At e27, we are kickstarting a new articles series to know startup professionals and their lives beyond working hours. 

Bee Kheng Tay is the President of Cisco Systems in Southeast Asia and is responsible for driving the networking products giant’s profitable growth. She also leads its go-to-market operations across the ten countries in the region.

Tay brings more than two decades of experience in the enterprise technology industry across Asia-Pacific and Japan. She is a seasoned leader with a proven track record in building innovative sales organisations.

Tay is passionate about encouraging women to pursue a career in STEM. Outside the world of IT, she has a keen interest in history, psychology, philosophy, and science.

In this candid interview, Tay talks about his personal life, professional life, and hobbies.

Excerpts:

How would you explain what you do to a 5-year-old?

I work for a technology company that builds the internet to connect people, things, and data to make the world a better place. My team helps businesses in Southeast Asia use technology to transform the way we work and play, scale their organisations and offer better services to people.

What has been the biggest highlight/challenge of your career so far?

Like many other women, balancing and navigating the demands of my career and parenthood is challenging. It took me some time, but I have realised that these different aspects of my life are not at odds with each other. Instead, they complement and enrich my life. Staying present and focusing on the task at hand when the time calls for it has been a valuable skill for me.

Once I overcame that mental hurdle, I could accomplish many things. Some of my career highlights include becoming the first female Managing Director for Cisco Singapore and Brunei and the first female President for Cisco ASEAN, all while bringing my two children up as a single mother. In and outside of work, I continue to champion women in tech and advocate for a hybrid work model that empowers employees to work from anywhere and juggle their different roles at home and at work.

How do you envision the next five years of your career?

The tech industry holds tremendous potential to help bridge the digital divide and power sustainable innovation. Cisco’s purpose is to power an inclusive future for all. With the opportunities around us, I genuinely believe that technology is one industry that plays a crucial role in bridging the social divide in the world. This will not happen overnight, and I want to drive this momentum in ASEAN as I grow my career in IT with Cisco over the next few years.

Also Read: What makes Desmond Yong thrive in ambiguous situations

I look forward to working with my team to ensure that people and communities in the region can access the information they need seamlessly and securely and enjoy meaningful digital experiences powered by innovative, intuitive, and automated technology.

What are some of your favourite work tools?

I love that collaboration, like many other technologies, isn’t just a business for us. It helps us power our entire organisation.

Especially in a hybrid normal, it is understandable that employees feel distant from not seeing their team and colleagues in the office daily. However, with collaboration tools like Webex, we can reimagine the employee experience so it is engaging and consistent for our people, no matter where they connect.

We have designed Webex to level the playing field for all participants and enhance their engagement with features such as noise cancellation and voice enhancement technology, as well as real-time transcriptions and translations.

These not only facilitate and enhance communication but also ensure that the meeting experience is inclusive for everyone regardless of working locations and circumstances.

For us, inclusivity is more than a physical location. It supports your work style, whether you are an introvert or extrovert, digital native or occasional user, frontline worker, or remote knowledge worker. One of my favourite functionalities on Webex is People Insights, which provides insights into how employees spend their time and who they engage with most often.

The insights can only be seen by the employee and no one else, and this helps them uncover blind spots in how they work to empower them to stay more engaged, be better teammates, reduce potential fatigue and enhance well-being. This has helped me customise interactions with colleagues and plan my day to get the most out of work.

What’s something about you or your job that would surprise us?

Despite my years in technology, I have always gravitated toward the arts. I am a voracious reader, and my favourite authors are Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Over the years, I have also developed an appreciation for art in its different forms. I’m not an art connoisseur, but I enjoy collecting and displaying paintings and art pieces in my home. Ironically, despite my inclination toward the arts, my favourite model is the Standard Model of Particles Physics, which describes the basic building blocks of all known matter. I am full of contradictions!

Do you prefer WFH or WFO or hybrid?

Cisco has always been a big proponent of hybrid work and is here to stay. As a leader, I have seen how hybrid work has helped achieve the fullest potential of employees by empowering them to be their best selves with the flexibility and convenience to work from anywhere and in a way that best works for them.

We are seeing improvements in overall employee performance, work-life balance, and well-being for employees not just in Cisco but across organisations in Singapore and globally.

