Affiliate marketing is gaining popularity, particularly among the younger generation and those who are keen to earn passive income. It is also one of the key strategy for every e-commerce stores like Amazon, Ebay and Lazada to quickly gain market share. But what is affiliate marketing and why businesses and people like you and me want to capitalise on? What is Affiliate Marketing? Affiliate marketing refers to online promotion done by an “affiliate” with a tracking link from an “affiliate site”, redirected to the seller’s website. The affiliate will then receive a commission for every sale made via…
The accelerated economic growth in Malaysia at a rate of 5.8% has lead to widening income gap between states and household income group. To ensure inclusive growth, Malaysia under its 11th Malaysian Plan introduces “Enhancing inclusiveness towards an equitable society” as one of the six strategic thrust. This enables all Malaysians regardless of gender, ethnicity, socio-economic level and geographic location to participate in and benefit from Malaysia’s prosperity. Some initiatives implemented by the government include eRezeki, eUsahawan, High Impact Progam 6 and Mainstreaming Grassroots Innovation. All these focus to improve accessibility to education, innovation, social entrepreneurship and…
Companies exist in constant changing environment and technology is disruptively forcing the shift towards continuous innovation. In order to achieve sustainability, it is said that innovation is the key and its realisation is highly depending on effective leadership. Many CEOs understand the importance of innovation but how many really practice and cultivate the innovative culture within their workforce? As we commonly understand, innovation is associated with continuous process, value creation, new idea, improvement, and creativity. Some characterise innovation as a process with transformative quality, specific to situation and time that is capable to replace or reverse existing unfavourable situation. It…
Many people somehow or rather will adopt various beliefs and core values in life. Despite not all will do the same, many will still choose religion as the source of positive guidance. To me, having a religion is very important to create harmonious society. Of course, this is only possible when religion is interpreted positively. I practice Buddhism, believe in doing good but never study Buddhism as it is never taught is school. All my knowledge and beliefs are inherited from my late mother who read religious books, mostly written in Chinese which I can’t read. Syariah Islamiah…
It has come to the last month of year 2017 and of course, this is also the time where I will normally clear my annual leave. So I decided to take leave every Friday not just as my year end routine but also to spare some time doing things that I like. Sabah has always been a second home to me as I love the friendly community, fresh seafood and beautiful beaches. Despite frequently travelling to Sabah and meeting many teachers along the way, with my hectic work schedule, many times I do not have the opportunity to speak to…
During my recent trip to Sabah, I was requested to present a talk to members of KadazanDusun Chamber of Commerce & Industry whereby content presented are preferably other than grassroots innovation. Therefore I decided to speak about Innovation in Marketing, a topic I never speak about but with lifetime experience in marketing & brand management. For those who find me a stranger, I am a graduate from Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and also a MBA graduate from Cardiff Metropolitan University with 15 years industry experience in entrepreneurship, marketing & brand management. Currently, I hold the position of Chief…
Chronically ignorant people at workplace is really a pain and I’ve met some along my career life as early as when I was only 19, working as a clerk in Parti Gerakan. Being very young and yearned to learn more, I did not mind taking on extra work even though I knew the acts of some ignorant people were creating negative impact on my work. Personally I could still tolerate as I needed more job-related experience. After working for 20 years, my principle at workplace changed. I will still spend extra time completing challenging tasks but now…
Recently, I’ve few friends who kept reminding me how gorgeous I was when they first met me and how much attention I got wherever I went, regardless from which direction others look at me. Those who gave these remarks are mostly friends whom I’ve known in my late 20’s or early 30’s when I was still young and slim…. lol. Well, I do look pretty decent back then and no doubt I was always the center of attraction and received lots of compliments from both men and women, thanks to my…
Be it you are running a small retail business or providing consultation services, making your business look professional is important to retain customers. Unfortunately many small businesses are caught into daily operation and completely skip planning stage. Strategy is all about decisions you need to develop tactical action plan to meet small business objectives. It is the foundation for creating awareness, generating interest, closing new sales and continuing customer engagement. It is important to define your customers, determine your industry and identify competitors prior designing value proposition to differentiate your business from existing competitors. Having viable marketing strategy enables you…
