In the face of unprecedented challenges, neighbourhood merchants have proven themselves to be the backbone of our economy. These small but mighty businesses have consistently ensured that we have access to food, daily needs, and essential supplies, even when the world around us came to a standstill.

During times of unrest, such as the current situation in Bangladesh, the COVID-19 pandemic, or any other crisis, these retail heroes have remained active, stepping up to support our daily lives.

The retail sector in Bangladesh, particularly the retailer and small shop ecosystem, holds immense societal and economic significance. According to reports, a staggering 97 per cent of consumption in Bangladesh occurs through small retailers, marking the highest consumption in South Asia through this channel.

These small shops are not just points of transaction; they embody trust and familiarity, often providing credit options and accommodating the preferences of their customers. They are deeply intertwined with the community, driving local employment and economic growth. Supporting and enhancing the operations of these small retailers is not just an economic imperative; it’s a recognition of their vital role in shaping both livelihoods and communities.

With an estimated market size of US$200 billion, the retail sector is a substantial contributor to our growing economy. In fact, Bangladesh boasts one of the fastest-growing economies globally, heavily driven by consumption, with over 70 per cent of GDP attributed to this sector and 47 per cent specifically tied to retail.

However, more than 95 per cent of the retail market remains fragmented. This substantial fragmentation creates inefficiencies, hampering the distribution chain and presenting a significant opportunity for tech-enabled players to effect notable disruptions. Addressing these inefficiencies and streamlining the value chain could result in a remarkable increase, projecting a market worth approximately US$280 billion by 2025.

During the recent unrest, when the government allowed a few hours for people to purchase essentials, we at PriyoShop worked tirelessly to maintain a seamless supply chain for these vital shops. Our efforts were centred around ensuring the availability of essential items like rice, lentils, flour, salt, sugar, and cooking oil, always prioritising safety measures to protect both our team and the community. It was a monumental task, but one that was crucial for the well-being of our neighbourhoods.

Also Read: How PriyoShop is revolutionising the B2B procurement process

Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t make it all happen digitally in areas with disconnected internet connectivity. However, the team at PriyoShop worked diligently to ensure the smooth functioning of the supply chain as much as we could.

Being part of this effort during such times has been incredibly humbling. It has highlighted the resilience and dedication of our neighbourhood merchants and reinforced the importance of a strong and reliable supply chain in maintaining community stability. Our team at PriyoShop has always been committed to empowering these micro-merchants, and this period truly tested and proved our mission.

We didn’t just see this as a responsibility; we saw it as a vital contribution to our communities. By ensuring that essential supplies reached every corner, we helped maintain a sense of normalcy and security for countless families. It was a powerful reminder of how interconnected we all are and how critical these small businesses are to the fabric of our society.

However, the retail ecosystem in Bangladesh faces critical challenges, notably in sourcing, logistics, and financing. Small retailers struggle with sourcing quality products at reasonable prices, efficient logistics to reach customers, and adequate financing to sustain and expand their businesses.

Also Read: Accelerating Asia, Iterative back B2B retail marketplace PriyoShop’s US$5M round

Our nation’s strategic focus on Vision 2021 to attain middle-income status has spurred economic growth, with expectations of reaching a trillion-dollar economy by 2041. To realise this vision, addressing these challenges is essential.

I am incredibly proud to have been part of this contribution during such critical times. It’s moments like these that underscore the importance of our work and the profound impact it has on our community. As we move forward, PriyoShop remains dedicated to supporting and empowering neighbourhood merchants, ensuring that they continue to thrive and serve their communities.

Neighbourhood merchants are not just businesses; they are the lifeblood of our communities. Their resilience, dedication, and unwavering commitment during times of crisis deserve our deepest gratitude and continued support. Let us celebrate these unsung heroes and recognise the invaluable role they play in our lives every day.

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A recent report shared that investing in proper waste management and recycling solutions in Southeast Asia and India could cut emissions by 229 million metric tonnes by 2030. That is the equivalent of shutting down 61 coal-fired power plants.

Waste management and recycling are critical in supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy – especially in this region. As per another report, back in in 2021 Asia was the largest waste-producing continent on Earth. By 2025, it is estimated that 1.8 billion tonnes will be generated by urban cities alone in Asia.

