Trust Bank CEO Dwaipayan Sadhu

A year after its launch in 2022, Singapore-based digital bank Trust Bank reached a 12 per cent market share, becoming one of the world’s fastest-growing digital banks. By the end of 2023, the company said that its customer base had grown to over 700,000, or 14 per cent of Singapore’s bankable population, with deposits grown to S$1.9 billion (US$1.4 billion).

“Since we went live, we have been fortunate to have received very, very strong client feedback and adoption … It has been a strong start, even though it is very early days for us,” Trust Bank CEO Dwaipayan Sadhu tells e27 in an interview.

Trust Bank is a joint venture between Standard Chartered and FairPrice Group, whose network of businesses includes coffee shop chain Kopitiam and insurance group Income Insurance. This large ecosystem of companies is viewed as one of the keys behind Trust Bank’s success.

“The fact that we are an ecosystem and are integrated into various parts of the client’s daily lives helps us create real value for clients. For example, almost all Singapore residents have a LinkPoints card. Trust is the only way to accelerate your rewards on it,” Sadhu points out.

“We know that people are concerned about inflation and the cost of daily living. And the fact that Trust allows you to get tangible savings at FairPrice makes it a compelling value proposition for clients.”

Also Read: UNOAsia secures US$32.1M to provide digital banking services in Philippines

Another key point is the improved user experience that Trust Bank offers customers and the proposition built around simplicity and transparency.

“If you look at the market, there are many innovative and complex products. However, clients often tell us that products become too complex over time. As a result, clients feel that many headline rates seem very attractive, but they cannot enjoy those rates or do not know how they can enjoy them.”

Digital banking customers in Singapore

When it comes to the profile of digital banking customers, one usually assumes that this service is geared towards the younger generation. However, according to Sadhu, the one surprising thing about their user profile is how well-distributed their demographics are.

“When we were first launched, there was some myth or expectation in the market that digital banks mostly attract only young customers. Younger customers are usually the early adopters of digital banks. But our experience has not been like that,” he says.

“We have clients who are young, much older, and in the middle age. We have a very well-distributed profile of clients mirroring the Singaporean population. This is possibly a reflection of the fact that everybody has digitalised over the last three to four years. So, it is no longer the case that some people are digital and some are physical, though it is true that some people might be further ahead in the digital curve.”

When asked about key learnings about the Singapore digital bank customers, Sadhu shares two key points: Singapore digital bank customers love rewards. They are also already accustomed to banking products.

Also Read: Securing tomorrow’s finances: Navigating the rise of digital banks with cybersecurity

This delivers a particular challenge for any banking service entering the market.

“It is not a question of getting somebody unbanked to bank with you; it is more of making sure that you meet the unmet needs,” Sadhu points out.

“A great example is the interest rate that banks promised them but do not make it easy to earn. So, how do we build on that? How do we ensure that our terms and conditions for maximising interest rate and reward points are transparently built into the app so that every time you spend on the card, it is clear how far you have progressed and how much more to go to maximise your earnings. And clients have told us they liked this transparency because it is not something they enjoy with anybody else.”

This learning helps Trust Bank figure out the next innovation they want to launch. Sadhu points out that most digital banks are launched in the market with just one product, introducing a new product line as they go. However, Trust Bank went live with various products, including a credit card, a deposit account, and general insurance, distributed from NTUC Income.

“We knew having a wide product set is important in a competitive market like Singapore. We have held many client sessions, and clients have also told us they want a wider product offering than just a single product,” he says.

“Since then, we have further enhanced our products. For example, we have introduced personalised financial management or PFM. As a tool in the app, we have brought more forms of insurance. We have also introduced supplementary credit cards and an unsecured loan product, which we call instant loan, towards the middle of last year.”

It is also looking forward to bringing more variants of loan products and building investment propositions.

What is next for Trust Bank

Trust Bank is currently run by a team of 260 people based in Singapore.

Also Read: Digital banking in Indonesia: Growing importance and future trends

For the next stage of their journey, the company plans to build on the milestones they have achieved in less than two years since their debut.

“We want to establish ourselves as not just a digital bank, but as a major bank in Singapore,” Sadhu says when asked about the company’s 2024 plan.

“We believe that we want to establish ourselves as the fourth largest bank in Singapore. As a new entrant just launched in 2022, exiting 2024 as the fourth largest bank in Singapore will be ambitious, but it will also be quite a statement to make in the market.”

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Image Credit: Trust Bank

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Leapfrogging to voice

Businesses in the Asia Pacific increasingly cater their products toward digital natives. These, of course, are millennials and younger generations who grew up with digital technology as a way of life, as compared to a person who had to adopt it as a digital immigrant.

There is a new technological cohort that businesses should cater to; voice natives. These are people who grew up accustomed to interfacing with devices through their voice, as popularized through assistants like Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri.

This comfort for voice-enabled interaction cannot be emphasized enough, as their counterpart, those voice immigrants, tend to prefer legacy interactions like typing, pointing and clicking with a mouse or trackpad, or navigating via touchscreen. These voice immigrants, in short, prefer tactile feedback.

Why should businesses in the Asia Pacific care that there is an increasing number of people opting for voice over tactile interfaces? It’s because the use cases for voice is evolving, and evolving fast.

Most people in the region still associate voice with low-level commands: You can ask your voice assistant to play a song for you on Spotify, research basic queries through Google and recite them back to you, or check your schedule on your online calendar.

Also Read: The Brexit dilemma: will London still maintain its standing as a fintech hub?

But the voice will increasingly be shifting toward higher-value work, owing to the current state of mobile penetration.

