The times of uncertainty are not easy for all of us. But they give us a boost to move forward and evolve the businesses we are managing. In this article, I’ll share some digital marketing insights, which, hopefully, will help you market your brand more effectively in times of the downturn.

People are rethinking their values

The global economy has recently experienced a triple attack caused by rising gas prices, sudden inflation, and a current recession. This economic storm makes people rethink their values. Today, we view everyday things in a different light.

We try to filter what we shouldn’t think about now and focus only on the most important things.

People are fed up with a bare and obvious promotion; they just need solutions to their problems. If they could probably watch one or two irrelevant ads in their Facebook feed earlier, they will block them today (and you’re lucky if they don’t write angry comments under your ads or on your business page).

It doesn’t mean that people have become more aggressive but that they become more decisive, understand what they really need, and try to give up things distracting them from primary goals.

Brands should research the arising customer needs, deliver on them, and bring as much value as possible. These practices can be helpful.

Also Read: 4 things to remember while marketing your brand in SEA

Listen to your audience

Brand marketing must react to the changes experienced by a target audience. The fastest and easiest way to define your actual customer needs is to investigate what your target audience is saying about your brand and industry-related topics on social media.

Like the heart is bringing the blood via dozens of veins and arteries, social media is spreading the information via multiple channels and user discussions across the whole web with the wind speed.

Social networks are huge sources of information, as well as the most vulnerable areas for a brand reputation. It is the first place where customers share their needs, experiences, product reviews, and negative comments.

In the digital era, companies must stay connected with their customers on social media, on the one hand, and monitor how they react to new initiatives, on the other hand. There are a lot of social media listening tools that can help you track brand mentions and see what people are the most anxious about right now.

Continually monitor your brand’s heartbeat on social media to be able to react to a crisis immediately.

Also Read: Surviving COVID-19: How to adapt your digital marketing strategy amidst a global crisis

Be loyal to your customers to gain their loyalty

Today, making sales and discounts will not harm your revenue, but, on the contrary, they can result in fast-growing customer loyalty, brand awareness, and higher conversion rates.

Make steps toward more human interaction with your customers. You can notify people that your brand answers the current Coronavirus recession by making special offers, discounts, and holding special measures aimed to improve consumer experience with your brand.

You can spread your company’s news by running email campaigns, using digital advertising, publishing articles on your blog, or simply posting updates on business profiles on social media.

If your company has own mobile app, then it can be helpful if you inform users sending them in-app notifications about the news. In general, a mobile app adds value to a business. Besides social media, it seems to be another effective channel for communication with your customers and increasing audience engagement.

Being loyal to your customers, you will grow their loyalty to you. It will help you improve a brand reputation, increase customer retention, and convert more sales.

Optimise your brand messaging to the new customer goals and needs

Businesses should adapt to new challenges in 2020. It is high time for rethinking your company’s values and make them align with the customers’ goals. You can get a better understanding of your audience by listening to it on social media, conducting short surveys on your website, or sending them via email.

Armed with these invaluable target audience insights, you can optimise your brand messaging for the consumer’s reality. Adjust your content on the company’s blog and social media profiles to the topics that are now the most relevant to your people. You can publish guides, how-tos, myth debunkers that will help solve real user problems. And don’t forget about adding a pinch of fun to your content. Cheer your audience up and motivate them to move forward in this tough period.

Also Read: Why every startup needs to embrace video marketing in 2020

Humanise your brand voice

The downturn influences the life of each and everyone, and most often not positively. It leads to increased psychological tension, concerns, and anxiety about the future among your potential consumers. Brands must understand it and conduct some measures aimed to soothe the customer’s psychological discomfort and eliminate negative experience with a brand.

A lot of people are stuck at home. Many of them lost their jobs. Someone’s business is struggling. In these challenging times, companies should rethink their messaging and fill it with understanding and empathy. They should humanise a brand voice in the media.

You can start by optimising your social media content. The truth lives in balance: your posts shouldn’t be tone-deaf, but it also doesn’t mean they should be filled with doom and gloom. Brands must be seeking how they can help their people rather than pitch anything now.

Are you inspirational? You can share quotes and videos that raise the spirit and help us get motivated to overcome all challenges together. You can also post funny GIFs and memes because we need a laugh these days too. Try to be more “human.”

Apply crisis management basics

We shouldn’t be the crisis management pros, but we must be aware of some essentials to solve some of the brand’s most crucial issues. These days, it’s critical to invest more resources and effort into quality customer support. Now, consumers need your help and assistance as never before.

The hardships caused by the Coronavirus recession make us feel more stressed. Providing timely and professional support, your brand can prevent not only negative customer emotions and eliminate stress but also drive the audience’s loyalty to a brand.

It’s also recommended to continually monitor your brand reputation in the media, including social networks, news sites, forums, blogs, magazines, etc. Social media listening tools mentioned above will help you detect negative mentions and estimate the user sentiment.

Also Read: I tried TikTok out and now I get why it is the future of digital marketing

It will help you stay informed about the spots of negative comments that require your special attention and troubleshooting skills to save a brand reputation.

Try to communicate with your customers openly and update them about all the changes. The fastest way to deliver information to people is by making an announcement and updating status on your social media profile.

You should also provide official information about the changes to your company’s website.

Use positive visuals and reduce cognitive load

We are visual creatures. We often prefer products that look nicer. We feel calm when watching the sunset or the night sky. And we’re often allured by our eyes because we trust in what we see. A visual part of brand image and messaging can be more influential than you might imagine.

