From 1 Cafe to 12 Co’s: JWC’s Coffee Ecosystem Play
Nelson Lai, Founder & CEO, JWC Global | Michael Tan, Wholesale Director, JWC Roastery
19-May-25 10:00

Embed Podcast
You can share this podcast by copying this HTML to your clipboard and pasting into your blog or web page.
Close
In 2009, JWC started as a small café in Johor with just 16 seats. Today, it has grown into an eight-figure, multi-company coffee group with retail outlets, a coffee academy, a roastery, and a fast-growing wholesale business. In this episode, we speak with Nelson Lai, Founder & CEO of JWC Global, and Michael Tan, Wholesale Director of JWC Roastery, about this company's journey from bootstrapped beginnings to building an integrated coffee ecosystem.
We dive into:
How JWC grew from a café into an 8-figure, multi-vertical business.
The surprising profitability of their coffee academy.
Their wholesale growth strategy, from five to seven figures.
How JWC tackles supply chain risks through direct sourcing.
Expansion ambitions, including exports, regional markets, and future fundraising.
Discover how JWC balances coffee craft, business scale, and people development to grow Malaysia’s homegrown coffee presence at home and abroad.
Produced by: Roshan Kanesan
Presented by: Roshan Kanesan
This and more than 60,000 other podcasts in your hand. Download the all new BFM mobile app.
Categories: markets, economy, managing, entrepreneurs
Tags: coffee business, specialty coffee, wholesale, entrepreneurship, made in malaysia,