Also Read: What Pierluigi Cau loves most about working at GitHub

64 per cent of regional employees have shared that hybrid work has improved their productivity. As a result, they are taking more time for themselves, and 80 per cent say that their total well-being across various aspects of social, emotional, physical, financial, and mental has improved.

But challenges remain in fostering an inclusive environment and a sense of belonging for every employee. This fundamentally requires a rethink of various factors that underpin successful hybrid work, including inclusive culture, employee experience, and well-being enabled by technology and led by trust and empathetic leadership.

As leaders, we need to incorporate empathy, active listening, flexibility, and continuous learning in how we lead and engage with people. For example, Cisco conducts Quarterly Engagement Pulses to evaluate and spark conversations about how each employee feels about their team, the work environment, and themselves.

All employees take part in weekly check-ins with their managers that allow employees to have a focused conversation about their work sentiments, priorities, and strengths. This includes what they loved and loathed doing and the support they need from their managers each week.

What would you tell your younger self?

I would tell my younger self that everything is possible. You just need to want it hard enough, be passionate enough, and set goals to guide you consciously and unconsciously during your journey. But don’t be too hard on yourself and enjoy the journey. Beyond that, it is about believing in yourself and recognising that challenging times too will pass.

Can you describe yourself in three words?

No fear, no guilt, no regret.

What are you most likely to be doing if not working?

I love to read. I am very interested in particle physics, psychology, and philosophy. In my free time, I read non-fiction books on these topics.

Earlier this year, I set myself a target to read the top 100 books of all time on the TheGreatestBooks.org site.

What are you currently reading/listening to/watching?

I am currently in the “Great English Writer” phase. The book I am currently reading is Great Expectations, written by Charles Dickens. I am learning more about William Shakespeare and politics, which extends to watching lectures, reading novels, and watching plays on Macbeth, Hamlet, Henry V, Julius Caesar, Tempest, Merchant of Venice, and Twelfth Night.

–

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

The post What makes Bee Kheng Tay a remarkable leader appeared first on e27.

Singapore-based FlexOS, which helps companies manage hybrid teams and offices in a data-driven, employee-centric way, announced today it closed an oversubscribed US$1 million seed round.

Led by Do Ventures, the round was joined by VIK Partners, Vulpes Ventures, Hustle Fund, Wing Vasiksiri (iSeed SEA), and GK Plug and Play Ventures, joined.

Former GoJek VP Windy Natriavi, renowned management consultant Dr Ramesh Ramachandra, Jeff Lonsdale, Julian Low, Kheng Lian, Marc Gottesman, and Amarit “Aim” Charoenphan also co-invested.

Established by Daan van Rossum, Greg Marschall, and Jonah Levey, FlexOS offers companies data-driven tools to engage and retain hybrid teams and operate hybrid offices.

According to research from McKinsey, 90 per cent of companies will switch to hybrid work, combining work from home and work from the office.

In Southeast Asia, hybrid work is often not even a choice for employers.

Also Read: What makes Bee Kheng Tay a remarkable leader

In Singapore, two in five employees will not accept a job if their employer doesn’t provide them with flexibility for when and where to work. In Vietnam, only 9 per cent of Gen Z wants to work in an office full-time. In Indonesia, 83.5 per cent prefer to work in a hybrid mode. Their employers experience challenges when introducing hybrid work.

According to FlexOS, companies must introduce, measure, and optimise hybrid’ policies.’ They must redesign their offices and operate them differently to provide on-demand spaces to focus, meet, and collaborate. Most importantly, they need to be more intentional about employee engagement. A vast body of research shows that connection, community, and company culture suffer when people do not work together in person.

FlexOS supports those companies and their employees. It does so with gamified office check-ins, desk and meeting room bookings, and up to ten monthly events and activities tailored to employees’ unique interests.

—

The post Hybrid work technology startup FlexOS secures US$1M in Do Ventures-led round appeared first on e27.

TNL Media Group, a Taiwan-based multi-language media and data platform, has acquired food and recipe lifestyle media iCook for an undisclosed amount, marking its entry into e-commerce.

The deal aims to grow TNL Media’s readership, launch new products, and expand the group’s paid subscription business.

The group will leverage iCook’s experiences to integrate its current e-commerce services with other suitable media brands internally. The group also plans to connect the new app, membership and e-commerce transaction data to its other existing digital products and services.

