It helped me lose weight, save money and go on daily walks, but the plastic issue might be a killer

When MealPal first landed in Singapore, it was impossible to ignore. Startup enthusiast or not, the sheer volume of people handing out flyers, wearing signboards and performing office visits was remarkable.

For a grumpy hedgehog like myself, the natural reaction is always to reject a service that gets so aggressive with its marketing tactics.

However, I got into a lengthy conversation with a friend of mine and she convinced me to give it a go.

I gotta say, I love it.

It forces me to go on little lunchtime walks, I consistently discover new restaurants and it has helped me lose weight. Plus, it is a serious money-saver and picking food for the next day is fun.

I will break down these positive features of MealPal later in this article, but there is a gigantic elephant in the room that legitimately puts in question my willingness to renew the subscription:

During my one-month experiment with the platform, my plastic consumption significantly increased.

Part of this is living in Singapore, a country that consumes an enormous amount of plastic. Nearly ever takeaway food purchase is accompanied by a plastic carrier unless “no bag” is specifically requested.

I recently had a discussion with a local friend who was lamenting that the traditional bakeries create a culture clash. Typically, the bakery employee will wrap each piece of of food in a separate plastic bag, then put all of these in another larger bag meant for carrying. Also, most of the bread-based goodies include a small plastic covering meant to keep your hands clean while eating on the go.

So imagine, if you order a half-dozen items for the family, you have suddenly generated 13 individual plastic “bags”. Then multiply this by millions across Singapore, then remember that Singapore is a tiny, tiny country and suddenly it becomes obvious why the world has a plastic crisis.

The culture clash for her is that these workers mean no harm, and the good ones take pride in offering delicious, clean food full of great flavors.

I’ve asked them not to use the plastic and it just lead to a confusing back-and-forth whereby I was probably given a longer leash for “strange foreigner quirks”. My friend is Singaporean, and these bakeries becomes a push-pull between trying to use less plastic while being respectful to people who are not inherently doing anything wrong.

I bring up this story because it is how I feel when I use MealPal.

The selling point of the service is that you skip the lunch queue and, assuming a willingness to walk to the location, get on-demand food upon arrival.

Typically, restaurants cannot handle the MealPal group + their normal customers at the same time. So, they prepare the MealPal in the morning (which is one reason why users who cancel after 10:30am are still charged for the meal).

This is also why the only option is ‘takeaway’. No reasonable establishment could handle this much on-demand orders in one shot.

In Singapore, this means the food is delivered in a plastic container. Even if I want to bring my own bento box, the restaurant would just dump the food in my “sustainable alternative” and throw the plastic away.

I brought up the issue in a Telegram group and was given a few reasonable work-arounds:

• Call ahead and tell them you have a lunchbox.
• If they start preparing upon arrival, tell them you’d rather eat-in.
• If a restaurant prepares a non-plastic takeaway, make that a go-to restaurant for eating.

However, the best option is to stop using the service and go to the same places with the intention of eating in. Most places will give out washable cutlery which makes a big difference.

Also Read: (Exclusive) Thai fintech startup Masii.com acquires events ticketing platform One Place

Before publishing this article, I reached out to MealPal to get their advice about lowering plastic consumption while still enjoying the platform. I have not heard back.

Now, all of this being said, MealPal in a vacuum is awesome, and here is why.

Why MealPal rocks

It forces lunchtime walks

This perk comes first because, to me, it seems like the most unique feature of MealPal.

In the evening before ordering, it is the dish that is the star. That means the user is choosing food over location. There is a map to make sure you don’t accidentally walk 10 kilometres, but it also makes 4-5 blocks in either direction seem reasonable.

This is fantastic because the office life can lead to cabin fever and sometimes a short walk can help clarify problems/solutions.

It is great for weight loss (and, ironically, sustainability)

Yes, you read that right. The plastic is an issue, but MealPal has been transformational in my attempt to eat only vegetarian from Monday-Friday. So while my plastic consumption jumped, I have significantly cut down on the amount of meat I eat — which, they say, is very important for the planet.

MealPal has an assortment of filters. They range from meal size to cuisine preferences. During my month, I was able to choose only vegetarian foods, which can be remarkably difficult to find without direction.

