BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech: Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand & Malaysia Startups, Founders & Venture Capital VC (English)

Christophe is the investment director of LEAP201, a venture philanthropy foundation based in Singapore which focuses on improving the lives of vulnerable households in South East Asia in a sustainable manner. By providing early financial support to impact projects which do not yet meet the requirements of the traditional lenders and investors, LEAP201 fills up a critical missing gap in the South East Asian SMEs ecosystem while impacting hundreds of thousands of lives. From setting up microfinance banks in Madagascar and Mexico, starting a clean water company for rural households or establishing one of the first SME focused Fund Management Company in Cambodia, Christophe has spent the last 15 years focusing on the “access to finance” problematic for impact SMEs in developing markets. Apart from his Impact related and foundation work, he is the Managing Director of Strategic Hospitality REIT, a Thai listed REIT with hotels in ASEAN. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/cristophe-forsinetti

Mr. Alvin Tan was elected as a Member of Parliament in July 2020, and was shortly appointed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as Minister of State for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and the Ministry of Trade & Industry. He assumed these appointments on 1 Sep 2020. Mr. Tan has worked in the private, public and non-profit sectors. Before joining the government as Minister of State, he served as LinkedIn’s Head of Public Policy & Economics for the Asia Pacific, where he and his team help economies prepare for the rapidly changing nature of work using analytics and data solutions. Mr. Tan has been an active community leader in Singapore since 2005, serving youth, seniors and vulnerable families in both the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng and Moulmein-Cairnhill constituencies. He was also Chair of the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circle (IRCC). Mr. Tan holds a First Class Honours in Economics from Sydney University and a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University. He was awarded the 2008 Tan Kah Kee Foundation Postgraduate Scholarship, and the International and Global Affairs Fellowship from the Belfer Centre of Science and International Affairs at Harvard. Nurul Jihadah Hussain is the Founder of The Codette Project, which has been operating since 2015. The Codette Project is a non-profit ground-up initiative with a mission to improve access and opportunities for minority and Muslim women in technology. The Codette Project runs classes, workshops, panels, networking sessions and social events regularly, including Singapore’s only women’s hackathon. Nurul wants to create better communities and opportunities, and diversify what success means in society to show that anyone can be successful. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/brave-leaders

Nurul Jihadah Hussain is the Founder of The Codette Project, which has been operating since 2015. The Codette Project is a non-profit ground-up initiative with a mission to improve access and opportunities for minority and Muslim women in technology. The Codette Project runs classes, workshops, panels, networking sessions and social events regularly, including Singapore’s only women’s hackathon. Nurul wants to create better communities and opportunities, and diversify what success means in society to show that anyone can be successful. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/diversity-panel

Tanya’s 15-year legal career at some of the world’s largest law firms has honed her ability to influence and collaborate with people from diverse disciplines and backgrounds, Tanya spent 7 years in Real Estate legal teams before moving into legal team management. Tanya spent 8 years in Corporate M&A at both Simmons & Simmons and Norton Rose Fulbright in London. Tanya founded the Ladies Investment Club in Singapore and grew a team of 40 female investors which enabled female investors to build their investment portfolio and credentials, while providing hard to access funding to female founders. Tanya went on to launch a venture capital fund for women entrepreneurs and during her time at the fund, discovered the need for both more women investors and women entrepreneurs to be supported. Tanya believes in tapping into the largely untapped capital held by women through education and empowerment to both increase wealth held by women and to drive more capital towards diverse founders. Sophia was built to facilitate both of these things through it’s platform. Outside of Sophia, Tanya is an avid cyclist and yoga enthusiast. Tanya also advises two start ups and mentors young founders. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/tanya-rolfe

Dr. Sandhya Sriram, PhD is the CEO and co-founder of Shiok Meats, a cultivated meat and seafood company in Singapore. Their mission is to bring delicious, clean and healthy seafood and meats by harvesting from cells instead of animals. Shiok Meats brings cell-based crustacean meats like shrimp, crab and lobster to your table. They have been featured in media including The Economist, Forbes, World Economic Forum and Channel NewsAsia. Their investors include Y Combinator, Big Idea Ventures, Beyond Impact and Boom Capital. John Tan is the founder of Saturday Kids, a curiosity school for children, and Doyobi, an EdTech startup setting out to help kids grow into original thinkers and develop a sense of purpose. He is also an investor in tech startups, in particular those reimagining the future of work and learning such as Padlet, Galileo, Contra and Beanstalk. Saturday Kids runs Code In The Community, a Google and Singapore Government-supported initiative that is the largest free coding programme in Singapore. John is an Obama Foundation Asia-Pacific 50 BRAVE 10 Leader, Transcend Fellow, and an Ashoka Changemaker. He sits on the board of Ninja Van and ErudiFi. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/founder-mission

Koh Shiyan is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Hustle Fund, a venture capital fund that invests in pre-seed software startups in the U.S., Canada and Southeast Asia. Prior to that, she was VP Business Operations and Corporate Development at NerdWallet, a fintech startup that helps users with a range of financial decisions through content, community and tools. Yiping Goh is Partner at McKinsey & Company and the former partner at Quest Ventures, a top venture capital fund in Asia. Prior to this, Yiping was the co-founder and chief product officer at MatahariMall.com, the largest omnichannel fashion e-commerce site in Indonesia, backed by the Lippo Group. Lippo Group also acquired All Deals Asia, the Southeast Asia e-commerce aggregator and group-buying platform that was also co-founded by Yiping. Mohan Belani is the Co-founder and CEO of e27, a startup and tech ecosystem platform focused on helping startup founders build and grow their companies. He is also a Partner at Orvel Ventures. He believes that startups can make the world a better place, and in order for Southeast Asia's tech ecosystem to be relevant, it needs to be driven by sustainable and impactful companies solving problems at scale. He enjoys working with Founders and helping them alleviate the challenges of building great companies specifically around the areas of talent, funding and market access. The BRAVE 10: The Singapore Edition anthology showcases the top 10 journeys of Singapore's technology leaders. We aim to inspire the next generation of leaders to tackle our region's challenges. Profits from the book sales are donated to The Codette Project, which helps minority women break into tech and improve the diversity of our startup ecosystem. Get a limited hardcover copy here at www.jeremyau.com/book Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/panel-vc-outlook

