Startups often come under pressure to grow their teams quickly to scale their business. In an industry like tech with a male-dominated talent pool, the urgency to grow teams could put diversity in the backseat.  

The numbers are telling. Research from McKinsey & Company has shown that company profits and share performance can be as much as 50 per cent higher when women are well represented at the top.

I’d go as far as to say that a diverse and inclusive work environment is a critical building block for success. Fundamentally, most startups live by the ethos of building products and solutions that address existing gaps and challenges in their communities and society.

Thus, a startup team should be a microcosm of the communities it serves so it can better identify and solve crucial pain points. Teams without adequate female representation, for example, might not be able to empathise with and address the needs of half of their audience.

Not to mention, diversity of thought nurtures two key elements that fuel innovation, creativity and empathy.

Walking the talk: Where do we begin?

The business case is clear enough to see. But how exactly should aspiring founders and fresh startup teams build truly diverse and inclusive teams?

Firstly, recognise that diversity is a long-term investment. There are no shortcuts, only deliberate planning and nurturing to unleash the true potential of a diverse team. 

It starts during the hiring process. Consider having a diverse slate of candidates and practising inclusive hiring to find the best person for the job. This includes well-qualified individuals who might be apprehensive about applying. 

For instance, a survey by the Nanyang Technological University found that only 58 per cent of women who graduated with a STEM diploma or degree went on to work in a STEM field, compared to 70 per cent of men, despite expressing equal career interests around STEM jobs. 

Also Read: International Women’s Day – Breaking the bias

Look beyond your usual talent pool, and connect with individuals that might have different educational qualifications and work experiences. Many core competencies, like problem-solving and effective communication, are transferable across sectors and especially valued in tech.   

At Twilio, we have a dedicated Early in Career (EIC) team focused on recruiting talent from universities, colleges and non-traditional backgrounds. We expanded Hatch, our global apprenticeship programme, in India and sought to recruit first-generation STEM learners. 

Putting your startup’s commitment to DEI in black and white can help instil accountability and equitable access in how the team grows. These commitments should be embedded in company-wide policies for consistency. In addition, maintaining healthy pay parity and providing promotion opportunities for all employees should be a given, regardless of gender or race.

Equally important is thoughtful engagement across leadership and employees to ensure that DEI becomes part of the culture’s DNA. I believe in cultivating a learning culture that encourages everyone to think and act more inclusively.

This can be accomplished in many ways. Employee resource groups (ERGs) can support, promote, and celebrate the shared life experiences of typically underrepresented and marginalised communities.

Organisations can also establish safe spaces for employees to come together and have vulnerable conversations about what’s happening in and out of the workplace.

While company-led initiatives are in need, contributions at the individual level matter just as much. We should hold ourselves accountable by taking the initiative to learn and reflect on our own biases and how they might show up in our personal and professional lives.

Measuring success

In measuring DEI, companies commonly report representative data to show transparency into their internal makeup. Unfortunately, this data is often used to prove whether or not a company is doing well. 

Instead, startups should use data to examine how they can move these measures and improve. We call this our “move, not prove” philosophy at Twilio. We share our data for transparency, but as a team, we are more focused on how we can use this information to guide and refine our DEI programmes continuously. 

Startups should also look into the full employee lifecycle, including hiring rates, promotions, comparative attrition, and representation, to get a fuller picture of where they stand. 

Ultimately, founders need to recognise the value of building gender diverse teams as a matter of social obligation and as a mission-critical factor for business success. 

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Indonesia-based fintech startup Akulaku today announced US$10 million in post-Series D debt funding from Lend East, a digital lending platform that connects global institutional capital with alternate lenders in Southeast Asia and India.

This funding followed a US$100 million Series D funding round that the startup announced in January 2019.

In a press statement, Akulaku said that it plans to use the funds to continue building and enhancing its lending portfolio in its key operating markets in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

“We are pleased to once again partner with Lend East to continue to enhance our lending portfolio. Akulaku has continued to see significant growth in the past year, and this additional funding will allow us to continue meeting the needs of the underbanked throughout Southeast Asia,” said Akulaku CEO William Li.

