Mascon Technologies, a Singapore-based Maritime Tech start-up founded in 2022 aims to help digitise, verify and simplify the work done on the ships - quite literally - and in the office. We speak with Mascon’s CEO and Co-Founder, Hakim Sanwan, about their inception story, the challenges of building a tech company in the maritime sector, their ambitions ahead, and how Mascon is positioning itself within a complex and traditional industry.



Image Credit: Shutterstock

Mascon Technologies, a Singapore-based Maritime Tech start-up founded in 2022 aims to help digitise, verify and simplify the work done on the ships - quite literally - and in the office. We speak with Mascon’s CEO and Co-Founder, Hakim Sanwan, about their inception story, the challenges of building a tech company in the maritime sector, their ambitions ahead, and how Mascon is positioning itself within a complex and traditional industry.Image Credit: Shutterstock

The flagship entrepreneurship show on BFM, featuring personal business stories from early stage start-ups, all the way to billionaire octogenarians in Malaysia and abroad. Notable guests include Martin Cooper (father of the mobile phone), Julian Assange (founder of WikiLeaks), Ralph Henry Baer (father of video games), Tony Buzan (Mindmap Guru), Isaac Tigrett (Hard Rock Cafe founder), Robert Kiyosaki (Financial Guru), Nick Vujicic (motivational speaker) and more. Tap into this valuable resource of shared experiences for the SME industry, which also touches on news, issues and trends affecting the business community and beyond.

Open For Business

Discover fresh concepts, tackle obstacles, and unleash growth - Open For Business is the dynamic show where BFM engages with entrepreneurs, business leaders, and industry trailblazers, igniting inspiration, sparking success, and exploring new business models.

How Mascon Is Modernising Maritime Technology?

For years, the Malaysian property market has been dominated by a legacy "discovery-only" portal model. Real estate agents are forced to pay RM3,000 to RM8,000 in upfront annual subscriptions just to list properties, with zero performance guarantees. The result? Agents receive high volumes of raw traffic, but only 2% to 3% actually convert into real appointments.



Enter MyRumahBaru (MRB). Co-founded by Melvin Soh, Ching Yaw Hao, and Anthony Chin, MRB is an AI-powered property platform designed to destroy the traditional subscription model. Instead of charging for listings, MRB provides unlimited free listings and utilises an AI chatbot to converse with, pre-qualify, and financially vet buyers (including Debt Service Ratio calculations). Agents and developers are only charged a flat RM200 fee when a verified buyer actually shows up for an appointment. This model has successfully driven buyer show-up rates to over 90%.



Melvin joins us to dissect the hard metrics behind MRB's growth, the unit economics of a pay-per-performance marketplace, and why incumbent portals are structurally trapped from copying their technology.

For years, the Malaysian property market has been dominated by a legacy "discovery-only" portal model. Real estate agents are forced to pay RM3,000 to RM8,000 in upfront annual subscriptions just to list properties, with zero performance guarantees. The result? Agents receive high volumes of raw traffic, but only 2% to 3% actually convert into real appointments.Enter MyRumahBaru (MRB). Co-founded by Melvin Soh, Ching Yaw Hao, and Anthony Chin, MRB is an AI-powered property platform designed to destroy the traditional subscription model. Instead of charging for listings, MRB provides unlimited free listings and utilises an AI chatbot to converse with, pre-qualify, and financially vet buyers (including Debt Service Ratio calculations). Agents and developers are only charged a flat RM200 fee when a verified buyer actually shows up for an appointment. This model has successfully driven buyer show-up rates to over 90%.Melvin joins us to dissect the hard metrics behind MRB's growth, the unit economics of a pay-per-performance marketplace, and why incumbent portals are structurally trapped from copying their technology.

The PropTech Rebellion: How MyRumahBaru is Changing Real Estate

Fukuro Malaysia was founded in 2019 to fill the "missing middle" in the kitchenware market. Co-founders Daryl Lai and Kevin Lau recognised that local brands were trapped in a race to the bottom on price and quality, while international brands dominated the expensive, premium tier. Applying an FMCG approach to kitchen essentials, they bootstrapped Fukuro into a highly profitable brand generating RM14 million in annual revenue, with a presence in over 1,300 offline retail stores across Malaysia.



Daryl joins us in the studio to dissect the hard metrics behind Fukuro’s growth. We also discuss treating physical shelf space as a customer acquisition channel, the strategy for protecting unit margins against multinational competitors, and the roadmap to hitting RM50 million in annual revenue organically.

Fukuro Malaysia was founded in 2019 to fill the "missing middle" in the kitchenware market. Co-founders Daryl Lai and Kevin Lau recognised that local brands were trapped in a race to the bottom on price and quality, while international brands dominated the expensive, premium tier. Applying an FMCG approach to kitchen essentials, they bootstrapped Fukuro into a highly profitable brand generating RM14 million in annual revenue, with a presence in over 1,300 offline retail stores across Malaysia.Daryl joins us in the studio to dissect the hard metrics behind Fukuro’s growth. We also discuss treating physical shelf space as a customer acquisition channel, the strategy for protecting unit margins against multinational competitors, and the roadmap to hitting RM50 million in annual revenue organically.

The FMCG Playbook: How Fukuro Scaled to RM14M Without VC Funding

Amachi’s Palagaram is a brand dedicated entirely to preserving traditional Indian sweets and savories. What began as a heartfelt weekend project operating out of a family home in Subang Jaya—offering customers a warm, "1 Malaysia" open-house vibe—has now blossomed into a fully commercialised F&B operation.



Aaron Jay Dason and Narmatha Shanmugam join us to share the deeply personal journey of keeping their grandmother's legacy alive. We explore the emotional weight of commercialising cultural comfort food, the financial mechanics of moving from a rent-free family kitchen to a commercial retail space, and the delicate balance of building a fast-growing, 7-figure heritage brand as a husband-and-wife team.

Amachi’s Palagaram is a brand dedicated entirely to preserving traditional Indian sweets and savories. What began as a heartfelt weekend project operating out of a family home in Subang Jaya—offering customers a warm, "1 Malaysia" open-house vibe—has now blossomed into a fully commercialised F&amp;B operation.Aaron Jay Dason and Narmatha Shanmugam join us to share the deeply personal journey of keeping their grandmother's legacy alive. We explore the emotional weight of commercialising cultural comfort food, the financial mechanics of moving from a rent-free family kitchen to a commercial retail space, and the delicate balance of building a fast-growing, 7-figure heritage brand as a husband-and-wife team.

How Mascon Is Modernising Maritime Technology?

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