In 2021, a JPG file was auctioned for US$69 million by a digital artist, Mike Winkleman (Beeple). This record-breaking sale for purely digital artwork became a major catalyst for the recent trends around NFT arts.

The NFT arts market has continued to maintain its upward trend as artists and content creators are capturing this new wave of a Web3-based digital arts movement. However, amidst the growing market, there’s also a rising number of crimes and detractors that could hamper further industry growth.

Asia in the frontlines of NFT arts growth

NFT arts have become the most popular use case for NFTs as they provide artists with the opportunity to sell their creative pieces directly to buyers and earn income. In yet another record-breaking sale, digital artist, Pak, sold his NFT art for a whopping US$91.8 million.

Last year, the NFT market hit US$25 billion with sales of NFT arts being a major contributor. Also, earlier in January this year, OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace for NFT arts and other collectibles hit US$5 billion in monthly trading volume. It is also noteworthy to mention that Asia is currently the frontrunner in this global sensation. According to Chainalysis, Central and Southern Asia accounted for 35 per cent of the global NFTs traded last year.

CoinUnited, the largest NFT collector in Asia, has contributed to the region’s lead in the NFT space by purchasing over 10,000 NFT artworks to date, valued at over US$200 million. The worldwide surge behind NFTs reflects in the ability to create digital content such as memorabilia, algorithmically-generated artwork and even memes. Examples include high-valued NFTs such as Shocked Doge and The Legacy, a compilation of Floyd Mayweather’s rise to glory, owned by CoinUnited. Other top NFTs in their collection include BoredApe, Meebit, RTFKT Punk, Cool Cat, Pudgy Penguin, CloneX and a host of others.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

“Our passion for NFT arts, among many reasons, is that we believe in NFT technology and how it is boldly redefining the future of arts. Content creators are increasingly crafting and sharing more value through digital mediums, where NFTs offer the right technology and ownership models that are opening more doors for innovation,” says Angus Lo, CoinUnited Co-Founder.

Skeptics may call it a fad, but it’s clear, NFTs are here to stay. In the coming years, industry pioneers expect to witness more incorporation of NFTs among individuals as well as corporate sectors. However, there are critical factors to consider before this becomes a reality.

Rising crime amidst a surge in popularity

As with all new tech developments, detractors find various ways to facilitate crimes and malpractices. The NFT art marketplace is certainly not left out. There have been incessant calls made recently about counterfeit NFTs that have resulted in marketplace suspensions. And it’s only getting worse with fakes in the market.

In recent months, the NFT space has also come under fire for aiding criminals in laundering money through minting and selling NFTs, as well as enabling malicious parties to counterfeit NFTs and rob artists of their respective earnings.

NFTs, leveraging decentralised blockchain technology, empowers users with autonomy over their work that wasn’t otherwise available in the legacy art world. Although a number of artists have benefited from NFTs, there is a growing number of creators concerned with these challenges.

Artists have made complaints that scammers have stolen their creative works and minted them on NFT marketplaces. As an open-source technology, anyone can mint an NFT. A user could take an image from a creator’s page, mint it as their own product, and make significant profits from the sale long before the original creator is made aware of what’s taken place. The problem can quickly stack up when NFT marketplaces go on to rack up billions of dollars from counterfeit sales.

Also Read: ‘NFTs provide new ways to handle IP management, empower content creators’: Inmagine CEO Warren Leow

Combating counterfeits and art frauds

DeviantArt, a long-standing community for digital artists, has sent 90,000 alerts about possible fraud to thousands of their users since taking the decision to monitor the blockchain for copied assets of creators in their community, company executives said. The company has increased its efforts in monitoring over four million NFTs that have been sold to see how many more counterfeits are in circulation. The number of alerts doubled from October to November 2021 and grew by 300 per cent from November to mid-December.

Relevant steps need to be taken to combat this major challenge in the industry. Steps that would provide lasting solutions and facilitate proper growth and positive innovation in the NFT space.

An initiative taken by Numbers Protocol, a decentralised photo network, is providing verification and tracking history for NFTs. Having acknowledged the loopholes in the NFT space, namely the lack of control over what assets are minted, the refusal to observe copyright laws, and the lack of overall transparency and verifiability in the space, Numbers Protocol has made it a priority to solve these issues.

Numbers Protocol has created the world’s first Web3 search engine for NFTs. With the search engine, users can upload an NFT image or video and proceed to view its verifiable history. This includes specific details like when it was first sold or how many pieces were created. This allows anyone to cross-check whether the NFTs sold in the marketplace are authentic, and can help prospective buyers to verify if the NFTs they own are truly unique.

Numbers Protocol’s search engine for NFTs has two key components: content-based and Web 3.0-based. As a content-based search engine, a user can upload a file without knowing its NFT identifier, and the result shows the history and other details associated with the file. The search engine uses the unique address generated to find key information associated with the content. The results provide verifiable information about the NFT, all provably secure through battle-tested encryption technologies.

“The centralisation of Web 2.0 has led to copyright issues, data manipulation and algorithm-based search results based on data profiles that continue to hinder what users search for. With information provided by the NFT search engine, users can better understand just how “unique” an NFT is and easily identify potential violations, such as multiple creator addresses,” says Sofia Yan, Co-founder and Chief of Growth Officer at Numbers Protocol.

Also Read: You’re not really diversifying your investments by buying altcoins

Where is the future of NFT arts headed?

China’s NFT market is predicted to reach US$4.64 billion by 2026 and this is expected to influence the global NFT marketplace in a positive direction. However, for the NFT market to continue its transition to the mainstream reality, it is important that clear rules are enforced to ensure that artists’ creative works are rightfully protected.