Founded in 2014, as one of the earliest consumer lending fintech startups in Indonesia, the startup aims to serve underbanked consumers in the markets it operates in with services that include digital banking, consumer credit, digital investment, and insurance brokerage.

Also Read: ‘Asia’s BNPL sector has great potential’, says Akulaku CEO William Li

In its home country Indonesia, Akulaku operates a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) and consumer financing platform. It claimed to have disbursed over US$2.2 billion of credit in 2021 to over 10 million users.

Its wealth management, e-commerce, and digital banking platforms are said to have grown the company’s total revenue by 120 per cent to US$597 million.

Akulaku intended to seize the opportunity provided by the COVID-19 pandemic which saw changes in customer behaviours in various markets. According to Bain report, eight in ten consumers in Southeast Asia have turned to digital financial services to make purchases online.

However, the startup said that despite the growing digitally savvy middle class, half of the region’s population remain unbanked with no access to financial products. A further fifth (18 per cent) are underbanked and lack access to anything other than a bank account.

For Lend East, Akulaku was its first investment in the region back in 2019.

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Consumerism has been on the rise since the 1890s, where mail-order became popular amongst the richer classes. Capitalism plays a strong role in creating a world that embraces consumerism, and the need to obtain more stuff has evolved with the current expectations and demands of the world.

Shops shifted online to reach a broader audience, and as logistics improved across the globe, the reach of e-commerce expanded alongside it. Then, came Covid-19, the virus that swept the nation and shut the doors of retail for extended periods of time, causing consumers to turn online for everything from their daily essentials down to their desires.

The pandemic has ensured the survival and expansion of e-commerce, and in Australia, we’re seeing a surge in demand for both e-commerce and online entertainment and their spending power has surged alongside them. 

Australians are some of the biggest spenders per capita in digital shopping and online streaming, with the average Australian spending close to four hours every day on streaming and entertainment.

According to the Australia and Entertainment Outlook, total media consumption is set to surpass AUD$50.6 billion by 2024. Along with these growths in spending habits, Australia’s economy has also been primed for e-commerce growth.

In fact, international surveys have placed Australia as one of the top e-commerce performers, jumping up six ranks from 11th place to 5th, right behind Korea, America, and the U.K. Furthermore,  61 per cent of Australian consumers highlight that online shopping is their first choice whether they are buying food, groceries, or personal care items. 

The direction that e-commerce in Australia is headed

When we look at the general picture of retail and consumerism, there is a strong trend that simply cannot be ignored. Brand loyalty is slowly falling behind and Australian consumers are no different.

The new generation of conscious consumers are making informed decisions when it comes to their patronage. If a brand or company is linked with something that does not align with their values, such as animal testing, consumers are more than willing to drop that brand in search of another and pricetags matter less and less these days. 

At one point, it would seem that the cheaper and better value the product provides, the more popular it is. But as consumers have become more conscious about the manufacturing and even marketing process, they are making choices that directly reflect their own values and ethics. 

According to Dr. Andreas von der Gathen, the co-CEO of a renowned global strategy and pricing consultancy, “The relative importance of sustainability during the purchase process will continue to increase. Today, 50 per cent of consumers rank sustainability as a top-five value driver. As expectations around sustainability climb, companies will face significant pressure to prove their sustainability credentials and continue to make it a central part of their value proposition.”

Also Read: The long and winding road to e-commerce profitability

For companies to grow sustainably, they have to have sustainable practises. Eco-friendly is a new buzzword and everyone, Australians included, wants a slice of that. 

Personalisation will go to new heights

One thing that the pandemic has proven is that food will always be something that people are willing to splurge on. While it is a basic necessity, it isn’t enough for your average consumer to have sub-par meals.

They are more than willing, much like their choices for products, to go with restaurants that provide ethically sourced ingredients that are palatable and suit their dietary needs. 

The idea that everything should be custom-picked for consumers is where the general consensus is headed. In a recent survey, Australians mentioned that they expect that e-commerce sites will show them products and items that are tailored to their needs and desires, and more than 88 per cent of those respondents said that they have bought something that Amazon recommended them to buy. 

