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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We are taught from an early age to specialise. Our parents frequently remind us of the importance of picking a lucrative profession.

Universities are designed to force a choice of specialisation as soon as you graduate high school. But, most importantly, the labour market rewards specialists a fair bit more than generalists.

Think of the average job description. Most JDs are written to attract people with experience in a niche field.

Job interviews are the same. The employer asks questions to understand the depth of your specialisation rather than your ability to adapt and leverage different fields. As a result, we all experience pressure to figure out what we want to do at every major step of our lives.

Specialisations like being a doctor or a lawyer are glorified because of their critical role in society. But there is little regard to how we feel about taking on such roles.

Most people grow up feeling insecure and confused under all that pressure. I cannot blame them; it’s not easy to find out what you want to do so early. Such a decision will have a long-term impact on your ability to earn and support your loved ones.

Specialising early is what people call “conventional wisdom” or “timeless advice”. That stems from the Lindy effect, which proposes that the longevity of activity is proportionate to its life expectancy. The longer something survives, the more confident we are that it will continue to exist.

Historically, specialising has been necessary. Our survival depended on specialising in agriculture, healthcare, governance, art, education, etc. But as the world is getting more complex, I am not sure if that’s still the case.

Adhering to practises that have worked in the past is like outsourcing significant decisions in your life. Decisions will impact your career trajectory, income, and potentially your happiness. This begs the question, do you want yesterday’s wisdom to guide your entire life?

Before I move forward, let me offer a disclaimer. I am not entirely against timeless advice. There are many examples of timeless advice that most likely is still true today.

Starting a war is wrong. Drinking excessively causes health issues. Gambling brings the risk of ruin. History has shown us the consequences of such decisions.

There is no need to go against all conventional wisdom and question it. Having said that, it is vital to be selective when making life-changing decisions.

From specialist to generalist

When I look at my own life, I made the mistake of trying to be a specialist way too early. I graduated primary school with the highest possible GPA in Bulgaria.

As a result, I could enrol in any high school in Sofia. While my parents did give me the freedom to make my own choice, they advised me to pick a profiled high school.

Profiled high schools were a relic from the soviet union. Institutions are designed to teach you what regular schools cover, plus the basics of a specific profession like chef or mechanic.

My family did not have a lot of money, so picking a school that could get me a part-time job while studying was a no-brainer choice. So I found myself selecting a hospitality profiled school.

Also Read: Why it is never too late for mid-career professionals to be an entrepreneur

A few years into my studies, that bet paid back. I was working part-time at all major five-star resorts in the capital. My evenings and weekends were consumed by events where I worked as a waiter. The payment was decent, and I quickly outpaced my parents’ earnings.

At the age of 17, I received my first leadership role while earning more than anyone in my entire family. The more I specialised, the more valuable I became. At that time, I could get a job at any restaurant or resort in Bulgaria. The compounding benefits of specialisation started bearing fruits.

When I turned 18, I moved to Denmark to continue my studies, taking on another degree in Hospitality Management. That led to management training in a branch of Novotel located in Taiwan, and turned into a full-time leadership position.

So naturally, I started asking myself, is a career in hospitality what I want to do? It turned out, I was not sure, which led me to return to Denmark to continue my studies.

Once back in North Denmark, I attended a startup weekend event. That event opened my eyes to an entirely new world. I tasted the tech sector, entrepreneurship, and a few different industries throughout the weekend.

My curiosity was satisfied like never before. The whole experience felt just right. Something inside me clicked.

Suddenly, I realised how little thought I put into selecting my specialisation years back. As an outcome, I got good in a field that did not satisfy my curiosity. A profession that did not bring the growth and self-actualisation I was subconsciously seeking.

On the other hand, the world of startups exposed me to many different roles like marketing, sales, fundraising, finance, legal, product, human resources, and everything in between. The more I dived into entrepreneurship, the more I learned about each field.

While I was not becoming an expert in any of them, I learned just enough to be dangerous over time. That experience taught me how you do not need to be a world-leading expert in any field to succeed. You need a strong bias for action and basic knowledge to make quick decisions.

Generalists are underrated

My generalist’s journey has been nothing short of rewarding. It helped me explore various fields, industries, and even a few cultures. The broader my experience got, the more valuable I became. The pivot to startups and tech started paying back.

Whereas specialists outperformed me in their field, I could see the big picture. The interconnectivity of how different teams operate became crystal clear in my eyes. It felt like a puzzle was being completed in front of my eyes. The broader context offered a perspective only a founder can have.

I have written in the past about the founder mentality and its importance. Thinking like a founder is an invaluable and highly rewarded skill. Yet, in my experience, it’s difficult to adopt such a mindset if you do not have a decent understanding of how unrelated teams work.

You need to expose yourself to various problems and tasks to gain that understanding. The more you execute, the better you understand your strengths and how unrelated fields connect.

Also Read: Why working at a startup is a better way to launch your career

Some degrees attempt to give you a holistic overview of how a business works, but even then, it only scratches the surface. Nothing beats the experience of jumping on a new, utterly foreign problem, and doing your best to learn, experiment, and eventually solve it.

