Day: December 29, 2021

We volunteered for flood cleanup at Taman Sri Muda, here’re 6 takeaways from the experience

The end of the year was coming close, and Malaysians were likely ready to celebrate the coming of the new year. Despite Omicron, the nation’s COVID-19 crisis seemed to be on a gradual mend.

But then heavy rains came on December 16, 2021, and didn’t cease for several days. By the time the tragedy had made the headlines over the weekend, severe damage was already done.

Properties and vehicles were wrecked, people were stranded, missing, found deceased (48 bodies at the time of writing), and now tens of thousands of people are displaced.

It was a grim and bleak situation, but unaffected communities who were able to help quickly began organising fundraisers and volunteer efforts to relieve the flood’s impact.

Specialised companies like Aerodyne, a drone solutions provider in Malaysia, also volunteered their tactical drones to help with search and rescue, identifying escape routes, clogged waterways, and more.

Small businesses like car workshops and phone repair shops began offering free services to help those whose vehicles and devices were damaged in the flood.

As we at Vulcan Post aren’t equipped to help with more advanced flood relief efforts like the above, what we were able to instead offer was manpower.

Thus, my colleagues and I headed to Taman Sri Muda to help out the founders of S.I Home Shelter, a shelter for rescued cats and dogs. Here’s what we learnt through this volunteering effort.

1. You don’t need to limit yourself to charities if you want to volunteer.

Planning a volunteer drive is tough work, so it makes sense to reach out to established charities and join their already-organised efforts.

But larger organisations typically have to do more structured planning since they’re dealing with a big volume of volunteers. Therefore, they may not be able to adapt to your schedule or requests.

If that’s the case though, don’t give up on volunteering. Instead, you can find many other places that need your help, and you can go at your own convenience.

This enables you to help those whom the charities aren’t able to reach yet, and you can get to work much faster without waiting for an organisation to pass you the details.

We found out that S.I Home Shelter needed help through their social media, as their home (an extension of the shelter where they keep some other rescued cats and dogs) was filled with mud and silt that the flood waters brought in.

We volunteered at this shelter back in 2019, and we felt compelled to extend our help to them once again.

2. To help effectively, get an idea of what their situation is currently like.

A few important questions are: Have the flood waters in their area receded? Do they have electricity? What about the water supply? Do they need help with lifting heavy items, procuring necessities, or cleaning up the dried mud and dirt?

Everyone’s situation is slightly different, so while one affected group may need necessities more, another may simply need volunteer manpower.

Since we had spoken to S.I Home Shelter, we knew that there was still no electricity in their area. If we wanted to use any water jets, we’d need a generator.

They do have one but we later on found out why they aren’t able to always rely on it.

3. Come prepared with your own equipment, these are the must-have tools.

Aside from a water jet, other items we brought included buckets, small and large squeegees, dustpans, buckets/pails, a variety of scrubs, scrubber brooms, rolls of heavy duty large plastic trash bags, and soap/detergent.

You can get most of these at low prices from Mr DIY or Giant.

Coming back to the generator and power jet, we realised that the water jet wasn’t actually very handy due to the low water pressure. 

This was where the trash bags, dustpans, and squeegees came in handy, allowing us to scrape up and dispose of the debris before further cleanup.

For smaller areas and items, we used a variety of long-handled metal scouring pads, brush scrubs (like for laundry), and sponges.

The long-handled metal scouring pads were really useful for scrubbing away dried mud in hard-to-reach places in cages, tables, and more.

Meanwhile, the brush scrubs were handy for more detailed work in the grooves of items like chairs, or for flat surfaces like dog bowls.

Rubber gloves and boots are a must. The surface of the gloves also is effective at rubbing out mud on certain surfaces.  

4. Prioritise what you can help with. 

Upon reaching the house, we took a quick look around to assess the damage. That walkabout was very overwhelming, the first floor of the house was a shell of what it once was.

Furniture was stacked in piles at the front porch of the house. Both toilet floors had a thick layer of mud sludge and smelled really bad.

There was a lot to do, and it took a moment to digest the sight in front of us.

The drains in both toilets were actually clogged due to the mud and silt. Since we didn’t know how to properly unclog them, we had to choose our battles. 

The entry and exit of the home were difficult with the various dirty items there so we helped to clean those up first and move them out of the way.

For the toilets, the best we could do was manually remove the layer of mud and clean the floors without adding more water because there is no working drainage system.

