BFM 89.9

HIGHLIGHTS 
Podcast  >  Enterprise  >  Open For Business  >  From Food Truck to RM10M+ Social Enterprise: Pepper Labs

From Food Truck to RM10M+ Social Enterprise: Pepper Labs

Thanaselan Rajendran, Managing Director, Pepper Labs

08-Sep-25 10:00

From Food Truck to RM10M+ Social Enterprise: Pepper Labs

What started as a single food truck to help one person in need has evolved into Pepper Labs, an eight-figure social enterprise that has impacted over 400,000 lives. But how do you scale social impact while remaining a commercially viable, profitable business?

Managing Director Thanaselan Rajendran joins us to share their incredible 10-year journey. He discusses the critical difference between a social enterprise and a charity, their innovative "Dapur Digital" community kitchens, and how they partner with giants like Microsoft and Google to bridge the digital divide with large-scale AI training.

We discuss:

  • The 10-year journey from a single food truck to an 8-figure business.

  • The crucial difference between a social enterprise and a charity.

  • Their "Dapur Digital" model for empowering micro-entrepreneurs in PPR communities

  • How they are bridging the digital divide with large-scale AI training.

  • Their ambitious vision to become an "impact-based conglomerate."

    For social entrepreneurs, corporate foundations, and policymakers, this is a fascinating story in building a scalable, sustainable, and impact-focused organisation.

Produced by: Carol Wong

Presented by: Roshan Kanesan


This and more than 60,000 other podcasts in your hand. Download the all new BFM mobile app.

Categories:  CorporatesmanagingfoodSME

Tags:  social enterpriseimpact investingcommunity developmentdigital inclusionesg





Play / Pause

Listen now : Health & Living: After losing his wife to cancer, one man is...

Today’s Shows



6:00 AM

The 6AM Stretch

Thought-provoking discussions on ideas, people and events shaping our lives.

7:00 AM

World Market Watch

Kingsley Jones, Chief Investment Officer, Jevons Global tells us where international markets are heading.

7:15 AM

Morning Brief

We recap global and local headlines from today's papers and portals.

7:30 AM

Morning Brief

Pankaj C. Kumar discusses the Sunway-IJM deal and whether the MACC's investigations into IJM will hurt it.

7:45 AM

Morning Brief

Ariff Adi Putera Anwar of the Institute for Development Studies (Sabah) analyzes the Kinabatangan and Lamag by-election results.

8:00 AM

The Breakfast Grille

Datuk Captain Izham Ismail, Managing Director of Malaysia Airlines group shares highlights from his career, leadership challenges he's faced, and what's next for the company.

8:30 AM

Morning Brief

We break down the day’s top news with expert insights.

8:45 AM

Morning Brief

Dr. Khor Swee Keng, Chief Executive Officer of Angsana Health, unpacks the base MHIT proposal impact.

9:00 AM

Opening Bell

(REPEAT) Kingsley Jones, Chief Investment Officer, Jevons Global tells us where international markets are heading.

9:15 AM

Opening Bell

(REPEAT) We take a look at the FBM KLCI as well as regional capital markets.

9:35 AM

Pinnacle Perspectives

Ong Kian Ming, DAP member and Adjunct Professor at Taylor's University, shares his views on how we could have positioned Malaysia Inc. on the DAVOS stage.

10:05 AM

Open For Business

Beyond Bitcoin hype: Halogen Capital’s Hann Liew and Lucas Ooi on scaling Malaysia’s first licensed digital asset fund manager to RM400M AUM and their new RM13.3M war chest to tokenise real-world bonds and real estate.

11:05 AM

P&L

Solving the "People Bottleneck" in AI Adoption. We’ve spent the last three weeks on P&L exploring the tools, valuations, and code behind the AI boom. Now we turn to the one variable that renders even the best tech useless: People.

12:00 PM

Enterprise Explores

Malaysia’s Education Blueprint is accelerating education pathways, but can universities still deliver work-ready graduates? We explore what this reform means with University of Nottingham Malaysia’s Professor Hazel Melanie Ramos.

1:00 PM

The Breakfast Grille Repeat

Datuk Captain Izham Ismail, Managing Director of Malaysia Airlines group shares highlights from his career, leadership challenges he's faced, and what's next for the company.

2:05 PM

Discovery Hour

An eclectic selection of BBC shows, curated with variety in mind.

3:05 PM

Earth Matters

For this month’s Nature Reads, wildlife researcher Su Mei Toh discusses a range of books, including environmental classics, books on Indigenous knowledge, science writing, and field guides rooted in Malaysia.

3:20 PM

Earth Matters

Macaranga Wrap-Up

4:05 PM

Health & Living

After losing his wife to cancer, one man is running 2,200km around Peninsula Malaysia to raise funds for childhood cancer.

5:00 PM

Top 5 at 5

A countdown of the 5 biggest stories of the day, to catch you up on all you need to know!

6:00 PM

Today I Learned

How To Be Better At Money

7:00 PM

Just For Kicks

8:00 PM

A Bit of Culture