Here you go, my thoughts on why embracing a generalist mindset is a better bet for an asymmetric upside:

• Generalists love analogies. Analogical thinking helps you to take what’s new and make it familiar, or take the familiar and put it in a new light.

• Specialists rely on overlearned behaviour. If the world was static, repeating similar best practices would always work. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Technology is changing the world so fast that, more often than not, existing tools/strategies/practises may not be applicable any longer. We are often fooled by expertise. On the other hand, generalists are not afraid to test new novel approaches or borrow from different industries.

• It’s the combination of specialists and generalists that creates outsized returns. When IBM Super Computer beat Gary Kasparov in 1997, many people first thought that humans seemed to have lost to the machines. But in AI, there is something called Moravec’s paradox “machines, and humans frequently have opposite strengths and weaknesses”. So Kasparov wondered what would happen if a computer played alongside a human. A machine that can assess two hundred million possible moves a second alongside a human who could demonstrate big-picture strategic thinking. The outcome was that supercomputers and grandmasters lost to amateurs paired with computers.

• People who have diverse experiences are more likely to succeed. For example, MIT and the US Census Bureau found that the fastest-growing startups are run by founders who are forty-five at launch. A potential correlation here could be the exposure to different fields in one’s life.

• Specialisation makes a difference in some fields, for example, poker players and surgeons. But in most fields, the game rules are often unclear or incomplete. The solution is not always apparent in such circumstances, and a generalist approach might be better.
• Having a generalist mindset comes with humility. Knowing that you are not an expert in any field helps you stay firm on the ground.

The intersection of generalists and specialists

There’s a framework designed by Brian Balfour called T-shaped background, which demonstrates how you can make the best of both worlds.

Also Read: From sommelier to AVP of Customer Success at a tech unicorn: Lessons from my career journey

T-shaped people are both generalists (highly skilled at a broad set of valuable things, the top of the T) and experts (among the best in their field within a narrow discipline, the vertical leg of the T).

To illustrate the T model in motion, Balfour takes the example of a marketing generalist.

The top of the T is divided into three layers: Base (knowledge layer), Marketing (foundational), and Channel (expertise). Meaning on the very top, you have broad, somehow unrelated knowledge. But as you dive deeper, that breaks down into specialisations and tactical implementation.

Shaping yourself like a “T” would guarantee you a great culture fit in most fast-growing companies. Presenting yourself as a generalist decreases the probability of securing a role in a fast-growing business. But having deeper expertise in one or two areas will give you the leverage to take on any problem.

In my case, the vertical leg of the T is being shaped around content marketing hence why I write so much.

I want to polish that skill, and only repetition, discipline, and feedback can help me improve. The combination of concise writing and knowing a bit about any area of running a business has proven to be invaluable over the years.

Climbing the wrong hill

An important distinction between specialist and generalist career paths is how different the road ahead looks.

As a specialist, it is pretty clear what you have to do to thrive in your field. Mastering your niche will inevitably lead to success.

On the other hand, that’s not the case as a generalist. Generalists often need to zig or zag or even walk backwards before going forward. As a generalist, the path is not clear, which naturally scares many people.

Sometime back, Chris Dixon wrote an essay titled climbing the wrong hill where he describes a classic problem in computer science called hill climbing.

The hill-climbing exercise makes you imagine that you are dropped at a random spot on hilly terrain. Because it’s unfamiliar terrain, you can only see a few feet in each direction, but your objective is the get to the highest hill.

At first glance, people tend to take a step in the direction that takes them higher. But what if you happen to start at the lower hill thus end up climbing the wrong mountain?

Perhaps a better approach is to add some randomness into your trek. What if you start with a lot of randomnesses and then reduce it over time? That would give you a better chance of ending up near the bigger hill before starting your focused, non-random trek.

The more you explore, the higher the probability of discovering the highest hill.

Going back to the specialist vs generalist dilemma. The specialist has not explored the terrain very well. So he may believe how he is climbing the highest hill, but is that true? Perhaps, he will see the higher hill from where he stands.

Also Read: 5 career avenues for data scientists

“But the lure of the current hill is strong. There is a natural human tendency to make the next step an upward one. He falls for a common trap highlighted by behavioural economists: people systematically overvalue near-term and long-term rewards. This effect seems to be even stronger in more ambitious people. Their ambition makes it hard for them to forgo the nearby upward step.” – Chris Dixon, Partner at a16z.

My advice is to avoid climbing the wrong hill. Instead, add some randomness to your walk. Over time you will start uncovering different things about your personality. Especially what you are good at.

At that point, begin decreasing the randomness. Once you find the highest hill, go for it. Do not waste time on the current one, no matter how much better the next step might be.

The long-term rewards of having a generalist journey (perspective, speed of decision making, growth, and learning) outweigh the shorter hill offers (pay, title, and acceptance by society). So keep on climbing but add randomness to your walk.

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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.

