Making All the Right Calls

Timing is always key and it has been the motto for serial entrepreneur Ganesh Kumar Bangah. Time and time again, the veteran businessman invested in upcoming trends such as fintech and e-commerce years before they take off

For serial entrepreneur Ganesh Kumar Bangah, timing is everything

If you were to ask anyone in the Malaysian startup scene there is a good chance the name Ganesh Kumar Bangah rings a bell. The serial entrepreneur started his first tech business, MOL Global, in 2000, at the tender age of 20, with a backing of RM2 million from Berjaya Corporation’s Tan Sri Vincent Tan. Three years later, MOL was listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange, making him the youngest chief executive officer of a public listed company in Malaysia.

His accolades don’t stop there. Ganesh, who is referred to as ‘The Bill Gates of Malaysia’, was also named the Ernst & Young Technology Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012. He also served as the chairman of PIKOM, the National Tech Association of Malaysia from 2017 to 2019.

Ganesh prides himself as a visionary who is able to see future trends and invests in them today. He says MOL Global was way ahead of its time as it was facilitating digital payments and had an e-wallet back in the early 2000s. Essentially, Ganesh says proudly, MOL was a fintech company long before the term even caught on.

He served as MOL’S CEO for 15 years until 2015. After the company was acquired by the Singaporean gaming lifestyle brand Razer, he subsequently exited MOL and turned his attention towards his next venture Commerce.asia, an e-commerce ecosystem builder with the goal of enabling brands and merchants to succeed online.

He paid extra atttention to e-commerce because the industry had reached an inflection point and it would continue to grow exponentially. According to him, elements such as logistics and payment infrastructure were already in place in Malaysia. It turned out to be a good decision as Malaysia’s e-commerce market was estimated to have grown 25 per cent in 2020 and it is projected to make up the majority of retail transactions in the future.

To illustrate the positive impact e-commerce players have experienced over the past year, Ganesh cited the example of a bedding company that saw its online revenue balloon from RM50,000 a month to RM2.5 million a month over 18 months. This astounding 50 times jump in revenue is way ahead of the findings by the Department of Statistics Malaysia. It says the country’s e-commerce income doubled in three years, recording RM896.4 billion in 2020 compared to RM447.8 billion in 2017.

That said, a lot needs to be done to help local SMES increase and capitalise on their online presence. This is one of the main reasons why Ganesh founded Commerce.asia.

“The Commerce.asia group combines all the technology components together with managed services that provide a single one-stop solution for brands and businesses to sell—and succeed—online,” says Ganesh. “We are ‘all in one’ which makes us cost-effective with superior operational efficiencies. When starting out, some brands may be intimidated by the complexities of processes involved. They no longer have to worry if they partner with us due to our ‘omni-channel strategy’ and outsourced services.

“We believe in nurturing ‘win-win’ partnerships with clients while helping them generate sustainable revenue and increase profits consistently. We uphold the philosophy of offering a unified ecosystem of opportunities that would create value and wealth for clients,” he adds.

To stay successful in the online space, Ganesh says local merchants need to successfully grow their businesses locally and expand regionally. Furthermore, running an e-commerce business involves more than opening a webstore. He explains, in order to grow a business effectively, companies need to pay close attention on marketing their products online.

Staying one step ahead, Ganesh sees social commerce, which is the act of selling e-commerce goods over social media, as the next major trend to ride. He says influencer marketing is set to take the e-commerce world by storm. For those unfamiliar, influencers are typically people with lots of fans on social media platforms like Instagram, Youtube and Tiktok, and are paid to promote products on their accounts.

To fuel his social commerce ambitions, Ganesh acquired the Australia-listed digital media company Netccentric in early 2020. The company, which also owns Nuffnang, operates in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan. With its database of 15,000 influencers, Netccentric is said to be the largest influencer marketing platform in Malaysia.

He explains that the time is right to invest in the influencer market as the cost of advertising on social media platforms has gone up, hence giving rise to influencer marketing. “The creator economy is still very nascent today,” he says. “Forbes estimates it is set to grow six times from US$104 billion today to US$600 billion by 2027.”

Furthermore, he is of the opinion that influencers will play an important role in marketing products. In fact, some have already begun selling and promoting their own products especially on platforms like Instagram.

Beyond business, the 22-year tech industry veteran’s real passion in life is mentorship. Ganesh admits that he enjoys teaching budding entrepreneurs more than running a business. One of his long-term goals is to train the next generation of entrepreneurs and help bring them up to the next level.

“I believe the world has a lot of problems now and entrepreneurs are the ones who can solve them. If you look at the core principles of entrepreneurship, it is about solving problems. Building up the next generation of talented business leaders means training individuals who are not only focused on profit but are also determined to solve society’s problems through entrepreneurship,” he says.

Given his many years of experience running successful businesses, Ganesh has a few tips for aspiring entrepreneurs. “Every business has its series of ups and downs. Most businesses fail because entrepreneurs give up during the bad times. The trick is to find the capacity to last through the bad times and never give up,” he says.

Adding to that, prudence is a virtue Ganesh extols as he believes the one true way to get through hard times is to manage costs. “During a downturn, we can’t control the amount of revenue we make but we can control our costs.”

“Every business has its series of ups and downs. Most businesses fail because entrepreneurs give up during the bad times. The trick is to find the capacity to last through the bad times and never give up”