Smart brands apply principles of color psychology and cyberpsychology to create visual user experiences that help eliminate the audience’s negative emotions and set a more positive mood.

Also Read: Mobile marketing analytics startup AppsFlyer secures US$210M from General Atlantic, opens office in Indonesia

It seems to be a little investment in your online brand image but it can be a game-changer when it comes to massive advertising campaigns or the company’s official announcements in critical situations.

Another tip is preventing cognitive overload. No matter whether it is your website content, social media post, or tutorial on how to use your product you should deliver your message concisely and laconically, without unnecessary details.

Try to transfer a brand message to users as clearly as possible. Create intuitive customer experiences that don’t make people overthink. It will help you optimize customer cognitive load.

Don’t sell but help

You just need to step into your customer shoes to understand what they need. When you do it you will likely feel that they need to solve their issues in the easiest and most effective way possible. Try to give it to customers. The “unsalesy” promotion works best today.

It means that you should think of how you can help people with the content you share. They appreciate the value you deliver and will become more about to listen to your next brand message that can slightly mention your product as the key to their problem solution.

Leverage explainer videos

Don’t underestimate the importance of effective user-onboarding since it’s what can help you improve customer experience and reduce requests to a support team. You can use an explainer video to educate customers about how to use your product or service and tell about how they can benefit from using it.

Animation and explainer videos are one of the most effective methods of transferring complicated information in an engaging and easy-to-understand form.

Also Read: Mobile marketing analytics startup AppsFlyer secures US$210M from General Atlantic, opens office in Indonesia

Share your views

The company’s blog is a perfect place for sharing news and valuable insights provided by your experts. By publishing quality and relevant articles, studies, and guides on your blog, you can bring additional value to your audience, attract more attention to your brand, drive website traffic, and gain customer loyalty. It will help you build positive relationships with customers and convert more sales.

Combining creative thinking, empathy, and data-driven marketing, you can lead your business out of the crisis becoming the favourite brand for your customers.

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White label human resource and healthcare platform CXA Group (CXA) announced that it has raised bridge round of funding from Thai HR solutions provider Humanica and HSBC Life, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC.

Humanica has doubled its investment in CXA as a continuation of last year’s convertible note bridge financing.

The company will use the funding to further develop its platform.

In addition to the funding, CXA also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Humanica to integrate its human capital management platform with CXA’s platform in Thailand.

CXA provides a white-label, one-stop, self-service mobile platform that will enable employees to have personalised offerings on health, wealth, and wellness.

Employees can purchase offerings by drawing down on existing insurance policies provided by their employers; they can also use funds that are then released into the platform’s e-wallet to make transactions.

Also Read: AI-powered insurtech startup CXA Group to set up tech hub in Ho Chi Minh City

In the long run, this can help employers to significantly reduce healthcare costs.

CXA Group was founded in 2013 with the mission of transforming the delivery of employee benefits through digitisation and prevention-oriented measures.

It had previously raised US$58 million in total funding from Series A, Series B, and a convertible note round in 2015, 2017 and 2019, respectively.

CXA also offered its brokerage services and health ecosystem platform to build these technical capabilities partnering with ThoughtWorks in January 2019 and established a technology hub in Vietnam for software engineering in July 2019.

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Samsung-backed HR-tech startup Swingvy commences operation in Taiwan

Singapore- and Malaysia-based HR-tech startup Swingvy has announced its expansion into Taiwan with the launch of a new payroll product.

This follows Swingvy’s US$7 million Series A funding in 2019, led by Samsung Ventures, which marked the Korean electronic behemoth’s maiden  investment in Southeast Asia.

According to Jin Choeh, Co-founder and CEO, Swingvy, the new product is completely compliant with Taiwan’s Labour Laws, as it calculates the payroll taxes, deductions, and claims via integration with its existing software HR Hub.

This means employers can run payroll and issue digital payslips instantly and accurately to their employees, calculated according to the employee details found on HR Hub, which it claims will minimise manual pay miscalculation errors.

Philippines’s ride-hailing firm Angkas pivots to delivery service

The Philippines-based motorcycle ride-hailing service Angkas has announced that it is pivoting to delivery services amid the COVID-19 crisis.

The decision comes after the government’s physical distancing policies left 95 per cent of Angkas’s business paralysed, ABS-CBN News reports.

Back in March, Angkas operations were suspended due to the ban imposed by the Department of Transportation because it violates the 1-meter distancing recommended by health experts.

To help sustain their riders’ livelihood, Angkas has also launched Angkas Food and will not take any commission on the initiative.

Also Read: Samsung’s VC arm leads US$7M Series A in HRtech startup Swingvy

“We are just pivoting to deliveries. Most of the [Angkas] motorcycles are doing deliveries. They are delivering goods or food to people,” Angkas Chief Transport Advocate George Royeca, told the Senate Committee on Public Services.

Before proving that their existence is pivotal during this pandemic, Angkas was entangled in a legal controversy with the government’s allegation that the ride-hailing platform violated a constitutional ban on foreign ownership.

Facebook, Instagram share new gift cards tools to support small businesses in Singapore

With a mission to support businesses in Singapore impacted by COVID-19, Facebook and Instagram will roll out new features to enable people to purchase gift cards from local businesses on the platforms via select third-party partner sites.

Facebook is testing a feature where people will be able to access gift cards from participating merchants in their cities through a “Support Local Businesses” promotion on Facebook.