This helped me avoid meat and shed a few KGs along the way.

It is more affordable

Typically, meals cost about S$7.50 (US$5.50) a pop. Yes, there is more affordable food in Singapore, but once you step outside of the hawker centers it becomes nearly impossible at that price point.

I found myself eating meals that normally cost S$12-$15 (US$8.75 – US$11) for about a five dollar discount.

But, besides that, it was the consistency of price that saved money. Rather than fluctuating between five dollars one day and 20 the other, I was able to stay at the same $7.50 every single day.
It’s fun!
As bizarre as it might sound, it is remarkably fun to pick out tomorrow’s meal. To be fair, I love food. I watch an absurd amount of cooking shows. I am pretty sure if media doesn’t work out for me I will go to culinary school and I tend to spend the majority of my exercise time brainstorming which restaurant to visit after the workout.

So, while I am probably the ideal target market, I am convinced other people will find it enjoyable. It’s like picking out a little mid-day treat.

Also Read: How founders in Asia can be students of the world

Overall, MealPal has been a pleasant surprise, and for anyone who has a solution to the plastic problem, feel free to comment below.

—

The post MealPal is great, but it uses A LOT of plastic appeared first on e27.

Learning more about our neighboring countries in Asia Pacific does not need to be cumbersome, tedious, or expensive

With the exception of China, if you’re a founder in Asia Pacific, you need to prepare yourself for a tough reality: At some point, you’ll have to leave the relatively safe confines of your own market and test the waters in a foreign market. Overseas expansion in the region is tough. In preparation for this task, most entrepreneurs prepare themselves and their startups financially, operationally, and strategically, but they almost always overlook one factor: culture.

We tend to underestimate just how much culture will impact our carefully thought out business and operational plans. Localization, in short, is the key to regional success. Founders who operate in Asia Pacific must be students of the world, but we most often fall short of that ideal, often maintaining a very insular view of our own culture and neglecting to explore others.

Learning more about our neighboring countries in Asia Pacific does not need to be cumbersome, tedious, or expensive. Here are a few simple ways that regional founders can gain deeper insights into the markets they may very well one day need to expand into.

Go on an immersion trip

As much as it would be great to live in other Asian countries for months at a time, for most entrepreneurs this kind of immersion is unrealistic. A much more practical way to gain first-hand knowledge of other cultures is an immersion trip. Many organizations run such trips, gathering a group of entrepreneurs and business leaders for a multi-day tour of different cities in Asia.

What’s great about these immersion trips is that everything is already planned for you. The organizer will bring you to local business events, cultural exhibits, and everything in between, in order to help you learn through osmosis as much about the local business culture as possible. All you need to bring is a gung-ho attitude and some business cards.

Host a digital nomad

There are many people in Asia, particularly technical talent like web developers, who bounce around and work different jobs as they travel the region. While many companies tend to avoid such workers as they will only be with you for a short-time, some entrepreneurs are smartly targeting these digital nomads out.

Why would you want a digital nomad on your team? Hosting someone from a completely different culture can teach you as much about their own as they do yours. Though much of this education will occur organically in the course of getting to know them, you can even formalize some of this process: You can host a brown bag session where the digital nomad shares more about where he’s from and maybe even some of the places he’s traveled. Having sessions like these will also emphasize the importance of cultural education to your entire team.

Also read: 6 lessons on collaboration from Marvel’s Stan Lee

Build a global network

A common mistake that founders make is that entrepreneurs only ask for introductions to people they want to meet when they need them. This view is a very short-sighted one, and it’ll result in you having a very insular network. Most people will be where you’re from and resemble you.

The much more prudent choice is to ask people in your network for introductions to good people to know in other countries with no specific purpose in mind. Though this advice may seem counter-intuitive, it’ll be easier to get to know them as you’re not presenting or pitching anything, and you can even find ways to give value to them first.

Go off-the-beaten path

When you’re traveling to countries in the region, you should avoid touristy places. These will give you a glossed-over view of what it’s like to live in these markets, as this destinations are usually highly polished due to all the foreign tourists. Instead seek out destinations that are off-the-beaten path — these are the kind of spots that in some cases only locals may know.

Finding destinations off-the-beaten path may give you a more realistic view of how people live in that particular country, providing you with a deeper understanding of the country when you do choose to expand there.

