Mobi is a payments company founded by Mr Baskar, who wanted to address the problem of inconvenient payment methods. They provide easy-to-use payment methods and services to the 'underserved' industries, such as the travel industry. After years of hard work and perseverance, they were able to grow and expand their digital payment footprint.
We had the pleasure of chatting with Baskar to learn more about how Mobi was formed, its mission and values, and how Mobi overcame risks and challenges.
Mobi (formerly known as Mobiversa) is a payment company that offers all kinds of payment services, from online to physical payments. Mobi offers special payment services to the travel industry, where its platform serves hotels and short stays.
Mobi aims to make payments not a chore for people. Mr Baskar wishes that Mobi could decrease the time people spend making payments and instead use the time to purchase products. Just like the internet, Mobi wants the same to be on payments: make payments as easy as possible for everyone.
Being a financial service business that works on a massive pile of sensitive data, one important value that Mobi inculcates in the team is to be truthful. Baskar said if anything goes wrong, everyone should be upfront and inform everyone. This is to find a solution when it is still a small problem and reduce the damages as quickly as possible before the damages get expensive. As a result, they have an open culture of accepting mistakes.
It all began with a small idea. He was inspired by an overseas company and thought that he could emulate a similar concept in Malaysia. When starting a company, undoubtedly, there will be ups and downs. However, lessons can be learnt through the journey. Baskar has discovered that to be different, he would have to find new markets and areas that were ignored in the past. "For example, every payment company looks for merchants in Malaysia because they think those merchants serve only customers in Malaysia, but there are a lot of merchants outside Malaysia who also serve customers in Malaysia." Baskar has given the idea to life and brought Mobi to where it is now.Â
"That is why we can turn around from burning a lot of money to the company we have today."
Baskar noted that looking for better opportunities was key to their success. Looking into areas where they can perform better made Mobi different. Otherwise, Mobi would have competed and may not have been this successful. "Pushing us to the corner because of the situation and fundamentals made us look beyond and see what else is available. That made us find new, more profitable and less competitive areas, which made us successful."
Baskar wants Mobi to provide services to those 'underserved' industries as much as possible. To differentiate itself from the majority, Mobi provides services that most payment companies do not offer, and one of the unique services it provides is for hotels. Baskar noted that only a handful of payment companies offer services to the hotel industry in Malaysia.Â
"We always try to be in that space where we do not follow the mass. We have a way for ourselves as much as possible."Â
Like what they say, customers are king, said Baskar. As a payments company, it is important to be continuously alert, especially since online payments are the uprising where payments can be made 24/7. Baskar wanted to address how few payment companies can offer customer service on the call, as many only accept contact through email. Hence, Mobi is one of the few in Malaysia who provide customer service with WhatsApp calls and WhatsApp messaging. Mobi also supports services over the weekends and has 24/7 support for technology-related issues. They believe that if the customer can pay faster, they will be satisfied as well as the merchant. Mobi wants to address the problem as it happens as quickly as possible and solve it so that customers and merchants have more confidence to work with them in future.
When Baskar started the company, he did not know how to run a startup. When he started, he did not realise that he needed support from a good mentor or someone from a similar background whom he could call for guidance. He had no support available and did not reach out to anyone when he started. However, he said that tons of mistakes were made along the way. At this time, he found NEXEA's Entrepreneur Programme as his support system.Â
"Many entrepreneurs, like myself, think we're always right."
Baskar commented on how the mentors in the Entrepreneur Programme helped him move in a better direction. He said, "The mentors allow us to step onto something with clarity. Even if we take a risk, at least they will help us with this. You can go into something new; cautions and guidelines are there with the mentors' help." He noted that having the mentors was beneficial as they led him to know what to expect and what would have happened.
According to Baskar, adapting to the dynamic environment is one of the most significant risks faced by Mobi. "Being on the lookout for anything that comes. The environment changes very fast, and we as a business must adapt to this dynamic environment and provide services to our customers to deliver better services and not become extinct. That keeps me thinking because every day, something new is happening in the world, and if we cannot do that faster than somebody else, we may not have the edge against the competition."
People are the most significant challenge Mobi has faced and is still concerned about. Baskar says it is easy to find people, but it is not easy to find the right person for the amount of money you can spend. Keeping them motivated and increasing employee retention is also a considerable challenge for Mobi and many companies.Â
To cope with the challenges, Baskar has stated that they provide a flexible working environment for their employees, such as taking leaves and being approachable. "Anybody can approach me and talk to me about something related or unrelated to work to make them feel that I am closer to them," Baskar says. This way, it provides a higher comfort level to employees when working with them. He has also proudly shared with us that on their 'glassdoor' page, their testimonials have been as high as four ratings, and the CEO rating has been 100% for the longest time. However, he also noted that Mobi has still not mastered it; there still can be improvements, and they seek improvements every day.
"Every entrepreneur resets your goal once you reach a particular stage or goal."
Mobi has accelerated to become a profitable company now. Hence, it is time for them to move on to their goals. When asked about Mobi's next step, Baskar shared that having Mobi be a successful business was just a dream six months ago, but with that being completed, he is looking for what Mobi can go further. Currently, Mobi is looking to expand its business to more countries. Specifically looking into Indonesia and India, Mobi will emulate the same concept in those countries in 2023. As their next step, Mobi aims to be over Southeast Asia at a minimum in the next three years.Â
Baskar has shared with us why when asked whether he would do anything differently if he could redo the project. He said he would not do anything differently and would not change anything. He believes that most people who would receive this question would answer that they do something differently, and so would he. However, he also thought that every process is a chain reaction.Â
"If you remove one link out of it, maybe the whole chain will fall off. Maybe things have to happen for a reason, which is why they happened. If I redo it, maybe I'll do it differently. But I don't think I would be here without all that happened. Maybe the whole direction would have changed if we had removed one incident."Â
It was a joy to speak with Baskar and learn more about how he brought Mobi to life, overcame his difficulties, and is still looking for more areas to improve. Visit Mobi's website here to learn how they can provide easy-to-use payment methods.Â
We hope you learned a few things through this article and feel inspired to achieve your goals in life. We at the Entrepreneurs Programme wish you all the best in your future endeavours.
