Joel Leong

Online loyalty platform ShopBack’s biggest challenge has been to convince shoppers that there is no catch to its free-to-sign-up and free-to-use cashback service. “As Asians, we’ve been brought up to question anything that sounds too good to be true,” said the start-up’s co-founder Joel Leong (pictured left), who is also its head of merchants. However, its business model is a clever one, which charges partner merchants per sale rather than per click on an advertisement, and shares the commission with its consumers. Since its founding in 2014, ShopBack has successfully established a presence in seven countries across Asia-Pacific, with offices in eight. “Our society condemns making mistakes, but we need to cultivate the mindset of embracing failures to see the rise of more innovation. To be successful, I believe one must stay optimistic and be able to celebrate setbacks.”