When it comes to recruiting good talent, a lot of companies find it challenging to stand out from the crowd. Whether you have one of the greatest job openings with a high paycheck and flexible working hours, if you lack a strong employer brand, you’ll be sending countless emails to uninterested prospects.

Nowadays, businesses are not evaluated based on their efficiency and products. For example, Google is not only a search engine. It’s a company whose employer-first goodwill makes people die to work for them.

You should treat your employees as customers who are the first critic of your brand. The approach includes performing several tasks such as targeting your employee persona, creating a strong value proposition, and engaging in online communication.

Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers!

Brands such as Google, L’Oréal, and IKEA have one thing in common. They focus on their employer brand and always think about improving the well-being and happiness of their employees.

• Thrivemap, a London-based software company surveyed 1000 full-time employees and found that 48 per cent of employees left their job because they didn’t meet their expectations. Among Gen-Z employees (aged 18-24), the percentage shot up to a whopping 73 per cent.
• According to a report by Cigna, 61 per cent of employees in America report that they feel lonely in their workplaces. The same report also says that, on average, lonely workers are more likely to think about quitting their job compared to non-lonely workers.
• It is also observed that the estimated duration of time a millennial plans to work for one employer is ten years.

According to the figures mentioned above, making an attractive employer brand isn’t only about bringing talented people. It requires great effort to position your company as a brand that values relationships and employees.

Also Read: How HappyPlus is helping corporates measure the happiness index of employees

Let us have a look at four actionable ideas to help you build an engaging employer brand that attracts the right talent:

The digital challenge

In today’s era, the majority of potential hires are tech-savvy. Thus, they pay attention to your online presentation and the digital employee experience you’re providing. According to a survey conducted by Spherion Staffing, almost 47 per cent of millennials agreed that a prospective employer’s reputation is as important as the job.

Thus, it is imperative to get enterprise apps and websites developed by a professional and make sure they’re responsive and updated.

A GoodFirms survey of 750+ full time-employees discovered the state of employees. The survey revealed that the majority of employees want at least three employee benefits such as flexible timings, annual raises, and five working days.

It also reports that almost 56.6 per cent of workers across the globe are satisfied with their current jobs, while 30.15 per cent are looking for a change.

Industry events

You need to host industry events if you’re looking to establish yourself as a dominant industry leader. Industry-wide events can help you strike engaging conversations with creative minds that would be willing to work and collaborate with your company.

You can either organise a full-scale conference around HR, sales and marketing goals or conduct recruitment-specific events.

Whatever you proceed with, if you want to be the top consideration for talented candidates, you need to show yourself as the top player of your industry as well.

Reiterate your vision and values

A key step to brand your company’s vision and values lie in not waiting for an interviewee to ask about your company. Try opening the communication lines at the beginning of the application. From there on, make it a habit to prove your company’s values in your day-to-day actions. It requires a lot of consistency and time to build a brand.

That’s why you need to inspire trust and build integrity to show that you’re truly committed to your values. Moreover, you also need to make sure that the values of your company align with the way people talk about your organisation or perceive it.

Accept and harness feedbacks

You need to think like a marketer and note what applicants are sharing about your brand’s hiring process or the image your brand is portraying. There are chances that your recruiters come across several objections and valuable opinions. You need to make sure that you share them with your company’s strategist so that concerns get addressed.

Furthermore, being a potential employer, your opinion matters a lot and is rewarding. If you’re interviewing someone, you need to be caring enough to ask them for their feedback and make a change to represent yourself as the best employer.

Also Read: Sex in the office stairwells: the importance of company culture

Prioritise health

We all know the impact of COVID-19, how it affected our working and living. Social distancing, quarantine, work from home, are some of the terms that became famous with the pandemic. Health was and is still the most important thing to maintain.

Health should not be the focus only in pandemic situations but also on a day-to-day basis. For this, having employee assistance programs, mental health training sessions, or yoga sessions, after or before office hours will help employees to have a peaceful mind and healthy body.

