After various failed attempts at finding employment for his son with Down Syndrome, Ong Chin Wah, along with four other caregivers of youths with intellectual disability (PIDs) decided to take matters into their own hands. In 2011, they started a cooperative 'Employment for Persons with Intellectual Disability (E4PID)', with its flagship initiative, 'Mushroom Buddies', a social project operated largely by people with intellectual disabilities. The urban farm started with help from a waste management company that offered to sponsor containers retrofitted to grow mushrooms, using the space leased from the Singapore government at a highly subsidised rate. As at June 2023, the farm employed seven PIDs and produced 5-12 kg of mushroom every day that were sold to local restaurants, walk-in customers and at farmers' markets. Mushroom Buddies gave the member caregivers more control over the work environment and the terms of employment, which helped create a model for sustainable, gainful employment for their special needs youth and the opportunity to support more intellectually disabled youth from the community. The founders are acutely aware of the constraints and capabilities their employees have, and recognised that the work needs to be structured and repetitive. 'Mushroom Buddies' was the first successful project by E4PID and while the initial progress is encouraging, for it to sustain and flourish, Ong needs to scale it and find more venture ideas, volunteers, and funds. This case can be used for graduate, post-graduate, and executive classes. Discussion of this case allows students to analyse the issues employees with intellectual disabilities encounter in the workplace.

In March 2020, the Philippines government announced the first month-long lockdown in Manila and its surrounding regions to curb COVID-19 transmission. The lockdown measures, including the closure of non-essential businesses and stay-home orders, were sudden and drastic, leading to the urban poor's loss of employment and income. Putting food on the table would become a challenge in a city with millions living below the poverty threshold. But while their hunger would not wait, a new relief law needed time to take effect. That was when the private sector took immediate action. Responding to the hunger crisis was Project Ugnayan, a consortium including Ayala Corporation, one of the earliest conglomerates in the Philippines, together with some of the largest private companies and non-profit organisations such as The Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) and Caritas Manila of the Catholic Church. In a record time of a few days, the private sector-led initiative raised over PhP 1.7 billion (US$33 million) that went into sponsoring a feeding programme for 2.8 million impoverished families (equivalent to some 14 million individuals). Over four weeks, Caritas Manila mobilised over 1,000 parish priests and 10,000 volunteers who went door-to-door distributing grocery vouchers, food packs, and in-kind donations in the Greater Manila Area. As Project Ugnayan ended, the team reflected on the meaningful and impactful contribution the initiative had made to the lives of the vulnerable poor during the tumultuous times of the pandemic. What lessons could be drawn from this collaborative effort of the private sector that can be replicated for future initiatives?

Many Chinese family businesses are facing a succession crisis due to the lack of succession planning. Contrary to this finding, Chen Koon-yaw, the fourth-generation owner of the Hop Lion Feather Works Corporation, had planned early and handed the leadership role over to the next generation well before his retirement age. Hop Lion is a supplier of processed down and feathers to well-known consumer brands specialising in beddings and winter coats, including Canada Goose, Moncler, The North Face, and many others. Founded in 1908 and headquartered in Taiwan, the century-old family business had faced multiple crises that threatened its survival in the early 1990s - family separation, employee betrayal, loss of major clients and a highly volatile business environment. Chen's experience of an abrupt takeover of the family business after the demise of his father had led to his decision of not leaving succession planning to chance, and grooming his son as the next leader well in advance. Even after officially handing over to his elder son in 2015, there were doubts on whether he would truly let go. At 61, he had stepped down earlier than most Taiwanese CEOs. Should he continue to exert control over his successor to influence decision-making?

In January 2019, Raymond Holmes, head of the Singapore Association of Chief Marketing Officers (CMO), an informal roundtable of CMOs from multinational corporations, went to explore Habitat, a hi-tech grocery store by Honestbee, a food and grocery delivery company. The advent of e-commerce allowed consumers to buy products online. Asset-light retailers had cost advantages over physical stores when it came to rental expenditure and inventory storage. Honestbee pioneered the food concierge service in Singapore, helping busy consumers fulfil and deliver online grocery orders from partners that had physical stores. Three years after its founding, the company added a physical storefront that aimed to be a lifestyle destination with a grocery store and other dining concepts. The futuristic store would also attract non-shoppers to the area. Holmes wondered if Honestbee's multichannel approach would provide a better experience for the consumers and enhance its profitability.

Fintech company TranSwap Pte Ltd was set up in Singapore by CEO Benjamin Wong and COO Lim Kien Leong to address customers' bugbears when carrying out overseas money transfers. It began operating in 2017 and has since evolved to include products such as global payment and collections and multi-currency global virtual accounts in its expanded set of offerings. TranSwap has six offices across Asia and Europe. Its clientele is evenly split between two key segments - the B2B (Business-to-Business) segment, and the B2C (Business-to-Consumer) segment. It has over 80 FX (foreign exchange) liquidity and settlement partners globally. The firm's profit formula is largely based on charging transaction fees for sums transferred, and additional fees for voluminous transactions. Transactions involving exotic currencies also attract higher charges. TranSwap used a mixture of venture capital investments and grants to fund its business in the initial stages. It hopes to file for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) eventually. The case also explores other topics including the co-founders' entrepreneurial journey, the designing and validation of business models, and how TranSwap built its ecosystem.