The month of June was officially dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, as part of growing international momentum to foster acceptance and equality. As pink celebrations continue to gain momentum amongst more companies, we are seeing a shift in the level of openness and acceptance towards people of various backgrounds from the LGBTQ+ community.

Companies are now taking a stand for equality and are making it known by raising their rainbow flags, changing their LinkedIn logos and organising events and virtual parties to celebrate employees in the LGBTQ+ community.

It is encouraging to see companies, especially in typically traditional sectors such as tech, take steps towards fighting against discrimination. However, these efforts should not cease just because June is over. 

True acceptance goes beyond raising rainbow flags for the sake of it and celebrating diverse backgrounds during certain time periods. True acceptance requires a change in mindset, action, policies and work environment all year round.

As a company that passionately believes in inclusivity, we at Thoughtworks want to continue cultivating true acceptance amongst its employees to create a safe space for all technologists to work and thrive in. It is only when employees are able to bring their full, authentic selves to work that they are at their best in the workplace.

Edward Hutchins, our Lead Consultant paints the picture of a safe space as a workplace where he does not have to worry about or hide his identity.

Also read: Pride Month and intersectionality: Why I hope that we will no longer need a special event to celebrate it

He shares that the mental state of worrying about juggling multiple identities can be stressful, causing anxiety, disengagement and ultimately preventing employees from bringing their best, most innovative and productive selves at work. 

The first step is setting the right foundation for an inclusive culture. One way is by rethinking the hierarchy structure. We value a flat hierarchy culture and prioritise people over processes, enabling them to operate with a greater degree of managerial independence and autonomy to perform their jobs to the best of their abilities.

More importantly, we look to provide a supportive infrastructure with room for growth and learning that allows employees to accomplish the task at hand while encouraging them to experiment new initiatives and take risks without fear. For us and many other tech organisations, cultivating this spirit of learning and development is key to encouraging innovation and empowering people in their own growth journeys. 

We apply this idea of sharing without fear to what we call the ‘feedback culture’, which is evident in various initiatives. For instance, we introduce the feeling of a safe environment to all new hires by providing the training to them in the first week to share their thoughts fearlessly.

For those who are more used to traditional workplace culture, sharing openly and being transparent may feel foreign to them in the earlier stages. Our training aims to help them unlearn certain behaviours and better understand and adjust to working in a safe and supportive environment.

On a monthly basis, we also hold town hall meetings to encourage transparency across all business functions and levels to collect feedback and varying opinions from others. These open channels of communication make it easy for employees on the ground to share feedback with management teams. 

Also Read: This gay founder is creating a safe media platform for LGBTQ community in SEA

At the management level, embracing true acceptance can look like re-envisioning policies, programmes and initiatives to drive actionable change.

As the head of talent, I feel especially responsible for recognising and catering to the unique needs of employees from various backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender, race and age.

Thanks to our feedback culture, workers are empowered to share the type of change they want to see and suggestions on what can be done to make that change.

At our recent panel discussion for Pride in Tech, we discussed the importance of having community programmes and global initiatives to provide a safe space for queer people to connect and feel seen, heard and understood, anti-discrimination policies and code of conduct to protect all employees and leadership training focused on empowering marginalised groups. 

While establishing policies and developing initiatives may take longer periods of time, it is the small steps we take everyday that will lead to effective change and transformation. Today, we practice the inclusion of pronouns in email signatures, share the stories of LGBTQ+ affirming personalities on our blog and drive LGBTQ+ engagement programmes all year round. 

Ultimately, true acceptance is more than just a checkbox to be ticked during annual Pride celebrations. Our commitment to building a more inclusive future must be underlined by action at every level, internally and externally, because it is the right thing to do. The heart of the matter is that inclusion is everybody’s job and companies must not only talk about these issues but walk the talk.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly triggered an unprecedented demand for digital technology and, as organisations turn to data to inform their business activities, analytics and data science skills continue to be in high demand among the global workforce.

As one of the top emerging jobs in the region according to LinkedIn, data scientists are — unsurprisingly — in high demand in Singapore.

As Southeast Asia’s technology hub, data analytics is central to Singapore’s economy, with studies indicating that it contributes at least S$1 billion (US$730 million) each year. Meanwhile, the value of regional big data and business analytics services is projected to reach US$27 billion (SG$37 billion) by 2022. 

