The Thai baht hit a five-month high on Monday with optimism over the nation’s tourism sector boosting inflows.
Online tutoring innovator AmazingTalker secures $15.5m Series A funding
Funding will power international expansion and service development for the platform as it advances on its mission to simplify tutor and student discovery.
TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 16 February 2022 – AmazingTalker, a Taiwan-based global platform designed to help students find private tutors of languages and other subjects including mathematics, has received $15.5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by CDIB Capital, with participation from JAFCO Asia and from 500 Global.
AmazingTalker announced $15.5 million in Series A funding. AmazingTalker founders (from left), co-founder and COO A-May and co-founder and CEO Abner Chao
Over the past five years, AmazingTalker has attained an annual revenue growth rate of nearly 500 percent, with 60 percent of revenue coming from overseas. To date, it has around 8,000 registered tutors and 1.1 million registered users, and has clocked 5.5 million online course reservations.
Launched in 2017, AmazingTalker aims to make it easy for anyone to learn through technology. It uses algorithms to match students and tutors precisely and efficiently within a few seconds. It provides an interactive learning environment that supports independence for both teachers and learners. Students can communicate their needs directly with prospective tutors without a binding contract or long-term payment obligation.
From a tutor’s perspective, the platform widens the pool of prospective customers, and the core value is to enable them to maximise their earning potential by setting their fees independently. It also generates insights through data analysis of user behaviour to help tutors continuously improve the quality of their teaching services.
AmazingTalker plans to use the latest investment to grow its business in Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, Europe and North America. It currently serves more than a million people across 190 countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia. It will also channel funds into recruiting global talent and growing the number of international users.
“It is our goal to become the world’s largest online tutor matching platform,” said Abner Chao, Co-founder and CEO of AmazingTalker. “The injection of $15.5 million in Series A funding will help reinforce our product development efforts. We are expanding our offering to cover subjects beyond language and are recruiting experienced service providers in new fields. We look forward to helping more tutors maximise their earning potential and continuing to improve the online learning experience for all our users.”
Up to now, AmazingTalker has received more than 15 million fundings from investors, including CDIB Capital, JAFCO Asia, 500 Global and SparkLabs Taipei.
The global appetite for learning continues to grow. According to UNESCO, 470 million people will seek higher education over the next 15 years, a figure that far outstretches university capacity and that underscores the need for alternative learning sources. By 2026, the total global e-learning market is set to nearly double its 2019 level to close to $400 billion according to Statista.
About AmazingTalker
A global online tutoring platform which enables people to change their lives through knowledge sharing. AmazingTalker has spanned three continents in Europe, the U.S., and Asia and has more than one million users, aiming to help tutors monetize without limits while empowering users to find the best way of learning.
#AmazingTalker
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Senoko Energy Drives Sustainability Efforts With its First Virtual Cycling Event
Senoko Energy partners with Garmin Singapore and T-RECs.ai to host its inaugural virtual cycling event, Cycle for Change. Along with promoting a sustainable lifestyle of cycling amongst Singaporeans, the energy provider hopes to support renewable energy sources and reduce the city’s carbon footprint through offsetting carbon emissions and partnering with 14 eco-merchants to encourage more people to be conscious of their purchase decisions.
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 16 February 2022 – Looking to save the environment while burning off some calories? Senoko Energy’s virtual cycling event, Cycle for Change 2022, will take place from 10 March to 22 April and will help you and your family and friends get your heart rate up, have some fun and reduce your carbon footprint!
Cycle for Change is an extension of Senoko Energy’s #TakeCharge initiative, which is the energy provider’s ongoing commitment to reduce carbon emissions, support renewable energy sources, and encourage sustainable lifestyles across households and corporates.
“As a company, we want to support and reward the efforts of households and corporations taking charge of everyday choices as part of Senoko Energy’s journey towards slowing down the impact of climate change for future generations,” said Mr Graeme York, CEO of Senoko Energy.
Promoting a Sustainable Cycling Lifestyle in Singapore
Singapore is pushing towards transforming the city state into a greener and more sustainable city by 2030. The city plans on tripling cycling paths from 460km to 1,320km – encouraging citizens to consider cycling as a mode of travel and to participate in green commutes. The COVID-19 pandemic also has seen many purchasing bicycles and cycling more regularly. Senoko Energy’s event gives Singaporeans further incentive to make changes to their lifestyle and habits to help conserve energy.