The gift cards are made possible through partners, such as Fave and Chope, which will share the value of the gift card minus their transaction fee with the participating merchant.

On Instagram, businesses can add a gift card sticker to their Stories and also a button for their business profile page. Each time someone sees a Story with these stickers or goes to the business profile page, they can tap through to complete a purchase on the website of the chosen platform.

Instagram is also launching new capabilities to make it easy for people to show their support for businesses through hashtags and stickers. A new “Support Small Business” sticker on Instagram lets people give their favorite business a shout out.
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Picture Credit: Swingvy

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As a wave of ripple effects from the pandemic plummets the global economy in every sector, many companies have been faced with a staggering number of layoffs and furloughs to conserve business operations.

To ease this uncertainty, there are some companies that have been holding off on job cuts –at least temporarily– or offering other benefits to cushion employees during this situation.

Here is the list of startups and small or medium-sized businesses that have made a pledge to their employees to protect their jobs amidst the situation in Southeast Asia (SEA):

Singapore

With the government announcing the latest measures to control the outbreak of COVID-19, many companies were not deemed as an essential business, hence, this resulted in the increase of business units’ non-operational costs.

Due to this, one of many Singaporean companies that guarantee to continue employment includes Motorist.sg, the first digital-first auto concierge company in Singapore, which has shifted its focus to sustain the entire team by generating sufficient revenue online.

Along with the government’s support for SMEs through a 75 per cent wage subsidy in all sectors in order to help businesses retain workers in the city-state for training, the company is also able to maintain the operations without reducing wages despite the forecasted 80 per cent drop in revenue.

Also Read: Why crowdfunding will be the new normal for Malaysian companies

“However, the disappointment phase has passed, and my management team is focused on the survival of the business so as to support our team of over 40 employees without having to resort to any termination or pay reduction. Hence, our mindset has shifted from a ‘growth’ mindset to a ‘survival’ mindset now,” said Damian Sia, Founder, and CEO of Motorist.

Malaysia

Like most companies, iPrice Group, an aggregator e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, has experienced some difficulties in operations due to the simultaneous lockdowns and strict movement control that affected the supply chain in several SEA countries.

In conjunction with the Malaysian government’s regulation, it is not in the company’s consideration to sacrifice any of its employees at all.

Instead, the company’s higher management took certain actions such as 25-40 per cent pay cuts to ensure that its employees did not.

Even prior to the restricted movement order in Malaysia, iPrice Group has subsidised Grab rides to avoid public transportation to ensure their employees’ safety.

During the work-from-home period, iPrice’s Human Resource checks in on everyone’s welfare through weekly surveys and conducts AMA sessions with the CEO to maintain transparency every week.

Also Read: What we can learn from the Great Depression about a post-pandemic world

“During this period, there is one value resonating even more at iPrice than ever, which is transparency. As employees at any level in iPrice, we are aware and understand the reasoning behind why we as a team we shifted our focus on certain projects or new policies being introduced. Yet, transparency does not come from the leadership team only, teams are openly discussing the challenges they have encountered during work-from-home and finding ways together with their team or line manager to overcome it. Looking at this, I feel iPrice is closer together as a family more than ever. We are much more open and honest with one another,” said Putri Fadhila, an Operations Manager for the Categorisations team at iPrice Group.

In a bid to aid Singaporeans, iPrice aggregated all deals provided by e-commerce for consumers to easily access vital resources for necessities on “Stay Home Promos” during this lockdown period.

Indonesia

The Indonesian coffee beverage retailer, Kopi Kenangan, aims to bridge the gap between cheap street vendor coffee and drinks at the higher spectrum from international chains such as Starbucks. This startup was also affected by the global pandemic.

Given the nature of the business in the F&B industry, the CEO & Co-founder of the company has allocated IDR15 billion (US$1 million) funds to support workers, maintain hygiene at the workplace, and support frontline workers and hospitals during this tumultuous situation.

“As a leader in Kopi Kenangan, I will make the sacrifice first, from now onwards until the crisis is over, I will be taking of IDR1 (US$0.0) salary. Employees’ salaries and [religious holiday] bonus (THR) will proceed as normal,” said Kopi Kenangan CEO and Co-founder Edward Tirtanata on his LinkedIn page.

Vietnam

With the consumer behaviour shifting online, Loship, the aspiring unicorn startup that operates Vietnam’s e-commerce platform, had to bear with the increasing costs from the current situation. However, the company has made similar commitments to ensure no retrenchment and maintenance of its delivery services for the people in Vietnam.

“People are our most valuable asset and we will not cut or fire people to respond to a pandemic. We and our partners have come together and we are overcoming many challenges during the previous period. This COVID-19 pandemic is no exception as we will still go together,” said Nguyen Hoang Trung, the CEO of Loship.

Also Read: How can legacy companies future proof themselves post-pandemic?

The company recognises the importance of people’s safety and security at work during this challenging situation. However, their level of caring does not stop there as the online e-commerce platform also provides precautionary equipment such as face masks, hand sanitisers, and body temperature checks at the office to protect their drivers and customers from the virus.

The Philippines

As the leading green technology that provides a healthier life through a cleaner environment, Star 8 Green Technology Corp.’s operations have already been affected due to the enhanced community quarantine.

With the goal to provide the country with a greener and healthier environment using alternative fuel and renewable solar energy, the ceasing of public transport does not stop the company to provide financial assistance to employees who are in need of work from home devices. They believe that the current situation allows them to keep productive at home even during the crisis.

