Bilingual education demand is surging and MapleBear is tapping into Malaysia’s multicultural market with its globally respected Canadian curriculum.



With Malaysia’s growing parental focus on cognitive development and future employability, and government plans for a bilingual preschool curriculum by 2026, MapleBear’s entry is perfectly timed. This episode with Rafael Mangini, Marketing Director of MapleBear Canadian School, explores their global approach to early childhood education, how it nurtures holistic, future-ready learners, and what their expansion means for Malaysia’s education landscape.

Bilingual education demand is surging and MapleBear is tapping into Malaysia’s multicultural market with its globally respected Canadian curriculum.With Malaysia’s growing parental focus on cognitive development and future employability, and government plans for a bilingual preschool curriculum by 2026, MapleBear’s entry is perfectly timed. This episode with Rafael Mangini, Marketing Director of MapleBear Canadian School, explores their global approach to early childhood education, how it nurtures holistic, future-ready learners, and what their expansion means for Malaysia’s education landscape.

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.

MapleBear Canadian School

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.

Preserving Amachi's Legacy One Appam At A Time

In Southeast Asia, nearly 40% of food is wasted before it ever reaches the consumer. Much of this spoilage happens in the "last mile"—the chaotic journey between massive edge-of-city cold warehouses and the neighborhood restaurants, wet markets, and food courts that actually serve the community. For these SMEs, traditional cold rooms are a financial nightmare, often demanding over RM50,000 in upfront capital for equipment that frequently breaks down.



Founded in 2024, Polar Cold is replacing this broken system with a decentralised network of hyperlocal, energy-efficient cold rooms. Co-founders Jonathan Harvey and Joe Khoo have built a rental model that provides SMEs with industrial-grade, IoT-monitored cold storage for a fixed monthly fee.



Joe join us to unpack the operational reality of Hardware-as-a-Service, the hidden costs of tropical refrigeration, and their upcoming expansion into Malaysia.

In Southeast Asia, nearly 40% of food is wasted before it ever reaches the consumer. Much of this spoilage happens in the "last mile"—the chaotic journey between massive edge-of-city cold warehouses and the neighborhood restaurants, wet markets, and food courts that actually serve the community. For these SMEs, traditional cold rooms are a financial nightmare, often demanding over RM50,000 in upfront capital for equipment that frequently breaks down.Founded in 2024, Polar Cold is replacing this broken system with a decentralised network of hyperlocal, energy-efficient cold rooms. Co-founders Jonathan Harvey and Joe Khoo have built a rental model that provides SMEs with industrial-grade, IoT-monitored cold storage for a fixed monthly fee.Joe join us to unpack the operational reality of Hardware-as-a-Service, the hidden costs of tropical refrigeration, and their upcoming expansion into Malaysia.

MapleBear Canadian School

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