Acknowledging that the road to zero carbon emissions is not easy, Mr Graeme York said this event helps demonstrate how the conscious decisions of households and corporates making lifestyle and business changes can lead us on a path to significant emissions reduction.
Mr Edwin Shen, Community Manager of Garmin Singapore expresses in agreement, “Change can start small with our daily habits. As we return to offices after nearly two years of working from home, Garmin Singapore hopes that people will keep the positive lifestyle changes they have made since the start of the pandemic. Cycling fits so nicely into our day-to-day commute and we believe that Cycle for Change will help more people see that every pedal can go a long way.”
Eliminating Carbon Emissions with Cycle for Change
Cycle for Change aims to clock a total cycling distance of 1 million km. The completed distance will be converted into Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to support Singapore’s solar generation assets, eliminating 187,000kg of carbon emissions. In addition, Senoko Energy and T-RECs.ai will pledge to offset an additional three times more carbon emissions through the purchase of local RECs.
Mr Kang Jen Wee, CEO and Founder of T-RECs.ai said: “T-RECs.ai is a licensed verifier for a globally recognised RECs registry that safeguards against fraud. T-RECs.ai verifies the authenticity of RECs generation, which contributes towards the development of renewable energy sources. We are pleased to be supporting Cycle for Change in partnership with Senoko Energy, to raise awareness of using RECs to mitigate carbon emissions.”
Support local eco-merchants and take part in challenges to win prizes
Senoko Energy further sweetens the deal for participants by partnering with eco-merchants to offer up to 20% discounts and weekly free beverages along the routes. By also participating in the 14 challenges organised by Senoko Energy, riders can stand the chance to win attractive prizes. One such challenge, the “Workweek Biker” involves participants cycling to work or school every weekday.
Some rewards include a year’s supply of green energy worth $1,200 from Senoko Energy, Garmin smartwatches, as well as personalised RECs to celebrate winners’ rides, and challenge badges. To participate one simply has to register online, connect and activate their Strava account. Start pedalling your way to climate protection!
About Senoko Energy Pte Ltd
Senoko Energy has provided energy to generations of Singaporeans since 1977. As a pioneer in power generation and energy solutions, we’ve played an instrumental role in powering the nation through its developing years. Since then, we have evolved to offer a balanced portfolio of natural gas, advanced energy solutions, tank leasing, terminal services and electricity supply and sustainable energy solutions. Senoko Energy Pte Ltd is owned by a consortium comprising Marubeni Corporation, ENGIE S.A., The Kansai Electric Power Co. Inc., Kyushu Electric Power Co. Inc. and Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
#SenokoEnergy
Laos-China Railway Opens Ticket Office at Vientiane Center
The Laos-China Railway Company is to open a ticket sales office at the Vientiane Center shopping complex in Vientiane Capital.
NTUC LearningHub Partners TikTok to Empower 1,500 Micro-Business Owners and Freelancers By 2024
The partnership comes on the back of discussions to support micro-businesses and freelancers in Singapore to grow their brands on platforms like TikTok
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 16 February 2022 – NTUC LearningHub (NTUC LHUB), Singapore’s leading Continuing Education and Training provider, and TikTok, the leading destination for short-form mobile video, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today to officially launch their partnership to help 1,500 micro-businesses and freelancers in Singapore to connect with audiences through engaging social media content creation and trends via a platform like TikTok to drive business over the next three years.
From left to right: Anthony Chew, Director of Infocomm Technology, NTUC LearningHub, Jeremy Ong, Chief Executive Officer, NTUC LearningHub, and David Jay Gomez, Head of Brand Partnerships for SEA, TikTok.
The outreach of the programmes, which will be driven by NTUC LHUB, will focus on the growing pool of Self-Employed Persons (SEPs), including freelancers and small business owners in Singapore. Against the backdrop of the positive economic outlook, SEPs would stand to benefit by creating engaging social media content that successfully creates awareness and demand for their services and offerings.
