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Showing posts with label Entrepreneurship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Entrepreneurship. Show all posts

Sunday 10 December 2023

The meaning of longevity and purposeful living

 

Munger is just as highly regarded as Buffett because the values they espouse have become a long-standing guide to value investors, including myself. — Reuters

It's imperative to make a conscientious effort to do good


JUST last week, we witnessed the passing of two towering figures – investing legend Charlie Munger and iconic US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Both are centenarians, with Munger living to 99 years and Kissinger at 100 years.

Apart from their longevity, what’s remarkable about both the gentlemen was their sharp mental acumen during their ripe old age and continuous influence on society right up to their last days.

As obituaries poured in across the media, we could see their overwhelming contribution in charting the course of world history in their respective sphere of influence.

Not many people are blessed with good health that can last a century.

Incidentally, Munger and Kissinger were able to lead both long and meaningful lives.

Time is precious because life is fleeting, but from their lives, I learnt what’s most important is not solely about longevity but also a life of purpose.

Knowledge for the next generation

Most would know Warren Buffett instead of Munger. Some say their relationship is akin to Batman and Robin. However, it is important to know that Berkshire Hathaway would not be where it is today without Munger’s existence and the role he played. In the world of investment, Munger is just as highly regarded as Buffett because the values they espouse have become a long-standing guide to value investors, including myself.

Just as Benjamin Graham who came before Buffett, his book helped mould the idea of value investing for the subsequent generations. Of course, there is no example of a better student that lived out his entire lifetime based on the knowledge imparted by Graham.

The imprint left by Munger on the investing world is no less significant than Buffett. He had the hand in convincing Buffett in looking beyond the United States towards China and taking an early stake in BYD worth Us$230mil in 2008 which has since grown in value to Us$2.4bil as of October 2023.

This was among the most successful investments that Berkshire Hathaway made in recent decades delivering 10 times in returns over 15 years.

This investment is significant because BYD is not only the leading battery manufacturer in the world today, but also the largest electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer in terms of volume sold in China, championing the EV supply chain and green agenda in the world’s most populous economy. Globally, BYD’S EV sales is just behind Tesla.

In Munger’s own words, “I have never helped do anything at Berkshire Hathaway that was as good as BYD and I only did it once.”

Furthermore, I respect Munger for often being willing to speak the truth even if it is contrarian to the sentiment of the day

Unlike most Americans, Munger often gave credit to China’s communist government in its effort of growing the economy, executing national policies and plans while lifting the people from hardcore poverty. Another classic example was Munger’s open criticism of cryptocurrency during its speculative rally to dizzying heights attracting much irk from the youths.

‘Tang Ping’ phenomenon

We are increasingly seeing the youth of today embark on a series of passive aggressive resistance movement which is unheard of prior to this decade.

“Tang Ping” is a Chinese slang that means lie down flat and get over the beatings, which is a direct rejection of societal pressure to achieve certain definition of success as per the norm.

Due to an entrenched culture of overworking yet not being able to achieve the desired level of achievements, youths in China opted for the “Tang Ping” way of life rather than to continue to strive.

It started getting popular during the pandemic years and was further exacerbated across social media as many struggled to achieve upward mobility in society for which they had long hoped.

In the United States, a similar counter-culture approach was observed, as those in workforce pivoted towards “quiet-quitting”.

In this case, employees of companies choose to do just enough to get by without getting fired and avoid working towards achieving their personal and companies’ goals.

While it is said this phenomenon is prevalent in developed economies and highly competitive society, in my observation, certain youth in Malaysia are welcoming such approach which can be seen in across social media feeds.

This is highly disconcerting. I do not deny the importance of enjoying life beyond pursuits of material possessions.

I also agree about valuing family time especially because life is short.

However, while time is precious, and tragedies of life are unfortunate, these premises cannot be used as the excuse to not work hard in life or to try to make living a lifetime a meaningful one.

This is especially when many good people with extraordinary talent are left undiscovered because they choose to lie low or refuse to make the effort to compete.

This will give room to foster a more elitist society, which comprises those who come from a powerful or privileged background.

Some of these people may lack virtues such as integrity or morality but they will end up ruling the world if those who come from the less fortunate background choose not to challenge the status quo and opt for “Tang Ping”. It ends up being a vicious cycle.

Finding purpose in life

The focus of today’s column is not to preach the right way of life but to offer a perspective on the ongoing phenomenon that is fast becoming popular among the youth. This affects the economic development of a nation and the progress of a dynamic society.

Everyone is entitled to live in the manner he or she chooses. It is hard to judge or pass a comment without knowing what others have been through.

Yet, finding meaning or purpose in life is more important than anything else because it will set the path of which one chooses to live for the rest of their life.

If one does not have any interest in the pursuit of monetary rewards, a career in giving back may be more fulfilling. That is why we see professions such as teachers, nurses and journalists exist.

Regardless of the path that one takes, it is imperative to make the conscientious effort to do good in whatever capacity we are.

Even as a businessman, entrepreneur or fund manager, corporate social responsibility or environmental, social and governance efforts should not be a branding initiative to win the public’s recognition.

Branding and showmanship should not be the factors that go into the thought process when choosing to do good. For an individual and a business alike, many hope to last beyond three generations.

