Tell us more about yourself

I started off my career as an R&D engineer. Today, I am with Atilze Digital Sdn Bhd, a high technology Internet of Things (IoT) venture of G3 Global Berhad, leading the product development and sales team for the IoT solution called Atilze Sensor Hub. Atilze Sensor Hub supports tailoring to any specific requirements that serve as the building blocks to a Smart City, e.g., Smart Environment, Smart Agriculture, Smart Aquaculture, Smart Disaster Management, etc.

What is your idea of a smart city?

The topic of Smart City is very wide; we can’t kill all birds with one stone. In fact, there are many aspects that serve as the building blocks to build a Smart City. For example, Smart City comes with Smart Environmental, Smart Parking, Smart Retail, Smart Transport and etc.

Particularly in Malaysia, as part of the Smart City initiatives, Atilze has been involved in 2 main projects. The first is to monitor the air quality in Cyberjaya using LoRaWAN. It was a collaboration between Atilze and Cyberview to monitor the haze index, ensuring that the Cyberjaya community has access to clean air. On the second project, Atilze worked together with Intel & Penang state government and Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai (MPSP) to monitor flood levels and air quality. This prevented any flood disaster from happening over the past two years. With IoT solutions, residents can be alerted beforehand, preventing any deadly incident.

What was one of your most memorable learning experience?

Never Give Up and Keep Trying. These are words that I would always tell my team members. Allow me to share my recent experience where my team members nearly gave up on one of the projects that we have been working on for nearly a year. Despite all our efforts into it, we could not see any significant outcome, which made all very disappointed.

However, perseverance is what it takes! As a strong believer to keep trying and pursuing, I believe that at the end of the day, the effort will reach fruition. Our hardwork paid off when we managed to successfully clinch a collaboration with a local partner and deploy Atilze Sensor Hubs and LoRa Gateways in one of the plantations in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.

“Business will not come in just a day!”. You never know what going to happen tomorrow.

What do you think should be the most important characteristic for a startup and its team to possess?

To have good communication. Communication remains important regardless of a good day or a bad day.

Congratulations on winning Asia Hardware Battle 2018 Malaysia. What was the experience like competing against companies in Malaysia and companies from different part of ASEAN?

Thanks! It was a great experience! It became so much more memorable when we won this competition as a team. My team members were Azman and Azwan. The award was totally unexpected! During the battle in Shanghai, the teams from different countries were all so strong and they presented so well. I was impressed with the interaction some teams had with the judges. They even brought their product to the judges for them to experience it.

What are some learning points/advice that you would like to share with those who are considering joining international competitions?

Be natural, and don’t over prepare. Everything will be smooth.

What is your company’s five-year plan? Any market expansion plan in the pipeline?

I must say that we have a great plan ahead! Through our parent company, G3 Global, we offer AI algorithms, products and solutions for Government, enterprises and end-consumers. In addition, we will continue to supply end-to-end IoT connected devices, IoT networks and cloud-based data-driven applications and services, expanding our core business pillars which are in Artificial Intelligence, Smart Mobility and Smart IoT solutions.

Looking back, what advice would you tell your younger self?

To allocate some time to learn new things. Come on! Life is not just about work, work and work. I wish to learn some musical instruments which I didn’t manage to do it now especially becoming a father of one.