The ability to communicate the analysis of data with precise acuity and brevity will become one of the most valuable skill sets moving forward, as Singapore accelerates its Smart Nation efforts, and as more companies turn to data to inform business recovery and future growth.

The pandemic only accelerated adoption of data-driven strategies across industries, especially in high-touch sectors like retail, healthcare, food and beverage that had to adjust to the changes brought about in their daily lives.

Other industries, like financial services, have drawn on data for years to inform business strategies and solve emerging challenges.

At the moment, data is seen as a competitive advantage. In the future, it will be the foundation of all businesses. Data science and analytics expertise will soon be commonplace skills throughout organisations, beyond just engineering or IT departments.

And with this need for greater data science capabilities, we can expect organisations to be equipped with a drive to secure the best talents in the field.

Also Read: Mind the trust gap: How does a company develop consumer trust through data stewardship?

To stay competitive, data scientists must focus on more than just perfecting the minutiae of data-related software and programs. They should invest in learning how to best translate their know-how into actionable insights and compelling stories that will resonate with stakeholders across their business.

These skills in particular will be critical to the success of future data scientists: 

Go back to the basics: Communicating probability, statistics, mathematics and more

Data science is a complex field. A study by Accenture found that 75 per cent of employees read data, yet only 21 per cent “are confident with their data literacy skill.” While this widening gap in data literacy indicates the need to invest in data skills throughout an organisation, today’s data scientists should learn how to best communicate the fundamentals behind that data. 

The ability to concisely explain different concepts like variance, standard deviation, and distributions will help data scientists give more insight into how data was collected, what the sample reveals about that data, and whether it appears valid.

These fundamentals enable you to easily explain the how or why behind a given data point and better address questions from executives or stakeholders on other teams.

The best data scientists value simplicity and build complexity only as needed. The same approach should be adopted for conversations on data.

During business discussions, it is best to avoid going too far into technicalities and instead focus on the value of that data by demonstrating the business impact or potential outcomes.

Be a data storyteller: Communicating data in an understandable way

Narrative storytelling has shown to enable a higher information retention rate. The ability to tell a story about data goes hand-in-hand with the ability to explain technicalities of data in the simplest way possible.

A study by Stanford Professor, Chip Heath on the analysis of participants’ memorability rate at a speaking conference detailed that only five per cent could remember a standalone statistic, whilst 63 per cent could remember stories.

Also Read: 5 career avenues for data scientists

The best data scientists are also adept storytellers, providing the necessary context about data sets and explaining its importance in the larger picture. When sharing a new set of data or the result of a data project with a wider team, focus on crafting a narrative around the top three things the audience should walk away with.

Reiterate these points throughout the chosen medium — presentation, email, interactive report, data visualisation, etc. — to facilitate action amongst your audience.

Not only will data storytelling break down communication barriers between different stakeholders, but this also makes new information easily digestible and actionable. 

Get creative: Visualising data to make an impact

Visual mediums are a great way to further enhance data communications. However, they are often undervalued. Consider the different types of graphs and charts examining various data sets related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore.

From the Singapore COVID-19 Tracking Dashboard to the Collection of Worldwide pandemic-related graphs, data visualisation has proven to be an effective way to communicate data with precise acuity.

The best visual components explain and contextualise large volumes of data, allowing viewers (especially non-technical stakeholders) to quickly digest information and more easily spot key takeaways that may have otherwise been buried in the raw data.

Finally, stay curious: Balancing learning and teaching

Tomorrow’s best data scientists are those who believe in lifelong learning. It could be as simple as finding ways to build learning through everyday routines, reading the latest literature on data techniques and trends or even experimenting with new software programmes.

Not only can it bring new chances to showcase one’s value within an organisation, but it can also offer a helpful perspective: knowing how you approach information can improve the way of sharing insights with others. 

A common thread that runs throughout these skills mentioned is — making data understandable and actionable as the language of your organisation. 

Growing with the times is important, especially in today’s volatile climate. As more companies turn to data-driven insights to make smart business decisions, data scientists will increasingly take on more significant responsibilities within organisations.

Conducting cutting-edge data science is only half the battle; knowing how to explain the process and present findings in an engaging way will make tomorrow’s leading data scientists indispensable and ensure the organisation runs like a well-oiled machine.