These tips are of course only a starting point in every entrepreneur’s journey to become more global in their perspective. What’s important is that we acknowledge we must stand in the shoes of another in order to see how we can best serve them.

—-

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

Photo by Ben Duchac on Unsplash

The post How founders in Asia can be students of the world appeared first on e27.

Toppr is an after-school learning app that uses NLP to solve K12 students’ doubts instantly, whereas DataTrained offers certificate course in Data Science

Toppr closes US$35M from Eight Roads, Helion, Kaizen PE, SAIF

Toppr, an after-school learning app for K12, has raised US$35 million in Series C funding in a round led by Eight Roads Ventures, Helion Ventures, Kaizen PE and SAIF Partners.

A  Datalteria Capital and Times Group’s strategic investment arm Brand Capital also participated in the round, which brings the total investment raises by the firm to date to US$58 million.

The company is using the fresh funding to fuel its adaptive platform.

Toppr caters to the individual learning styles of candidates and provides a wide K12 syllabus coverage with 1.5 million course combinations. It currently has over six million students on its platform and helps them prepare for various school, board, and competitive exams. It uses Natural Language Processing to solve student doubts instantly. It also uses Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Big Data to study student behaviour and create adaptive learning paths with infinite combinations. This ensures that every student has a personalised learning experience.

Toppr has a community of over 29,000 educators from across the country.

DataTrained raises US$1.7M to grow pan-India

Bangalore-based edtech startup DataTrained has raised INR12 crore (US$1.7 million) from a pool of three high net-worth individuals — Ashish Nadiadwala, Rupesh Sinha, and Mithlesh Thakur — in return for a stake of 20 per cent.

The company has earlier raised US$570,000 in 2016 from a New York-based Indian industrialist.

The company will use the fresh funding  for expanding to new geographies, strengthening its product and technology team. It is also looking to invest in a classroom-based Data Science PG course in the next year start in Noida.

Founded by Jatin Juneja in 2012, DataTrained Analytics Academy offers 50 courses conducted by 60 highly rated faculty members. DataTrained under offers 11 months certificate course in Data Science with an assurance of 100 per cent placement. The startup has tied up with more than 300 companies as hiring partners.

 

The post Indian edtech startups Toppr, DataTrained raise funding appeared first on e27.

Also, A JV partnership to result in Thailand’s first data centre, and India’s ride-hailing service Ola to invest in scooter sharing startup Vogo

Indonesian culinary supplier marketplace Stoqo raises Series A round from Monk’s Hill Partners and Accel Partners India [Deal Street Asia]

Stoqo, an Indonesia-based culinary supplier marketplace aimed at small restaurants and hotel owners reportedly just closed a Series A round co-led by Monk’s Hill Partners and Accel Partners India.

Deal Street Asia was the first to share the news upon the story shared by two people familiar with the investment.

Stoqo was founded by Aswin Andrison and Angky William just a shy one year ago under PT Stoqo Teknologi Indonesia. According to Andrison, Stoqo focuses on Business-to-Business (B2B) culinary supplier and seeks to become a pioneer in this sector.

“We gave an easy access to buyers, especially those in culinary business, in getting the basic, daily needs like rice, eggs, oil, flour, vegetable, fresh meat, and other produces. Stoqo aims to fulfill this need to be more accessible and efficient in the best price,” said Andrison in a statement shared by SWA.

Also Read: Indian edtech startups Toppr, DataTrained raise funding

Right now, Stoqo has more than 2,000 produces available on its platform and has gained over 5,000 downloads from Google Playstore. Next, Stoqo is looking to expand to other cities in Indonesia.

Singapore’s STT GDC partners with TICON to bring Thailand’s first data centre to the country [Press Release]

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC), Singapore-based data centre service provider announced that they are now in the final step of completing the joint venture partnership with TICON, the smart industrial platform provider in Thailand. The joint venture will allow their first data centre to be built on a 75,000 square metre (15-rai) site in Ramkhamhaeng district, situated in central Bangkok, that would be finished by 2020.

This first data centre is in line with the Thailand 4.0 initiative that seeks to develop the digital economy in the country, as well as the Thai government’s National Digital Economy Masterplan, in which the digital economy is expected to see robust growth and contribute up to 25% of Thailand’s GDP by 2027.

