GIB TO THE RESCUE OF SMALL BUSINESSES IMPACTED BY COVID IN MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE - gibizreview.com

HOW GIB OFFERED RELIEF TO SMALL BUSINESSES IMPACTED BY COVID-19 IN MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE

by with No Comment GIB CSR

It has been over a year since COVID-19 affected many not only in Singapore and Malaysia but also many across the world. We at Get’em in Business (GIB) had many clients in global investing and global investment banks that suffered repercussions. No one was immune to its effects. Small businesses were especially hit hard in both Malaysia and Singapore. 

 

Many have lost their lives, loved ones and their businesses due to this global disease outbreak. Its seriousness caused the shutting down of many businesses, loss of employment and salary cuts. This is because the government had to restrict movement as a safety precaution to control the spread of the virus. 

 

Despite COVID-19 affecting many, Get’em in Business (GIB) was able to come up with quick strategies to keep our corporation afloat. While we were prepared with ample reserves and already had a work-from-home workflow system in place, we felt it was important to assist in the revival of the small businesses that had suffered from the impact of the shutdown in both Malaysia and Singapore.  After all, small businesses are the engine of local economies. 

 

Seeing the plight of many in our own network and members, GIB decided to reach out and help small business owners in Malaysia and Singapore gain back their clientele and source of incomes. 

 

As CEO Joel McMurphy said, “It is our way of assisting during tough times. We went all out and in full force. We could not stand by and do nothing. So we just used our expertise and our resources and do what we do best: advise, assist and strategize for the benefit of our community.” 

 

Here are a few ways we were able to extend our expertise and resources in order to come to the rescue of these small businesses. 

 

  • THE GET’EM IN BUSINESS HELPING HANDS CAMPAIGN

As an organisation, we knew many were struggling to make ends meet after the pandemic occurred. One of our strategies was the creation of this programme. The purpose of the GIB Helping Hands campaign was to revive and create opportunities for small businesses to continue operating despite the lockdown and the pandemic. We were able to do this by creating a digital platform where the business owners would be able to interlink their businesses and benefit one another, invest in new opportunities designed according to their needs, as well as make their businesses mobile meaning that even though the entire globe was on lockdown, they were still able to conduct their businesses as usual on this online platform and get income to feed their families as well as improve their businesses and themselves as individuals. GIB managed to onboard a variety of businesses from beauty shops to small delivery companies. These businesses were able to partner and network with each other to deliver products and services and improve the ways to cater to their consumers. For more details on this campaign, read here. 

 

  • CREATION OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

When we first set up the GIB Helping Hands Campaign, we had the small businesses in mind however, it later dawned on us during our GIB resolve charity campaign, which is also available on our website, that the employees who had lost their jobs were struggling to make ends meet. We opted to create a way for them to launch their own small businesses on the platform as well as provide them with access to the capital they needed for the startup. Many had no previous exposure to getting access to low-interest lending and other microloan opportunities  

 

Not only that, but these individuals were also able to make small global investments using GIB’s platform which helped them pay off their loans faster and thereafter solely focus on their businesses. As the platform is designed specifically to one’s needs, once the individuals had the capital and launched their businesses, the market was made readily available making their work easier and their businesses easily accessible. 

 

  • BUSINESS SEMINARS 

After the Movement Control Order was lifted, we were able to move around in both Singapore and Malaysia. Following the safety precaution rules, we set up seminars where the GIB experts would meet small business owners in order to educate them on how to have a successful business and the type of strategies to use fit for their business. We felt that this was important because we wanted to share the ways in which our corporation was able to survive the pandemic and help many. We held our first seminars in the heart of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and would then follow up with the business owners thereafter on how the strategies had worked for them. We were also able to help them develop business plans that were solid and educate them on the importance of research. 

 

  • CREATING AWARENESS AND COMBATING RACISM 

When we launched our platform, we made it a point to monitor the activities in order to make it secure for small businesses. During our study, we found that many were only doing business or marketing to their own ‘kind’ ethnicity. We decided to raise this issue and educate them on the importance of building up each other especially as small businesses. There were many who believed in the “China virus” stigma attached to Covid-19. However, after we were done educating them on this issue, many discovered that their businesses would be better off if they partnered with each other and that some of the things they lacked in their businesses were readily available to them if they networked and partnered with others; they just had to change their mindset. 

