THE 20 SUCCESSFUL SME FOUNDERS

It was such an amazing experience being in a room full of successful founders which I was given the privilege by Alliance Bank & the sponsors. I was one of the 20 finalists shortlisted at the recent SME Innovation Challenge 2015. For more information on the SME Innovation Challenge, please read here, here and here. They all have wonderful stories to share and a good made in Malaysia business concept especially for Malaysians and the world.

When my business prospers, I will certainly join the list of sponsors for the SME Innovation Challenge. Being with new founders, really injects alot of aspiration and motivation. It is not all rosey and beauty for the founders to be where they are today. I was in one of the group that was split into 5, and one of the founders said, she had multiple nervous breakdown and almost kill herself to keep her company afloat. Another founder attended the Biz Smart Academy today and left her barely year old baby in the hospital admitted for dengue. Such were the commitment and dedication by the founders to bring their company to the next level.

We attended the first of the 8 full day training courses organised to equipped businesses with essential ingredients for success. I attended the course with a burning desire to learn, apply and starving for knowledge and success. It was great to be in a hall full of founders with the same huge appetite. The energy was exemplary.

Today's first full day was a course on Strategic Influencing by Eric Lau from Leaderonomics. There are alot of things we took for granted while running a business and Eric, in his hip and passionate presentation backed with strong references to real life case study put alot of senses to many. You should check them out at www.leaderonomics.com. 

We also had the pleasure of meeting Christy Ng whom was the 2013 SME Innovation Challenge

Champion. She was generous with sharing her success story and gave some useful tips in tackling those judges during the final pitch. Another guest speaker was Ivan Lee from The Tapping Tapir, the Top 6 finalist for last year's challenge. Victor shared his experience in getting into the top 6. The biggest challenge faced by them two was in canvassing for public votes. They actually went to Pasar Malam and into universities to get students to vote for them!! Eeek!!! I cannot remember when was the last time I went to pasar malam.

RICE BOWL START UP AWARD 2015

We are so pleased to be nominated for the Rice Bowl Start up Award 2015. The Rice Bowl Startup Awards celebrates rising startups that are worthy of regional awareness and presence, uses technology and modern business strategies to deliver their service offerings.

It is called the Rice Bowl award as rice is a staple diet among Asians, so is technology for fuelling businesses of the future. The Rice Bowl Startup Awards is the first ASEAN awards that celebrate rising startups that harness technology innovatively to propel their business regionally. Companies participating in the event are from Malaysia, Myanmar, Brunei, Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. Malaysia is the host for the event this year.

The media exposure for this award is massive and will provide CarBengkel with sufficient exposure to go global by year end. Please pray for us to get into the TOP 30.

YES WE MADE IT TO THE TOP 20 FINALISTS ALLIANCE BANK SME INNOVATION CHALLENGE 2015

The SME Innovation Challenge 2015 was launched on 9 July 2015 with a total RM1,000,000 cash and media prizes to be won. There are three additional category prizes to be won this year namely, the Manulife Sustainability Award (RM100,000), VISA Retail Award (RM100,000) and HyppTV Viewers' Choice Award (RM200,000). The Grand Prize for the Champion will receive Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin Entrepreneurship Award RM250,000/ First Runner-up will get RM200,000 and Second Runner-Up will receive RM150,000.

The application for the SME Challenge 2015 was closed on 1 September and those shortlisted including my new company CarBengkel was called for an interview and had to pitch 6 prominent judges chaired by billionaire and philanthropist Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin on 18 September 2015 (for more information, read HERE). From that session, twenty were selected and the TOP 20 Finalist was announced this afternoon at the Young Entrepreneurs Conference 2015 held at the Planery Hall, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

The Young Entrepreneur Conference 2015 is a by-invitation-only event and is open to all aspiring entrepreneurs. Amnan Bazli Pahamin and I attended the YEC 2015 with a mix feeling. Nervous, excited and anxious!! We really look forward to be selected as the Top 20 Finalists. Being a new start-up, we can only imagine the mileage we will get being shortlisted. I did my best though I felt I could have done better pitching Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin and those prominent judges last week on 18 September. We had the pleasure and honour to meet the humble Malek Ali, the founder for our favourite radio station BFM 89.90 who is also one of the judges at the recent pitch. I love his inspiring life story.

