Pride Amid the Pandemic #2: Tech Leaders Who Defy Conventional Wisdom

Vertex SEA | 25 Nov 2020

COVID-19 continues to linger and its prolonged presence leaves businesses with Hobson’s choice - an old British expression implying ‘only one option’, which is to go digital. DNA chats with StoreHub CEO (Fong Wai Hong) on how their company helped F&B outlets with Beep Delivery.

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Fong Wai Hong

Fong Wai Hong, CEO, Storehub

Homegrown tech startup, StoreHub, has been helping retail and restaurant business owners automate their growth since 2013. Starting off with an all-in-one tablet-based Point of Sale (POS) system to help business owners manage and grow their store from a single platform, it is today serving more than 15,000 entrepreneurs across Southeast Asia with its cloud-based offering that includes a powerful QR loyalty cashback program, QR table ordering system for restaurants and cafes, and an easy-to-adopt eCommerce platform.

With a regional team of 325 people based at multiple offices across Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila and Shanghai, Storehub has performed over US1.2 billion transactions to date and continues helping entrepreneurs leverage technology to tap Southeast Asia’s 360 million digitally-connected users.

The face behind Storehub is Fong Wai Hong, an ‘accidental’ entrepreneur who stumbled into e-commerce after managing a successful eBay business with his uncle more than a decade ago in Melbourne. Having been through the grind, Wai Hong and team spends a considerable amount of time coaching and advising small business owners, from bubble tea stores to Muslimah fashion, on inventory management and basic customer-relationship management.

The imaginative prowess and agility of Storehub was truly visible in March 2020 when it launched Beep Delivery, an F&B delivery feature on its platform to power food deliveries and takeouts for restaurants, just 48-hours into the MCO!

As the country came to an economic halt, F&B entrepreneurs saw up to 80% decline in revenue and felt a painful pinch by the 35% fee per transaction charged by established food delivery services. However, F&B entrepreneurs managed to breathe a sigh of relief with Beep Delivery, which enabled a direct-to-consumer approach with only a 2% cut.

StoreHub provided the much-needed relief to F&B outlets, allowing them to continue plying their trade while generating critical cash flow for business survival – truly a noble gesture! Here are some pertinent advice for entrepreneurs by the CEO of Storehub:

1: Built a foundation and culture that is anti-fragile

Being resilient is conventional wisdom and substandard advice in these times. It is not enough to hang in there, dodge obstacles and hope that the waves stop crashing on your rock. Instead, adopt an anti-fragility mindset – like how diamonds formed. Allow the pressure of the adversity to strengthen and turn you into a force to be reckoned with.

2: Prepare for a resurgence

Most businesses are merely thinking of their recovery and ways to operate in the new normal. Think beyond that! As we heard from JF Gauthier, Founder and CEO of StartUp Genome (a leading research and policy advisory organisation, with a niche for tech ecosystems globally) during his Malaysia Tech Month session on 20th November 2020, it is time to think not for any particular country, but for regional and global markets. Think big, think global. Start preparing for a massive rise in demand, which will be the case when new businesses start sprouting towards the end of the pandemic phase.

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