Let’s take a look at some of Kuching’s homegrown up-and-coming enterprises poised to make a difference
KUCHING (August 10): When you’re located 977 kilometres away from the country’s capital and essentially most of the convenience that West Malaysians take for granted, naturally you learn to be independent quickly, finding ways to be self-sustainable.
In recent years, Kuching has quickly become a fertile ground for numerous startups that tackle various issues faced by locals, introducing innovative approaches to aid the community. With the help of localised launchpads such as Startup Borneo, more entrepreneurs are able to bring their ideas to fruition, boosting the local economy and creating more job opportunities for Sarawakians.
Figure 1: Kuching, Sarawak is a vibrant city and very attractive location for many startups.
Let’s take a look at Kuching’s most successful startups to be making a difference in Kuching’s entrepreneurial landscape under the guidance of Startup Borneo.
Roselle’s Kitchen
Figure 2: Products developed by Roselle’s Kitchen.
The company’s main ingredient is in the name and this Sarawakian enterprise is proud of it. Realising the vast agricultural potential that Sarawak possesses especially for the cultivation of the roselle plant, Chai Lee Chin and Nicholas Hon started Roselle’s Kitchen in 2017, with the aim of becoming largest producer of roselle-based products in Malaysia and promoting them as one of Sarawak’s main souvenirs, similar to the pepper and kek lapis. Currently, apart from roselle tea that is distributed to local cafes, the enterprise also produces various types of milk tea, including brews with butterfly pea flower, and even roselle flavoured pineapple tarts.
Figure 3: Founders Chai Lee Chin and Nicholas Hon.
Sempoi Study, project by Cakerawala Seni Production
Figure 4: A project by Cakerawala Seni Production.
In an effort to make education fun again, Sempoi Study strives to present the school syllabus in video performances acted out by talents. Created by a collective of artistically-inclined individuals, this streaming programme is accessible via various digital methods, making it easy for parents to oversee the effectiveness of the content as well. Working closely with the Ministry of Education, Sempoi Study will be a more streamlined and fun educational tool perfect for school as well as home use.
360° Hospitality Central Reservation System from Hotelier to Hotelier by Netpro, Founder Adam Lee
The name of this project may be a mouthful but this endeavour by founder Adam Lee is meant to simplify hotel bookings for both the merchant and the customers. The system enables hospitality operators to market their rooms on all available marketing channels, including metasearch egines, fare aggregating sites, social media platforms, and other websites, from a single platform with a single log-in procedure.
Figure 5: Founder Adam Lee.
This convenient new Centralised Sales and Marketing Tool developed by Lee is hosted on the German cloud based SAAS platform and is currently ready to be used any interested hospitality operator. Lee’s team will continuously conduct necessary R&D measures and provide maintenance services for the system.
TIMOGAH.com
Figure 6: Products offered via e-commerce platform by TIMOGAH.com.
Malaysian Borneo’s solution to the convenience of online grocery delivery, TIMOGAH taps into the vast agricultural potential of Sabah and Sarawak by transporting fresh groceries from farms to consumer homes. As East Malaysia is renowned for its jungle produce and other sayur kampong, TIMOGAH desires to encourage the growing and sales of such crop, in addition to helping small rural farmers with increased sales.
Figure 7: Heineken Laluan is the founder of TIMOGAH.com.
Jelajah Borneo
Figure 8: Siti Zaharah of Jelajah Borneo.
Created with the aim of promoting Malaysian Borneo’s products on an international stage, Jelajah Borneo aims to be the middleperson between customers and participating entrepreneurs. Apart from travelling to various oversea locales to endorse the Bornean products, Jelajah Borneo will also be documenting the trips and uploading the visuals to its platform for viewing by people from all over the world.
[Source: “5 Leading Startups to Emerge From Kuching” published by UPPRE/Unplugged Redefined Sdn Bhd]Photo/Video Credits: UPPRE/Unplugged Redefined Sdn Bhd