The objective is to enhance TNL Meda Group’s data analytic capabilities, unify data across all media brands, and connect with the data sources from the group’s mobile ad tech company Ad2iction. Besides, it will look to grow its big data market research firm TNL Research and AI CDP and data exchange company DaEX.

Also Read: YouTube, Twitch co-founders invest in Taiwanese news site The News Lens

Group Chief Content Officer and Co-Founder Mario Yang said: “TNL looks forward to helping iCook’s direct media sales, social media expansion, launching new video and audio products and giving more international exposure.”

TNL Media is a leading digital advertising, data analytics, and media platform. It runs Mandarin, English, and Japanese editions.  The group has nine content brands and eleven subsidiaries, including The News Lens, INSIDE, Sports Vision, Cool3c , every little d, Agent Movie, OHSOWOW, and Business Yee.

With 7 million monthly unique visitors (MUV), the integration with iCook will bring TNL Media’s total reader scale to 25 million MUV and 100 million monthly page views.

The media group’s existing high-profile investors include North Base Media, an original seed investor in The News Lens, YouTube Co-Founder Steve Chen, Twitch Co-Founder Kevin Lin, and Tim Draper.

Also Read: Taiwan’s TNL Media Group ropes in Tim Draper as an investor

Operated by Polydice, Inc, iCook is a leading recipe-sharing social platform in Taiwan and Hong Kong, with more than 250,000 recipes, 3 million registered members, and 7 million monthly unique active users. Beyond recipes, the platform also provides content about food, cooking, life tips, and general health/living knowledge in several formats, such as blog posts, videos, and other rich experiences.

Its gross merchandise volume grew 40 per cent annually amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. It also has one of the largest app downloads amongst media brands, with over 6 million and a paid subscriber base of close to 15,000.

—

Echelon 2022 aims to provide intimate and focused discussions on key topics and business matching services to facilitate business-driven connections during the two-day event. e27will curate and invite key stakeholders of startups, investors, corporates, and ecosystem enablers to drive towards fruitful business outcomes at Echelon.

The 2022 Echelon edition will be co-located with SWITCH at Resorts World Sentosa from 27 to 28 October 2022. Learn more here. 

The post Taiwan’s TNL Media acquires recipe-sharing social platform iCook appeared first on e27.

Ever since a conversation with a German Bitcoin evangelist back in 2014 where I learned about some of the radical ideas of the blockchain world, crypto has been a topic that has fascinated me.

I kept up with the main developments in the space over the years, I was a financial journalist after all, but it was not until last year that I decided to take the space seriously, both as a creator and as a tech founder. Specifically, my interest has been captured by non-fungible tokens.

Much has been happening in this space, but the numbers don’t lie:

• The market went from 0 to US$40 billion by the end of 2021
• January 2022 started equally strong, with US$7 billion in sales recorded

Eye-watering numbers for sure, which probably explains why the current landscape of NFT observers and users is divided between very vocal worshippers and haters.

As a cautious optimist on the potential of NFTs, I think both approaches fail. The former group fails to see that, indeed, the space is being held captive by the rampant fraud and speculation of many of its players and ignoring the climate concerns that NFTs and other uses of the blockchain raise.

The haters, however, refuse to see the simple fact that creators are, indeed, finally able to monetise content through NFT sales. This is largely achieved by artists targeting fans and communities directly, often without having to play the algorithmic lottery of platforms like Facebook, YouTube or Instagram. That, surely, must be ruffling some feathers and may explain some of the hate.

That being said, we are just at the beginning. A jpeg image or an ebook being sold as an NFT is a rather static, primitive use of the blockchain or any of the amazing technologies available to us.

If the current evolution of NFTs stops at “I sell a digital item, you buy it”, then we are not adding much to what Amazon has been doing for 15 years. And, as many critics like to say, you do not need the blockchain for that.

That is why the concept of “NFT utility”, meaning leveraging the ability of the blockchain where those NFTs sit to act as a shared, trusted ledger of interactions between holders of a certain digital currency and related NFTs, will be key.

Also Read: How NFTs are surviving and prospering in the bear market

The “ledger + utility” piece will be key to the next evolution of NFTs. These utility features are, in fact, already being used for anything from playing crypto-enabled videogames to unlocking access to special communities to providing discounted lifetime access to sales of music or art by a specific artist. Utility tokens are also being used to engage in creative, collective storytelling exercises.

