When Cost Cutting Becomes a Trap for SMEs

With global shocks and competitive pricing squeezing profit margins, many SMEs are under immense pressure. Azfar Asa'ad of CPA Australia joins the show to share insights from their latest survey of over 4,000 small businesses, as well as why cutting costs alone is a trap and the critical danger of…

State of Malaysia’s Car Reliance

77% of Malaysians rely on private cars, significantly higher than the 54% global average, and our appetite for future car-related tech is massive. Thomas Tan of Ipsos Malaysia joins the show to unpack why 61% of Malaysians would feel safer in a self-driving car and how "first-mile/last-mile" fricti…

The Mobile App Growth Trap: Installs vs Real Value

Is your app growth real or is it just a vanity metric? As user journeys stretch across devices and platforms, businesses are struggling to track what actually drives value. Mathew Raju, Senior Customer Success Manager at Adjust, joins us to break down why installs no longer tell the full story, and…

Corporate Malaysia’s IFRS Sustainability Readiness Gap

Since January 2025, the "voluntary" era of ESG has ended for Malaysia's largest firms. Under the new IFRS mandatory standards, sustainability is no longer a PR exercise, it’s a financial reporting requirement. PwC Malaysia’s Director of Sustainability and Climate Change Farhana Jabir joins the show…

Record Trade, BYD Complications, & Taiwan Plus One

Malaysia just recorded its highest-ever Q1 trade figure at RM789.85 billion, yet the ground-level reality is far more complex. While the E&E boom and AI demand supercharge exports, a public standoff with EV giant BYD over investment conditions is testing the limits of our National Automotive Policy…

Hormuz Shockwave: Malaysia's Food Security Under Threat?

Is Malaysia one bad harvest away from a food crisis it can't import its way out of? It's sowing season, but the conditions couldn't be worse, diesel costs are climbing, fertiliser prices have shot up, and a third of Kedah's crops were left unharvested. Dr Sarena Omar, CEO at PNB Research Institute…

WFH Done Wrong? How To Make It Work

Is your organisation actually ready for WFH or just reacting and hoping for the best? Hundreds of thousands of civil servants started working from home last week, and the cracks showed up on day one. Hourly check-ins. Broken tracking apps. Officers driving back to the office just to protect their…

How The Fuel Crisis Crunches Malaysian Tourism

Is Malaysia’s tourism push being quietly derailed by rising fuel costs? Nigel Wong of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents joins us as diesel prices surge, ferry trips are cut, and operators absorb mounting losses. As Visit Malaysia Year 2026 unfolds, we examine whether the industry …

1 Region, 10 Headaches? Asean's Fragmentation Tax

The Southeast Asian market is often pitched to investors as a unified market of 650 million people, but for those actually building across these borders, that narrative is a "potentially dangerous oversimplification." Airwallex’s Andrew Chim joins the show to explore the hidden frictions of region…

Corporate Mafias Aren't The Big Risk, Bad Governance Is

Recent allegations of "corporate mafias" using enforcement agencies to pressure business owners into forced takeovers have sent a chill through the Malaysian business landscape. But has this fear bled into the startup and SME scene? Bikesh Lakhmichand of 1337 Ventures isn't hitting the panic butto…