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2021 is considered a breakthrough for Vietnamese startups; however, the resurgence of COVID-19 is hindering its growth. Vietnam recently imposed prolonged lockdown measures at its commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City to battle its latest COVID-19 wave, as the infection rates spiked with the government warning that the worst may be yet to come.

Consumer spending has plummeted, and even F&B and food delivery services have been suspended. The government is having a hard time dealing with a dilemma: how to keep the economy going while at the same time shutting it down to protect people from infection.

In face of adversity, that’s when the DNA of entrepreneurs comes into play. And the resurgence of COVID-19 is another opportunity for entrepreneurs to display their grit, tenacity, and flexibility to adapt to an evolving situation.

For some high-potential Vietnamese startups, this is not the time to stand still and just plan for survival.

Loship: Leverage available resources as a first response to the crisis

Loship, a one-hour delivery e-commerce startup, is an example of how Vietnamese entrepreneurs demonstrate their resilience in response to COVID-19.

Food delivery has always been its strength, but as the pandemic hit, Loship quickly focused its resources on other essential services such as grocery, parcel, and pharmaceutical delivery, filling the massive demand of shelter-at-home customers. At the pandemic peak, online grocery orders on Loship increased fivefold, whereas pharmaceutical orders also shot up.

What’s more, the skyrocketing demand for food delivery has resulted in an increased demand for food containers and packaging materials for F&B outlets. Capitalising on the situation, it ramped up investments in its B2B operations, putting on the platform a range of food takeout and packaging products, offering instant delivery to its merchant network.

Also Read: Emotional leadership in a post-COVID-19 business world

They also partnered with non-profit organisations to deliver food packs to the doors of needy households. These social support initiatives allow them to make full use of its delivery fleet while ensuring stable earnings for its drivers, and creating value for society.

“COVID-19 certainly has an impact on our expansion plans, but at least we are able to leverage all available resources and do all necessary preparations for the expansion in the meantime. During the last COVID-19 wave, we learned to cope. This time, we learn to thrive,” Loship CEO Trung Hoang Nguyen shared.

Docosan: Create products that address the real needs of the world

COVID-19 has revealed the importance of healthcare and telemedicine. As people are worried about crowded waiting rooms and hospital outbreaks, a service that helps patients talk to doctors and book appointments in advance becomes a necessity.

Founded in 2020, Docosan provides a platform to help patients find doctors and book appointments. Online media bookings are rare in Vietnam but needed more than ever due to COVID-19 causing clinic lockdowns, unpredictable doctor schedules, and pressure on the healthcare system.

Docosan not only helps patients secure a quick and easy booking, but it also helps clinics maintain their business with an additional source of income.

In June 2021, Docosan launched telemedicine, allowing patients to conduct digital consultations without visiting medical centres. These solutions help strengthen frontline health systems and address health problems for people who are isolated or uninfected with the virus. Telemedicine is a trend that is predicted to continue long after the pandemic has passed.

Kamereo: Swiftly change and capitalise on the new trends

The pandemic has shown businesses across industries that they need to have practices in place that allow them to respond to unexpected crises. To survive, businesses must be resilient, adaptive, and innovative.

Also Read: COVID-19, the environment, and the tech ecosystem: what opportunity is available out there for us?

Kamereo is a Vietnam-based wholesale ordering platform for restaurants and F&B businesses. At the start of the pandemic, the platform’s revenue dipped as restaurants weren’t allowed to open due to social distancing measures.

At the same time, demand for online grocery shopping has soared. Recognising this trend, Kamereo quickly launched an online B2C grocery platform called KameMart, providing customers with restaurant-quality grocery products.

It has proven its ability to respond quickly to changing situations, proactively modifying its business model from just B2B to both B2B and B2C.

That is to say, sometimes adapting to changing customer needs in times of crisis not only helps strengthen the relationships with customers but can also result in discovering whole new lines of business.

All three Vietnamese startups have, one way or another, provided some of the practical lessons on what we can do to make the best of a difficult situation and gain further advantage in the long run. These lessons are: leveraging available resources; creating products that address the real needs of the world; swiftly adapting to the changes and capitalising on the new trends.

COVID-19 is undoubtedly a test for survival, but it also presents a unique set of opportunities for startups to recalibrate and emerge stronger. By drawing on the lessons and seize every opportunity that comes their way, startups will be able to rise to the challenge and find their footing in the new normal.