BATTLE OF PLATOONS 4.0

The Chief's Original Bootcamp has declared a state of emergency for all battalion to be at Defcon 3. All platoons under each battalion to form a unit ready for battle. This is the fourth war cry for battle issued in half a decade.

At Defcon 3, all recruits at all battalion to increase their training intensity and ready for deployment. Our intelligent unit speculate a war will break out with the following details:

DATE: 8 November 2015
TIME: 5:30am - 9:30am
WAR ZONE: To be advice.
THEME: No better friend, no worst enemy.

What is the Battle of Platoons?

The Battle of Platoons is a special event organized to foster the spirit of camaraderie between recruits from all platoons. Most of the time, recruits only interact with their fellow platoon mate without any opportunity to meet recruits from other platoons. During the battle, recruits from all locations will gather at the war zone. Recruits from all ranks; Rangers, Seals and Deltas would have to work together and win points for their platoon.

The Battle of Platoons was first mooted by Senior Sarge Coad; COBC Regional Master trainer & Spec Ops Coordinator in 2009. "The challenge was conducted to determine which platoon is the strongest in a friendly, enjoyable and slightly competitive way".

Who can participate?

1. Any recruits that is registered and train at COBC. 

2. To enable more recruits to join & participate in the BOP 4.0, a special fee is extended for all past, present & new recruit at only RM99.50 per month for the month of October and RM99.50 for November (The fee is conditional on registration and payment for both November & December before November intake- total RM199.00 for 2 intakes). This RM99 per month is for all recruits registered for the months of October & November 2015.
3. All WIP and special recruits can defer their WIP payment to December and pay the "special fees" instead.

PITCHING AT THE SME INNOVATION CHALLENGE 2015

I first heard of the BizSmart Academy SME Innovation Challenge 2015 from Li Lian Khaw whom invited CarBengkel to compete. We submitted our application in early August and was overwhelmed to received a congratulatory email on 11 September, being one of the 40 companies that was shortlisted for the pitching. For more information on SME Innovation Challenge 2015, click HERE. For more information on CarBengkel win~win solution for car owners and the aftersales network, click HERE.

We were given a week to prepare for the pitching scheduled on 18 September 2015 (today!!) at 9:15am slot. Logan and I worked the weekends and the whole week to perfected the pitch deck and I spend the whole 2 days rehearsing to deliver our message in the given 8 minutes timeframe!! Cradle graduates were trained to pitch in 5 minutes and the additional 3 minutes is almost a bonus but I wanted to share so much more of what CarBengkel can do that I needed more than the bonus 3 minutes. After dozens of practicing and rehearsing, I managed to hit the 8 minutes timeframe after censoring and prioritizing alot of slides and pointers.

What is the mechanic of the challenge?

THE PEOPLE'S POWER

As far back as I can remember when Tun Dr Mahathir was the Prime Minister, everyone wanted him to be replaced, leave or resigned. When he resigned, everyone felt it was a grand victory for Malaysia and evidently, Barisan Nasional under Tun Abdullah Badawi won 90% majority at the 11th general election (GE11) in 2004. People was in favour of a government without Tun Dr Mahathir forgetting all the good deeds and development he brought to Malaysia from being a third world.

Since then, Barisan Nasional under Tun Abdullah Badawi had lost 2/3 majority in the 12th General Election (GE12) in 2008 and even lost a few states. When Tun Abdullah Badawi resigned, Dato Sri Najib brought an even worst winning for Barisan Nasional at the 13th General Election (GE13) in 2013. Barisan Nasional did not even get the popular votes.

The 90% majority grand victory that the people celebrated in GE11 for not wanting Tun Dr Mahathir had brought a major catastrophe not just to Barisan Nasional but to Malaysia. The people is not always right.

The people will not make the same mistake by voting against Barisan Nasional because of their frustration, anger and hatred for Dato Sri Najib's donation, money politics, abuse of power with the PAC, MACC, AG, BNM, Police and those labelled as corrupted Ministers. The damage will be of great detriment to Malaysia.