“We believe in the market potential of expanding our focus into developing Thailand’s digital economy and transforming urban living with Smart Cities. Developing digital infrastructure in the form of state-of-the-art data centres is one of the key investment areas we are embarking on in this new economy. This partnership will allow us to best serve the digital growth plans of our customers,” said Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi, Chairman of the Executive Committee of TICON Industrial Connection Pcl. (TICON),

Furthermore, TICON’s representative added that they are confident that the data centres’ operation will match the global standards in key markets such as Singapore, China, India and the UK, as well as maximising the local expertise of TICON in understanding the needs of the Thai market and navigating its regulatory environment.

Myanmar’s largest private bank KBZ Bank works with treasury management solution Finastra to eliminate manual operation [Press Release]

Kanbawza (KBZ) Bank, Myanmar’s largest privately owned bank has selected treasury management solution Finastra to automate the tedious operational work by enabling straight-through-processing (STP) using the company’s product called Fusion.

By moving away from manual treasury processing operation, the bank believes that it will result in a faster, more efficient services that can help the bank grow both transaction volumes and revenue and reduce operational risk. The bank also seeks to scale more effectively without sacrificing current levels of manpower across all its treasury business operations.

“Market dynamics are changing rapidly due to increased modernization and digitalization within Myanmar’s banking sector. Finastra’s capability is helping us to overcome high operational overheads associated with manual processes, reduce time-to-market for new products and bring our operations and systems in line with the standards of sophisticated developed markets both regionally and globally,” said Win Lwin, Managing Director of KBZ Bank.

Fusion Treasury by Finastra is a single, integrated, front-to-back solution, built to cover all aspects of a bank’s operations in treasury, capital markets, derivatives, and risk and compliance. The solution enables financial institutions to integrate and automate systems and streamline treasury operations.

Prior to this partnership, Finastra has supported other financial institutions in Myanmar like Yoma Bank, AYA Bank and First Private Bank.

Microsoft’s Azure manages to cover almost all Southeast Asia regions with its cloud capability [SG Channel Asia]

Microsoft Azure Availability Zones are now generally available across Southeast Asia, as the tech giant’s cloud system arm continues to expand cloud capabilities regionally.

The Azure Availability Zones are designed to be a solution for mission-critical applications.

“As a high-availability offering that protects your applications and data from data centre failures, Availability Zones are unique physical locations within an Azure region with each one of them made up of one or more data centres equipped with independent power, cooling, and networking. To ensure resiliency, there is a minimum of three separate zones in all enabled regions,” explained Patrik Bihammar, cloud and enterprise lead at Microsoft Singapore.

Furthermore, with the introduction of Availability Zones, the vendor can now offer a service-level agreement (SLA) of 99.99 per cent for uptime of virtual machines. The company believes that it will build upon their extensive cloud portfolio to enable customers to design resilient applications for comprehensive business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) strategy.

Through the addition of these regional zones, customers will now be able to synchronously replicate applications and data using Availability Zones within an Azure region for high-availability within Singapore, and asynchronously replicate across Azure regions for geographic disaster recovery protection.

India’s ride-hailing service Ola seeks to invest US$100 million in Indian scooter sharing startup Vogo [Channel News Asia]

Indian ride-hailing service Ola is reportedly to invest US$100 million in Vogo, a domestic scooter sharing startup. When the investment comes through, the two-wheelers fleet will be added to Ola app to broaden the range of vehicles it offers.

Vogo provides services in the southern Indian cities of Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The company will use the money to expand its fleet by 100,000 scooters.

Also Read: (Exclusive) Thai fintech startup Masii.com acquires events ticketing platform One Place

Meanwhile, Ola’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Bhavish Aggarwal said, “Our investment in Vogo will help build a smart multi-modal network for first-last mile connectivity in the country.”

–

Image Credit: STT GDC

The post Today’s top tech news, December 19, 2018: Indonesia’s culinary supplier marketplace Stoqo raises Series A funding from Monk’s Hill Partners appeared first on e27.

