SINGAPORE — When it comes to business, 'doing good' and 'pursuing profits' are often deemed as mutually exclusive goals.
SINGAPORE — When it comes to business,"doing good" and"pursuing profits" are sometimes deemed as mutually exclusive goals.
Indeed, some business experts whom TODAY spoke to also agreed that there has been more awareness of environmental and social issues confronting the world as it emerges from the pandemic. While the startup scene is fraught with risks, no matter what the business is, the challenges are especially magnified for enterprises with a focus on “doing good” — where a product or service tied to a humanitarian or environmental cause does not often generate high profit margins, especially in the short term.
Little did he know that decades later, he would be the founder of a startup which developed a solution to accelerate the production of lab-grown meat. Cultivated meat is real meat grown directly from cells taken from animals without having to kill them. Thus, he decided to take the leap and start his own company, Cellivate Technologies, in 2019 to further develop and sell the coating technology and other innovations to companies, locally and abroad, to help speed the production of cultivated meat.Dr Viknish Krishnan-Kutty, the founder of Cellivate Technologies, poses for a photo in the tissue culture lab on Nov 2, 2022.
Although the future held much promise when the firm was set up, Covid-19’s arrival in early 2020 threw a spanner in the works, as almost all economic activity in Singapore and the rest of the world ground to a halt. It was in 2020 that companies from all over the world began making enquiries about his products. A year later, his firm began launching product pilots.“The premise of what we are doing, allowing cells to grow better… the cells produce a certain ingredient that goes into their cosmetics,” Dr Viknish said.
“Like most of these disruptive companies, we are still not profitable, because a lot of the resources are spent in research and development, and the nature of R&D is that it is expensive, because we are doing things that have never been done before,” he said. From 1999 till 2010, he was with the National Environment Agency , rising the ranks to become its deputy director.
He spent five years with the firm before deciding in 2015 to start his own company, Liquinex, which specialises in water purification solutions. “It was a strain, because I was the sole breadwinner and my wife is a homemaker, so it was a difficult period, but we got through it,” he said. The"humanitarian suitcase" can produce about 3,000 litres of clean drinking water in six hours, which can sustain about 300 people. This is a far better yield than the traditional hand pump, which produces only about 4 litres of water for every 10 manual pumps.
“In Europe, they have come up with very stringent water standards now, that we will find difficult to comply with in this region,” he said. “And very soon, I think will follow suit.” Earlier this year, Liquinex has also launched a new product for the consumer market called Waterwall, which is a water purification system for human consumption in households, businesses and commercial buildings. It can be used in jurisdictions that do not have access to drinkable tap water, or customers who prefer their tap water to be more filtered.
When he was about to graduate from university in 2017 with a degree in business administration and finance, he landed himself a job after an internship stint with an investment bank that paid a five-figure salary.But Mr Leong decided to give it all up to chase his dream for the third time, by embarking on a startup whose main product is an air purifying interior paint — an idea that he thought of during a university assignment.
“What we did was develop this paint that not only does not emit toxic emissions, but is also able to break down VOCs,” said Mr Leong. This meant that some of CDL’s residential developments, such as Haus on Handy located at Dhoby Ghaut, were painted using Gush’s products. Gush has also developed an anti-thermal exterior paint for buildings, that can reject up to 87.5 per cent of solar energy.
“These are the markets where we see exponential growth, because we have a 0.5 per cent share of Singapore’s market, but in the United States we have a percentage,” said Mr Lim. “EnterpriseSG doesn’t just do grants or linking up, they also try to capitalise on movements like this, by creating consortiums to improve the attractiveness of local products to overseas markets,” said Mr Leong.According to the EnterpriseSG’s website, the assistance that it provides to companies looking to innovate for good come in financial and non-financial forms. These include:
International Co-Innovation Programmes , which provide opportunities for local companies to team up with foreign counterparts to jointly develop and test-bed new solutions, before scaling into the market or region together. EnterpriseSG runs CIPs with 37 countries, including Germany, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
“ are fast, nimble, they have no legacy, no excess baggage and you just start from scratch and can be very focused,” he said. The experts interviewed have this advice for budding entrepreneurs: A good idea is only worth as much as the willingness to build strong networks and systems.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The Big Read in short: Doing good and making money while at itSINGAPORE — When it comes to business, 'doing good' and 'pursuing profits' are often deemed as mutually exclusive goals.
Read more »
#trending: Photo of Mister Singapore with National flag that had scribbles raises eyebrowsSINGAPORE — Mister Singapore Sean Nicholas Sutiono is in the spotlight again, after a photo of him holding a Singapore flag with scribbles on it has raised some eyebrows amongst netizens.
Read more »
Me-time makan: Best places in Singapore to dine soloThe lack of a dining companion should not be a deterrent to enjoying great food at a great restaurant. In fact, if you haven't already come to appreciate the joys of solo dining, allow us a few sentences to persuade you to try it. When you dine solo, you can choose whatever the hell you please and then snarf it...
Read more »
Xi promises world 'big opportunities' as China's markets open up furtherChina’s president has pledged to open the country’s markets further as he reaffirmed his commitment to globalisation ahead of the world’s largest import trade fair, in Shanghai. “We have been offering big opportunities for the world economy by opening up China’s huge market,” Xi said in a televised speech to kick off the fifth edition of the China International Import...
Read more »
American on Singapore flight found guilty of slapping cabin crew – but cleared over bomb threatCriminal charges over bomb threat dropped on considering expert assessment of accused’s mental health
Read more »