However, it is important to remember that longevity should always come with a purpose.

Only then will it be meaningful.

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Washington reacts with ‘sour grapes’ mentality to Kissinger’s China tour, urged to be rational and refrain from confrontation



Friday 1 October 2021

Mission to turn China into talent hub

 Shanghai seeks to attract overseas talents

 An opening ceremony of the Global Talent Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summit is held in Shanghai, Sept 29, 2021. - Xinhua


https://youtu.be/Gyc1OHJq_Lg

Technology and Innovation in China's Path to 2035

Xi wants country to rank among world’s best as strategic force in science

BEIJING: President Xi Jinping has set out a vision to develop China into a global hub for talented people and innovation, with steps to train and bring in more top-flight professionals to enable them to fulfil their potential.

Speaking at a central work conference on human resources – held in Beijing on Monday and Tuesday – Xi called for greater emphasis to be given to training talent and quicker steps to establish a competitive edge in human resources.

As China edges closer to the grand goal of realising its great rejuvenation, the nation is more eager for talented people than at any period in history, said Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

The country’s competitive strength and national development and rejuvenation hinge on the fostering of more talented people, he said.

Xi summed up key experiences of the nation’s work related to talent in eight areas, including adhering to the Party’s across-the-board leadership, following the strategy of talent-led growth and focusing on the forefront of global science and technology, the economy, the major demands of the country and people’s health.

He unveiled the nation’s goals in this area over the next 15 years..

By 2025, China will see a sharp increase in spending on research and development, secure important progress in developing a leading force in scientific and technological innovation, bring together more top scientists and have a large number of talented people in core technologies..

China will establish a talent system in keeping with high-quality growth and have stronger appeal to high-calibre talent globally by 2030..

By 2035, China aims to rank among the world’s top nations in terms of being a strategic force in science and technology and have high-calibre talent, he said..

The president proposed building a leading area for high-calibre talent in Beijing, Shanghai and the Guangdong-hong Kong-macau Greater Bay Area, saying that the nation’s high-quality resources should prioritise support for a group of national laboratories and new research institutions..

In deepening the institutional reform for talent development, Xi highlighted the need to give play to the role of employers in training and bringing in talented people and enabling them to fulfil their potential..

Scientists must be given greater say in deciding what technological routes to take, allocation of funds and resources, he said, adding that it is equally important to ensure that scientific and research programmes can yield outcomes..

Xi urged stronger efforts to train scientists and enable them to play a more important role, adding that it is important to find more scientific workers with broad horizons, strong foresight and judgment..

The role of national laboratories, research institutions, high-level universities and leading tech companies must be amplified to develop a large number of leading scholars and innovation teams, he said..

The nation must focus the strength of its talent policies on young specialists while enabling them to take major responsibility, he added..

China, with the world’s biggest higher-education system, is capable of training a large number of high-calibre talented people, giving rise to leading scholars, he said..

Higher-education institutions, especially top universities, must play a major role in training talented people in the areas of fundamental research, with measures to develop a host of training bases in fundamental science, he said..

Xi also underlined the need to give rise to more philosophers, social scientists and artists, saying that stronger measures must be taken to enhance international exchanges of talent. — China Daily/ ANN.

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 Related news:

 

Shanghai seeks to attract overseas talents

 

Xi unveils plan to turn China into talent hub

 

China to launch rocket in 2028 capable of sending crewed probe to moon - NBC News

China in top spot for research amid US struggling to ‘contain’ China rise

 

 Botched Afghan retreat reveals an America struggling to contain China


` Unable to better China in positive competition and with military options unfeasible, the US can only fall back on the ‘moral high ground’. But in its hasty Afghan withdrawal, to focus on China, the US risks losing even this -

Wednesday 30 March 2016

China start-up 'Little Red Book', Xiaohongshu valued at US$1bil

 
Colour of success: A Chinese actress dressed as a Red Guard and holding a ‘Little Red Book’ performs in front of a portrait of the late Chairman Mao Zedong at a restaurant in Beijing Xiaohongshu says its name has nothing to do with Mao’s famous tome. — Reuters

HONG KONG: The “Little Red Book” has become a symbol of capitalist success in Communist China.

E-commerce start-up Xiaohongshu, which means “Little Red Book” in Chinese, has raised US$100mil from Tencent Holdings Ltd and other investors at a valuation of about US$1bil, two people familiar with the matter said.

The online shopping site co-founded in 2013 by Charlwin Mao, which connects overseas merchants with local buyers, becomes China’s newest billion-dollar startup. It also attracted investment from Genesis Capital and Tiantu Capital in its latest round, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

The funds will help bankroll the Shanghai-based startup’s expansion. Xiaohongshu -- which calls itself RED and stresses its name bears no relation to Mao Zedong’s book of quotations - works by letting its mostly younger female users post pictures of favorite products. It then connects them with sellers abroad of everything from Body Shop anti-dandruff shampoo to Lotte peach liquor.

Its fundraising comes as venture capital firms grow more cautious about valuations in China, an economy forecast to grow this year at its slowest pace in a quarter-century.

