Celebrity hairstylist Addy Lee was once earning close to a six-figure sum monthly doing live-stream sales in China for brands like Unilever, but when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and he could no longer travel to China freely to meet his clients and their brand representatives, that income vanished.
Adding to the blow was the shuttering of hair salons during the circuit breaker period.
The 49-year-old tells The Straits Times: "It was really bad. I was very frustrated as there were no events for me to style celebrities for, no customers, no live-stream sales."
Even as Covid-19 restrictions eased in Singapore, his income was nowhere close to its pre-pandemic level due to the loss of his live-stream earnings.
So he decided to start his own live-stream company, Mdada, in September with long-time business partners and friends Pornsak Prajakwit and Michelle Chia to sell products on Facebook Live. It helped that both stars had their schedules freed up.
Chia, 45, says a travel programme she was slated to host was shelved due to the pandemic, while Pornsak, 39, saw a dip in his number of work gigs due to a lack of events.
The Thailand-born host says: "I realised this could happen to me at any time. I could run out of shows and gigs and I started thinking about my future."
Their hosting experience made the transition to live-stream sales fairly smooth for Chia and Pornsak, while Lee's connections in the hair and beauty industry enabled them to get good discounts on the products they were selling.
They have been a hit with audiences thus far.
"Sometimes, our live streams go from 7pm until past midnight, like 2am, but we keep going because even at that time, we can sell 600 facial packages. It's been so eye-opening for us," says Pornsak.
Asked if the long hours - they stream together four days a week - were tiring, Lee says with a laugh: "Having no money is more tiring."
The trio - who have since recruited six more influencers - join the fray of local celebrities who have turned to live streaming during the pandemic. Most notably, getai host Wang Lei's online persona Fishselling Big Brother is a big hit.
And influencer firm Gushcloud teamed up with used-car platform Carro to sell a Toyota Wish for $61,000 on a live stream hosted by rapper Sheikh Haikel and actresses Anna Belle Francis and Elfaeza Ul Haq last November.
But Singapore is only just taking baby steps compared with China. There, the live-stream e-commerce market is expected to have hit 1.05 trillion yuan (S$217 billion) last year, according to an October report by KPMG and AliResearch.
Chia says: "Even though our market is only a small fraction of the Chinese one, there's still a lot of potential."
While the founding trio decline to reveal how much they earn from Mdada - which generates revenue through a mix of commission and listing fees - Lee is "very happy".
Pornsak, who announced his departure from broadcaster Mediacorp last month, adds: "I'm a very practical person. If I did not see a bright future here, why would I leave Mediacorp?"
• Go to www.facebook.com/ mdada.live/ for more information on Mdada.
