Monthly Archives: Apr 2018

EIA 039 Comfortable, Affordable and Eco-Friendly Electric Vehicles

Audio Interviews, Entrepreneurs in Action, Entrepreneurs Interview
Christie Fernandez
Christie Fernandez

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Christie Fernandez is an Entrepreneur on a mission to create a positive impact in clean transportation & energy in the emerging markets of the ASEAN region, Indian subcontinent, Africa & South America. Christie is the Founder of  Sooorya EV, which is headquartered in Singapore and is focused on providing affordable, comfortable & eco-friendly transportation. What’s unique is that Sooorya is redefining how automobiles are designed, manufactured and sold, with a strong focus on sustainability, profitability and societal impact.

At first Christie tried this with his idea.

“It’s kind of stuck with me. I tried giving it away but it didn’t happen”

During our conversation, Christie reveals his motivations behind the idea of creating his startup, his vision of how it can help farmers in rural communities by harvesting solar energy, and how he tried to give it away.

As well as:

  • The goal of last mile connectivity
  • Affordable, comfortable and eco friendly transportation
  • The regions of the world where this technology is needed.
  • How the countryside can produce a sustainable source of electrical energy using swappable batteries
  • Energy production as a handicraft opportunity for farmers to earn additional income.
  • The contrast with the big automobile manufactures that focus on speed, range and fast charging and the need in rural communities for low cost affordable transportation
  • The business model mix of large and small.
  • The
  • The uniqueness of his idea and what is required for the cost to come down.
  • Incorporating the IKEA business model
  • Frugal Engineering and how the
  • Incorporating the Apple manufacturing business model and transferring ideas from the mobile phone industry
  • Changing the car industry
  • Moving around the Asian Region and the reason for choosing Singapore a a base for operation and HQ
  • Legal protection and holding on to your IP.
  • personal impression of Singapore
  • The timetable to production of an affordable car launch and location
  • His background in IT, Marketing and the factors that encouraged the switch to the auto industry
  • The influence conversations with colleagues from the farming communities of India and he can help to expand the take-up of electric cars and his vision of the future.
  • His reluctance to be seen as the Elon Musk of the affordable electric car

 

 Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiefernandez/

 

EIA 038 Connect Over Coffee to Develop Your Business

Audio Interviews, Entrepreneurs Asia Breakfast, Entrepreneurs in Action, Entrepreneurs Interview
Gary Guwe
Gary Guwe

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Gary Guwe is one of the cofounders of the Business Development Society of Singapore. In the previous podcast, EIA 037, I had conversations his fellow cofounder Gunes Altungunes, and a couple of attendees. At the time Gary Guwe was out of the country and Gunes suggested that I return at a later event and speak with Gary.

However, in this cast Gary and I don’t actually converse but we have a brief Fly-on-wall experience of the event organised by Gary and Gunes and titled Connections Over Coffee – Monthly Casual Networking, which is held on the 3rd Wednesday of every month .

Gary plays a key role by running the event in a relaxed manner, encourages entrepreneurs to give a two minute introduction of themselves and the company they represent and gives his own advice.

After Gary opens we move on to Joshua Chua (an experienced Sales Excellence Coach), Hussain Sayeed (In the third week of his startup), Arthi Ramakrishnan, (a recent arrival to Singapore from India) and finally, he ropes me in unexpectedly to present myself and the fact that I’m volunteering my services by recording the event.

Also mentioned

Gary Guwe

  • The Chinese New Year celebration
  • The mission of BDS and its role in building business relationships.
  • The BDS origins in 2015 and its current number of members
  • The reasons behind the sharing sessions and the link to Free Publicity
  • How Gary Guwe turned himself from an introverted and shy business person to a headhunted target and the co-founder of the BDS.
  • What’s on offer from the BDS to SME’s

Joshua Chua

  • His promise for your jump in sales
  • The free 90 minute consultation with tweaks
  • Back to Gary and advice for speakers to share their origin stories

Hussain Sayeed

  • His origin story with BT and HP
  • Reasons for attending the BDS meetup
  • The promise of a safe pair of technology hands in his third week as an entrepreneur
  • Cisco, the Cloud are not always the answer for SMEs
  • Back to Gary and more advice

Arthi Ramakrishnan

  • An Indian Corporate Solution provider
  • Skills Development in Information Technology, Telecommunication and Soft-Skills
  • The company origin story
  • Arthi’s time in Singapore

Back to Gary and more advice

Neville J. McKenzie

  • The importance of getting your message across
  • How can AsiaBizStories help you
  • Self help advice with public speaking with everyone has one of these

Finally back to Gary with some love to me.