In an industry often defined by high-speed logistics and international imports, Brenda James of Nook Flowers is carving out a different path in Malaysia. Known for her "Grown Not Flown" philosophy, Brenda joins us to discuss the intricacies of "Responsible Floristry", from championing local Cameron Highlands growers to championing circular based systems. We dive into the business logic behind her boldest decisions, including stepping back from the Valentine’s Day rush to preserve quality and supply chain integrity.

In an industry often defined by high-speed logistics and international imports, Brenda James of Nook Flowers is carving out a different path in Malaysia. Known for her "Grown Not Flown" philosophy, Brenda joins us to discuss the intricacies of "Responsible Floristry", from championing local Cameron Highlands growers to championing circular based systems. We dive into the business logic behind her boldest decisions, including stepping back from the Valentine’s Day rush to preserve quality and supply chain integrity.

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.

The Business of Slow Blooms: Why Nook Flowers is Choosing Principles Over Profits

From a single kiosk to beating Starbucks and becoming Malaysia’s largest coffee chain in just 6 years.

The journey began just months before the pandemic in 2019. Today, ZUS Coffee has cemented the "App-to-Cup" model as the new industry standard, overtaking the legacy giant by outlet count.

Venon Tian, Group COO of ZUS Coffee, joins BFM Open For Business to decode the strategy behind the disruption. Unlike competitors that focused on the "Third Place" experience, ZUS treated coffee more like an e-commerce product, leveraging data to convert frappuccino drinkers into espresso loyalists.

But the disruptor is now facing its own disruption. With the "Second China Shock" bringing aggressive tech-native competitors like Luckin Coffee into the scene and giants like Mixue crowding the RM10 price bracket, Venon explains how ZUS plans to defend its dominance while expanding into new markets, including Pakistan.



We discuss:




The "Fun Drink" Funnel: How Zus uses flavoured drinks (like Watermelon Lattes) as a customer acquisition tool to bridge the gap for non-coffee drinkers.


Data over Delivery: Why Zus insisted on building its own app rather than relying solely on Grab or Foodpanda, allowing them to track exactly when users drop off or increase consumption.


The "Avengers" Structure: How the company navigated the potential chaos of having eight co-founders by professionalising management and adopting Amazon’s "Humble is Cool" culture.


Hyper-Localisation: From selling curry puffs in Malaysia to launching Ube Lattes in the Philippines and Tom Yum Americanos in Thailand.


The Global Ambition: Why Zus is expanding into Pakistan and how they balance owned-and-operated stores with master franchising for rapid regional scale.

From a single kiosk to beating Starbucks and becoming Malaysia’s largest coffee chain in just 6 years.The journey began just months before the pandemic in 2019. Today, ZUS Coffee has cemented the "App-to-Cup" model as the new industry standard, overtaking the legacy giant by outlet count.Venon Tian, Group COO of ZUS Coffee, joins BFM Open For Business to decode the strategy behind the disruption. Unlike competitors that focused on the "Third Place" experience, ZUS treated coffee more like an e-commerce product, leveraging data to convert frappuccino drinkers into espresso loyalists.But the disruptor is now facing its own disruption. With the "Second China Shock" bringing aggressive tech-native competitors like Luckin Coffee into the scene and giants like Mixue crowding the RM10 price bracket, Venon explains how ZUS plans to defend its dominance while expanding into new markets, including Pakistan.We discuss:<ul><li>The "Fun Drink" Funnel: How Zus uses flavoured drinks (like Watermelon Lattes) as a customer acquisition tool to bridge the gap for non-coffee drinkers.</li><li>Data over Delivery: Why Zus insisted on building its own app rather than relying solely on Grab or Foodpanda, allowing them to track exactly when users drop off or increase consumption.</li><li>The "Avengers" Structure: How the company navigated the potential chaos of having eight co-founders by professionalising management and adopting Amazon’s "Humble is Cool" culture.</li><li>Hyper-Localisation: From selling curry puffs in Malaysia to launching Ube Lattes in the Philippines and Tom Yum Americanos in Thailand.</li><li>The Global Ambition: Why Zus is expanding into Pakistan and how they balance owned-and-operated stores with master franchising for rapid regional scale.</li></ul>

It’s Not About Coffee. How ZUS Beat Starbucks.