Genesis Capital is a late-stage investment firm founded by Richard Peng Zhijian, who oversaw Tencent’s investment unit. Genesis and Tencent didn’t respond to e-mailed queries. Calls to Shenzhen-based Tiantu’s general line went unanswered. Xiaohongshu co-founder Mao said he couldn’t immediately comment.

Three-year-old Xiaohongshu claims 17 million registered users on its LinkedIn page and had attracted investment previously from GGV Capital and Zhen Fund.

It specialises in cross-border e-commerce, marketing foreign brands to increasingly wealthy local shoppers.

That’s a market forecast to reach 6.5 trillion yuan (US$1 trillion) by 2016, the state-run Xinhua News Agency cited the Ministry of Commerce as saying in March.

It didn’t elaborate on that figure.

The company says its name has nothing to do with Mao’s famous tome, considered one of the most-printed works in history and known to English-speakers as the “Little Red Book.” The late Communist leader’s book is called “Hong Bao Shu” or “red treasure book” in Chinese. “Why isn’t your website called ‘Little Black Book,’ ‘Little Blue Book,’ ‘Little Purple Book’ or ‘Big Red Book’?” reads a question posted by Xiaohongshu in a section of its website sketching out its origins. “We don’t know. But anyway, our name isn’t because of Hong Bao Shu.” — Bloomberg

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Entrepreneurship is not a job but providing a solution...

Monday 28 March 2016

Entrepreneurship is not a job but providing a solution

Coming up with a winning idea


Entrepreneurship is not a job. It’s about providing a solution, and pulling people and resources together to make that change. Workable business ideas are all about solving problems.

Q: I’m an engineering student in Portugal, but I feel I really was born to be an entrepreneur. I started creating logos for companies when I was about 15. I’m passionate about entrepreneurship and I’m always trying to think of new ways to start businesses. I want to follow my passion — but it’s tough when you have a great business idea, and no support. How do I find the right path? — João Bandeira, PortugalJoão, it’s always heartening to hear a young would-be entrepreneur talk about passion being a key driver in his life. The most successful entrepreneurs share that indescribable desire to change the world and make a positive difference in people’s lives.

And while it can be a struggle in the early days to find one project to pour all your enthusiasm into, just remember that successful entrepreneurs always manage to come up with an idea that’s right for them, and they make it work.

Your question reminds me of the origins of Ring — a wildly successful business that I have invested in.

For years, founder Jamie Siminoff had attempted to come up with a winning business idea — he even turned his garage in California into a lab for prototypes. As he worked there, though, Jamie was annoyed that he couldn’t hear the front doorbell.

One day he decided to fix this problem — he created a program to link the doorbell to his smartphone so that he could answer the door remotely with a video call. It was a great solution.

Jamie’s wife loved the idea as well: When Jamie was away, she could always see who was at the front door, and she felt safer.

Later, Jamie invited friends around to check out his other inventions, but the only thing anybody cared about was the doorbell!

He soon realised that this was the best business idea he ever had, and Ring was born. Just like that, the hours of searching for a winning idea were over.

João, the fact that you are constantly thinking of new businesses to start is a hugely valuable asset. Being proactive is a good thing, but I would strike a note of caution about the idea search.

I recently joined a host of fellow entrepreneurs in Los Angeles for Virgin Atlantic’s inaugural “Business Is an Adventure” event, and the topic of generating business ideas came up in a panel. Sean Rad, the CEO and founder of the dating app Tinder, made a great point.

“Entrepreneurship is not a job — it is a reaction to you wanting to solve a problem,” he said. “You have to wake up and say: ‘I am passionate about making a change, and I am passionate about pulling together people and resources... Not wake up and say: ‘I want to be an entrepreneur’ because I think you’ll kind of be lost... you’ll be looking for a problem instead of finding a problem looking for a solution.”

It’s a shrewd observation, and one that underlies the success of many companies, including Tinder.

In our daily lives, we all come across problems, annoyances or frustrations that we would love to see solved. Luckily, entrepreneurs are perfectly placed to solve those problems.

Interestingly enough, that’s how Virgin Atlantic began. After one particularly terrible experience as a passenger with an unscrupulous airline, I decided there must be a better way to fly. The next day, our team was on the phone with Boeing asking if they had any second-hand 747s that they were willing to sell.

Thankfully, they didn’t laugh and hang up — and the first Virgin airline was born.

So keep in mind that generating ideas is a great strength, but make sure that you’re spending your time and energy searching for solutions, not problems. That’s the best way to approach workable business ideas. Become a passionate problem-solver, and you’re half-way to being a successful entrepreneur.

Also keep in mind that once a great idea has been sparked, getting it off the ground can feel like a daunting task for anyone — especially if you have nobody there to support you, as you point out. I would advise you to take advantage of the connectivity offered by the Internet. Plenty of resources, networks and fellow entrepreneurs are just a click away.

Additionally, getting a mentor who can point you in the right direction and share his experiences is one of the best things you could ever do. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to help if you just ask. — Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate

By Richard Branson

Questions from readers will be answered in future columns. Please send them to Richard.Branson@nytimes.com. Please include your name, country, email address and the name of the website or publication where you read the column.

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Monday 25 November 2013

Group buying giant Groupon, CEO Joel Neoh

Working conflict: ‘I tend to think of my work as leveraging conflict rather than managing it and often times, we learn the most through conflict,’ says Joel Neoh of Groupon Malaysia.