With the right solutions to combat ongoing challenges, artists and creators can be optimistic about capturing the opportunity to have true autonomy over their works and fairly monetise their creativity. These solutions, coupled with Asia’s bullish approach towards NFT arts could lead to a complete redefinition of the creator economy as we know it.

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The content was first published by The Human & Machine.

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Fitch Ratings estimates more than 290 million unbanked individuals in Southeast Asia (SEA). This is larger than the population of Indonesia, the fourth-largest country in the world.

The term ‘unbanked’ or ‘underbanked’ refers to those who do not use banks or banking institutions in any capacity. These individuals would also likely not subscribe to insurance, pensions, or any other types of professional money-related services. 

The more straightforward banking solution for all

This is where digital banks (or neobanks) come into the picture. They seek to improve digital literacy and lessen financial inequality amongst the underbanked population.

The unbanked problem has long been a critical issue for which economists, organisations, and governments have yet to find a viable solution. That said, while fintech players have prioritised financial inclusion, interest in digital banking is predominantly focused on middle-income families and youths under 30. 

Apart from improved access to financial services and more personalised services for specific needs, this segment of society will also access cheaper and safer transactions. This can then help boost economic participation and empowerment among the masses. 

In Malaysia, only 29 per cent of low-income families expressed an interest in virtual and digital banking, according to a report by PwC.

Conversely, only those earning more than MYR10,000 a month would seriously consider opening a virtual bank account. This contrast is mirrored in other countries worldwide, including Singapore and Hong Kong.

Digital banks have flourished, and intense competition within the space has been heating up with mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships springing up across the region.

Also Read: E-commerce for the future: How open banking enables greater security and trust

For example, Indonesia’s Bank Jago sought to integrate cashless payment systems on its app and got Gojek to invest. Meanwhile, in Singapore, the Singtel-Grab consortium nabbed one of the four digital banking licences on offer late last year.

The tale of caution

That said, digital banks face a set of challenges specific to their own. For one, there are significant cybersecurity and data protection issues associated with running an online-only bank.

According to a PwC commissioned survey, 36 per cent of Malaysians and 34 per cent of Singaporeans did not trust digital banks to store their information safely. This distrust runs deeper in neighbouring Indonesia, which has yet to introduce data protection legislation for consumers.

The nation’s less than impressive track record is also of little consolation, having had several large tech companies compromised in recent years. 

Tokopedia and Bukalapak were big names involved and saw over 100 million users’ personal information illegally accessed last year. Distrust and suspicion pose significant hurdles for fintech players to overcome with such incidents. 

While this space holds a lot of potential, the issue of profitability is pertinent to how this industry moves forward. To date, only three digital banks have achieved profitability, namely KakaoBank, WeBank, and MyBank.

It takes an average of between seven and ten years for a digital bank to return to the black, a significant investment in terms of both time and cost. Thus, for the digital banking sector to truly take off, a re-evaluation of the company’s current business model and finding ways to crack the code to profitability will become key. 

The future is bright

Nevertheless, the future of digital banks remains bright. There has been positive government and regulatory support, underscored by public interest and an eagerness to experiment with digital bank offerings.

Malaysia and Singapore lead the pack offering digital banking licences to non-financial entities. Meanwhile, whilst boasting a bustling fintech bubble, Indonesia has yet to grant licences to digital-only banks. Licencing is reserved for those with a physical presence.

In the Philippines, regulators have announced that it will stop accepting applications after issuing six digital banking licences. 

Digital banks are likely to stay as it offers innovative new services that appeal to their target demographic. While incumbents largely adhered to their product-focused, hard-selling mindset, fintech companies utilise new technology to tackle customers’ specific pain points.

Also Read: Deconstructing digital banking: How it can cater to the underserved in Malaysia

Grab-Singtel, for instance, focuses its lending services on SMEs and MSMEs who lack access to credit. Similarly, Filipino fintech company Tonik has emerged as a solution to the country’s underbanked and unbanked population offering a more extensive reach to those previously ignored. 

Due to a lack of physical branches, digital banks can offer services at a much more competitive rate. Gojek-backed Bank Jago allows users 25 free transactions before charging a fee of IDR3,000 (US$0.21) per transfer, a significantly lower amount when compared to traditional banks’ fees of IDR6,500 rupiahs (US$0.45). There are also no administrative or hidden fees for the opening or closing of accounts. 

Accelerated digitalisation prompted by the pandemic has also prompted an increased public usage of digital banking offerings. Singapore’s DBS Bank reported a 15 per cent year-on-year increase in sign-ups between February and March last year. 

Lower costs, improved customer service, and innovative technology on offer have seen customers move away from traditional banks in favour of their digital counterparts. These are likely reasons for the rise and development of digital banks. 

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Their journey started in 2014.

During a Techstars Startup Weekend event in Bali, Febriadi Pratama, a geek, and Olivier Pouillon, who worked in the waste recycling sector for 20+ years, joined hands to build a startup community to help local schools with waste recycling. The community was known as CashForTrash back then.

As the ideas and concepts evolved, in 2015, the duo decided to bring in digital technology to improve the existing waste management system — not just in Bali but across the archipelago. They then rebranded the organisation to Gringgo, a wordplay of Green and Go.

“The motivation was to create a fun and rewarding way so that people pay more attention to the issue of waste management — one of the most pressing problems, but was largely ignored by people. There’s not enough data to better understand what’s happening on the ground. We realised digital technology could be a better way to get people involved and create awareness,” Pratama tells e27.

Pratama, who is also a startup mentor, describes Gringgo as a ‘tech for sustainable development”. A company dedicated to tackling sustainable development issues.

