Singapore has done well in international indices on smart cities and digital government

Last November, the Republic scored another accolade, winning the Smart City 2018 award, at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona.

A key pillar of Singapore’s Smart Nation vision is the public sector’s digital transformation. The Digital Government Blueprint (DGB) – released in June 2018 — sets out an ambitious goal of transforming Singapore’s public sector into one that is both “digital to the core” and “serves with heart”.

The DGB — with a list of 14 targets to be achieved by 2023 — challenges our government agencies to provide easy-to-use, seamless, secure and relevant digital services to citizens and businesses, and to build a digitally-enabled workplace with a digitally- confident workforce for the public sector.

“Digital to the core” means going beyond producing glossy new websites or shiny new apps. It is about re-thinking and re-engineering the way the government serves citizens. It is not about turning existing paper forms into online web forms, but asking whether that form is even necessary in the first place.

“Serve with heart” is a reminder that even as we pursue digitisation, the public service exists primarily to serve people. That means automating our processes where possible, so we can offer a personal touch. It is about using high-tech to offer high-touch in a way that enriches the interaction between the Government and citizens.

Also Read: Why Tik Tok is not a real competitor to Instagram

To realise the DGB, I believe government agencies need to do three things differently. That is, build our digital services differently, organise ourselves differently, and to live as an organisation differently.

Today, most government ICT systems are designed and built as monolithic systems in silos to meet each agency’s own requirements. They typically have requirements that are carefully scoped out before they are outsourced to a few large vendors.

These legacy systems had helped Singapore to be one of the earliest to computerise its public sector and digitise government services before the millennium. However, such legacy systems limit economies of scale, interoperability and agility in this data-fuelled, digitally-converged age.

To be digital to the core, the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) has built a new digital backbone — the Singapore Government Technology Stack (SGTS) — that allows agencies to build for scale. The SGTS comprises three layers.

At the base is a suite of hosting infrastructure, comprising on-premises and private cloud hosting platforms for classified systems and commercial cloud for restricted systems. As part of the government’s greater move to leverage commercial cloud – first announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in October – new unclassified systems will be required to be hosted on commercial cloud by default.

The second layer is a suite of middleware — common software modules used in app development. For example, the API Exchange or APEX is a centralised gateway to enable applications to talk to one another through application programming interfaces (APIs).

WOGAA (Whole of Government Application Analytics) is an application analytics module for agencies to monitor the performance of their websites and digital services in real-time, conveniently and cost-effectively.

The third layer is a library of commonly-used micro-services that agencies can consume and share easily for interoperability between applications. These micro-services include SingPass, CorpPass and MyInfo.

The SGTS will help government agencies develop digital services that provide citizens with a more seamless, consistent and connected experience; power policymaking with data insights; and speed up design and roll-out of digital applications.

Organising around citizen’s needs

Let me now address the point about organising government agencies differently to design and develop services.

Currently, citizens have to work out which is the right government agency to approach for a specific transaction. This is not citizen-centric when there are more than 90 government agencies and close to 200 government digital services.

To serve citizens with heart, we need to move towards a new “service journey” paradigm, where agencies deliver services not by the conveniences of how they are organised but around the “jobs to be done”.

Take for example the Moments of Life (Families) app. Developed around the needs of a parent with a new-born child, the app seeks to simplify three things that new parents need to do: Register their child’s birth online and apply for baby bonus in a single form; search for and indicate interest in pre-school facilities in their neighbourhood; and finally, view their child’s medical appointments and immunisation records.

Developing the app entailed integrations with more than 20 APIs across a dozen different cross-agency systems. Since it was launched in June 2018, the app has received over 13,000 downloads and hundreds of parents have benefited from streamlined processes.

We have identified more service journeys that will transform how citizens and businesses transact with the government. This new paradigm will see government services for citizens wrapped around their varying needs at particular moments in life.

As the implementing agency of the DGB, GovTech will need to live and operate as a “digital native”.

We now have five capability centres comprising a multi-disciplinary team of more than 400 data scientists, software developers, UX designers, product managers, hardware engineers, infrastructure specialists and cybersecurity specialists.

Also Read: Korea’s TOP100 winner eyes a fraud free future for the e-commerce industry

They work with another 1,200 ICT professionals – who are forward deployed to government agencies – to build and deliver digital services. GovTech now has a full suite of end-to-end digital capabilities and solutions to support our agencies in their digitalisation initiatives.