Will all these projects succeed? Absolutely not. But the seeds have been planted for new ways of giving value to so much amazing work done by writers, illustrators and other artists that I do not think NFTs will disappear, even if they end up evolving into something that is not intrinsically tied to the blockchain.

Storya’s NFT Plans

The implementation of an NFT marketplace on the Storya platform in the coming months has two primary goals resulting from the above:

• Help authors monetise. This has always been a priority for Storya, and NFTs will be just another tool that creators on Storya can use if they so wish.
• Fill the gap. The tech skills gap is something that plagued the old creator economy platform, and Storya is built to fix that. We will do this for NFTs by allowing creators to ignore many of the complexities inherent to the “minting” of these tokens (e.g. understanding differences between tokens, selecting which blockchain to use, and what features to include in a smart contract). Through Storya, creators will be able to dip their toes in NFTs (and specifically on the WAX platform) with minimal knowledge at first, then choose for themselves if they wish to build all the technical knowledge required to help them do more complex NFT projects.

And, given Storya’s emphasis on collaboration, we will also work directly with ambitious creators that want to use NFTs to help them build the NFT projects that work for their specific storytelling experiences.

All in all, despite a lot of the negativity, NFTs are here to stay.

And, as platforms offering Metaverse experiences multiply and continue to rely on blockchain-related technologies to power their marketplaces and events, NFTs will continue to soar.

Storya is already working on testing what the Metaverse will mean for storytellers, but the dream is to see static storytelling experiences (an eBook, for example) transformed into an engaging, interactive “experience” within the Metaverse. The possibilities are endless. Topic for another post!

–

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 Are NFTs here to stay (with or without blockchain)? appeared first on e27.

The world is moving at breakneck speed. For perspective, the last 100 years of science and technology have transformed it like never before. Now, digital transformation is disrupting every industry, cluster, and ecosystem. However, there is one area that’s been quiet for centuries, and it seems no one has turned their attention toward it.

Broken payroll, outdated pay cycle

The concept of monthly payment of salary has remained the same for centuries. The practice of a fixed, regular payment at the end of the month started supposedly in 10,000 BC during the first agricultural revolution. It still holds today! Although there have been many technological interventions around payroll calculation and disbursements, the pay cycle frequency has not changed in the last 30-50 years.  

At the end of the month, the paycheck-to-paycheck system leaves the financially vulnerable with extremely limited options to prepare for the future. With little awareness and support, employees can break this vicious cycle of debt and take a step towards financial security.

Earned wage access to the rescue

EWA is a concept where employees can get rid of their everyday financial pressure, access their earned wages, and avail of funds when needed. It works wonders for employee benefits as, unlike payday loans, or personal salary loans, earned wage access involves little to no cost and is not a loan. Earned wage access platforms have the potential to eradicate predatory lenders and their inherent risks. 

Also Read: How payment networks are crucial to the rising fintech movement

With the proliferation of mobile connectivity, fintech innovation, and the gig economy, the solutions provided by earned wage access platforms are creating a future where every worker has on-demand financial access that is fair and transparent. According to a report by EY, in India, 81 per cent of employees face a liquidity crunch between pay cycles and close to 60 per cent said they would consider earned wage access as a deciding factor for their next job.

Running successfully across the US and Europe

Over the last decade, earned wage access has gained mainstream attention in the US and Europe. In the US and 36 other developed countries, more than US$1 trillion of accrued salaries are stuck in the employer payroll on any given day. With payroll and benefits innovations like earned wage access, hourly and temporary workers now have access to their earned wages between the two or four-week pay cycles.

Five years ago, Uber rolled out earned wage access for its drivers. Sometime later, Lyft too introduced a similar feature in partnership with Mastercard. Two years later, to reduce worker stress and increase productivity, America’s largest payroll provider ADP started offering earned wage access as part of its benefit programs. The act was swiftly followed by Sage Group, UK’s largest payroll provider.       

As momentum around earned wage access has grown globally, pioneers like DailyPay, PayActiv and Wagestream are leading the march towards faster, on-demand employee payouts. Global payment companies like PayPal, Visa and Revolut have also come forward to support their employers in enabling faster access to earned wages to the frontline workers.