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Since the motive behind establishing a business is profit or to run more efficiently depending on whether it’s a for-profit or a not-for-profit organisation, a lot of measures put in place to run the business are usually determined by the size of the organisation’s budget.

If a measure does not seem to be generating enough ROI, it’s mostly abandoned by a for-profit organisation. This is where any startup’s decision-makers must bring their wealth of knowledge to bear. Digital transformation initiatives, incidentally, fall into this.

Digital transformation took centre stage with the COVID-19 pandemic. Research shows that more than 80 per cent of companies plan to accelerate their companies’ digital transformations, with 65 per cent expecting to increase the amount they’re investing, despite the downturn caused by the pandemic.

Due to the changes that businesses had to adapt as a result of the pandemic, it became necessary to integrate automation by manufacturers. Marketers resorted to using chatbots to replace human labour, which the lockdowns and social distancing kept away from workplaces.

It’s imperative for the success of your startup, before applying any new technology, to reach out to customers to find out if the solutions are really what the users need.

Digital transformation, which focuses on staying relevant in the eyes of customers, gaining an edge on the competition, streamlining internal processes, reducing overhead costs, and improving ROI, is the new approach of utilising a novel or existing technology that can help to improve or create a process, product, or experience which yields potential business desirability.

Your main objective must be how to improve customer experience by using technologies such as AI, machine learning, analytics, and self-service. While doing this, you must be able to measure your ROI.

Also Read: Accelerating digital transformation in air traffic management through open collaborations

Is your ROI commensurate with your digital transformation?

When calculating ROI for a particular project, you have to take into consideration a lot of factors such as tear and wear, net present value, additional ancillary costs that may not be very obvious at the time. A good yardstick must include measures of baseline figures, track costs, and the proposed time frame of project completion.

You must also put in place metrics for calculating long-term success. Comparing your startup to already established organisations may be a way to understand what the competition is like, however, it’s more important to focus on measures that will enhance improvement with each new digital transformation initiative.

This will allow you to have a comprehensive view of your outcomes and leverage what you have achieved to support new digital transformation projects. Before doing this, however, you must have planned for a reasonable ROI.

The fate of your startup depends on the ROI; digital transformation initiatives you may embark upon are to make your startup relevant in the market, but you can’t survive the competition if you fall short of funds.

Even where you don’t have the actual figures yet, you can still make use of projected figures to ensure you track all the necessary metrics.

If you leave it till the end of the project, any mistake that you may have made cannot be corrected again. The resources you utilised are gone. Everybody in the organisation must be on the same page about your digital transformation initiatives.

Even your customers should be in the picture; they probably know your startup with a particular culture, it takes time for people to adjust to any novel idea, hence you must start very early to prepare their minds towards the new technology you want to adopt.

ROI is a game of numbers, the more people key into your initiatives, the more the ROI. There is also the need for aggressive consultation before initiating your project. You must not rush into things; take time to experiment things out.

Also Read: Why the TradeGecko acquisition by Intuit is a promise fulfilled by the SEA tech startup ecosystem

Even where others have failed, there is no reason why you should fail. What led to their failures? What can you do differently?

To understand why your startup must not go the way of others, you need to think outside the box. And this takes time, time is a resource that will translate into ROI.

Do you have an IT team on the ground? Is there a need to outsource?

Adopting new technologies is not what you do without a careful evaluation. Looking at your budget may be reasonable, but that does not mean that you should go for the cheapest option. Sometimes, what comes easy, goes easy.

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More than one year on since the pandemic first struck, economies across the world are still dealing with the devastating ripple effects of lockdowns, travel restrictions, and lower consumption levels.

Over the past year, COVID-19 has undoubtedly wreaked havoc on the global market. According to the International Monetary Fund, the world economy shrunk by 4.4% last year, the most severe contraction since the Great Depression.

The Dow Jones recorded the largest-ever single-day loss of almost 3,000 points on 16 March last year, at the height of the first wave. Unemployment rates surged, while tourism, airline, and hospitality industries came to a standstill. Supply chains were disrupted by nationwide shutdowns and staff shortages. Today, COVID-19 continues to pose the most threat to growth for businesses across the world.

Thailand is no exception. The tourism-dependent nation expects only 700,000 travellers to enter Thailand this year, compared to almost 40 million just two years prior. Amidst the latest wave of infections, the central bank has slashed its yearly economic growth forecast down to 1.8%.