From runway model to successful entrepreneur, Joel Neoh will give any 30-year-old a run for their money.

AT the age of 20, he earned his first million – after founding a fast-growing student agency set-up. Three years later, he emerged as the winner of Malaysia’s first corporate reality TV programme, The Firm, despite being the youngest contestant on the show.

Joel Neoh has come a long way since. Now, he is an integral part of one of the world’s fastest growing companies, Groupon (as listed by Forbes in 2010).

Apart from juggling his day to day as the CEO of Groupon Malaysia, Neoh heads Groupon Asia Pacific, overseeing operations for the public-listed group-buying website company in 11 other countries: Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand.

The mechanical engineering graduate, who also modelled part-time during his university days, has been named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2012, Asia’s Top 10 Young Entrepreneurs by Top 10 of Asia magazine, and most recently, Young Global Leader 2013 by the World Economic Forum. Earlier this year, as a result of his professional achievements, Neoh was awarded the Malaysian Service Medal by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Appointed as a key line-up speaker for The London Speaker Bureau and Asian Business Angel Forum in 2012, Neoh now also serves on the Advisory Board for the School of Business, Monash University.

That’s a whole lot to take in, for someone who just turned 30.

“Growing up, I was always asking a lot of questions; always challenging the status quo. I must’ve annoyed a lot of people. But looking back, I think that’s one of the key criteria of an entrepreneur – curiosity,” he said over a phone interview, undoubtedly squeezed in between his daily meetings.

In 2006, Neoh had set up Youth Malaysia, a non-government organisation that managed events for youths. After the successful conceptualisation of YouthSays, a survey platform for Malaysian youths (which become a big revenue churner), the organisation went on to organise Youth 08 – arguably the largest youth festival at that time.

After organising its third youth festival in 2010, Neoh realised that the Internet offered great business growth opportunities and that e-commerce, especially, was the holy grail of the World Wide Web.

In September 2008, Neoh founded GroupsMore, a Malaysian e-commerce company based on the business model of US-based Groupon Inc. Within three months, GroupsMore was catering to over 20,000 customers.

The company’s seemingly overnight success eventually caught the attention of Groupon Inc and instead of filing a lawsuit for copyright infringement (which Neoh feared when he first heard from them), the American corporation expressed interest in collaborating with its Malaysian counterpart.

In January 2011, GroupsMore was acquired by Groupon for an undisclosed sum and Neoh’s company became known as Groupon Malaysia. Under Neoh’s stewardship, Groupon Malaysia has become the leading social e-commerce platform in Malaysia and was dubbed the fastest growing country in Groupon for 2011.

“I’m always looking to take up the biggest challenges because I know that would give me the largest opportunity for growth and learning. It was difficult at first – while my friends were excited that it would soon be payday, there I was, worrying about whether I had enough money to pay my staff. My journey as an entrepreneur has evolved and every day is a challenge. But I believe in never, ever giving up,” Neoh opined.

Neoh also believes in this: recruiting people who are significantly better than himself. “I make it a point to hire people who have better skills so that we can all learn from each other. So far, we’ve brought some of the best talents onboard.”

Of course, doing that also requires the man to set aside his ego.

“It’s hard, but it must be done. There’s no point in hiring people who aren’t better than I am, because all I’d would get be team that listens to me, without really challenging what I have to say. I tend to think of my work as leveraging conflict rather than managing it and often times, we learn the most through conflict.”

Neoh is also big on giving back to the society, and has been championing for the larger group to take on more of such activities. Most recently, he pooled resources to raise over USD$100,000 (RM318,700) within a week for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

In retrospect, Neoh revealed that he had a hard time convincing his family, particularly his mother, about his passion for entrepreneurship.

“My mom had no clue what I was up to – she must’ve had a hard time explaining what I did to the relatives. I was constantly trying to convince her to let me become an entrepreneur, and that was also part of the reason why I joined The Firm. After I appeared on the show, she started burning DVDs of the episodes for all my aunts and uncles.”

Still, Neoh was quite sure that his mother had yet to catch on to the bigger picture.

“It was not until a year ago when I bought her an iPad that it finally struck her, because her friends kept telling her to go onto the Groupon website. I think the best way for my mom to understand what I did was to be an end user of the service itself. For me, the most rewarding thing is when the people you care about start using and believing in the things you build.”

- Contributed by Lee Mei Li The Star

Sunday 27 October 2013

Malaysian Chinese Zombie wins the war !

Malaysian-made game a hit in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong

Scary source: Chan’s popular game is based on the 1980s zombie movies. 

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian zombie fans, forget Walking Dead or the Living Dead. There is a new zombie tale in town – the Chinese Zombie War.

According to its creator, Chan Kam Wai, 29, the zombies in this mobile app game are already part of Asian culture.

“They are based on the 1980s zombie movies we used to get from Hong Kong. Do you remember? Unlike the Western zombies, the Chinese zombies hopped around.

“The culture is familiar to many Asians, so when we came across it in our research for possible game ideas, we decided this was the one,” he said.

The familiarity of the horror genre resonated with many, especially from China and Taiwan, making it one of the most successful mobile apps from Malaysia.