Not only will this bring more comfort and convenience into modern life, but it will bring new ways of being energy efficient and lower the costs of the city

We’re used to weird and wonderful things coming out of science and technology at breakneck speeds. But never before has technology been so advanced, and this time the future promises an almost movie-like reality. The focus of this article is one of these promises, the smart city.

The idea of a completely connected city has been born from the recent technological phenomenon known as the internet-of-things. Simply put, this is the process of endowing inanimate objects with sensors and connecting them via the internet, allowing them to gather, analyse and send data automatically. This has already begun to enter the home life with smart houses that can perform various tasks for you, such as running a bath to be ready when you get in from work.

Moving into the city will be a huge step forward for mankind. Not only will this bring more comfort and convenience into modern life, but it will bring new ways of being energy efficient and lower the costs of the city. To give you an idea as to the aesthetic and technological possibilities, this article will focus on three features of the future city: electricity, street lights, skyscrapers and automation.

Efficient use of resources

One of the benefits of smart initiatives is an improvement in efficiency. This could be in the form of logistics, workflows, and utilisation of resources. For instance, in New York City, which is considered to be a leader in smart city initiatives, IoT and blockchain startup MXC has partnered with mapping Citiesense to deploy smart sensors and collect data about walking routes, sewage flows, car usage, and other common activities across the city’s five boroughs. MXC is a blockchain startup that deploys smart sensors and LPWAN gateways across dense geographies to aid in data collection, analytics, and interpretation. With data on a large scale from different sources, cities can improve how resources are allocated and consumed.

Streetlights

Already, there are many areas where councils and authorities have opted to switch off or dim certain street lights between the hours of midnight and early morning, saving huge amounts of energy that would be otherwise wasted. Although there were concerns that this darkness might result in higher traffic accidents and crime, research has shown that this is not the case. The future city offers the best of both worlds. The streetlights of tomorrow will have sensors that can detect movement and will light up as and when they’re needed, saving massive amounts of energy and money.

Also read: Taipei is using a blockchain alternative to transform into a smart city

Buildings and Skyscrapers

The costs of running a huge skyscraper filled with businesses can be very daunting. If you consider the amount of electricity needed to keep the building working through the day — and even night — and then the fact that more and more people are migrating to urban areas, into high-rise accommodations, there needs to be some solution as to how we can keep these buildings powered for as little cost as possible. The utopian notion, and one that is key in the smart city index, is energy self-sufficiency. Skyscrapers of the future might very well have the answer. Windows have been developed that double as solar panels, for instance. These windows will cover the facades of these future buildings, meaning that they will be able to essentially power themselves without the need to deploy separate photovoltaic devices.

Automation

This relates more to transport than automation within the home or workplace, even though automation is set to take over up to 40% of jobs as we know them. Specifically, this involves the use of drones for deliveries and self-driving cars for taxis. In the not too distant future there could be a second lane of traffic overhead containing drones delivering goods, plus self-piloting helicopter taxis, similar to the ones being introduced in Dubai. Given that drones can work constantly if properly maintained, this will cut delivery times and costs as drivers would not be needed. Likewise, Singapore is currently utilising IoT and sensors to reduce road congestion, as well as other data-centric means of improving city services.

—-

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

Photo by Puk Patrick on Unsplash

The post IoT, AI and data contribute to smart city initiatives, and here are practical things we can expect from major cities appeared first on e27.

Chinese internet giant ByteDance has filed a series of trademarks hinting at a foray into the fintech sector

The article ByteDance registers fintech trademarks was written by Jill Shen for TechNode.

Chinese internet giant ByteDance has filed a series of trademarks hinting at a foray into the fintech sector.

The most valuable startup in the world, which runs content aggregator Jinri Toutiao and short video platform Douyin (known as TikTok internationally), filed for three trademarks on December 6. News of the filing was only picked up by media this week.

Included is BytePay (our translation, 字节付), classified as relating to insurance and other financial products.

The company also applied for the trademarks of two loan products, namely Qingli Installment and Wuxian Installment, falling into the same trademark category as BytePay.

The company declined to comment when contacted by TechNode.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news, Nov 30: ICONLOOP joins govt blockchain initiative, ByteDance fined for illegal medical ads

Speculation around ByteDance’s entry into the financial services market has circulated since 2017 when the company was reportedly applying for relevant licenses. ByteDance denied the claims.

