Event Information I Programme I Confirmed Speakers I Who Should Attend I Post Forum Workshops I Sponsors and Partners
Event Information:
In today's fast-paced digital world, digital transformation is key for SMEs that want to stay relevant and expand globally. Digitally mature companies are 26% more profitable because they are able to speed up their market entry, reach the right customers, scale quickly and even compete with more established players.
Half of the world's digital users live in Asia Pacific and that number is growing exponentially. SMEs need to keep up with the region's unique digital trends such as China's power apps, Southeast Asia's social commerce and India's mobile solutions.
This year's iAdvisory Forum is all about "Going Global with Digital", and will highlight how SMEs can:
- expand globally with digital transformation; and
- capture opportunities in China, India and Southeast Asia
Learn from and connect with Singapore companies that have successfully expanded overseas as a result of their digital transformation. Digital and market experts will also share global and regional trends SMEs need to take advantage of.
Programme*:
| Time | Item | ||
| 0845 | Registration | ||
| 0930 | Welcome Address | ||
| 0945 | Opening Keynote by McKinsey : Digital globalisation The digital era has levelled the playing field for SMEs. International trade used to favour developed economies and MNCs with deep pockets. Today, even individuals, like teenagers and stay-home-mothers, can export their goods via e-commerce marketplace. So how does the new age of digital globalisation change the face of business? | ||
| 1005 | Dialogue with DBS CEO Piyush Gupta: Creating new value and capturing new markets with digital transformation Digitalisation is no longer just the IT department's job. It starts at the top and has to be a company-wide transformation from processes to people to culture. Digitalisation done well can reinvent a company's business and also create new revenue streams, even in a completely new market. DBS's 1 million new customers in their first year in India is a testament to the bank's "paperless, signature-less and branchless" digital strategy. | ||
| 1035 | Networking Tea Break | ||
| 1105 | Keynote segment 1: How digital has changed the face of branding and marketing Industries have been moving forward towards a 'digital centre' in which business models, offerings and value chains are digitised, but what does this mean for SMEs and the future of their business? Kevin Weston from Float will tell us how digitisation has impacted the everyday consumers across the globe and how SMEs can meet their needs. Special guest speaker Soon Yu will also share his expertise in the area of using digital to drive innovation priorities that businesses need to pay attention to in order to build an iconic brand. | ||
| 1145 | Panel Discussions: The tale of two digital giants Panel 1: China The Great Firewall of China has developed a unique playing field for technology start-ups and given birth to industry giants like Alibaba and Tencent. China's users are resultantly more tech savvy than even those in the US and Europe. Its mobile users spend 99% of their time on apps, compared to the 80% in other markets. Chinese and Singapore companies will share their experience in navigating through China's firewall and achieving success with the country's sophisticated mobile users. | ||
| 1245 | Networking Luncheon | ||
| 1400 | Panel Discussions: The tale of two digital giants Panel 2: India India is proving to be a digital force to be reckoned with. From the top, PM Modi's "Digital India" programme is leading the way to digitally transform and modernise the country, providing digital access and e-government services to all. eCommerce in India is also growing at 30% CAGR and use of digital payments have shot up due to the demonetisation. Get insights from Singapore companies that that adapted their business strategy with digitalisation to succeed in India. | ||
| 1500 | Panel Discussion: Engaging digital customers across Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is quickly closing the digital divide. It adds 80 million new internet users a year, with most mobile-first or even mobile-only. Companies looking to expand into Southeast Asia need to manage their capacity to scale while ensuring they are reaching the right customers with the right product. Industry experts will share how innovative solutions like social commerce, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence have helped them reach out to fragmented consumers across the region. | ||
| 1600 | Networking Tea Break | ||