We often hear the word innovation with different names. Some are called inclusive innovation and others sustainable innovation. There are also grassroots innovation, frugal innovation, transformation innovation, social innovation or even open innovation. Why bother to categorize so many types of innovation if we knew it is the innovators that matter most? Innovators are people who can develop and apply novel solutions to solve intended problems. Without innovators, innovation can never exist. Throughout my career with Malaysian Innovation Foundation, I’ve met many innovators, listen to different success stories and also hear complaints about each insufficiency. I found those…
I still remember when I was in my 20s, I’ve been to 3 huge concerts by Taiwanese singer A-mei and Hong Kong singers Leslie Cheung & Jacky Cheung respectively. The concerts were spectacular and by looking at the stage setup, you knew huge budget were spent to create ambience that excites and engages audience. Entertaining the audience was the only objective of the concert for organizer to sustain profitably. Growing up in small fishing village in Batu Pahat, Johor, those huge concerts were definitely not the only ones I’ve been to. I first experienced concert…
Since young, I never agree getting good education guarantees better career opportunities. Maybe this is because my late mother never make such guarantee nor force us to get good grades. However, I still strive for excellence to prove to myself that I am equally good. I was so focus to challenge myself academically when I was young to the extent that I never bother to plan ahead. When I completed Form 5 education (then Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia), I started to work part-time in a restaurant while waiting for my result. Never had I thought of making plans for my…
Grassroots innovation is a terminology where many Malaysians have misinterpret as rural innovation, including some of my younger colleagues in Malaysian Innovation Foundation (Yayasan Inovasi Malaysia – YIM), a non-profit organization entrusted to support the development of grassroots innovation in the country. This misinterpretation might arise due to the incomplete transfer of knowledge about grassroots innovation movement obtained from 2011 YIM’s visit to India’s National Innovation Foundation, a non-profit organization that drives grassroots innovation movement primarily to support rural communities, particularly poor farmers with novel untapped knowledge. The Need to Define Grassroots Innovation in…
I’ve always been very independent since young owing to the good upbringing of my parent. While in secondary school, I did part-time job in garment factory almost on weekly basis to earn some pocket money. For those who are not aware, I was a fisherman’s daughter with a total of 11 siblings. With limitations in my family, all of us understand that we need to depend on our own capability to strive for things that we desire. Therefore, I completed my LCCI Diploma in Accounting, LCCI Higher Diploma in Accounting, Institute of Chartered Secretaries &…
There are lesser career opportunities nowadays and we often hear tens of thousands employees laid off due to global economy slowdown and also the increasing use of technology to replace labour intensive jobs. Yes, this is happening in Malaysia too especially in the area that I work in – Cyberjaya. I always hear companies near my workplace starting to retrench employees and some even shrink their operation in Cyberjaya and move their facility to a cheaper location. The challenging economy is worrying and creates tension and stress especially on those under employment. Many are worrying of losing their jobs and…
Being a single mother, life is always challenging for me. I am not saying it is tough but the accountability towards my son brings me more decisions to make everyday. Struggling between career and family, very often, I’ll choose family over everything else. I guess this is how Chinese tradition is observed. (Yes, I am a typical traditional Chinese woman) I think all working mothers will somehow or rather agree with me that performing duty as a mother at the same time delivering “never-ending work demand from bosses” are stressful. Regardless of whether you are…
More than 10 years ago, I’ve been to the so-called “safari” in both Bangkok and Singapore, consist of mostly short distance tram rides. I was told these safaris were managed by a group of people and animals were fed by caretakers. Of course, I find each experience very mesmerizing especially when I have the chance to see so many types of animals in mere 40 minutes rides. With the intention to visit safari again, I decided to join my sisters to visit the real safari in South Africa this time. As we have never been…
