Consumer fintech Fave has recently announced that its Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Joel Neoh, has made the decision to step down from his role effective early March. Co-founder Yeoh Chen Chow will continue in his place to lead the business together with Avantika Jain, General Manager in Singapore, Aik Kuang Heng, Fave’s newly appointed General Manager in Malaysia, alongside local leadership teams in Indonesia and India.
Joel leaves Fave with a strong leadership in place and solid momentum for growth. By the end of 2022, Fave had achieved its all-time highest volumes of transactions, reflecting the company's growing popularity and market share. The company will be rolling out more collaborations with key banks and financial institutions across the markets; as well as targeting to enter the flexible payment processing space for online merchants in Q2.
“I have had the privilege of a lifetime to work with some of the best talents in Southeast Asia to build Fave into a household brand name - today, 1 out of every 3 Singaporeans, and millions of consumers across Malaysia, Indonesia and India use Fave on a daily basis for payments and rewards," shared Joel,
"With the strong leadership and culture we have built, I am confident in the company's continued growth in the years to come. As I leave Fave, I look forward to further contributing to Southeast Asia’s technology ecosystem, paying it forward by helping other fellow entrepreneurs grow in their startup journeys."
Having founded the company in 2015, Joel’s visionary leadership led Fave to tap on the massive opportunity for cashless payments in its early days, positioning the company as one of the leading players in Southeast Asia’s fintech space. Fave’s products have evolved from offering deals to empowering customers' savings through QR payments and loyalty programmes on both the Fave app and other major banks and digital wallets to fully acquiring e-commerce company Groupon in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia back in 2017.
As one of the founders of Groupon Malaysia, he later managed Groupon Asia Pacific’s US$2 billion business with over 2,500 employees. Prior to that, in 2009, he co-founded Says.com, a digital media platform that merged with Rev Asia and was acquired by Malaysia’s largest media conglomerate Media Prima.
Commenting on the news, B Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs, praised Joel's leadership and dedication. "He leaves behind a tremendous legacy. Fave is an extremely strong addition to Pine Labs' company portfolio, and we are excited about the 2023 growth trajectory as Fave is set to break new boundaries in sales volumes and explore new countries.”
“During the last two years Joel has become a dear friend, and I will continue to pick his brain even as he departs the company. He will always be the founder of Fave and the greatest supporter of the business in the years to come."
Joel continues to remain plugged into Southeast Asia’s digital and technology ecosystem as an investor in over 25 startups, through holding mentorship and advisory roles in Endeavour Malaysia, XA Network, Sunway University, as a limited partner in 500 Southeast Asia III, Better Bite Ventures, and as an investor in Nasdaq-listed Prenetics, among others.