Between 2018 and 2019, mobile penetration has risen in Indonesia by 9 per cent, the Philippines by 14 per cent, Malaysia by 17 per cent, Thailand by 19 per cent, and Vietnam by 24 per cent. The rise of mobile ownership in ASEAN sets the stage for the rise of voice.

“Southeast Asia has produced a whole digital generation whose first experience with the Internet is via smart mobile devices. The region is set to leapfrog technology once again with digital transactions initiated and fulfilled, more and more, via voice,” said Nilendu Mukherjee, the Regional Sales Head for ASEAN at Financial Software and Systems (FSS), one of the companies at the heart of this new tech frontier.

Founded in India in 1991, FSS services companies around the world, providing them with end-to-end payment solutions that include everything from issuance and digital banking to analytics and payments processing. Its latest solution is what it calls FSS Voice Commerce.

FSS Voice Commerce connects with the core systems of banks on the back-end, allowing their customers to conduct transactions through any voice-capable device made by Amazon, Google Home, Apple, and all the other brands in the space. Powered by machine learning, FSS Voice Commerce analyzes customer behavioural patterns and other data points to predict the next step of the conversation.

Preparing the voice ecosystem

Before consumers can regularly check their bank statements via their voice, pay their bills or merchants, or engage with advisory services, the banks themselves need to be first on board. There needs, in short, to be an ecosystem around voice. The ecosystem is just as important as the innovator, a fact you can see in spaces like grocery-delivery.

While Webvan pioneered the concept of grocery-delivery as early as the dot-com boom, it was not until the broader ecosystem of logistics, payments, and other key partners arose that allowed the industry to flourish in such companies as Instacart, Amazon Fresh, Google Express, and Brandless.

Also Read: The 8 contenders to watch for in Vietnam’s burgeoning fintech ecosystem

In much the same way, FSS is also focused on building its broader ecosystem of partners. The company is exhibiting at Seamless Philippines this week, as part of a larger initiative to grow its ASEAN presence, given that the region has now surpassed the west in digital payments growth.

FSS believes that voice will play a crucial role in developing its market leadership.

“FSS is gung-ho on voice as part of the company’s two-pronged approach to strengthen its market position: consolidating key strategic partnerships with leading banks, processors and fintech companies to develop targeted payment propositions; and investing heavily to build state-of-the-art infrastructure to drive growth and innovation. In this way we capitalize on a booming digital payments market,” said Ram Chari, FSS Global Business Head.

This premise is promising, given the growing ubiquity of voice-enabled devices. There are already 2 billion such devices in the hands of consumers worldwide, and 54 per cent of their users turn to these voice assistants at least once a day.

If a voice-driven future becomes a reality, consumers in ASEAN can look forward to more seamless and convenient user experience for their financial services.

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

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Image Credit: Ilyass SEDDOUG

This article was first published on October 2, 2019

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India’s leading multi-stage accelerator fund, 9Unicorns, will be hosting the much-awaited fifth edition of its Global Demo Day or DDay 5 on 24th April 2024. This year, the 9Unicorns Portfolio Companies expect to raise $110 million on the global demo day.

The previous editions of DDay were a huge success, with over 70 participating companies raising over $472 million. 56+ companies successfully raised further rounds of financing from global Marquee Investors and family offices.

9Unicorns, which has backed successful startups like ShipRocket, Videoverse, Blusmart, Join Ventures, Leverage Edu, Zypp Electric, Rooter, and Ethereal Machines, amongst others, will be hosting this flagship event across three time zones — the US & North America, Indian Subcontinent, and the Middle East. 

Over 20 startups led by disruptive entrepreneurs will showcase their businesses to over 1,500 global investors, family offices, and prominent venture capital funds. In this edition, participating startups hail from sectors across e-commerce, energy, SAAS, fashion, fintech and financial services, consumer brands, and media and entertainment. Through this event, these startups stand a chance to gain global exposure from investors at the event.

Bridging startups and investors

“DDays are a great opportunity for startups to connect with investors all around the world and showcase their offerings. This helps startups gain international exposure and build further rounds for growth. We are expecting a very good response from investors in the fifth edition,” said Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Managing Director and Co-founder of 9Unicorns and Venture Catalysts.

Also read: Sustainable development through empowering commerce in Indonesia

On average, most of the participating companies have raised about $3 million, and are seeking to raise $110 million. These companies are playing a pivotal role in empowering small businesses, aiding financial inclusion, and reducing the energy footprint of individuals and commercial properties.

These startups have been mentored by senior industry professionals and domain experts. They have been guided by serial entrepreneurs on their strategy, business, and roadmap in terms of product and operations.  Based on their past track record, these companies have scaled four times to twelve times in the past 12-18 months and achieved a strong product-market fit with users and enterprises. 

Interestingly, about 60% of the founders are serial entrepreneurs who have built, scaled, and exited profitable businesses in the past. Some of the first-time founders have scaled their businesses from 0 to $1Mn in less than 2 years, showing phenomenal dedication and commitment to addressing global problems. 25% of their current rounds are already committed by global investors from Europe, the US, MENA, and India.

Also read: SAFE STEPS D-TECH Community Hub is leading the way to a resilient future

DDay events serve as a pivotal platform for early and growth-stage companies to secure funding. The distinctive feature of these Demo days lies in their meticulous selection process, focusing on startups with impressive track records and a strong emphasis on profitability and growth. 

About 9Unicorns:

Mumbai-based 9Unicorns, founded by Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Anil Jain, Anuj Golecha, and Gaurav Jain, is an accelerator program backed by successful founders & leading CXOs for early-stage startups. The company believes in adding value to its portfolio companies by going beyond capital to help first-time founders and seasoned entrepreneurs build their next venture and become the next leaders in their category.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Venture Catalysts

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Nowadays, most companies tell us that they are fully aware of treating customers with the utmost care and always put their customers first.