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The United Arab Emirates has always fascinated me for its good governance, inclusivity, hospitality, and its vigorous pursuit to become number one in every field — be it technology, transportation, or sustainable development. Its ability to foresee the future, design its cities accordingly, and attract investments has been commendable.

Also Read: Malaysian tech companies take on the global stage at Expo 2020 Dubai

“UAE’s policy has always been to spend now and reap in the future”, said my friend Sadaqath Oruvil, who lived most of his life in the Middle Eastern country, as he drove me to the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on the outskirts of Dubai.

The solar park, spread over 77 square kilometres in Saih Al-Dahal, about 50 kilometres south of Dubai, is one of the pet projects of Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai. It is one of the world’s largest renewable projects based on an independent power producer model. With investments totalling AED 50 (US$13.6) billion, the project has a planned production capacity of 5,000 MW by 2030 from photovoltaic and concentrated solar power technologies.

The Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 aims to generate 75 per cent of its total power output from clean energy by 2050. It will save over 6.5 million tons of carbon emissions annually when completed.

As a tech journalist covering sustainability and climate tech for long years, this came as an opportunity for me to explore and write a feature about one of the world’s largest solar energy projects.

I have compiled a few pics to create a photo feature of the solar park and the innovation centre.

Al Maktoum announced the launch of the solar park in January 2012. The 13MW first phase became operational on 22 October 2013.

The first phase is built up of about 153,000 photovoltaic cells, connected to 13 transformers in inverter buildings. The output is transformed to 33 kilovolts (kV) and generates 28 million kWh of electricity annually.

The first phase contributes to an annual reduction of about 15,000 tons of carbon emissions. The surface area of the project covers 280,000 square metres. On 20 March 2017, Al Maktoum inaugurated the 200MW second phase of the solar park. The project provides clean energy to 50,000 residences in the Emirate, reducing 214,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year. This phase installed 2.3 million photovoltaic solar panels over an area of 4.5 square kilometres.

In June 2016, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) announced that the consortium led by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and EDF Group, through its subsidiary, EDF Énergies Nouvelles, was selected to build the 800MW photovoltaic third phase. DEWA recorded a world record of US$2.99 cents per kW/h for the IPP bid. The 200MW first stage of the third phase became operational on 1 May 2018. The second and third stages became operational in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

The fourth phase combines CSP and photovoltaic technology. The phase will use three technologies to produce 950 megawatts (MW) of clean energy at an investment of AED 15.78 billion. It will have a total capacity of 950MW, with 700MW from Concentrated Solar Power: 600MW from a parabolic basin complex and 100MW from a solar tower and 250MW from photovoltaic solar panels.

DEWA is implementing the 900MW 5th phase of the solar park using photovoltaic solar panels.  This phase will become operational in stages starting Q2 of 2021.

Situated in the park a cleantech innovation hub to promote a sustainable energy future in Dubai and beyond. A marvellous structure, it is the only government building to score more than 100 points in the new construction category for its water efficiency, indoor environmental quality, energy efficiency, innovation and exquisite design.

The innovation hub promotes the latest innovation in clean and renewable energy and highlights the green initiatives of Dubai and DEWA

This facility aims to develop skills and build the next generation of innovators in clean technology by focusing on growing and promoting local talent. It will also act as an education centre by hosting events, conferences, seminars and workshops.

It also aims to build a strong collaboration with local and international schools, universities, startups and companies on research, knowledge exchange and exhibitions.

(The writer is currently on a visit to the UAE)

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Image Credits: Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park

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After the COVID-19 outbreak, thousands of companies switched to full remote or hybrid work.

For most, the shift was beneficial: 83% of employers surveyed by PwC are happy with the productivity of their teams.

At the same time, unique challenges appeared with the progressive adoption of telecommuting: in a Buffer survey, 22% of employees struggled with unplugging after a workday, 19% grappled with loneliness, and 17% experienced communication challenges.

On the whole, the adoption of remote work helped teams be more productive, increased their average profit, and cut operating costs. However, executives are facing new challenges in team management, workplace engagement, onboarding, and training.

Virtual offices offer the benefits of a fully remote workplace and the advantages of office-based infrastructure

87% of teams recognise the benefits of an office as a hub for collaboration and building connections but few employees are ready to deal with housing and commute constraints associated with coming to a workplace.

As teams look for ways to build human interactions and facilitate collaboration without giving up the comfort and operational benefits of remote workplaces, virtual offices have gained popularity.

These platforms enable seamless and casual interactions among employees, drive spontaneous discussion, and promote a healthy corporate culture.

By designing virtual spaces for their teams, managers can create an environment that incorporates all the benefits of a physical office but doesn’t burden the company with extra cost and puts no commute stress on employees.

oVice: a multi-functional and secure virtual office platform

oVice, a Japan-based virtual office platform, is among the frontrunners of the virtual office product landscape. The idea of building a virtual office started taking shape when Sae Hyung Jung, the company’s CEO, got separated from his team at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Unable to leave the country he was visiting at the time, Sae Hyung Jung used online collaboration tools (Slack, Zoom, and others) to stay in touch with the rest of the team — but quickly realised their limitations.

