Jake Abdullah moves on from MD role at Fave Malaysia

Jake Abdullah has stepped down as Fave Malaysia's MD to join Pyjama Media as CEO. Pyjama Media's LinkedIn said it is a boutique media planning and creative agency that offers bespoke solutions. Headed by industry and media veterans who have delivered award winning solutions and creative ideas for the last 20 years, we specialise in creating content and solution that resonates with consumers," the profile's description added.

In a message on LinkedIn, Jake (pictured) said it has been a tough but amazing 13 months at Fave, from uncertainties to the COVID-19 pandemic. "But like I always say, amazing life lessons. Wishing co-founders Joel Neoh and Chen Chow Yeoh the best results and great work with the latest funding! Made so many friends and now to another adventure," he added. Fave declined to comment on A+M's queries. A+M has reached out to Jake for comment.

Meanwhile, Jake joined Fave last June, after 23 years at Astro Radio. He joined the group in 1996 and was named CEO of Astro Radio in December 2013. In his role, he oversaw Astro Radio’s strategic direction, particularly for brands and talent, as well as driving radex growth. He also spearheaded talent-driven content across the group’s platforms. Jake also led the setup of four Astro affiliated radio stations overseas, namely Aamar FM and Power FM in India; and Gen FM and Jak FM in Jakarta.

Last month, Fave announced a strategic partnership and investment from digital payments and merchant commerce platform, Pine Labs. Under the terms of the partnership, Fave’s QR code will become interoperable and integrated with Pine Lab’s terminals. Fave’s merchant payment acceptance and loyalty cashback solutions will expand into both debit and credit cards platforms via Pine Labs payment terminals. Merchants working with Pine Labs in Southeast Asia will also gain access to Fave’s loyalty solutions and reward their customers with cashback. They will also be able to enjoy consolidation of payments and gain access to transparent reporting, payment reconciliation, customer insights and demographic data via access to Fave’s digital dashboard, Favebiz.

According to Fave, nearly 50,000 of Fave’s and Pine Labs’ merchants in Southeast Asia will benefit immediately from the partnership. The collaboration aims to scale and grow more businesses digitally in the coming months. Fave will also be receiving funding from Pine Labs as part of the partnership. This latest collaboration is an extension of Fave's ongoing focus on working with major banks, fintech firms and e-wallets in Singapore and Malaysia via SGQR, Paynet and DuitNow QR to bring about customer loyalty solutions to the broader payments ecosystem. The collaboration is also crucial in furthering each company’s market positioning and value proposition in Southeast Asia. 

Neoh said the partnership brings together great understanding and expertise in technology development to help support merchants through successful business transformations. “With digitalisation playing an increasingly critical role in the recovery of Southeast Asia’s economy, merchants recognise that they need to accelerate the development of digital solutions to ensure they remain competitive. We will work with Pine Labs to further strengthen Fave’s mission of helping merchants adapt to and digitalise in the new normal," he added.

Meanwhile, Pine Labs CEO B Amrish Rau said Fave’s expertise in operating merchant loyalty programmes and the QR space and its own expertise in providing payments, loyalty and gift solutions will help merchants in the region navigate expansion in the post COVID-19 world.

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