5. Though some items are badly damaged, they may still be valuable to the owners.

Remember to ask before you throw anything out. Just because it’s dirty, broken, or in a pile of other “rubbish” doesn’t mean it has no more sentimental value left for the owner.

We made sure to check with the owners what they planned to keep, or where we could move the items to.

Then we placed the items into several bags and left them in designated spots so they didn’t get accidentally thrown out with the rest of the rubbish.

6. It’s fine to not have fancy power tools, manual labour is highly appreciated.

As mentioned earlier, we brought water jets but weren’t even able to use them in the end. But our hands and the basic tools we had at our disposal were more than enough.

In the span of 3+ hours, we still managed to clean up the majority of the mud in the house and on items. 

At the end of the day, every small effort and help counts, even if you were just helping with rinsing or carrying buckets around. No role is insignificant in a scenario where teamwork is needed.

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We were a small but mighty team, we could visibly see the difference we’d made in the shelter home.

Not only was it cleaner, but it was also less cluttered. Now, the owners would be able to move around a bit more freely and make use of the items that are clean. 

Shortly before we left, a new group of volunteers came in. Now they could pick up where we left off and clean other areas.

While it was visually rewarding to see the physical impact of our work, of the dried mud being scrubbed and washed away from items and floors, what felt most rewarding was the community spirit we felt in coming together and extending a helping hand.

Pretty much every other volunteer we met at S.I Home Shelter that day was an individual who had simply come to help after seeing the shelter’s social media posts requesting aid.

As we worked together, we got to know each other better and the rapport we built lightened the mood and enhanced our teamwork. Someone even put on some cheerful music later on, which kept us motivated.

To Lu Yee, Nas, Rohana, and the other volunteers we cleaned alongside with at S.I Home Shelter, it was a pleasure to work with you to create a positive impact in this time of need.

That being said, there’s still a lot of work to be done. S.I Home Shelter was only one spot we tackled that day. Throughout the neighbourhood, we saw the roads absolutely littered with large, damaged items that the council hadn’t cleared yet.

There were also many smaller piles of rubbish all over. Those need to be cleaned up ASAP as they could spread bacteria and diseases.

But Taman Sri Muda isn’t the only affected area either. It’s gotten the most media attention for one of the worst flood-hit areas, but some other areas needing urgent help include Hulu Langat, Port Klang, Bukit Tinggi, and more.

Hopefully, this article can inspire you with your own volunteer efforts as you head out to make an impact (no matter how small or large) on the ground.

• If you can’t physically volunteer, check out our list of fundraisers you can donate to for flood relief here instead.

Also Read: 6 highlights from this insightful entrepreneur event, one of the first in M’sia post-COVID

How much can a fresh grad earn? Here’s a list of S’pore sectors with highest starting salaries

The job market has taken a hit since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is gradually recovering.

Resident employment rose strongly by 19,100, up from the 4,800 in the second quarter. This partly offsets a 21,500 fall in non-resident employment, comparable to the fall of 21,100 in the second quarter.

Whether you are deciding on your major in university or a couple of months away from graduating, the world is indeed your oyster.

However, you know what they say, the pearls are not free. It has been reported that fresh university graduates are now earning a higher starting salary than their seniors. The new batch of fresh grads has starting salaries of S$4,000 to S$5,000, though these are in areas of computing and business.

Additionally, the median salary for Singaporeans is now at S$4,534. This is an encouraging figure for fresh grads, and like Jessie J, we want to know where the money is.

So, if you’re in it for the ‘moolah’, then here’s a list of industries with the highest starting salaries for fresh graduates in Singapore.

1. Accounting and finance

When it comes to the fresh grads that earn quite a bit right out the gate, it would be those who work in the financial sector. Given that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has recently granted in-principle approvals to several institutions, the financial industry is set to change in the coming months.

Seeing as Singapore is also set to be a crypto hub in the near future, you’ll want to be ready when that happens.

A fresh graduate with a finance degree can earn about S$3,110 per month or S$40,000 per annum in Singapore. At the same time, those with an accounting degree can earn a starting salary of S$4,443, according to a graduate employment survey.

The most prominent employers of this job include big four accounting firms such as Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

2. Computer science and IT

If you’ve been an avid reader of our site, then you’ll know that tech is a burgeoning sector. Local startups have been flourishing, with Grab being publicly traded and more startups acquiring funding.

With tech startups sprouting like weeds in Singapore, they are never short of recruiting software engineers, data analysts or web developers.