Teammates were no longer able to casually ask him questions and kept concerns to themselves. As such, projects took longer to complete and there was no room for onboarding and employee education.

Also read: Game on with MongoDB: Challenges and insights on the future of gaming

To mitigate the issue, Sae Hyung Jung created a prototype of oVice for internal use.

The platform quickly brought forth positive change: getting status updates became easier, teammates had a space to get to know each other, and the atmosphere of the office was restored.

Realising how helpful a virtual office tool can be to teams who suddenly had to adjust to the new normal, Sae Hyung Jung released oVice in August 2020. The reception was overwhelmingly positive: 100 companies of different scales signed up to use oVice in the week following its release.

At the moment, the platform is used by over 2,000 enterprise companies across Japan, Korea, and other countries: Toyota, Yamaha, Asahi Kasei Pharma, RICOH, and many more.

Moving the laws of a physical space to digital

Creating a real-life office online was an unprecedented challenge, leaving the team with a lot of questions and answers to find. “There was no document to explain how to incorporate physical laws so we had to solve a lot of things ourselves,” Sae Hyung Jung told JAFCO in an interview.

Among the features oVice engineers implemented to imitate a real-life space is spatial audio: a way of audio perception that simulates sound propagation in the physical world.

It allows teammates to hear the voices of people who are in the same range without needing to join calls or video conferences. The feature sets oVice apart from standard conferencing tools.

Also read: Seeding ideas, nurturing explorations with Leave a Nest Grant

Introducing the convenience of remote work to the office

Recognising the benefits of working remotely, oVice engineers made sure to express them in their product. For example, moving between office floors and areas takes a single click — it is considerably faster than walking between desks in a physical office.

For remote teams, oVice is a powerful alternative to standard video conferencing tools as it supports multi-participant meetings, screen sharing, text chat, and other collaboration features. Recently, the platform unveiled a partnership with Zoom, making it easier for remote teams to move their workflows to oVice.

Adding unique features

Other than making the most out of office infrastructure and remote workplaces, oVice introduces extra features to further improve collaboration efficiency.

All office layouts are customisable. Teams can change the way their space looks and explore different creative ideas: from making a full digital twin of their offices to setting up a workplace in space, on an island, or a fiction-inspired place.

oVice makes video conferences more efficient as well, through convenient tweaks like simultaneous screen sharing. The platform allows two or more meeting participants to present their screens to the rest of the audience at the same time.

Through the use of iFrames (HTML documents embedded inside a web page), teammates can share announcements, instructions, and other content.

Also read: Japan is looking for deep tech startups to collaborate with

These and other features make oVice a powerful integration into a remote team’s internal operations. On top of that, salespeople, marketing teams, or talent managers use the platform externally to host client presentations, partner meetings, or job interviews.

Start using a virtual office for free

oVice offers teams a 14-day free trial. During this time, teams get to explore all features of a virtual office.

To help leaders make the most out of their trials, the oVice team offers step-by-step onboarding and assistance support. To have a closer look at oVice, visit the platform’s tour space where you can ask the product team more questions about the tool, its use cases, and benefits.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by oVice

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Nalagenetics, the startup that provides genetic testing solutions in Southeast Asia, today announced the closing of a US$12.6 million Series A funding round.

The funding round was co-led by Intudo Ventures and Vulcan Capital, with participation from strategic investors that include Singapore-based Diagnostics Development Hub (DxD Hub) through the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s (A*STAR) A*ccelerate Technologies Pte Ltd, and Indonesia-based Dexa International, Diagnos Laboratories, among others.

It followed a US$1 million seed funding round that the company announced in November 2018.

“We are excited to continue advocating the development of cost-effective genetic screening for personalisation of prescription and screening, especially for cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and cancers as the biggest killers in Southeast Asia. As the momentum for genetic testing and adoption of value-based care is increasing, we see a lot of interest from hospitals and providers that did not exist before,” said Levana Sani, co-founder and CEO of Nalagenetics in a press statement.

The startup plans to use the funding to focus on product development of its proprietary end-to-end software solution Clinical Decision Support (CDS), with the goal to enable whole-genome analysis and integration with more providers and hospitals. It also intends to acquire talents in the field of bioinformatics, software engineering, and genetics.

Also Read: 27 Singapore tech startups that have made us proud this year

Nalagenetics was founded in April 2016 out of A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore’s (GIS) Innovation Fellow programme. Developing end-to-end genetic testing solutions to enable disease prevention, the startup aims to empower healthcare professionals to implement predictive and pre-symptomatic testing for the prevention of commonly detected chronic illnesses in Southeast Asia such as cancers.

With its initial capabilities based on creating affordable genotyping kits and bioinformatics solutions for genetic data interpretation, Nalagenetics now offers end-to-end solutions that include building, implementing, and integrating genetic information in healthcare systems.