 

How GIB Assisted Local Businesses 

For all of these businesses, the pandemic wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms. However, it was an opportunity to pivot their business models, test, and further refine their plans and strategies. Here are four small business owners that found opportunities during these unprecedented times with GIB’s help. 

 

Ang Choi Wen – florist, Singapore 

It wasn’t long before I had just moved from Australia back home to Singapore when Covid-19 hit the world. I had just launched my flower shop and three weeks later, I had to shut it down. Stressed and worried, I was living off a few savings while maintaining my garden. A friend of mine then told me about the GIB digital platform and it honestly changed my life. The minute I registered my business on the platform, business began to pick up. I realised that with many stuck at home, people wanted flowers to beautify their spaces whether it was for intimate dinners or anniversary celebrations, or just for fun, and at affordable prices. When I realised I could also partner up with other delivery companies on the platform, it made my work so much easier and for this I am forever grateful to GIB. 

 

Shoo Wan Chai – small grocery shop owner, Malaysia 

When Covid-19 hit I was very scared, you know. They allow grocery shops to open but I am very old, so I am scared to get the disease because there is no cure and my immunity system is weak already. My daughter help to register my business and made things easier for me. I partnered up with one delivery company that helps me to transport the goods from home and I am still making money from home. GIB is very good. Quite happy that they brought this service for small businesses you know. Very helpful. 

 

Raj Kumar – aromatherapy shop owner, Malaysia

I really want to say thank you to GIB. We originally catered to the Hindu market who use incense during prayer, but I had to find a way to expand into other markets, so we decided to go into aromatherapy oils and other kinds of incense.  When I first put my business online using the GIB platform I found the market quite easily and fast and I was shipping out items by the next day. Most of my customers still buy the incense for prayer but I have some customers who buy some items from my shop for aromatherapy. It’s very beneficial to me because I thought it was the end of my business but actually there is a good market on the platform. 

 

Muhammad Kasim – pet store owner, Singapore 

Before the pandemic, business was doing okay. However, after registering my business on the GIB platform during the pandemic, my business was really booming. Because many people were staying at home, many were buying all kinds of pets from my shop, from dogs and cats to fish. My reasoning was that people now had the time to own and take care of pets. That’s why my shop was always busy receiving orders left, right and centre. To be honest with you, my shop was never this successful and when the pandemic hit, I thought things would only get worse from here. But thanks to GIB, business is as good as ever.

GET’EM IN BUSINESS (GIB) CHARITY CAMPAIGN HELPS SCHOOL CHILDREN IN MALAYSIA - gibizreview.com

Get’em In Business (GIB) Charity Campaign Helps School Children in Malaysia

by with No Comment GIB CSR

The Get’em In Business (GIB) Resolve Charity campaign was an initiative launched in Malaysia during the 2020 Covid-19 outbreak. The pandemic hit everyone hard from business owners to employees and schools. Initially we all thought the pandemic and the lockdown would only last a few days or weeks however, to everyone’s surprise it went on for months on end. We witnessed businesses being shut down, employers cutting staff and schools closing leading to students having to learn virtually from home because of the safety rules that were in place.

As news of impoverished children from less developed areas in Malaysia with no means to learn virtually and continue their studies hit headlines, GIB Founder and CEO, Dr Joel McMurphy felt deeply moved to reach out to help. As the GIB Malaysia team dug deeper, we discovered that some of the children (whose names will not be mentioned in this article) were not only lacking access to digital tools such as laptops but lacking in basic needs as well. Knowing that some of these children did not have access to education let alone food touched us all. We immediately knew that we had to do something about it.

GIB’S RESOLVE CHARITY CAMPAIGN AND CONTRIBUTIONS

GIB Malaysia was completely moved by the detrimental effects of the global pandemic on everyone, but most especially on the children in Malaysia. Catering to and providing to their needs was very important to us. We could not imagine being in their positions, so this was one of our primary motivations to start this project. Wishing we were able to do more to effect change on a global scale, we reached out to GIB’s investment community members in Malaysia and Singapore to raise funds. Here are a few ways we were able to help a few of these children and their families in Malaysia with the funds raised.

PROVISION OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES

Due to lockdown restrictions that were set in place as a result of the global pandemic, everyone was not allowed to leave their homes unless it was necessary. Everyone was working from home while children were learning virtually as well as being home-schooled by their parents. Through GIB Malaysia’s community contacts on the ground, we located families and children that were most in need among the urban poor of Kuala Lumpur among families in two low-cost flat developments. Some of the families only had one mobile phone to share among several kids, while several others had no devices at all. Providing these laptops to all these families was definitely a game changer because parents did not have to sacrifice their children’s education. All in all, we were able to deliver 100 laptops. All the children were entirely grateful because they had been missing out on a lot of their lectures and school work.