“Since we supply electric vehicles and solar lights, and are also delving into an automated fare collection system and a fleet management system, the lockdown has affected our operations. However, amidst the crisis, our company is still paying full salaries to its employees. The management also gives financial assistance to employees who are unable to work from home due to certain limitations such as poor internet connection, or to those whose work used to require them to be onsite,” said Star 8 Green Technology Managing Director Ronald V. Laurel.

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Liquidity is the condition by which an asset can be readily exchanged for cash without a big impact on its market price. An asset is highly liquid if it can be sold for its intrinsic value.

Cash is liquid, it can be exchanged at face value. Assets such as real property, artworks, and collectibles are less liquid. Other instruments such as equity and such investments, can have relatively different liquidity levels, depending on the situation.

In a market, liquidity also depends on the level of trading activity. The more an asset is traded, the higher its liquidity. A lower volume of trades means it is relatively illiquid. Liquidity plays a big part in ensuring an asset can be sold or exchanged for a value that is not exceedingly lower than its market price.

While liquidity across many assets remains high in developed markets, many emerging markets suffer from significantly low levels of trading venue liquidity, effectively placing a constraint on economic and market development.

Technology-driven trading can possibly help increase liquidity in these markets, since it increases trading volume and frequency, driving movement of the asset, reducing trading costs, and providing the ability to move easily in and out of the asset.

Also Read: Why fintech companies and regulators need to collaborate on gaining trust and compliance

A liquid market is generally associated with lower risk and can attract more traders to participate in the exchange. While cash is the most liquid asset, other instruments are easily fungible or converted to cash, such as cryptocurrencies and other cash-like instruments.

Some examples of instruments and the factors affecting their liquidity:

• Bonds’ liquidity usually hinges on the risk that the bond issuer won’t actually repay the money. The less liquid the bond, the higher the commission you’ll have to pay to sell it, which has the effect of lowering your price.
• As for commodities, gold has the highest trading activity among all precious metals and is, therefore, the most liquid. Crude oil, on the other hand, is the most traded energy commodity, but its liquidity is negatively affected by the current global situation.
• Cryptocurrencies are increasingly liquid because of the growing number of exchanges and markets. This leads to an increased volume in trading resulting in liquidity, which means traders can trade easily, quickly, and at fair prices.

Trading strategies to ensure liquidity

There are different trading strategies to leverage in growing one’s portfolio but not everything has access to liquidity. A long-term investment such as stocks and bonds can be a good way to grow in the long-term, but traders won’t be able to easily liquidate or convert these immediately to cash if needed.

Meanwhile, other strategies such as algorithmic and high-frequency trading can enhance liquidity for both the trader and the market.

“There are general terms for investments, such as ‘high risk, high returns’, and ‘low risk, low returns’,” says Andre Gerald, Chief Executive Officer of Prance Gold Holdings, a technology platform that uses algorithmic trading to grow cryptocurrency and other asset holdings. “We need to change the mindset in trading and establish a platform where everyone can enjoy the lucrative returns with minimal risks involved.”

Maximising asset growth through technology and high-frequency trading

Algorithmic trading takes advantage of a predetermined statistics-based strategy that can run 24/7 with minimal oversight. “By reducing the frictions and costs of trading, algorithmic trading can potentially enable more efficient risk sharing, facilitate hedging, improve liquidity, and make prices more efficient,” according to a study published in the Journal of Finance.

Also Read: The global financial crisis gave birth to fintech. What will COVID-19 recession bring?

The main philosophies behind most algorithmic trading revolve around using software to spot profitable opportunities and jump on them faster than a human could.

As there are many opportunities that arise quickly, algorithmic trading takes advantage of that. It automatically initiates the trade so traders can grow their assets without the risk of the trade costing more than the earnings.

High-frequency trading is a subset of algorithmic trading that involves transactions done at high speeds, with a huge turnover rate, co-location, and high order-to-order ratios. While this is a viable strategy, there are certain factors affecting its profitability. “Speed is the most critical success factor where all trades need to be successfully completed to ensure profitability within seconds,” Gerald says.

With high-frequency trading, traders can take advantage of any opportunity by using automated trading platforms to analyze the markets and spot emerging trends within a fraction of a second.  It allows traders to get returns in a short period of time to grow their portfolio and at the same time increase market liquidity.

Increasing liquidity through high-frequency trading

Learning the right strategies will help in maximizing both the asset and portfolio. The advantage of being liquid is that a trader is not locked to a particular asset or asset class in the long term, enabling more profitable trades once the opportunities come to light.

Automated and high-frequency trading can drive volume and will thus improve liquidity in both one’s portfolio and the market in general.

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Much has been written about the economic damage that COVID-19 is wrecking.

While there has been a fair bit of general positive-thinking advice written for SMBs and start-ups, there haven’t been that many practical advice condensed into bite-sized tips that are actionable in this difficult period.

I would divide the road ahead for startups into the short-term and mid-to-long-term, each with a different set of priorities.

Tactical short-term on cashflow survival

The immediate priority for startups is two-fold: cash flow and liquidity. Companies have to ensure sufficient cash flow (perhaps for at least the next six to 12 months). Those that have accumulated strong capital reserves over the years have less to worry, but the rest might have cashflow concerns.

Businesses have to start with scrutinising the balance sheet line by line and consider the five steps below.

• Single out unproductive and risky assets. Put idle assets to use or convert to cash

Under-utilised assets may include production and manufacturing plants, equipment, real estate. Rather than to leave them idle, businesses should try to optimise cash-earning potential by leasing or licensing to others that require them now. Businesses may also prepare to sell these, if they are not integral to business operations, to others who might be looking to acquire.