Its CDS platform offers multiple modules for healthcare professionals, including a Pre-Test Module to understand which patients need genetic testing; Analysis Modules to process raw data from machines into readable files (CSV format); Reporting Modules to create reports with guideline-compliant recommendations; a Dashboard Module to summarize genetic testing results and inform providers and researchers; and a Post-Test Module to integrate genetic information into healthcare systems.

Nalagenetics’ end-to-end services also include wet-lab protocols, bioinformatics algorithms, clinical recommendations, and API connections, to empower hospitals and labs to run effective genetic testing services

The startup is currently active in Indonesia and Singapore, with plans to expand into Malaysia and other countries this year. It has signed service agreements with over 40+ hospital and clinic partners and is launching its services with its new lab location in Singapore.

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The funding gap between male and female-led ventures worldwide is still far from close to being equal.

The numbers are still nowhere near where they should be, but when looking at the growth that occurred in 2021, it is evident that we are progressing in the right direction, but there is still so much left to do!

Let’s discuss the numbers that rolled in for female entrepreneurs at the end of 2021. We must understand where we are in our push for equality to better tailor our methods as we proceed to break glass ceilings and bridge the gap between men and women both in 2022 and beyond.

The hard-hitting truth in numbers

Some key points to note from the year we’ve just transitioned from:

• On average, women-founded companies grew by 84 per cent compared to male-founded companies, which grew by only 78 per cent in 2021
• VC funding reached all-time highs in 2021, but female-founded companies received just two per cent of funding, which is the smallest share since 2016
• Teams of male and female co-founders obtained 15.6 per cent of the total VC funding in 2021
• Per the Boston Consulting Group, female-owned start-ups generated US$0.78 in revenue for every dollar invested, while male-only start-ups generated US$0.31 in revenue for every dollar invested.

Women-led businesses are not slowing down. In fact, they are growing. Historically, female entrepreneurs have been recognised worldwide for success in sectors such as fashion or cosmetics.

As of late, many female entrepreneurs have been able to scale exponentially in other industries, especially mission-driven and client-focused, such as real estate and biopharma.

While women have proven their ability to become successful in business, they are still forced to face hurdles such as societal expectations and lack of representation, capital, and support, resulting in fewer entry points for women to break through into strong business networking opportunities.

Last year was a big year for VC funding as all-time highs were reached in investment dollars. Unfortunately, with a sharp increase in funds being disbursed, female-founded companies received only two per cent of that funding.

In years past, that percentage has fluctuated, but two per cent truly marks the smallest share for female founders since 2016. At this point, female entrepreneurs are growing regardless of the numbers working against them.

Also Read: Levelling the playing field: How to build a home for women in tech

This is one of the very reasons we’ve founded Angel Alliance, to help empower and fund female entrepreneurs worldwide that deserve the recognition that VCs are failing to provide them today. For female entrepreneurs to acquire more funding, we will need to see an upward shift in representation.

By making entrepreneurship accessible to more women around the world through networking opportunities, supporting female growth in STEM, and providing reasonable means of education, we will begin to see an increase in confident women who believe in their skill sets enough to break through the glass ceilings that’s been placed on them.

It is evident that VCs are making an effort to empower women more, but it is also clear that they feel far more confident in doing so when men are also involved in a project.

Quite an interesting topic, though, when you think about female-founded businesses’ abilities to generate more than twice as much revenue per dollar invested than male founded businesses.

One can’t help but wonder when we’ll cross the threshold of needing a male founder to entice VCs and over into a world where female founders are viewed equally as capable as any male entrepreneur. 

Women have potential

Total global income for women is expected to grow from US$13 trillion to US$18 trillion within the next five years! While there’s no clear prediction regarding female funding, there’s one thing we know for sure; it can only go up from here.

If this projection is accurate, then the growth we saw last year for female entrepreneurs is a mere glimpse into what is just around the corner. Countless barriers need to be broken on the path to equality in the entrepreneurial and professional worlds.

Suppose women can truly continue to inch closer towards the overall income men achieve. In that case, the rest of the world will finally begin to realise that business capabilities are not distinguished by gender.

Angel Alliance: The gamechanger in the market

Angel Alliance is a collection of 6,666 unique NFTs launching on Ethereum on the 26th of March. The NFT project is poised to function as a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation, aka the AngelDAO.

Being a community-driven NFT project, our DAO structure will allow our NFT holders to maintain voting right in each decision made to extend our resources out to people worldwide that need them most.

One of the biggest issues facing female entrepreneurs is finding opportunities to thrive and grow. In 2020, only 2.3 per cent of VC funding went to female founders, and although that number has increased slightly over time, it still has yet to surpass 3 per cent.

Angel Alliance has been coined the “Shark Tank” of Web3 and is quickly gaining popularity as we continue to push forward on our mission to remedy this statistic.

We’re working daily to build a collection capable of empowering and uplifting entrepreneurs worldwide by providing them with grants, education, and exclusive access to resources and networking opportunities to help them scale their businesses. 

How is this DAO leading the change?

Angel Alliance is more than an NFT collection, we’ll be providing solutions to entrepreneurs’ greatest struggles, and we are the first NFT collection specifically dedicated to this cause.