Within the public service, we will also need to invest in building “soft” capabilities and to promote a culture that is agile, bold and collaborative. Our leaders must embrace the mantra of “think big, start small and act fast”.

Their leadership style cannot be driven by command and control, but must be based on collaboration and trust. This is critical given the fast pace of technology changes, where no one in the organisation can profess to have full knowledge and where “good” may not be well-defined.

We have the vision to be a leading digital government. We are re-engineering our digital infrastructure to build for scale. We are re-organising our government around citizens’ needs. We are starting to live as a digitally native public service.

The next five years will be exciting for the Singapore Government’s digital transformation.

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Lizuna’s ambition is to prevent account takeover fraud and provide safer online transactions

Already stoked for Echelon? Grab tickets here! Starter tickets are only 10 bucks.

TOP100 in Seoul, Korea was a resounding success! The competition was fierce and a new startup, Lizuna, was crowned as the Judges Choice winner.

Lizuna will get to enjoy the following treats in e27’s Echelon Asia Summit 2019:

• A free exhibition booth space in the TOP100 Zone at Echelon
• A pitching slot on the TOP100 stage on day one of Echelon
• Intimate investor meetings and inclusion to Corporate business matching
• Five starter tickets to Echelon Asia Summit
• Access to the TOP100 Tour in Singapore

Now, here’s more on the winning startup: Lizuna

Not too long ago, in 2016, a staggering amount — US$7 billion — was lost to e-commerce fraud in the US alone. And the bad news is that this figure is only expected to quadruple by 2020.

What makes matters worse are the lacklustre fraud solutions of today. They are expensive, confusing and have a lot of friction for users.

That’s where Lizuna comes in. It serves to help e-commerce businesses detect and prevent fraudulent orders via Beacon, its product that it launched back in April 2018.

Beacon is decked out with sophisticated technology that combines elements of Big Data and SMS to deliver false information detection, curation of mobile data points and fine-tuning. Its unique machine learning technology also continues to adapt and evolve, assisting merchants with better efficiency and accuracy.

So far, Beacon’s success in preventing account takeover fraud is above 90 per cent and it has managed to amass 130 merchants and more than 20,000 transactions. In fact, just two months back, it managed to score an Orange Fab partnership.

Founded by Jason Sio, the company plans to continue tapping on the US$300 billion US e-commerce market and give merchants the power to asses each transaction more carefully with raw data.

Congratulations Lizuna, and here’s to a safer, fraud-less future!

Also Read: This Echelon Asia Summit 2019 tickets giveaway will make you feel nostalgic

Six other startups managed to qualify for a discounted booth at Echelon. Here they are:

• WeavAir
• ILLIO
• IDEACONCERT Co. Ltd
• Toy’s Myth
• Unidocs Inc
• Fastpong

They will get to enjoy the same sweet-deals as listed above, should they join us at Echelon’s TOP100 stage.

That’s all for now, keep a look out for other Echelon news!

Also Read: Our TOP100 Taiwan champion says let’s bring chatbots to real estate!

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It is nothing less than a challenge to get your business up and running

Starting your own business is a wonderful feeling, but with it comes great responsibility.

Earning profits is not easy and you need to take help of online channels to solidify your branding, generate leads and an ample number of conversions. This is where digital marketing is so successful.

Here are five super useful digital marketing tips that startups can use to run their business profitably.

1. Publish interactive evergreen content

Evergreen content is a piece of content that always remains relevant. A good example of relevant content is “How do you find the square root of a number?”. A tutorial like this will remain relevant forever.

Also Read: Why Tik Tok is not a real competitor to Instagram

Imagine you are an educational startup and you create a library of useful resources for students having tutorials related to each and every subject or the subject that your business targets. Students can easily register on your site in order to learn more about your company and your chances of conversions are automatically increased.

Only publishing evergreen content won’t give you the maximum returns unless you make it interactive. Interactive content is the one that takes input from the user and changes itself accordingly. This means the content adapts itself automatically according to the needs of the user.

This quiz from Women.com is a great example of interactive content in action.

2. Use SEO to improve your organic visibility

SEO has always remained one of the best channels to improve the organic visibility of your business. The key here is to start early because SEO takes both time and effort to generate results.

Always hire a professional SEO expert who follows the search engine guidelines to optimize and promote your website because an unprofessional person might ruin your chances of ranking high on Google or other search engines.

