The juiciest business in town |
- The juiciest business in town
- How to be a successful YouTuber… and have fun doing it!
- Uniting South Africa was Mandela’s greatest accomplishment, says de Klerk
- UNESCO adds new entries to ‘intangible heritage’ list
- Nissan forecasts beating China growth for first time since 2011
- Top iPhone apps: ‘Advent 2013, 25 Christmas apps’
| Posted: 05 Dec 2013 05:01 PM PST
These young entrepreneurs employ workers from an Orang Asli village, which is their way of empowering the local community. Small, sustainable and artisanal, Lee and Low believe in converting the public to healthier choices, one delicious Smooshie Juice bottle at a time. What made the two of you decide to become entrepreneurs? We identified what we saw as a huge problem -– the fact that the Malaysian beverage market is dominated by unhealthy products. We literally found it impossible to pick up a fast, healthy drink. Our need to do something about that problem gave us the guts to send in our resignation letters! Something had to be done, and if we don't try to do it ourselves, chances are nothing would change. What's the biggest hurdle you had to overcome before starting this business? We had to take quite a big leap of faith into a business that both of us knew absolutely nothing about! (They don't have Juicing Universities or books like How to Run a Juice Company for Dummies!) The fact that we started off with zero knowledge and resources was absolutely daunting. We spent at least a good six months researching and emotionally preparing ourselves for the leap before taking it. There are many healthy drinks out there, including freshly squeezed fruit juices. How do you stand out? There are other companies such as Boost Juice Bars, who also provide 100 per cent pure juices, and we honestly see them as our allies rather than our competitors. We are all in the same boat, trying to push across the same message. This was why we were so keen to collaborate with them when they approached us two years ago. We are now supplying Smooshie Juice to five Boost Juice outlets around the Klang Valley, as a grab & go alternative to their on-site freshly squeezed juices. In terms of packaged drinks though, the market is currently dominated by beverages that contain processed sugars and preservatives. Smooshie Juice is one of the first to not treat our juices with anything artificial. We believe that in time, consumers will grow to appreciate that. How will you continue to expand your business? We would love to start out a mini Smooshie Factory and get more advanced equipment such as a larger pasteuriser, all within a sterile facility, so the shelf-life of the juices can be extended. Only then can we really look at bringing the goodness of Smooshie Juice to more outlets and other states around Malaysia. One way we've come up with to finance this potential expansion is by entering the Alliance Bank SME Innovation Challenge. We've made it to the finals, and are the only F&B business in the Top 3. Currently we're busy gathering votes for the last stage of the competition. The prize money of RM250,000 would be such a huge help for us to get the Smooshie Factory started. We're very grateful for continued support from our customers and fans. Those who wish to help can check out directions on how to vote for Smooshie Juice on our Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/smooshiejuice). Tell us more about how you give back to the community. We went in to this business with the aim of making healthier beverage options available to Malaysians, to help the country out of the unhealthy slump it is currently in. It's important for us to generally "do good things" –- be it the end goal or throughout the whole journey -– so hiring a team of lovely makciks from the Orang Asli community came naturally. Moving forward, we really intend to push the message across that a change needs to be made in our current lifestyles. Malaysians need to embrace the notion of eating and drinking healthy. We are currently the most obese country in South-east Asia and the number of diabetic children has doubled in the last five years. If those aren't warning bells, I don't know what is! We have a few things up our sleeves and will be launching a Smooshie Movement as early as next year that involves running free campaigns, talks at schools and other exciting events to help spread this awareness. Smooshie Juice is available at The Red Beanbag (Solaris Dutamas), Artisan Roast HQ (Section 13, PJ) Artisan Coffee Bar (Bangsar Village II), Artisan Roast Coffee (TTDI), MollyDooker's Coffee Bar (Damansara Heights), myBurgerLab (Seapark, PJ), and Boost Juice kiosks at Mid Valley LG, Pavilion, Publika, KLIA Main Terminal and Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). This story was first published in Crave in the print edition of The Malay Mail on December 5, 2013.  |
| How to be a successful YouTuber… and have fun doing it! Posted: 05 Dec 2013 05:00 PM PST
