Emirsyah Satar was the leader of Garuda Indonesia, the nation’s flag carrier, and has been under intense investigation for the past two years

Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has detained ex-MatahariMall Chairman Emirsyah Satar for alleged money laundering and bribery relating to the procurement of aircraft parts, The Jakarta Post reported.

Back in June 2017, e27 reported that Satar was allegedly involved in a Rolls-Royce bribery case, prompting the Indonesian anti-corruption agency to probe Satar further.

At that time, Satar was said to receive bribery from Soetikno Soedarjo, the former president director of media magnate PT Mugi Rekso Abadi (MRA), consisting of EUR1.2 million (US$1.2 million) cash, another US$108,000 cash, and US$2 million worth of goods in Singapore and Indonesia.

Emirsyah Satar was seen leaving KPK building after being questioned by investigators in Jakarta on Wednesday, August 7.

Also Read: MatahariMall Chairman denies involvement in Rolls-Royce bribery case

KPK also detained Soetikno on the same day under the accusation that he has transferred US$407,000 to Satar for a home in South Jakarta.

Furthermore, KPK also looked into US$680,000 and EUR1.02 million that were allegedly sent to an account belonging to a company in Singapore, while US$868,000 was reportedly used to pay off an apartment in Singapore, both under Satar’s name.

Satar led Garuda Indonesia, the country’s flag carrier for almost 10 years before joining Lippo Group-owned MatahariMall.com after resigning from the airlines in 2014.

In 2018, MatahariMall rebranded into Matahari.com after merging with local fashion retail Matahari Department Store, quashing bankruptcy rumours.
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There is no question tokenizing assets in blockchain can impact our daily lives in practical terms

 

Blockchain technology is more than a decade old. However, it only started taking off when people realized the value of cryptocurrencies in real-world applications — that you can spend it, send it to other people, and even buy or sell crypto as part of one’s investment portfolio.

In short, it’s the real-world applications that have enabled blockchain tech to have an impact and subsequently gain traction as a viable technology that can scale.

Fintechs and cryptocurrencies have entered mainstream appeal because of how they have revolutionized the way we spend, invest, and transact.

However, one potentially bigger offshoot of blockchain technology is how we can tokenize just about anything. This effectively brings together real-world assets and digital records, along with the numerous benefits that digitalization can offer.

This makes blockchain tech more accessible, more tangible, and more impactful in real-world scenarios. Imagine a world that is fully transparent and yet secure.

By tokenizing all sorts of assets and materials, we can trade and transact in a fair environment, and it will be faster, cheaper, and more accessible. 

Here are five reasons how blockchain tech makes this all the more effective.

1. Authenticity of goods

With the popularity of marketplaces, there are a lot of counterfeit goods going around, being bought by unsuspecting buyers, and sometimes being sold by unsuspecting sellers.

For instance, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba found and seized half a billion dollars’ worth of counterfeit goods in 2018 alone. That’s just a drop in the bucket — the global market for counterfeit goods is US$ 1.3 trillion annually, according to estimates.

Tokenizing assets can help ensure authenticity, especially if an item’s origin, value, and ownership, are recorded on the blockchain.

This enforces better trading of valuable items, which can be the case for luxury goods, collectables, or even big-ticket items such as automobiles or real property. 

In the case of collectables such as antiques, trading cards, and other collectable items with potentially high trade value in the secondary markets, digitalizing such assets provides more than just trading and exchange, but it can create a whole new economy based around such assets.

“The advantage is that while it’s easy to replicate one digital functionality, it’s harder to replicate all moving parts, providing additional security.

By using novel technologies, such as blockchain, it is possible to not only provide a higher level of security but also harmonise digital cards in order to simplify trading,” says Toli Makris, Co-founder of EX-Sports, a platform for digitalized sports memorabilia and collectables powered by blockchain.”

In Makris’ industry, authenticity is key to assuring owners and buyers of the value of their collectables. Such immutability of record gives better credence to the value of a transaction — something that can potentially address the pressing issue of fake goods that have proliferated e-commerce and marketplace platforms.

“By giving each digital card a unique and immutable signature, the network can verify the authenticity of the card. If it does not recognise the signature, it does not accept the trade, therefore preventing counterfeit digital cards from entering the platform,” he shares.

2. Transparency in the process flow

In its very basic form, blockchain is nothing more than a decentralized and immutable ledger of transactions, which are cryptographically hashed to ensure that transactions are valid and cannot be tampered with.

Also Read:  5 reasons why crypto exchanges need to be decentralized

Cryptocurrencies are just an added benefit, i.e., the exchange of value is basically recorded in the ledger. It is the same with tokens — it is the ownership and exchange of these tokens that are recorded on the blockchain.

Since each transaction is verified and recorded on each node in the blockchain network, the record of transactions is also accessible to anyone who wishes to see the transaction history.

When an asset is digitalized, and when all transactions or movement involving that asset is recorded on the blockchain, there is transparency in the process at each and every step of the way.

This can be particularly useful in e-commerce, for example, wherein a buyer can keep track of their item from the supplier, shipper, courier, to their doorstep.

This is also useful in manufacturing and production, or even in logistics – businesses can keep track of each and every step of their product within the manufacturing process. 

This can be combined with internet-of-things and machine learning, which enables businesses to collect and process huge amounts of data for analysis.

Such data and analysis can, later on, be used in optimizing the production, supply chain, logistics, or other aspects of the business.

“The timeline of a product right from its inception to where it is at present can be traced through blockchain,” Mayank Pratap, Co-Founder and COO of EngineerBabu, writes on Hackernoon.