But, despite the dim economic outlook, Thailand’s startup ecosystem is thriving.

Resilience amidst crisis

The country’s tech industry is among the few sectors that have stayed afloat in spite of the pandemic — and, in some cases, because of it.

Last year, there were 40 million new internet users across Southeast Asia, according to the 2020 Google e-Conomy SEA report. In Thailand, 3 out of 10 users were new and only adopted digital services because of the pandemic. Thais also now spend an average of 4.6 hours online every day, compared to 3.7 hours before the pandemic.

Some of Thailand’s leading startups have enjoyed double-digit revenue growth since the pandemic began.

Also read: Bringing the gold standard when it comes to gold trading powered by fintech

One of the areas that have seen blistering growth is e-commerce, which grew by 60% during the pandemic. E-commerce solutions startup aCommerce recorded year-on-year growth of 130% between the second quarters of 2019 and 2020, as consumers turned to online shopping amidst safe distancing measures.

Similarly, fintech firm SYNQA doubled its revenue from 2019 to 2020, thanks to spikes in online food delivery orders. Enterprise software startup Eko also saw 200% year-on-year growth last year, along with a 50% increase in revenue from February to August.

More recently, Thailand produced its first unicorn — a startup valued at more than US$1 billion. The honour went to homegrown e-commerce logistics company Flash Group, which raised US$150 million in its recent Series D+ and E funding rounds.

How Freshket remained agile and adaptable during the pandemic

Another homegrown success story from Thailand is food supply chain platform Freshket. The Bangkok-based startup leverages technology to deliver sustainable end-to-end solutions for both restaurants and households.

In a nutshell, Freshket simplifies the process of food supply management.

Also read: How SMBs grow their business with TikTok

They do this via digitalising, automating, and equalising the entire food supply chain process. This is done via developing order, warehouse, and logistics management systems, automating them, and then aggregating the products based on supply and demand to provide fairer prices.

This is how it works:

Restaurants first place their orders via the Freshket website or mobile apps. The orders are then consolidated and Freshket purchases the food products from suppliers and farmers in bulk. These products are then delivered to processing or distribution centres, where products are selected, aggregated, and packed into boxes.

Next, these boxes go out to hubs located across the city, which makes it easier and quicker to deliver to restaurants. Finally, drivers located at each hub will collect and deliver these boxes.

What makes Freshket unique is that they manage the entire food supply chain from start to finish and optimise it with technology.

“We control the whole food supply chain process end-to-end,” said Ponglada Paniangwet, chief executive officer and co-founder of Freshket. “All of this creates a reliable service experience for the restaurants.”

Growing up in a family that has been in agriculture for 25 years, Ms Paniangwet quickly realised that the food supply industry faced many problems.

For one, suppliers and farmers are unable to control variables such as product quality and delivery times. The fragmented nature of the food supply industry means that the ecosystem is inefficient and inconvenient. Hence, she set out to provide a solution, which eventually developed into Freshket.

Freshket has weathered through the past year despite the pandemic. Last year, Freshket raised US$3 million in a Series A round led by Singapore’s Openspace Ventures.

Also read: KoinWorks super financial app ecosystem sees growth in Q2 2021 as it helps boost SMEs amidst the pandemic

This milestone was achieved in spite of temporary restaurant shutdowns which resulted in more than 80% of their orders being cancelled. Within a single day — from 22 March, when the shutdown was announced, to 23 March — Freshket opened up its platform for consumers. The pivot proved successful, with consumer revenue making up for the loss in restaurant revenue, and helped them tide through the pandemic.

Freshket has successfully developed a supply chain network, targeting Thailand’s fragmented food supply chain. Currently, the country’s foodservice market is worth more than US$7.7 billion in annual purchases, which means that the startup has much room for expansion.

In the future, Freshket hopes to diversify its business segment and bring schools, hospitals, and modern trade into the fold. The startup also intends to develop a supply chain financing model and expand to cities abroad, bringing with it the industry-specific tech expertise needed to streamline food supply chains across the world.

Part of the reason Freshket has managed to thrive is because of the buzzing Thai startup ecosystem. Having persevered amidst the pandemic, Thailand’s startup industry boasts a plethora of promising startups that are poised for growth.

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This article is part of NIA’s Startup Thailand Marketplace project.

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