The Google ranking algorithm is focused on two major factors — content and links as suggested in this SEO guide. The SEO expert will help you to improve the content quality on your site and also help you earn authoritative backlinks.

This way, your business presence will start to improve organically leading to more leads and sales.

3. Educate your customers and avoid overpromotion

You need to plan your marketing strategy according to the behaviours of Gen Z audiences. Gen Z audiences are individuals who are born between 1995 and 2000. They hold around US$44 billion buying power in their hands.

One characteristic feature of Gen Z audience is that they hate promotion. Businesses who over-promote themselves via social media or other digital channels are avoided by Gen Z. Besides, they love businesses who educate them and are able to solve their questions.

Hence, depending on your buying cycle, you need to understand the type of micro-moments that your audiences will go through.

And, once identified, you need to create content that effectively answers each and every question that the user might put up. Mercato does a great job in creating question-based content starting with “How”. In their blog, they post blogs based on question-based searches in order to increase their chances of ranking higher on Google for question-based searches and also to help the user during their micro-moments.

This way, your business would be able to answer the queries of the users and gradually people will start loving your business.

4. Use the help of nano influencers

Influencers are people who have a loyal following. Social media influencers are celebrities or stars who have millions of followers and companies pay them to promote their services on their social media profiles.

Similarly, nano influencers are normal people like us who have just thousands of followers in their social profiles but the impact remains the same. You can tie up with nano influencers and ask them to promote your brand.

Here is a list of 55 influencer marketing platforms to help you find your ideal influencer.

A word-of-mouth recommendation is the best recommendation your business can have. Imagine your business receiving recommendations from a number of nano influencers and people starting to visit your website to inquire about your products or services. It won’t cost you a fortune to tie up with nano influencers because as a startup, you might be having a limited budget.

Influencers can have a huge impact on your business and it can help you improve your branding and conversion efforts.

5. Run contests and giveaways

Freebies, contests, and giveaways have always been one of the best ways to attract the attention of your target audiences. Before running a contest, always plan your goals and what you wish to achieve from the contest.

Also Read: Bridging the gap between Chinese farmers and consumers, with blockchain

Identify KPIs that are easily measurable like the number of people who will sign up for the contest.

The goal of the contest could be to generating traffic to your website or increasing the number of email subscribers.

It is best to define your target market, demographics, geographic location and social media usage of customers because segmentation always helps to deliver the maximum results.

Over to you

Digital marketing is essential for each and every company whether it’s a new business or one that is been in the business for long. You simply can’t avoid it. The sooner you start, the better it is for your business.

Now that you have learned about the various tricks to run your digital marketing campaign, it’s time to get started! Use the above five tips to improve your online presence and generate more leads.

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The 13 tech startups were participants in Smart Port Challenge (SPC) 2018

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS), have announced the chosen startups out of 17 technology startups from Smart Port Challenge (SPC) 2018. The 13 selected startups will each receive S$50,000 (US$37,000) in seed funding from MPA to further test-bed their solutions, support prototype development, and develop the prototype after gathering feedback from the industry.

In addition to the seed funding, 12 startups were also given the opportunity to pitch their solutions to venture capitalists at the inaugural Mixer and Pitch Session. The event was held as part of the Singapore Maritime Technology Conference (SMTC) 2019 jointly organised with Enterprise Singapore and NUS Enterprise.

Among the venture capitalists who were at the Mixer & Pitch Session were EV Growth, Futurelabs Ventures, Green Meadows Accelerator, SG Innovate, and TNB Ventures.

“As the maritime industry is characterised by its heavily manual and largely paper-based processes, digitisation is the key to unlocking further innovation such as automation, data analytics, and optimisation. It is precisely due to the inefficiencies of traditional processes that we see massive opportunities ahead,” said Vicknesh Pillay, Managing Partner of venture capitalist TNB Aura Fund.

MPA and NUS Enterprise jointly launched PIER71 last year in hopes to spur digital adoption in the maritime industry. One of the key highlights of PIER71 is the Smart Port Challenge, which brings together maritime corporates and technology startups with expertise in various technology areas, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, Internet of Things, and augmented reality.

Also Read: PSA unboXed partners with Israeli startup theDOCK to support maritime logistics tech

“This encourages the adoption of latest technologies and emerging innovations for a more productive and competitive maritime sector in Singapore,” said Professor Wong Poh Kam, Senior Director, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, NUS Enterprise.

