It is with mixed feelings that I am saying goodbye to 2016.
In 2016, Malaysians made an impact across so many fields including the Paralympics, medical science, and even in the entertainment industry.
On the other hand, many events took much of the world by surprise – Brexit, Trump, our battered Ringgit – so many ups and so many downs, just like a rollercoaster.
If anything, 2016 truly proved that anything can happen, if enough people cared enough and worked towards it.
From a company perspective, it has been an exciting year as well.
In March, we announced our seed funding of $1M, and that started us on a growth trajectory throughout South East Asia.
In July, we launched an on-demand Home service business called Recommend Express across the region, and that has been growing fast.
In August, we surpassed 100,000 customers and 10,000 service professionals, becoming the largest service platform in Indonesia and South East Asia.
In October, we launched South East Asia’s first and only service transaction platform called Recommend Pay, where you can now pay online for any service from a plumbing job to a renovation and every job is automatically protected and insured.
In December, we won the Alliance Bank SME Innovation Challenge Visa Award, with a RM100,000 prize money to further develop our online payments system.
This would not have been possible without you – our customers, our service professionals, our investors, our cheerleaders.
You believed and cared enough in our mission to transform the service industry. You are the reason we are still working towards this dream.
Looking forward to 2017, the experts out there (economists, central banks) are telling us to expect a mediocre year. Slow growth, weak currencies, pessimistic consumer sentiments. Pull back, pull back, they are saying.
But I believe that 2017 will pose new and different challenges for us at Recommend. No matter what it brings, we will continue our mission to transform the service industry, day by day.
Here’s to a bright and shiny 2017 where truly anything can happen, if you care enough to make it happen.
Happy New Year everyone.
Jes Min