“Besides this, the type of accurate provenance tracking can also be leveraged to detect anomalies in any segment of the supply chain.”

3. Transparency in pricing and other product information

An offshoot of digitalizing assets and process flow is transparency in pricing and product details. This can be particularly useful when capitalizing on the grassroots approach, such as farm-to-fork delivery or the marketplace approach.

In such conditions, the platform can eliminate the middleman or at least minimize the exorbitant costs associated with other parties coming in-between the seller and buyer.

Because all transactions are immutably recorded on the blockchain, it can also include value and pricing information, so that all users involved are aware of this information when transacting. 

Not only that — consumers can also glean all sorts of information, including expiry dates and each step that their products have gone through before reaching their households.

Perhaps not many people know that there are actually counterfeit food items being sold on the market (such as fake olive oil, for instance).

Here is where blockchain can address the challenge of both price and authenticity. “One of the great benefits of blockchain is that it can be integrated into existing technologies, such as smart labels or apps that help consumers track and learn about their food.

It’s as easy as having a smartphone, and getting more products that have smart labels on them, and customers will be able to find out when their products really expire, and where they come from,” shares Sharon Cittone, the chief content officer at Seeds&Chips.

Being able to track products’ origins and supply chains can prevent instances of arbitrage (e.g., a middleman buying very low and selling very high in a different market when there is imperfect information or imperfect movement of goods).
Also Read: A blockchain perspective: the irony of financial inclusion

In practical terms, it can mean that buyers can get the best price for goods and that sellers can be confident in assigning a value to the goods or services they sell without worrying that other parties might be artificially inflating selling prices or undervaluing buying prices.

4. Security of ownership

Tokenizing assets on the blockchain enhances the security of ownership.

Since the token transactions and ownership are on immutable and irreversible blockchain record, and since there are decentralized nodes that need to verify and record each transaction cryptographically, there is virtually no chance for the digitalized assets to be stolen.

This is a much better way to keep a record of ownership and transactions than, say, a centralized repository.

For example, records on a paper-based notary public or a paper-based registry of deeds might be prone to physical damage through fire, flooding or other such incidents.

The same can be said with digital records based on centralized or on-premises server, especially when the administrator does not have regular and reliable backups. 

Since a blockchain is built upon a decentralized network, there is no single point of failure, and the infrastructure will be robust, resilient, and secure against potential attacks.

“The platform is built on top of a blockchain protocol, that you can imagine as a decentralised server — instead of having one server do all the work, you spread out the tasks to millions of computers,” says EX-Sports’ Makris.

In addition, smart contracts provide an immensely secure and convenient means to execute transactions — payments and transfer of ownership can be done automatically once all conditions are met, which minimizes or even negates the need for escrow services altogether. 

5. Fractional ownership

Another offshoot of digitalizing real-world assets is that ownership of these assets can be divisible for as long as token ownership can also be divided across different individuals or entities. This can be applied to just about any asset, including capitalization tables or ownership in a company, or even real property.

For instance, if a property is digitalized with 1 million tokens assigned, then in theory ownership of this particular property can be divided accordingly.

Digitalizing ownership of assets also makes it easier to sell or trade this, which improves the liquidity aspect of any digitalized asset.

“That makes it easily tradable on the secondary market, due to the trackability, fractionalisation and the borderless nature,” shares Lord Daniel, a Managing Partner at investment firm Sterk Capital.

Blockchain for everyday use

Also Read:

It can be easy to dismiss blockchain as hype, especially when there are startups that build on blockchain just for the sake of it.

However, there is no question that by tokenizing assets and turning these into digital assets that can be transacted and traded online, blockchain can impact our daily lives in practical terms, even in ways that might seem invisible to us users.

The main benefit with such blockchain projects is that digitalized assets become more accessible while providing a platform for making it more secure, more transparent, and with more utility through token incentives.

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Work culture that has made Appinventiv grow

“A lot can happen over coffee”, this line often brings the image of CCD (Cafe’s Coffee Day) in front of our eyes. But, for me, this 6-words represents the success story of Appinventiv – my startup.

It’s not a story from a long time back ago. Three of my friends and I decided to launch our own mobile app startup fours years ago while sitting in a corner in a CCD cafe. And one single factor that triggered us to take this step was quality.

During days, entrepreneurs and established brands were struggling to find the finest version of their mobility solution at an affordable price.

They were either provided with an ineffective mobile app model or were being asked for a hefty amount in return of quality. 

Because of this, the gap between those demanding for top-notch and business-centric mobile application development services and those delivering them the same was increasing.

Also Read: The millennial force: changing the workplace and its culture

This is where we jumped into the market. We decided to bridge this gap by serving businesses with a highly innovative and useful mobile application at the best possible market price.

Besides, we also concluded that we will focus upon customising mobility solutions as per business needs and integrate cutting-edge technologies into the process rather than delivering a template-mobile app.

And this is how our journey started. 

However, it was not as easy as we thought. Right from the day we stepped into the market, we faced various challenges in establishing our presence in the market – with two prime ones as follows:-

• We found it tough to bring projects at our door. Businesses were sceptical about hiring a newbie to build their presence in the mobile market. 

• We decided to integrate cutting-edge technologies into our development process, but there was hardly any firm working with the same perspective. Meaning, we had no one to consider as a role model or seek any guidance.

But, it seems like luck was on our side. 

We overcame the former challenge by providing services beyond developing an application.

That implies, researching the market, performing competitive analysis, and brainstorming on business needs to bring out an innovative idea that delivers valuable results both in the present and future.

And when talking about the second prime challenge, we motivated and prepared each other to become the first company to enter these domains.