However, too often, this is not the case. And businesses that do not put enough emphasis on customers aren’t too likely to survive, at least judging by the latest research in this field.

According to a study, customer experience may become an even more important brand differentiator than price and product. In other words, if you’re not truly customer-centric, having a great product and good prices might not be enough.

And if you take into account that 86 per cent of consumers are ready to pay more for better customer experience, it’s no wonder that customer-centric businesses are as much as 60 per cent more profitable. 

This further means that being devoted to your customers means great things for your sales as well.

In a way, choosing between being sales-oriented or customer-oriented is not even a dilemma, since taking good care of your buyers will also have a positive impact on your profits in the long run. 

Customer-centricity and digital marketing

The way digital marketing works fits very well into the idea of customer-centricity. It’s never been easier to know exactly what your customers or prospects want, and it’s never been easier to deliver them the right ad, offer or recommendation.

In addition, the entire retail world is shifting towards online shopping, giving you another reason to focus on digital marketing. In 2020, the number of digital buyers will surpass 2 billion, compared to 1.34 billion five years ago.

So what can you do? How do you become (or stay) customer-centric? And why would you do that?

It’s probably best to go through a few of the most common digital strategies that essentially focus on the customer and explain which gains you will have if you implement them properly. 

Content marketing

Being customer-centric means, above all, providing true value for your customers. It means you should go over and above small salesy tricks that will bring you short-term profit and do something solely for your customers’ sake, without obvious financial interest.

Quality content-marketing does exactly that. Of course, you have to make sure that the content you post is not purely promotional.

Most of the content should address your customers and prospects, be useful to them and answer their questions. Obviously, you shouldn’t publish just any type of content but instead focus on topics that are related to your industry, your business or your product. 

This way, you’re ensuring that you attract the right type of audience. There’s a good chance that the particular audience that finds these stories and topics interesting will also find your product interesting. In this case, being helpful to your audience also means increasing your conversions and sales and helping yourself.

There are many convenient channels you can use to distribute this content, especially given the rise of social media. Determine your target group and employ the channels that they tend to use. 

Moreover, a website is still a must for every serious business. And if you decide to start a company blog have in mind that a slow, confusing and visually unpleasant site will surely undo all the positive effects of good content.

Websites that take more than 3 seconds to load risk losing up to 40 per cent of their visitors right away. Your site is the heart of all your online activities, and if you consider your company to be customer-centric, its performance and looks have to be top-notch, especially if you use it for content marketing activities.

Power of influencers

In essence, influencer marketing may not be the newest thing in the world of advertising. For decades, brands have used the popularity of certain actors, sports players, models or artists to convince the general public to buy their product.

However, the emergence of social networks has changed the game dramatically. Today, influencer marketing is an incredibly diverse form of advertising that opens plenty of opportunities for brands.

So why should leveraging influencers be considered a customer-centric strategy? The reasons go over and above the fact that your customers simply like this influencer person. More importantly, they trust them and like their content. 

Also Read: How to find the right influencers to grow your brand effectively, and how to measure the impact on your business

In a way, influencer marketing is not too different from traditional content marketing, but here you use someone else’s platform. In the audience’s eyes, your brand is simply an integral part of the influencer’s content that they would watch or read anyway. It could even be said that you’re not just connected to a show or blog they like, you’re also helping it survive.

Naturally, all this works only if you carefully choose who you work with. The influencers should also be able to make the story about your product smoothly fit into their content. It mustn’t stick out or seem to salesy.

Furthermore, this person should be someone with expertise and credibility in your branch. Finally, there should be an overlap between your target group and the influencer’s audience. Hiring an influencer that doesn’t fit this description to help you with your marketing activities could actually have a negative effect, so pay special attention to this part of the process. 

Personalisation

Personalisation is one of the most important buzzwords in digital marketing nowadays. With some types of content or promotional material, you have to go beyond your average buyer. You even have to go beyond different segments of your target group. You have to address every customer individually.

We haven’t always lived in times when that was possible. But in this era, if you’re able to collect the right type of info about your customers and analyse them properly, it’s quite simple to create banner ads, emails, special offers, recommendations or push notifications that fit one particular user.

Of course, for that, you’ll need a reliable CRM software to help you with obtaining and processing a large amount of data. Inaccuracy or lack of data can pose a big problem for your personalisation efforts, so choose your CRM software wisely. 

Anyway, once you get that straight, the possibilities are endless. With enough relevant info about your customer’s details, as well as their purchase and browsing history, you can time your ads and messages perfectly.

Also Read: 7 principles of intelligent personalisation

You can identify the very moment in the customer journey in which you will address the right person with the right kind of message. 

Your customers will have a feeling as if the message is tailor-made particularly for them. They will get only (or at least mostly) ads and offers that they find interesting.

This way, you show that you care about their experience. You’ll have your benefits as well. Namely, 88 per cent of marketers report that they’ve had a measurable lift in business results thanks to their personalisation programs.

Building a community

A business that prides itself on being customer-centric should strive to develop a dynamic and productive online community. 

Try making your social media accounts less about you promoting your products and more about making a connection with your audience and customers. Use these channels to help them solve their problems and encourage them to discuss industry-related topics. Let your website and social networks be places where they meet, exchange ideas and ask questions about your field and your brand.   

Apart from doing great things for your reputation, an active online community has other advantages as well. It will motivate people to engage more actively in rating, reviewing and commenting on your business and products.

This is especially important given that 87 per cent of shoppers begin their product search online, and 91 per cent of them read online reviews. An active community will help you get a good starting position in this respect and certainly won’t do you any harm. That is, unless your product is bad, in which case you have bigger problems than the digital marketing strategy. 