Also Read: Climate tech is in a chicken-and-egg situation in Southeast Asia

Since 2015, Gringgo has leveraged digital technologies to solve the waste management issues in the archipelago with support from different organisations such as Google, USAID, and Coca-Cola Foundation.

The startup has developed an online platform and a mobile app for waste collectors.

It’s currently building an AI-powered platform to create a better system to help categorise different types of waste and their value. “This platform will allow households to understand better the value of their waste and, at the same time, contribute to improving the waste management system by making a behavioural change in separating the different types of garbage at the household level,” explains Pratama.

The company offers three products: Envi, SWAI app, and Gringgo Collect.

Envi is a B2B product. In partnership with various waste collection services, Envi increases waste management efficiency by digitising the process to ensure less waste ends up in landfills. Envi provides a web dashboard and mobile app for administrators and waste collectors. Through this, garbage collectors can track the human resources available, schedule them, choose the most efficient routes, monitor check-ins, and also track the collected waste.

SWAI app — an abbreviation of ‘solve waste with AI’– is the result of its collaboration with Google.org in San Francisco. The app urges users to collect different necessary data through the utilisation of missions (gamification) and the token economy concept (users can collect points and redeem attractive incentives). It also provides users with educational content regarding waste segregation. Data collected includes types of recyclables, how much and where waste is produced. This data will then be included in the startup’s cloud database, used to train its AI model, and analysed to measure the impact and identify potential problem areas to create solutions for waste reduction and consumer distribution and behaviour.

Also Read: One man’s trash is another’s gold: How Tridi Oasis plans to transform plastic waste management

Gringgo Collect is a data-collecting platform. The app helps users digitise and analyse data collection activity.

Gringgo primary relies on a SaaS model, with various subscription options. It also seeks like-minded individuals and companies willing to support and believe in its quest towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) through grants, CSR, and projects.

Pratama admits that human resources and funding have been a challenge for the company since its founding. “We are always looking for grants, programmes and VC funding. We’re currently funded by grants and bootstrap money and haven’t raised any VC money yet,” he shared.

For human resources, Gringgo looks to collaborate with other organisations.

“There is not enough awareness about climate change in Indonesia, but it is growing rapidly. We hope to bring a transformation and help mitigate the catastrophe,” Pratama concluded.

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The new normal, a word that for long was limited to textbooks and history, is now something that’s part of our everyday lives.

Guess none of us had envisioned what happened in this past couple of years. But here we are, having been through it all. A special tribute to the people having heavenly abode in the pandemic before starting my speech.

When the pandemic swept through our societies, our critical structures, communities, and everyday life suffered. It also seriously dented our economy.

Being a business leader, it was a tough period, waiting for the situation to normalise, seeking ways to emerge from the said pandemic. Did we all learn something from it? I speak for all here that we all learned something from it.

Key takeaways

• The way pandemic swept through our lives critical structures was a devastating blow.
• It severely dented our economy causing businesses to think differently and out of the box to resolve that. That led to the new normal.
• The entire journey of ‘surfing through the new normal’ started with Anurag, my dear colleague and founder of Expoodle and me intending to touch on companies’ pain points and help them market better.
• Our basis started with understanding the market enablers and validating the prominent issues faced by brands across the world.
• Our core findings led us to understand the changes in consumer behaviour in the new normal. This gives us a ground-level understanding of the reality and allows us to find key drivers for the rapid growth of the brands.
• That rapid growth part is where immersive reality can come forth. Innovative and immersive experiences are at the heart of modern-day customer behaviour, and improving your brand practices by the same is much warranted.
• Immersive reality is the abode that ushers the experience economy, providing transparency and creating a deeper connection with prospects. It’s in line with the needs of the modern-day user who focuses not just on being the end-user but being part of the entire journey.

The build-up

Businesses and organisations have had to do with the precarious time and lean on innovative ways. It’s how the business landscape and even humankind have operated over the years, i.e. evolve.

This very instinct helped businesses find a way, capitalise on the scenario, and test new wayfinding systems transforming the moment of crisis and business peril into an opportunity to improve.

The willingness to embrace experimentation didn’t just happen overnight. My colleague and esteemed leader, Anurag, had been in the exhibition industry for over two and half decades, wherein he had experienced how the business world has evolved.

Also Read: How can female founders become the new normal in Asia?

For years, Anurag had seen how technology had penetrated the brand’s marketing with hybrid and digital aspects becoming a mainstream stay. The next step was immersive technology. Pioneering the ideology of incorporating new-age experience into existing solutions.

And that’s where I came in, with my years of experience in the tech field and the idea of solving clientele issues via the cloud, cognitive and creative solutions.

Understanding the market enablers

The first time we came together, we discussed the who’s and how’s of immersive technology. We identified four key opportunities for understanding the market enablers and providing customised solutions to mitigate them.

• Challenges and changing consumer patterns

The pandemic has impacted virtually every aspect of our lives, and thinking that business would allude to it is a mere misconception. The changes in consumer behaviour have become more complex with all the restrictions and limits.

People and consumers alike have been forced to remodel their traditional behavioural conscience. Count in the exposure to the newer realities and environment, you can understand the challenges faced by the brands.

“Customers’ digital experiences across industries create expectations that brands must meet to gain engagement.”

• Finding key drivers for rapid brand growth and awareness

As businesses look for new ways to streamline their processes and create safer and more productive business models, immersive tech has become a new flagbearer for brands to indulge in.

The potential impact of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality is vastly immense, allowing you to increase your brand growth and awareness rapidly.

Brands these days need to cater to generating awareness and attention, which will lead to understanding the buyer’s persona correctly.

Also Read: What can we do about mass unemployment amidst the pandemic?

