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$4.69M funded
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Applecrumby
Nine years between funding rounds—surviving on margins while competitors burned cash. Now holds the world's first TCF diaper patent.
Petaling Jaya 🇲🇾
Brandmine: Illuminating Exceptional Global South Brands
We discover and elevate founder-led companies from Russia, China, India, and Malaysia—breaking through language, cultural, and political barriers to connect them with global partners and capital.
Why Global South Brands Matter
Brandmine uncovers exceptional founder-led brands across the Global South that remain invisible to international partners due to language barriers, cultural context gaps, and fragmented information.
80%+
of global population in the Global South
60%+
of global economic growth (2020-2030)
Millions
of brands invisible to international partners
Brands
Discover exceptional founder-led brands from across the Global South building global-ready products.
Undisclosed
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Ghee Hiang
168 years old, seven years in court. Four families at war nearly destroyed Malaysia's oldest confectionery. Sesame oil—not pastries—now generates 70% of revenue.
George Town, Penang 🇲🇾
RM10-20M (estimated)
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
A Cut Above
A 428-square-foot salon became Malaysia's premier hairstyling academy after an 8-location express chain taught its founder when to cut losses.
Kuala Lumpur 🇲🇾
<$10M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Unhasu
UN sanctions banned chemical imports. Unhasu pivoted to indigenous ingredients in weeks—6x production growth, 13x export surge by 2023.
Pyongyang 🇰🇵
~USD 1-10M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Pomhyanggi
Five crises in 25 years: famine, demolition, sanctions, pandemic, flooding. Still won a WIPO Gold Medal and produces 12 million units annually.
Sinuiju 🇰🇵
$40-50M
REVENUE
Resilience Profile
Dezan Shira & Associates
A misspelled surname, $500, and Deng's Southern Tour. Thirty-two years later: 40+ offices, $50M revenue, six crises survived by staying put.
Hong Kong 🇨🇳
Behind the Brands
Meet the founders building these exceptional brands across the Global South.
Resilience Profile
Sean & Jesmine Tan
Co-founders & CEO/COO
🏆 KEY ACHIEVEMENT
Built a brand named after their daughter's milestones (Apple, Crumby, Fish) into Malaysia's leading chlorine-free diaper company
Their daughter's first word was 'Apple.' Crumbs everywhere. Favorite meal was fish. They named their baby brand after all three.
Resilience Profile
Winnie Loo
Chief Creative Director
🏆 KEY ACHIEVEMENT
First Malaysian World Master of the Craft (1997)
Bullied out of salons in London and Singapore as 'Tiny Winnie,' she became the first Malaysian World Master of the Craft—after almost quitting when her toddler's kidney failed.
Resilience Profile
Dato Ch'ng Huck Theng
Executive Director (4th Generation)
🏆 KEY ACHIEVEMENT
Rescued 168-year heritage brand from family feud through dual-product diversification strategy
Built a media empire and won Asia Art Award. Then a seven-year family feud forced him into rescuing Malaysia's oldest confectionery—the business he was never supposed to inherit.
Resilience Profile
Chris Devonshire-Ellis
Founder & Chairman
🏆 KEY ACHIEVEMENT
Built $50M pan-Asian advisory practice across 40+ offices surviving 6 major crises without formal credentials
$500 to $50M across 40+ offices. Law school dropout stayed 25 years in China while competitors flew in—building trust credentials cannot buy.
Explore By Dimension
Discover brands through different perspectives from business sectors to transformation signals.
Market Intelligence
Insights deliver sharp reads on brands, founders, and markets where language barriers hide real opportunity.
Brand Spotlight
🇲🇾
14 min read
When the Platform Becomes the Product
They had 9,000 products from other brands. Then they looked at Amazon's plans and realized they needed something no one else could sell.
Market Momentum
🇨🇳
8 min read
The China+1 Moment: Betting on Diversification Before the Crowd
When Dezan Shira expanded to India and Vietnam in 2008, skeptics called it crazy. A decade later, US-China tensions proved the bet prescient.
China
Professional Services
Founder's Journey
🇲🇾
7 min
The Son Who Nearly Died Now Runs the Business
Marcus Teo's kidneys failed at two. His mother almost quit to save him. 34 years later, he runs the business—crisis forged both generations.
Crossroads
🇲🇾
19 min read
The Fox Who Founded an Empire
A rebel fugitive built institutions that outlasted three colonial governments. Legitimacy flows from solving problems, not official approval.
How We Discover and Validate Exceptional Brands
1
Discover
Illuminate previously invisible founder-led brands through comprehensive ecosystem mapping.
2
Validate
Document Transformation Arcs—crisis moments, pivotal decisions, and breakthrough outcomes—through systematic research unavailable anywhere else.
3
Signal
Identify timing signals (succession-ready, investment-ready, export-ready, scale-ready) that reveal strategic positioning for partnership, capital, or growth.