In July, Jinri Toutiao launched a fintech product named Safe Lending. Up to 20,000 users were permitted to borrow up to RMB200,000 (around US$30,000) per person per day. The company claimed the Bank of Nanjing was one of its loan partners.

The product became the subject of investigations by the media in September. ByteDance later shuttered the online money lending service, while thousands of Chinese P2P lending companies shut down in the second half of the year.

Thanks to the success of its short video and content aggregation platforms, Bytedance has become one of the fastest growing startups in China. The company’s valuation skyrocketed to US$75 billion following a round of financing earlier this year.

ByteDance has sought to raise an additional US$1.45 billion for its first venture fund. The company reportedly plans to invest in AI and media content.

—

The article ByteDance registers fintech trademarks first appeared on TechNode.

The post ByteDance registers fintech trademarks appeared first on e27.

500 Startups Vietnam shares its plan to bring 500 Startups’ Silicon Valley accelerator curriculum to the country

Updates: The editorial team has corrected some errors on the previous version of this article. We apologise for the inconvenience.

500 Startups has announced the launch of its accelerator programme in Vietnam for 2019 called The Saola Accelerator, brought to the country in partnership with Korean multimedia retailer GS Shop.

This announcement was made just one month after the accelerator had the oversubscribed final close of its fund.

The Saola Accelerator is named after rare species of Vietnamese deer, commonly known as the “Asian unicorn”.

It seeks to support three batches of Vietnam-connected startups with every single startup in the batches to receive US$100,000 investment and a Silicon Valley accelerator curriculum.

Also Read: MealPal is great, but it uses A LOT of plastic

Each participating company will also receive access to more than US$500,000 worth of free perks and discounts from twenty 500 Startups partners including Amazon Web Services, Google, and Microsoft.

In addition to capital, the Saola Accelerator will offer enhanced programming including 500’s signature Growth Hell Week plus hands-on support for growth.

The programme will conclude with a Demo Day, where the companies will share about their products and progress to an invite-only audience of regional venture investors.

“We’ve learned a lot from working with 1,000 companies in more than 40 growth programme batches around the world. We’re excited to bring that experience to Vietnam,” said Marvin Liao, Partner at 500 Startups and head of its flagship accelerator programme in San Francisco.

There are three criteria to enter the accelerator:

• Tech or tech-enabled
• Vietnam-connected: serving the Vietnam market, having a Vietnamese co-founder, and/or having a meaningful portion of the team in Vietnam
• Have meaningful traction

The registration opens now and interested startups can apply to the programme here.

The Early Bird application deadline is January 2, 2019, and regular deadline is January 20, 2019.

Also Read: (Exclusive) Thai fintech startup Masii.com acquires events ticketing platform One Place

“Our programme is aimed at companies ready to break out and become Asian unicorns – saolas,” closed Eddie Thai, a lead partner of 500 Startups Vietnam.
–

Image Credit: 500 Startups

The post [Updated] 500 Startups Vietnam to launch The Saola Accelerator appeared first on e27.

Good Foodie Media produces food-, event- and travel-related content in the form of daily food review videos, listicles, event postings, and food deals compilations

Penang-based Good Foodie Media — the startup behind the online food channels Penang Foodie and KL Foodie — has secured RM220,000 (US$53,000) from the city-based i4 SeedFund and several angel investors.

The company plans to use the funds to expand to Singapore, Bangkok and Johor in 2019. A part of the money will also go into strengthening its market presence and its digital content (video and article).

Founded in 2018, Good Foodie Media produces food-, event- and travel-related content in the form of daily food review videos, listicles, event postings, and food deals compilations. Good Foodie Media currently has presence in Penang and Kuala Lumpur.

Also Read: (Exclusive) Thai fintech startup Masii.com acquires events ticketing platform One Place

The company claims it has over one million followers across multiple social media platforms. Its content reached 32 million and generated over 16 million video views in November.

Since its debut in early this month, its channel Singapore Foodie’s viewership has grown to reach three million, and has over one million video views.

The one-year-old startup is profitable from day one. The entity makes money via video advertising, advertorial, branded content and agency work.

 

The post Singapore Foodie channel’s Malaysian parent raises funding for expansion appeared first on e27.