The Chinese Zombie War was launched in May and has since become one of the Top 20 most downloaded apps in China.

“We have had more than 250,000 downloads, some 90% of the downloads are from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong,” said Chan.

Now with a second edition, Chinese Zombie War 2, the app game has generated more than RM60,000 in revenue since its launch on the Apple AppStore. It was also one of the top three most downloaded apps in China for three weeks.

The Chinese Zombie War tells of a rookie Taoist priest, Sung, who meets some Chinese zombies in the jungle. At a loss on how to fight them, he is rescued by a beautiful female ghost who trains him to defeat the living dead.

Said Chan: “Asian culture is rich and diverse, so we decided to tap into it and market it globally. Many Westerners accept Eastern culture like the Samurai, Ninja and Kung Fu culture, so it shows that they are interested in Eastern culture but may not be exposed to what else is available. We also wanted something that we could relate to.”

The Chinese Zombie War was developed under the MSC Malaysia Integrated Content Development Programme (Icon), one of the government initiatives run by the Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) to drive forward the app developing industry in Malaysia.

Since Icon’s launch in 2008, 307 apps have been developed under the programme while some 1,115 people received basic programming training and over 300 were trained on mobile app developing on the iOS and Android platforms.

Unfortunately, the Chinese Zombie War is more the exception than the rule when it comes to local apps breaking into the global or even regional market.

Despite government initiatives to nurture the local app development industry, to date there are only around 680 active Malaysian app developers and some 600 Malaysian apps in the market.

This is only a fraction of the global market; earlier last week, Apple announced that its iOS App Store now has more than 1.5 million apps, which have been downloaded 60 billion times, while some US$60bil (RM192bil) have been paid out to app developers on its platform. There are an estimated 700,000 apps on the Android platform.

The app market boom is expected to grow, and as research firm Gartner estimated recently, the total number of app downloads worldwide will reach 268 billion by 2017.

MDeC Digital Enablement Division director Wan Murdani Mohamad said that about 80% of apps downloaded in Malaysia now are foreign content.

“Malaysians are overdependent on foreign content, so we need to get more local content out. Our local stories, history and culture make the ideal resource for generating content,” he said.

Once a mobile app is in the market, it is already in the global reach, so Malaysian app developers need not worry about making their content “international”, said Wan Murdani.

“You need to have an original idea to be successful as there are many apps out there. Try to globalise local content. Even Angry Birds started as a local app before it hit big.”

Contributed by Hariati Azizan The Star

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Thursday 17 January 2013

Innovation not the same as invention, the difference here...

Innovation practitioners know that they should not listen to the experts who approach life with rigid blinkers that prevent them from visualising anything outside their conditioned minds.


TAKING a leaf out of what our Prime Minister wrote in this space two weeks ago, innovative thinking is undoubtedly a significant driver in propelling the nation’s economy to new heights. It is imperative that Malaysians embrace a culture of innovation.

But let’s take a step or two back, before we can begin to move forward. It is important to pin down exactly what innovation means. Several readers have asked me if innovation is the same as invention, especially after reading about Malaysian researchers winning awards for their inventions. In fact, although they may appear similar at first glance, upon closer inspection both are very different indeed.

If you make something unique or original, that’s an invention. Whether the invention has value or not is immaterial. This is why we see whacky inventions like toothbrushes for dogs or a clip-on fan on chopsticks to cool down noodles. Both these examples are unique and original but offer little value to most citizens.

Innovation demands creating additional value, even though a product or service may not be unique or original. The innovator must first unravel customer needs, and then figure out how to inject greater value at different parts of the solution. Let’s look at two examples.

Forty-five years ago, the radical economist and philosopher E.F. Schumacher formed an NGO called Practical Action to help people in developing countries help themselves. Practical Action states that more than 1.6 million people in developing countries die of diseases and accidents caused by cooking and heating fires in homes. This is not surprising, given that one third of humanity still uses rudimentary stoves fuelled by wood, charcoal or dung.

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a viable solution as it costs less than wood or charcoal, but most villagers cannot afford the stoves. Some African countries have implemented an innovative “revolving fund” credit system that allows villagers to buy stoves. It works exactly like the “kutu” scheme prevalent in Malaysia for decades, although illegally. Ten households get together and form a fund, with each household contributing a fixed amount to the fund each month, for 10 months.

Every month, one household collects the contributions that month to buy a stove. The following month, another household gets the total contributions to buy their stove. Households draw lots to see who will get the fund over the next 10 months. Within 10 months, all 10 households get their LPG stove. Now imagine adapting this idea to meet the needs of entire communities and you see the power of this innovative funding system. No handouts or subsidies from the government and no bank loans either – the villagers help themselves, through innovation. This is a common sense solution, not rocket science. To be precise, this is innovation.

Let’s look at the second example. Does the number of new books that hit the bookshelves every month overwhelm you? It was predicted that the Internet would spell the death of the printed word, but in fact the reverse has happened. There are now more books in print than at any other time in history. How does one keep up?

As it is commonly known, a number of innovative online companies have found a practical solution to this. For a small fee, these companies provide a short summary of a book containing all the essential ideas presented in the book. Most people can read these summaries in 15 minutes, making it possible to read at least one book each day. This “compressed knowledge” is another example of innovation.