Enroute Asia: Earned wage access is transforming lives

In the last 24 months, the earned wage access revolution has found strong roots across Asia too. In this region, a large number of frontline workers are desperate for faster, more flexible and inclusive financial services to meet their short-term needs. Earned wage access is proving to be a boon for millions of low to middle-income employees who are desperate to escape the vicious grip of predatory lenders and improve their financial well-being. 

Also Read: GajiGesa raises US$6.6M pre-Series A to provide earned wage access to underserved workers, SMEs

In India, a mid-month cash crunch causes an acute financial crisis among marginal workers. The unbanked and underbanked working population have no choice but to turn to high-interest payday loans, which lead to debt traps. To address these pain points, the earned wage access platform Refyne has emerged as a leading solution that claims to serve over 700,000 workers. The company recently announced an US$82 million Series A led by Tiger Global.

Over in Southeast Asia, GajiGesa is reshaping how employers think about employee benefits and financial wellness. Founded in 2020 by Martyna Malinowska and former Stripe and Uber executive Vidit Agarwal, the company has firmly established itself as the market-leading financial wellness platform at the intersection of fintech and HRtech.

It leads the effort to bring financial integrity and security into every workplace across Southeast Asia. Today, the GajiGesa platform empowers over 250 employers and serves over 750,000 workers and MSMEs across Indonesia.

As the pioneer and fastest-growing earned wage access platform in the region, the company has been quick to innovate and ship additional features like bill payment, mobile top-ups, and rewards in its quest to become the holistic employee benefits solution designed to improve financial well-being. Interestingly the company counts global EWA pioneer and leader Wagestream amongst its investors. 

The success of GajiGesa has also spawned several copycats too. Across the other SEA markets, smaller players like Circopay, Nano, Paywatch and others have popped up to capitalise on the growing momentum around earned wage access.

Coincidentally, two of the newer ones have also been founded by ex-Uber executives. It’s not hard to see why. Uber was ahead of the curve in redefining pay cycles for gig-economy workers, with weekly and bi-weekly payouts the norm since it was introduced in 2014. 

Barely a decade on, thousands of enterprises around the world, and especially across emerging markets, are actively embracing new technologies that offer a better and more inclusive financial system that works for their employees instead of against them.

EWA has a unique opportunity to not only define the future of pay but lead the effort to accelerate financial inclusion in economies around the world too.

–

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 Why earned wage access is the future of pay appeared first on e27.

Singapore-headquartered Glife Technologies, a B2B marketplace to connect restaurants with farmers, has extended its Series round with a US$3 million investment from Tin Men Capital.

This is a follow-up to the US$4.96 million Glife Techologies raised during its Series A in November 2021 and the subsequent US$2.9 million funding injected by existing investors in May 2022.

Tin Men Capital joins previous Series A investors Heliconia Capital (a wholly owned investment subsidiary of Temasek) and Hibiscus Fund (a fund managed by Malaysia’s RHL Ventures and South Korea’s KB Investment).

Since its inception, Glife has raised US$13 million in funding to support its operations across regional markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Also Read: Agritech startup Glife secures US$1.18M seed funding for farm-to-table logistics service

Glife will use the fresh funds to accelerate the launch and operations of its digital marketplace for F&B suppliers and merchants in Q42022 and enlarge its market share in the Indonesian market.

Founded in 2018, Glife connects farmers in the region with F&B businesses through its full-stack solutions for restaurants.  The B2B marketplace aggregates demand for food produce from restaurants and match it with suppliers, giving restaurants better access to a variety of products as well as better prices.

The capital will also be used to strengthen its technology infrastructure to build an end-to-end digital supply chain solution.

Caleb Wu, Co-Founder and Deputy CEO of Glife Technologies, said: “We aim to continue building efficiency and transparency across the food supply chain and create solutions to uplift smallholder farmers across the region.”

“The ongoing pandemic has exposed the brittleness of our supply chain. Disruptions have impacted the flow of produce from farms to customers and venture capital must support industry efforts to embrace innovation and integrate sustainability goals.”

Singapore-based venture capital firm Tin Men Capital recently announced the first close of its second enterprise technology fund. Fund II will continue to invest in B2B technology startups in Southeast Asia. It looks to invest in approximately 10 to 12 enterprises.