With this in mind, consumer personalisation is something that should be seriously considered.

Any company which is able to break into that field and really provide consumers with a bespoke service will win in the game of e-commerce, where everything is available (including information regarding the brand, service, or product) at the click of a mouse. 

If you want to get ahead, listen to your demographic

Products and consumers share something of a symbiotic relationship. The consumer demands, and the product supplies.

However, if the company that’s producing these products continues to stay deaf and blind to the growing voices of their consumers, they will lose them at the drop of a hat.

Bearing in mind that consumers are no longer the loyal customers of generations past, and are not afraid to try something new, especially if that something is endorsed by other people and flaunted on social media in an organic manner. 

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Earlier this week, Quest Ventures announced the promotion of two female investors in its team. Michelle Ng, with her promotion to Head of ESG and concurrently Director of Sustainable Impact Accelerator, was named in this announcement alongside Gwen Sim, who was promoted to Associate.

Ng is definitely not a new face in the firm –and in the startup ecosystem in recent years. Joining Quest Ventures in 2020, she has been driving their focus in Vietnam and Central Asia. She formerly headed the internationalisation focus at the Action Community for Entrepreneurship –the national trade association for startups in Singapore– and was with CNBC Asia prior to ACE. She also holds key office bearer positions in grassroots committees and non-profit organisations such as Social Impact Catalyst.

e27 readers may also be familiar with her writings through our Contributor Programme where she had published thought pieces on a wide range of topics from post-pandemic life to how the Russia-Ukraine war will impact ESG investing.

With this promotion, Ng is going to lead the firm’s focus on ESG –a vertical that is becoming understandably popular due to its urgency and ability to create a positive impact in the various aspects of the public’s life.

There are many different approaches to ESG investing with each venture capital firm looking at it from different angles. In this email interview with Ng, we discover how Quest Ventures is viewing this vertical and how their approach sets them apart.

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

The centre of the problem –and the solution

Quest Ventures takes pride in being one of the earliest in the Southeast Asian (SEA) tech startup ecosystem to recognise the importance of ESG investing back in 2018. As time goes by and investment in the vertical becomes increasingly more important, the firm aims to double down its efforts.

With the announcement of her promotion, Ng states: “Total ESG assets in Asia have grown from a mere US$801 million in 2019 to US$7.9 billion in 2020, and global ESG assets are on track to exceed US$53 trillion by 2025. Investors have realised that people and social impact form the basis of ESG investing, and will no longer be considered in isolation from environmental and governance aspects.”

She continues, “Concerted efforts from the private and public sectors will hasten the integration of the social, technology and finance sectors in order to help socially-impactful enterprises scale further and faster.”

Ng further explains to e27 about the opportunities that the firm intends to pursue and why it requires some significant changes in its approach.

“ESG opportunities identified include the shift to Social (S) in ESG. The human-centricity of ESG investing will become more apparent and urgent,” she says.

She elaborated that with its focus on solutions addressing human-centred problems, the team will invest in and accelerate the growth of socially-impactful enterprises. To realise this mission, Quest Ventures has prepared several initiatives including the Sustainable Impact Accelerator, held in collaboration with raiSE (Singapore Centre For Social Enterprise).

Set to run from June to August this year, the initiative aims to support enterprises with a strong social impact angle and high potential to scale it up. These enterprises will receive funding and capability support to drive their next stage of growth, and gain exposure to investors across key cities in Asia as they work towards raising an institutional investment round in the next 12 months.

Also Read: How consumers are prioritising sustainability beyond the single lens of eco-friendly products

In measuring the social-environmental of a potential investment, Ng explains the points that the firm is looking for.

“Social-environmental impact can be measured by the number of people who have access to adequate livelihoods, sufficient nutritious food, clean air and water, and healthcare & well-being. The geographical spread of the impact can be measured, as well as the speed at which it scales,” she says.

“There is also a need to value qualitative data collected through due diligence interviews, which will add colour to findings regarding social-environmental impact. The measurement framework that we have adopted and adapted is discussed at length in Impact Investing Framework for Early Stage Venture Capital,” she continues.