For the incubation phase and to encourage cross-sharing of services, PIER71 has grouped these startup solutions into clusters of Enabling platforms, Port and Cargo Operations, and Crossed industry/border innovation.

PIER71 has also formed several partnerships to provide these 13 startups with resources. The partners include AdNovum which provides access to security technologies and consultancy service in cybersecurity; Singtel which provides access to its satellite network, Internet of Things (IoT) network and curated data; MarineTraffic which provides access to maritime traffic information; TerraWeather which provides access to weather information; and Panasonic R&D Centre Singapore which provides access to vision and wireless communication technologies.

Also Read: Insurtech NTUC Income joins hand with Chinese insurer ZhongAn for Singapore scaleup

One of the recipients of the seed funding was Claritecs. Marianne Choo, Chief Marketing Officer of Claritecs, said: “Claritecs achieved a Top 3 win with ‘BunkerMaestro’, an algorithm-based platform to rejuvenate bunker scheduling operations, with data-driven insights for increased work efficiencies, scheduling clarity, and fleet optimisation. Now, we will enter the test-bed phase from next month, with five bunker tanker operators who collectively manage one-third of Singapore’s bunker tanker fleet.”
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Contrary to popular belief, blockchain isn’t a total gone case

Blockchain technology made its public debut more than a decade back in 2008 when Satoshi Nakamoto published a famous white paper named Bitcoin: A Peer To Peer Electronic Cash System.

The paper termed bitcoin as a “peer-to-peer version of electronic cash” that could potentially replace the traditional currency and lay the foundation of decentralised payments globally.

Things changed dramatically over the next ten years (from 2008 to 2018), including a rapid surge in bitcoin’s value that once touched US$20000 and evolution of many other cryptocurrencies that gained instant popularity among masses.

Today, blockchain may not be as accessible as many experts claimed a couple of years back, but that doesn’t mean it’s a gone case.

The year 2019 has just begun, and it’s expected to bring many reforms that will shape up the future of blockchain industry and take it newer heights.

In this post, I’ve shortlisted some of these blockchain trends that we can expect in 2019.

Introduction of smart contracts

The concept of smart contracts have been in existence for decades, but couldn’t be realised due to many technical hurdles. Now that blockchain technology has gained the necessary momentum, we can finally expect to see smart contracts replacing paper-based contracts soon.

Also Read: Insurtech NTUC Income joins hand with Chinese insurer ZhongAn for Singapore scaleup

Smart contracts are blockchain-based computer protocols intended to help you exchange property, money, shares or anything else in a conflict-free and transparent way without requiring the services of a middleman. These contracts, similar to traditional paper-contracts, come with a set of rules that both the parties must accept to accomplish any transaction.

According to the blockchain expert Lisa Cheng, CEO of EtherParty, the error-free processing and fully secured decentralised nature of smart contracts make them a perfect fit for banking, real estate, healthcare, and government departments.

In 2019, we might witness these industries switching over to smart contracts to add an extra layer of transparency and efficacy to their routine tasks.

The increased number of timestamping-use

Blockchain, unlike the cloud and hardware-based storage system, has a tamper-resistant design that’s almost next to impossible to hack into. This feature makes it a perfect solution to store critical information related to government contracts, business financials, healthcare data, etc. at a particular time.

As the popularity of the blockchain technology grows in 2019, more and more businesses will use it to timestamp their records safely.

Secure enclave will become common

Along with securing digital records and payments, blockchain can also be used to secure hardware.

This year, we are likely to witness many useful blockchain solutions for secure computing, such as hardware-based acceleration of cryptographic techniques and trusted hardware that provides a fully secure execution environment popularly known as a secure enclave.

Also Read: A consolidation of digital marketing tricks for startups

It facilitates users by isolating critical data and code from other programs running on the same computer, ensuring that no security breach ever takes place on business and personal computers regardless of how many third-party programs you run simultaneously.

These are top blockchain trends that are expected to create a buzz this year. Do you think there is any other trend that should be on this list? Let me know your views in the comments section below.

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Co-working spaces are everywhere and thankfully one regular worker gave us access to his deepest darkest thoughts, 

We all know that co-working is exploding in Southeast Asia, but nobody has really dug deep into the minds of the minions,  the plebs, the faceless masses that share desks with strangers, queue up for their morning coffee and stare at one another with a mixture of curiosity, hostility and sexual attraction.