—

The post Glife Technologies raises US$3M Series A+ to connect restaurants with farmers appeared first on e27.

Playground, a new platform dedicated to Web3 gaming and NFT discovery, has announced the completion of its oversubscribed pre-seed funding, co-led by East Ventures and Mirana Ventures.

Also joined the round were Arc Capital ( crypto fund affiliated with Pintu), James Z (Founder of Jambo), Adam Levinson, Murali Abburi (Graticule Asset Management, and Benjamin Zhu (Azure Tide, a digital asset specialist firm), and unnamed senior executives from leading blockchain firms.

Playground was founded to address the ‘Web3 information problem’ — the massive gap in the discovery process for both new and seasoned users.

This stems from the rapid growth of blockchain-enabled entertainment projects and the accompanying fragmentation of information – often subjective, outdated or unreliable – over disparate sources and channels.

Targeting this central problem, Playground has developed a platform to bridge the information gap for all users in Web3 entertainment, with a laser focus on legitimacy and experiences.

On Playground, users can interactively discover all aspects of trusted Web3 entertainment projects and be kept abreast of updates and milestones for new and existing projects.

Also Read: We’re still in the dot-com phase of Web3: Steven Suhadi of Standard Alpha

Users will also be able to engage with ecosystems and communities in debate and discourse on a neutral battleground in a burgeoning and rapidly evolving space where experimentation and new ideas abound.

The founding team of Playground has extensive experience, having worked in companies including Binance, Classpass, and Tencent. Founder Clinton Teh (CEO) previously led several strategic initiatives in Web3 gaming and NFTs for Binance’s decentralised chain and was also part of the investment team.

Teh shared: “Despite being experienced blockchain users, our excitement for the new paradigm of digital ownership and decentralisation in Web3 entertainment has been tempered by frustration in the discovery process, where we have met with great difficulty in sourcing, verifying, and aggregating information on Web3 gaming and NFT projects. We believe all users should have a seamless experience learning about projects in the space, from factual information to the actual ‘feel’ of a particular game or interactive experience.”

David Toh, Partner at Mirana Ventures, said, “We believe Playground’s focus on users, experiences, and legitimacy will be a key lever in growing Web3 entertainment adoption in the future.”

–

The post Ex-Binance exec’s Web3 platform Playground bags pre-seed capital appeared first on e27.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted routines and forced us to reassess life as we know it. Now, hybrid working has become the new norm. Our education system needs to see the same change. Edutech is making it happen.

The pandemic threw us into disarray. We embraced hybrid working and fluctuated between impassioned proclamations that it would destroy the world or push us into a new era of explosive productivity.

For all its highs and lows, the majority has spoken. Hybrid working is the new norm. People found what they needed to boost their mental well-being, productivity and motivation.

Our current education system has been struggling to nurture curious and self-directed learners. It is time we look for solutions outside the school walls.

Here’s why I think the hybrid model makes sense for our education system; and how edutech is making it happen.

Learning goes beyond school

In a world full of possibilities, distilling the world and its wonders into a handful of subjects in our curriculum is inadequate.

Diverse experiences will make our children better learners. Heuristic problem-solving exists in our school curriculum but it lacks consideration for real-world elements. Issues such as climate change are discussed in classrooms without the nuances of real-world conflicts and inequalities.

In short, the four walls of the school obscure and unintentionally prejudice perspectives.

Schools of the future

Just as varied models of hybrid Wwrk address the different needs of our workforce, hybrid schooling will need to offer various flexible options.

Also Read: In this age of digitalisation, is edutech a bane or boon for educators?

Hybrid schooling will be an important step toward letting kids decide what, when and how they want to learn. Realistically, it’s not practical to let learners decide entirely.

The key here is to give kids agency, giving them a sense of ownership over their learning. Research has shown that children are more motivated to learn when they feel in control of what and how they are learning.

• LingoTalk is an exciting edutech that offers personalised language learning with AI
• Padlet is a beautiful interactive space for anyone to mindmap and pins a wide range of multimedia
• Doyobi offers student-led experiences online, so students all over the world can meet and collaborate

The Skills Advantage Report by LinkedIn highlighted that employers these days are increasingly prioritising transferable skills in their hiring practices rather than academic qualifications. In tandem, the education we give our kids has to shift similarly.