Bringing ESG investment to SEA

When asked about whether strong social-environmental impact always equals strong profitability in ESG investment, or if there has got to be a sacrifice, Ng explains, “Strong social-environmental impact will eventually lead to sustained outsized profitability, rather than a scramble for strong short-term profitability that will fizzle out. ESG-oriented investors look to identify and mitigate ESG risks and capitalise on value creation opportunities to improve returns in the long term.”

But in order for sustainability startups in the region to realise their potential, there are still challenges that remain. For example, Ng points out that, for climate tech startups in SEA to scale, there is a need for large scale financing of US$2 trillion to help the region “go green and stay competitive.”

“Quest Ventures looks to drive investments and capital reallocation into ESG and sustainable impact startups in this region,” she says.

In order to encourage more investment in ESG the SEA startup ecosystem, Ng believes that it can be done through pricing in externalities and re-allocating more resources and capital to help these ESG companies grow and scale.

For Quest Ventures itself, its ESG focus will be a foundation for its investment in the region.

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Med247, a hybrid O2O startup in Vietnam that operates on the concept of a 24×7 family doctor, has completed its oversubscribed US$4.5 million Series A round, led by Altara Ventures, Pavilion Capital, and Singaporean biotech firm MiRXES.

East Ventures, Venturra Ventures, and unnamed angels also co-invested.

The fresh capital further ramps up the expansion of Med247’s flagship clinics and 7-Eleven-like convenience family clinics network in Vietnam, which has slowed down due to the pandemic-induced social distancing measures in the past two years. The capital will also boost its R&D efforts and enable it to set up a training academy for doctors and nurses.

Co-founder Tuan Truong told e27: “Med247 would actively contribute to implementing the country’s telehealth sandbox and other national and local programmes supporting health centres’ digitalisation.”

In 2019, the firm bagged an undisclosed seed funding joined by KK Fund and the former senior executive of Singapore’s Parkway Healthcare Group, Dr Goh Jin Hian.

Also read: Vietnamese healthcare startup Med247 gets seed funding from KK Fund, broadens users coverage 

Co-founded by Truong and Thao Nguyen in 2019, Med247 aims to become a one-stop-shop for primary and preventative care, pharmaceuticals, clinical services, and telemedicine. Regardless of the patient’s needs, it aims to provide patients with a comfortable family doctor-style treatment by connecting them quickly to trusted doctors of their choice.

Med247 employs remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) technology coupled with AI predictive analytics to screen patients’ vital signs through their smartphone cameras. It also collaborates with the Singapore-headquartered MiRXES to bring next-generation microRNA technology into the Vietnamese healthtech market.

MiRXES’s patented miRNA biomarker platform in the screening and diagnostics of disease early detection will empower Med247 to achieve their goals in providing primary and preventive care to and ensuring the well-being of their patients.”

Med247 also operates wholly-owned flagship clinics in major cities with links to a network of satellite clinic partners in cities, provinces, and districts. Each clinic provides multi-speciality healthcare and expert and technology support for eight to ten satellite clinics in residential areas.

Besides, Med247 enables hybrid care services, including remote telehealth consultation, no-wait health clinic appointments booking, electronic health record (HER) requests, home prescription delivery, online payments, and home medical tests. It also allows local general practitioners who directly conduct initial examinations for patients at satellite clinics to run joint consultation sessions remotely with specialist doctors from flagship polyclinics.

After establishing four clinics, the firm plans to expand its network to more than 70 clinics by the end of 2022, with 80 per cent being satellite clinics residing across the country.

Reinventing the fragmented Vietnamese healthcare system

According to Statista data in 2019, Vietnam had around 8.8 doctors per 10 thousand inhabitants in Vietnam, compared to the OECD average of 36 physicians per 10 thousand population.

“Moreover, Vietnamese people are not familiar with a family physician or primary family care. They often go straight to national hospitals when contracting common illnesses, resulting in significant overload in large hospitals,” added Truong.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese spent around US$17 billion on healthcare in 2019, equivalent to 6.6 per cent of the country’s GDP, with per-capita healthcare spending doubling over the last decade. The expenditure is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.7 per cent to US$23 billion in 2022, according to Fitch Solutions. This is mainly attributed to the growing concern over health issues of the country’s fast-growing middle-class and ageing population.