We learnt all the technicalities and looked into finding various ways to introduce these technologies and methodologies in the traditional app development process. And it turned into a right decision.

For example, we stepped into the Blockchain, PWA, and eScooter economy at first. We not solely invested our efforts into learning about these technologies and business domain, but also shared our knowledge with our clientele and others.

And gradually, we became the first choice of startups and established brands who wish to up their business game with these technologies.

After that, this became every day’s story. We got more projects, and with every project, we step closer to our aim of changing the landscape of the app industry.

We welcomed every challenge as an opportunity for innovation, experimented with different ideologies, dug deeper into every niche market to get useful insights, and invested heavily into our skill development. We kept an eagle’s eye on every popular app feature and technology in the marketplace and worked our fingers to the bone to make technology digestible and profitable to all.

A ripple effect of which is that we received accolades from marker researchers, users, competitors, and others related to the mobile industry. We became the leading choice for every business who were looking for on-time delivery, and good service which made us deliver 900+ apps for brands like Sony, IKEA, Dominos, Gully Boy, and nexGTV.

However, this was not our only limit.

While, on one side, we received more accolades and projects, we worked upon expanding our team. We realised that having a team of proficient and experienced mobile app designers and developers is the key to success in the market.

With this into consideration, we went on hiring more experts. Because of this we, within four years, grew our Appinventiv family of 4 to 400.

However, we also feared the biggest challenge of startups and other companies, i.e., employee retention.

We realised that losing even a single one of us would be a significant loss for you. So, we come up with some unique, engaging, and employee-centric strategies and policies. A few of which are:-

Also Read: A look at workweek hours and differences in work cultures around the world

No hierarchy, Please

We, at Appinventiv, provided the younger generation with something they always craved for – equality.

We said no to the traditional method of hierarchy and introduced the practice of calling each other their names with no suffix, “Ma’am/Sir”. 

We also made it clear that we are approachable to all and invested the best of the efforts in weaving emotions in everything.

Thus, building a web of trust among Appinventiv family – a family that works together enjoys together and faces challenges together.

Transparent as glass doors

We not only removed barriers in terms of approachability but also added transparency to every process. 

We put this into practice to keep our employees in the loop while making any decision.

Even if it is something major like shifting to a new office space or something minor like a change in the working calendar. 

This attitude helped us in gaining the trust of our employees and encourage them to contribute their best in the success of the company.

Work innovatively

Being a mobile tech startup, we efficiently utilised the power of technologies to deliver seamless interaction experience.

From Skype to Google Drive, Gmail, Trello, and Wunderlist, we encouraged employees to use a varied range of mobile apps and digital platforms and perform their tasks and share documents with each other seamlessly and quickly.

Appoint the right managers

Handling a team of 400+ has never been a simple task.

We feared that despite our policies focusing on transparency and interactivity, we might fail to remain in touch with all of them and deliver the right work culture.

So, to overcome this situation, we picked the right people from our team and appointed them as managers.

We focused on selecting ones who encourage a line of interaction and who became a window for their team; thus, helping us to be updated on what’s happening.

Think for your team, and they will reciprocate

Another step that has made Appinventiv an army of 400 (and still growing) is that it gains unbelievable recognition from our employee-centric approach.

Rather than just focusing on finishing projects, we take interest in sharpening the skills of every individual.

From monthly workshops to seasonal pieces of training, we put forth everything that keeps our employees updated with what’s trending in the market.

Besides, we also offer numerous perks like free breakfast to show concern for our employee’s health. 

These strategies have brought considerable attention to the newcomers on our website as well as made existing employees stick to the firm – rather than be job hoppers.

Make an unbiased decision

Every other day when someone comes up with a concern or complaint against the other, we listen to both sides of the story patiently.

We put efforts into understanding the whole situation and then come up with an unbiased decision. In this way, we ensure that we do not end up losing a gem because of a conspiracy.

We have also made a point that work culture matters more than technical skills. Therefore, if there is a situation when we must big goodbye to a highly talented professional due to concerns, we take a fair decision.

Also Read: A day in the life of StashAways CEO and co-founder

We won’t compromise with peace and happiness within the workplace because of money and skills.

Work hard, party harder

Appinventiv has also established itself as a pool of talent by sensing the basic need of the present generation which is – Work hard, party harder.

On a broader scale, we have added various activities into our daily timetable that allows our employees to love being at work. Our management team introduced the practice of celebrating festivals, playing games, blowing candles on birthdays, going on team lunches, and more. 

With such efforts, we have provided employees with an opportunity to shake their leg and show the other side of their personality – rather than being behind the computer screens all day.

Appreciation as an energy booster

 

Lastly, Appinventiv has made its record of 400 employees by focusing on the fundamental psychological matter, i.e., appreciation. 

Our management team made it sure to show gratitude to our employees for their efforts, passion, and innovative ideas.

We have not confined this ‘affair of appreciation’ for one single day in a year, but have been congratulating our team members regularly via different means. This has made our workforce feel like an indispensable element of the company.

With such policies and strategies, we succeeded in bringing more favourable outcomes at our end and live a remarkable journey. We succeeded at creating our own success story and motivating others to focus upon being a partner, rather than a boss to enjoy success – regardless of their niche industry.

I hope you have found it useful. If you wish to share your feedback or have been following some cool policy that we can add to our list, do let us know by leaving a comment in the comment section below.

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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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Centralized exchanges go against the very ethos of blockchain

 

Blockchain has disrupted existing industries and created new ones altogether, notably in the fin-tech space.

As a means of raising capital, cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets enable faster transactions at a minimal cost.

