Welcome back to an all-new Head’s Up. This week, we bring you our chat with social entrepreneur, Joshua Lim who co-founded Beebag with his twin brother. With a mission to end plastic pollution through the gamification of reusable bags, Beebag seeks to grow the community through positive reinforcement via our proprietary technology, beetag, and beebag app.
But just before you head on to read our chat with him, here are a couple of news and events gracing Disruptr MY.
Till our next issue, stay safe and stay healthy!
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News
TNG Launches GOpinjam In Partnership With CIMB Bank
Touch ‘n Go (TNG) Group has launched GOpinjam, an inclusive digital personal loan proposition available through Touch ‘n Go eWallet. This marks Touch ‘n Go eWallet’s first digital lending solutions offering, having previously already launched financial services propositions in investments and insurance.
Accessed through the Touch ‘n Go eWallet and delivered fully electronically, GOpinjam offers personal loans from as low as RM100 to a maximum of RM10,000. The repayment period for these loans can range from one week to one year, with no hidden fees of early settlement charges.
MYEG Announces Aspirations To Become Leading Player In Metaverse Ecosystem
MY E.G. Services Berhad (“MYEG”) is looking to become one of the leading players participating in the development of a metaverse ecosystem in the hope that through its investment in the next generation of technologies, such as blockchain, it can provide more trusted, secure and efficient applications and services for the government and various industries.
It seeks to integrate ASEAN and China on a digital level through a virtual world and create a new class of added value. Metaverse, as a complex ecosystem with high potential that integrates diverse technologies, such as cloud computing, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and blockchain, saw tremendous growth in popularity last year along with the concept of NFTs.
Luno Records A Sevenfold Hike In Female Users From 16,000 To 120,000
According to Luno, its female users have grown from 16,000 in 2020 to more than 120,000 in 2021, an increase of more than sevenfold.
The transaction volume of female users has increased twelve times year-on-year (YoY) from RM170 million to over RM2 billion, indicating a positive trend of digital asset investment among women in Malaysia.
42KL Set To Offer Free 26-Day Coding Bootcamp For Malaysians Above 18
Sunway Group’s 42 Kuala Lumpur (42KL) is hosting an Open Day from 1 to 2 April 2022 to offer an unparalleled educational opportunity to all Malaysians – a free 26-day coding bootcamp.
The Open Day invites all Malaysians keen to learn coding and be future-ready. No prior coding or programming knowledge is required and all Malaysians above 18 years of age and especially SPM students waiting for their results are highly encouraged to join.
Exclusively designed for pre-seed and early-stage start-ups that are serious about achieving impactful customer proof-points while building and validating ideas & business models.
Directly access our pool of International & Local Mentors, Innovation Hubs, Resources and Market exposure with extended Post-Programme and Funding Opportunities as perks of the programme.
Turn Your Start-up into an Investable Business with the RIGHT Expertise & Resources!
Click the link below to register now as slots are limited for Cohort 1! https://lnkd.in/gYNWiuSz
Sunway iLabs will be extending the application period for the Sunway iLabs Super Accelerator Programe to the 5th of Apriml! If your startup is disrupting these verticals – Edutech, Fintech & Agrifood Tech, you are encouraged to apply!
Co-organised by Penjana Kapital Sdn. Bhd. and Sunway iLabs, KapitalX is a venture capital talent development programme designed by venture capitalists that equips participants with a detailed overview of the VC ecosystem with real-time practical application and networking opportunities.
Here are some of the reasons why you should join KapitalX: • Access to content that is curated by seasoned venture capitalists • Hands-on learning from the global venture capitalists as you work on real deals • Expand your global network in the venture capital ecosystem • Shadow and learn from an investment analyst from a range of global venture capital firms to learn the actual day to day task.
Who should join this programme: ✅University students in their final/penultimate year ✅Working professionals of less than 3 years’ experience ✅Entrepreneurs or early stage startup employees
What inspired you to start Beebag? How has the journey been so far? Can you share more on what Beebag does?
Beebag was initially founded by me and my twin brother during our last year in University. What really inspired us to start the company because we believe that the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it. That is why we have taken our own action to start Beebag because we want to contribute to society and create a better future for our next generation.
Plastics have only been around for less than a century, but it has already made damages that will last for thousands of years. If nothing is done soon, humans will be next in line to suffer heavily from plastic pollution. And multiple studies have already found microplastics in the human body and with recent research finding microplastics in human blood, we're really running out of time. The worse thing about all of this is that our future generation who has nothing to do with this will be the ones to suffer the most.
That is why we've founded Beebag because we want to utilise gamification and positive reinforcement to encourage more shoppers to use reusables so that fewer single-use plastics will be used. The idea of Beebag really came about because we saw that despite having regulations and policies to reduce single-use plastic bag usage in Malaysia, more than 70% of Malaysian shoppers still don't use reusable bags. And this is because there's little incentive to motivate shoppers to use it. That is why most shoppers either forget about it or don't even think about using them.