Mind the feedback

No matter how carefully you plan and execute your digital strategy, there’s always room for mistakes and uncertainties. Use some of the social listening tools at your disposal and watch closely how people react to products, campaigns, and posts. Be detail-oriented and open to criticism.

After all, they’re the ones who ultimately judge you – your clever charts and diagrams don’t know what people want better than the people themselves.  

Sometimes, you don’t have to make any particular mistakes; it’s just that people’s interests and desires change over time and things that worked for them don’t work anymore. Get used to making adjustments on the go so that your content and your approach fit your audience better. 

On the other hand, you’ll have to take care that you don’t make adjustments so big that you lose your brand identity. People expect consistency and continuity from a brand if they’re to consider it trustworthy.

But this doesn’t mean you should stubbornly refuse to change anything in your perfect strategy if it gets bad feedback. You should take people’s reactions seriously, roll up your sleeves and figure out what you can do about it. 

Final thoughts

All in all, being customer-centric doesn’t at all mean that you’ll be losing business at the expense of making your customers happy. Focusing on the customer is how business should be done.

Every now and then you ought to do something for your customers, that’s not exactly immediately profitable. Your customers will recognise that, and at the end of the day, your business will be rewarded for it.

Finally, it’s safe to say that if you wish to become genuinely customer-centric, you’ll have to make that a part of your overall company culture.

That’s how every department and every individual in your company should think to make it work. Naturally, this will be mirrored in your digital marketing activities as well. 

If you don’t care, it’s difficult for your customers to take you seriously. But if you do care, use the whole new world of possibilities that digital marketing has to offer and show in practice that you really put your customers first.

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

Image Credit: chaitanya pillala

This article was first published on October 3, 2019

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Southeast Asia is home to over 1,700 startups with at least one female co-founder. As many as 657 women-led startups have received investments so far, of which 14.3 per cent have progressed to the Series A stage and 1.8 per cent to Series C or beyond.

Singapore dominates the female-led startup landscape in this part of the world, with US$3 billion in funding raised across 380 rounds to date. Jakarta secured US$935.9 million through 106 rounds, while Cyberjaya’s female-founded ventures received US$86.3 million across ten rounds.

In 2023, female-led startups in Southeast Asia raised US$480.8 million in 2023. Despite a temporary downturn in funding observed last year, the overall trend shows a noteworthy achievement, with women-led startups capturing 7 per cent of the total tech funding in SEA.

Startup data research platform Tracxn has compiled the list of the ten highest-funded female-led startups in the region. Below are the profiles of these startups and the amount raised so far.

Advance Intelligence Group

Total investment raised: US$700 million
Female co-founder: Tongtong Li (Chief HR Officer)

Founded in 2016, Singapore-headquartered Advance Intelligence Group provides an ecosystem of AI-powered, credit-enabled financial products and services that include buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform Atome; Indonesian lending platform Kredit Pintar; SaaS provider of enterprise digital identity, compliance and risk management solutions ADVANCE.AI; and omnichannel e-commerce merchant services platform Ginee.

The company claims to be serving over 500 enterprise clients, 235,000 merchants and 40 million individual consumers. Since its inception, it has disbursed over US$4 billion in loans.

Xendit

Total investment raised: US$538 million
Female co-founder: Tessa Wijaya (COO)

Xendit is a payments infrastructure unicorn in Indonesia. The firm enables businesses to accept payments, disburse payroll, and run marketplaces on an easy integration platform. Businesses can accept payments from direct debit, virtual accounts, credit and debit cards, eWallets, retail outlets, and online instalments.

Xendit serves more than 6,000 customers, including Samsung Indonesia, GrabPay, Ninja Van Philippines, Qoala, Unicef Indonesia, Cashalo and Shopback.

Patsnap

Total investment raised: US$351.6 million
Female co-founder: Guan Dian (CMO)

Patnnap provides R&D intelligence and IP intelligence platforms for brands and enterprises. It began in 2007 as a patents analytics startup in Singapore and later set up a base in China through the NUS Suzhou Research Institute (NUSRI) and BLOCK71 by NUS Enterprise (the entrepreneurial arm of NUS).

Its flagship R&D Intelligence and IP Intelligence platforms use machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and other artificial intelligence technology.

Also Read: Funding into SEA’s female-led startups falls 42% to US$480.8M in 2023: Tracxn

Innovation teams at companies, brands, universities and research institutions use these platforms to get access to market, technology and competitive intelligence as well as patent insights needed to take their products from ideation to commercialisation.

ShopBack

Total investment raised: US$305 million
Female co-founder: Shanru Lai

ShopBack, founded in 2014, runs a shopping and rewards platform across Asia Pacific. It offers shopping deals, rewards and payment methods at the users’ fingertips. The group claims it serves over 35 million shoppers across ten markets and powers over US$3.5 billion in annual sales for over 10,000 online and in-store merchant partners.

In 2022, it launched ShopBack Pay and PayLater.

Investree

Total funding raised: US$254 million
Female co-founder: Amalia Safitri (Chief Risk Officer)

Investree is a fintech lending platform. Founded in 2015 in Jakarta, it provides digital financial solutions to largely underbanked MSMEs that previously faced difficulties securing loans without collateral from traditional financial institutions. It provides four products: invoice financing, working capital term loan, buyer financing, and microproductive loan for ultra-micro entrepreneurs.

As of October 2023, Investree Indonesia claims to have recorded a total loan disbursement of US$916.30 million in productive loans.

Sociolla

Total funding raised: US$220 million
Female co-founder: Chrisanti Indiana (CMO)

Started in 2015, Social Bella is an integrated beauty-tech company. It focuses on developing “a scalable and sustainable” online and offline ecosystem for beauty and personal care.