In today’s world of relentless innovation, technology providers have a pivotal role to play in leading the charge toward sustainability, both in their scale and as a catalyst for industry-wide transformation toward a more sustainable future.

A circular approach

As the World Economic Forum once shared, it is challenging for companies alone to change the whole of society. The main reason stems from how many products are not being designed to be recycled. The solution is material innovation, which involves finding novel ways to consciously select and integrate sustainable materials into products and packaging.

This is a fundamental aspect of any sustainability strategy. Circularity in materials is essential, and so is “responsible chemistry” in using sustainable materials, meaning the evaluation of materials that don’t create a burden at the recycling stage. By embracing circular materials, we not only reduce a product’s environmental footprint, but when we scale up the use of those materials, we also cultivate new markets for sustainable alternatives.

Recycling ‘ocean-bound plastics’ (OBPs) — defined as “plastic waste at risk of ending up in the ocean” — is one way we can address the waste challenge. By using it as a key material in creating products and packaging, we can incorporate circularity into the lifecycles wherever possible. For example, products such as the Latitude 5000 series feature 28 per cent ocean-bound plastic in the fan housing and packaging, such as EcoLoop carrying cases, to name a few.

Partnering for purpose

But change cannot happen in silos — that is why the ecosystem approach to sustainability is crucial. Partnerships form the backbone of a thriving ecosystem, and this holds true especially when triggering a “change” reaction that ripples through the entire supply chain to ultimately foster economic growth and support communities.

Also Read: The circular economy as the next frontier for Asia’s innovators

An example of how the ecosystem kickstarts a cycle is Dell’s Asset Recovery Services — Dell’s partners from South Asia and emerging markets are making active efforts to utilise their abilities to resell, recycle or return to lease excess hardware in a responsible, secure and environmentally conscious manner.

The network has also allowed us to spearhead local initiatives in certain markets, such as a nationwide ongoing e-waste collection campaign in Singapore. The initiative utilises a dedicated electric vehicle (EV) van to facilitate easy recycling or retirement of computer technology and IT equipment for all stakeholders — employees, customers, partners, etc.

When it came to incorporating recycled OBPs into products and packaging, Dell saw an opportunity to spearhead a supply chain. Plastics break down in water, and the material must be intercepted before it enters the ocean. Embarking on this journey meant starting at the beginning — prioritising building a commercially viable and scalable supply chain to intercept OBPs.

This is especially meaningful in Asia, where the plastics pollution problem is dire due to a discrepancy between recycling capacity, waste imports and generation. Collaborating with suppliers like Polindo Utama in Indonesia helps us understand the recycled ocean-bound plastics supply chain at the market level.

Additionally, this partnership acts as a model for expanding the NextWave Plastics consortium into other critical markets and growing the collective reach and impact as a community of concerned companies. The consortium now spans 21 countries, including Indonesia, Haiti and the Philippines. As of the end of 2022, the consortium diverted the equivalent of over 2.27 billion water bottles from entering oceans and waterways.

Creating a ripple effect on material innovation

Forward-thinking companies are wielding material innovation as a scalpel, meticulously dissecting the traditional, linear product lifecycle and crafting a circular one. The ocean-bound plastics movement serves as a potent case study, not just for its environmental impact but for its ability to ignite a chain reaction of positive change throughout the supply chain.

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A scene familiar to many Singaporeans: you have at least three browser tabs open on your computer. One is on the Housing & Development Board (HDB) website, another is on the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) website, and the third is on a property portal. You’re juggling data points, cross-referencing floor plans, and trying to make sense of conflicting information, all in an attempt to figure out what a home is really worth.

In a country that prides itself on the Smart Nation initiative, which aims to leverage technology to improve the lives of its citizens, this manual, fragmented process for buying or renting a home, feels jarringly out of place. Why hasn’t real estate kept up?

The property portal problem: A decade behind

Singapore’s major property portals were built for a different time. A time when the internet was primarily a place for classified ads. Their design reflects this legacy, focusing on listing advertisements rather than empowering users to complete a transaction. The core assumption behind this model is that buyers are passive browsers and sellers require a paid listing to gain visibility.

This “pay-to-play” model creates a system where visibility is tied to ad spend, not the quality or relevance of the listing. As a result, agents are often disempowered, forced to compete in a crowded, expensive digital space, while consumers struggle with information asymmetry and a lack of transparency.