The MOU, which was signed by Anthony Chew, Director of Infocomm Technology (ICT) at NTUC LHUB and David Jay Gomez, Head of Brand Partnerships, SEA, at TikTok, signifies the mutual commitment of both TikTok and NTUC LHUB to deliver quality training and resources in social media marketing and content creation.
As more small businesses turn to digital platforms to reach new audiences, many are leveraging new age platforms such as TikTok which has exceeded 240 million users in Southeast Asia alone. From increasing brand awareness to extending their business reach, TikTok has played a key role in helping local micro-businesses such as Vintagewknd, a sustainable fashion store, and Dear Modern, run by a Singaporean architect, to connect directly with their customers and grow their presence online.
To boost outreach efforts, NTUC LHUB will leverage its strong network within the Labour Movement and its associations such as the Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit (U FSE), Singapore National Co-Operative Federation (SNCF) and Young NTUC.
In addition, as part of the initiative, NTUC LHUB will work closely with TikTok to develop a suite of courses that empower content creators to grow their brand presence on social media platforms. As a start, NTUC LHUB will begin running the TikTok-endorsed ‘Design Thinking for Social Media’ course in March 2022, which has already received strong interest from content creators. The two-day course leverages design thinking concepts for social media content creation. Furthermore, the collaboration will translate into training courses that are applicable to all workers in due course.
Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents can enjoy 50% off the course fees, and are eligible for the utilisation of SkillsFuture credit and Post-Secondary Education Account (PSEA). Interested individuals can register for the ‘Design Thinking for Social Media’ course at www.ntuclearninghub.com.
Commenting on the partnership, ICT Director at NTUC LHUB, Anthony Chew says, “We are thrilled to be partnering TikTok to empower Self-Employed Persons (SEPs) to navigate and keep pace with the rapidly changing social media landscape in order to create new business and employment opportunities. As TikTok grows in popularity in Singapore, many businesses, especially micro-businesses and freelancers have benefitted from the exposure that the platform brings because of the virality of some of their engaging and on-trend content. Working closely with TikTok, NTUC LearningHub will be on the pulse of new trends and developments straight from the source, hence ensuring that our training in social media and digital marketing remains highly relevant, timely and spot-on for our learners. In addition, NTUC LearningHub is also uniquely placed within the Labour Movement ecosystem to support the outreach efforts to self-employed persons.”
TikTok’s Head of Brand Partnerships for SEA, David Jay Gomez, says, “At TikTok, we are witnessing an increase in small businesses across Southeast Asia leveraging our platform to drive tangible impact and we are deeply committed to using our platform to educate and equip our community with the relevant skills and training as they navigate the ever-evolving business landscape. In Singapore, we have seen businesses on TikTok enjoy success as they fully embrace the creativity and authenticity of our platform to engage new audiences. Through our partnership with NTUC LearningHub, we look forward to empowering more micro-businesses and freelancers to drive their business and Singapore’s digital economy forward.”
Jean See, Director of NTUC Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit (U FSE) said, “U FSE and our associations are focused on enhancing work prospects for our members in freelancing and self-employment. The fast-changing landscape demands that our members continually scan and make sense of their clients’ evolving needs. Hence, the course focus on design thinking and social media content creation is relevant to freelancers and micro-businesses keen to become more adapt and savvier in customer needs-discovery and product and service development. With continual learning support as a cornerstone of NTUC’s membership proposition, we are excited that U FSE and NTUC LearningHub will be jointly rolling out a ‘Community of Practice’ series to bridge classroom training with expert insights to empower members to stand out from the competition.”
“As an ecommerce store, our relationship with our customers is entirely virtual and we are always looking for effective ways to reach out and capture a wider audience. With TikTok’s growing presence globally and in Singapore, we decided to give it a try and it has now evolved into a primary platform for our marketing efforts. With a vibrant and diverse community that celebrates creative expression, it has been encouraging to see the strong traction on our livestreams and creative style challenges among our target audience”, says Vintagewknd’s co-founder, Eileen Tan.