Also Read: Using design sprints to solve COVID-19 business problems

• Chase for account receivables. Sell off exposure to risky assets.

Beyond chasing outstanding receivables, companies might also prepare to sell off exposure to risky assets. Risky assets include stakes in or receivables owed by companies with weak balance sheets and high leverage or companies in sectors ill-poised to weather the downturn.

Companies should be prepared to write down or off assets that seem non-recoverable to do accurate cashflow forecasting for the immediate term.

• Allocate resources. Cut spend and reserve cash for high-impact projects

Overhead expenses (e.g. rent, expenditure, professional fees) should be cut where applicable. Cash should be reserved for projects that have an immediate and material impact on profits.

Businesses should prepare to build up cash reserves for the prolonged economic fallout ahead.

• Go through every single contract and obligation for payables. Check if remedies available if needed.

Re-negotiate favourable payment schedules to vendors, suppliers, and other creditors where possible. If impossible and your contract performance has been affected due to Covid-19, notice if there is a force majeure clause in the contract and consult your lawyers on whether it can be used as a protection in the specific circumstance.

Also Read: The essentials of managing your business financials at 4 stages of its lifecycle

• Monitor liquidity, forecast cash flow and make use of digital tools

Companies should go through every single contract and map out what is owed to them and when they are to be paid. The same applies to map payables. Consider digital tools such as QuickBooks which have invoice chasing capabilities or Qwil which help with liquidity through managing on-demand payments (for contractors and freelancers).

Where applicable, start-ups should avail of government support – the requirements for these schemes have been shared on both offline and digital avenues (personal finance forums and communities). Given that the cost of credit is low now, businesses can also consider taking government-assisted loans.

The general rule of thumb now is to optimise liquidity and cash conversion. Aggressive strategies may even include broader restructuring, such as closing businesses or products that weigh down overall financial performance. Start-ups should also be on the lookout for sell opportunities as there are acquirers out there with cash looking for strategic assets.

Strategic mid-to-long-term on durable survival

As of now, nobody really yet understands the entirety of the economic fallout ahead. To prepare, start-ups should look to build a strong balance sheet, shore up capital reserves, and be strategic about adapting quickly their business model and operations to changing realities.

I suggest the following to keep in mind for post-COVID-19 preparation.

• Digitise to cut costs and to reach new customer segments

As seen from global lockdown, digitisation in some cases can indeed make a difference in survival. Retailers that have digital storefronts are able to resume operations digitally (even if not fully) and be unhampered by closing physical operations would have had higher survival chances.

Also Read: Digitalising cashflow management and what it means for businesses

Even better if they had already been operating digitally, with a stable following of customers – they would not have had to worry about low brand awareness or the costs of switching customers to a digital platform.

I would divide digital tools into two categories:

• Automate operations, cut costs

There are tools for automating various aspects of operations, such as digital accounting solutions (Xero, Quickbooks), some of which even have automated invoice chasing capabilities to ensure that you are paid timely. SchedulePay (by PayDollar) automates payments and payments collection, while Qwil facilitates on-demand payments and liquidity management.

Other solutions help with sales, marketing etc. These tools either provide savings by cutting hours and labour, or preventing payments from slipping through the cracks.

• Reach new customer segments in the digital economy

If you’re operating an offline start-up, other tools help you reach into the digital economy. Tools such as Shopify, WooCommerce help businesses set up digital storefronts. Solutions such as PayPal, Stripe facilitate digital payments.

These all enable businesses to reach a specific audience on digital channels. For other retailers that need not have their own dedicated storefront, they can consider channels such as Etsy or Shopify.

• Agile work processes that are design-thinking oriented

Startups have to be intentional about building agility into their processes, test ideas and innovate quickly. Slow decision-making can spell the difference between survival and death.

While this, of course, is dependent on the nature of the business (industries such as healthcare, biotech, manufacturing require extensive capital and longer R&D durations), startups should strive to be lean and agile where possible.

This goes beyond just the size of teams but into deeper aspects of bureaucratic management, hierarchy, and paralysed decision-making that pervade even startups these days.

Also Read: 10 principles of great strategy inspired by design thinking

As conserving cash and being quick to adapt to changing realities are key to outlasting the crisis, adopting lean and agile workflows achieves both aims.

Having a design thinking-oriented approach is also important to ensure that teams think in terms of iterations and sprints, allowing start-ups to test the effectiveness of new products and strategies quickly without spending too much in time or in cash.

• Manage the global supply chain and geopolitical risks

The global climate now suggests that future global supply chains will be at risk due to nationalistic industrial responses to the pandemic. Start-ups might want to keep in mind when planning for the future that deglobalisation will likely intensify in the future ahead. Strategic goods will be increasingly produced within national borders as countries strive to be independent and to build domestic capabilities.

Businesses might start looking into diversifying their supply sources so they do not end up bearing the brunt of shifting geopolitics. Those that have been trade-dependent so far might want to start looking at domestic sources. Across the board, businesses should pre-empt rising procurement costs and find ways to manage or hedge these.

Summary

The full sum of the economic loss ahead is not a fact yet fully known to us. What startups can do is to adopt a defensive, risk-management strategy while keeping a lookout for and taking advantage of opportunities.

These opportunities may come in the form of new products or businesses aligned with durable themes from this pandemic (remote collaboration, healthcare, essentials, amongst others).