As it is a rather specialised field, the starting salary does commensurate with the skills involved. Computer Science graduates can take home a starting salary as much as S$5,735, while those with a degree in Information Systems rake in about S$5,000 a month.

Seeing as major tech corporations such as Google and Amazon are also setting up their offices here and local tech unicorns are hiring aggressively, these figures will only go up from here.

3. Engineering

While some jobs change all the time, some jobs stay the same. Engineering is a field that is required in many sectors, and starting salaries are dependent on the area of specialisation, be it aerospace,/ electrical, or mechanical.

Of course, those with a computer engineering degree under their belt will stand a better chance of earning a higher salary of S$4,977. Otherwise, an engineering degree (depending on what kind) will get you a compensation starting from S$3,400.

This is consistent with Glassdoor, which shows that graduate engineers earn about S$3,300 a month.

4. Healthcare

While healthcare professionals made this list for earning a sizeable income right out the gate, it’s clear that given the amount of work and hours they put in, they are not paid enough.

Those with medical degrees make the top few on the list for the highest-paid job for fresh graduates, and their starting pay is around S$5,300.

Also, in the healthcare sector, a nursing degree has a starting salary of S$3,400 and fresh grads with a degree in pharmacy start at S$3,700.

5. Law

In professional careers, a law degree will earn a hefty starting salary of S$4,800 and S$5,100. The other upside to the professional degree is that nearly 95 per cent of fresh law graduates gain employment.

While a starting salary of S$5000 is indeed an attractive offer, it’s no secret that those first few years as a lawyer or your pupilage is very tough. Many young lawyers do report having little to no work-life balance.

That being said, things do get easier (or so they say) as one progresses and if not, like many lawyers, you can always start a business.

Is a high-paying job the answer to everything?

While all of this is a guide to the top-earning fresh graduates in Singapore, there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to earning the big bucks. After all, if a kindergarten teacher can make S$10,000 a month as a BIGO live streamer, who’s to say what will earn the most?

In an ever-changing job market, your degree will only get you so far in your first job. After that, it’s all about the kind of work ethics and skills you learn on the job.

Now that we have the internet at our fingertips, it’s even easier to learn new skills or even hone in on the skills you already have.

With resources like Coursera, Masterclass, and even YouTube, there are endless ways to add value to your current skillset. So, while this list is for the highest starting salary, it is only the start, and there is no telling how one’s job might change.

Featured Image Credit: Pexels

Also Read: New year, new job: Here are 10 companies in S’pore that are hiring for 2022

From electric bikes to EV assembly line: ION Mobility founder shares its EV plans in S’pore

It’s an understatement to say that James Chan has an illustrious career.

He has more than 15 years of working experience, sitting across all three sides of the table — as a public servant and industry developer with Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (now known as IMDA), as a venture capitalist and angel investor at Neoteny Labs and Silicon Straits (his personal holdings), and subsequently as a serial entrepreneur focused on software, robotics and fintech.

Besides Silicon Straits, his business ventures include GreyOrange and Wecash Southeast Asia. He has since exited his stakes in both companies and sold his Vietnam team to Grab at Silicon Straits.

Now, he is mainly focused on running ION Mobility, which he co-founded in October 2019 together with Joel Chang, whom has since left the company in July 2021 to pursue other opportunities.

Headquartered in Singapore, ION Mobility is a tech-automative company that aims to create and deliver affordable and sustainable mobility.

It champions electric mobility and complementary energy storage solutions, with a mission to create and deliver smart electric motorbikes and energy storage solutions to offer a desirable alternative for motorbike riders.

Bridging the gap for an electric mobility solution in SEA

ION Mobility was started up following the “lack of a viable electric mobility solution” for Southeast Asians.

James described SEA as the “land of the ubiquitous motorbike”. It is home to the third largest motorbike population in the world with over 200 million motorbikes in the region. Out of this, Indonesia owns the biggest slice of the pie with 112 million motorbikes.

Having grown up in Singapore, James realised the significance of motorbikes when he lived in Jakarta for three years from 2017 to 2019.

The father of three further noted that Indonesia is a very competitive market for traditional internal combustion engine motorbikes, but when it comes to electric motorbikes, it is still pretty much a “greenfield”.

We were quickly drawn to the immense potential of Indonesia when in early 2019, the Indonesian government was calling for the development of electric vehicle (EV) and battery industries. They had ambitious targets on EV development and were moving towards what I’d say is their own “full-stack development”.