With popular videos such as Your Accent Come From Where, How to Make a Korean Drama and Types of Sneezes, most people didn't realise at first that the creators of the videos are four Malaysians in their early 20s. They were mistaken for Singaporeans or Asian Americans instead. Using slices of life for inspiration, dmingthing consists of brothers Ho Ming Han, Ho Ming Yew and their friends Bryan Lim and Raffi Th'ng. Being a YouTuber was not a career path they chose and now two years after Ming Han's first vlog, dmingthing has close to a 100,000 subscribers. "It started with very simple vlogs, mostly rants. My first video was about my university's carpark which was flooded. A lot of cars were underwater and they couldn't claim insurance. I had my webcam with me so I just ranted about the situation," said Ming Han. This was back in November 2011 while he was still studying. "The next day, I woke up to find that I had 2,000 to 3,000 views on that video. I thought to myself 'Who wants to watch this nonsense?'" he said. Eventually, Ming Han roped in Th'ng and Lim whom he met through mutual friends. Both Th'ng and Lim are former classmates who have experience with videography and editing. Ming Yew came back from the UK in July 2012 and he decided to join the team. "He likes doing stupid things," said Ming Han about his younger brother. Throughout the interview and photo shoot, Ming Yew's funny expressions and antics kept me in stitches. "Don't take whatever he says seriously," warned Ming Han when Ming Yew joked about something. Th'ng met Ming Han during a Jayesslee concert in Malaysia when Ming Han and his band, Skyward opened for Jayesslee. But we're now more focused on creating content for dmingthing at the moment," said Ming Han. He said that becoming a YouTuber is "the most peculiar thing to happen in his life." The psychology graduate thought that he would be doing his Masters and practise counselling instead of making videos. The same goes for the rest of the team who are mass communications graduates. Ming Yew is currently pursuing his PR and Marketing degree at a local university. When Ming Han was doing his third vlog, Raffi messaged him on Facebook, asking him to do something else, a proper video instead of the usual rants.
"We were like, 'What's happening?'" said Ming Han. It was an unexpected response and later on, they found out that most of the viewers were Americans. That was when they realised that they could actually make videos that people could relate to and like. On Valentine's Day last year, Lim and Ming Han were just talking when Lim asked if he wanted to do something for Valentine's Day. "What do you mean do something for Valentine's Day?" Ming Han recalled asking him back. He thought Lim was suggesting something non-YouTube related. That memory cracked the whole team up. So they started working on a video that was relevant at that time. It was 2012 and there was this meme going around called "Forever Alone." "I hated that term and I wanted to give some hope to my viewers so we did a video called Alone Forever," said Ming Han. That too resulted in 25,000 views by the next day. The YouTube scene in Malaysia was picking up at that time and fellow YouTubers like Dan Khoo, JinnyBoy, Germani and more were making viral videos. "The combined virality was just good for the industry. We became friends with them and we started collaborating, appearing in each others' videos," said Ming Han. "But dmingthing was formed not to just make viral videos. We have a clear direction of what our viewers want to see and we just bounce ideas off each other," said Ming Yew. One of the most popular Asian American YouTube channels is Wong Fu Productions, who just recently had Chinese celebrity Wang Lee Hom making an appearance on their video. The team at dmingthing said that Wong Fu Productions inspired them. "We don't try to imitate them. What I like about them is that they don't succumb to trends," said Ming Han. dmingthing is also heading towards the direction of creating more comedy videos than stereotypical ones. They aim to make videos people can relate to and laugh. "Instead of bitching about people, we like to make fun of people," explained Ming Han. So far, dmingthing has not gotten any trouble from viewers or the authorities because they don't create controversial videos. They hang out regularly most of the time, even outside work and they would share experiences of meeting strange people. From there they would create a script out of their everyday life. "As long as we find it funny, we would go ahead with it," said Ming Yew. Can you pay the bills by being a YouTuber? "Companies would approach us to do videos for them. We also get advertising money from YouTube ads. I would say that it's like a freelance job where we can work whenever we like without the constraints of working in company," said Th'ng who used to work for a TV channel. Also, the pay is better than working for a production company according to dmingthing. Although it's only been two years, dmingthing team feels that there is a potential in the industry and that they will be doing this for the long run. "It is not obvious by watching our videos that we are Malaysians and we get international recognition. Only in our 'Your Accent Come From Where' video do we bring out the Malaysian side. We are quite lucky to have support from viewers all over the world," said Ming Han. What's next for dmingthing? "To be an inspiration for up and coming YouTubers," said Ming Han. "To get into Hollywood and maybe get an Oscar," added Th'ng. "I guess ideally, we just want to keep it going and make it better," said Ming Yew. From the looks of it, they are right on track. Head over to www.youtube.com/dmingthing for funny videos by the team. This story was first published in Crave in the print edition of The Malay Mail on December 5, 2013. |