When a brand understands the buyer personas and prioritises delivering the experience coupled with the optimum service, this is where brands can get the most out of their campaign.

• Creative, flexible marketing solutions to react to market dynamics

Underlying the issues and developing intricate solutions to mitigate the same is extremely important for marketers to create improved conversions and higher engagements. Where previous marketing techniques had sufficed to provide brands with enough leverage, with time, they are dwindling.

Over 58 per cent of the CMOs have identified modern technology as a key factor in building a differentiated customer experience. Innovative and immersive experiences are at the heart of modern-day customer behaviour, and improving your brand practises by the same is much warranted.

Immersive reality solutions are a customisable marketing medium rather than a standalone tool. It can be easily integrated with the existing marketing campaigns of the brand to increase conversions and scale the reach.

Immersive-based marketing is more about increasing the immersive experience, improving the digital quotient of the user, and providing the trendsetting experience for a personalised brand approach.

• Ushering the experience economy 

Immersive marketing solutions aim to provide transparency and connect deeper with prospects. It’s in line with the needs of the modern-day user who focuses not just on being the end-user but being part of the entire journey.

Users these days are streamlined to follow brands that can provide a calling and experience. This is where immersive reality can help provide that final boost in generating awareness and accelerating understanding.

With the user’s attention span declining with time, brands need to capitalise on the first impression, and AR/VR/MR marketing solutions are best placed to handle it.

This can also pave the way for brands to tap into the broader spectrum of the user base and generate marketable opportunities among Gen Z and the new age population. They are well versed in digital technology transformation.

Immersive Tech here can act that bridge to bring forth the new normal for the brands and make it customer-centric whilst also keeping them in good stead.

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The pandemic impacted the coworking industry by eliminating the need for traditional offices. However, as lockdown restrictions begin to ease, many companies are transitioning to a hybrid work model in which some employees work in the office while others work from home.

With more than 70 per cent of Malaysian companies looking to implement a hybrid work structure as we embrace the new normal, the flexible nature of a coworking space complements the emerging popularity of this new work structure.

The accelerated adoption of the hybrid work structure enables coworking to reach its full potential as a flex-space solution provider.

Redefining the traditional work structure

As we move into a post-pandemic world, we find that there is no longer a standard way for people to work. Companies are finding ways to redefine their business model and keep employees engaged within the company to ensure its survival.

According to a report by Randstad, 69 per cent of Malaysian respondents surveyed stated their preference to continue working from home until the COVID-19 vaccine has been widely distributed. 

However, as more of our population slowly got immunised, this figure changed. The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) conducted a survey titled “Implementation of Work From Home and Work From Office Practices In Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic”, which indicated that 61.7 per cent of companies preferred a hybrid work structure.  

According to a survey by Robert Walters, up to 44 per cent of candidates would decline a new job role if no flexibility accompanies the role.

The onus is put on business owners to consider providing work flexibility wherever possible, as employees have now become accustomed to working from home and prefer flexibility over a fixed work structure.

This is becoming a deciding factor for many skilled employees, akin to medical benefits and corporate packages were in years passed. As the fight for quality talent continues to escalate in Malaysia, what we consider ‘corporate perks’ is evolving.  

However, I understand some hesitation from corporations as this transition, from a rigid working structure to a more flexible one, is not a small task.

Also Read: How the rise of the hybrid workforce is reshaping the office space

This is where coworking spaces like WORQ are a bridge between a traditional office setting, providing that flexibility that your employees crave without needing to build the infrastructure yourself. 

Overcoming the reluctance to adopt a hybrid or decentralised work structure

It is no longer up for debate that most of us are moving towards a decentralised working organisation, which essentially means employees who collaborate in a functional area or on a work team do not work together in the same office.

As a result of this, employees will be able to return to a less structured work environment without the use of closed offices.

This concept, however, is not new to companies; the conditions of the pandemic in its early days compelled every company to go through it.

Many companies still struggle with this, and when a team is spread out over the country, it can be extremely challenging to collaborate. It’s just a question of whether companies will follow through.

According to a survey by Savills Malaysia, 81 per cent of the respondents believe that an office is still necessary for a company to operate well, with 47 per cent saying that it was “always” important. In comparison, 34 per cent acknowledged that it was important “at least for the short term”.

In another way, many employees are still willing to go to work. They simply aren’t as willing to commute. It isn’t the office that most employees are against, but the inconveniences associated with static locations for work.

They understand the benefits of an office structure but now understand that alternatives, like coworking and flex space providers, work well.

These alternatives provide companies with the flexibility to move in quickly and the convenience of having access to multiple locations where employees can choose where they want to work without being tied down to traditional offices with long leases.

Employees realise the importance of working in an office environment that fosters productivity and allows them to interact with their coworkers.

According to the same survey, the most significant factor is the work environment, with more than half of the respondents (54 per cent) citing having colleagues and a culture that inspires them to achieve their best. An informal, inviting space contributes to an active environment that fosters communication, creativity, and teamwork.

The workplace used to be a place where you could feel like you were part of a community and get your daily dosage of social interaction, but this was taken away from when the pandemic broke out.

Employees would only see their coworkers once or, on rare occasions, or never at all, and even then, it was all done over a screen. A decentralised work structure needs to be enhanced to make the return to the workplace more attractive.

Also Read: Coworking space: why it’s the most startup thing ever

This brings us to the growing interest in coworking space as a real estate provider. As it is known today, coworking serves as a platform that can also be used in an economic sense to drive the decentralisation of employment.

According to research by McKinsey, companies that explore alternative workplace strategies could reduce their real estate costs by 30 per cent.

Coworking spaces, such as WORQ offer companies the flexibility to move in with a short turnaround time.