| 1630 | Keynote segment 2: Empowering SMEs to internationalise with digital solutions Industries have been moving forward towards a 'digital centre' in which business models, offerings and value chains are digitised, but what does this mean for SMEs and the future of their business? Hear from industry leaders such as Facebook and LinkedIn as they look into the future of digital and share how they are evolving their business to reach all corners of the Earth. | ||
| 1700 | Panel Discussion: Riding the digital wave to go global Going digital isn't an overnight decision; and admittedly not an easy journey. It will however bring sweet success, especially in your overseas expansion. Singapore companies share how they took their first step, their struggles and when it eventually bore fruit. IPOS Chief Executive Mr Daren Tang will also contribute how the government is driving enterprise innovation and growth. | ||
| 1745 | End of Programme | ||
Confirmed Speakers:
 | Vaibhav Dabhade, Founder & CEO, Anchanto | |
 | Utsav Garg, Senior Partner, A.T. Kearney Utsav is a Senior Partner with A.T. Kearney in the Communications, Media & Technology (CMT) Practice. Over the last 10 years with A.T. Kearney, he has been designing and implementing high-impact transformation and digitalization programs for CMT and other consumer-facing industries. His clients include some of the largest and most successful Telecom and Technology companies across Australia, Southeast Asia, and India. Utsav is based in A.T. Kearney’s Singapore office. Before joining A.T. Kearney, Utsav worked at Unilever, leading sales transformations and global brand launches. | |
 | Elaine Wong, Head of Business Development, BFMe.com Elaine has always been in the ecommerce industry since her graduation from the University of Hong Kong. During her education in Europe, Ms. Wong was invited to join a CAC 40 index listed company. In 2013, Elaine joined Alibaba.com to expand the ecommerce business in oversea areas such as Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong. With international education background and extensive experiences in ecommerce, Elaine was named head of business development in BFMe.com in July 2015. As head of business development, Elaine is responsible for leading and executing the international growth strategy for globalizing the company and expanding its business including seller acquisition and brand development outside China. | |
 | Ivan Poh, Director, Chee Fatt Ivan Poh, Director, Sales, Chee Fatt Co (Pte.) Ltd, is on a mission to contribute to transforming his three generation old family business into an accomplishing international outfit. He studied Information Technology at his university, spent 5 years working in various roles with various companies in the SME, MNC and GLC space before returning to his family business. He had since been with the company for 14 years, adopted his family’s value, working from bottom up and had assumed roles of storekeeper, delivery man, salesman, etc. | |
 | Piyush Gupta, CEO and Director, DBS Group Piyush is a member of the Executive Committee of the Institute of International Finance, Washington and a member of the Board of Trustees of Asia Society. In addition, he serves as the Deputy Chairman of SPRING Singapore and sits on the boards of The Institute of Banking and Finance, Dr. Goh Keng Swee Scholarship Fund and National Research Foundation, Prime Minister's Office. He is also Chairman of Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics Advisory Board, and a council member of the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research. | |
 | Steven Wang, Vice President, Didi Chuxing Steven Wang, the vice president of DIDI company, is responsible for the company's comprehensive strategic cooperation, implementing and directing a long-term comprehensive strategy to position the company in various policy and political dialogues that will advance the company business objectives. Steven Wang had been in charge of government affairs in Alipay and Apple Inc.. Steven Wang got a master’s degree of computer science and artificial intelligence in The university of Toronto, and a MBA degree in Boston university. | |
 | Ross Wakeham, Client Partner, Facebook Ross is a client partner at Facebook, helping eCommerce businesses across Southeast Asia understand and utilise new marketing channels to drive their business goals. In his role, Ross helps distill complex products and technology into a simple marketing strategy that can help brands achieve real, measurable results. Ross' experience in technology and communications spans 9 years, and across Australia and Southeast Asia. | |
 | Kevin Weston, CEO, Float Hybrid Kevin Weston is CEO of Float, a design and interactive technology agency based in San Francisco that has worked with major brands, including Pepsi, Paramount, Microsoft, McDonalds, Whirlpool and GE. Kevin was previously COO of Digital Domain and VP at LucasArts. | |
