Show Notes
Founded twelve years ago, Rhymba Hills has steadily grown into a highly decorated, internationally recognised premium botanical infusion brand. The fully bootstrapped business has secured the prestigious Great Taste Award in the UK and a gourmet award in Paris, while successfully exporting to highly competitive markets including London, Japan, and Dubai. The company has also been appointed as a Strategic Partner for Visit Malaysia Year 2026 and currently supplies premium raw materials to one of the largest tea companies in the country.
Despite the string of global achievements, the operational reality of the business tells a story of immense entrepreneurial endurance. Rhymba Hills is profitable and successfully holds premium retail shelf space, yet after more than a decade of grinding through gruelling two-year sales cycles and overcoming constant rejection, the business still generates under a million ringgit in annual revenue. Founder Ciinndey Wong has navigated the long-steeped growth entirely on her own terms, fighting through self-doubt and the constant pressure of making payroll to keep her vision alive.
Ciinndey joins us for an unusually candid conversation about the harsh realities of slow business growth and what it genuinely costs to survive a twelve-year entrepreneurial journey. We explore the mental fortitude required to keep going when the financial scale does not immediately match the global accolades, as well as the challenges of acquiring customers in a highly traditional beverage market. We also unpack her upcoming export push into Europe and Hong Kong and discuss what the ultimate endgame looks like for a founder who refuses to quit. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More from Open For Business
While the AI ecosystem is filled with developer meetups and technical hackathons, a gap remains for non-technical professionals, creatives, and entrepreneurs who need hands-on familiarity with AI tools. PROMPT:CITY is tackling this space by collaborating with cultural events like Urbanscapes 2026 to reach everyday consumers and hobbyists where they spend their time. Wong Joon Ian, Founder of PROMPT:CITY, joins Open for Business to discuss how he is building a sustainable events and media platform around AI education. He breaks down the unit economics of ticket sales versus corporate sponsorships, the rise of "vibe coding" and bespoke software, navigating creative backlash against generative tools, and his strategy for expanding the platform across Asia-Pacific subcultures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In 2015, a professional wedding planner preparing for her own marriage hit a brick wall. Despite her industry connections, she collided with the premium bridal market’s quietest rule: top-tier designers cut their gowns for one body type. If a bride falls outside those rigid proportions, the luxury tier shuts its doors. Rejecting the standard industry compromise of cheap lookalikes, East Chin flew to Barcelona. There, she discovered independent European ateliers crafting extraordinary, inclusive garments without the famous-name markups, and she returned home to build The Gown Atelier around them - Four hundred gowns spread across a lot of different labels, so that the bride nobody else could dress would walk down the aisle in something she loved. East joins us to strip away the romance of the wedding industry and expose the arithmetic of renting dresses. We break down the reality of competitor price wars, and discuss exactly why a premium gown that once paid for itself in two rentals now demands five. We also explore the logistical machine behind Malaysia Bridal Fashion Week, and the expensive lesson East learned when she realised her own personal taste did not match the market she served. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jaedals was created to kill the historical compromise between comfortable “trekky sandals” and style. But the brand's true differentiator lies in its unconventional production engine. Rather than relying wholly on traditional factory assembly lines, the company employs underserved women across Singapore who sew and embellish the sandals directly from their own living rooms. After spending nearly two decades building global campaigns for advertising agencies like Ogilvy and TBWA, founder Maggie Dumra launched the brand last year and immediately weaponised her corporate experience to scale the business. Today, Jaedals operates a flagship store in Orchard Road's Mandarin Gallery and secures premium shelf space at Club 21 and KrisShop. By deliberately reinvesting every dollar back into product and team development, the bootstrapped company tripled its revenue over eighteen months without taking a single cent of institutional equity. Now, the brand is pushing into its first international market: Malaysia. Maggie joins us to unpack the precise unit economics of a Jaedal sandal and the real financial trade-offs of her decentralised production model. We explore why the company actively chooses to delay profitability, and whether a brand deeply tied to one city's culture can successfully capture the Malaysian market. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Batik Boutique is accelerating its retail expansion with the launch of its 1,500-square-foot flagship outlet at Merdeka 118, alongside achieving B Corp recertification with a 92-point score. The social enterprise saw a 75% year-to-date growth in its B2B segment and a 20% rise in B2C retail, further boosted by a viral moment when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wore their joint-designed shirt at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Amy Blair, Founder and CEO of Batik Boutique, joins Open for Business to unpack how the brand capitalised on its Formula 1 collaboration with the Bahrain International Circuit. She discusses managing artisanal supply chains alongside retail expansion, utilising AI for operational efficiency and B2B design, and balancing corporate gifting with long-term brand equity. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
For more information on BFM's SME event, click the link here. Gyms in Malaysia aren’t known for big profits, and there’s no shortage of them. So why would seven friends who train together open another one? COR3 in Kota Damansara is a “box,” the term functional fitness folks use for their gyms. It’s a semi-outdoor space packed with barbells and weights. Six months after opening, it already has more than 150 members. Joanne Lim and Eddie Yap, two of the seven co-founders, join us to talk about why they started COR3 and how the business works. We discuss: Seven founders, no single boss: How a group of friends from very different careers makes decisions together, and how they funded the gym.