Reimagining the role of coworking spaces in today’s workforce

Instead of monolithic, bulky cubicles, there is a need to establish an environment that stimulates creative collaboration. WORQ aims to help companies navigate the hybrid work structure by assisting them in creating a conducive workplace without the risk and cost of any big-ticket solutions.

This will allow employees to work nearer to their homes due to the convenience of having access to multiple locations, thereby increasing employees’ willingness to stay with the company.

A hybrid work structure may contribute to beneficial company outcomes in the future, and innovative design solutions are essential in redefining the future approach to workspaces.

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“Why would you choose to spend ten days in a self-imposed prison instead of ten days on a beach in Tulum?” Unsurprisingly that was the reaction of most of my friends when I announced I had signed up for a ten-day silent retreat called Vipassana.

I signed up because I was about to make some big changes in my life. I had just gone through a very abrupt divorce, and I was planning to move across the globe, so before that, I had promised myself that I would sit in silence to make sure this big decision was the right one.

Little did I know, this experience wouldn’t just help in that decision. Instead, it would do much more for me. 

It’s no surprise to me that Yuval Harari, the historian and best-selling author of “Sapiens” admitted that it is thanks to his annual silent retreat that he was able to write his three best-selling books.

Silent retreats haven’t yet gone mainstream, but I believe they will and here is why. 

What is the Vipassana silent retreat?

 No meat, egg or dairy. No talking. Not even looking people in the eyes. No computer, phone or notebook. Those are some of the rules of vipassana meditation, an ancient Buddhist meditation technique used to calm the mind through a strict code of silence.

The way to get started in practice is through a ten-day residential silent retreat. You get woken up at four am for a four-thirty start and meditate until nine pm.

There are breaks, six-thirty to eight am, eleven am to one pm, five to six pm. During the rest of the time, you are expected to be meditating.

Vegan food is served twice a day. Soon food becomes your only pleasure of the day, but you are instructed not to overeat as it’s easier to meditate on a light meal you soon learn. 

Also Read: A meditation guide for entrepreneurs from an entrepreneur

There is about one hour of teaching in the evening, that’s it.

This means you spend about 14 hours with your eyes closed, meditating. These strict rules force you to go inwards and observe what goes on in your mind when you do. It turns out that 90 per cent of what you tell yourself is fiction.

Vipassana teaches you to differentiate between fiction and reality

During the retreat, I imagined something terrible had happened to my family (I later found out they were all safe and healthy). I noticed myself going in circles over deep resentment towards my ex-husband, and I noticed myself imagining a lot of worst-case scenarios in all aspects of my life.

What struck me is that most of my thoughts were projections, assumptions, worries and thoughts that were not serving me.

I remember reading that 90 per cent of what we worry about never actually happens. While I sat there in silence, noticing my monkey mind with a magnifying glass and it struck me how I was creating my prison.

Vipassana helped me develop what I now call the “bullshit radar”. I can now quickly notice thoughts that aren’t productive and reframe my mind with thoughts that expand my world instead of shrinking it.  

Relearning how to focus again on a digitalised lifestyle

A study shows that the average attention span has dropped from twelve seconds to eight seconds due to the increasing digitalisation of the brain.

Vipassana taught me to focus on my breath for days, and little by little, I noticed myself redeveloping a sharp focus I hadn’t experienced in years. 

The first eight days were very painful for me. My back hurt from sitting in the same position for days, my legs kept falling asleep and being honest, I wondered why I had signed up for this torture!

On day eight, something strange happened, something I am still trying to comprehend, to be honest. I was fed up and tired of the retreat, and my legs and back were hurting so much no matter what position I moved into. The pain was constant.

As per the teachings, I focused on breathing and observing the pain instead of feeling it, and suddenly the pain dissolved entirely!

That’s right, the excruciating pain I felt for days was magically gone.

Also Read: 3 ways meditation will save your life in a challenging time

I later read that it’s as simple: what you focus on expands, so by focusing on my breath instead of the pain, my mind wasn’t paying attention to the pain anymore, and therefore I didn’t feel it anymore. 

How Vipassana made me a better angel investor

There is so much more to be said about the Vipassana practice, but my takeaways as an investor are the following:

• To be a good investor, I need to be able to do my due diligence instead of blindly following other investors.
• I also need to understand how solid and committed the team is.
• Since my retreat and developing the “bullshit radar”, I am better at putting my emotions and my bias aside to understand what a good investment is and what isn’t.   

Four months after the retreat: What has stuck with me?

• Focus – I relearned how to focus on something for more than a couple of minutes without getting distracted. As a result, my ability to do deep focused work has been better than it has been for years.
• Becoming aware of my own bias – As an investor, I am more aware of my own bias and when my emotions get in the way of making sound investment decision-making. 

Remember, Vipassana is a daily practice. Once you stop practising, you lose it.

You may have read that you need 10,000 hours to achieve mastery of pretty much any skill; the same goes for Vipassana.

It’s not the ten-day silent retreat that has made me a better investor; it’s the daily practice of what I learned on the retreat that makes me a better investor.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email at helena@toptierimpact.com or Instagram at @helenawasss.

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UK-based digital insurance advisory Sherpa said today it has received an undisclosed sum in strategic investment from Singapore- and US-based insurtech unicorn bolttech.

It is part of a collaboration to expand the international presence of Sherpa’s digital insurance and protection advisory tool, Sherpa Score.

Sherpa Score is a data-driven advisory platform that provides consumers with a customised visualisation of their insurance and protection gaps to inform their decision making. Businesses selling insurance can integrate the platform into their channels to drive increased engagement and understanding for a better experience for their customers.

The Sherpa Score platform will expand further into Asia and the US.