Our goal is to build an uplifting community that allows women to share their business successes and struggles. Social media often creates a distorted image of reality that only shows the growth of someone’s business, not the hardships or low points.

Also Read: From women, to women: Celebrating empowerment in tech

We understand building a business is not easy, and we want women to come to our community to get advice, network with like-minded women, and build up their confidence.

Female founders worldwide will have the opportunity to pitch their businesses to our community, who will then vote on which projects they’d like to see receive grants directly from the DAO.

All grants provided will be a minimum of US$5,000, and any sector qualifies for application. As well as providing funding to founders, Angel Alliance will be offering weekly events hosted by experienced investors to help teach the community how to both apply and succeed in securing funding.

Angel Alliance will offer a bespoke mentorship and support programme to our community, which will match them with experienced professionals that can guide them through their entrepreneurial journeys.

Here are some of our minting rewards:

• US$5,000 giveaway to whoever mints one of our special 1/1’s
• World of Women NFT to one random minter from our pre-sale

 Here are some of our holder perks:

• Exclusive networking
• Educational workshops
• Like-minded + supportive community
• Business grant opportunities (up to US$15k)
• Regular business advice + guidance
• IRL + virtual events

Here are some of our partners and advisors:

• BooHoo: Leading online fashion
• Holly Shore: Fitness enthusiast and mentor
• Kat Dunn: Humanitarian Capitalist, TEDxSpeaker, and Peace Prize winner
• Arjita Sethi: Angel Investor, Entrepreneur, and NASDAQ Advisory Board Member

If you are a female entrepreneur reading this article, I implore you to dive into the world surrounding Angel Alliance.

We are working diligently to provide empowering education and resources, funding through business grants and investor relations, training workshops and guidance regularly, and virtual and IRL events around the world!

If you haven’t hopped into our Discord yet, please head over and take a peek at some of the resources, education, and community. We host giveaways and live podcasts regularly, too. All are welcome! 

Note: This article is not a piece of financial advice. We recommend that you do your research.

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Malaysia-based iPrice Group, which provides a price comparison platform in Southeast Asia, has raised US$5 million from Japan’s Itochu Corporation and the KDDI Open Innovation Fund III (operated by Global Brain Corporation).

With the new funding, iPrice stated it will expand its services to the lending market by helping users find the best e-commerce offering and the best consumer loans to fund their purchases.

iPrice Group operates under its own brand iPrice and through various partnerships with apps, such as SmartPay (Vietnam), GoRewards (Philippines), Home Credit (Indonesia) Visense (Singapore), Robinsons rewards (Philippines) & Boost (Malaysia). It also runs a site in Hong Kong.

The Kuala Lumpur-headquartered firm recently launched a Price Watch service allowing users in Indonesia to receive alerts of their desired products’ price drops directly at iPrice App. The service will continue to roll out in Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand throughout 2022.

Also Read: Southeast Asian e-commerce group iPrice raises funding from LINE’s corporate VC arm

iPrice claims it compares and catalogues over 7 billion e-commerce offers from more than 8 million sellers, attracting more than 130 million unique users in 2021 across the region.

The company’s new investor Itochu has vast experience in lending, and its subsidiary PT ITC Auto Multi Finance operates a lending business in Indonesia under the brand Payku. Aside from Payku, iPrice’s other lending partners include Home Credit (Indonesia), Julo (Indonesia), Cashalo (Philippines), Smartpay (Vietnam), and ZIP (Singapore, launching in H1 2022).

In May 2018, iPrice Group had raised an undisclosed sum in fresh funding led by LINE Ventures, the corporate venture arm of LINE Corporation. A year later, it announced a partnership to launch LINE SHOPPING in Indonesia.

A Facebook and Bain & Company report indicates that in 2021, the number of platforms used by SEA digital consumers has steadily risen to 7.9 websites per user on average, nearly 52 per cent more than 2020. A Google report predicts that digital lending will hit $92 billion in transactions by 2025 due to its current acceleration in Southeast Asia.

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Transforming practice in medicine will always be a challenge. We doctors study for a long time to specialise in a certain area of medicine, and this makes us both extremely passionate about our field but also sometimes blinkered to a certain way of doing things.

But there’s also the important matter of the safety of our patients to consider. Historically tried and tested methods will always feel the safest and least risky option.

However, we must remain open to the possibility that new technologies, such as AI, can help diagnose issues earlier and faster, with greater accuracy and less variability, thus freeing up the time used doing manual tasks to help put more focus on the patient.

A smarter machine for a healthier heart

Running a tech company was never part of the plan; I’m more of an accidental entrepreneur.

My husband and co-founder received a worrying diagnosis about his heart during a routine check one day. He was immediately referred for an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart), only to be told “abnormal” by one doctor and “normal. You have nothing to worry about” by a second doctor; both are reading the same images of his heart.

The discrepancy between the two diagnoses and the highly manual process, and the high margin for error of reading the images struck James. He immediately saw the potential of automating the process and removing any guesswork from reading echocardiograms and giving accurate diagnoses.