The market forces driving the value of cryptocurrencies have also spawned new investment instruments and derivatives – exchanges and futures, for instance. 

One example of the recent innovations introduced in this space involves Bitcoin futures – which are, in gist, either buy or sell contracts for Bitcoin at a pre-agreed price at a defined date in the future.

This opens the opportunity to trade not on the speculative aspect of Bitcoin itself, but also as a derivative instrument, meaning investors can earn from both a rise or a fall in Bitcoin prices – a good way to hedge one’s portfolio.

Decentralized tech in a centralized environment

Amid all these innovations, a central point of interest would revolve around cryptocurrency exchanges, where traders exchange cryptocurrencies, tokens, and even fiat money.

Exchanges enable users to make trades within a generally fast and secure environment with minimal cost.

While exchanges are an essential part of the crypto ecosystem, there is one glaring concern brought about by how such exchanges have been set up.

According to a study published by TokenInsight, decentralized exchanges account for only 19 per cent of the global crypto exchange ecosystem.

An even more interesting number is that only 1 per cent of transactions goes through decentralized exchanges. 

If the main goal of blockchain and crypto were to decentralize things, then such centralized exchanges would go against the very ethos of blockchain. 

Who stands to gain from decentralization? 

Also Read: A quick guide to digital marketing a blockchain project

Looking at things more closely, the bias towards centralized exchanges stems from the perceived notion that these platforms and transactions need oversight – a concept that has trickled down from traditional financial systems.

However, apart from reliance on a centralized authority, such exchanges are prone to single points of failure, too, in terms of security.

Take the case of various centralized exchanges that have fallen victim to hacking attacks due to the centralized nature of their infrastructure and control.

In the financial setting, crypto and blockchain benefit both investors and entrepreneurs in various ways, and here are five fundamental ways that a decentralized exchange would ideally provide such support. 

1. Smart contracts should be able to solve regulatory hurdles and obstacles across jurisdictions

Each jurisdiction has its own set of regulations and frameworks put in place for financial transactions and investment instruments.

Due to the fiduciary nature of investments and financial transactions, one can only expect strict and stringent regulatory regimes.

However, when it comes to fin-tech, many countries are still struggling to come up with an effective framework, especially given the rapid pace of development in terms of new technologies and products.

A fully-decentralized mechanism involving smart contracts should ideally resolve the challenge of cross-border transactions, especially if the smart contract can take into consideration the regulatory framework of each country or jurisdiction that will be affected.

For instance, users exchanging crypto assets on a decentralized exchange can incorporate geolocation features, and the smart contract will be the one to enforce any necessary rules.

Also Read: What does cryptocurrency mean for your small business?

Aaron Tsai, Founder and Chief Capitalist at MAS Capital Universal Exchange, Inc. (MASEx), highlights how centralized systems – for instance, those that stem from U.S. regulatory oversight – are on their way to obsolescence.

“The US system is under heavy fire by the rapid adoption of cryptocurrencies and security tokens. This is a seismic shift that disrupts the existing oligopolies of financial institutions in banking, securities and fund management sectors.”

2.Enhanced trade transparency and security

Record-keeping will become increasingly difficult for centralized exchanges, especially with an increasing volume of transactions.

This results in vulnerabilities, which can affect trader confidence. A decentralized exchange ensures better transparency and accountability, which will mean better compliance with financial regulations. 

The main purpose of most regulatory frameworks is to ensure transparency and security in transactions – something that is especially appropriate in trading public securities.

However, this is almost technically impossible to do in a centralized setting, especially when there is a potential single point of failure.

A decentralized exchange ensures better uptime, while a distributed consensus mechanism ensures that malicious players cannot game or cheat the system.

3. Faster trade settlements

In an ideal environment, trades of assets (such as shares of stocks) take an instant to complete. In the real world, millions of stock trades happen in mere milliseconds, facilitated by algorithms and systems.

However, the databases that these algorithms have to interface and coordinate with are currently fragmented and messy.

Also Read: Is Cardano the best cryptocurrency to invest in?

In addition, having centralized clearinghouses for transactions can result in bottlenecks in transactions. 

At major financial centres, it takes two full days to finish settlements, for example. A decentralized approach done through blockchain will provide faster settlement of transactions.

In some cases, a side-chain or off-chain approach can ensure even faster transaction speeds without burdening the main blockchain. 

4. Lower costs, lower barriers to entry

 Traditional securities exchanges – such as stock markets – often have high barriers to entry, in terms of transaction fees, largely brought about by high fees charged by centralized exchanges or clearinghouses.

With a decentralized approach, it will be the market that will dictate transaction costs (which are very minimal). A tokenized approach to securities will also mean that investments can be made at a fraction of the cost of other traditional securities. 

“Smart contracts enable you to create synthetic assets on-chain based on real live ones that can be accessed without friction and from all over the world,” shares Abishek Punia, Investor at Draper Associates. “New applications can be built on top of this globally connected asset database.” 

5. Increased liquidity for private equities markets

Related to the previous point, higher barriers to entry with centralized and traditional securities markets makes it difficult for startups and businesses to raise capital. Add to this the often strict regulatory regimes when it comes to participating in capital markets.

Decentralization brought about by blockchain enables firms to tokenize company equities and digitize assets, which can also streamline the process of capital raise for fund managers and investors.

This encourages better liquidity and higher participation from investors. Matters of equity can be directly incorporated into smart contracts, which makes capitalization tables simpler to manage.