We felt compelled to tap into SEA’s upcoming transition from petrol to electric energy. We were convinced of what we could deliver to hasten the consumer’s inevitable transition towards electric motorbikes in the coming years, with our end-to-end, full-stack approach.

– James Chan, founder and CEO of ION Mobility

He cited that motorbikes collectively emit up to 16 times more hydrocarbons, three times more carbon monoxide, and a “disproportionately high” amount of other air pollutants compared to passenger cars.

They figured that there are no compelling options for riders in SEA to switch away from traditional combustion bikes — they are either short-ranged and low-powered, too expensive, or not designed for their daily use in terms of form factors.

As consumers continue to face significant barriers in switching over to an electric motorbike, ION Mobility wants to help ease that transition by designing an electric motorbike that is not just desirable, affordable and a joy to use, but also an “end-to-end lifestyle brand and service solution”.

“Our vision is to be SEA’s leading tech-automotive company designing, building, and supporting our electric mobility and energy storage products across SEA for our customers,” he said.

Meet ION Mobius, their first smart electric motorbike

In June 2020, ION Mobility set up offices in Jakarta and Shenzhen at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The following month, it started conceptualising and designing its inaugural smart electric motorbike called ION Mobius, which was recently unveiled on December 2 at JTC’s Launchpad@one-north in Singapore.

ION Mobius is built with the latest technology in powertrain, battery, and vehicle control systems.

The electric bike scales up to a peak power of 12.5kW and a maximum torque of 50Nm. It has a top speed of up to 110 km/h and accelerates from 0 to 50km/h in under four seconds.

“You get the instant torque with the purr of an electric motor, and zero tailpipe emissions,” said James.

He added that one of their key goals in designing the Mobius is to help users overcome the dreaded range anxiety and adapt to recharging, instead of refuelling.

As such, there are three different riding modes on the Mobius which allows users to hit anywhere from 120km to over 200km on a single charge, depending on their riding style. It takes three hours for a full charge from a standard electrical socket, and a quick-charge from 20 per cent to 80 per cent in just an hour.

Apart from the electric motor and battery pack, the bike is also fitted with a vehicle computer that’s paired with a high-fidelity and super bright seven-inch TFT display.

“This triple-CPU vehicle computer is the ‘brains’ of the motorbike, and has more computing power than what first landed on the Moon,” said James.

It also allows the bike to directly connect to the internet over LTE and pair with the rider’s smartphone via Bluetooth using the ION app.

The app will allow users to customise various settings on the Mobius, as well as review their ride data and analyse their riding style based on ride-to-energy efficiency statistics.

Through ION Mobius, we are making it easier for them (riders) to switch from the ubiquitous motorbike to a more affordable, viable and environment-friendly alternative.

– James Chan, founder and CEO of ION Mobility

Recounting the unveiling event, he described it as a “great success” and said that they received plenty of positive responses from various stakeholders, which is a testament to their hard work and effort for the past 18 months.

“The unveiling is only the beginning, but it’s an important feather in the cap that rallies the team and our partners towards the upcoming marathon ahead of us to bring the Mobius into production,” he added.

Indonesia will be its first go-to market with plans to start pre-orders soon, and it expects to start in-country assembly operations in the Greater Jakarta by the first half of 2022.

It also has plans to make ION Mobius available in Singapore, which is currently pending approval from the Land Transport Authority.

Breaking into the EV market amid Covid-19

Building a company from scratch and breaking into a young industry is undoubtedly a journey fraught with challenges.

They started out by building the “atoms” product and the electric motorbike, and are eager to explore the “bits” side of the business as more ION Mobius hits the roads of Indonesia.

Commenting on the Singapore landscape, James noted that the city-state never had an automotive OEM (original equipment manufacturer) industry, much less an electric OEM business.

As such, the sad reality is that hardware companies just don’t get the same level of attention and valuation as software or even blockchain companies from investors.

A lot of people tell me I’m crazy, we’re crazy to be trying to do this out of Singapore — a country with no prior automotive OEM DNA. What all of them don’t realise is the importance of our cross-region talent and supply chain collaboration, working off each country’s strengths to come together and create something that we think is truly amazing amidst pandemic times.

As a startup, we lack the industrialisation scale and operating capital that incumbent petrol players have, [but] we make up for [it] by leveraging on our agility, talent diversity, and advantages in product design and technology.

– James Chan, founder and CEO of ION Mobility

“It was not a straightforward endeavour. Whenever you go against the grain in an attempt to achieve the seemingly impossible and/or to disrupt the status quo, we’ll always face challenges. As you can imagine, Covid-19 made it even more difficult,” he added.