Thus, nurturing a healthy work environment will help in maintaining a happy attitude among employees.

But if employees are taken for granted and are not looked upon, then they might find ways to survive a job till they don’t get a better option.

A lot goes into making an employer-first company. You have to invest in enterprise app development services to become digital-friendly while being more responsive to your employees’ feedback. The first step is always to create an engaging employee experience that helps in building a strong team from an employee’s perspective.

Although the steps are a bit difficult to follow, the outcome is rewarding. Businesses will be able to not only find the right talent but also keep their current employees engaged. Thus, you need to make sure that you’re doing this process right. The four tips shared above will definitely help you with it.

Irrespective of whether you are a fresher or a seasoned expert, finding a company that would give you all the opportunities requires extensive research. By following these tips, you will get the correct fit and give yourself the most obvious opportunity with regard to progress.

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Rainmaking, a corporate innovation and venture development firm and the operator of Startupbootcamp, has launched a SGD30 million (US$22 million) which aims to accelerate startups solving maritime value chain hurdles.

Named ‘Motion Ventures’, the consortium-driven investment fund has also announced the first close, with shipping company Wilhelmsen and logistics enterprise HHLA as anchor investors.

Motion Ventures will target early-stage startups tackling challenges in the maritime value chain from first principle with scalable technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, Continuous Intelligence and HyperAutomation.

The fund will offer its portfolio companies the advantage of growing their startups through its venture studio and open innovation platform, both of which facilitate commercial partnerships between startups and Fortune 500 companies.

Startups will also be able to receive access to key maritime firms via their network of corporate investors.

Also Read: OceanShield raises US$800K to safeguard the maritime industry from cyber attacks

According to Motion Ventures, this represents a unique fund structure in the maritime industry that ensures quality corporate participation and a startup scale path model.

“For the first time, first-mover corporations like Wilhelmsen will bring together centuries of industry legacy, capital, resources and insight to ensure startups have the best possible chance to commercialise and find a strategic market fit,” said Shaun Hon, General Partner at Motion Ventures and Director at Rainmaking.

Furthermore, Motion Ventures will jointly invest in startups with SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore.

This follows SEEDS Capital’s US36 million (SGD50M) commitment in June 2020 to co-invest into maritime technology startups with newly appointed partners, such as Rainmaking.

“Rainmaking is a leading player for innovation with extensive global networks and the Motion Ventures’s consortium approach towards driving innovation within the maritime value chain is an exciting proposition. We are encouraged by the progress of the Motion Ventures fund and look forward to a strong partnership in growing the maritime tech ecosystem in Singapore,” said Geoffrey Yeo, General Manager of SEEDS Capital.

With 12 offices around the world, Rainmaking creates, accelerates, and scales new business, solving problems with the world’s leading corporations. In the last 13 years, it launched 30 ventures worth over US$2 billion in value, including Startupbootcamp.

Singapore, an island nation in Southeast Asia, is a strategic centre for maritime business. The country has been accelerating its efforts towards innovation in the maritime sector since the launch of the Maritime Singapore Green Pledge in 2011, after which a total of 90 companies have pledged their commitment towards promoting clean and green shipping in Singapore.

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Image Credit: Rainmaking

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Amartha, an Indonesian P2P lending platform focused on women micro-entrepreneurs, announced today it has secured a US$50 million debt financing from US-based Lendable.

Founded in 2010, Amartha provides access to women micro-entrepreneurs in rural areas seeking working capital and connects them with lenders. The company claims it has channelled funding of IDR 3.13 trillion (US$222,000) to over 600,000 women micro-entrepreneurs in Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi.

Andi Taufan Garuda Putra, founder and CEO of Amartha, said that women are key drivers of a micro-economy that will play a pivotal role in the economic recovery of Indonesia. By providing access to capital and entrepreneurship education for women, Amartha can help business owners increase their annual income by up to seven times.