Thankfully, one local co-worker allowed us to peer inside his thoughts (Amazon provided the technology), and we are excited to share it with you. (We were slightly disturbed.)

8am to 10am

“Look at all of these bankers, dressed in suits like suckers. Check out my Hawaiian shirt. This is what freedom tastes like.”

“Oh god, I’m wearing a Hawaiian t-shirt downtown. Nobody is going to take me seriously and jeez look at these looks everyone is giving me. This was a mistake.”

“Free coffee. Free happiness.”

“This coffee is terrible.”

“Actually, you know what, it’s not that bad. I shouldn’t complain so much.”

“It is time to settle down in my spot for the day. Should I chose a spot in the open-aired area and stare at a complete stranger all day? Or, should I battle to the death for a mini-desk — I will get a great spot all day, but will burn bridges along the way. I know! I will take a call booth and open a live-streaming app so people just think I am talking to clients.”

10am-Lunchtime

“Is it too early for beer?…. yeah probably.”

“Is it too late for another coffee?… hell no!”

“That guy across from me has food stuck in his teeth, but I’ve never spoken to him before, do I tell him?”

“I wonder if the lady next to me is judging my decision to watch basketball while I work?”

“Oh! There’s a guy going for the beer. Kudos to you mate for not giving a single &*#*!.

Also Read: Fore Coffee raises an additional US$1M, aims hyper-expansion in Indonesia

“Can I nap yet?”

“If I did nap, I wonder if that would hurt the pitch these salespeople are giving.”

Lunchtime

“Looking forward to walking around the area for a bit!”

“This experience is far too stressful for a break in the day.”

“Oh, I recognise that girl! She is a co-working buddy, but I’ve never actually said hi. Oh my god! She is coming this way! What do I do!? What do I do!? WHAT DO I DO!?”

“Welp, she just walked by and now I feel terrible about myself.”

“I think I am ready to head back to the office, work is less intense than lunchtime.”

Lunchtime-Happy Hour

“I wonder what would happen if I burned that Ping Pong table? I am sure the staff would be angry with me, but the proletariat would obviously support the initiative. Worth it?”

“Suddenly, with all this noise, the Thanos plan doesn’t seem half-bad.”

“Uh oh, my office credit seems to be running out. Should I use it to book that important client meeting? Or should I print my side hustle comic book in full-color to pass around the office?”

“Wow, this comic book is taking a lot longer to print than anticipated.”

“I don’t like that guy. I don’t know why, but I just don’t like the look on his face.”

“Oh wow, he held the door open for me and asked my about my cool shirt. Dang. Time to find a new victim for my arbitrary hatred.”

“5…4…3…2…1….HAPPY HOUR!”

Happy Hour…End of Day

“Is it socially acceptable to just grab beer and then hide in my corner? Actually, looking around, not only is it acceptable, it seems to be the norm.”

“If I drink five beers does that qualify as dinner?”

“Wow, these emails are a lot easier to write…I’m getting in a flow!”

“Oops. Typos all over the place, maybe I’ll save the drafts and spellcheck them tomorrow.”

“That was a tender kiss. That is definitely her boyfriend. Thank goodness I didn’t ask her out…Brain! Get out of the gutter.”

Also Read: Why Tik Tok is not a real competitor to Instagram

“The energy of the space does help me at this time of day. It’s like a little caffeine push before heading home.”

“Oofta, this hour-long commute is feeling daunting. I wonder what would happen if I slept here? I’m sure I am not the first person to have done it. I could hit up H&M at like 6am.”

“Oh wait, the air-conditioning got turned off. There goes that plan.”

“Welp, there goes another day in the books. I think I was fairly productive, my boss hasn’t fired me so that’s a good sign. I think tomorrow will be the day I finally cut back on my coffee intake.” (It won’t).

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Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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The Indonesia-based on-demand specialty coffee aims to open 100 more outlets by the end of June 2019

Fore Coffee, Indonesia’s on-demand specialty coffee startup, raises an additional US$1 million in its Series A funding, rounding it up to US$9.5 million recorded in January.

The additional funding is an extended sum from its original US$8.5 million round initially closed that month led by East Ventures, and joined by SMDV, Pavilion Capital, Agaeti Venture Capital, and several angel investors.

With the funding, Fore Coffee said it has already doubled the outlet growth from 19 outlets to 35 outlets across Jakarta within two months.

