Philanthropy

How the hospitality industry can defy the wastage stereotype to be a positive role model in sustainability

MANY AVIATION pundits believe that in the near future, tech-savvy passengers will prefer watching shows downloaded straight onto their own devices, and conventional seatback systems will give way to headsets delivering virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Not so fast, say Pravin and Leanne Jumabhoy, the husband-and-wife team behind content service provider Images in Motion. Headquartered in Singapore with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Ireland, the company works with content creators and hardware suppliers to encode and curate movies, televisions shows and music for over 30 Asian airlines. Its founders believe there is still some way to go before in-flight entertainment enters a brave new world. “A lot of people think Bring Your Own Device is the way things are going to go—you load up your device with what you want to watch, and there’ll be a charging port on the plane,” says Pravin. “But I can’t see many premium passengers bothering to download hours of content for a long-haul flight.” “Kids might do that, but they don’t pay for the airfare,” Leanne adds with a wry smile. “Every industry wants to grab technology, but based on my observations when I travel, the number of people getting out their ipads to watch movies is far fewer than you would think.” As for VR and AR content, it is early days yet, because “there are huge costs involved, from the headsets to producing the content”, Pravin points out. Still, this couple knows from experience that theirs is an industry where things can change very quickly. Born in the UK to Singaporean parents, Pravin was trained in engineering, while Australian-born Leanne used to be an accountant; they met in Singapore in the 1990s, when regional airlines were booming but not being serviced by the UK- and Us-based big players in in-flight entertainment. Seeing a gap in the market, they decided to start their own business in 1997, courting emerging Asian airlines. Their first client was Air Lanka, now known as Srilankan Airlines. “We flew to Sri Lanka for the tender and I don’t think anyone else went, because it was a war zone,” Leanne remembers. With the country embroiled in civil war, the car they were in was stopped every few kilometres for security checks; a few weeks after they left, the hotel they stayed in got bombed. “But we got the contract. It was a small one, but it meant that we could start.” The years to come brought the Asian financial crisis, 9/11 and the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome or Sars, all of which roiled commercial aviation. Images in Motion stayed the course, sticking with its regional strategy. “It was tough but all the other players wrote off the region, so we were able to secure bigger clients,” says Leanne of the Sars period in 2003. “For now, our main focus is China. We’ll continue to try and expand our operations there and target the new Chinese airlines,” says Pravin. Tackling turbulence in the business together for the past 20 years, “it has felt like Leanne and I taking on the world for most of it”, Pravin shares. After being based in the UK for five years, the couple moved their family back to Singapore last year and are looking to give back to society, making a $1m donation to Food from the Heart this year. With this support, the food distribution charity plans to launch 30 new Self Collection Centres over the next five years in the north and west of Singapore. Underprivileged families can obtain essential food items from these centres. “We wanted to mark our company’s 20th year by doing something meaningful, and give both the young and old every opportunity to live healthy, happy and productive lives,” Pravin explains. “We hope this contribution will not only touch lives but also inspire other organisations to play their part by giving back to the community.”