Over the past few years, Social Bella has evolved from being e-commerce to a beauty ecosystem with three business units — commerce (Sociolla), media (SO.CO and Beauty Journal), and Brand Development (offers end-to-end distributor service for beauty and personal care brands).

YouTrip

Total funding raised: US$106 million
Female co-founder: Caecilia Chu (CEO)

YouTrip is a Singapore-based fintech company providing multicurrency wallets. Licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, YouTrip offers services such as payments, foreign exchange, remittances and cards. Its multi-currency mobile wallet with a prepaid Mastercard lets users shop online and offline worldwide with zero FX fees. Users can use the wallet in over 150 countries and withdraw cash from overseas ATMs (only available for Singapore app users).

Astro

Total funding raised: US$92 million
Female co-founders: Jessica Stephanie Jap, Marcella Moniaga, and Sherlyn G: co-founders

Started in 2021, Astro is an on-demand quick e-commerce platform for groceries and other daily essentials in Indonesia. It delivers groceries and essentials such as snacks, drinks, milk and bread to customers within 15 minutes of placing the order. The firm offers 1,500-plus SKUs at competitive prices available 24×7 on its app.

Since the launch, Astro has established over 15 hubs across Jakarta and aims to expand this network to cater to millions of Indonesians.

Aerodyne Group

Total funding raised: US$86 million
Female co-founder: Azita Azizan

Established in 2014, Aerodyne is a DT3 (drone-tech, data-tech and digital transformation) company. It uses AI as an enabler for large-scale data operations, analytics and process optimisation. Its flagship precision agriculture solution is powered by in-house developed AI capabilities, with more than 300,000 secured effective hectarages for major industry players in Malaysia.

Also Read: Buy from her: Elevating women’s entrepreneurship

The group employs over 1,000 drone professionals in the UAS (unmanned aerial vehicle) services sector. It claims to have managed more than 560,000 infrastructure assets with 458,058 flight operations and surveyed over 380,000 km of power infrastructure across 35 countries.

Pinhome

Total funding raised: US$76 million
Female co-founder: Dayu Dara Permata

Pinhome is a property transaction platform in Indonesia. Its O2O property brokerage platform tackles the fragmented real estate market in the archipelago. The company works with banks, property developers, and other service providers. It leverages its algorithm and wealth of property data to enable seamless discovery, transactions, and post-transaction services for property buyers and sellers in the country.

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When thinking of the term ‘business owner’, what do you picture? You won’t be faulted for conceptualising an image of someone who’s a little older and experienced running the show — and the statistics back it up. According to NBCS, roughly 60 per cent of people who start small businesses are between 40 and 60 years old, but the entrepreneurship landscape of today is seeing change.

Despite this, youth entrepreneurship is now increasingly prevalent, with the younger demographic becoming steadily more open to venturing into business, even at a young age. Research from Ernst & Young found that 41 per cent of teens would consider entrepreneurship over working a traditional job.

These potential young founders are driven by their ideas and passion for starting businesses, but many embark on this journey through an inward-looking lens, not weighing the external factors affecting a business, with it being understandable due to their general lack of experience.

This lack of structure and an external outlook often leads to struggles in validating their ideas and proving their worth to potential partners and investors. In a highly connected world where geo-political events are complex and volatile, this is where the strategic tool of PEST analysis comes into play.

Although generally used by larger organisations to help them become more competitive, I personally feel that it can help these young entrepreneurs identify the political, economic, social, and technological factors, offering them a structure which can positively affect their ideas and passions in becoming a reality.

Identify external factors with PEST

As mentioned, PEST analysis comprises four key components: political, economic, social, and technological factors. Each of these components plays a crucial role in shaping the business environment and can have a significant impact on the success or failure of a young business in convincing investors and first funders that their vision is worth pursuing.

Political factors

Political factors refer to the influence of the government and its policies on businesses. These factors encompass regulations, laws, and political stability. Understanding political factors helps young business owners navigate the legal landscape and comply with regulations relevant to their industry.

Warren Buffett once said: “Predicting rain doesn’t count. Building arks does.” This quote underscores the importance of businesses being proactive and adaptable in response to foreseeable changes in the political and regulatory landscape.

Economic factors

Economic factors encompass overall economic conditions — including inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, and consumer spending patterns. These factors directly impact the demand for products or services and affect the purchasing power of consumers, which can conclude the direction in which the economy might move. In today’s world, where capital becomes very expensive due to high inflation, startups face even more challenges raising the money they need.

Also Read: How Dash Living built a social media community of 13K+ members for its co-living platform across Singapore, HK

Social factors

Next, social factors refer to the cultural, demographic, and societal influences that shape consumer behaviour and preferences. They include population demographics, lifestyle trends, attitudes, and social norms. Other factors are educational levels and distribution of wealth. These social factors might ultimately affect the sales of products and services provided and can help young business founders plan their pitches and course of action accordingly.

For example, nations like Japan, South Korea, and Singapore face a rapidly ageing population, which has translated to increasing amounts of the nations’ budgets being skewed to support the elderly. In turn, more opportunities and money will be available in sectors that provide active ageing services.

Technological factors

Lastly, technological factors factor in technological advancements, innovation, and the impact of digitalisation on industries. Apart from those pointers, it also considers the rate of technological obsolescence. These factors can disrupt traditional business models and create new opportunities, which, for young business owners, presents undiscovered pathways to success.

Artificial intelligence has been all the rage today since the launch of ChatGPT. It will create a lot of disruption to existing businesses (and jobs) and present new opportunities if a startup can tap into the trend.

Importance of PEST analysis for young business owners

PEST analysis is used together with SWOT analysis to present a better picture of operations and is an especially significant tool for young business owners due to several reasons.