“We are grateful for the trust given by Lendable so that women can increase their role in the Indonesian economy, especially in the context of post-pandemic recovery. Indonesian micro-businesses have displayed strong resilience during the pandemic and are promising prospects going forward,” he added.

Also Read: Patamar Capital launches US$50M Beacon Fund for female entrepreneurs in SEA’s emerging markets

More than 22 million women micro-entrepreneurs lack access to banking and financial institutions in Indonesia. By adopting its technology with a nationwide push for digital adoption, Amartha claims it is able to reach the unbanked and underserved segment of women in rural areas

“Gender lens investing is a critical development goal in the emerging and frontier markets. We have been impressed with the energy and dedication that the Amartha team have poured into promoting financial inclusion for female micro-entrepreneurs in rural Indonesia,” said Hani Ibrahim, Chief Investment Officer of Lendable.

“Amartha’s objectives very much align with Lendable’s commitment and our aim of supporting the unbanked and underbanked segments of society by providing debt to fintechs that deliver crucial services,” he shared.

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Image Credit: Amartha

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With the COVID-19 crisis yet to be tackled, VCs are exercising cautious optimism which in turn has slowed down startup funding. Only exceptional startups operating in a handful of sectors, not affected by the crisis, have been able to raise capital.

This is where Singapore-based Next Gen’s financing gains prominence. This 4-month-old plant-based meat startup has achieved what many of its peers could not — a US$10 million in seed funding round from the likes of Temasek, K3 Ventures, the New Ventures arm of the Singapore EDB, NX Food, FEBE Ventures, and Blue Horizon.

Co-founded by Timo Recker (founder and ex-CEO of German plant-based meat company LikeMeat) and Andre Menezes (ex-GM of Country Foods Singapore), Next Gen is currently on track to bring its first product into the market and has already bagged partnerships with a few restaurant brands in the island nation.

On the occasion of Next Gen’s fundraise, e27 sat with its COO Menezes to discuss the investment, the firm’s plans, and the overall plant-based meat industry in Southeast Asia.

Edited excerpts below:

Next Gen is just four months old and has already raised US$10 million. How did you convince your investors to back you?

We consider ourselves blessed that the world and investors are becoming more aware of the importance of transforming our food system.

Although Next Gen was only established in 2020, the leadership team is very experienced in the plant-based meat industry and in global brand building.

Also Read: No animals were harmed in the making of this ‘meat’ burger

Our asset-lite business model also allows us to operate remotely and digitally, facilitating scaling our business quickly, first in Singapore, then Asia and international markets.

Our R&D team also developed TiNDLE (a plant-based chicken consumer brand) with chefs and for chefs. It is unique and highly versatile, delivering the taste, texture and experience of chicken. TiNDLE Thy is very delicious and unique, offering authentic chicken taste, texture, and aroma, and is different from anything else out there.

These factors have played a key role in high investor interest.

For a six-month-old company, US$10 million is a massive money. Why does the company need this much capital? How and where does the company plan to deploy the capital?

Our seed round was oversubscribed, and we had to expand the round to accommodate great investors who were interested and are very important for our business. We are building a global brand, which requires resources.

Our ambition is to expand quickly across multiple markets and to keep investing in the development of better technologies and products. As such, the funds are adequate to support our business plan and will be used for the global launch of TiNDLE in Singapore, expansion into additional Asian cities, and continued research and development of new plant-based products.

There are now a handful of companies in Southeast Asia providing plant-based meat. How do you stand out from them?

We do see other companies around the globe emerging recently and we are very happy that the category is being developed as we will all benefit from a more sustainable food system.

Next Gen offers a new and differentiated product. TiNDLE Thy is very delicious and unique, offering authentic chicken taste, texture and aroma. Our business model and our experienced leadership team are also key differentiating factors.

We are confident that TiNDLE and our future brands will win the hearts of consumers in Singapore, Asia and around the world.

As per a statement, Next Gen is planning to expand into Europe and the US. What opportunities do you see in these markets?