Ultimately, innovation is not confined to technologies, products or services. You can have innovation at every stage of the business cycle – from manufacturing to distribution to sales to post-sales support.

Just look at Nike, the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel. It does not own a single manufacturing factory, but focuses on innovation in design and marketing. Another well-known example is DHL, a world-leading courier and logistics company that relies on innovation to accurately ship a document or parcel from the point of origin to its destination.

For you to benefit and profit from innovation, you have to dissect your business or activity into its key pieces or “parts”. The “eco-system” must be correctly identified, as dealing with just one part of the problem or value-chain is unlikely to bring satisfactory results. Nothing exists in isolation and even seemingly unconnected things are actually connected, so a “village” or holistic approach to innovation is necessary.

For each piece or part, you have to ask a fundamental question: How can I do this better, so that the outcome is greater than it is now – at a lower cost? Your brain will rebel at first and tell you that it cannot be done. Don’t listen to your brain; it is a lazy device looking for the easiest way out. Innovation practitioners know that the last person you should listen to is your own self. Don’t listen to the experts either, for they approach life with rigid blinkers that prevent them from visualising anything outside their conditioned minds.

Adopt a child-like disposition and question the assumptions that you and others have taken for granted. Persist until you have questioned each and every aspect of all the pieces of the puzzle and found answers that are uncommon.

This sounds easy, but it is the most difficult step as it questions all the sacred cows lurking in your belief system. Done correctly, however, it can lead to breakthrough innovations.
If you have been through this process, share your stories with me at kamal@pmo.gov.my so that other readers can benefit from your lessons too.

The Star Ignite
By DATUK SERI DR KAMAL JIT SINGH

> Unit Inovasi Khas CEO Datuk Seri Dr Kamal Jit Singh is hoping to jolt Malaysians out of complacency.

 

The Difference Between 'Invention' and 'Innovation'


Two and a half years ago, I co-founded Stroome, a collaborative online video editing and publishing platform and 2010 Knight News Challenge winner.

From its inception, the site received a tremendous amount of attention. The New School, USC Annenberg, the Online News Association and, ultimately, the Knight Foundation all saw something interesting in what we were doing. We won awards; we were invited to present at conferences; we were written about in the trades and featured in over 150 blogs. Yet despite all the accolades, not once did the word "invention" creep in. "Innovation," it turns out, was the word on everyone's lips.

Like so many up-and-coming entrepreneurs, I was under the impression that invention and innovation were one and the same. They aren't. And, as I have discovered, the distinction is an important one.

Recently, I was asked by Jason Nazar, founder of Docstoc and a big supporter of the L.A. entrepreneurial community, if I would help define the difference between the two. A short, 3-minute video response can be found at the bottom of this post, but I thought I'd share some key takeaways with you here:

INVENTION VS. INNOVATION: THE DIFFERENCE


In its purest sense, "invention" can be defined as the creation of a product or introduction of a process for the first time. "Innovation," on the other hand, occurs if someone improves on or makes a significant contribution to an existing product, process or service.

Consider the microprocessor. Someone invented the microprocessor. But by itself, the microprocessor was nothing more than another piece on the circuit board. It's what was done with that piece -- the hundreds of thousands of products, processes and services that evolved from the invention of the microprocessor -- that required innovation.

STEVE JOBS: THE POSTER BOY OF INNOVATION


If ever there were a poster child for innovation it would be former Apple CEO Steve Jobs. And when people talk about innovation, Jobs' iPod is cited as an example of innovation at its best.

steve jobs iphone4.jpgBut let's take a step back for a minute. The iPod wasn't the first portable music device (Sony popularized the "music anywhere, anytime" concept 22 years earlier with the Walkman); the iPod wasn't the first device that put hundreds of songs in your pocket (dozens of manufacturers had MP3 devices on the market when the iPod was released in 2001); and Apple was actually late to the party when it came to providing an online music-sharing platform. (Napster, Grokster and Kazaa all preceded iTunes.)

So, given those sobering facts, is the iPod's distinction as a defining example of innovation warranted? Absolutely.

What made the iPod and the music ecosystem it engendered innovative wasn't that it was the first portable music device. It wasn't that it was the first MP3 player. And it wasn't that it was the first company to make thousands of songs immediately available to millions of users. What made Apple innovative was that it combined all of these elements -- design, ergonomics and ease of use -- in a single device, and then tied it directly into a platform that effortlessly kept that device updated with music.

Apple invented nothing. Its innovation was creating an easy-to-use ecosystem that unified music discovery, delivery and device. And, in the process, they revolutionized the music industry.

IBM: INNOVATION'S UGLY STEPCHILD


 Admittedly, when it comes to corporate culture, Apple and IBM are worlds apart. But Apple and IBM aren't really as different as innovation's poster boy would have had us believe.

Truth is if it hadn't been for one of IBM's greatest innovations -- the personal computer -- there would have been no Apple. Jobs owes a lot to the introduction of the PC. And IBM was the company behind it.