This outdated approach leaves both buyers and renters in a state of confusion. They are forced to rely on agents for information that is often publicly available from sources like HDB or URA, but difficult to piece together. This reliance can lead to missed opportunities and unnecessary fees. Duplicate listings are common, and the process of booking viewings, making offers, or negotiating is often handled offline, creating a frustrating and opaque experience.

Also Read: Smart nation, smart homes: How Singapore’s proptech ecosystem is redefining urban living

A smarter, simpler alternative

A new wave of property technology, or “proptech,” startups is changing this paradigm. Instead of building another listing site, they are creating platforms that bring every step of the real estate journey into one unified digital space. These services act as a “copilot,” not just for buyers and sellers, but for agents as well. Kucing, for example, is a key player in this new space.

These platforms are built on the principle of active decision-making. They don’t just show you a list of properties; they provide integrated tools that empower you to act on insights. For example, a platform might offer interactive price maps that instantly show transaction data from sources like HDB and URA, in-app viewing bookings that sync with both the buyer’s and seller’s calendars, and a direct chat feature for secure negotiations.

Key to this approach is the integration with government services like IRAS, SLA, SingPass and CPF. By using Singpass to verify identity, these platforms build a layer of trust and security that is currently missing from the market. This integration also allows for a seamless experience, where users can see exactly how much of their CPF they can use for a property purchase or calculate their monthly mortgage payments based on real-time data. This public-private partnership creates a user experience that meets the high expectations Singaporeans have for digital services.

While a platform like Kucing is a prime example of this evolution, it’s part of a broader trend where technology is enabling smarter tools and greater transparency in property transactions. The successful facilitation of a S$2.1 million resale transaction on its app demonstrates that this integrated approach is not just a concept, but a viable and effective model for modernizing the property market.

The future of property tech: A call to action

Modernising Singapore’s property market isn’t about radical disruption; it’s about reimagining the digital infrastructure. Proptechs and regulators have a unique opportunity to collaborate and treat property technology as essential digital infrastructure, not just a platform for classifieds. This means moving beyond a simple list of homes for sale and creating an ecosystem where all the necessary pieces are connected.

The pieces to solve the Property Portal Problem already exist. The data is available, the technology is mature, and the demand for a better experience is clear. It’s simply a matter of connecting them in a smarter, more cohesive way. The question is, are we ready to build that future?

Also Read: Vietnam’s proptech startup WeSale bags seed capital from Hitseries Capital

Building the future of real estate, together

Singapore has all the ingredients to lead the next chapter of property innovation: rich data, a digitally literate population, and a government committed to technological advancement. But our property market is still operating on outdated assumptions and fragmented systems. The opportunity before us is not just to make buying or renting a home more convenient, but to redefine the entire real estate experience—simpler, smarter, and more transparent for everyone.

Proptech platforms like to show that this future isn’t hypothetical but it’s already here. What’s needed now is bold collaboration: between startups and regulators, data holders and developers, agents and end-users. If we treat property technology as critical infrastructure rather than just another marketplace, we can finally close the gap between aspiration and reality.

It’s time to move beyond listings. Let’s build a real estate ecosystem that actually works, for the people who live in it.

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AI adoption among consumers is evolving, moving towards more sophisticated and knowledge-intensive applications, per a new analysis from the Anthropic Economic Index. Over eight months leading up to August 2025, usage patterns on Claude.ai have shown notable changes accompanying improvements in underlying model capabilities.

While computer and mathematical tasks still dominate overall usage at 36 per cent, there is sustained growth in knowledge-intensive fields. Educational instruction and library tasks surged from 9 per cent to 12 per cent of sampled conversations. Similarly, life, physical, and social science tasks increased from 6 per cent to 7 per cent.

Also Read: Anthropic index shows AI boom risks widening global inequality

This divergence suggests that AI usage is diffusing especially quickly among tasks involving knowledge synthesis and explanation, potentially because these tasks benefit more from Claude’s reasoning capabilities.

Programme creation overtakes debugging

A key insight into the growing reliability of AI models is seen within the dominant coding category. Tasks related to creating new code more than doubled, increasing by 4.5 percentage points (from 4.1 per cent to 8.6 per cent).

