This article is published as a part of a partnership with Recruitery. Recruitery is an all-in-one hiring platform that provides headhunt, payroll, taxes, and compliance solutions for remote teams in SEA.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been controlled, an economic downturn is still heralded due to the disruption of global supply chains and soaring inflation.

Across Southeast Asia, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) have suffered massive losses in income and capital due to COVID-19. Small businesses also face new challenges, such as higher business costs, growing debt, and operational uncertainties that require structural reform to improve the local business environment.

If you’re running an enterprise, you better find ways to align your overall strategy and business model. For many company leaders, this presents a significant challenge. For example, how to deal with a recession?

After experiencing two terrible waves of the pandemic in Vietnam and achieving specific achievements, we have some practical advice below which can help small businesses better prepare for a recession:

Make decisions carefully

While you will likely need to adjust your business shortly, don’t make decisions irrationally or quickly just to make them. 

Seek the advice of boards, advisors, mentors, and others who have experienced economic uncertainty. Then, combine your complex data with realistically honest trend forecasts.

Don’t be paralysed by analysis or consensus group thinking. Instead, get your data, input from the leadership team, advice from a mentor or mentor, and then make a decision.

In 2020, our company had some problems because we were almost paralysed and did nothing. However, by making careful decisions by 2021 and this year, we can confidently state that, before any of our choices are made, we have considered them very carefully.

Pay attention to even the slightest problems

As you consider your business strategy, business model, and revenue forecast, it’s necessary to make small decisions because if you wait and assume things will be better in the future and just wait, you may be unprepared or unable to weather a recession.

Also Read: Why Southeast Asia’s locally owned adtech and martech industry will survive the recession

We have a tip: look at your business model and move people and resources into areas that will generate or protect revenue. For example, it is possible to cut spending on advertising media and use services like retargeting, email marketing, or better social media efforts soon.

Cost control

This is crucial regardless of whether you are a large or small business. You must control your costs in the best way.

For founders to make a profit first, they need to widen their runway and make the money they raise go further, especially during an economic downturn.

If you’re in a large company, you’ll receive an email, if you haven’t already, to manage your area, division, and division expenses for the rest of the year.

Cash management

Perhaps not much need to be said about the necessity of cash management. This is the “blood” of every business.

Manage your cash, whether it is through more aggressive efforts in accounts receivable, negotiating payment schedules with vendors in your accounts payable, or keeping staff expenses in line with stagnant wages and few hiring.

All are important right now as your primary goal should be to generate strong cash flow in the business.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post How small companies can prepare for recession appeared first on e27.

Intellect, a Singapore-headquartered mental health startup, has raised an additional US$10 million in a Series A extension led by Tiger Global.

K3 Ventures, JAFCO Asia, Singtel Innov8, and PERSOL Holdings, with participation from existing investors Insignia Ventures Partners, and HOF Capital, also joined the round.

This brings Intellect’s total Series A capital raise to US$20 million. Early this year, the mental health startup secured US$10 million in a Series A financing round led by US-based HOF Capital.

The fresh injection will be used to scale the startup’s commercial expansion plans and teams across Asia. The business is focused on building the region’s first digitally-enabled, fully-stacked mental healthcare system.

Intellect is a modern-day mental health company aiming to make mental healthcare and wellbeing support accessible for everyone. Launched two years ago, it claims to serve more than three million lives in over 60 countries through its therapists and coaches based in 20 countries, providing localised coverage and self-guided programmes in 15 languages.

Also read: How to tackle employee mental health to build a resilient workforce

The company currently works with various international enterprises such as Merck, Philips, foodpanda, Singtel, Shopee, Omnicom Media Group, and abrdn.

In August 2021, the firm announced the closing of its US2.2 million pre-Series A round led by Insignia Ventures Partners, alongside new investors Y Combinator and XA Network.

Theodoric Chew, Co-Founder and CEO, said: “Intellect’s mission is to normalise mental health and shift the culture towards more open conversations about personal wellbeing, ultimately removing the stigma attached. We are fortunate that Intellect is able not just to defend but heavily double down on our work to change how mental health care is done for all of Asia Pacific.”

As the current workforce struggles with burnout and adopting unhealthy coping mechanisms, focusing on mental health in the workplace is more important than ever. A 2021 APAC workplace health study by Intellect showed that 84 per cent of APAC respondents reported high levels of exhaustion, while 88% said they were disengaged from work.

—

The post Singapore mental health startup Intellect raises US$10M to extend Series A round to US$20M appeared first on e27.

In this episode, we are excited to welcome Frédéric Mazzella, Founder, Chairman and Former CEO of BlaBlaCar, the world’s largest carpooling platform. Mazzella is also an active investor, startup board member and Co-President Entrepreneur of France Digitale.