First off, it allows for anticipating opportunities and threats. Instead of solely focusing on the product, service, and inward-looking components of the business, conducting a PEST analysis allows young business owners to identify the how, the why and the what that will impact their business plan (or SWOT). In turn, this will alert or make them more sensitive in their planning and execution.

For example, if a young business owner identifies a political decision where the country’s strategic plan is to embark on the Green Economy and new investments are made in this sector, they can position their business idea to take advantage of it.

Also Read: Rise of the social entrepreneur: can doing good be good for business?

On the other hand, if a country is more conservative and has a large low-cost labour manufacturing base, the introduction of disruptive technology like industrial 4.0 automation and robotics means the company may face huge challenges for anyone to adopt it due to the social upheaval it will bring.

Building on the ability to anticipate opportunities and threats would, in turn, allow young founders to stay ahead of the competition. PEST analysis helps them identify emerging trends and changes in the external environment that can impact their industry, thus gaining a competitive edge.

The Russia-Ukraine war comes to mind, which has caused disruption to the global supply of grain and fertilisers. It caused production costs to spiral and had a huge economic impact with spikes in inflation globally. If a young business owner is starting a new agri-food business, he or she must factor this into their SWOT analysis and even change course if needed.

In turn, PEST analysis gives business owners the clarity to make a more informed business decision. By understanding the external factors that can impact their business, they can assess the potential risks and rewards associated with different strategies.

I once invested in a Taiwanese hardware firm making VoIP routers (Voice over Internet Protocol) in the late 90s, when the internet was in its infancy. It was adopted by a Taiwanese telco which sold them to their customers, becoming a hit for businesses and families who had members located overseas. One set would be installed locally, and the other would be sent to the other side of the world, where they could then call for free using the internet.

Unfortunately, the company did not understand that the internet had brought about the passion of young software developers who wanted to change the world. The launch of Skype doomed the hardware-based product! Given its entrenched position, if the company had analysed the situation using PEST of the external environment and moved towards a software-based solution, it would have thrived.

Circling back to the importance of PEST for young business owners, partners and investors seek assurances that the ventures they support are well thought out and equipped to navigate the complexities of the market. PEST analysis plays a pivotal role in providing this assurance by presenting a holistic view of the external factors that could impact the business.

By demonstrating a clear understanding of the political, economic, social, and technological landscape, entrepreneurs can instil confidence in potential investors, thereby increasing the likelihood of securing funding for their ventures.

Incorporating PEST analysis into their business strategies gives young founders the ability to perform an in-depth evaluation that goes beyond the typical SWOT assessments. This comprehensive approach enables them to convince potential funders that their ideas are well thought out and have the options ready in the event of unforeseen circumstances that may disrupt the implementation of their business plan.

Also Read: Breaking the myth: The reality of social entrepreneurs and their business approach

Moreover, by adding PEST analysis as part of their pitch, young business owners can assure the investors that every aspect — including opportunities and risks, has been meticulously considered. This gives them a one-up over other startup pitches.

Final thoughts

In the realm of entrepreneurship, the ability to balance the showcase of both negatives and positives is crucial in bringing ideas to fruition. A structured approach, such as PEST analysis, facilitates this balance by providing a comprehensive understanding of the external factors that can shape the success of a business.

By leveraging PEST analysis, entrepreneurs can not only validate their ideas effectively but also demonstrate a thorough consideration of the opportunities and risks involved. Ultimately, embracing a structured approach empowers young founders to transform their visionary ideas into tangible and sustainable business ventures.

PEST analysis does not need to be the domain of larger companies, and founders should be encouraged to adopt it early in their business plans.

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Is a local partner necessary?

Southeast Asia (SEA) has been in the eyes of many businesses for a long time. With the countries opening their markets and prioritising economic goals, everyone is gunning for a slice of this enormous pie. Despite this, many businesses fail to capture their target markets successfully. Even Uber, the ride-hailing world leader, decided not to compete with local competition such as Go-Jek and Grab in SEA.

A local partner can help a business effectively penetrate these attractive markets for the following reasons:

1. Relationships

The SEA market is highly driven by close relationships. People in SEA are relational and can make decisions based on these relationships. Familiarity is vital to them as trust is the key factor. Economic benefits are unlikely to be enough in winning locals over during negotiations.

When introducing a new product into the market, the familiar factor will be the party selling it. This does not just apply to sales, but all other stakeholders, such as finding investors and suppliers. The locals are often apprehensive of new products and doubt the actual values unless they are proposed by someone trustworthy.

Also Read: These top 27 females took Asia’s tech ecosystem to new heights

A local partner can bring along a wealth of past relationships with the stakeholders, which is critical for any business looking at entering SEA. Without these relationships, it will be nearly impossible to close big deals and building them will be time-consuming. The underdeveloped databases will be a considerable hindrance to even finding the right people.

2. Culture

SEA countries are also known to have strong local cultures, with some varying even among villages. These cultures set the expectations the locals have for businesses and thus, respecting these cultures can be more important to the locals than plain economic benefits. Interpreters or online studies can not simply solve the complexities that come with such a diversity of cultures.

Local partners help to bridge the gap and deal with the vast range of locals, allowing businesses to gain the trust of locals most efficiently.

Furthermore, while English literacy is growing in ASEAN, the majority of daily conversations still happen in native languages. Local partners can ensure that the translations can bring across the intended messages to the target audience effectively.

3. Regulations

One of the most significant obstacles to economic growth is weak regulatory frameworks rampant in many ASEAN countries. With corruption still present in some regulatory systems, someone who is unfamiliar with the system will be likely to face costly challenges.

For instances, application processing is slow in many ASEAN countries due to the underdeveloped systems. This can lead to substantial inventory costs and even opportunity costs as competitors can capture the available markets.