Fore Coffee also managed to promote its app and recorded more than 500,000 downloads.
Fore Coffee was founded in August 2018 by Robin Boe and Elisa Suteja with the online-to-offline e-commerce approach. Fore Coffee is the brainchild of venture capital firm East Ventures’ hypothesis on new consumption trend in Indonesia and leveraging the convenience and fast lifestyles among Indonesian millennials.

“Data drives customization, which in turn drives new experiences designed for consumers. Coupled with Indonesia-optimized digital infrastructure, consumer product distribution and touch points can develop in a very robust environment,” said Willson Cuaca, Managing Partner of East Ventures.

Also Read: MPA and NUS Enterprise to inject US$479K seed funding to 13 startups

Fore Coffee creates an ordering process on the app and integrates it with existing payment platforms like OVO and Go-Pay. Fore Coffee claims it is able to shorten the time it takes to get a cup of coffee as well as keep costs down, fulfilling the needs to consume coffee at a low cost but in high speed.

“With Fore Coffee, the inconvenience is removed completely, and people can get on with doing other, more productive things – and then the next thing you know, there’s a coffee in your hand, ready to keep you going,” said co-founder and CEO, Robin Boe.

Fore Coffee also highlighted its effects on the lives of coffee farmers with its continuous purchase on coffee-6.5 tonnes each month. The company claims that the number roughly translates to 137 hectares of coffee plantation land area being productively cultivated by 600 farmers in the archipelago each year.

The company said that its platform currently serves 10,000 cups of coffee a day, with 85 per cent of the cups being ordered through the app and delivered to customers.
Since the launch of its mobile app in the second week of December 2018, the startup has grown from serving 19,000 monthly cups of coffee to 300,000 today.

Also Read: Insurtech NTUC Income joins hand with Chinese insurer ZhongAn for Singapore scaleup

Now, Fore Coffee has grown from 90 employees to a staff of 200, half of them baristas. Fore Coffee’s next foray will be the multiplication to 100 outlets by the end of June 2019.
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Image Credit: Fore Coffee

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When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills – Chinese Proverb

While innovation is the key to staying competitive in the industry, this supposed “innovation” is too often only a reorganisation of an existing offer that sometimes fails altogether.

Some would say, well you learn from your failures. But how many organisations today have the stomach for “expensive” failures that may even destroy the business altogether? So, is this then a catch-22?

The world of design offers some lessons for this predicament, but to learn these, businesses need to step away from what they see as the “problems” in their existing offers and take a better look at the surrounding business and consumption environment. They need to consider the lives and journeys of their customers for clues to understand the real reasons underlying these so-called problems.

Sometimes what we see as problems are only symptoms of underlying issues or opportunities in consumer interactions. Perhaps new consumer trends are driving micro changes in consumption, or maybe the product itself is being substituted as part of a broader evolution in the ecosystem.

Think how Uber disrupted the taxi economy or how m-Pesa, a mobile app became a de-facto “bank” or means of money-transfer for the unbanked populations of Kenya.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” –Albert Einstein

Yes, such imagination could take you just about anywhere and could very well involve re-imagining the very foundations of the business.

Many of us know the story of how in the year 2000, Reed Hastings, the founder of a small company called Netflix, flew to Dallas to propose a partnership to Blockbuster CEO John Antioco and his team.

Also Read: RISE Corporate Innovation Accelerator partners startups and corporates in building real-world solutions using artificial intelligence through RISE.AI

The idea was that Netflix would run Blockbuster’s brand online and Antioco’s firm would promote Netflix in its stores. Hastings got laughed out of the room; Blockbuster believed then that the idea was too “niche” to succeed at a large scale.

Fast-forward 20 years, Netflix is now in 120 countries across the world, banks USD 28 billion a year while Blockbuster is bankrupt.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results” – Albert Einstein

Let’s talk about change, or rather — the lack of it. True, it’s hard to change and this has been an inherent human condition. After all, organisations are run by people, and people are human.

Many organisations therefore remain captive to this inertia of rest/ motion or continuing to do what they have always done. The heuristics of decision-making drive people to form judgements about things, via mental shortcuts that focus on certain parts of a problem but ignoring others.

Organisations too, end up selectively ignoring the parts of problems they don’t fully understand, and these often continue to cloud better judgement in making changes that may seem inconsequential today but perhaps, will address a much larger issue or opportunity tomorrow.