Amar Shah, Director at Namana Investments (HK) Ltd and former Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, shares his opinion on this matter:

“As investors seek higher yields, there will be more funds entering the market. The race to seek these yields will divert some of the funds away from more traditional investments. Furthermore, like education and understanding of these products increases, there is likely to be more liquidity for blockchain startups.”

The future of decentralization

“As the industry matures there are likely to be developments based on market forces taking advantage arbitrage opportunities which will bring about some harmonization,” shares Shah.

Offering his personal views on decentralization, he says that “regulators are increasingly consulting with each other and, as a result, there is likely to be some common regulation.”

Tsai, meanwhile, cautions that the current state of things is far from ideal, but he is confident that we are getting there.

“The decentralized technologies need refinement, but it will not take long before we are there.

When that happens current exchanges will be obsolete, regulators will have no choice but to adapt and the financial giants will tumble. It is always difficult for the status quo to lead a revolution, especially one in which their established roles may no longer be needed.”

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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.

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Personal performance is good, but the process of how to bear the failure is much more important

Why do people imply staff performance related to mindset?

When I assign the same task to two of my new energetic staff, they perform in two different ways, which embody two different types of mindsets. Vincent’s mindset is about guarantee. He sometimes has no idea dealing with failure and also be afraid to change when receiving feedback from others to improve his performance. He takes it personally and sometimes she is displeased. Vincent requires his benefits before doing something.

On the other hand, Jules expects to receive feedback from the senior when making mistakes. To cope with a failure, she dares to change and improve her ability to accomplish well later on. She perceives challenges as ideal opportunities to fail and to learn. If she encounters something that is quite troublesome, she will endeavor to overcome somehow. After all, you can know that who has the fixed mindset and who possesses the growth mindset in this story.

What is Mindset?

If you refer to someone’s mindset, that means their thoughts and beliefs drive them into habits and the way they commonly think about issues. The mindset orients our disposition or attitudes to handle situations. The mindset has much influence on what people think, how they feel, what they perceive and what should they react. In other explanation, the mindset shapes your belief and your belief shapes your attitudes. People have various mindsets of the same thing due to perceiving in different ways.

The book called Mindset: The new psychology of success written by Carol Dweck, who is a psychology professor at Stanford, is one of the most prominent psychology and individual development books nowadays. The book reminds me vividly of my personal experience.

The Fixed Mindset

People with the fixed mindset believe basic qualities like talents are fixed traits. They view failure as permanent. They are more likely to give up when facing an obstacle. When they feel criticism as a personal attack, they seem to quickly give excuse and explain.

Their behaviors are shaped by innate ability and their priority always is validation and achievement. The insight of people having the fixed mindset is that better performances. They are less likely to take creative risks. They choose easier tasks and put in minimal effort.

The fixed-mindset people don’t allow others be better compared to themselves. If their colleagues try new things and succeed, fixed-mindset people feel threatened. They are afraid that success will put pressure on themselves to do more. Safety is their choice.

Also Read: The entrepreneur mindset can be the game-changer that makes the difference between success and failure

The Growth Mindset

People with the growth mindset believe new abilities can be developed by practice. They consider challenge which is just an issue need to be faced, resolved, and learned from. It is possible to say that growth-mindset people can all adapt, progress and experience without any fear of being painful.

Most people are not perfect, and they should suffer from losses and hardships to be stronger and more at peace than ever before. The growth mindset doesn’t mind to show their imperfections as they think that weaknesses are not the problem. The problem is just only the person who cannot accept these weaknesses belonging to them. The imperfections should be recovered since that helps people to improve their adequate development.

Personal performance is good, but the process of how to bear the failure is much more important. The growth-mindset people assume that it takes time for development and achievement. They aren’t convinced of being talented. They strongly believe in the determination of learning from time to time, arduous working and toil to get an accomplishment.

How do you know that you are a fixed-mindset person or a growth-mindset person?

Let’s emphasise straightforwardly in this case. What do people react when receiving a course of work? With the fixed mindset, it will be: “People will finish it with no mistakes. People should avoid being a failure. People simply lose interest or temperature when facing challenges. People think about the inputs for themselves rather than the outputs for others.”

In contrast, with the growth mindset, it will be: “People make mistakes, and it’s not a problem. People need to have feedbacks, even constructive criticism. People get ready to undergo current trouble. People are excited to try to do something beyond what they’ve mastered. People make an effort to figure out the measures of solving issues better than they did.”

5 Significant Ways to Develop a Growth Mindset

1. Acknowledge and embrace imperfections

Even if you demonstrate your best traits of a great person, but you hide from your deficiencies, you will never be excellent in most cases. You are unable to overcome the fear of weaknesses. Of course, fear can hold you back. Have you ever thought that fear is an obstacle distract you from building your strengths? Grasp an opportunity to discover yourself, uncover imperfections hidden and deeply understand yourself. This will be a premise to change the weaknesses towards your strengths.

2. View challenges as opportunities

The growth-mindset people consider each challenge is an opportunities to grow stronger. We continuously determine who we are and what we are able to achieve after enduring troublesome issues. In fact, people might not control events that occur to them, but these unanticipated events serve as a big deal to test truly your characteristics. Thus, it is grateful for welcoming opportunities to learn and to improve.

3. Replace “to fail” with “to learn”

Have you ever heard a quote of Samuel Beckett? “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

It’s not a shame to share your failures with each other. When you make a mistake for your goal, you haven’t failed, you are learning. You learn from the bad experience for yourself instead. You shouldn’t think you’re a loser, think that you’re a learner and then an achiever.