Local partners will understand how to deal with these matters by having experiences in the country. They will know how to speed up external processes through relationships, which are unavailable to foreigners. They will also be familiar with the complicated legal matters to prevent accidental legal infringements that can be costly in terms of financial and reputation.

How to Find a Local Partner?

The idea of finding a partner in a foreign country can sound arduous and risky. Here are some practical steps to finding a partner:

1. Sourcing

There are various business development agencies in SEA that help to form ecosystems for partnerships. These can be useful as agencies tend to recommend trustworthy partners, which is crucial for any business that intends to move forward with the related matters quickly.

Apart from individual partners, businesses can turn to the growing Venture Capital (VC) firms to seek strategic investors who have valuable experiences in building businesses in this region. They also hold other companies that can provide complimenting products with an existing customer base, making it easier to penetrate the market.

2. Securing

When forming a new partnership, the onus is on the business to understand the culture of the partner to build the relationship. It is essential to give respect to the local partners and not be too aggressive.

Certain cultures require expectations for gifts and yet even with these gifts, there are conditions laid out that must be researched. Businesses can use this link to understand the behavioural adjustments to be made when meeting a partner to increase the chances of securing a partnership.

Also Read: Asia’s beauty lies in its complexity: 3 strategies to do well in an Asian market

For VCs, since they are investors, businesses must be able to pitch their value propositions effectively. They need to convince VCs that there will be attractive returns that will follow their investment and that the business model fits the existing portfolio of the VCs.

Negotiation for an initial partnership agreement can be tedious. However, it is common in SEA and is a necessary skill for any business looking to enter SEA, even for deals with customers.

What is necessary when forming a partnership?

A robust framework for a partnership is significant to ensure smooth business operations and efficient decision-making models.

1. Making clear agreements

Due to the weak regulatory frameworks, written contracts are sometimes viewed as a guideline to the partnership. This calls for a strong relationship between partners to prevent any disputes from arising. Making clear agreements and separations regarding matters such as ownership and IP rights will help in clarifying disputes and expectations.

However, businesses must maintain a low level of assertiveness to prevent offending partners who may blow disputes out of proportion. Structuring the partnership such that the partner has a stake, rather than upfront fees, serves as a motivation to fulfil their responsibilities properly.

For effective business operations, it is also important to define roles clearly so that disputes do not break out over accountability and responsibility issues. This can be detrimental to the relationship as it may cause the business to fall apart regardless of how attractive the business is. It is also critical in partnership with VCs to understand which party has the final say.

2. Technical Requirements

Always understand the technical requirements for the business model to work and ensure that the business partner can satisfy these requirements.

Majority of the startups today are tech-related with specific infrastructure requirements. Ensuring the partners to provide that infrastructure locally is vital as incompatibility of infrastructure can cost heavily on funding, resources and time.

Businesses should also find partners with legal expertise or experience in intellectual property (IP) is critical. Enforcement of regulations in SEA countries can be quite complicated and inefficient. A knowledgeable partner will be an invaluable asset with the capability of expediting enforcement actions to prevent opportunity losses.

Conclusion

Expanding into a new country is never easy, not to mention a culturally fragmented region like SEA. Businesses must be clear on their goals and what they need to achieve those goals while mitigating risks.

This will set the values to look for in partners who will then help drive the businesses to greater heights.

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

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Image Credit: Jezael Melgoza

This article was first published on September 24, 2019

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We live in an exciting time when it comes to innovation and progress, especially in terms of technology and commerce. Some of our latest tech inventions such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (or AI for short) have had a tremendous impact on every single industry out there.

Education, medicine, travel, banking, you name it, it has been changed beyond recognition by the rise of many technological inventions native to our age. So, it’s no wonder that e-commerce is on the list of industries that have utilised tech to its fullest to grow and meet the needs of the modern customer. 

However, there’s one specific invention that has yet to show the extent to which it has altered how we shop online – the use of voice assistants. Starting with Siri, the world has embraced a new way of communicating with AI entities.

Then came Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, Cortana by Microsoft, Watson for IBM, and Bixby for Samsung. We’re sure there will be more joining their ranks while the existing ones are rapidly becoming more refined to meet our needs and preferences.

Also Read:  How to make a website voice search friendly

Suddenly, there are few homes in the world where “hey Google” hasn’t become a norm for searching for your favourite song online or ordering takeout. And that is why voice assistants are indeed changing the face of e-commerce, one smart feature at a time.

Increasing the security of shopping online

Cybersecurity is a hot topic today, perhaps even more so than in the early years of tech development. Now that we have access to incredibly advanced devices and their complex features, the risks of using them to buy online are all the greater.

We constantly share our most sensitive, private information with brands to purchase from them, such as our credit card information, our physical address, as well as our details. We’re not alone in using this sophisticated equipment since hackers can use the very same superior solutions to tap into this highly sensitive data while it’s being transmitted.

Enter your voice.

Security breaches will always be a possibility, but using your voice for another layer of authentication can help prevent any security leaks and issues. This, in turn, means that users will feel safer to buy online, visit your store knowing that no one can make a purchase without your authentic voice, and come back to your store for more.

That also means that your kids cannot accidentally purchase a thousand dollars’ worth of cookware or toys online without your voice. If Alexa is designed to listen to the parents and ask for their voice command when making a purchase – such accidents can be easily prevented.

Security is indeed a very important piece of the customer experience puzzle. Companies in e-commerce need to invest heavily to increase safety, and voice assistants are one of the most novel ways of doing just that. 

Changing the SEO game for e-commerce

To understand the importance of SEO for online stores, we need numbers that give us a clear view of the current as well as the expected state of e-commerce.

Take Asia, for example, revenue in the e-commerce market amounts to US$975.

This number is expected to grow even more in the future, especially in Singapore, where revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate of 14.9 per cent by 2023.