Citramas’ Nongsa Digital Park in Batam houses Indonesian leaders in a bid to strengthen Indonesia’s startup ecosystem through the e27 Academy

The line that delineates digital economy and traditional economy is becoming increasingly blurred as businesses are finding ways to integrate the former with the latter. In a time where business practices are shifting to digital frameworks, it is worth investigating how different economies are dealing with this shift.

In Southeast Asia, efforts to support digital economy has been cropping up across multiple facets. Some countries are largely supported by state-sponsored initiatives; others rely on the support of more established enterprises.

In some instances, the best support comes from the tech startup community itself, gathering experts and insiders to connect and trade insights on how to manage different business models. More importantly, such initiatives help educate emerging startups on how to improve products under their businesses.

This is the main thrust of e27 Academy: building the right foundation through content, community, and coaching.

e27 Academy is a three-day learning programme that is designed to help aspiring and early-stage startup founders build their companies and navigate the ecosystem. The e27 Academy happened in the Indonesian island of Batam, home to Nongsa Digital Park, on November 28-30, 2018.

Also read: e27 Academy is your Founder’s Retreat with hundreds of other Founders

It was participated by startup founders across Southeast Asia, with trainers and experts representing some of the most sought after startups today.

Nestled among lush foliage, the Nongsa Digital Park—considered to be the “digital bridge” between Singapore and Indonesia—is in support of Indonesia’s plan to build 1,000 new digital startups amounting to a total of 10 billion USD by 2020. It also seeks to support Singapore’s expansion of its infocomm and technology sector.

Situated in Batam, merely a short ferry ride from Singapore, NDP positions itself in Southeast Asia’s largest economy (Indonesia) while maintaining close access to Singaporean and Malaysian economies.

Leveraging experience at the core of every new business

An institution that has shown its immense support for e27 Academy is Citramas Group, a diversified group of businesses that was founded in 1980.

Industries under Citramas group’s umbrella of businesses include: oilfield equipment manufacturing, shipping and logistics, drilling services’ infrastructure development comprising port and ferry terminals, hotels, and an animation and film production company as well as other interests in the hospitality and leisure industry.

The diversity of industries they work in puts Citramas in the best position to help emerging startups get a sense of how to build their businesses and improve their products, since many young startups do not have the same grasp and experience yet.

The Nongsa Digital Park is a subsidiary of Citramas, making it the perfect platform to house initiatives like e27 Academy, along with media and creative services company, Infinite Studios, that mooted the idea of the park.

Also read: Slew of Indonesian MOUs aim to support Batam island tech scene

Collectively, Citramas, NDP, and Infinite Studios were the three core signatories of the 13 MOUs (memorandum of understanding) that is pushing for growth in the western Indonesian startup ecosystem, putting the island of Batam at its heart.

This series of MOUs cover a range of verticals: industrial curriculum, funding for digital workforce training through LPK, exploratory work on opportunities related to vocational trainings, areas such as creative arts and digital skills, job opportunities for Indonesian talent, creating collaborative and innovative spaces to share scientific and academic knowledge, hackathon programs, seminars, workshops, and vocational trainings and conferences among many others.

The agreements made through the thirteen MOUs were signed during the e27 Academy.

Leaders to further their resolve to strengthen Western Indonesia’s startup ecosystem

In an effort to strengthen Indonesia’s startup ecosystem, Indonesian leaders also took part in e27 Academy. Infinite Studios, one of the core signatories of the series of MOUs, was part of the event through Director & Member of the Board, Marco Bardelli.

Indonesian creative economy agency, BEKRAF, was also present. BEKRAF is a new non-ministral institution formed by Indonesian president, Joko Widodo in an attempt to bolster and embolden the creative sector of the Indonesian economy.

Ilham Habibie, Implementation team Chair of Wantiknas, also took part in the e27 Academy. Wantiknas or The National Information and Communication Technology Council is a multi-stakeholder institution in the field of ICT, formed and chaired by the President of the Republic of Indonesia.

Its vision is to speed up the utilisation and growth of ICT in Indonesia efficiently and effectively by formulating ICT policies nationally.

Another important personality present was Shinta Dhanuwardoyo, Head of Digital Business, E-Commerce and Start-Up Development with the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), where she is currently creating a platform for start-ups and venture capitalists in Indonesia.