| Uniting South Africa was Mandela’s greatest accomplishment, says de Klerk Posted: 05 Dec 2013 04:59 PM PST
"He was a great unifier and a very, very special man in this regard beyond everything else he did. This emphasis on reconciliation was his biggest legacy," de Klerk, 77, said in an interview with CNN after the announcement of Mandela's death at age 95. De Klerk, a white Afrikaner who released Mandela from prison in 1990 and then negotiated the end of apartheid, said Mandela was a humane man who was able to understand and soothe the fears of South Africa's white minority in the transition to democracy. De Klerk said he felt a connection to the African National Congress leader during their first meeting in 1989, shortly after de Klerk had taken over as leader of South Africa's apartheid government. "There was an immediate, I would say, a spark between the two of us, and notwithstanding the many spats we had, I respected him and I always liked him as a person. He was a magnanimous person. He was a compassionate person," de Klerk said. "He was taller than I expected - he was ramrod straight. He looked one in the eye very directly, he was a good listener and I could see very easily that he had an analytical approach to discussions, which I liked very much. I was really very impressed with him at that first meeting." Mandela and de Klerk shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for ending minority white rule and laying the foundations of democracy in South Africa. De Klerk served as one of two deputy presidents in Mandela's government after the ANC won the 1994 elections. — Reuters |
| UNESCO adds new entries to ‘intangible heritage’ list Posted: 05 Dec 2013 04:59 PM PST
Envoys picked the new listings of traditional cultural activities worthy of preservation at a meeting in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, UNESCO said in a statement late Wednesday. They include the traditional use of the abacus in China and a Christian festival in the French region of Limousin that involves holy relics being paraded before worshippers once every seven years. South Korea hailed the addition of "kimjang", the making and sharing of the country's traditional kimchi dish. The foreign ministry said it would seek legislation to ensure that kimjang remains "part of our precious cultural heritage and as a part of South Koreans' lives". Kimchi, a spicy dish of pickled vegetables, is so much part of Korean life that a festival and even a museum are devoted to it. "I can't live without kimchi," wrote one online commentator in response to the listing. Japan warmly welcomed the addition of its washoku cuisine. "I feel genuinely happy..." said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a statement. "Together with the Japanese people I want to pass on to the next generation our cherished culinary culture." Other additions are Belgian horseback shrimp fishing; the annual pilgrimage to the mausoleum of Sidi Abd el-Qader Ben Mohammed in Algeria; Taureg Imzad music; Jamdani weaving in Bangladesh; the Cirio de Nazare religious festival in Brazil; Sankirtana music from the Vaishnava people in India; a central Italian Catholic procession; an Orthodox holiday in Ethiopia and a Kyrgyz epic poem. A naming tradition common among the people of Western Uganda and Mongolian calligraphy also made the list. Established in 2008, the Intangible Cultural Heritage list comprises some 100 traditional events from around the globe and is designed to "help demonstrate the diversity of this heritage and raise awareness about its importance", according to UNESCO. — AFP-Relaxnews |
| Nissan forecasts beating China growth for first time since 2011 Posted: 05 Dec 2013 04:49 PM PST
"Next year, we should see our sales increasing, probably a little bit more than the industry," Joseph Peter, chief financial officer of Japan's second-largest automaker, said in an interview yesterday in Yokohama, Japan. "Fortunately to date, we haven't seen the recurrence of the uproar in demonstrations and the violence targeting Japanese companies that happened in September of last year." Nissan was among the hardest-hit companies last year when a territorial dispute between Asia's two biggest powers spurred boycotts against Japanese products. While the diplomatic row that resurfaced last month hasn't triggered the consumer backlash seen in 2012, the periodic bouts of tensions between the two Asian neighbours underscore the vulnerability of Japanese companies in the world's second-largest economy. "The islands issue is a fatal problem to Nissan and other Japanese companies and also a problem they absolutely have no control over," said Cao He, a Beijing-based auto analyst with China Minzu Securities Co. "There is no way for them to plan or predict what the political