4. Redefine “genius”

A genius is a person who suffered from a whole host of challenges, hardships, losses, and toils. You should redefine that the genius is shaped by hard-working, not only natural ability. The fixed-mindset people believe in talent or intelligence. However, the growth-mindset people only recognise improvement and development throughout the experience. You will be a genius if you mobilise your resource and stretch on your way.

Also read: Why failing your startup does not mean you are a failure

5. Learn from others’ mistakes

It is better to combine our mistakes and the mistakes of others to learn. That will be valuable information for you to tackle the problems that push you up. People sometimes share the same weaknesses, which is a chance to empathise and adapt it to your case. It’s not always wise to compare yourself to others. Learn from others’ missteps and travel down on the bumpy road that helps you be more better.

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The article was first published on e27, on August 31, 2018.

Reference Source: Gary Klein Ph.D, 2016. Mindsets. What they are and why they master on Psychology Today

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

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The deal includes two Vietnam-based online platforms centred around parenting Marrybaby.vn and weddings Marry.vn

Singapore-based Hello Health Group, which runs various health content information sites in Asia, has announced the acquisition of Marry Network from global media company Ringier Vietnam.

The deal includes two Vietnam-based online platforms centred around parenting (Marrybaby.vn) and weddings (Marry.vn).

“Our company’s mission to democratise access to healthcare by taking the world’s healthcare information and making it universally accessible and useful matches perfectly with the Marry Network ́s approach. We are happy to include the Marry Network into our Hello Health Group platforms that inform, educate and engage over 32 million unique users each month. With our digital expertise, we will help the Marry Network to reach their target audience in the best possible way,” said James Miles-Lambert, CEO of Hello Health Group.

Founded in 2015, Hello Health Group is focusing on the development of healthcare platforms across emerging countries in Asia. The group helps healthcare brands connect to the audience via its eight different platforms — Hello Bacsi (Vietnam), Hello Sehat (Indonesia), Hello Sayarwon (Myanmar), Hello Doktor (Malaysia), Hello Khunmor (Thailand), Hello Krupet (Cambodia), Hello Yishi (Taiwan), and Hello Swasthya (India).

Also Read: ‘We aim to transform car ownership through our 360-degree approach’: Carro Founder Aaron Tan

With over 32 million monthly users in the region, including over 7.5 million in Vietnam, the group is also now investing beyond the media sector to develop new health tech ventures. This includes the recently-launched medical travel platform Go.care, as well as plans to enter digital insurance.

Founded in 1833, Ringier is a diversified media company with about 7,300 employees across 19 countries. Ringier manages many brands in print, TV, radio, online and mobile media. Ringier is a Swiss family-owned business with head offices in Zurich.

Ringier Vietnam is headquartered in HCMC and has office in Hanoi. Ringier Vietnam has developed a diversified multi-media operation, publishing brands such as Elle, Elle Man, Elle Decoration and Muabannhadat.vn, an online marketplace for buying and selling property.

 

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CAC Capital, Accord Ventures, and Actcelerate International Group Ltd (AIG) co-invest in the round arranged by Cradle Fund

WOBB, a job search portal targeting Generation Y and Z job seekers in Malaysia, announced that it has received US$1.3 million pre-Series A investment from CAC Capital, Accord Ventures, and Actcelerate International Group Ltd (AIG) in a funding round arranged by Cradle Fund.

Derek Toh, the company’s founder and CEO, shared that the company’s vision is to be the largest youth platform in Asia.

The funding will be used to focus on its growth in a mission to dominate Generation Y hiring in Asia.

Founded in 2014, WOBB uses algorithms and AI chatbots for screening, which is aimed to make it faster for job seekers and employers to find each other, as told in DealStreetAsia.

WOBB partners with LinkedIn in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia to enhance its job-seeking platform.

Also Read: Vietnamese VC firm VinaCapital Ventures officially debuts with US$100M

In 2017, WOBB raised US$140,000 from an equity crowdfunding campaign.

It is also a recipient of Cradle Fund’s CIP150, CIP500 grants as well as a DEQ equity funding.

The startup said that it will start its Series A fundraising next year.

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Arcor Capital will work with Helicap Investments to raise US$180 million in capital from accredited investors

Singapore-based fintech platform that specialises in alternative lending in Southeast Asia, Helicap, today announced its acquisition of securities firm Arcor Capital for an undisclosed sum.

As a newly acquired company, Arcor Capital will work together with sister company Helicap Investments (under the Helicap Group) to raise S$250 million (US$180 million) in capital from accredited investors.

Helicap Investments itself has obtained Registered Fund Management Company status in April. It aims to connect underserved consumer and corporate credit market in Southeast Asia by using its proprietary, data-driven analytics platform.

Having invested in eight Asian alternative lending platforms, Helicap Investments will launch its first fund with a target AUM of S$200 million (US$144 million).

Following the acquisition, Arcor Capital co-founders and managing partners Patrick Hong and Rahul Khemka will remain in their senior management roles.

Also Read: The case for alternative lending

Arcor Capital co-founder Simon Ong will also remain in his role as Senior Advisor to the company.

In a press statement, Helicap Co-Founder and CEO David Z. Wang named the acquisition as a “landmark moment” for the 18-month startup.

“The acquisition, together with Helicap Investments successfully obtaining registered fund management company status, enhances the Group’s leading position in the alternative lending market and enables us to immediately ramp up our engagement with sophisticated investors via debt securities fundraising and credit fund management,” he said.

“We are delighted to welcome stellar finance professionals – Patrick and Rahul – to the Helicap family and
leverage their decades of experience to further add to Helicap’s reputation of backing sound and reputable companies,” he continued.

Arcor Capital specialises in private debt securities and growth capital for early stage and mid-market enterprises in Asia.