Geopolitical realities on the ground are also shifting every day. While these are beyond our control, businesses that are lean and agile will find it much easier to do the following: adopt defensive strategies, adapt to changing situations, develop the foresight to pre-empt obstacles ahead of time, and take advantage of emerging opportunities.

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We Singaporeans love our food. That goes without saying, but as with other developed nations, we are also getting more conscious about eating right – both in terms of health, and environmental impact.

Demand for vegetarian and vegan options is booming and the consumption of healthier alternatives such as wholegrain bread and brown rice has increased, driven in part by greater awareness of the environmental costs of food production and aggressive public health campaigns against diabetes and hypertension.

Yet, many are still hesitant to make changes to their everyday meals for a simple but important reason: taste. BCS spoke to two homegrown startups, Alchemy Foodtech and NamZ, who are challenging the notion that healthier alternatives necessarily have to taste different from the dishes we know and love.

Tackling the problem of starch, not sugar

Including more whole grains in a diet is associated with many health benefits including lower cholesterol levels and reduced risk of developing Type II diabetes. Carbohydrates in whole grains are digested more slowly than those from refined sources, such as white rice or bread, thus providing a gradual increase in blood sugar levels rather than large fluctuations following a meal.

However, whole grain products don’t have the same taste and texture as their conventional, refined counterparts, says Verleen Goh, co-founder and Chief Food Fighter at Alchemy Foodtech. As a result, some popular local dishes such as chicken rice or curry just don’t work as well with brown rice, making it difficult to adopt on a regular basis – especially for those who regard these dishes with nostalgia.

To address this issue, Alchemy Foodtech has developed an ingredient that promises to slow down the digestion rate of refined carbohydrates to the same extent as whole grains, without altering the taste of the final product. The ingredient, called Alchemy Fibre, is derived from plants such as peas, corn, tapioca, beans, and legumes and can be used as a partial replacement for flour in recipes. This means it can be incorporated into products like bread, noodles, and buns. “We wanted to create a product for consumers who want the taste of white rice or bread, but at the same time have the benefit of slowed down glucose release,” says Goh.

Also Read: (Exclusive) Singapore’s new AI foodtech startup Easy Eat raises pre-Series A funding

The idea of targeting staple foods such as rice, bread, and noodles resulted from preliminary research into food innovations for diabetic patients. “I noticed that most food innovations for diabetics were mainly happening in the confectionery and artificial sweetener space,” says Goh. “However, Type II diabetes patients tend to be a little older and don’t actually eat that many sweets! They do eat a lot of rice though.”

The founders of Alchemy Foodtech then realised that targeting staples could make a much bigger overall difference, for both diabetics and non-diabetics alike. “We may not eat desserts everyday, whereas staples are consumed in large amounts daily, so we realised that targeting staple foods created a larger impact than desserts,” said Ms Goh.

Alchemy Foodtech is working with food manufacturers such as Gardenia bread, Kang Kang noodles, and Lim Kee steamed buns as well as various restaurants, bakeries, and cafes to incorporate Alchemy Fibre into existing products. The company has worked with industry partners to test that products incorporating Alchemy Fibre have the same texture as those currently on the shelf through sensory evaluation, as well as using a texture analyser that measures the hardness or springiness of foods using pressure.

They have also conducted studies with starch digestion assays in the laboratory and on volunteers by measuring carbohydrate availability in the blood after consuming products made with or without Alchemy Fibre. The idea is to then have manufacturers label their products as ‘made with Alchemy Fibre’ to promote brand awareness and communicate their mission to consumers, says Goh. The first of such products are scheduled to launch in June 2020, subject to current conditions.

A smorgasbord of sustainable options

For the more ecologically-conscious consumer, NamZ is another homegrown food technology company that aims to develop healthier and more sustainable alternatives without trade-offs in taste.

Also Read: News Roundup: Agri foodtech startup DiMuto, B2B learning platform ProSpark secure funding

Their first product is a low-fat instant noodle made with proprietary technology that replaces the deep-frying step during production and incorporates a blend of natural oils and spices.

“While some air-dried noodles may have quite a nice texture, everyone is used to the ‘deep fried’ taste that you expect from an instant noodle,’ explains Mark Lim, Strategist at NamZ, ‘so we found this blend of ingredients that, when added at a low dosage, actually gives you that ‘deep fried’ taste.” The result? Noodles that have 70 per cent less fat but taste as addictive as conventional instant noodles.

Cutting out the deep frying step has other benefits, such as allowing the company to incorporate more unconventional crops into their noodles. In particular, future-fit crops like the bambara groundnut and moringa, a plant commonly found in India, have already been included in some of NamZ’s noodles to boost nutritional content.

“Deep-frying is a harsh process – high temperatures, happens very quickly – so when you try to incorporate ingredients like the bambara groundnut or moringa into the dough, you lose a lot of the nutrients in the process,” says Lim. “With our technology, because it’s not that harsh, it actually retains all the macro- and micronutrients.”

Future-fit crops refer to plants that are packed with nutrients, resistant to an increasingly dry climate, and can be farmed economically. They are therefore touted as the key to a sustainable food system of the future by the United Nations and other experts.

For instance, the bambara groundnut has well-balanced proportions of carbohydrate, protein, and fat and can thrive in dry, sandy soil. It is native to semi-arid regions of Africa such as Ghana, from which NamZ currently sources its groundnuts.