An inclusive experience

Critics will be quick to claim that hybrid schooling puts students from families that lack resources and knowledge at a massive disadvantage. In actual fact, we only have to look within the communities that we live in. It just takes a little thinking out of the box.

From pet-sitting to volunteering, helping out with a small local business, exploring a passion project, to initiatives to rejuvenate the neighbourhood, the world is interconnected, interdependent and nuanced.

School, on the other hand, is a safe space governed by routine and timetables. I have no doubt that parents feel peace when their child is safe within the four walls of a school, but balancing that with a recognition of the reality that our children will face is equally important.

If you’re in tech, you would know just how interconnected and globalised the real world has become.

Interactions between people lead to greater empathy. Children who develop empathy have stronger relationships with other children and educators, which helps them become better learners.

Freedom in unstructured time

A huge part of why hybrid working resulted in greater productivity was its freedom. Workers were free to work in settings they deemed the most comfortable, invest time in hobbies that were both therapeutic and reinvigorating, and spend more time with their families and loved ones.

Also Read: Edutech in a post-pandemic world: Where do we go from here?

Children need the same freedom to develop their imagination and ability to manage themselves without external stimulation.

• DesignContest challenges designers all over the world to compete and express their creativity
• Masterclass gives you access to experts from anywhere in the world.

With more time and space to explore their interests and passions, children will also discover more about themselves. With greater self-awareness, children develop better decision-making skills and are more purpose-driven.

In a rapidly evolving world, we need to give our children a supportive environment for self-discovery.

Let them fail!

One thing is clear, hybrid schooling will not be neat, tidy or perfect.

Children, with all the optimism and enthusiasm in their hearts, will have ambitions that may not be practicable in the real world. Let them fail. Encourage risk-taking! Let them learn from their mistakes and overcome their fear of failure.

Failure is not the be-all and end-all in life (another issue I have with standardised testing).

In the real world, your value is not determined by standardised testing. Most of our young workers these days struggle with that reality. They believe that to win approval, they should constrain their actions within KPIs that are set for them.

If everyone gave up at the prospect of failure, we would have zero successful startups. Zero!

Our privilege disconnects us

We are privileged. We are digitally literate, we have access to the basic necessities of life. The schools we send our children to also give them “invisible” privileges that disconnect them from life.

Ultimately, if we coddle them, restrain them and teach them that uncertainty and the pursuit of new discoveries are not worth the time, they will be at a massive disadvantage in ambiguous, real-world situations.

School, or our concept of it, needs an overhaul. Parents, educators and the community must participate and invest meaningfully in their education.

Only then can we nurture a generation that we couldn’t be prouder of.

–

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: Doyobi

The post Will hybrid schooling break walls for the next generation? appeared first on e27.

Charged Indonesia, a new electric motorcycle startup, has secured a US$4.5 million (approximately IDR 68 billion) investment led by Singapore-headquartered DeClout Ventures.

Charged Indonesia intends to launch a range of “affordable and practical” e-motorcycles for commercial fleets and individuals in the archipelago in Q4 2022.

Founded in 2022, Charged Indonesia is a direct-to-user e-motorcycle manufacturer and distributor.

The firm is currently rolling out a 16,000-square metre zero energy facility in Greater Jakarta to house its experiential centre and R&D and production engineering teams.

The firm starts with three models to cover varying needs, including personal transportation, logistics, corporate fleets, and ride-hailing services. The firm aims to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) to mitigate air pollution and improve the overall mobility experience in Indonesia.

Also Read: Oben Electric wants to RORR past other e-motorcycles in India with its ICE-comparable model

Stephanus Widi, Chief Commercial Officer at Charged Indonesia, said: “Carbon emissions from traditional combustion motorcycles are one of the main sources of air pollution in Indonesia. Charged Indonesia aims to improve this by leading the transition of combustion motorcycle users towards sustainable mobility. We see ourselves as part of the sustainability movement in Indonesia with the government, state-owned enterprises, NGOs, supply chain partners and other ecosystem members to create a future with cleaner air, reduced pollution and better health for our future generations and environment.”