From day one, we were very clear that Next Gen’s business is global. Being asset-lite and also tapping on digital allows us to scale and expand quickly to almost any market.

Also Read: Next Gen raises US$10M in one of the largest seed rounds

Today, the US and Europe are the main markets for plant-based foods and – as such – are extremely relevant in our expansion plans. We notice that most of our consumers today are living in and around urban centres, therefore we will have a strategy focused around the most relevant cities in each region or country.

How is the plant-based meat/alternative protein market growing in Singapore as well as the entire SEA region? What trends do you see in the region?

Plant-based meat has seen strong demand in the West and is now also gaining momentum in Asia. According to DuPont N&B, demand for plant-based products in Asia will surge over 200 per cent in the next five years.

As much as 78 per cent of APAC consumers say that plant-based meat alternatives are here to stay, and consumption will continue to grow.

Technavio projects the market will be worth US$12.75 billion by 2030.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect the plant-based meat industry?

The pandemic accelerated awareness among consumers and investors of the issues and risks associated with animal farming. That, in turn, has driven additional momentum into the plant-based industry across all metrics — from funding to consumer awareness and demand.

Global investment in foodtech for the first three quarters of 2020 was US$8.37 billion, beating the US$7 billion raised in 2019.

Where do you source the ‘raw materials’ for your ‘meat’ products?

Our raw materials are sourced globally, considered the best-in-class source for each component available. On that, for example, we have opted not to work with GMO ingredients or novel ingredients.

Can you share more details about TiNDLE? How many restaurants have you partnered with to sell this brand? Can you share the names?

Next Gen’s consumer brand TiNDLE will be making its global debut in Singapore in March 2021. Distributed by Classic Fine Foods, Next Gen’s official distribution partner, it will be rolled out in select restaurants including Three Buns Quayside, The Prive Group, 28 Hong Kong Street and The Goodburger among others.

Also Read: Conscious consumption is driving the trend in foodtech: Study

Developed in collaboration with chefs and for chefs, the first TiNDLE product is TiNDLE Thy, delivering the unmistakable taste and versatility of chicken thigh. Chefs can easily use TiNDLE Thy to prepare dishes in multiple culinary applications, and for many kinds of cuisines – Western, Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern and more.

Do you focus both on B2B and B2C markets with the TiNDLE product line?

TiNDLE Thy launches exclusively with restaurants as it was developed with chefs and for chefs. It will be launched in select restaurants across Singapore.

We want consumers to understand that great experiences do not necessarily need to involve animal farming. In the future, as part of our roadmap, TiNDLE products will be available for sale at supermarkets.

Which other SEA markets are there on your TiNDLE roadmap? In which country do you see prospects for your product after Singapore?

This year, we will be expanding to multiple countries in Asia. Next Gen will be launching in urban, highly developed and regionally well-connected cities in Asia.

In the next two years, we aim to expand to Europe and the US. We are already laying the groundwork for the US, including recruiting a Growth Director, who will build a network of distributors, restaurants, and chefs.

Do you see the global demand for alternative protein products, especially vegan products, to go up globally? What are the factors influencing this growth?

Global demand is rising significantly, driven mostly by Flexitarians. The main factors driving consumers around the globe to reduce their animal-based diet in favour of more plant-based products are sustainability and health.

It is important to note that some myths are now debunked, for example, plant-based foods taste like cardboard or that you cannot have all the nutrients if you reduce the consumption of animal protein.

Our TiNDLE Thy meets the nutritional guidelines for the Healthier Choice Symbol administered by Singapore’s Health Promotion Board due to its lower sodium and lower saturated fat content as compared to regular plant-based meat alternatives.

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Image Credit: Next Gen

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Toby Zhang is the CEO/Founder of a startup that has the operations team in Silicon Valley and the development team in China.

We talk about:

• The benefits of having a US company with a global, distributed workforce
• How to get them to work well together at a distance
• The difference between Chinese and American engineers, including salaries and work time
• And much more!

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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