Incidentally, these biases also creep into consumer’s usage habits and ultimately social mores that include customs and manners and shapes their ways of valuing things in the world around them.

So then, how do we break the mould?

It’s easier said than done. We have in our years of experience encountered situations where we have been enthused at the willingness to change, in rooms full of attentive executives who acknowledge the challenges of modern business and the sea of changes digitalisation is causing.

Disappointingly, more than a few of those conversations have been lost in organisational bureaucracy, and the C-suites best efforts are often rendered toothless by vested interests from overpaid executives who have done all they could to protect their “turf” and guard the perceived success of the structures or silos within which they work in organisations.

Fast-forward eight months … Didn’t we completely forget about the customer there?

Enter Design Thinking, and in the words of one of its best-known practitioners, Tim Brown of IDEO:

“Design Thinking is neither art, nor science, nor religion. It is the capacity, ultimately, for integrative thinking”

Also Read: Why online marketplaces have lucrative startup prospects

Now a critic might ask here, “how is this any different from say, ‘out of the box’ thinking or ‘lateral’ thinking?” Ultimately, you are perhaps all correct in a way – Design Thinking as we see it at TheEngage is really just “thinking” under yet another name but without the barriers of having perceived constraints from our environments.

Encouraging design thinking involves understanding consumer trends that are continuously re-setting the expectations of customers. This requires thorough investigations to determine their effects on the business environment and thinking of ways to integrate them into an organisation’s services and products.

The process doesn’t end there as businesses also need to know the most agonising moments along the decision-making journey of customers and exploring how to convert those points of despair into ones of delight.

In other words, implementing a customer-focused perspective that reveals opportunities to create services and products that can empower and satisfy customers is a critical decision. This perspective allows businesses to take insights from the market and the customer journey and turn them into services and products that customers need but make business sense at the same time.

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About Neel Banerjee

Neel Banerjee has Design Thinking credentials from the DesignSingapore Council. He has also trained as a Level 1 Executive Coach. Neel has trained and enabled organizational audiences in the Retail, Banking and broader entrepreneurial sectors using the Design Thinking methodology. These sessions have extended into program grants such as Capability Development Grant [Government of Singapore]/ roadmaps for builds for new apps or digital platforms.

Are you a key executive or business owner who is done with your share of “big” talk from professors or professional speakers but wish to drive some real change in your ways of doing business?

Want to learn more about how to use Design Thinking to catalyse new business plans that can ultimately make real money for your business? Visit Neel here and #EngageTheEngage

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Online marketplaces are hot property in the e-commerce sector at present

Besides eBay and Amazon, there are countless examples of highly successful marketplaces out there, spanning a wide range of niches.

The core reason for their popularity from a consumer and seller perspective is fairly clear: they allow sellers to tap into several pools of consumers, who in exchange benefit from more choice.

However, in this article, we will focus on how they are taking the startup scene by storm specifically, and why they’re an attractive and high-potential business model for entrepreneurs looking for their next big idea.

Funding potential

One of the largest challenges a fledgeling startup faces is securing investment. Without significant funding from an angel investor, the vast majority of business ideas will fail to come to fruition.

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In order to get this funding, entrepreneurs depend on the confidence investors have in their business model. Fortunately, technology investors are taking a strong interest in online marketplaces, indicating the perceived high potential of this type of business.

They are not only easily scalable, but they pose a lower risk than some other models of e-commerce because they tend to be asset-light.

According to The Conversation, there are 5,723 early stage private online marketplaces currently listed on AngelList (leading platform for investing in tech startups), with an average valuation of US$4.5 million – roughly US$25 billion in total.

This considerable value demonstrates how highly investors are coveting online marketplaces, so they’re an enticing prospect for entrepreneurs. As long as the concept and business plan are solid, the opportunities to secure funding are there for the taking.

Healthy competition

The beauty of the marketplace format, from an entrepreneur’s perspective, is that by hosting a multitude of different sellers in one place, the pricing competition is direct and immediate. The consumer can more easily compare prices, thus incentivizing the merchants to reduce their prices.

In theory, this should allow startup marketplaces to attract more customers, who are looking for lower-priced quality goods and increase their revenue through commissions on sales.

Naturally, there are always concerns about the authenticity of products, particularly in the luxury sector, but as an online marketplace, you can play the part of an independent adjudicator. This makes the online marketplace model mutually beneficial for entrepreneurs, sellers, and consumers alike.