Also Read: What telemedicine and Health Tech holds across SEA amidst COVID-19

Admittedly, I was sceptical at first. I’ve spent decades in this field studying to become a professor of cardiology, and there are so many different technical aspects to consider. Still, I came to realise that AI can be so advanced that it can automatically trace the heart’s borders, recognise widths, and all the other crucial measurements necessary to read an echocardiogram.

Similar platforms are partially automated, which means humans still need to manually select the correct image or pinpoint a specific landmark of the heart before the system can read the image.

We were determined to create an end-to-end, fully automated tool, thereby freeing doctors from manual, repetitive, error-prone tasks yet leaving them in full control and with time to focus on matters that require their specialised eye.

The platform improves clinical decision making and cardiovascular research. It recognises 23 echo parameters of the heart and produces a report of a full suite of the basic variables needed for a standard adult transthoracic echocardiogram evaluation that is accessible to non-specialists and affordable.

Advocating an inclusive approach

In order to produce the best possible product, we put a big emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Suppose there are any sex-specific cutoffs, for instance. In that case, we include both men’s and women’s information in the AI, rather than defaulting to the male model as representative of both genders, which has traditionally been the approach.

So by introducing new technology and ensuring all approaches to research and development are inclusive, we can ensure the technology works for all and is a positive advancement for medicine.

Reaching goals, one echo at a time

It’s safe to say that machines will only become smarter and more powerful in our fight against diseases. But the world of medicine should lean in to harness the power of new technology to increase doctors’ efficiency, cut down on human error, and ultimately save even more lives.

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FishLog raises seed funding round led by Insignia Ventures Partners

Funding: Indonesian B2B fisheries marketplace FishLog announced an undisclosed seed funding round.

Investors: Led by Insignia Ventures Partners. Arise Ventures, KK Fund, impact investor Ango Ventures, and Indian growth stage startup Captain
Fresh also participated in the round. It also included prominent angels such as Kopi Kenangan Co-founder and CEO Edward Tirtanata, AwanTunai Co-founder Windy Natriavi, Shipper CMO Jessica Hendrawidjaja, and other strategic angel investors from Indonesia.

The plan: The company will use this round of funding to expand its ecosystem of digital-first products and services for fisheries in Indonesia, scale its regional network across the country, enable new partners to join the ecosystem, and build out its team and capabilities.

The company: FishLog was established in 2020 by Bayu Anggara, Reza Fahlepi and Abdul Halim. The company launched a digital platform to improve distribution for fisheries stakeholders including fishermen, processing partners and cold chain logistics, focusing specifically on strengthening distribution to increase volume. Since implementing this model, FishLog said that it has grown almost 20 times revenue year-on-year.

Also Read: The 27 Indonesian startups that have taken the ecosystem to next level this year

DELOS secures US$8M seed funding extension round co-led by MDI-KB’s Centauri Fund, Alpha JWC Ventures

Funding: Indonesian aquaculture startup DELOS announced a US$8 million extension to its seed funding round.

Investors: Co-led by Centauri (a collaborative fund between MDI Ventures and KB Investment) and Alpha JWC Ventures (a leading Southeast Asian VC fund), existing investors Number Capital, Arise, iSeed SEA, Irvan Kolonas, as well as Alto Partners Multi-Family Office, Mahanusa Capital, Kopi Kenangan founder James Prananto, and a number of strategic follow-on investors.

The company: Founded in 2021 by Guntur Mallarangeng, Bobby Indra Gunawan, Alexander Farthing, and Aristya Noerhadi, DELOS aims to drive the growth and modernisation of the Indonesian aquaculture industry. DELOS buiilds data-driven solutions to day-to-day problems faced by shrimp farmers, and the company said that its early traction has proven its effectiveness in optimising farm operations and significantly growing output.

The plan: DELOS to use the funds to accelerate the onboarding of its “vast” backlog of client farms, and continue to build and scale its main products AquaHero, AquaLink, and AquaBank to accelerate the growth of Indonesian aquaculture.

Also Read: A horse of another: Here’s the complete list of Southeast Asia’s 28 unicorns

Animoca Brands co-leads a US$88M funding round of Hex Trust

The funding: Hong Kong-based provider of digital asset custody services Hex Trust has secured US$88 million in a Series B investment round, Asia Tech Daily reported.

The investors: Led by Liberty City Ventures and Animoca Brands, the funding round also included the participation of Ripple, Morgan Creek, Terra, Primavera Venture Partners, and entrepreneur Adrian Cheng. According to Bloomberg, the investment puts the company’s capitalisation to US$300 million.

The company: Hext Trust was founded in 2018 by Alessio Quaglini, Marc Amez-Droz, and Rafal Czerniawski. It is best known for its proprietary bank-grade platform Hex Safe which enables financial companies, digital asset firms, and organisations to access decentralised financing and prime trading solutions.

