Keepital x SMU x ADB (Digital Entrepreneurship in Asia for Economic Resilience and Post-Pandemic Recovery)

1. Explain what your company is about in one line or two:

We are a B2B Marketplace in Southeast Asia. Our customers are mostly in the industrial trade – construction, engineering, hardware. They are more towards the traditional small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which is why we are helping them to move digitally and globally.

2. How often do you exchange ideas/collaborate with other entrepreneurs/start-up founders?

It is not easy to do so because when founders are rich, they will not be open to transformation because they are doing well themselves, without the help of others. However, their mindset has changed over the years when they realised that their business is no longer as profitable if they continue to sell only in Singapore. Personally for me, I have witnessed the use of traditional sales methods (e.g. door knocking) to the non-traditional sales methods used today (e.g. social media). Our main goal is to help companies with the transition of traditional to non-traditional sales methods. Keepital is also pre-approved under the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) to help SMEs take the first step on their digital journey.

3. In terms of COVID-19, how has it affected your company’s performance?

Luckily for us, we managed to achieve the best results last year. I think it was mainly because with the pandemic going on, more companies were forced to go digital, leading to more time on their hands to upload relevant content onto our platform. Eventually they adapted, spent time listening to our solution and changed what was needed. Actually before COVID-19, we were already ‘Working From Home’. As Keepital is based in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, it was extremely difficult for me to travel back and forth between each country and disseminate information. There were many inconveniences along the way, such as the traffic congestion in Malaysia and in Thailand, we had to travel all the way to the ACRA building to print a piece of paper – wasting the whole day just to open a bank account. Initially, I wanted to open offices in Myanmar and Cambodia. However, having been there, I realised that they were still in the printing era, which made business tough to do. I eventually decided not to open a company there and just focus on three countries. Thus despite COVID-19, we can manage our operations because our business is mainly online (My HR and Accounting team are Malaysians).

4. Do you have an estimate of how much revenue comes from overseas?

About 10%. In 2016 or 2017, I made my first sale in Malaysia.

5. What do you think of your current business model? Are you looking to scale your business?

In order to scale, I will need proper Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and tutorial videos. In our line of work, without proper tutorial videos, the listed products will not be done properly. As we do not have that now, we rely on manpower to teach users how to use our platform. Now our prices are charged at a higher rate because of the extra service that we provide for them. Whereas if we have professional coaching videos to guide our users to list the products by themselves, we can charge at a more affordable rate. Thus, I would say we lack the expertise to produce professional coaching videos, which affects our scalability.

6. When you first started, was it funded with your savings?

I actually started the business with a partner, with S$800 each. Subsequently, we funded our business with recurring cash flows. This is called bootstrapping – using the profits we earned to cover our expenses.

7. Have you considered taking government or bank loans?

We took a loan during COVID-19, but we have since returned the funds. Also, the amount is not enough for us to scale.

8. Have you completed any Seed Funding or Series A? Or are you looking for investors?

We are a B2B business model, so not many investors will be keen. As we are profitable and sustainable, I am open to investors only if it fits. Ideally, it will be both investors and partners merged as one – to form an ecosystem and build on the business development. As we are a marketplace, we need partners like FinTech players and Freight Forwarding players to fulfil our ecosystem like Alibaba (Alibaba has Ant Financial and Cai Niao Logistics). We are a front-end marketplace but we lack these. Thus, we need good partners and investors to grow. Although we have partners (e.g, Alibaba, UOB, CrimsonLogic), we are not in any way related. Thus, I would not mind if a Venture Capital (VC) is like-minded.

9. In terms of incorporating technology into your business model, are you considering developing a Mobile Application for your platform?

Yes, if our user base is strong, and if our industry adapts to mobile applications instead of relying on Google searches. As of now, websites will be more suitable for us, because our users often use Google to source for industrial products. With a Mobile Application, their employers may think that their employees are skiving. Thus, to me, having a website for our B2B target market is more practical. However, it will be good if we have a mobile application, just like Alibaba. It may be part of our future plans.

10. Have you incorporated Machine Learning or Artificial Intelligence (AI) into your website?

Not yet, but we will soon. Currently, when users inquire on our platform, the data is stored in our backend operations. However, with many ongoing regulations such as the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), we will have to outsource professional services to manage the sensitivity of data. Thus, Machine Learning will be of good use if we can automate with AI for procurement purposes, so that users can conveniently search for products on our platform. These are just what I have in mind but it has not been finalised.

11. Do you use any cloud servers to store your data?

Yes, we store our data on MongoDB and front-end on Google Cloud.

12. What kind of programming do you use?

Our programming schedules are through Trello. As for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Marketing, we would use Basecamp. My programmer uses Slack, but I personally do not. Google Search Control and Google Analytics are our core – I check them daily as we need to know our traffic and where they come from, as we are a Marketplace.

13. What is the Unique Selling Point (USP) of your business?

We are facilitated for customers who need SEO, operating as a fully SEO-ready platform. In addition, we facilitate different languages, allowing customers to key in multiple languages to optimise their products. This is best for communication between Southeast Asia companies, as we are multilanguage and we incorporate freight and payment systems – to make everything seamless for our customers.

14. What about your competitors? Are you the only one providing these services?

To be honest, I do not care about what my competitors do, because I am solely focusing on what my customers need, as we have been on the ground myself to hear from them. Compared to MNCs, SMEs definitely lack privileges but times have changed for the better. With many SME customers on my platform, I am able to represent them as a so-called MNC, with a large amount of data. Hence, I can negotiate for better rates from FinTech companies and freight companies. As such, our SME customers receive better rates and privileges just like MNCs, thereby helping the growth of SMEs.

15. How is the work culture like in your company?

Our office hours are the standard 9pm-6pm. However, as we operate in different countries, I may not even be aware when the country or area is having a Public Holiday. When it comes to taking a Leave of Absence, there is not a stringent protocol to follow, so long as the people you are reporting to are informed will do. As for communication, it is mostly on Whatsapp. Overall, I would say our work culture is reasonable and flexible. Even if my staff needs to settle their personal issues during work hours, as long as they are responsive and get their job done, I am fine with it. The important thing is to understand what we need from each other, so that we can support each other and complete our tasks. This applies to all departments – Sales, Accounting, Marketing, Programming, Back-end, and Fulfilment. Also, we organise weekly meetings across three countries as a form of networking.

16. When you mention weekly meetings, have you kept up with your employees’ mental health to make sure they are coping well?

As a group, everyone will say they are doing well. We play Among Us and talk about the current global situation. For me, I do take the initiative to speak to them one-on-one, to see how they are doing.

17. What is your take on treating your suppliers fairly?

When I feel that it is not very fair to both parties, I will put a stop to the partnership. Simply put, I will base it on whether it can be a long-term relationship that has mutual benefits to both parties.

18. Do you think you will be recognised as a great employer who treats your employees well?

I think this question will be better answered by my fellow employees. To sum up, I think it is good to have a non-political culture, consisting of my employees producing the work that they are interested in. By not treating work like work, it makes work more enjoyable. And if the company continues to grow, there will definitely be a pay raise as a reward for their hard work, coupled with a sense of achievement.

Watch our YouTube video here >> https://youtu.be/-FHkZZXSBR8