“This investment is a strategic one for us as we see strong alignment and synergies between Charged Indonesia’s business and our portfolio companies in the smart city infrastructure, IoT, and cleantech space,” said DeClout CEO Lim Swee Yong.

Indonesia’s EV sector is still in its infancy. According to a Gaikindo’s report, only 705 total EV sales were recorded in 2019. As of June 2021, the number of EV sales in the country totaled 1,900 units. When viewed from the total sales of cars in Indonesia in the first semester of 2021, the interest in the EV market is at 0.5 per cent of total cars sold.

—

The post DeClout Ventures leads US$4.5M investment in e-motorcycle startup Charged Indonesia appeared first on e27.

After two years of extensive lockdowns, online webinars, video calls, and very few opportunities to engage with the community in-person, we’re finally bringing you Echelon! APAC’s leading tech, startup, and investment Platform organised by e27, is returning this year with the goal of building stronger collaboration between ecosystem players.

What makes this year’s Echelon different from its past version is that Echelon 2022 is a curated event that focused on connecting key decision-makers from the region’s startups, investors, corporates, governments, and ecosystem enablers.

The event is invite-only and aims to facilitate favourable business outcomes through meet-ups, discussions, and other activities that could help participants connect with and discover potential partners to move their business forward.

With a focus on sustainability and an eye to the future, together, we find out how you can apply principles of sustainability with the newest technologies in today’s business environment to take your business operations to the next level.

Echelon 2022: Exciting things ahead

Echelon 2022 will feature a slew of opportunities for learning, connection, and growth. Here’s a quick rundown on the things you can expect from Echelon 2022!

The event features the Main Stage where participants can learn firsthand from Asia’s experts and thought leaders. Guest speakers will be discussing a variety of topics including fundraising and growth experiences, tips and insights on how to grow and scale, as well as exciting new trends on what to expect in 2022 and beyond!

Another key feature of Echelon 2022 is the Corporate to Startup Business Matching. This feature will bring together corporates that are looking to innovate their businesses together with proof of concept-ready startups, forging partnerships between established enterprises and innovative startups.

Also read: Accelerating Indonesia’s rural economy through social commerce

Complementing such a feature, Echelon 2022 will also be hosting an Investor to Startup Business Matching which introduces investors to highly relevant and investment-ready startups and facilitate potential deals and partnerships geared towards mutual growth.

Bringing back one of Echelon’s most exciting features, the 2022 edition of the programme will also showcase a special Exhibition. Here, participants get to meet Echelon 2022 sponsors and partners to explore opportunities for future business collaborations and partnerships, among others.

If you’ve been itching to discuss your exciting new ideas with experts, the exclusive event will also be introducing Open Networking Session. With Echelon 2022’s dedicated business matching section, participants that take part in the Open Networking Sessions will get access and exposure to relevant decision-makers in the tech industry where they can do in-depth discussions that could help move their company forward.

Apart from the open sessions, participants can also explore unique Roundtable Sessions. Through this feature, you can access closed-door, exclusively themed events dedicated to exploring new opportunities, initiating discussions and knowledge sharing, and fostering collaborative programmes among attendees.

Lastly but certainly not least, the event will be showcasing an exclusive Private Luncheon. This invite-only luncheon for Echelon partners aims to facilitate discovery and discussion with select attendees.

Connect, discover, and learn

Through this revitalised effort to bring the community together after two years, Echelon 2022 attendees have the opportunity to connect and meet in person with investors, corporates, governments, and entrepreneurs who are shaping APAC.

You also stand the chance to discover partners to collaborate with and build productive relationships, with 500 of the most influential decision-makers and industry leaders from the Southeast Asia tech and startup ecosystem.

Also read: Kristal.AI expands to ESOP liquidity offerings

Moreover, attendees can learn and gain insight through discussion sessions featuring veteran and upcoming entrepreneurs and ecosystem enablers who will be shedding the light on today’s tech landscape and the future of startups in the region.

“The Echelon conferences for us is a really big deal, regionally because it brings together all the people in the ecosystem we live and breathe in,” shared Ardent Capital on their experience of having been part of past Echelon editions.

Want to experience what it’s like to marvel at today’s leading entrepreneurs and innovative thinkers? Register your interest to join Echelon 2022.

The post 2022 invite-only edition: Echelon is focussing on business matching and sustainable growth appeared first on e27.