In our conversation, Mazzella speaks to us about how to think big but act small at the beginning of global expansion initiatives, how to create a business name with global appeal, building a community of trust within an organisation, successful strategies like how to “build for two markets,” and how to hire a talented, internationally-minded local team who connect with your company culture and how to listen to them and leverage their local market expertise.

Also Read: Vietnam can be an excellent launchpad for regional, global startups: says Eddie Thai

This episode is sponsored by our partner ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets here.

Find our entire podcast episode library here and learn more about our forthcoming book on global business growth here.

Interested in learning more about our book Global Class? Be the first to get a copy (coming out August 23), and get a ton of valuable free bonuses for pre-ordering. Learn more here.

—

The article was first published by Global Class.

Image Credit: Global Class

The post BlaBlaCar founder on how to create a business name with global appeal appeared first on e27.

Consumers eagerly anticipating a long-awaited vacation are set to encounter something of a frenzied return to the tourism scene. As chaotic images at airports and stories of lost baggage hit global headlines, the travel sector is looking at a less than smooth ride to normalcy. Yet beyond the headlines, there is another threat that’s quietly undermining the travel industry: ad fraud.

It is more than two years since the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to an abrupt standstill, putting a lengthy halt on leisure travel and vacations. Now, however, all signs point to an incredible rise in Asia Pacific travellers this year.

One report estimates that APAC’s travel and tourism sector is expected to approach pre-pandemic levels while another estimates that the ASEAN region will receive an estimated 155 million tourists in 2022.

Meanwhile, an estimated 430 million more passengers are predicted to fly in Asia-Pacific compared to last year as leisure and business trips return to pre-pandemic levels.

Naturally, these numbers should give business leaders in APAC’s travel industry a cause for optimism. However, travel’s resurgence should be a wake-up call for travel leaders to ensure they are safeguarding their marketing efforts.

The travel industry remains one of the most adversely affected by ad fraud than other sectors. According to our research, bots make up to 80 per cent of all invalid traffic for travel advertisers, a stark contrast to the 15-to-30 per cent effect on other industries.

Also Read: Business travel in the new normal: Strategies and tools for SME travel programme

For the uninitiated, ad fraud is when bots, click farms, ad stacking and other illegitimate tactics are utilised to sabotage a brand’s advertising efforts through invalid traffic. When a campaign is plagued by fraudulent activity, the advertiser and agency receive no return on investment and no valid metrics with which to measure their real results.

Since the explosion of digital advertising, notably display ads, fraud has posed a never-ending headache for marketers and their agencies. Already pressured following the two-year global lockdown, the travel and hospitality industries are among the most vulnerable to ad fraud.

Travel advertisers saw an 82 per cent higher brand suitability violation rate than the average rate across other verticals. In the Asia Pacific, the violation rate was up 52 per cent. Display viewable rates in APAC were 11 per cent lower for travel advertisers as compared with other industries, and video viewable rates were 15 per cent lower.

The reason travel is so vulnerable to this type of fraud is partly due to the proliferation of third-party online travel agencies (OTAs), some of which are authorised and some that are not. These OTAs function by scraping the data of airline and hotel databases and then selling them on behalf of airlines and rentals.

As airline websites and travel apps are home to a host of data such as flight and pricing, they are prime targets for bot activity. Unauthorised OTAs deploy bots to scrape flight information and fares, then hold seats to resell them later. This makes it appear as though far more people are viewing than booking flights, thus skewing airlines’ attribution data.

In addition, the travel industry also has many high-value loyalty programmes, such as frequent flyer points and hotel chain credits, and these pose an alluring target for fraudsters to assume control of. 

Moreover, in an increasingly digitised world, travel vendors are turning to apps and mobile experiences to ease the travel journey and reach their target customers. But, by trying to drive installations of their apps, travel brands are more susceptible to receiving bad quality traffic and misattribution.

According to our analysis, performance networks that are being paid to drive these installations are delivering upwards of 30 per cent invalid traffic on average. This results in many fraudulent installations and misattribution of post-install events such as flight and hotel bookings.

Also Read: How can influencer marketing help the travel industry in a post-pandemic world

This is a grim picture for travel marketers in the Asia Pacific as many markets here are particularly susceptible to high rates of ad fraud. A recent study revealed that Singapore has one of the highest fraud rates worldwide, followed by Vietnam, as other regional markets reported above-average volumes.

Taking ownership

If unresolved, ad fraud essentially remains a leaky bucket within a travel marketer’s budget. Not only are countless advertising dollars lost every day to ad fraud, but advertisers are left vulnerable to low latency and even malware from the onslaught of bad bots.

