Month: March 2021

Categories
Business & Commerce Social Responsiblity & Sustainability

Inaugural Lazada Forward Women Awards
Celebrates Female Entrepreneurs

Lazada Forward Women Awards 2021

By LazBeat Staff
March 16, 2021

Four years ago, Annie Chia’s flower shop, which was passed down to her by her parents, was destroyed in a fire. She was distraught about the loss of her store but was determined not to give up and continued running her business from a rented space before eventually bringing her bouquets online to Lazada Malaysia. With no previous eCommerce experience, the 44-year-old entrepreneur had to learn everything from scratch, from taking and uploading photos to ways to boost traffic to her online store, NLWK Florist.

“We should have the courage to try,” Chia said. “If you don’t try, you’ll never know how it will turn out.” Chia’s courage and determination paid off. Her store currently holds a 98% positive seller rating, and she was even able to operate and earn an income during the country’s pandemic lockdown period.

Inspiring stories like Chia’s are plentiful among Lazada’s vast community of female entrepreneurs across Southeast Asia, which is why the platform decided this year to launch its inaugural Lazada Forward Women Awards (LFWA) to celebrate the resilience and achievements of these local businesswomen.

The event, which was livestreamed on International Women’s Day on March 8, honoured Chia with the LFWA Inspiring Seller award and also recognised five other women from the region who’ve used technology and digital tools to make a difference for their businesses, families and communities.

WATCH: Highlights from the Lazada Forward Women Awards

“At Lazada, we have long recognised the importance of embracing diversity and empowering women in our ecosystem,” said Sophie Xue, Lazada Group’s chief people officer. “We hope the launch of these awards will inspire hope and encourage more women to use digital technology and commerce to showcase their talents and forge new paths for themselves.”

Also among the women celebrated at the event was Hanna Suhardi, who was named an LFWA Inspiring Seller alongside Chia. The 29-year-old entrepreneur is the owner of Shopping Shoes, an online store on Lazada Indonesia that works with several villages in West and Central Java to bring artisanal footwear and bags to consumers. Aside from reviving interest in the villages’ traditional tailoring, the store also provides income to more than 100 residents from those communities.

For many Lazada merchants, success means not only performing well financially but also running a business that has a positive impact on consumers and communities. This is especially true for Georgianna Carlos from the Philippines, who was presented with the LFWA Enterprising Seller award. Carlos started her business, Fetch, after she realised that one of her family’s rescue puppies had extremely sensitive, allergy-prone skin. To address this problem, she started researching and developing an all-natural shampoo that would be safe for pets, humans and also the environment. Her range of pet-care products, chews and treats are certified by the Food and Drug Administration. To make sure she can do as much good as possible, the young entrepreneur, who was featured in Forbes Asia’s “30 Under 30” last year, also uses the success of her business to support a local animal shelter.

Meanwhile, Lalilla Thamnita, another Enterprising Seller, has been using her agricultural supplies store, AggieHome, on Lazada Thailand to address the needs of local rural communities. After learning that some of the villages she serves has no electricity, she added solar panels and equipment to her store’s offerings so that consumers can have access to cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable sources of power. The care she has for her customers is also reflected in the way she runs her business: to ensure shoppers are able to achieve farming success, the 39-year-old seller provides detailed descriptions and instructional videos for her products and also offers 24-hour customer service.

NLWK Florist’s Annie Chia was among the female entrepreneurs honoured at the inaugural Lazada Forward Women Awards.

A recipient of the third category award was Anne Ong, 56, who was named a Creative Seller. The former architect turned her love for cooking into a new career path when she came up with the idea of sharing baking premixes of her favourite recipes with the parents at her son’s school so that they, too, could make delicious treats with their children. She eventually founded Anne’s Secret Recipe and has been selling premixes for goodies such as her chewy chocolate chip cookies and Nonya-inspired pandan coconut cupcakes on Lazada Singapore’s RedMart Specialty Stores platform, garnering a loyal fan base of consumers not only from all over Asia but even from the Maldives.

The Creative Seller award was also presented to Pham Thi Xuan Hong, 34, a Lazada Vietnam seller who has been using eCommerce as a way to express her individuality. Aside from sourcing for trendy items for her shoe store, PinkShopGiayDep, the once camera-shy Hong has found great success with her fun and informative LazLive broadcasts that cover a wide range of topics, such as the type of shoes to wear on a first date. On top of her regular livestreams, Hong also creates other content, such as her own gameshow with voucher giveaways, to keep shoppers engaged.