A downside of the pandemic is that it has caused global supply chain disruption and crunch, which greatly affected their operations.

While supply chain disruptions are indeed problematic, he feels that it is not something that planning, innovation and strategic thinking can’t solve. In fact, it forced them to think out of the box and be resourceful.

They focused on building strong relationships with their chip suppliers in Singapore and China, which was crucial for an up-and-coming company like them that has yet to reach volume production.

Its teams across three countries, especially in Shenzhen and Jakarta, were also able to solve some of these bottlenecks as they were nearer to source markets and hence able to handle it in person despite the lack of business travel.

“With all that in place, we’ve put in our buffer orders and continue to keep a close eye on the situation as it sorts itself out into 2022,” said James.

He revealed that ION Mobility is still at the “pre-revenue stage”, but he expects to start rolling in revenue for the business next year.

It’s setting up a small-scale EV production line in S’pore

Although Singapore is more of a car market, there are still over 141,000 motorbikes and scooters here.

“We’re not China and do not have the luxury of bicycle lanes for such lower-powered devices,” remarked James.

He further described China as the “capital hub of EV”, but noted that the EV industry in Singapore is still nascent as it still lacks expertise in motorbike designing, engineering and production.

“With the support of our Shenzhen team, we can transfer skills and knowledge from China’s EV industry to upskill our designing, innovation and production work, increasing our rate of success,” said James.

Currently, Singapore serves as ION Mobility’s corporate and design engineering headquarters, and is also home to its first pilot production line for the ION Mobius and its battery pack.

Apart from its initial Singapore office at JTC Launchpad@one-north, ION Mobility has a second facility at the same location dedicated to the assembly of Mobius motorbikes and battery pack to accelerate its local efforts in production engineering and assembly optimisation.

There’s also an adjacent space spanning over 600 square metres earmarked for future expansion. 

In its current Phase 1, ION Mobility will support the assembly of up to 500 ION Mobius motorbikes and battery packs each month. Its current and planned infrastructure supports the scaling of up to 1,500 assembled Mobius motorbikes across Singapore and Jakarta by the second half of 2022.

– James Chan, founder and CEO of ION Mobility

In Shenzhen, ION Mobility already has a low-volume battery pack production line that can produce up to 100 Mobius battery packs a month.

ION Mobility’s Jakarta assembly line with be the primary assembly line to support its go-to market in Indonesia, and its Singapore capacity will help support the demand in Indonesia in the foreseeable future.

The company has already shortlisted several locations and is designing its Indonesia CKD (completely knocked down) assembly line within the DKI Jakarta metropolitan area.

Aims to be profitable within next 5 to 7 years

Although ION Mobility is not the first electric bike company around — in Singapore or regionally — it is not the least bit deterred.

In fact, James feels that the presence of competitors augurs well for the sector and points towards greater attention and emphasis on electric mobility, and its impact on the environment and sustainability as a whole.

As the Singapore government doubles down on its EV efforts and the Singapore Green Plan, it is a clear recognition of the importance of electric mobility to the future of urban transport.

There’s still a “long road ahead” in terms of EV adoption in Singapore, but such nation-driven initiatives are crucial to advancing the EV landscape in the country, and can spur significant investment and industrialisation in the relevant sectors.

ION Mobility had recently concluded its US$6.8 million seed round in October 2021, which will be used to fund its ongoing design, research and development, engineering of ION Mobius.

I know of many software-only companies that have raised far more capital than we have with less to show for it. Our US$6.8 million raised thus far won’t be enough for us to realise our vision and achieve our mission.

I think we’ve punched well above our weight to do a lot with very little, but I expect to be fundraising for additional capital in the coming months so that we’ll have the necessary resources to execute our plan and deliver the Mobius to our customers from Indonesia.

– James Chan, founder and CEO of ION Mobility

With the investor support, its strong and diverse team, and tireless execution, it has definitely helped bring the company to greater heights.

To date, ION Mobility has built a team of over 44 spanning three countries across Asia — namely Singapore, Shenzhen and Jakarta — with more than half forming its operations here.

“My goal for ION Mobility is to be profitable within five to seven years, and to be listed on a leading exchange. We may also venture beyond motorbikes to design, develop and launch another electrically powered vehicle within the next 10 years.”

Featured Image Credit: ION Mobility

Also Read: S’pore startup ION Mobility unveils its first electric motorbike – to hit Indonesian roads in 2022