 | Robert Yap, Deputy Chairman, IE Singapore | Executive Chairman, YCH Group Robert Yap is the Executive Chairman of YCH Group, Singapore’s leading end-to- end supply chainmanagement company with operations spanning across Asia Pacific. In 2016, Robert was named ‘Businessman of the Year’ at the prestigious Singapore Business Awards. He is the Founder and Chairman of leading information technology and supply chain solutions company Y3 Technologies, Chairman of corporate venture fund Supply Chain Angels, Founder and Chairman of Supply Chain City® – Asia’s premier supply chain nerve centre for supply chain excellence, and Chairman of Supply Chain Asia – a regional community of more than 45,000 industry professionals. Recognised for his visionary leadership, Robert contributes as an advisor on numerous local and international platforms. Robert is President of the Singapore National Employers Federation, Deputy Chairman of IE Singapore, and the Chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council Singapore. He contributes to the Joint Implementation Committee overseeing the Government-to-Government project in Chongqing, the Council for Skills, Innovation and Productivity, and the Committee on the Future Economy. | |
 | Benjamin Yap, Group Director, IE Singapore Benjamin Yap oversees International Enteprrise (IE) Singapore's promotion of trade and investment into the North & South Asian Region. Prior to joining IE Singapore, Benjamin was Director at Raffles Design International (Mumbai), a subsidiary of Singapore listed Raffles Education Corporation. Based in New Delhi, India, Benjamin is a passionate advocate for India and South Asia. During the course of his career, Benjamin also held various appointments in both SMEs and MNCs covering security, FMCG and enterprise technology. | |
 | Daren Tang, CE, IPOS Mr Daren Tang has been the Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) since November 15, 2015. Under his leadership, IPOS has evolved into a key innovation agency that helps drive Singapore’s future growth. This includes the recent updates to Singapore’s IP Hub Master Plan and the establishment of a one-billion dollar Makara Innovation Fund that helps innovative companies scale up and compete globally. Mr Tang holds key positions in several IP and innovation-related committees. He is the Chairperson of the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. He also sits on the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Strategy Committee, under the Prime Minister’s Office. Conferred the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2016, Mr Tang holds an LL.B (2nd Upper, Hons) from the National University of Singapore and an LL.M (with distinction) from the Georgetown University Law Centre where he was a Fellow of the Institute of International Economic Law. | |
 | Frank Koo, Head of Southeast Asia, LinkedIn Frank Koo is the Head of Southeast Asia at LinkedIn and is responsible for LinkedIn’s Talent Solutions business. Frank’s organization supports companies in optimizing talent acquisition and retention strategies through the use of technology and best practices on LinkedIn’s platform. Frank has been in the technology and education industry for more than 25 years, Prior to LinkedIn, Frank was the Chief Operating Officer of BE Education. He has also held leadership roles in Pearson Education where he was President of Learning Solutions in APAC, and Oracle where he was Managing Director for Singapore and South Asia Growth Economies. | |
 | Richard Koh, Founder/CEO, M-DAQ Richard Koh is the Founder/CEO of M-DAQ, reportedly the largest and most well funded (post Series C) but media-shy Fintech in Singapore, since Jan 2010. Richard had his first entrepreneurial pursuit when he was 14, co-founding a computer games startup which failed and so did his GCE O Levels. Between 1990 and 2009, his careers were built at JPMorgan/Chase Manhattan, Credit Suisse(First Boston), Standard Chartered and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) and holds an Executive MBA, a Bachelor of Accountancy and several Diplomas in Computing, and a scholarship from Price Waterhouse. Despite failing his GCE O Levels and 3 out of 4 subjects in the first semester during his undergraduate degree, he finished top of his cohort and was the valedictorian for both his GCE A Levels and the EMBA. He also has 2 technical patents that forms the foundation to the M-DAQ business. | |
