Benjamin Yong, is one of Malaysia’s most successful restaurant entrepreneurs, a whiz kid who is taking over with BIG (Bright Ideas Group) CEO & Founder of BIG Group.
In 2004, together with his mother Helen and her good friend Abby, Benjamin started a fledgling tearoom called Delicious at the back of the Ms Read store in 1-Utama.
An afternoon tea menu grew to encompass salads, sandwiches and pastas; the small outpost into a full-fledged restaurant; one restaurant multiplied into four.
In mid 2007, the E & O Group bought a 51% share in The Delicious Group after which they added another café and fine-dining steakhouse before the company was sold completely in mid-2010.
2011 saw and unveiling of multiple unique brands under the all-new BIG Group, ranging from edgy coffee bar to family café, intimate speakeasy to South American inspired dining room. In the span of a year, the company continued to unfold brand after brand, culminating with Ben’s Independent Grocer – an experiential, full service supermarket for everyday conveniences, which also includes restaurants, newsagent, florist and gourmet section.
Business Circles hears from the man himself on franchising, collaborations, Malaysian shopping mall culture and the future of artisanal businesses.
Christopher Tock was previously the Director of Information Systems for the UK and Eire Council for Malaysian Students (UKEC) from 2005 - 20 07 where he was among those who helped revive UKEC as a student movement and launched projects such as the UKEC Careers' Fair, Projek Amanat Negara IV and the 1st Malaysian Student Leaders' Summit 2007 in Kuala Lumpur.
He was also previously the Communication Secretary at the Imperial College Malaysian Society, as well as a representative of the Overseas Student Committee responsible for liaising between all overseas societies in Imperial College, London where he graduated in Joint Mathematics & Computer Science.
Previously he was an e-Business development executive for ECM Libra Investment Bank, where he was part of a team heading the development of a forward-driven online share trading portal called www.ecmmoney.com.
He is also a founding convenor at Young Corporate Malaysians (YCM), as well as an active committee member of the Imperial College Alumni Association in Malaysia (ICAAM).
Besides playing a role as a Technical Consultant at a prono-bono initiative on unity called RandomAlphabets.com, Christopher is also a celebrity blogger at www.spinzer.us covering various prestigious events on top of sharing his love for food, and last but not least, an accidental entrepreneur dedicated to the development of Malaysia's future leaders.
He was recently invited as a Founding shaper of the Global Shapers Community - Kuala Lumpur Hub, an initiative by the World Economic Forum and a recipient of Prestige Malaysia's Top 40 Under 40 Awards
Most recently, Yuen has been awarded Women Weekly’s Great Women of Our Time 2012 award for the category of Media and Arts as well as the Bella Creative Award 2013 by the leading terrestrial TV station in the country for her contribution to the creative industry.
Over the past 15 years, Yuen has gone from producing, directing and creating some of the highest rated TV programs in the country and regional countries to joining the corporate world for four years – as the Director of Marketing and Communications of Carrefour Malaysia and Singapore, sitting on its management and executive committee as the youngest executive director; to running the country’s premier arts platform, Kakiseni that enables access to creativity and innovation through arts and culture pedagogy models.
Additionally, she championed the TUKAR program (Program Transformasi Kedai Runcit) both at the blueprint and execution phases as contribution to the ETP.
In 2011, she was selected as a subject matter expert for the Prime Minister’s Roundtable on engaging the youth and subsequently, she heads the performing arts pillar, mapping out the industry’s growth for the Dasar Industri Kreatif Negara.
She also conceptualized WOMEN: girls, a platform to drive accomplished women as inspiration and a role model to younger girls in a series of outreach initiatives and a Mentor matching program. Earlier launch of this platform is awarded the Best Campaign of The Year 2011 by the Malaysian PR Association.
WOMEN: girls in tandem with the celebration of International Women’s Day this year will see a big campaign to drive a bigger share of women’s voices through WOMEN:girls series of initiatives to use pop culture as persuasive power to move people into actions, endearingly named Ikal Mayang.
Also the Executive Producer of Garang Pictures, Yuen is passionate about content development with a few high profile films to be released in 2013.
Jan Wong is a serial entrepreneur specialising in social media marketing, a passionate online strategist and youth advocate.
Having caught the enterprising spirit when he was 18, this (still young, now at the age of 27) businessman has a wide-ranged portfolio: Jan has founded four businesses, is a consultant in a local branding firm, a part-time lecturer at the Asia Pacific University (APIIT / APU), a certified e-commerce consultant, a Masters degree holder in Technology Management from Staffordshire University and has published an academic article at the Global Communications Conference at in 2011.
Jan sees the huge advantages of integrating technology in businesses and advocating youth entrepreneurship, and believes strongly in sharing his experiences with other startups and mentoring sessions to help young people to venture into the business world.
Jan's work has opened the opportunities for him to work with notable brands and corporations in various industries - including banking and finance, fashion, retail, food and beverage, and education - and helped them to acquire a stronger foothold in strategic digital marketing. Among some of the companies include Berjaya Corporation, Sunway Group, Gateway@KLIA2, Menarini, Snowflake, MICPA (The Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants), KL SOGO and FIMM (Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia).
His active involvement within the entrepreneurship movement in Malaysia has allowed him to be a part of the Academic Advisory Board of KDU University College, and the opportunities to share his experiences at various entrepreneurship and social media events in universities, workshops and conferences.
Jan has also been featured on various Malaysian media (including The Star, Focus Malaysia, Personal Money, Malaysia SME, The Edge, Asian Entrepreneur Magazine) about his entrepreneurship journey, social media expertise and more recently, the SME industry.
Jan was also the founder and project director of the Malaysia’s Online Fashion Entrepreneur Weekend (MOFEW) in 2010 and 2011 that helped to inspire Malaysian online fashion entrepreneurs and encourage support from the corporate sector towards the unsung entrepreneurs. Through MOFEW, Jan became involved as a catalyst partner with Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) to inspire entrepreneurs nationwide.