It holds a Capital Markets Services (CMS) licence for dealing in securities from the Monetary Authority
of Singapore (MAS).

Also Read: Helicap raises US$1.5M seed funding round led by Singapore’s ex-minister of state Teo Ser Luck

As for Helicap, the company facilitates loans to business owners and individuals who are unable to access loans provided by traditional financial institutions such as banks.

Founded in 2017, it raised a US$5 million Pre-Series A funding round led by East Ventures and real estate conglomerate Soilbuild Group Holdings in September 2018.

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Image Credit: Helicap

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Burnout is a silent startup killer

Don’t let the ping-pong table fool you, startup life is a full-time, often over-time job. Founders typically go 24/7, team members wear many hats, and even the intern needs an intern to help him out.

Many startup journeys are fuelled by purpose and passion. It’s good to love your job, just don’t marry it.

Team players, for all their admirable selflessness, may justify the early symptoms of burnout with a delusional brand of self-motivation.

Losing your motivation? Wake up, honeymoon’s over.

Taking your work home again? Now that’s dedication.

Always tired and stressed? What you need is a coffee.

Slipping performance at work? Work harder.

A growing dependency on alcohol, smoking or junk food? Hey, whatever’s your fuel.

Now your relationships are falling apart? They don’t understand your work.

Always feeling frustrated, negative and depressed? What you need is a coffee!

Acknowledging the toll your job is inflicting on your mental and emotional well-being is the key to averting burnout

This may be harder for those who pride themselves as team players. They can take on stress with the flawed resolve of a heavyweight boxer who doesn’t know when to throw the towel, even when he’s taking a complete beatdown.

To these team-first individuals, admitting to burning out not only shows they’re weak, it shows they are the weak link.

Timely intervention is critical to divert a collision course with burnout. The team-player in you may resist the idea of slowing down or taking a timeout, but burning out doesn’t have to mean copping out. Here are seven guilt-free strategies to manage burnout.

Also read: 6 ways to identify burnout before it seriously impacts your business

1. Tune out

The “always-on” startup mindset can prevent you from resting and recharging. Start by unplugging from the ecosystem during rest time. Remove yourself electronically from emails and instant messages. Detach yourself mentally from thoughts of deadlines.

If it’s unrealistic to disconnect for the evening or over the weekend, allocate specific check-in times that allow you to respond to emails and messages. This allows you to be fully present in your non-work life while being available on your terms.

You could let other team members know your tune-out times, and encourage them to set up theirs too. Everyone will appreciate this.

2. Block out

When we’re disorganised, we’re not only less productive, we’re also more stressed by the chaos around us. We worry more about our uncompleted tasks and feel the anxiety of not being in control of our situation.

Distractions like social media and personal instant messages steal our precious focus at work. Block out distractions while at work, or schedule specific times to check in on them. You’ll be more focused and productive, and your team will appreciate the difference.

3. Sieve out

We feel overwhelmed when we try to do too much with too little. Filter out the unnecessary and give your time and energy to the truly important.

Do you need to reply to every group chat just to “be heard”? Should you be at every meeting, including the one to select the wackiest photos from the Christmas party? Instead of trying to be omnipresent, choose to be fully present and engaged on the things that truly add value to your team and organisation.

Also read: How to embrace mental wellness in startup culture

4. Chill out

This one sounds simple: Work on having a life outside of work.

Get back to spending time on your favourite hobbies. They take your mind off work stress while refreshing and energising it. Your passions remind you of who you are and can help restore balance.

Invite your colleagues to a weekend barbecue. Set up Wednesday yoga classes or Friday night bowling. These are some great ways to calm frayed nerves and connect as a team outside the office.

5. Step out

The office is the physical epicentre of work stress. Whenever possible, step outside without compromising your productivity.

Forget the takeaway sandwich at the desk. Make lunch time a designated timeout by exploring new places to grab a bite with co-workers. Have the less formal meetings at a nearby café. Take your laptop to the open breakout area.

Arrange to work from home on certain days. Be there for your team without being there.

6. Cut out and Work out

Like your mind, your body takes a beating from burnout. Listen to what it’s trying to tell you, from headaches to numbing sensations. Loading up on junk food and caffeine puts more stress on your beleaguered body and can only exacerbate the burnout.

Exercise can do wonders to help the brain manage stress. Hit a nearby gym during lunchtime. Organise evening team runs with your co-workers. Get your body moving and your mind moves better, too!

7. Speak out

Before you’re completely burnt out, talk to someone — don’t suffer in silence.

Speak with your partners or other stakeholders about your unsustainable work situation. This is not a sign of weakness but a show of accountability. Clearly express what you need in terms of resources and ask for the necessary support to achieve your targets.

This is also the time to count on your support network of family and friends. Talk to them and lean on them. If you need professional help, it’s always better to seek out an executive coach or mentor before a meltdown.

The takeaway

Burnout is a silent startup-killer. Losing your motivation, self-confidence  or personal well-being— all important assets  in your startup journey— can deal a severe blow to team success. True team players understand this and take responsible steps to fight burnout before it hits.

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This article was first published on e27, on September 13, 2018.

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

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Circles.Life and its plans on dominating the telco market

 

In this day and age, where the world is connected through digital services with millennials being constantly glued to their phones, it can be a disaster to suffer from bad reception or slow customer service.

It seems that Singapore-based telco company Circles.Life has figured out just how to take telecommunications to the next level by introducing a handful of new features, along with an OS (operating system) for telcos.

This has not just allowed consumers to gain flexibility and control but has also managed to cut operational costs by a whopping amount of 95 per cent. 