Also Read: Bringing innovation to the table: Why foodtech is the next frontier in Southeast Asia

Although NamZ’s noodles are predominantly wheat-based, the company has plans to develop a wide range of food products using the bambara groundnut as a primary ingredient. Blended soups, hummus-like spreads, dairy alternatives, and even soy sauce replacements are currently in the pipeline.

In order to scale up production, NamZ is also in talks with palm oil companies to use spare capacity of degraded land in Southeast Asia – old palm oil plantations that can no longer support cultivation – to grow the groundnuts. “What is useful with the bambara groundnut is that it is a legume, so it can bind nitrogen and rejuvenate the soil,” says Margit Langwallner, a research scientist at NamZ.

Nonetheless, taste remains a key consideration for all their products. ‘You can have the healthiest, most environmentally-friendly quick noodle, but if it doesn’t taste good, no-one is interested.’ says Ms Langwallner. NamZ has been working to create a formulation that mimics the taste and texture of conventional deep-fried instant noodles, and plans to launch their first direct-to-consumer products in Q2 2020.

Investors tuck in but will consumers come to the table?

Food technology has attracted a lot of investor attention in Singapore over the past few years, with the government leading the way by allocating S$144 million (US$101 million) for food-related R&D under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2020 (RIE2020) plan. Temasek Holdings, a government-owned investment company, has also reportedly invested US$5 billion in the agrifood sector over the last five years.

This interest stems from a push towards self-sufficiency in food production as well as better nutrition to combat common health problems like Type II diabetes. In 2017, about 430,000 or 14 per cent of Singaporeans aged 18 to 69 years were diagnosed with pre-diabetes, a condition that puts them at high risk of developing Type II diabetes in the next eight years without intervention. Goh estimates that Alchemy Foodtech has received a total of approximately S$1 million (US$700,000) through government-funded grants and prizes alone.

The past two years, in particular, has seen the formation of several Singapore-based agri-food specific investment firms such as Food Ventures, Germi8, and VisVires New Protein (VVNP) and the opening of Singapore’s first food innovation incubator, Innovate 360.

Also Read: How Killiney Kopitiam is evolving their heritage brand with foodtech

Set up by Singapore’s oldest sugar manufacturer Cheng Yew Heng, Innovate 360 not only provides food manufacturing facilities but also business networks and connections to various distribution channels for early-stage food startups.

In addition, startups looking to grow their business here can also apply to local alternative protein or agrifood tech accelerator programs run by New York-based Big Idea Ventures and online venture capital platform AgFunder, respectively.

These accelerator programs seek to help later-stage startups by providing them with facilities, funding, and mentorship needed to scale up their operations.

Of course, food tech startups need not be limited to industry-specific investment funds. The social impact aspect of NamZ’s business clinched the company a DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant in 2019. The same grant scheme awarded a total of S$1.3 million to nine social enterprises that year.

Aside from raising funds, Alchemy and NamZ have seen successful business-to-business (B2B) sales, but with their first consumer products launching this year, this represents a critical moment for both companies to find out if their mission and price point appeals to the average Singaporean.

Both Goh and Lim are optimistic that their products will be well received. “Most of the food manufacturers we worked with saw it as a win-win situation for us and them to show consumers there could be a healthier alternative that feels and tastes just like their regular products,” says Goh about Alchemy Fibre.

Lim cites positive customer feedback from NamZ’s existing B2B partners. “Some of our clients, including a high-end hotel and a prata chain, are already serving our noodles to their customers, but they’re not telling [the customers] because they want it to be a surprise at the end, that you can have this healthier noodle that tastes the same,” he said.

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This article was originally posted on the Biotech Connection Singapore website on 11 May 2020.

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease has devastated businesses across the globe. The spread of the deadly virus pushed many into bankruptcy, as revenue sources dried up and working capital depleted. The travel & hospitality sector was worse-hit.

As the crisis unfolded, businesses were thrust into a situation where they had to either shut down or push hard to survive. Unable to withstand the impact, numerous companies winded up. Most managed to stay afloat but their survival still hinges on several factors. Certainly, it doesn’t look easy.

As a last resort, organisations began to cut workforce/furlough employees. However, this decision came with huge emotional and psychological costs; thousands of affected employees slipped into depression as they lost their only livelihood. Allegations of poor handling of layoff surfaced in several markets, which further added to their misery.

Unavailability of new opportunities has badly affected the mental health of the disgruntled workforce.

As the situation exacerbated, one thing became loud and clear: empathy and compassion were in short supply. Most organisations didn’t even bother to take into account the massive psychological impact the layoffs could make on people.

Experts have time and again emphasised the importance of compassion at the time of crisis like this. A compassionate approach to retrenchment could have made a difference to the lives of employees and even the organisations themselves but many ignored this part.

This is where Airbnb‘s simple, yet creative way is winning the hearts. The short-stay accommodation booking honcho, while announcing the layoffs, allowed employees to leave with grace.

The accommodation booking giant firm laid off about 1,900 employees workforce, or a quarter of its workforce last week. While taking this tough step, Airbnb did something unusual: it posted the talent directory (the names and profiles of the retrenched employees) with a carefully-drafted note on LinkedIn.

“To support teammates departing Airbnb, we’ve launched an Alumni Talent Directory. Please click here if you’re currently hiring or looking for incredible talent: https://lnkd.in/gn7n6AZ
We hope we can connect these individuals with new opportunities. It’s been an honor to work with such a talented team committed to our mission of belonging, and we’re confident any company would be lucky to have them”.