About NTUC LearningHub
NTUC LearningHub is the leading Continuing Education and Training provider in Singapore which aims to transform the lifelong employability of working people. Since our corporatisation in 2004, we have been working with employers and individual learners to provide learning solutions in areas such as Cloud, Infocomm Technology, Healthcare, Employability & Literacy, Business Excellence, Workplace Safety & Health, Security, Human Resources and Foreign Worker Training.
To date, NTUC LearningHub has helped over 25,000 organisations and achieved over 2.6 million training places across more than 500 courses with a pool of over 900 certified trainers. As a Total Learning Solutions provider to organisations, we also forge partnerships and offer a wide range of relevant end-to-end training solutions and work constantly to improve our training quality and delivery. In 2020, we had accelerated our foray into online learning with our Virtual Live Classes and, through working with best-in-class partners such as IBM, DuPont Sustainable Solutions and GO1, asynchronous online courses.
For more information, visit 
www.ntuclearninghub.com
About TikTok
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok has global offices including Los Angeles, Mountain View, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Singapore, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo. 
www.tiktok.com.
New to TikTok? Join our community by simply downloading the app for free via the Apple App Store, Google Play, or Amazon.
#NTUCLearningHub #TikTok
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Authorities Destroy 153 Hectares of Opium Poppy Plantations in Luang Prabang
Authorities in Luang Prabang Province have destroyed over 153 hectares of opium poppy plantations.
Daehan Rehabilitation Hospital Putrajaya Supports Long-Covid Rehabilitation Patients
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – 16 February 2022 – The Health Ministry of Malaysia recently announced that long Covid-19 patients will undergo medical rehabilitation for extended period of time. Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin mentioned Daehan Putrajaya Rehabilitation Hospital as one of the private hospitals capable of providing Long Covid rehab in Malaysia.
Daehan recently treated 16 patients recovering from severe Covid under the MOH decanting program. All of them required oxygen supplement upon admission. After 2-8 weeks of rehabilitation, all of them were discharged without the need of home oxygen therapy. 2 patients who were on tracheostomy (breathing tubes) no longer require them and 2 patients who were on tube feeding can now eat normally.
The remarkable clinical outcome has surprised even the doctors themselves. In the words of Dr Fazah Hanapiah, President of Daehan Rehabilitation Hospital in Putrajaya, “Many had expected to leave the hospital disabled, requiring oxygen therapy and assistance in all aspect of life activities after Covid-19 infection. Some had prepared to purchase wheelchairs and oxygen concentrators. However, with intensive post Covid rehabilitation, all our patients returned home without the need of home oxygen therapy. We want to provide the much-needed rehabilitation to all post Covid patients, so they too be given the opportunity for a new lease of life.”
One of Daehan’s patients, Yvonne was a transfer patient from Hospital Sungai Buloh who underwent 6 sessions of intensive in-patient rehabilitation with us. Initially falling prey to Covid-19 in August 2021, she was rendered bed-bound and even struggled to breathe sitting up. Her poor cardiorespiratory endurance was coupled by her inability to walk and her faster-than-normal heart rate – a known post Covid complication. Not only did she require oxygen supplements, but her condition necessitated emergency management.
After just one month in Daehan’s rehabilitative care, Yvonne is now able to carry out activities of daily living successfully and has confidently decided to return to work. During her time with us, her rehabilitation programme targeted pulmonary and cardiac rehabilitation to improve cardiorespiratory function and endurance levels; strengthening exercises for her daily motor functions and gait training, all to equip her with skills for activities of daily living.
“I want to thank a lot of them, especially the man there (pointing to one of the therapists). He is the one who advised me not to be scared… to stand up and walk. […] He said, ‘You won’t fall down one’ […] and held my hand as I walked. […] So I [am very appreciative of all of them]” said Sheryl. Initially, she was very afraid of walking due to affected muscle tissues and nerves following her Covid infection. However, with the encouragement of the staff at Daehan, she practiced walking in her room slowly such that she was able to stand up and walk independently and confidently. “I think I can never forget you all because this was my first time in the ward and […] I am very happy to know all of you all“.
Currently, although she is under cardiology follow-ups, she has since been discharged and no longer requires oxygen supplements.