CRAVING OF A THAI

It is actually not as easy to find a good Thai food that is reasonably priced and taste very similar to the authentic Thai cooking. Naturally, when we came across a good Thai restaurant that is Halal with food menu that tastes very similar to the cooking of Thais, I had to share it with you. 

We incidentally saw the signage Aroi Thai after sending my son to his weekend Taekwondo class with Elaine Teoh and Nurul Nadia Mahamat at Kota Damansara. 

The three months old restaurant is called Aroi Thai and everything in the menu is priced at RM1.90 (before GST) ala the famous Thai Boat Noodle and Bangkok street food. We initially ordered a bowl each of the Beef Noodle but wallop in total 14 items from the menu!

I'VE GOT THE POWER!!

If only I had the Home Energy Report  report many years ago, we would have saved and substantially reduced our TNB Bills but Thumbs Up to TNB for generating the Home Energy Report which we received a few days ago. Without any bearing on the electrical consumption for energy efficient home, we have been on a utility bill reduction mode since last year.

Our TNB bill last year 2014, averages RM1200 per month and early this year we target to reduce it below RM1000 thinking it was a reasonable target. Now we know it is not. According to the TNB Home Energy Report, we uses 184% more electricity than similar home.  The last three months home electric usage comparison was was a staggering 5,765kWh for our home; similar home averages 2,031kWh and efficient home (of similar size) uses 891 kWh. We are 6x higher than the energy efficient home. The comparison was on 100 similar homes (Source: TNB).

Earlier this year we let go of a few under-utilize refrigerators and freezer, change the lights to LED energy saving lights and had successfully reduced it but RM800-RM900 per month was still on the high side. The target now was to keep TNB bill at an average RM300 a month which is the energy efficient home. So we did a bit of research on the energy savings electrical items and replaced the 8 years old LG air-condition on 3 August. 

We had it replaced with the Hitachi inverter aircond with 5 star energy saving rating. The aircond too came with a 10 years warranty. It claimed it can reduce our electricty bill by 60%. That was doubtful and we may just be a victim of advertising but heck, it cant be any worst than the current 8 years old air condition.

BOOTCAMP FOR LIFE~ 5th YEAR

Our journey with the Chief's bootcamp began 6 years ago in 2009 as a recruit at the bootcamp Padang Merbuk. Alike all others, we fell in love with the program at first sight. Prior to our training at the bootcamp, I have explored everything else from running, weight training, personal training, RPM, Body pump, swimming, triathlon, dualthon and even mountain climbing. My bootcamp partner Dr Malek Aziz too went through the same phase seeking and searching for an active lifestyle and training that can keep our mojo and fitness align with our medical history. Those who were given a second life having survived cancer would understand how nothing else matters but a good bill of great health. We love the program so much that we practically begged Chief Brabon and Gunny Hames to obtained the license to operate the program at Bandar Utama in 2010. The thought of not having the program being run in Malaysia was a nightmare having discovered the previous licensee wanted to opt out.

That was the beginning of our journey running the world's oldest military inspired bootcamp in Malaysia. When the licensee for Subang Jaya, Cyberjaya, Damansara Heights and Shah Alam too opted out from the network, we quickly took over. It was all for the passion for fitness. Not much for the money but for the network of people that shares similar passion as us. 

The Chief's Original Bootcamp is where it all started. It revolutionize the whole concept of exercising in Malaysia. That was during the period where all the boutique gym mushrooms throughout Malaysia. We went against the odd to establish the outdoor group fitness concept ala Military training. Now, the bootcamp concept had grow from just the Chief's Original Bootcamp to dozens of others but todate, the Chief's Original Bootcamp is the only bootcamp in Malaysia where the program is actually designed by former and currently serving infantry soldier, namely the Royal Australian army. Of course, the program is then customize for civilian training. At the Chief's Original Bootcamp (COBC), we deliver the program that was professionally and scientifically design to reap out the maximum results. The founder Chief Brabon and his Master Global trainers (whom design the program for COBC) establish the program way back in 1999; for already 16 years!!

CARBENGKEL MEDIA LAUNCH AT THE CRADLE FUND SDN BHD

On behalf of the CarBengkel team, we are grateful to all the media and guests that attended our small and simple product launching in conjunction with the upcoming festive season at the Cradle Fund office yesterday.