Ironically, the IBM PC didn't contain any new inventions per se (see iPod example above). Under pressure to complete the project in less than 18 months, the team actually was under explicit instructions not to invent anything new. The goal of the first PC, code-named "Project Chess," was to take off-the-shelf components and bring them together in a way that was user friendly, inexpensive, and powerful.

And while the world's first PC was an innovative product in the aggregate, the device they created -- a portable device that put powerful computing in the hands of the people -- was no less impactful than Henry Ford's Model T, which reinvented the automobile industry by putting affordable transportation in the hands of the masses.

INNOVATION ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH


Given the choice to invent or innovate, most entrepreneurs would take the latter. Let's face it, innovation is just sexier. Perhaps there are a few engineers at M.I.T. who can name the members of "Project Chess." Virtually everyone on the planet knows who Steve Jobs is.

But innovation alone isn't enough. Too often, companies focus on a technology instead of the customer's problem. But in order to truly turn a great idea into a world-changing innovation, other factors must be taken into account.

According to Venkatakrishnan Balasubramanian, a research analyst with Infosys Labs, the key to ensuring that innovation is successful is aligning your idea with the strategic objectives and business models of your organization.

In a recent article that appeared in Innovation Management, he offered five considerations:
1. Competitive advantage: Your innovation should provide a unique competitive position for the enterprise in the marketplace;
2. Business alignment: The differentiating factors of your innovation should be conceptualized around the key strategic focus of the enterprise and its goals;
3. Customers: Knowing the customers who will benefit from your innovation is paramount;
4. Execution: Identifying resources, processes, risks, partners and suppliers and the ecosystem in the market for succeeding in the innovation is equally important;
5. Business value: Assessing the value (monetary, market size, etc.) of the innovation and how the idea will bring that value into the organization is a critical underlying factor in selecting which idea to pursue.
Said another way, smart innovators frame their ideas to stress the ways in which a new concept is compatible with the existing market landscape, and their company's place in that marketplace.

This adherence to the "status quo" may sound completely antithetical to the concept of innovation. But an idea that requires too much change in an organization, or too much disruption to the marketplace, may never see the light of day.

A FINAL THOUGHT


While they tend to be lumped together, "invention" and "innovation" are not the same thing. There are distinctions between them, and those distinctions are important.

So how do you know if you are inventing or innovating? Consider this analogy:

If invention is a pebble tossed in the pond, innovation is the rippling effect that pebble causes. Someone has to toss the pebble. That's the inventor. Someone has to recognize the ripple will eventually become a wave. That's the entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs don't stop at the water's edge. They watch the ripples and spot the next big wave before it happens. And it's the act of anticipating and riding that "next big wave" that drives the innovative nature in every entrepreneur.



Tom Grasty By Tom Grasty This article is the seventh of 10 video segments in which digital entrepreneur Tom Grasty talks about his experience building an Internet startup, and is part of a larger initiative sponsored by docstoc.videos, which features advice from small business owners who offer their views on how to launch a new business or grow your existing one altogether.

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Friday 12 October 2012

Money talks or advice?

Getting sound advice before making key decisions will help reduce losses. Most young entrepreneurs do not realise the importance of money until they run out of it. Money makes money!

AS a parent, I do miss my two boys when they are studying overseas.

Always worried whether they have sufficient money to spend and sufficient memory to store all the good advice given.

Whenever they do whatsApp me, it will most likely be on issues concerning money and occasionally seeking advice.

At times asking for money to pay for tuition fees and sometimes giving me a heads up on some supplementary credit card charges coming my way. When it comes to money matters, my two boys are extremely polite and write beautifully as if their livelihood depends on it.

Once in a while, they ask for advice. Like choice of subjects, universities and internship. Maybe just to make this old man feel needed. Well, definitely no complaints from me as advice is free.

And it gives me an opportunity to connect with them. Which means an excuse to Skype. Having a face to face chat on anything and everything which inevitably ends with me asking them whether they have enough money left in their bank account.

Just a gentle reminder that they can always depend on their old man whenever they need advice. And money.

So when you are on your own, what do you really need at this juncture of your business cycle? Money or advice?

For a new startup, my advice to you is to get proper advice from sincere people with relevant and preferably substantial experience. The older the person, the better.

Business people who have been cheated before and survived through business failures, partnership break ups and financial crisis.

Let the devil's advocate honestly tear your business plan to shreds, telling you all the possible pitfalls that you will encounter and watch your beautifully crafted dream evaporate before your misty eyes.

If you are able to take all these harsh and negative comments objectively, revisit your business plan, discard the potential pitfalls and insert positive corrective steps into your new business plan. You now have a fighting chance that your new startup will survive its formative years.

Then you start worrying about money.

So what happens when you have nobody to turn to for advice? Are you gungho enough to still proceed and take the risk, gangnam style? Putting all your energy and money into that one song and dance and hope for it to be a big hit?

Should you dance by yourself or should you get back up dancers? If you need partners, what do you want from your partners? Money or advice? Or complementary skills?

My favourite example of a wildly successful partnership has got to be the Tony and Din duo act of Tune and AirAsia fame.

One, the consummate showman with charismatic leadership. The other, an actuary, brilliant in crunching big numbers and an astute statistician.

