Have passion, will win: Meet the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest participants
Small businesses stem from big dreams. Find out what drives the participants of the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest and how their passions sparked ideas that are changing the world.
Behind every business is a dream - to do something one is passionate about, while making a difference in the world. That dream takes hard work and dedication. Recognizing this effort and celebrating the heroes behind the small businesses that power the Asia Pacific economy, is the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest (SBGC). And here are the founders and co-founders of four companies from the 2021 edition of SBGC, sharing what drives them and their business.
It was an emotional rollercoaster for Dr Carolyn Lam and her husband James Hare when the latter got two conflicting reports about his heart health. Determined to spare others from a similar experience, the couple decided to end such ambiguity for future patients with their AI-based echocardiograms. That’s when they co-founded Us2.ai - the winner of SBGC 2021.
Being a doctor is hard, and when it comes to dealing with problems of the heart, nothing short of the highest level of passion and dedication can carry someone through.
Dr Carolyn Lam took this passion one step further and co-founded Us2.ai. James and Dr Carolyn are always thinking about how to best support the doctors they work with, and the patients they treat, through the use of technology.
Nudging them along on this journey is Dr Carolyn's love for learning, and her support of women.
Following their own harrowing experience, Dr Carolyn says, “Us2.ai always places the patient at the center of what we do.” As a medical practitioner herself, she wants to “transform heart healthcare for all,” and using technology to achieve this noble goal makes sense in today’s tech-driven environment.
Following their own harrowing experience, Dr Carolyn says, “Us2.ai always places the patient at the center of what we do.” As a medical practitioner herself, she wants to “transform heart healthcare for all,” and using technology to achieve this noble goal makes sense in today’s tech-driven environment.
Dr Carolyn admits, “I have been humbled by how much I didn’t know despite publishing on clinical discoveries for so many years.” This is why she appreciates the chance to upskill: “I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn from my team,” she says.
She is also passionate about women’s empowerment, and always tries to champion the cause. This is evident in the fact that she is the Director of the Women's Heart Clinic at the National Heart Center Singapore. Dr Carolyn also stands up for women through her research; she is running a global trial that could potentially reduce heart failure risk in women. Dr Carolyn says, “The problem has been there all along, but women were underrepresented for a long time.”
Everyone wants to feel happy coming back home, and a key part of this is having a neat and organized place. Passionate about making his home his personal sanctuary but without the time to maintain it, Victor Ching founded Miso, a South Korean home cleaning services brand.
The inspiration? Hotel stays. “I enjoyed the experience of the residence, as opposed to having to work to maintain it,” says Ching. He recognized that others must feel the same way, and set about trying to improve lives.
Some of the factors that have helped Miso go from three employees to 150 with over five million bookings include Ching’s sharp sense of customer-centricity, his passion to make people’s lives easier, and his love for constant growth.
People already need to make too many decisions, and this requires research. “People don’t want to research cleaning services; they just want it done,” says Ching. Miso understands this, and aims to satisfy customers accordingly. This aligns well with Ching’s love for building a customer-centric business.
“Startups are all about going for it. Your potential for success is zero if you don't even try and that's what guides Miso,” explains Ching. This is what drove the business to participate in SBGC, and also why Miso has expanded to provide other home services such as moving, repairs and remodeling.
“The most satisfying thing is seeing how Miso makes lives easier - for both workers and people who book their services,” says Ching. Now, workers no longer need to make daily trips to the office of local cleaning service agents in the hopes of booking a job. And clients get to turn their home into a sanctuary quickly and efficiently.
Filipinos are often hailed as some of the most hardworking and talented workers. And yet, there was a problem. “I realized many Filipino businesses couldn’t find the right talent. At the other end, job seekers didn’t know how to apply for jobs that fit their skillset, abilities and interests. Both sides were losing out,” says Paul Rivera.
Bridging the gap now is home-grown company, Kalibrr.
Employees are the greatest asset for any company as their work can make or break the business. Kalibrr co-founder Paul Rivera was always passionate about finding the right talent for the right business, but faced tremendous difficulties in hiring suitable candidates.
“I’ve always believed in looking for problems rather than ideas,” says Rivera, who moved back to the Philippines from the US to become an entrepreneur. He knew there was a serious issue when talented job seekers couldn’t find anything worthwhile in ASEAN’s fastest-growing economy1. He adds, “As a business owner, I knew how important and vital employees are to a company, so I wanted to fix that problem.”
“We believe in Kalibrr’s value to our community in connecting them to their dream jobs. We have seen the impact that it had in the lives of people,” says Rivera. With firm belief in the product and its offering, Rivera says, “it made complete sense to share that story with a larger community,” and decided to participate in the SBGC as a result.
“Kalibrr is full of dreamers. Everyone in the company dreams of a future where people have jobs that align with their skills and capabilities, and where businesses are able to hire the best recruits. We will continue to do what we do in pursuit of that vision, shares Rivera.
Sometimes, people fail when aiming for a lofty goal. But “what separates those who succeed and those who do not, even in the face of failure, is the person’s ability to learn from their mistakes. Continue executing, dreaming, and sticking to your vision, even if it takes a long time to realize it," signs off Rivera.
The cost of some life-preserving drugs and treatments can be sky-high. This puts them out of reach for many, leading to fatal results. This was something the founders of Nalagenetics wanted to address.
Both co-founders of Nalagenetics, Levana Sani and Astrid Irwanto, saw first-hand how adverse drug effects caused permanent side effects in their family members. In fact, adverse drug reactions (ADR) cause about 1.3 million emergency department visits each year in the US2.
A lot of drug reactions are caused due to genetic factors, so drug response pharmacogenomics (PGx) testing can help identify and potentially prevent ADR. However, in Asia, PGx is neither widely available nor cheap - Nalagenetics aims to change all that.
While PGx is available nowadays, it isn’t widely adopted in Asia because it’s expensive and has long turnaround times. Besides, the genetic database for those options comes from a Caucasian and European sample, making it unsuitable for Asians. “Nalagenetics is passionate about providing the most cost-effective, locally-proven, and actionable precision medicine,” shares Sani.
The field of med-tech can be draining, so how do the founders keep up? “By remembering to be grateful, and being surrounded by people who are positive and kind,” says Sani. Exercising and having a healthy mental and physical culture is also important at this company.
Since its first project, which was to create a genetic test for leprosy patients, Nalagenetics has branched out to other tests for prevention, including multiple drug-gene interactions and panels. The company currently works with hospitals and clinics in 400 locations and plans to keep expanding. “We want to keep solving problems using genomic technologies,” shares Sani.
When passion turns into business, truly great things are possible. And great businesses lead to a better community, society, and world. This is why FedEx stands behind all small businesses.
1The Straits Times, Robust growth propels Philippine economy to fastest-growing in Asean, 2022
2Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Adverse drug events in adults, 2017
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