 | Sachin Chitturu, Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company Based in Singapore, Sachin works closely with leading telecom and technology companies across South East Asia, Hong Kong and Australia. He has worked extensively on both B2C and B2B spaces in setting up and scaling new digital businesses and has delivered large scale commercial turnaround programs. Sachin brings deep expertise in digital marketing and sales with a specific focus on channel digitization, advanced analytics and pricing. His experience extends end to end starting from crafting digital strategy to driving technical implementation and he has personally helped some of our largest TMT clients identify key digital opportunities and pursue them at scale. As a leading expert on digital disruption, particularly on commercial operations, Sachin has helped shape | |
 | Greg Mittman, Chief Operations Officer and Co-founder, MyRepublic Mr Greg Mittman is the Chief Operations Officer and co-founder of MyRepublic, the world’s first telecom company purpose-built for optical fibre NBNs (National Broadband Networks). Today, MyRepublic provides ultra-fast internet service to 200,000 homes and businesses in Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia. Prior to his tenure at MyRepublic, Mr Mittman was the Vice President (Business Development) of Alcatel-Lucent. He graduated from INSEAD in 2003 with a Masters in business administration. | |
 | Dennis Tay, Founder, Naiise If he wasn’t an entrepreneur, he might have been a hippie. But Dennis ended up founding several businesses, including a creative agency, which shaped his love for design. In January 2013, he established Naiise with the goal of making design more accessible. Today, Naiise has 5 stores in Singapore, has been featured in international publications like Monocle and New York Times as a top local retail destination, and ships products to customers around the world. | |
 | Ong Whee Shiong, Managing Director, Octopus Retail Management Mr Ong Whee Shiong is a pioneer in the cloud-based SaaS model for Point of Sales platforms in Asia and he has established strong partnerships with several payment companies such as MINT, Wire Card, Vantiv, Paypal, Worldpay, Union Pay, Alipay and WeChat Pay. Notably, the Group has secured a growing portfolio of large enterprise clients with various sales officers in Malaysia, China, Philippines as well as a technical back office in Sri Lanka. With strong business acumen, he has penetrated new retail markets such as aviation point-of-sales systems. | |
 | Bhavya Sehgal, Managing Director, APAC & Japan, Strategy & Innovation, ORC International Bhavya Sehgal is a renowned thought-leader and professional who has helped his clients devise and build strategies in Asia- Pacific over the last 15 years. His experience spreads across consumer goods, logistics, healthcare, financial services and industrials. He specialises in building go-to- market strategies and ensuring robust plans for commercial success across China, India and South East Asia. His intent is to help the already strong clientele at ORC across customer, employee and market research practices going much deeper in these markets. Bhavya is also a regular contributor to WSJ, CNBC, Bloomberg, and Channel News Asia. | |
 | Avish Joseph, Co-founder, Remote Grid
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 | John Paul Chen, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Saltycustoms John Paul Chen is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Saltycustoms, an innovative apparel design and manufacturing company. His journey with Saltycustoms started two years ago in 2015, having bought into the company and started operations in Singapore. Trained as a Chartered Accountant, John Paul previously worked at GE Capital and the Monetary Authority of Singapore before embarking on his entrepreneurial journey. An optimist at heart and a giver by nature, John Paul strongly believes in giving back to the community by creating sustainable charity cycles. Changing the world, one t-shirt at a time. | |
 | Zwee, Founder, Savant Degrees Zwee founded Savant Degrees in 2009 to help business leaders deliver successful digital experiences. Over the years, Zwee has advised and coached numerous business leaders across various industries ranging from F&B, retail, architecture to hospitality through design thinking workshops. Together with his team in Singapore and Jakarta, he has helped entrepreneurs and leaders from start-ups like RedMart and Give.asia, to larger organisations such as P&G, PayPal, Mastercard and the Singapore Government. In 2015, Zwee founded Eunoia, a food technology focused platform to foster and enable innovation amongst technology providers from the payments, CRM, fulfillment and digital ordering space. | |