“What a great example of leadership and HR skills. Kudos for transparency, ownership and empathy when managing a large-scale involuntary employee exit ”, reads a comment to the post.

Another LinkedIn member said, “This speaks volumes! Great job for creating a new best practice! Love this talent directory!!!”

Setting an example

Airbnb, known for its appreciable work culture, is showing the world what it means to be sympathetic and compassionate.

According to well-known angel investor Arnaud Bonzom, Airbnb’s talent directory is a ‘best practice’ if former employees can opt-in and opt-out at any point of time, which it seems to be the case.

“When I accessed the directory for the first time on May 8th, only one profile was listed in Singapore,” he told me.

“As of today, on May 14th, it’s 43 talents. Also, you can read this mention on the bottom of their website: ‘To manage your talent directory profile, please email alumni-recruiting-support@airbnb.com.’”

“Such directory,” Bonzom continued, “will give the former employees more visibility and will increase their likelihood to secure a new position in a shorter period of time.”

Bonzom has already recommended the resources to several of his portfolio companies. He is even using it personally to look for a designer for a short-term assignment, he said.

Indeed, Airbnb was not the first to create and publish a talent directory. Down east, Singapore-based HOOQ published a similar directory to boost the chances of retrenched employees.

Another example came from a group of VC firms in Southeast Asia, which include Saison Capital, FutureLab, Jungle Ventures, and Alpha JWC Ventures.

Together they launched a ‘community-led’ initiative — known as SEAriously Awesome People List – Startup COVID-19 Layoffs — in March to help retrenched startup employees find new opportunities.

“I think it’s a great practice assuming there’s buy-in from employees, which I think is so most of the time,” Chia Jeng Yang, Principal at Singapore-based Saison Capital, told me.

Yang is part of the team spearheading this novel initiative in the region.

“It’s a great way for companies to reduce any friction in the job market and help employees quickly find their next role as fast as possible. It is also easier for HR to find talent since it is quite common to be on the lookout from talent from large tech companies in the same industry,” added Yang.

As of yesterday, the initiative has approximately 1,000 talent registrations and 400 job posts.

Also Read: Going big? Then Go e27 Pro.

When the COVID-19 pandemic is lashing industries and causing job losses around the world, empathy and compassion become all the more important. If more organisations come forward to emulate this great practice, should help create a more compassionate world.

And as they say, kindness is contagious, and let this ‘contagion’ spread around the world.

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Image Credit: 123rf.com

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Spark Systems, an online FX trading platform based in Singapore, has raised US$15 million in “Series BB” funding round from a host of new and existing investors, including Citi, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, and Malaysia’s OSK Ventures.

Also Read: Going big? Then Go e27 Pro.

Vickers Ventures, Dymon Asia Ventures, Dymon Asia Capital, Jubilee Capital, and FengHe also returned to invest in the new round.

The company said that the funding would be used to enhance its current platform, develop analytics, advance its team training and build rapid modules that can onboard clients quickly.

Spark Systems also added that it intends to gradually expand into major financial centres of New York and London and develop a marketplace for G10/emerging economies currencies with a low latency trade matching data centre, which will be located in Singapore.

“This can catalyse and enhance price discovery, transparency and deepen market expertise. This is expected to reduce trading costs significantly,” the company said in a statement.

Founded in 2016, Spark Systems is a trading platform that aims to enhance usability and optimise user experience by providing a stable and ultra-low latency market place with an aggregator and algorithms for execution.

The firm has previously closed a funding round about four years ago. This brings its total funding raised to date to over US$22 million.

Trading has, in general, zoomed across the globe earlier this year as many individuals begin to panic-sell currencies, equities and commodities in the coronavirus-induced market.

Also Read: In conversation with Will Klippgen and Michael Blakey of Cocoon Capital

“This funding is occurring during a period of significant macro-economic upheaval further underscoring the strategic nature of the FX industry infrastructure requirement we are addressing,” said Wong Joo Seng, Founder of Spark Systems.

Spark Systems is a grant recipient of the Financial Sector Development Fund (FSDF) under the Financial Sector Technology and Innovation (FSTI) scheme from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

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Image Credit:  Avinash Kumar

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LeadIQ, a SaaS platform that aims to simplify lead management and sales prospecting processes, has raised up to US$10 million in Series A funding round, led by Eight Roads Ventures.

Tim Draper of Draper Associates and angel investor Jason Calacanis’s LAUNCH Fund also participated.

The fresh capital will be used by the company to invest in R&D, and for market expansion and hiring talent.

Founded in 2015 by Mei Siauw and Angelo Huang, LeadIQ is a workflow-centric lead data and sales prospecting SaaS platform focused on enterprise and mid-market clients.

With offices in both Singapore and the US, the firm aims to help users research and capture potential leads easily, enrich leads with further details, and integrates into various sales acceleration and customer management platforms, such as Salesloft, Outreach, Hubspot and Salesforce.

“We are building LeadIQ to simplify the workflow of sales teams, so they can focus on meaningful and relevant activities. Every second that a rep is wasting on repetitive tasks, chasing the wrong prospect, is not only hurting their company but our economy as well,” said Mei Siauw, CEO of LeadIQ.

Also Read: Compassionate layoff; Airbnb shows the way

“Organisations need a solid sales tech stack that is integrated, where data flows seamlessly across. This is where LeadIQ makes a difference. The platform allows reps to do more and quicker, cutting down unwanted manual processes,” commented Dave Ng, Head of Southeast Asia at Eight Roads Ventures.

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This article was co-written by Anisa Menur

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