“The actual problems of standing in queues or your bill being wrong, those real problems cannot be solved just by cutting the price,” says Gupta.

In this interview with e27, Gupta discusses the local telecom industry, competition, price wars, Circle.Life’s diversification plans and expansion strategies.

Circles Life is growing so fast. But as a co-founder, what is the one thing that drives you and gets you going?

A.G: I would say that the biggest thing is the global potential of what we are trying to do.

What we have done in Singapore is to give power back to consumers, which manifests itself when you look at the net promoter scores towards customer satisfaction between us and the rest of the telcos.

We are trying to solve a global problem that needs to be addressed in not just Singapore, but around the world. 

People always say that we have millions of subscribers, but I reply saying that the path from there is to get to a billion subscribers one day. 

There’s a long way ahead, but that is what gets us most excited. 

Circles.Life has not just been growing, but also expanding at a substantial rate. Besides Taiwan and Australia, what are some other expansion plans for the company in the Asia Pacific -or even beyond?

A.G: If you look in the next two-to-three-year horizon, we are looking to expand to pretty much every country that you can think of in Asia. 

So that will be every country … in Asia because we believe that customers in the immediate vicinity of Singapore should all get these digital services. 

What we have planned outside of Taiwan and Australia is to hit up Indonesia, which is a market where we would be launching this year. Most probably in the last quarter of this year. 

We have a few conversations going around, and at the right stage, we will be very happy to share.

Speaking of which, what are some strategies that you will be using to gain success in these new markets that you have been entering so rapidly?

A.G: While we are expanding, we are not expanding fast, if I may be frank. The reason is that we believe expanding indiscriminately is not the answer. 

It has to be very strategic and has to be thought through because it is an essential service. It is like banking.

You know telcos are an essential service.

You really cannot get that flow wrong, and you do not want to trouble customers because we are all about giving power back to the customers. 

So in that sense, I do not think two countries are too much if you’re looking at startups who are looking at fifteen countries in six months.

We are not those types.

In terms of strategy, the biggest thing that helps us is that we built the world’s first operating system for telcos. 

This is an essential point because just as we have an operating system for computers like Windows and operating system for phones like Android and iOS. 

There has never been an operating system for telcos, and that is just what we have created. 

Just having that operating system that allows us to go from country A to B to C without having to flex our technological muscles every time, to do things that have been done before. 

We can launch in a much shorter time. We can use the same power that we have provided to customers here to customers elsewhere very, very quickly. That I would say is the core of our strategy. 

I notice that there have been added features in your app, such as booking movies and checking showtimes. Is it safe to say that Circles.Life is aiming to become a super app, similar to Grab?

A.G: I would say being a super app … is not the centre point of our strategy. 

The most important thing is innovation. That may –or may not– mean that we are trying to be a super app.

We are launching many services, but those services are trying to address the same kind of pain points that customers had for telcos. 

For example, in the case of booking a movie, the process is painful. For a user to see the booking platform, the movie playing, how many tickets are there etc is painful, it’s a different issue that a lot of people don’t watch movies in theatres these days. 

So we want to change that and make it easy for people to go through the whole process.

You could say that we are going off to many services and that they are essentially divided between two or three major angles. 

One of them would be financial services, another one is around entertainment and its discovery, and the third one would be around travel. 

So there are specific things that you want to expand on.

A.G: That’s right, and there are things that people just like about us. 

There is a polling game where people gets to decide which question goes to everybody. For example, is there anything tastier than Hainanese chicken rice?

It’s a fun thing, you know. 

One of the things that intrigue me about Circles.Life is its bold marketing campaigns, which includes the vandalism of SG mobile and S$20 unlimited data. That was very bold.  In your earlier years, have there been experiences where you did something bold and unexpected? 

A.G:  I think I have been adventurous in my life. I have tried different things. 

When I came to Singapore with the choice between joining an English school and a Chinese choice, I picked the Chinese one despite being from a Non-Chinese background. So I went to Hwa Chong, a Chinese Junior College. 

Most people told me that I had gone crazy and that I was not going to survive. But I think I had a blast and a really good time.

Apart from that, I have also tried learning eight different languages and failed five times.

Failing five times sounds like the life of an entrepreneur. Apart from that, there has always been growing tension in Singapore markets with the entry of numerous telco operators. While Circles.Life has remained undeterred, managing to secure five per cent of the market share. However, do you see price drops as a threat to the telco industry?

A.G: Firstly, we are of the view that customers like a better experience. The segment that we are after is solidly behind services that priorities better quality over just price cuts. 

And we believe, in the long run, that it is the answer. 

The actual problem for standing in long queues or your bill being charged wrongly … those real problems cannot be solved by just cutting the price. 

Companies can keep cutting prices for telco services but only to a certain limit because beyond that they will not be comfortable. It will not have any return on the capital. 

So we expect this to end at some point. 

And up until now, we are unfazed by this because customers come to us despite the fact that our pricing is not the cheapest.

We pride ourselves in great services, and that is what we will continue to do.

What about countries such as Singapore, where things are moving relatively fast, and customer service is not a major factor in the success of a service?

A.G: I would say it is big enough that while we have not been the cheapest for the longest time, we continue to be the fastest-growing. 

We are not for every segment. Like, young students who are trying to save every dollar that they can. We might not even be for retirees. 

However, we are great for people who are working or are digitally savvy, who want to solve a telco-related issue with a click of a button, instead of “click 1 for this and click 2 for that.

People love the ease of the process, therefore we have not faced that challenge yet.

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Image Credit: Circles.Life

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