 | Anurag Avula, CoFounder & CEO, Shopmatic Anurag Avula is the cofounder of Shopmatic, a unique online platform that provides the entire ecosystem for anyone wanting to sell online. An industry veteran, Anurag has spent more than 22 years in Online Commerce, Payments, Banking & Technology helping various organizations develop new market opportunities and businesses in the Asia-Pacific region. | |
 | Rehan Amarasuriya, Director, The 1872 Clipper Tea Co. Rehan Amarasuriya, the second son of Mr Sunil Amarasuriya, graduated in 2010 with a bachelor of finance degree from Monash University in Melbourne. Since then he has joined the family business, working very closely with the management and his team to grow the group as a whole. Specifically, Rehan has focused on the BP de Silva Group’s tea business – The 1872 Clipper Tea Co., a local specialty tea company, and Tea Tang, a tea production plant in Sri Lanka that packages and supplies tea to niche, quality-oriented markets in Singapore, Japan and Europe. With the knowledge and capability of tea manufacturing, Rehan is set on further developing and building The 1872 Clipper Tea label. | |
 | Josh Zhang, Chief Strategy Officer & Executive Partner, URWork Mr. Josh Zhang is the Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Partner of URWork, overseeing strategic planning, government relations, CSR and innovation programs of the company. | |
 | Oliver Tan, Co-founder and CEO, ViSenze Oliver Tan is the Co-Founder and CEO of artificial intelligence company, ViSenze, an acknowledged industry leader in deep machine learning for computer vision. As an ardent advocate of innovation, Oliver drives the vision and strategy for ViSenze. Prior to this role, Oliver spent five years at Quann, an award-winning cyber-security startup, where he led all aspects of its corporate, business development, and group ops management across three countries. Earlier in his career, Oliver held various key roles in digital media, OTT, advertising operations, venture capital, and corporate development. | |
 | Wong Shih Jon, Managing Director, V3 Smart Technologies Jon was appointed Managing Director of V3 Smart Technologies since inception and is responsible in charting the company’s direction and areas in research and development. Prior to V3, he was involved in several technology startups. He also worked with System & Computer Organization, MINDEF where he spearheaded the development of the Integrated Training Systems that won the Defence Administration Group Excellence Award for Innovation 97/98. He also sits in various committees in MINDEF that is responsible in crafting out various IT master plans. | |
 | Soon Yu, International Speaker and Author of Innovation and Design Soon Yu is an international speaker on innovation and design, and a highly sought-after consultant on entrepreneurship and venture strategy. He served as the Global VP of Innovation and Officer at VF Corp, a US$12 billion parent company to 30+ global brands, such as The North Face and Vans. While at VF, Soon created a $2 billion innovation pipeline, established 3 global innovation centers, and initiated industry-leading design best practices. | |
 | Pranay Gupta, Director & Co-founder, 91springboard Pranay Gupta is the co-founder of 91springboard, the first and largest coworking space provider in India. 91springboard currently has hubs spread across Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. An IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, Pranay was previously Joint CEO at CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad's incubator where he was instrumental in the setup and running of 'Power of Ideas', 'iAccelerator' and 'MentorEdge'. He was leading the Internet & Mobile domain activities for them and has led investments in 40+ startups that have resulted in multiple exits. |
Who Should Attend:
CXOs, CIOs, Business Owners of SMEs and key decision makers with interest to understand digital transformation and how it can help in their internationalisation plans.
Post Forum Workshops:
After the Forum, we will organise 4 iAdvisory workshops on 15, 16, 24 and 25 August to equip you with the digital tools you need to go global. You will learn how to:
- leverage information/marketing tools such as data analytics, SEO, SEM and programmatic marketing;
- work with financial tools to manage secure online retail and payment;
- manage logistics for seamless service delivery from inventory management to last mile fulfilment; and
- hire and groom talent for the digital age.
Your Forum ticket entitles you to a 30% discount on each of the 4 workshops. Registration for the workshops now in the links above.
Sponsors and Partners:
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Key Association Partners:
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Media Partner:
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