Another study shows that 58 per cent of internet users in Singapore shop online at least once a month. If a brand sells online in this market, or any specific region in Asia, the brand in question needs to be able to stand out to grab a piece of this multi-billion-dollar pie. And the most effective solution to being noticed is ranking high in the search results.

Also Read: Why hyper-localisation is key to optimising voice-based SEO

What’s more, voice search is one of the growing digital marketing trends in Asia, and more than half of smartphone owners use voice-enabled technology to find information about products.

If a business wants to stand out in Asia to those who use voice search, it would have to use localised, voice-friendly phrases and specific linguistic solutions to make it’s brand more noticeable to search engines and users alike.

That’s why SEO Services in Singapore will differ from those of its neighbouring regions, as brands that are located in this country need to use a strategic approach to become more visible for its voice search users. After all, their numbers are growing, and their search preferences are changing.

If your local users rely on phrases such as “the best pastry shop near me” or “in Singapore”, then your website and your SEO strategy need to reflect those trends. It sounds simple, but it pays to understand the market and its evolution in order to implement the best approach for your specific market and industry.

This will become especially relevant for mobile searches, as more users are switching to shopping on the go, which means relying on portable devices that should boast the same voice features. Having more mobile users means you’ll need a stellar mobile presence combined with local-friendly SEO tactics. 

Personalisation through voice apps

Some of the most notable brands across different industries have noticed how voice search can become their tool for better customer engagement, improved personalised experiences for each customer, and many other improvements across the board. 

Look at the giants such as Tide or Nestle – they have no time to hand-sign letters to customers, and yet, personalisation is a huge deal in their industries.

They make use of voice assistants to personalise their customers’ experiences every step of the way, and most importantly, especially after the purchase. You’d expect the journey to end there, and for brands to let you figure it all out, but with voice assistants, you can integrate your brand features and let them lead the way.

For instance, Nestle has built an app called GoodNes for Amazon’s Alexa to turn a dull cooking session into a culinary adventure with guidelines, tips, and tricks to make it simpler and voice-guided so that you don’t have to use your hands at all.

Another example includes automotive brands that have started using smart features in their vehicles and thus promote safe, streamlined rides with more user-friendly options for you as the driver. How about choosing your favourite tunes by merely telling your voice assistant integrated with your Toyota vehicle what you’re in the mood for.

The life of an average shopper has changed drastically over the past several years. We’ve moved from large keyboards and large screens to pocket-sized touch-screen devices that can recognise your face and your fingerprints.

Now that they can recognise your voice, alongside those home-based smart speakers, e-commerce brands need to step up their game in making themselves known in this voice-dominant world.

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

Image Credit: Kelly Sikkema

This article was first published on September 24, 2019

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In today’s business world, technology is like the engine pushing companies into a future where everything is about digital advancements and improvements. However, this also results in a formidable challenge — the staggering accumulation of 420.3 million tonnes of e-waste globally, which primarily comes from the disposal of obsolete IT equipment.

Here in Malaysia, we also grapple with our own e-waste challenges, generating approximately 365,000 tonnes of e-waste annually. Clearly, tackling this electronic waste problem is a matter of immediate urgency.

While commendable efforts such as the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Waste) Regulations and even a national e-waste collection day exist, they primarily address the disposal of existing e-waste. What we need more of are proactive measures designed to curtail e-waste at its source, and businesses — as major contributors of e-waste — must recognise their role as catalysts for positive change. Simple operational changes can pave the way for a more sustainable business landscape.

Integrating digital mindfulness into business purchasing decisions

A foundational step in sustainable e-waste management is adopting a mindful approach to purchasing electronic equipment. Many organisations face redundancy issues as different teams independently acquire similar gadgets, leading to the accumulation of surplus electronic devices and eventual e-waste. To address this, businesses should actively seek out electronics manufacturers prioritising Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) principles.

Also Read: Growing and transforming global greentechs for sustainability

In the ambit of the 12th Malaysia Plan, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has spearheaded the proactive implementation of EPR. From a business-to-business (B2B) standpoint, collaboration with such manufacturers becomes crucial, ensuring that products are not only efficient but also designed with sustainability in mind.

It ensures alignment with environmental goals, regulatory compliance, and corporate social responsibility, fostering a responsible and sustainable business ecosystem that contributes to the nation’s environmental agenda.

Eliminating waste through digital subscriptions to daily software and devices

While responsible purchasing, EPR, and repairs are crucial, a groundbreaking solution gaining prominence is the Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) model. Recognising the shortcomings of our linear economy, where goods are produced, used, and discarded without consideration for consequences, the DaaS model aligns seamlessly with the emerging circular economy. As the global rental market is already growing by a significant 30 per cent, DaaS emerges as a game-changer in acquiring and managing electronic devices sustainably.

DaaS allows businesses to subscribe to devices instead of making outright purchases. This aligns with a circular economy mindset, reducing long-term commitments and ensuring responsible device management.

Complete Human Network (CHN),  as an enterprise mobility company, actively contributes to reducing e-waste through the DaaS model, collaborating with industry leaders and various ecosystem partners. The scalability and flexibility of DaaS make it accessible for businesses of all sizes, empowering them to contribute to a more sustainable future.

The CHN DaaS methodology has showcased proven success through widespread adoption across diverse sectors, including financial services, banking and insurance, aviation, government, education, and POS retail. This adoption has been substantial and impactful.

Businesses are urged to move beyond waste disposal and work towards waste elimination. By adopting a circular economy mindset, supporting innovative models like DaaS, and making environmentally conscious choices, every business, regardless of size, can play a vital role in creating a sustainable future.

After all, why settle for waste disposal when we can work towards eliminating it altogether?

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