The mounting demand creates a fertile ground for the private healthcare sector, which makes up 32.2 per cent of total outpatient services and 6.3 per cent of inpatient services. However, Truong and his team recognised a significant quality gap between high-calibre hospitals and clinics privately held by physicians.

“Initially, we intended to build an app for clinic management,” Truong said, “but the pain point is not about technology but processes and standards for healthcare provision, especially in the private medical sector.”

This is concerning given that there were about 35,000 private clinics across the country in 2018, nearly triple the number of commune health stations and regional polyclinics within the public sector, as per a World Bank report.

Fortunately, the situation is improving, thanks to the emergence of the digital transformation accelerated by the COVID-19 outbreak. Medical centres are urged to adopt digital tools and technologies such as telemedicine and virtual care for patient treatment.

Riding on this tailwind, Med247 digitises clinic management and diagnostic processes. It synchronises them for the whole chain, giving its medical team oversight to ensure proper care and quality control at each step of the patient experience. It also facilitates ERH of patients on its platform, allowing two to three physicians to collectively diagnose and supervise a patient and prescribe suitable treatment and medicine.

Also Read: BuyMed nets US$8.8M to develop a healthtech e-commerce platform, expand beyond Vietnam

“Regular virtual joint consultation sessions through the Med247 platform will help iron out the quality discrepancy between flagship clinics’ specialist doctors and satellite clinics’ practitioners, who often lack experience, expertise, or associated soft skills,” Truong emphasised.

“Med247 system also releases daily reports to give appropriate guidance and alerts to support practitioners inpatient follow-up treatments.”

During the pandemic, Med247 claims it delivered nearly 400 consultations sessions per day to more than 11,000 patients from 21 provinces and cities in Vietnam. The consultation covered not only COVID-related treatments but also other healthcare needs, especially mental health and chronic disease management. The firm boasts of having registered a 500 per cent revenue growth and a 700 per cent growth in pharmacy orders within the last 18 months.

So far, through its mobile app and clinics chain, Med247 has served around 50,000 users, with an average of 2.47 visits per unique patient every three months, noted the firm.

Thao describes a typical customer journey as when a patient calls or books an appointment with a doctor via app right when they receive initial symptoms. This will significantly reduce screening time, increase treatment efficiency, and ease costs and burdens for patients. Doctors will then consult patients to visit a clinic for tests and examinations and follow up with them regularly via digital channels.

“Leveraging telemedicine’s ability to deliver timely care, our vision is to improve active healthcare monitoring and management for Vietnamese families, consisting of three generations: children, parents, and grandparents,” Thao added. “Med247’s model aims to provide everyone with quality, accessible and affordable healthcare products and services. This is to help reinvent the traditional healthcare experience from a single clinic visit to annual care packages that go beyond sick care to primary care, preventative care, and well-being for Vietnamese families.”

Bain’s 2019 Asia-Pacific Front Line of Healthcare survey found out that 50 per cent of patients expected to use digital health tools in the next five years and 91 per cent of consumers would be willing to use digital health services if the costs were covered by an employer or insurance provider.

“Thanks to Vietnam’s high smartphone penetration rate, we have the potential to bring this simple, intuitive, and holistic healthcare solution into nearly any household in the country,” said Thao.

In the future, Med247 aims to capitalise on smart devices to improve electronic health data through real-time tracking and monitoring of healthcare indices, allowing doctors to give timely and personalised diagnoses for patients.

“We believe that this is the good timing for Med247 to scale up as the pandemic has sharply increased customers’ willingness to use telehealth, accelerated service providers’ adoption of telemedicine, and bolstered regulatory changes in support of greater access and reimbursement for digital healthcare,” stated Truong. “However, considering that the Vietnamese market still needs more time to adopt this concept, Med247 will carry on the strategy of not only connecting practitioners with patients through a digital platform but also supporting clinics’ standardised O2O operations with advanced technologies and solutions.”

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