Malaysian firm bags award in S’pore

Tech platform wins in emerging enterprise category for digitising part-time work

MALAYSIAN human resources technology platform Troopers Innovation Sdn Bhd was recognised at the Emerging Enterprise Awards 2023 in Singapore.

The event was jointly organised by Singapore’s The Business Times and OCBC Group, and was open to all qualifying enterprises in Asia.

Troopers won in the Emerging Enterprise Award category. The other two winners in the category were Singapore companies CoNEX Healthcare Pte Ltd and ProfilePrint Pte Ltd.

Two other Malaysian companies made it to the final – Didian Realtor Sdn Bhd (Emerging Enterprise Award category) and BSL Eco Energy Sdn Bhd (Emerging Enterprise Sustainability Award category).

Founded by Joshua Tan and Kelvin Lee, Troopers is a digital platform that aims to grant equitable access to flexible work for Malaysians.

Since its inception in 2017, Troopers has grown to become a flexible job-matching platform, working with a range of brands across Malaysia to meet their flexible manpower needs.

These include on-ground activations, offline marketing, merchandising, in-store promotion, logistics, warehousing and shared services.

As part of its ongoing commitment to building a flexible ecosystem, Troopers launched the Troopers app in 2021.

It has since garnered over 220,000 verified users, generating over RM30mil in income for gig workers on the app.

As of August, Troopers had expanded its offerings to companies and talents in Singapore.

For winning, Troopers receives preferential financial facility of a two-year interest-free term loan of up to S$200,000 (RM698,000) from OCBC and media publicity in print, digital, social media, radio, and podcasts from The Business Times as well as a business consulting package worth S$30,000 (RM105,000) from RSM.

Troopers chief operating officer Craig Goonting said, “We are honoured to be the first Malaysian business recipient of this award for our efforts to digitise part-time work across South-east Asia.

“We hope the Troopers app will be able to redefine part-time work and bring more legitimacy, accountability and transparency to the space to change the way people work across the region.”

The eight winners received their awards from Singapore National Development as well as Communications and Information senior minister Tan Kiat How.

Launched in 2008, the Emerging Enterprise Awards is an annual event that recognises young businesses below 10 years for their innovation, resilience and excellence.

This is the first year the awards was open to emerging businesses across the region.

This year, more than 600 applications were received across various industries.

A total of 30 companies were selected as finalists.

Commenting on the presence of a Malaysian company on the winner’s list this year, OCBC Bank (M) Bhd chief executive officer Tan Chor Sen said this was an encouraging sign.

“All the award winners are businesses that drive consistent, significant and sustainable growth, resulting in excellent business performance and displaying the ability to upscale and expand overseas.

“Congratulations to Troopers for doing Malaysia proud.”

For details on the Emerging Enterprise Awards 2023, visit: www.businesstimes.com.sg/events-awards/ emerging-enterprise