PROVISION OF FOOD AND UTILITIES

The global outbreak affected a multitude of people which in turn affected the economy on a large scale. With business and company owners taking a hit, some of the businesses closed while company employers cut down on employees as well as deducting the salaries of the employees they had left. This definitely affected each and every individual because their day to day budgets changed and many were living from hand to mouth. It broke our hearts when some of these families shared with us that they had not eaten in days and some were living on only bread and water. One of the children’s parents mentioned that they were embarrassed to look their children in the eye because they had no means to provide for them. We made sure that we bought foodstuffs that would last them at least two months and also gave them a sum of RM100 each. We also discovered that some of the families were living in the dark with no means to pay for electricity bills. Despite providing the children with laptops, it did not make sense for them to have laptops with no electricity, so we cleared the outstanding bills and made advance payments for one month.

INTERNET PROVISION

During GIB Malaysia’s charity initiative, we noticed that some of the needs we considered as basic needs, were not available in a number of homes. How were the children going to virtually learn without an internet connection? Luckily there were broadband providers with yearly subscriptions so we were able to provide the children and their families with internet access of up to a year. We also advised the parents to control the amount of internet their children accessed and what kind of information was made available to them. This way the children would only be focused on educative and informative news instead of other things.

PROVISION OF SURGICAL MASKS AND HAND SANITISERS

While we visited some of these homes, we noticed that some of the families were using their clothes which they would pull over to their faces and other makeshift face masks as a form of safety and prevention. When we asked whether they at least had sanitisers, in many flats, there was none. Here was a global deadly disease outbreak yet most of these families had no proper protective gear. So we also provided them with surgical masks as well as educated them on the importance of staying safe in the time of the pandemic.

EDUCATION ON COVID-19 AND THE IMPORTANCE OF STAYING SAFE

When we visited these homes and observed that many did not only have the equipment needed to stay safe, we also noticed that many were not quite aware of what COVID was. Many just knew it was the reason behind them losing their jobs but were not aware of the impact it could cause on an individual’s health if contracted. We were shocked that many did not quite believe that the pandemic was life threatening and that actual people were dying. We made sure we educated them on the severity of the disease outbreak by handing out pamphlets in various local languages that provided safety information. By providing them with information and safety equipment, now they were not only able to use it because we asked them to but they understood the importance of the safety measures that they needed to take.

GIB MALAYSIA’S DONATIONS MAKE AN IMPACT

We at GIB were extremely humbled to be able to make an impact on these children’s lives. Through the generosity of GIB’s global investment community, we were able to afford the means to provide food, laptops and preventive gear to people who were affected by the pandemic. This was the biggest effort yet to help people in immediate need, as most of our social responsibility initiatives are focussed on helping businesses.

“We are extremely proud that we came together and put a smile on many faces. As an organisation, we were also able to strengthen our values of gratitude and appreciation towards what we have. The relationship between our employees and employers was strengthened during this pandemic and we realised the importance of each other’s presence and peace in our dealings. We found a sense of deeper meaning in our work, strengthened our personal and work relationships and learnt that it really is the small things in life that can genuinely and truly make a difference,” said GIB CEO Joel McMurphy.

As an organisation, we would love to urge everyone to have peace in their day to day dealings with others. Life is short and we never know what the future holds so it is important to appreciate and embrace each and every moment while it lasts. We would also like to thank everyone who inspired the birth and idealisation of this campaign for we would not have achieved such a great deal without their help and support. Lastly, we would like to encourage everyone to help their neighbour and give whatever they can by simply finding out how he or she is doing. At the end of the day, it is the little things that matter, and even just enquiring after your neighbour’s health or wellbeing counts as a good deed.

“I am thankful. Before this I was missing loads of classes and was worried about having to repeat a class because I had missed out on so much. Thanks to GIB, I can now attend my classes and catch up with the other students on what I have missed,” said one beneficiary student who preferred to remain anonymous.

Get’em In Business (GIB) is also working on a way to merge or totally create a new form of technology that can aid the less fortunate during the pandemic or other unfortunate events that may happen in the future. We are a team that likes to think ahead and the global pandemic has definitely taught us that in this modern day and age technology is our new best friend. Stay tuned if you would like to know more.