Both started with little money, lots of guts and a perfect blend of complementary skills needed for the low cost airline business. Massive capital expenditure to be paid for by massive sales of low cost tickets which requires accurate forecasting and inspirational marketing to convince the masses to fly. In this case, two big heads better than one.

There will be instances when you need partners with money and easy access to more money. Partners who can help you leverage for growth and have the trust of bankers.

Are you prepared to give up a big chunk of your business? Partners with skills and no money will not be demanding as advice is cheap.

If you are involved in serious money talk, be prepared to let your new partners have a bigger share of profits just as you expect him to contribute a bigger share of financing.

A smaller share of big profits is still better than 100% share of zero profits. Just bury your big ego and get your business going.

Most young entrepreneurs do not realise the importance of money... until they run out of it. Money makes money. Small investments make small money and big investments make big big money. Cash is king and Talk is cheap. But absorbing relevant sound advice before making key decisions will help you to reduce losses or hopefully make more money. So learn to listen. Attentively.

There are no statistics available as to how many new startups actually survive the initial years. And how many more actually survive and win big at the finish line. My gut feel is one big success story out of a thousand.

If all of them received solid sound advice before they start, 500 of them will probably not start, the 499 stubborn startups will probably survive and there will still be only one big winner at the end.

At least, there will be 500 less casualties of empty wallets and broken dreams.

Bringing up your children to become productive and upright citizens involves huge capital investment with a lifetime dosages of advice and love.

With no monetary returns expected. All you can hope for are the occasional moments of being needed when they need advice. Or money.

If they shower you with love and kindness in your twilight years, consider yourself blessed and your investment justified. May all parents be blessed.

ON YOUR OWN By TAN THIAM HOCK

To access earlier articles of On Your Own, log on to www.thiamhock.com. Honest comments welcomed and approved

Saturday 4 February 2012

Too Young to Fail

17-year-old Laura Deming doesn't drive and can't vote. Is now her chance to change the world? 
Thinking ahead: Academic prodigy Laura Deming left school and moved to Silicon Valley after winning a $100,000 grant to start a business.
Jessica Leber

Laura Deming was studying for finals in a crowded MIT reading room last April when her phone rang. That's when she learned she may never again take another exam.

Deming, only 17, had just been chosen by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel for a high-profile experiment: Put $100,000 apiece in the hands of 24 entrepreneurial teenagers and give them free rein to pursue innovative ideas.

The condition? Deming had to leave her studies and classmates, and vow to stay out of college during the two-year fellowship.

Thiel, who is PayPal's co-founder and holder of two Stanford University degrees, says higher education today is in a "crazy bubble" that, like a bad mortgage, saddles students with tuition debt often for little in return. A vocal libertarian, Thiel, 44, takes the view that a college degree can be harmful to innovators because of the conservative, career-driven mindset it imparts.



"Youth have just as much intelligence and talent as older people," says James O'Neill, head of the Thiel Foundation and managing director at Thiel's investment fund, Clarium Capital. "They also haven't been beaten down into submission by operating within an institution for a long time."

Thiel has attracted critics for his anti-higher-education message. After all, not every young person is like Deming, a home-schooled prodigy who learned calculus at 11 and sought experience in a cutting-edge genetics lab at 12. That's where she first had a chance to explore the science of extending the human lifespan, an idea she's now hoping to turn into a business.

For Deming and her cohort, chosen from more than 400 applicants, the publicity around Thiel's endorsement has been followed by some quick successes. Eden Full, 19, won a $260,000 social entrepreneurship award for her efforts to improve solar energy in developing countries. Dale Stephens, 20, landed a Penguin deal for his book Hacking Your Education.

Still, the foundation embraces the startup ethic that failure is inevitable, even desirable. So does John Deming, Laura's father, an investor who moved the family to Boston when his daughter enrolled at MIT at age 14: "What I say to Laura is 'The biggest problem you have so far, kid, is you haven't failed yet.'"


After packing up her things at Sigma Kappa sorority, Deming moved across the country to a tiny room in a shared house in Palo Alto. Most days, she gets up before sunrise and heads out on foot to catch a commuter train to San Francisco, where she is talking to investors about a venture capital firm she wants to create to back research on new therapies for age-related diseases.

Because of SEC rules, Deming says she can't go into details about the firm. But she jokes that one question now is whether to wait until her 18th birthday so that she can legally sign up investors or ask her father to do it. "The cool thing about Silicon Valley is that, though people might be skeptical of youth, they don't actually know that you're not smart enough or capable enough to make it work," she says.

With startup success stories tempting undergraduates to quit, universities have raced to add entrepreneurship to their curricula. Stanford has StartX, an accelerator for student-run startups. Similarly, last year UC Berkeley created FounderSchool, which prepares students to raise venture money. James G. Boyle, managing director of the Entrepreneurial Institute at Yale University (which lost four undergraduate students to Thiel fellowships) agrees that more colleges should help kids start companies, but he says that most students benefit from an environment where they can test ideas without betting their future.

Deming doesn't know yet whether she'll ever go back to finish her college degree. "The funny part is I think I'll miss studying for exams," says Deming. "It's the sort of thing that was very fun—like a sudoku puzzle or a crossword puzzle can be fun. But I thought that I could learn a lot more about the biotech industry and business by diving right into it."