Also Read: iPhone co-inventor-backed insurtech unicorn bolttech adds US$30M to Series A

Sherpa CEO Chris Kaye said: “Combining Sherpa Score’s AI-driven technology with the reach of bolttech’s insurance exchange will enable us to integrate customer education and awareness into insurance purchasing journeys seamlessly. This will equip more customers with the insights and information to make better insurance decisions.”

Rob Schimek, bolttech’s Group CEO, added: “Our strategic investment in Sherpa will deepen our collaboration to enhance customers’ experience and drive engagement within our tech-enabled insurance exchange. By integrating Sherpa Score’s personalised insights into bolttech’s ecosystem of products and services, customers will better understand their protection needs and have the access and choice of relevant insurance products to meet those needs.”

Launched in 2020, bolttech aims to make connections between insurers, distributors and customers easier and more efficient to buy and sell insurance and protection products. It works with insurers, telcos, retailers, banks, e-commerce and digital destinations to embed insurance into their customer journeys at the point of need.

Also Read: bolttech adds BRV Capital Management as strategic investor to support international growth plan

Last December, bolttech added BRV Capital Management as a strategic investor in the company. This followed a US$30 million investment towards its US$180-million round from EDBI and Spanish firm Alma Mundi.

bolttech’s other backers are Tony Fadell (Principal at Future Shape, inventor of iPod, and co-inventor of iPhone), Alpha Leonis Partners, Dowling Capital Partners, B. Riley Venture Capital, and Tarsadia Investments.

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“Are you kidding me? How can a software company help achieve sustainability goals? Can it help cut down CO₂ emissions?” This was the reaction of an environmentalist I interacted with a few years ago. And I am not surprised by his response.

In fact, many, even in my organisation, were taken by surprise when one of our colleagues, out of academic interest, calculated and came up with a figure of millions of tons of CO₂ emissions saved per year by our clients using only one of our cutting-edge technology tools called topology optimisation in their product design and development phase.

According to an airline engineer, each ton of weight saved would result in 180,000 litres of fuel saved or accommodating a few more passengers for the same amount of fuel spent.

This figure would vary depending on the class of aircraft, range, and other factors, nevertheless leaving behind a big saving in carbon footprint.

Sustainable designs inspired by nature

By providing tools that lead to “conscious product development” and lightweight products, reducing CO₂ and appropriate selection of materials and conscious procurement decisions, Altair contributes to sustainable products with a concern for the environment.

Let us look at some examples.

Gone are those days when the designer’s answer to providing structural strength was to “add metal when in doubt”, making the product bulkier.

Also Read: Why the Carbon tax is just a step forward and not a solution

Add to that a lack of clear understanding of where exactly to add the material, and by corollary, were to remove it, resulting in adding it everywhere and thereby impacting the performance in turn.

Taking a leaf out of nature, a white-rumped vulture weighing 4.5 kg, flying at a speed of 45 km/hour, and requiring a lifting load of 8 kg, has a speed to weight ratio of 5.5. Meanwhile, the same speed to weight ratio for a light aircraft is 0.33, assuming a weight of 125 kg, 225 kg lift load and travelling at 75 km/hour speed.

Or in the case of land transportation, a cheetah weighing 72 kg could generate up to 130 km/hour speed while the coupe needs 700 kg to generate 100 km/hour.

This clearly shows the efficiency and effectiveness that nature has built into its design, making it sustainable (millions of years of evolution is the proof of innovation, designing for adaptability, and therefore a story of sustainability), thus providing a template for all human-created design.

More studies were conducted to understand and mimic the designs of nature, like our fingers, branches, and shells, among others. Evolutionary algorithms to mimic the evolutionary approach were generated.

Fitting software into the sustainability equation

As we understand the load paths better, we make more efficient designs with more optimal material layouts. This is where software (in a broader sense, computational sciences) makes the difference by guiding design engineers to create frugal yet functional designs of products.

While such design tools could offer weight reductions of unimaginable proportions, often the traditional manufacturing methods become the limiting factor in realising maximum benefit.

In conjunction with this new generation design software, additive manufacturing methods offer tremendous weight reductions.

Also Read: How to tackle climate change by choosing a career in cleantech

A comparison of a simple component designed by traditional design approach versus topology optimisation approach realised through additive manufacturing technique shows an average 40 per cent reduction. The range is anywhere between 20 per cent and 90 per cent.

The software could also be used to design products for their intended service life rather than for infinite life, as is the standard practice in the absence of such tools, thus tremendously reducing material wastage.

In addition to design software technology, data analytics software can conduct sustainability audits by analysing data collected from various points and databases in the product life cycle.

The machine learning algorithms in the sustainability audit could potentially identify the vendors, practices, manufacturing processes, materials, etc., that are not sustainable and suggest alternatives.

Also, the vendors, processes, and materials could be ranked based on the sustainability index pertaining to a specific country, region, or even micro-region, where the sub-systems or the complete product is built.

For example, in contrast to a material that has to come from across the globe to an alternative from a nearby locality – machine learning algorithms can help us make the right decisions.

An UN-appointed commission headed by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, in its final report, famously defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs…”.

As the world demands safer, more efficient, and more innovative products and processes, at Altair, we aim to transform design and decision-making by applying simulation, machine learning, and optimisation throughout product lifecycles.

By helping our customers accomplish their goals, we reduce the environmental impact of goods and services worldwide and across an array of industries.

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GoTo’s IPO books covered, to raise at least US$1.1B
The offering got support from long-term investors, such as the Indonesian units of fund managers Schroders SDR.L and Eastspring Investments; The IPO is expected to be priced in early April and will then be open to retail investors.