And the reason why this is happening is that the 20 cents plastic bag charge regulation doesn't really benefit vendors, that is why it is very difficult to have full cooperation from them. And in reality, many small retail stores in Malaysia to date still give out plastic bags for free because charging for them is bad for business. And the 20 Sen charge is insignificant that shoppers don't actually mind paying for it. That is why more than 70% of Malaysian shoppers still don't use reusable bags because there's little incentive to motivate shoppers to use them.
That is why most shoppers either forget about it or don't even think about using them. Beebag aims to take a different route and use gamification and positive reinforcement to change behavior and motivate more shoppers to use a reusable bag. By integrating modern technology into the traditional reusable bags, we've created smart reusable bags that are able to track shoppers' impact and reward them every time they reuse at partnering stores.
How has the journey been so far?
The journey has been full of ups and downs but exciting nevertheless. As a fresh graduate, there were many things that were foreign to me and my brother. But because we were involved in many leadership roles including creating and managing clubs in University, we were able to lead ourselves and set a direction to follow. And we've been selected as the top 9 finalists in the National Solution Forums 2022, an event hosted by Sunway, Mranti, and SDSN.
We've also been selected as the top 20 start-ups in Youth Co:Lab Malaysia 2021 and we're currently waiting to see if we do get qualified to be top 10 so we can fight to be in the top 3. Getting these awards and recognition is definitely a confidence booster because we know there are people besides us who believe in our solution. And successfully getting partners to pilot our idea is also assuring because this shows that our solution is providing value to them.
Can you share more on what Beebag does?
Beebag is a social enterprise focused on eliminating single-use plastic bag usage by encouraging shoppers to reuse their bags through gamification. To achieve this, we have created smart reusable bags that are equipped with NFC chips that communicate with the Beebag app to reward shoppers whenever they reuse their smart bags. How it works is super simple, firstly, shoppers need to download the Beebag app and register an account.
Next, they will have to get a Beebag and pair it with their account. Lastly, they can start earning points whenever they reuse their smart bags when they scan the NFC tag on their Beebag when they shop at partnering stores. The current version works slightly differently but development is already under work to make it work like how I described it.
For partnering vendors, there are multiple benefits such as better online visibility through the app, providing a unique shopping experience to customers, useful data to improve operation, additional revenue from selling Beebags, and reducing spending on plastic bags. And any retail store can join us as a partner and enjoy all the benefits for free, what we ask in return is to simply upload a reward so that Beebag users can be rewarded for reducing pollution.
What challenges did you face in starting the business and what have you learnt that you can share with other budding social entrepreneurs who are looking to start a similar journey of their own?
Because the idea is new and there aren't really any similar businesses we can refer to, there's a lot of uncertainty and self-doubt sometimes kicks in and I will sometimes wonder if this is really going to work.
But I've learned that almost every successful innovative start-up founder experienced the same thing but all of them stuck to their vision and believed in it. So if there's something I can share with fellow social entrepreneurs is that believe in what you are trying to build as long as it brings benefit to the world. And the most important thing is to really get on the ground and start doing it, no matter how insignificant it might be.
What was the process of starting your business?
Beebag started right from our bedroom while we were in our final year's final semester. We started by creating a solid business model that makes sense and is financially sustainable and this took us roughly 2 months just to figure out a financially sustainable business model. After that, we started looking for co-founders who knew how to code as our solution involves creating an app.
After we have successfully onboarded 2 computer science engineers as co-founders, we started designing the app and move on to developing it. As because our idea was completely new, we had to go through a lot of R&D to figure out how we can make our idea come alive. This took around 6 months and now we have the app, we're moving on to pilot test our idea.
What are some of the long term goals are you looking to achieve? And how do you plan on achieving them?
The most important goal is to see a change in consumer behavior in Malaysia. We hope our solution will successfully motivate more Malaysians to use reusable bags so that fewer single-use plastic bags will be used.
The brothers with one of their partners, Seedy Zero Waste store. The owner Grace Teong (also known as auntie Grace) is also a Prestige 40 under 40 2021.
This being said, we hope that our solution will be rolled out across Malaysia and we hope to achieve this as soon as possible by partnering with large retail chains like 99 Speedmart and 7-Eleven. Hopefully, by 2030, we can see 5 out of 10 shoppers using a Beebag when they shop.
Do you have plans to open up brick and mortar stores or does this online model suit you well?
Opening a brick-and-mortar store is not in pipeline for now as we are selling our bags at partnering stores, so creating our own brick-and-mortar store will be conflicting.
What are your future plans for the brand?
We would like to expand internationally and collaborate with larger brands and also work towards becoming the number #1 smart reusable bag brand in the world.