environment will be. What they can do is simply sell as many cars as they can when the political situation is stable, so that they have enough strength to make it through when bilateral relations go south." Torching dealerships This time last year, Nissan was bracing for an unprecedented fourth-straight drop in monthly China sales after the Japanese government purchased a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from their private owner. The move triggered protests across China, with some demonstrators torching dealerships and vandalising cars associated with Japan. Last year's demonstrations set back Nissan from its midterm China targets by 1 1/2 to 2 years, Peter said. Toyota Motor Corp, the world's largest carmaker, saw six straight months of declines in 2012, resulting in its first annual drop in China sales. Honda Motor Co's sales fell four straight months, including a 53 per cent plunge in October of that year. Today, the squabble is back after China created an air- defence area covering the islands, though the boycotts aren't. Japan's three-biggest automakers have seen three straight monthly gains and Nissan, which sells the most cars in China among them, predicts its sales in the country will climb to a record next year, as long as tensions don't escalate. Unpredictable outlook "No one knows what's going to happen or what incident will exacerbate the situation that we found ourselves in September of last year," Peter, 50, said. Nissan, which is targeting to capture 10 per cent of the Chinese market from 6.2 per cent in 2011, said in November it expects China deliveries to rise 7.5 per cent to 1.27 million units this year. For investors, the contrast in the economic fallout between last year's diplomatic row and this year helps illustrate the unpredictability of Japanese companies' business prospects in the world's second-largest economy, placing them at a disadvantage against other foreign brands that have gained market share at their expense. Nissan has stepped up spending on advertising, promotions and incentives to win back Chinese customers in the wake of the consumer backlash, said Peter, who was recruited by Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn in 2009 from General Motors Corp, where he was CFO for international operations based in Shanghai. Biggest market "It's very important for us to recover our China business as quickly as possible," he said. "If we just wait it out, and just sit, not try to be proactive in terms of bringing customers back, that would hurt us in the long term." At stake is a market that IHS Automotive predicts will surpass 30 million vehicles a year in sales by 2020. China's passenger-vehicle deliveries rose 15 per cent to 14.5 million units in the first 10 months of this year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Total industry-wide sales, including commercial vehicles, will probably exceed 20 million units this year, the association said. To sharpen its focus on China, Nissan broke out the country as a separate region earlier this year as part of a reorganisation of the company's operations and management. In the overhaul, the company reorganised its operations to six regions from three and scrapped the position of chief operating by splitting the role into three. Regional focus "What we need to do is separate out and create more regions to have very specific management focus on the larger number of key regions," Peter said. "We felt the time we could manage the company with these large regions kind of came to an end." In the US, Nissan's largest market this year, the company expects "strong" industry demand for the next few years, Peter said. The company's US sales rose 11 per cent in November, helped by increased deliveries of Altima sedans and Sentra cars. Still, Nissan has only gained 8.5 per cent in Tokyo trading this year, making it the worst-performing stock among Japan's five-largest automakers after slowing demand in emerging markets and a recall led the company to cut its full-year profit forecast last month. At a time when the weaker yen is supposed to benefit Japanese exporters, the forecast revision led analysts from Credit Suisse Group AG to Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc to lower their investments ratings on Nissan. Peter said the "fair value" of the yen is for the currency to trade at 100 to 105 against the dollar. The yen has fallen about 19 per cent in the past 12 months and traded at 102 today. To help bolster profitability, Peter said Nissan is considering tightening expenses. For example, while the company would typically increase incentives to meet volume targets last year, Nissan plans to be more prudent and consider whether such pricing is sustainable, he said. On wages, Peter said he expects wages in general to rise in Japan as the government seeks to end deflation and achieve an inflation rate of 2 per cent. — Bloomberg |
| Top iPhone apps: ‘Advent 2013, 25 Christmas apps’ Posted: 05 Dec 2013 04:47 PM PST
USA Japan UK Australia China Germany France South Korea Canada Brazil India |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malay Mail Online | All To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