CarBengkel is a product of Cradle CIP Catalyst pre-seed funding. Being a recipient of government grant for the development of the application, the first thing we learn was to budget and to operate within a very limited budget. Naturally, our media launching was not held at five star hotels or expensive restaurants but at the training room at Cradle itself.

My journey with Cradle has been very educational and exciting.

When we first approach Cradle, we knew exactly what we wanted to do! We have the idea, the experience and the business plan. We did not have the product but we have everything else.... and so we thought!!

When we thought we knew and had everything, Cradle further completes it. Cradle had completed and make concrete whatever idea we have. The grant is actually a smaller contribution to what Cradle provides as a package.

Many new start up failed because they are their own bosses and being our own bosses, sometimes we feel we are right and that we knew everything. Cradle broadens our perspective and thinking methodology. It is not just the fund that came with Cradle but the support system that became our brainstorming partners.

At Cradle, we have to convinced alot of people who knew nothing about our business and some of them can be critical. This is very important because now I know, if anyone can convinced Cradle, they can actually convinced anyone. You cannot bullshit these professionals.

I am most grateful to Eizar Supiar and Dalena Zulkifli whom were the Cradle business managers assigned to us and would like to extend our big thank you for their tireless effort working with us on weekends and in discussion with us till late night. All the officials are with us on personal handphone basis. That was how committed they are.

20 MILLION CAR OWNERS TO BENEFIT FROM CARBENGKEL MOBILE APPLICATION

Malaysian government through the national Automotive Policy (NAP 2014) & Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI) have placed a high emphasis to improve and enhance the services in the automotive ecosystem for the benefits of the public. The NAP 2014 focusses to give consumers greater benefits that include costs transparency, enhanced level of repair and services with proper procedures and qualification of mechanics, spare parts standardization, insurance coverage and others.

NAP 2014 would fulfill the need to standardize the local automotive after-market industry, as this industry has a direct impact on the consumer. The NAP 2014 initiatives will assist to set proper systems to standardize all of the stakehoders in the after-market that includes workshops (independent or franchised), tyres and accessories shops, spare parts dealer (new and used parts) and car dealers.

Part of the initiatives taken by MAI for the automotive aftermarket is to support the car workshope to be more competitive, proficient and customer-centric. MAI initiative through its primary app MAGIS (MAI Automotive Garage Information System) and its complementary Carbengkel app for workshop enables workshop to compete in term of competitive pricing, fast service, better customer service as well as retention and transparency. 

APA SEBENARNYA "MAI AFTERMARKET APP" ATAU "APLIKASI AFTERMARKET" INSTITUT AUTOMOTIF MALAYSIA?

YAB Perdana Menteri Malaysia, YAB Dato Seri Mohammad Najib bin Tun Hani Abdul Razak telah melancarkan aplikasi "MAI Aftermarket App" di Pekan pada 25 May 2015 di majlis Gegar Autoria tetapi tidak ramai yang tahu sebenarnya apakah aplikasi MAI aftermarket itu?

Aplikasi MAI Aftermarket terbahagi kepada dua aplikasi iaitu CarBengkel dan MAGIS. CarBengkel merupakan aplikasi baru berteraskan teknologi GPS, PUSH dan teknologi mudah alih bertujuan untuk memudahkan pemilik kereta untuk mendapatkan perkhidmatan servis dengan harga paling berpatutan. Ciri ciri aplikasi CarBengkel akan di terangkan dengan lebih lanjut. MAGIS pula merupakan sistem pengurusan bengkel berasaskan awan pintar. 

MAI CEO, Madani Sahari menerangkan ciri-ciri CarBengkel kepada Timbalan Menteri Kewangan

Aplikasi CarBengkel melalui teknologi GPS membolehkan pemilik kereta untuk mendapatkan perkhidmatan servis atau baik pulih kereta dimana-mana sahaja ia berada. 

Pihak Institut Automotif Malaysia (MAI) faham masalah-masalah yang dihadapi oleh pemilik kereta untuk menyelenggarakan kereta mereka dari segi masa, bajet dan juga untuk mencari bengkel yang bertauliah.