Malaysia has top hospitals, competitive pricing, and a strong reputation in medical tourism yet much of the demand is still controlled by foreign intermediaries.



Wan Mahsuri Wan Ahmad Kamal, Founder and CEO of Medisuri, an AI-powered medical tourism platform is aiming to reposition Malaysia as a trusted global healthcare hub. We unpack the gap Medisuri is trying to solve, how the business fits into the medical tourism value chain, its monetisation strategy, early fundraising journey, and what scaling this platform could look like in the years ahead.

Malaysia has top hospitals, competitive pricing, and a strong reputation in medical tourism yet much of the demand is still controlled by foreign intermediaries.Wan Mahsuri Wan Ahmad Kamal, Founder and CEO of Medisuri, an AI-powered medical tourism platform is aiming to reposition Malaysia as a trusted global healthcare hub. We unpack the gap Medisuri is trying to solve, how the business fits into the medical tourism value chain, its monetisation strategy, early fundraising journey, and what scaling this platform could look like in the years ahead.

Can This Startup Rewire Medical Tourism?

What do you do when you’ve built a loyal audience and 5 years of momentum, but you feel trapped by the very niche that built you?

Michelle Chin, founder of Her Duit, recently announced a strategic overhaul of her personal finance brand, expanding beyond money into leadership, career, and life design. She joins BFM to deconstruct the mechanics of this pivot and why she refused to let the brand run on "momentum and guilt."

We also explore the harsh reality of the modern social media landscape, where the "Instagram Community" era has been replaced by the TikTok era’s algorithmic entertainment. Michelle explains why creators must now "buy attention" in the first 3 seconds to earn the right to deliver substance, and how she balances her identity as a "Founder Creator" running a VC-backed insurtech startup by day and a media brand by night.



We discuss:




The Strategic Pivot: How Michelle transitioned from pure personal finance to holistic growth content to answer the question: "I have the money, now what?


The Attention Economy: Understanding the shift to short-form video where knowledge is no longer king, hooks are.


The "Her Duit" Machine: How Michelle scaled from spending 8 hours on one post to a streamlined operation using a virtual assistant, video editors, and AI tools like Claude for synthesis.


The Worst Advice: Why "one-size-fits-all" financial rules (like saving 50% of income) are dangerous and induce shame. Monetisation & Synergies: Moving from B2C content to B2B employee wellness workshops, and how her role as a startup COO informs her content strategy (and vice versa).

What do you do when you’ve built a loyal audience and 5 years of momentum, but you feel trapped by the very niche that built you?Michelle Chin, founder of Her Duit, recently announced a strategic overhaul of her personal finance brand, expanding beyond money into leadership, career, and life design. She joins BFM to deconstruct the mechanics of this pivot and why she refused to let the brand run on "momentum and guilt."We also explore the harsh reality of the modern social media landscape, where the "Instagram Community" era has been replaced by the TikTok era’s algorithmic entertainment. Michelle explains why creators must now "buy attention" in the first 3 seconds to earn the right to deliver substance, and how she balances her identity as a "Founder Creator" running a VC-backed insurtech startup by day and a media brand by night.We discuss:<ul><li>The Strategic Pivot: How Michelle transitioned from pure personal finance to holistic growth content to answer the question: "I have the money, now what?</li><li>The Attention Economy: Understanding the shift to short-form video where knowledge is no longer king, hooks are.</li><li>The "Her Duit" Machine: How Michelle scaled from spending 8 hours on one post to a streamlined operation using a virtual assistant, video editors, and AI tools like Claude for synthesis.</li><li>The Worst Advice: Why "one-size-fits-all" financial rules (like saving 50% of income) are dangerous and induce shame. Monetisation &amp; Synergies: Moving from B2C content to B2B employee wellness workshops, and how her role as a startup COO informs her content strategy (and vice versa).</li></ul>

The Business of Slow Blooms: Why Nook Flowers is Choosing Principles Over Profits

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