These leaders were all present over the course of the three-day event, crystalising their commitment to strengthening the startup ecosystem in Indonesia, and ultimately, in Southeast Asia.

The post Indonesian leaders to help strengthen Western Indonesia’s startup ecosystem appeared first on e27.

Make it easy for them to want to share

Question: What’s the best way to secure ambassadors to promote my brand?

Make it easy

“The easier something is to do, the more likely people will do it. So make sure they have all the tools, knowledge and information they need at their disposal: samples, literature, swag, the right answers to common questions, a support system in place, etcetera. If they’re confident that you’ve prepared them well and are standing at the ready behind them, they’ll be far more willing to go forward for you.”

– Nicolas Gremion (@FreeEBooksNet), Free-eBooks.net

Be authentic and offer incentives

“When we open a new store, we first read local magazines and search on social media to find the key influencers who are out and about and attending events on a weekly basis. We reach out to this influencer list and offer a complimentary product to see if they like the brand. We then provide them company credit for referrals, which can be significant given the number of people they’re meeting.”

– Fan Bi (@blanklabel), Menswear Reviewed

Create a programme and promote it

“Publicise an ambassador programme that actively seeks out these influencers who are more than happy to represent your product and service if they like it. The programme should include messaging and a targeting plan to seek out these ambassadors. Having a programme with consistent communication and buy-in for the potential ambassadors can help secure them.”

– Cynthia Johnson (@cynthialive), Bell + Ivy

Target your most dedicated customers

“As a company who reaches moms and moms-to-be, almost everything we do is word-of-mouth based. The best place to start is with your most dedicated customers. You would be surprised how many people will want to help spread the word. Often they will do it for trade, as they just want to be a part of a brand they love.”

– Lindsay Pinchuk (@lindsaypinchuk), Bump Club and Beyond

Gather, nurture, and ask

“For our members, we’ve worked hard to create a lively and engaged Facebook group. We are in there every day answering questions, having conversations and celebrating our members. On the sixth week of membership, they receive a survey. Whenever we see a super fan come through, we reach out to do a member feature and ask if that person will help to be an ambassador of our group. This works well.”

– Kim Walsh-Phillips (@KWalshPhillips), Elite Digital Group

Also Read: 6 tips to turn your customers into ambassadors

Call on strong network ties

“The best ambassadors are people with whom you’ve cultivated a solid relationship over the long term. You talk regularly, you’ve helped them out, and they’ve helped you out. Therefore, it’s not strange or irritating when you approach them with an ask to publicly promote your brand. I personally bristle when I get a request out of the blue, even if I happen to like the person or product.”

– Alexandra Levit (@alevit), PeopleResults

Only engage people with passion

“The best ambassadors are those who don’t need convincing or compensation. If you have a great product or service, there are undoubtedly influencers out there who either already love using it or would love using it. Develop a list of target influencers you think make sense, reach out to gauge their passion and excitement about your offering, and when you smell the organic mutual love, you’re in.”

– Andrew Antonio, World View

Show them that you care

“Build a relationship with them and ask for their opinion. It may sound simplistic, but when you show that you care about them, they will also reciprocate. If they sense that you’re just trying to get them on your side so you can get more exposure for your brand, odds are they will only do the minimum required. Create a brand they’ll want to promote.”

– Ismael Wrixen (@iwrixen), FE International

Build a microbrand first

“Brand ambassadors are force multipliers. But they need something to work with. Start building your product and community before recruiting ambassadors. Focus heavily on design. Ambassadors love working with brands that get great feedback from their fans. Show them that a few people already love your service, and they’ll follow your lead in promoting your company.”

– Neil Thanedar (@neilthanedar), LabDoor

Give first, ask second

“There’s a simple rule in the game of life: ‘Give and you shall receive.’ So before approaching ambassadors, how can you help them? Can you provide a dedicated training to help them grow their business or a personal phone call to help them with their marketing? Give first and ask them to help later.”

– Chris Bission (@chrisbisson), Salesmsg

—

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organisation comprising the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship programme that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

Image Credit: Drew Farwell on Unsplash

The post 10 best ways to secure ambassadors to promote your brand appeared first on e27.