With their different backgrounds and experiences, the six award winners exemplify the strength and diverse talents of women across Southeast Asia. “These women demonstrated resilience and innovation as online business owners, and it is truly inspiring to hear their stories of personal and professional success,” Xue said. “As we continue our commitment to diversity and gender equity, we look forward to celebrating the achievements of even more outstanding women in the future.”

Categories
Inside Lazada

Sherry Tan, 46,
Chief Business Officer, Lazada Malaysia

Humans of Lazada - Sherry Tan

March 16, 2021

Our “Humans of Lazada” series takes a look at the professional and personal lives of the more than 8,000 people who work at Lazada. Click here for more stories from this series.

“Lazada had just celebrated its seventh birthday sales campaign, and everyone was getting ready to wind down, celebrate the results and recharge before our next project. That was when I got the news. March 29, 2019. Breast cancer. All I could think of at that moment was my son, who was only 11 years old at the time.

As a single mum, I am the only parent my son has. I had to fight this disease and be strong for my son. Giving up was never an option. After all, I’m known as the “iron lady” at work. My family rallied around us, offering unwavering support during my treatment and recovery. In fact, visits from my family became so frequent that at one point I had to kick them out just so I could rest! But that’s the best thing about family, right? They are there even when you don’t want them to be, and for that, I am grateful.
The best surprise – and my pride – was my son. He was my biggest supporter, always telling me how strong I was, especially on days when I didn’t feel like that at all. I thought I had to be strong for him, but in fact, it was the other way around.

I am in remission now, and each day is a gift – a gift to spend more time with my family, with my son. I’ve also begun catching up on the latest Korean and Chinese comedy and drama series. They are a great way to destress and also to feed my wanderlust since international travel isn’t as easy as it used to be.

To the women who may be going through what I did, stay positive. We are often stronger than we think but, also, don’t be afraid to show your vulnerability during tough times. The beauty is that during the dark days, we have people stronger than us. Reach out, get coffee, go for a walk with the people you love and who love you. You are not alone in this journey.”

This profile was compiled by Anoushka Bhar from the Lazada PR team in Malaysia.

Categories
Inside Lazada

Supatcha Pinwiset (Fern), 25,
New Business Senior Analyst, Lazada Thailand

Humans of Lazada - Supatcha Pinwiset

March 16, 2021

Our “Humans of Lazada” series takes a look at the professional and personal lives of the more than 8,000 people who work at Lazada. Click here for more stories from this series.

“I never thought I would be responsible for raising a child in my early 20s, but all this changed when my younger sister became pregnant with my niece.

Growing up, my sister and I were close. She was always the shy one, and I, being five years older, felt it was my duty to protect her. In high school, she met a guy, but he wasn’t right for her. We tried to warn her at the time, but she wouldn’t listen and even ran away from home.   

Eventually, she became pregnant with his child. He refused to take responsibility, and my sister was too young and not ready to be a mother. My parents were dealing with some financial troubles and could barely cope themselves. For the first time in my life I felt this overwhelming desire to become responsible for someone else’s life – my little baby niece.

I had also just graduated from university at that time and was looking forward to living my life as a free and young adult. The arrival of my niece made me reconsider my priorities. I could no longer go out with my friends whenever I wanted to or go on spontaneous weekend trips to the beaches. But even with all that, I never considered my niece to be a burden. In fact, she has become the delight and source of strength in my life. Life will always be lined with obstacles, but also gems along the way.” 

This profile was compiled by Pimchaya Boonyarattaphan (Kwang) from the Lazada PR team in Thailand.

Categories
Inside Lazada

Evelyn Yonathan, 39,
Chief People Officer, Lazada Indonesia

Humans of Lazada - Evelyn Yonathan

March 16, 2021

Our “Humans of Lazada” series takes a look at the professional and personal lives of the more than 8,000 people who work at Lazada. Click here for more stories from this series.

“I majored in psychology and spent a year and a half after university as a child therapist, working primarily with children with autism. Those were challenging but fulfilling days. I felt the parents’ angst and frustrations when they could not understand their child, but I also experienced their joy when they finally learned how to read the child’s cues and trigger points and could communicate with him or her.