Resolving the problem requires third-party verification tools and ad fraud detection technology. Marketers and advertisers need to start adopting this technology at scale to stop the proliferation of fraudulent traffic.

For the travel industry, ad fraud technology should be regarded as a core protection tool and should be added to other cyber security measures. This kind of adoption requires a cultural change from the top-down.

Chief marketing officers, therefore, need to take ownership of this by advising their peers on which ad fraud technology they use, how they use it, and how it will impact their business.

Once ad fraud detection tools are seen as a vital part of a business’ marketing and technology stack, then the travel industry can finally solve the problem together.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post How to not let the bots ruin your travel plans appeared first on e27.

In the past few years, South Korea has emerged as a lucrative Asian destination for a lot of foreign investors and companies. As per the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, Korea was number five in 2019. Furthermore, by nominal GDP, the country has the fourth-largest economy in Asia and the tenth-largest in the world.

However, scaling a growing business entails making a lot of big and small decisions, out of which, where to expand next is probably the first and biggest one. 

As such, in the third episode of the Market Access Series in partnership with Globalization Partners, we explore why and how you should expand your business to South Korea. Featuring Bonhi Gu, Director of Invest SEOUL; Jung-hee Ryu, Partner and CEO of FuturePlay; and Charles Ferguson, General Manager – Asia Pacific of Globalization Partners; the panel is moderated by Dennis Poh, Founder and CEO of Legatcy.

Home to Samsung and Hyundai, to BTS and YG, Korea is a globalised business haven

Bonhi from SEOUL opened the discussion by making a case for Korea, stating that the country is an innovation leader. And, he is not wrong. Did you know that according to the Bloomberg Innovation Index, South Korea held the title of the most innovative country for six years until 2020 when Germany claimed the top spot only to jump back to number one in 2021?

Home to 50 million people and resting between two Asian giants, China and Japan, South Korea is often overshadowed as a business destination but it is important to remember that the country has a sophisticated and affluent populace, world-leading infrastructure, and a plethora of business opportunities.

Also read: Looking to expand your business? Head down to the Philippines!

Bonhi explained that Korea has an extremely modern infrastructure and an internet-savvy population. ​​As per Statista, around 92.7 per cent of South Koreans owned a smartphone in 2021, up from around 21.9 per cent in 2011. 

Jung-hee from Future Play believes that Korea has a very unique position among Asian countries being home to the likes of Samsung and Hyundai. He further stated that Korea also has a unique cultural aspect with global phenomenons like BTS and YG as well as a rich heritage that has infiltrated virtually every aspect of global pop culture. This ensures a very globalised ecosystem for any business setting up offices in the country. South Korea also benefits from its strategic location, acting as a bridge between Southeast Asian markets and giants like China and Japan.

Ferguson from Globalization Partners shared that Korea is at an inflexion point today and that over 70 per cent of global corporations come to Korea for some sort of collaboration, be it for marketing, hardware, or software.

Challenges and opportunities for startups expanding to Korea

Obviously, there are certain challenges for which any business expanding to Korea or any new country for that matter, needs to be ready. There can be language and cultural barriers that might slow down or even obstruct business growth. Advising startups on overcoming these challenges, Ferguson shared a lesson he learnt in business school: “Proper preparation prevents poor performance”. He emphasised the significance and value of localisation.

The panel also encouraged business owners to start networking before they actually plan to roll out the expansion. Reaching out to local players and key stakeholders and leveraging virtual networking platforms to gain a better understanding of the local scene can help eliminate a lot of these challenges. 

Korea can be an excellent destination to test products and launch new solutions. With 23 million people living in Seoul and its neighbouring province (Seoul Capital Area), the region’s population density hits 8,940 per square mile. This means people live in close communities and are thus more engaged with each other. By comparison, in global cities like New York, 1,127 people live per square mile; Shanghai records 1,406 per square mile.

Also read: Challenges and opportunities for startups expanding to Thailand

With all of these factors, it’s certainly a ready market. Korea ranks second in the World ICT Development Index (ITU). Furthermore, Korea has a highly educated talent pool with Seoul alone housing 32 universities, which take 20% of the total students in the country.

Bonhi shared that more than 70 per cent of Korean people ranging between 25-35 years have a tertiary degree, which means that most of the talent pool can leverage their specific skills and knowledge and contribute to business growth. He also added that over 35 per cent of the population have a Master’s degree or PhD.

If you are looking to leverage the burgeoning business ecosystem in Korea as well as the highly competitive talent pool, get some boots on the ground, be open to collaborations, and get ready to launch! 

To learn more, view the webinar here.

– –

This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Globalization Partners

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

The post Here’s why startups should consider South Korea for business expansion appeared first on e27.