SG blockchain firm Spartan Group launches US$100M venture builder
Spartan Labs will focus on the Web3 sector; It has appointed former CoinMarketCap executive Shaun Heng to lead the new initiative; Spartan Labs aims to launch six to seven Web3 projects each year.

SEA-focused SPAC RF Acquisition prices US$100M Nasdaq IPO
The firm will seek a business combination with an SEA company in the new economy sector; RF Acqisition targets companies in the financial services, media, technology, retail and interpersonal communication, transportation and education sectors.

Toss operator set to raise US$1B to take on Grab, GoTo in SEA
Toss, owned by Korea’s Viva Republica, expanded to Vietnam in 2019 by offering money transfer and debit card services; It currently has 3M active users in the country and adds more than 500K new users every month.

theAsianparent adds LINE Southeast Asia to its cap table
theAsianparent and LINE aim to disrupt the fast-growing mother and baby-care market and will explore synergies in the APAC digital advertising market; The firm claims to reach over 35M users monthly and its revenue grew 100% in 2021 y-o-y.

Line to launch NFT marketplace in Japan next month
Line NFT is affiliated with 17 content firms and will sell 100+ types of NFTs; Those who buy tokens on Line NFT can exchange them with friends who are also registered Line users; Customers can pay for their purchases via credit cards as well as for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

Indonesia to implement strict rules on internet companies
The new rules will allow the government to fine and criminally charge internet and social media platforms; The rules are among the most stringent globally on social media and follow intensifying crackdowns on online content that have alarmed activists in countries like India.

Genetic testing startup Nalagenetics raises US$12.6M Series A
Investors include DxD Hub, Dexa International, and Diagnos Laboratories; Its solutions empower healthcare professionals to implement predictive and pre-symptomatic testing for prevention geared towards chronic conditions in Asia.

Thai SEC bans use of cryptocurrencies for payments
The government body said that the move would help prevent risks for citizens and businesses, including the loss of value caused by price fluctuations, cyber theft, information leaks, and money laundering.

Zipmex bags US$11M more in Series B money
Investors include B Capital, TNB Aura, Bank of Ayudhya’s Krungsri Finnovate, Master Ad, and MindWorks Capital; The crypto exchange startup will use the funds to boost its market expansion into newer SEA markets, including Vietnam, by end-2022.

Crypto won’t be legal tender in Malaysia, minister says
Deputy finance minister I Mohd Shahar Abdullah says Malaysia has no intention of legalising cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin; He pointed out how using cryptocurrencies involve drawbacks such as price fluctuations and cybersecurity issues.

Alpha JWC, Centauri lead US$8M round of Indonesian aquaculture firm Delos
Delos’s main offering is a shrimp farm management system called AquaHero that can increase farmers’ productivity and overall yields; It plans to build two new services: supply chain integration through AquaLink and a lending platform called AquaBank.

iPrice Group raises US$5M from Itochu, Global Brain unit
iPrice will expand its services to the lending market by helping users find the best e-commerce offering and consumer loans to fund their purchases; iPrice claims it compares and catalogues over 7B e-commerce offers from 8M+ sellers, attracting 130M+ unique users in 2021.

Singapore DeFi platform Struct Finance raises US$3.9M
Investors include Antler and Arcanum Capital; The platform opens up the number of investment choices available, enabling varying protection levels and abstracting risk management and complex pricing away from its users while providing yields on various digital assets.

Locofy, a low-code platform that helps users convert design to code, raises US$3M
Investors include Accel Partners, January Capital, Golden Gate Ventures, Boldcap and angels; Locofy aims to help engineers ease their workload by converting designs to code and automating at least 50 per cent of the current workflow.

Decentralised trading firm PrePO bags US$2.1M in strategic funding
The round was led by Republic Capital and IOSG Ventures; PrePO allows users to take long or short positions on pre-IPO companies and pre-token crypto projects; It also provides users access to pre-public assets and up-to-date market prices.

Indonesian fishery startup FishLog nets seed money
Investors include Insignia Ventures Partners, Arise Ventures, KK Fund, Ango Ventures, and Captain Fresh; FishLog provides solutions for the fisheries supply chain, including stakeholders like fisherfolk, processing partners, and cold-chain logistics players.

A stroll through Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai
The solar park is a massive renewable project based on an independent power producer model and has a planned production capacity of 5,000 MW by 2030.

How Perfect Fit aims to promote greener, more inclusive period products to Indonesia
The startup’s products range from reusable period underwear (that can be worn on its own without other supporting products such as tampons or menstrual cups) and cloth pads; It is an example of a startup that started off as a project by a non-profit organisation that works in rural Indonesia.

How Gringgo leverages AI to help improve existing waste management system in Indonesia
Gringgo’s platform will allow households to understand better the value of their waste and, at the same time, contribute to improving the waste management system.

Digital bank licences: Why does everyone want a slice of the unbanked?
Digital banks seek to improve digital literacy and to lessen financial inequality amongst the underbanked population; But digital banks face a set of challenges, including significant cybersecurity and data protection issues associated with running an online-only bank.

How SWAP Energy aims to promote EV use in Indonesia through the advantages of battery-swapping
SWAP Energy builds battery swapping infrastructure with more than 400 swap stations already available in Greater Jakarta Area and Bali.

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In the recent Parliamentary Budget debate, one of the “radical” ideas mooted by a Member of Parliament (MP) was to place an expiry date on degrees conferred by Singapore’s institutes of higher learning.

Like road tax renewal, the suggestion was for graduates to attend courses for upgrading every five years to renew the validity of their degrees. Short of which, their credentials would lapse, along with the entitlements and benefits of being a degree holder.

In response, I wrote a LinkedIn post sharing how I struggled to understand how piling on more formal education and credential stacking solves the skills gap.