Curiosity then got the better of me. I wondered what it would be like to work in a corporate environment and ended up in a sales and marketing job that eventually led me to join Lazada in 2016 as a category director. One of my jobs at the time was to train owners of micro, small and medium enterprises and to help them expand their businesses online. At times, I could sense the frustrations and feelings of uncertainty from these business owners who were selling online for the first time. But when they shared with me stories of how they were now able to send their kids to better schools and have a better quality of life, I also shared in their happiness and delight.

I realised that whether as a child therapist or a sales person, one can have the ability, and I would even say power, to change other people’s lives for the better. Putting people at the centre of what we do gives more meaning to whatever it is that we are doing. Now in my role as chief people officer, where I’m responsible for hundreds of Lazada Indonesia employees, this philosophy resonates even more. Working remotely during the pandemic has been tough for many colleagues. I can understand their frustrations. My team sent out care packages with juice and vitamins to everyone, from the office boy to the board of directors, so that everyone can stay healthy and also share in the relief that we are not alone in this situation.”

This profile was compiled by Jessica Horsan from the Lazada PR team in Indonesia.

Categories
Business & Commerce

Training for the Future:
An AI Expert on Human and Tech Innovation

Lazada Felix Yuwono

By LazBeat Staff
March 16, 2021

Part of Felix Yuwono’s job is to train up Lazada’s customer care team. Only, who – or rather, what – he trains isn’t your typical service representative but are the eCommerce platform’s artificial intelligence chatbots.

As one of the largest eCommerce platforms in Southeast Asia, Lazada has developed two AI-powered chatbots; the Lazada Customer Engagement Officer – CLEO for short – was created to cater to consumers’ needs, while another tool called ADA offers help to sellers on the platform. Not only are these chatbots available 24/7, they’ve been “taught” by Lazada’s dedicated AI training team on how to address questions and requests in real-time with a high degree of precision while still retaining the warmth of human interactions.

If a shopper wants to know about delivery options, for example, they can simply ask CLEO, which will be able to instantly share a full list of shipping options and rates. Or if sellers are unsure of how to maximise their sales, ADA is on hand to provide guidance on everything from logistics support to available campaign tools.

Despite the sophistication of these chatbots, Yuwono, the head of AI at Lazada Indonesia, emphasizes that they are designed not to replace but rather promote human capabilities.

“Sure, the chatbot can answer questions, but when it comes to complex problem solving with creativity and analytical thinking, that’s when the AI trainer plays a key role,” he said, adding that AI trainers shape the characters of artificial intelligence and help them understand different consumer questions as well as various styles of language, from regional dialects to colloquial slang.

While AI trainers are a relatively new profession, demand for them has grown in recent years as industries across the globe have accelerated their digitalization. In fact, according to a recent World Economic Forum report, it is estimated that machines and algorithms will create 97 million new jobs by 2025.

These jobs will play a particularly critical role in eCommerce – currently one of the fastest-growing industries in the global market – with AI trainers already key to creating comfortable, safe and engaging shopping experiences.

“At Lazada, the AI ​​trainer profession is truly an important part of our operations,” Lazada Indonesia CEO Ferry Kusnowo said. Thanks to these trainers, the eCommerce platform boasts a Chatbot Resolve Rate – the measure for the company’s AI-fuelled problem-solving – that’s higher than the industry average, Kusnowo explained.

The job of AI training, of course, is no easy feat, involving constant refinement and updates to algorithms. Because of this, AI trainers must not only be sophisticated in creating computer programmes but must also have the analytical skills and creativity to solve complex problems as they arise. They need to be able to fully understand the questions and pain points of users, check the data, come up with and implement solutions and also monitor the impact that those solutions have. And of top of all that, they must also keep up with the latest trends and recognize changes in communication conventions so that AI programmes can maintain the level of human-like conversation abilities that users have come to expect.

While the job may be demanding, Yuwono, who was named Global Champion for the Best Use of Self-Service Technology and Best Technology Innovation at the 2019 Contact Center World Awards, says that it’s precisely these challenges that make AI training such a rewarding vocation, especially at a time when digitalization is becoming increasingly essential.

“Being an AI trainer pushes me to always build, measure and learn,” he said. “As our technology continues to evolve and advance, it’s important that we as humans also keep up with the latest in digital innovations.”