Lower overheads

Unlike starting a conventional e-commerce store, online marketplaces do not necessarily require stocking your own products. Some larger sites, such as Amazon, combine selling their own wares and products from external merchants, but it’s advantageous for startups to simply act as the middleman.

One crucial reason for this is that it keeps overhead costs to a minimum – like warehouse space, stock acquisition, and inventory management – or even eliminates them completely, depending on the business plan.

Also Read: Fully integrating AI and healthcare is closer than you think

Although the investment potential of online marketplaces is strong, finding effective ways to cut costs is still a major plus. As a conventional inventory-based e-commerce site, hitting the sweet spot in terms of accurately judging the supply and demand of your products is a constant battle.

This is especially true of perishable goods. Without the need for inventory, online marketplaces are often less expensive to establish and avoid the stock balancing act in the long term.

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Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) is a global organisation dedicated to building a more inclusive world through innovative finance and support for high-impact enterprises

Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), an organisation that aims to provide an innovative approach to finance and enterprise-support for a more inclusive world, announced that it has received US$887,000 (S$1.2 million) from the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

The company said that the fund will be used to develop the ecosystem for gender lens investing in Asia, as well as leveraging it to support the growth of 500 impact enterprises across Asia.

IIX’s program is called Equity@Scale, is funded under DFAT’s Frontier Brokers initiative—which focusses on addressing key weaknesses in the current entrepreneurial ecosystem and moving the capital to enterprises.

The program will also provide impact investing ecosystem players (including investors, foundations, banks, financial service providers, lawyers, corporate partners, and mentors) with the tools and resources to apply a gender-lens to their business approaches, processes, and strategies of engagement.

With the main mission of shifting gendered power dynamics in favor of women entrepreneurs and accelerating the growth of gender-lens investing, Equity@Scale will incentivise enterprises to integrate women throughout their value chain.

Gender lens investing refers to the use of finance to create gender equity by incorporating a gender analysis into investment decisions, with the intention to improve outcomes for women.

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“Gender lens investing is a powerful solution to shift deeply embedded dynamics from treating women as victims to valuing them as solution-builders. Through our partnership with DFAT, IIX is taking our work to the next level by enabling everyone to play a role in building inclusive markets,” said Durreen Shahnaz, CEO, and Founder of IIX.

Through Equity@Scale, IIX will support enterprises with three types of capital: human capital in the form of investment readiness training; social capital in the form of access to mentoring and corporate networks; and financial capital in the form of access to investors and private sector equity and debt investments.

IIX claimed that it has been known for its experience in building the impact investing market and driving women’s empowerment across the world.

Shahnaz continue to share that she started IIX with the vision to bring women and underserved communities to the forefront of financial markets.

“I witnessed first-hand how women-led and women-focussed businesses face challenges to growth at every turn and realised that to change this we need to move beyond fragmented solutions and create long-term pathways for change,” said Shahnaz

Also Read: Four Indonesian SaaS startups merge to support SMEs digitisation

Reports said that there are around 30-40 per cent gender wage gap in Asia, and closing this gender gap could generate a 30 per cent increase in the per capita income of the average Asian economy in one generation.

While impact enterprises play a critical role in addressing gender equality and sustainable development issues, they face barriers in accessing resources and capital to grow. This issue is compounded for women-owned businesses across the developing countries, with an estimated 70 per cent of the seven million women-owned SMEs in the formal sector unserved or underserved by financial institutions.

“For nearly a decade IIX has been building these pathways through supporting entrepreneurs with impact assessments, technical assistance, and our ACTS accelerator program; connecting them to investors through our Impact Partners crowdfunding platform; creating financial products such as the Women’s Livelihood Bond that unlock greater private capital and amplify public resources; and sharing our experiences and methodologies with ecosystem players,” Shahnaz added.

IIX’s Equity@Scale program will accelerate conscious investment into women’s empowerment by broadening mainstream definitions of gender lens investing to include those investments which go into companies and initiatives that benefit underserved women (defined as low-income, rural, and minority women) in emerging markets.

IIX’s Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB1) claims to be the world’s first impact investment products listed on a stock exchange reporting social and financial returns.

IIX has partnered with USAID, DFAT, DBS Bank, Shearman & Sterling LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP, and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas for the Women’s Livelihood Bond 2 (WLB2) that will open access to over US$100 million of private sector capital to impact one million women across Asia.
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