffling trends in user behaviours. More here

4 cloud and data trends to look for in 2021; Gartner is forecasting global public cloud revenue to grow by 19% from US$258M in 2020 to US$307M by 2021; Creating a cloud-based culture and democratising data will receive a lot of focus in 2021. More here

Grab releases statistics to boost Myanmar’s digital economy; Between March and November 2020, GrabFood’s daily order volume increased by approximately 470%; During the same period, GrabFood saw an 80% increase in the number of merchant-partners using the platform to serve their customers. More here

“Innovation can no longer be delayed”, says Connie Leung, Business Lead (Financial Services in Asia), Microsoft; There is a move toward a super-app for financial services, where customers can access multiple touchpoints across branch, call centre and mobile app services, for ease of access. More here

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Image Credit: Unsplash

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What a year this has been. 2020 forced us to think differently and allowed us to experiment with a lot of the ideas that have been on the back burner. It forced us to rethink our role in the regional tech ecosystem, and here are some of the details to how we changed how we worked during 2020.

Echelon 2020

One of the first things we did was to actively scrap Echelon 2020 from happening. This took everyone, internal and external, by surprise as everyone was expecting us to change Echelon to virtual event. However, we believed that due to reduced costs and complexity in running events, there would be a slew of high quality events happening globally, which was great for the ecosystem. Our efforts were better spent in activities that allowed us to make consistent and meaningful impact on a regular basis, hence the birth of e27 Pro Membership. Sometimes, you need to shift the entire company in direction, and that means giving up your past work to focus on future efforts.

Pro Membership

We were pumped, and really afraid, to launch e27 Pro Membership. The original plan, which got kicked in the nuts by COVID19, was to build the feature set for 6 months, and launch it all at Echelon with a bang. We now had to rethink building an MVP, where to focus our efforts on and how to go to market as quickly as possible. We nailed it to a few key area that the community needed help with the most:

• Saving costs on services, hence the launch of Perks
• Fundraising and access to investors, hence the launch of Connect and the improvements to our Investor database
• Better ways for Startups to showcase what they do, hence the improvements to the Startups database and profiles

It’s been quite ride, and we had the fortunate opportunity to work with hundreds of Startups and Investors who have signed up to Pro. The exciting part is that we can now make meaningful impact every day to the ecosystem, and not just wait for a 2 day period once a year.

Webinars, Connect Programs, Workshops and More

With the membership model came new ways to engage and interact with our community. We launched a slew of monthly webinars including Meet the VC series. We partnered with the Open Circles team to launch OC27, a webinar series featuring top speakers from around the world, including the Founder of Siri. We launched the Connect Program, where we matched Startups with Investors from around the region. We did this in different ways throughout the year, including a 2 week intensive Connect program. Now we do it in a more automated way, via the Connect buttons and early next year, we will be launching the Connect dashboard. It’s been pretty non-stop all year with activities and programs to better Connect and educate the ecosystem.

One of the highlights of what we do is that we are able to work with many different organizations that make an impact far beyond our reach and capabilities. Facebook was one of them, and we are thankful for the opportunity to partner with them for the Facebook Community Accelerator in 2020.

Facebook Community Accelerator

13 communities from a range of community efforts including LGBTQ to mental health awareness were part of this program. In a time like this, community organizations are more critical than ever. Members depend on them for support, and in some cases their livelihoods. Through our partnership with Facebook and various mentors, we were able to equip these communities with the tools to grow their communities and impact their members in more relevant ways. The 6 months program allowed them to think of news ways to serve their members, work out plans to these initiatives executed and milestones to keep the leadership members on track.

COVID support program

Finally, we understood first hand how the real the struggle was for Startups. At the end of March, just as different cities around the world were going into lockdown, we put in effort to promote Startups and share deals for companies to save costs on various services. We also shared various resources from VCs and the general community on business continuity planning activities, to guide Startups on how to evolve their working practices. We launched special webinars specific to COVID19 centric activities and even launched a category for COVID19 stories. It was a tough time for everyone, and we tried to play our part.

 

COVID19 has forced to rethink our way of doing things and reflect on our lives. It has been a stress-filled and challenging year, and a tragedy for too many people. However, it has also been a year of learning,  change, reflection and growth.

I am proud of the way the team at e27 has responded to the challenges we faced this year. We wish the same for all of you as 2020 comes to an end and we look forward optimistically to a better year ahead.

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