ScaleUp on lookout for firms with high growth potential in ‘new normal’
KUALA LUMPUR: The Covid-19 pandemic presents an opportunity for companies to scale up as that there are fewer ties to geographical or physical locations, according to a professional training and coaching specialist.
ScaleUp Malaysia managing partner Tay Shan Li said the pandemic also provided an opportunity for faster digital adoption.
“I believe in any crisis, there lies an opportunity. We will be on the lookout this year for companies that can take advantage of these opportunities and show high growth potential,” she told the New Straits Times.
She said this would be a year of the “new normal”.
“(Company) founders will need to be disciplined and focused on solving ‘new normal’ problems. We have companies from very different industries in ScaleUp Malaysia and our focus has always been on building companies with strong fundamentals and high scalability potential.”
Tay said last year was a time for companies to stop, take a step back and figure out what they really needed to focus to move forward.
“It was a year where the resilient, the agile and those with strong fundamentals have survived. Those focusing on remote services, logistics, e-commerce, etc, obviously thrived, while those who were in travel or retail
saw the need to focus their efforts on digitising their services and tweaking their growth strategy.”
Citing an example, Tay said a firm with an app for learning centres started offering remote learning services.
“Another company saw success in the virtual running space and when on-ground runs and events could not be organised, they saw a lot of interest from sponsors wanting to do virtual events instead,” she said.
ScaleUp Malaysia is an accelerator which focuses on growthstage companies.