5 SMEs Coming Up Fast
Here's a list of SMEs you should keep an eye for because they're coming up fast!
SMEs in Malaysia is a big deal. 98.5% of business establishments in Malaysia are SMEs and they span across all sectors and industries. There are approximately 907,065 SMEs in Malaysia and they contribute to 36.6% of the country's GDP in 2016. (1)
Eve Writes | 01 February 2019
Business & Entrepreneurship : Business Reviews
SMEs in Malaysia is booming for several years that it's impossible to ignore their presence. Dubbed as "small is the new big," many SMEs are proving themselves as a force to be reckoned with. One of the main reasons for this is SMEs tend to have young entrepreneurs in their ecosystem and they are more open to trying new things, pursuing avenues which may seem risky, or plainly going at it because they have the passion for it.
At About Eve, we believe in building each other up and working together towards the growth of SMEs in Malaysia. Even though we understand that business is still business, we recognize the importance and significance other SMEs bring to the industry and most importantly, we appreciate the camaraderie between SMEs entrepreneurs. We find inspirations and motivation by keeping abreast with other SMEs and also regularly networking with other entrepreneurs. This was apparent to us when we were invited to 2018 Malaysia Rice Bowl Awards for the atmosphere that night was electric with passion, energy, and business friendship being forged between so many entrepreneurs.
We love to share with you 7 SMEs that we believe are coming up fast. We admire their tenacity and passion in doing the things they do!
1. Carriage For Her: e-Hailing service for women
e-Hailing services in Malaysia has boomed over the past years and most of us are familiar with the likes of Grab, MyCar, and Quulo. But a new and up-coming e-hailing service made especially as an alternative for women, Carriage for Her, is quickly becoming a top favourite amongst women passengers.
With reports regarding sexual harassments towards women passengers and drivers, it’s no wonder that this e-hailing service is rapidly being favoured amongst women in the country, competing against others in the market. It also holds a very strict registration rule for the passenger as passengers need to upload their IC during registration to confirm that they are a woman.
Readily available in more than 16 states in Malaysia, the main idea behind Carriage for Her was to allow passengers around Malaysia to feel more secure and safer when they book a car to get to their destination. Their all-female drivers, also feel a lot safer with picking up women passengers, minimising the possible danger of them picking up passengers when their shift is late into the night as women generally feel safer when they're in the presence of other women. However, since you can't tell danger just from someone's gender (because yes, there are female perpetrators too), SOS button is made available for both the passenger and driver should any mishaps were to happen during the ride. An option in the app also allows a passenger to book their ride an hour beforehand, allowing the passenger to put their mind at ease when they have to get to a destination in the nearest time.
Carriage For Her was founded on the basis to provide women with an alternative when it comes to e-hailing, but it is also founded to provide more income opportunities for women in Malaysia. They welcome working women, mothers, and freelancers to join them as drivers. Just as how Grab provides quite lucrative income for many drivers, Carriage For Her is looking to provide the same for Malaysian women.
2. AOne Malaysia: Anyone can teach, anyone can learn
At About Eve, we love learning new things and encourage people of all ages to learn. With an online class platform for local classes and lesson providers for Southeast Asia, AOne believes that “anyone can teach, anyone can learn” with their mission being to connect anyone who likes to teach with anyone who likes to learn.
This online class directory slash skill sharing marketplace provides you with a list of classes that’s happening offline so you can basically search for anything and everything you want to learn from yoga to piano to breakdancing! Best thing is, there are many centres who have became AOne vendors so you need not travel far to learn something you’ve always wanted to. They provide information for academic and non-academic classes for children and adults alike.
Founded by Dr. Darren Gouk, an entrepreneur who once aspired to be a university lecturer. Stating that he made a decision to move from academia towards online business, he had a tough time convincing his family how his venture will be worthwhile. Since he has a passion towards learning and teaching and also in entrepreneurship, he decided to pursue it instead.
AOne now have made and collaborated with many learning centres in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia as their vendors. Their aim to get 1,000 centres by 2020 who enjoy using AOne.
If you want to run a small business,
you need to know what everyone is doing.
3. Bumbung: Create a request and they will find the home for you
“What makes Bumbung different than real estates company?”, you may ask. Well, this chic property listing company allows you to put up your property request and get matched through agents based on their criteria, cutting you time to find the perfect house for you!
Combining their knowledge on property space as well as having access to wide tech resources, they’re committed to build a leading tech innovation for the real estate industry, changing the way users search for properties in the coming future.
Using algorithms, front end and back end developments, Bumbung is able to create value through the relationships they generate with their agencies and users. Matching agents to renters/buyers, minimising the hassle for the agents to rely solely on advertising, which can be quite taxing for the agents.
Their innovation scene is by having the buyer/renter key-in their desired details into the website, and wait for the listing to them. Not only that, Bumbung can be used by anyone who is looking to sell or let out their properties too. After the whole deed is done, a rating service is given to the agent to weed out agents who aren’t in short, doing their best. This creates a more trustable platform for real estate agents and buyers on the Net.
4. First Smile: Safely sharing your child's photos with family members
Let’s be honest, many parents love sharing photos of their children or newborn nephews and nieces online, but every parent know and fear the danger of online predators, which scaring them from sharing too much. But we still find the need to share since, of course, our close friends and relatives deserves to see their cuteness.
If you’re just as cautious as we are when it comes to sharing photos of our precious little ones, First Smile allows you to safely share your photos by creating beautiful mobile scrapbook that’s designed for parents to organize their kids’ photos in a breeze. You can even use it to create an album for your family vacation (you know which one, the one where you promised everyone you’d share them soon!)
You also get to share with them the photos in a shared scrapbook, allowing them to take part in adding their photos in the album. For families with members who lives far apart, it creates a platform to see the growth of the children online, without the worry of the photos falling into the wrong hands.
It also preserves the memories of your kids photos’ in the individual scrapbook you create instead of having to scroll to thousands of photos to find the right one. With their friendly user-interface, parents will find it a breeze to declutter their children’s photos and you’ll never forget to share your cute children photos again!
5. Mama Wosh: Stop laundry. Start living
Revolutionising the way we wash our clothes is the main mission of the people at Mama Wosh. Being the first door-to-door washing delivery company in Malaysia, it’s the easiest and most convenient way to do your laundry, offering a solution for us who finds it challenging to take a moment of our time to do the laundry. You don’t need to wait an hour at the laundromat even!
With just two taps, you’re ready to utilize Mama Wosh’s service. Providing four cleaning services - wash and fold, dry clean and press, curtain cleaning, and carpet cleaning, you can be sure that whatever laundry you have at home can be washed within two days. There’s no reason to leave your house to send your big laundries for cleaning. They even have a monthly subscription so you can literally wash your worries away.
We at About Eve love this service because during the days when it's too hectic to even drop by the self-service laundry, Mama Wosh always comes to the rescue! Their service is prompt and professional with courteous delivery person, sending back our laundry all clean and fresh.