I was genuinely surprised by the overwhelming reaction, with more than a thousand reacting and sharing their own stories in less than 24 hours.

I believe this reveals a fundamental mismatch, and badge collection has been mistaken for education.

The badge collecting phenomenon

Badge collecting culture is prevalent everywhere, and it starts from our education days.

When I was in secondary school, I peek at the rows of badges my uniformed group friends wore on their lapels. As they rose the ranks, the badges started to accumulate, reflecting accomplishment and achievement.

Later on, I realised the accumulation and display of badges was prevalent even outside of school. Whether it is a Birkin bag, a Ferrari, or, more recently, a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT, badges reflect our status to society through association.

Instead of saying aloud, “I am wealthy”, which can come across as obnoxious and arrogant, a badge could be a representation of wealth or social standing. It is visible yet does not require the holder to self-proclaim.

It is, however, unfortunate when this seeps over to the education sector. Our skills, capabilities and potential are multi-dimensional, and the process of acquiring them is complex.

Yet badges over-simplify and distract us from what is important: learning and applying it in real-life situations to create value.

Also Read: How this B-school aims to reinvent its learning experience in a year of disruption

More and more badges

I believe the suggestion from the MP to extend the validity of degrees by taking more courses stems from good intentions. That is, to narrow the gap between the demands of the employers and the skill sets of the workforce.

Yet, pursuing more formal programs reflects the desire to collect more badges vis-a-vis the pursuit of knowledge and skills.

The underlying premise is there is always one more badge to gain, whether it’s a master’s degree after your bachelor’s, a doctorate after your master’s, or a continuing education course. And once this badge is attained, one might not just be more “ready” for the workforce, but the badge is also supposed to act as insurance against future setbacks.

To be clear, I am not against badges. As a holder of a degree, I am very cognizant of how opportunities have coalesced as a result.

I am concerned about the false premise that collecting more badges, even those from esteemed institutions makes one more ready for the demands of the marketplace and the false sense of security from quantity.

When representation is not reality

Badges are designed to be representations. Holding a degree represents completing a minimum number of hours of education, but it is by no means an indicator of competence.

It is canon to hear employers across diverse industries talk about how some non-degree holders have outperformed degree holders. That degree holders need to stack more badges to stay relevant is confusing at best. We cannot solve the problem by doing more of what led to it.

The dopamine hit from collecting more badges makes it even more challenging. The sense of achievement and accomplishment of completing a formal course, program or degree is undeniable and even addictive.

Photos are shared widely on social media, congratulations pour in from family and friends, LinkedIn profiles are updated, and commencement speeches are pep talks on how one is ready to “conquer the world”.

Yet, it is too easy to forget that, until it is actualised in our work, badges remain as representations of what we can offer, not reality.

Radical ideas to mitigate badge-collection addiction

What then can we do to avoid badge collecting culture?

Also Read: ‘Education is not a content business but a human one’: Nas Academy’s Nuseir Yassin

There are definite advantages of holding a badge, especially those just starting their careers. It opens doors and encourages others to take a chance on you, whether an employer is offering a job opportunity or an investor writing the first cheque into a company.

However, we need to dissociate badge collection from education. While both may occur simultaneously, it is entirely plausible for one to collect the badge without meaningful retention or application of what was learnt.

We should advocate for genuine learning and the acquisition of knowledge, not the collection of badges.

Secondly, we need to encourage and celebrate applying knowledge and skills to create impact more than the collection of badges.

As a former government scholarship recipient, my peers and I were celebrated upon being awarded the “scholar” badge. We had ministerial tea ceremonies, media features and invitations to share our “success stories” with juniors, all before we created any value to the public.

I recognise this privilege but wonder if we can create more opportunities to acknowledge and showcase real impact.

What if we introduce career artifacts like case studies on how a social worker went above and beyond or video testimonials by students on their teacher’s impact and consider these credentials with more weight?

Furthermore, all public service scholarship aspirants can participate in a paid internship for a year or two as part of the application process instead of post facto. On-the-job experience is a much better indicator of potential than academic grades and hour-long interviews.

This also sets everyone up for success when 18-year-olds know what they are committing four to six years of their lives to.

Also Read: How to value yourself at the workplace like NFTs

Contrary to some who might consider the gap year a “waste” or “delay”, I argue that this is a valuable experience for both parties to test if there is a fit and a fair ask when the scholarship quantum is typically in the mid-six-figures.

Third, we can take a hard look at how we select, reward and retain talent. Is it based on badges or the impact created?

I am of the opinion that most managerial and executive positions, except for professions like law and medicine, should allow alternative substitutes for a degree.

A proven track record of value creation, whether in employment, projects or starting a company, should be given more consideration. There should not be cause to place individuals with different classes of badges (degree honours) on different pay scales. We should put all at the same starting point and evaluate based on merit.

Fourth, our government can continue pushing the boundaries and finding innovative ways to keep our higher education institutions relevant. One potential avenue to explore would be Income Share Agreements (ISAs) as an alternative to discounted school fees.

While novel, this setup could better align incentives between the institution and student. In exchange for paying less fees, a student can opt to give X per cent of salary to the university for the first five years of employment, for example.

With the outsized influence of economic incentives, I will not be surprised to see our institutions becoming a lot more adaptable and responsive to prepare students for the demands of the workforce.

Badges will continue to play an important role in the fabric of our society. For many, it offers recognition, which serves as a launchpad for opportunities.

Yet, let us not forget that badges remain representations, and we should celebrate the realisation of impact instead.

Both the public and private sectors have instrumental roles in shaping the narrative of how we view this, and we should instead shift the conversation to “radical” moves to change workplace expectations and attitudes.

This article was first published in The Business Times.

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