Tarin Ong

This chapter analyses BeLive Technology's trajectory from near-failure to regional leadership in live-video solutions. A serendipitous LinkedIn enquiry from Rakuten reframed BeLive's core asset - their low-latency video player - as a licensable technology, prompting an abrupt pivot from business-to-consumer broadcasting to a business-to-business model. The shift secured seven-figure revenues, attracted marquee clients across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and demonstrated the strategic value of agile resource reconfiguration. Founder Kenneth Tan's narrative foregrounds psychological resilience, transparent leadership, and the catalytic role of professional networks. The analysis also interrogates Singapore's entrepreneurial ecosystem: state grants, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) accreditation and accelerator programmes provided critical scaffolding, yet implicit biases in local capital markets underscored structural hurdles for non-elite founders. BeLive's Nasdaq Capital Market listing and acquisition strategy illustrate forward-looking exploitation of interactive video and artificial intelligence (AI), positioning the firm as a case study in adaptive entrepreneurship within small-state economies.

Mohamed Yunos Ishak's career charts his evolution to become the leader of Airmark Aviation, a niche air-cargo firm. Early exposure to volatile markets and his grandfather's property setbacks forged a "never say no" ethos that underpinned Yunos's audacious 1982 buyout of the family freight firm and its relaunch as Airmark. Strategic deployment of versatile Antonov aircraft enabled first-mover penetration of remote routes, with partnerships across Asia and the UN widening the firm's geopolitical reach. Yunos fused transformational leadership with Islamic principles to cultivate a disciplined yet inventive culture grounded in ethical risk-taking, lean cost controls and relational capital. His trajectory illustrates how personal resilience, resourceful improvisation, and values-based stewardship can succeed in a highly competitive environment.