Another such patient, Kent (not his real name) was admitted under Daehan’s intensive daycare rehabilitation for a total of 6 sessions following his infection in mid-June 2021. 24 days of hospitalization after an ICU admission was enough to witness a deterioration in his condition, and a developing infection in his epidural space, which ultimately led to spinal cord compression. Upon admission to Daehan, he was paraplegic with poor lower-body balance due to impacted nerves and muscle tissues.
Difficulties in breathing and urinary drainage were just some of the problems he suffered from. However, after undergoing rehabilitation at Daehan Rehabilitation Hospital Putrajaya, he has now regained normal lower limb strength with better control and posture and now has continent bladder and bowel control. Although post-rehabilitation has witnessed a dramatic improvement in his ambulation abilities, he still relies on a walking frame for now. However, with continued efforts, he is likely to be able to ambulate independently.
His successful progress is attributable to Daehan’s iconic rehabilitation efforts (illustrated above) The marked improvement in both aforementioned patients’ conditions hold testament to Daehan’s rehabilitation efforts and speak of the trust the patients place in the hands of Daehan’s dedicated and well-trained staff.
As a part of the rehabilitation team, our therapists mentioned that planning interventions for post-Covid patients not only broadens up their mind in working as an interdisciplinary team but also empowers them to pass on their motivation to the patients so that they can regain their well-being of life.
Rachel Paulus, Daehan’s Head of Physiotherapy, explains: “Patients have told us how much we take certain things for granted, like breathing, because they felt so helpless when they have experienced the aftereffects of COVID-19. We as therapists are privileged to be able to give their life back to them and have learnt to never take things for granted. As intensive as our sessions are, we always keep in mind that rehabilitation is not a sprint where we aim to perform as much as we can in a single session, but a long distance run where we aim to achieve sustainable and long-term results together.”
ABOUT DAEHAN REHABILITATION HOSPITAL PUTRAJAYA
Opened in 2019, Daehan Rehabilitation Hospital Putrajaya is a stand-alone hospital located in Malaysia at the IOI City Resort and is an internationally accessible premier tertiary care hospital. Daehan offers comprehensive South Korean-style integrated rehabilitation services specializing in the management of complex rehabilitation.
#DaehanRehabilitationHospitalPutrajaya
Teledyne e2v and Leo Cancer Care Partner to Achieve an Innovative Minimal Platform Footprint
SURREY, UNITED KINGDOM – Media OutReach – 16 February 2022 – Leo Cancer Care is driving a paradigm shift in the radiation therapy market, developing solutions where the patient is in the upright orientation, removing the need for large and expensive gantries and instead utilising a fixed radiation beam and rotating the patient.
Leo Cancer Care is focused on delivering a family of products designed for the economics of the future, meeting customers’ clinical and financial needs. Ruby™ is a smaller, more streamlined Photon Therapy Solution which will reduce setup times and therefore save institutions money by increasing patient throughput. Ruby™ can come self-shielded meaning no need for expensive bunkers. Leo Cancer Care has a vision to make Ruby™ mobile, in the not-too-distant future, taking radiation therapy to places it has never been before.
In addition to the operational and financial benefits of this technology, the Leo Cancer Care solutions have been developed on the back of research from across the globe, demonstrating the clinical benefits of upright patient positioning through reduced organ motion. Combined with a real focus on patient experience, helping patients to feel more comfortable and in control of their radiation therapy treatment journey.
Teledyne e2v has been working with Leo Cancer Care to enable them to achieve their innovative minimal platform footprint. This has been done by designing a compact RF sub-system, which will include a new solid-state modulator to drive one of its range of magnetrons and the integration of other RF accessories.
Continuing to build on its position as the world leader in generating RF power for radiation therapy, Teledyne e2v will be providing its very latest technology to support this exciting development, based on over 70 years of experience.
“With Ruby™ being smaller and more compact than conventional technology, have really driven to reduce the size of all of our components. Teledyne E2V is supporting us to do this and we are moving at pace to bring Ruby™ to the market. Together we have the innovative technology, trusted products and combined experience in the Radiation Oncology field to change how photon radiation therapy is delivered and how a patient experiences it”. Stephen Towe, CEO Leo Cancer Care.
Leo Cancer Care:
https://www.leocancercare.com/
#Teledynee2v #LeoCancerCare