Concurrently, debugging and error correction tasks fell by 2.8 percentage points (from 16.1 per cent to 13.3 per cent). This net shift towards creation over fixing code suggests that models have become increasingly reliable, enabling users to accomplish more of their goals in a single exchange and spend less time fixing problems.

User confidence drives directive automation

The collaboration style between users and Claude is also shifting dramatically. The share of “directive” conversations, where users delegate complete tasks to Claude with minimal back-and-forth, jumped from 27 per cent to 39 per cent.

Also Read: Anthropic data shows businesses use AI to automate, not collaborate

This surge came primarily at the expense of “task iteration” and “learning” interactions. In this report iteration (V3), automation usage (now 49 per cent) has surpassed augmentation usage (45 per cent) for the first time. This shift signals growing user confidence in the AI’s ability to complete high-quality outputs on the first attempt, a form of learning-by-doing.

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Not long ago, I was speaking with an entrepreneur and the founder of a promising startup. She had about US$200,000 sitting in her bank, earning 0.1 per cent a year – and was contemplating taking on expensive debt to fund crucial hires and keep the lights on. This is a common refrain I’ve heard too often — founders taking on costly debt while their own capital sits idle, when better treasury tools could have made it work harder.

Today’s entrepreneurs are some of the sharpest people I know: obsessive about burn rates and relentless in negotiating contracts and payment terms down to the last cent. Yet when it comes to idle cash, they are often left with outdated solutions that quietly eat away at their runway.

The contradiction is alarming. We celebrate entrepreneurship as the engine of growth, but the financial system penalises the very people driving it. Having faced the same impossible financial trade-offs, I know first-hand that traditional investment solutions from financial institutions aren’t designed for early-stage startups that need both growth and flexibility.

Professional money market funds demand million-dollar minimums. Meanwhile, Investment platforms require capital lockups that entirely overlook the volatility of small business cash flow, especially in sectors where seasonal fluctuations can make or break a business. Onboarding often presumes a dedicated finance team that can wade through complex documentation. For early-stage companies, where cash needs can swing overnight, none of this fits.

And the costs are real. Research suggests SMEs in Singapore alone lose SG$800 million (US$584 million) annually in foregone interest — capital that could support hiring, marketing or keeping businesses alive long enough to scale. Aspire’s own data shows that 55 per cent of funds sit idle in low-yield accounts, generating negligible returns.

Also Read: How technology has revolutionised operational efficiency in consumer finance

The good news is that we are starting to see a mindset shift. Financial technology — from automated cash management to sophisticated treasury tools designed specifically for smaller businesses — is beginning to address some of these long-standing pain points. Progressive financial institutions, too, are recognising the opportunity and are increasingly partnering with fintechs to serve small businesses and startups.

But tools alone are not enough. Founders must demand more: research alternatives, challenge traditional banking relationships, and adopt solutions that turn cash from a static asset into a legitimate growth engine. Every month delayed is money left on the table.

Through my own experience, and hundreds of conversations with successful business owners, I’ve found that what early-stage companies really need is often very different to what’s assumed. Here are the themes that emerge most consistently:

• Liquidity: Given a choice, founders will always choose flexibility over a slightly higher return. Earning 3–4 per cent with next-day access is far more valuable than six per cent locked up for months. When a crucial hire appears or a competitor is suddenly in play, capital needs to be available immediately.
• Simplicity: Startups don’t have treasury departments — they have founders splitting time between customer meetings and product sprints. Managing money across multiple accounts is tedious and distracting – so find the most useful solution that integrates seamlessly into existing workflows to free up your time.
• Transparency: In the fast-moving startup world, businesses need real-time insights into their cash position so they can pivot quickly when conditions change. Solutions that create administrative overhead or obscure risks do more harm than good.
• Risk management: Founders can’t afford to gamble with working capital, neither can they let inflation quietly drain resources. What they need is risk management that protects capital without the institutional-scale complexity that weighs down legacy businesses.

Also Read: Why embedded finance is critical to Southeast Asia’s digital future

The past seven years as a founder have been the most rewarding and nerve-wracking time of my life. If there’s one personal lesson I can leave you with, it’s this: cash management will never be as exciting as raising a new round, but it is often the more decisive factor in whether a business survives long enough to raise the next one.

The founders who recognise this — and demand better tools to put their capital to work — will give themselves a longer runway, greater resilience, and more freedom to seize the opportunities that matter.

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

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