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Image Credit: FishLog

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When it comes to promoting a more eco-friendly lifestyle, particularly in the matter of plastic waste management, there is one angle that is often not discussed due to its taboo nature. Yet, as with any problem that we do not talk about, silence does not stop it from impacting our lives.

In their special report, National Geographic estimates that in the US alone, over the course of a lifetime, a single menstruator will use somewhere between five and 15 thousand pads and tampons. A vast majority of these products end up producing waste that includes wrappings and packaging.

This is a problem that is prevalent on a global level as the use of disposable period products have become synonymous with the modern lifestyle. It is the reason why Indonesia-based Perfect Fit aims to tackle the waste issue by providing reusable period products for menstruators in the country.

“Single-use pads are made of 90 per cent plastic and is unable to degrade in Indonesia’s insufficient waste management infrastructure. All the pads that have been used many years ago are not properly degraded and ended up causing microplastic pollution,” explains co-founder Tungga Dewi in an interview with e27. She estimated that there are eight billion disposable pads polluting landfills, rivers, and beaches in 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. Despite the gravity of the problem itself, environmental risk is just one of the challenges that the startup aims to tackle: they also aim to address health concerns from using single-use period products and offer a wider variety of options for customers.

In the global market, reusable period products such as menstrual cups have been gaining popularity in recent years. But for this product to gain popularity in Indonesia, there is one particular hurdle.

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

“Using cups remains culturally inappropriate for many Indonesians because we are not accustomed to tampons. This is why we decide to go with period underwear; this might be something that is more acceptable for Indonesian women as it is not internally worn,” says co-founder Riesa Putri.

Statistically speaking, she elaborated, only five per cent of period products users in Indonesia are using reusable period products –out of this number, less than one per cent is using menstrual cups. Perfect Fit believes that they will have a greater chance of succeeding if they are going with the reusable version of products that are already popular in the market.

“We see this as an underserved market with a high potential,” she stresses.

Women helping women

Perfect Fit is an example of a startup that started off as a non-profit project. The co-founders met when they were both working at Kopernik, a non-profit organisation in Indonesia that aims to reduce poverty in rural areas.

By the time, they were involved in a project that aims to educate underprivileged young women in Ruteng, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) –the southernmost province in Indonesia and one of the least developed in the archipelago–  about reproductive health. As part of this project, the co-founders worked together with underprivileged women in the area to produce cloth pads to be introduced to the young women who are taking part in the educational programme.

“At first, we did not intend to sell the pads, but then we began to see demands from local communities for this product. It reminded them of what their mother’s generation used to wear,” Dewi explains. “… especially since [single use] period products are not as accessible in the area.”

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

Fast forward to 2020, the co-founders began to see an opportunity to turn this into something that is both impactful and profitable. According to statistics, the feminine hygiene products market in Indonesia is currently US$1.5 billion –and this number is expected to continue to grow in the next five years.

So they discussed with the executives at Kopernik about turning the project into an enterprise; the co-founders immediately received the green light as the organisation is always open for their solutions to be used by the wider society –in order to create a greater impact.

To achieve this, Perfect Fit developed a buy-one-give-one model where every purchase of period underwear –which is marketed towards urban consumers in Indonesia– will support the distribution of cloth pads for underprivileged communities in NTT.

“We’re currently focusing in this region but we already have partners in Celebes and Papua,” says Dewi.

Finding that perfect fit

Perfect Fit is definitely not the first company to introduce reusable period underwear. North American brands such as Thinx and Australian brands such as Modibodi has gained international popularity with their line of reusable period underwear in recent years. What are the lessons that Perfect Fit can learn from these companies and their success?

“Interestingly, if we look at the case studies of these companies, because the Western market is more accustomed to tampons, their transition process to period underwear is relatively harder. Yet Modibodi was able to grow by 300 per cent in the first years of their establishment. The same also happened to Thinx … they eventually ended up having the majority of their shares being acquired by Kimberly-Clark,” explains Putri.

“This gives us hope as, in Indonesia, 95 per cent of customers are already accustomed to using pads … so the transition process shouldn’t be too hard,” she stresses.

As the popularity of reusable menstrual products continues to rise, we also begin to see mainstream fashion brands such as Cotton On and Uniqlo launching their own line of period underwear. But Perfect Fit remains confident in the fact that their products are locally made in Indonesia and the social impact angle of their brand.

“It actually gives us a validation that brands as big as Uniqlo and Cotton On would even be willing to enter this range. We have to claim our portion in the market,” Putri stresses.

“Even before this became a trend, we were already deeply invested in the movement to eliminate period poverty. We do not do this just because it is trendy,” Dewi adds.

From their headquarter in Bali, Perfect Fit is being run by a team of six people. With Kopernik co-founders Toshi Nakamura and Ewa Wojkowska as their advisors, the startup is working together with a group of underprivileged women in NTT to produce their reusable menstrual products.

The startup has been supported by EUR150,000 (US$164,000) grants that they received from the Netherlands to support their transition process to become a business. But this year, Perfect Fit has begun to fundraise for their pre-seed funding round.

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Image Credit: Perfect Fit

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