Melissa Ng is the CEO of Bravely, a mental health startup that supercharges therapy by making data actionable and learning easy-peasy. Before that, she was the founder of a fully remote product design agency Melewi that worked with clients like Visa, Samsung and McDonalds (She's helped make the McDelivery app available in over 40 countries). She's also been featured on the front page of The Straits Times, as well as on Forbes, Channel News Asia, Les Echos and more. Most recently, she's been one of The Robb Report's '30 Thought Leaders' and LinkedIn's 'Top Mental Health Experts to Follow'. She's travelled to over 40 countries while building her remote businesses, spoken at events across 4 continents as a remote work expert; and the best compliment she's received is ""defiant in the face of adversity"". As someone who has struggled with mental health for most of her life — most recently while fighting leukaemia — Bravely was born out of her determination to create something that will truly make a difference for people going through the same pain and challenges. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/melissa-ng

Michael Milne is Co-Founder of Kaishi Partners, a recruitment firm for the startup ecosystem in South-East Asia that he launched alongside Ben Poh 5 years ago. He started his career in 2007 working in BD for a tech startup in London that was acquired by DHI, before moving to Hong Kong in 2009. In Hong Kong he started his recruitment career focused on hiring for PE funds investing into China, before transferring to Singapore in 2012. In 2015 he hired his first talent within VC, and with those candidates' encouragement started Kaishi the next year. A University of Southampton graduate whose dad is a tech entrepreneur, he's a proud husband and dad of 3 boys. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/michael-milne

Former intellectual property litigator turned in-house counsel for an international conglomerate in the areas of telco, utilities, construction, hospitality, land & development, NGOs and more. Host and producer of the So This Is My Why podcast, that features inspiring people about how they found their why and turned them into reality. Past guests include Olympians, Michelin-starred chefs, FAANG executive, retired four star general & Chief of Army, Hollywood actresses, US late night TV executive, prominent VCs, founders and more. Fun fact: The podcast was featured multiple times on the Late Late Show with James Corden (see here)! Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/ling-yah

An ex-Google pioneer of 9 years, with an expertise in launching new products and building ecosystems from the ground up (0 to 1 to 10 to 100). These include launching Google Assistant, Progressive Web Apps, Accelerated Mobile Pages and Firebase in APAC from zero to 100s of partners and millions of users. Prior to this, he launched Youtube in APAC. His last role at Google was to Head Google Search for the APAC region. Prior to this Anuvrat was a Strategy consultant with OC&C Strategy Consulting in London and an Investment Banker with WP Carey in London/New York. Anuvrat has a triple masters in Engineering, Economics and Management from the University of Oxford. He is a local Singaporean who went to Victoria School (Top 10 student in O Levels) and Victoria Junior College (4A's in A Levels). Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/anuvrat-rao

Kim is cofounder and Artistic Director of The Improv Company and has taught and performed improvised theatre for ten years. He has studied improv in Chicago, London and Oxford under some of the most venerated instructors still alive, and as a former board member of the Applied Improvisation Network, he is engaged in keeping up with current trends of improv training, facilitation and performance. As Artistic Director of the Company, he ensures the quality of the Company’s instruction and performances. Over a thousand people have had their first contact with improv through the programs he designed for the Company, and it was his vision, determination and desire that led to the establishment of a thriving improv scene in Singapore, including the internationally acclaimed Singapore Improv Festival. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/kim-tan

Hannah is the author of Founder to PM and the CEO and Founder of TheShareWay. Founder to PM is the first detailed guide on how ex-founders can land their first product management jobs. TheShareWay is a directory of companies that donate food and raffle items to nonprofits. Previously, she worked in Product at Oscar Health and started her career as a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/hannah-yang

Todd Schweitzer is co-founder and CEO at Brankas, the leading Open Finance technology provider in Southeast Asia. Todd has held senior roles in private equity and management consulting, spanning technology, the public sector, and financial services. Todd and co-founder Kenneth Shaw launched Brankas in 2016 to address the technology gaps that hindered fintech-bank partnerships. Brankas provides Open Finance technology to banks, insurers, mobile wallets, alternative lenders, and other suppliers and users of financial services APIs. He holds dual Bachelor's degrees with honours in Economics and International Studies from the University of California, Irvine, and a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/todd-d-schweitzer

Charmain Tan is the Founder & CEO of QuickDesk which provides one-stop digital sales and marketing solutions as well as digital training for SMEs and business professionals. She made Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 list for Enterprise Technology in 2019 and Singapore’s inaugural top 100 Women in Tech List in 2020. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/charmain-tan

Ser En is a film producer, and also the co-founder of Sendjoy, a Singapore-based startup that allows consumers to book content creators to make video messages for their loved ones. As a film and TV producer over the past 10 years, her live action and animated short films have been screened and won awards at over 100 international film festivals, and one of her animated short films, "Poles Apart" has won the BAFTA (dubbed as the "British Oscars") in 2018, and she is the first Singaporean to win the award. She has completed an MA in Producing at the National Film and Television School, with a scholarship from the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore and mm2 Entertainment. In 2018, she was also conferred the Outstanding Young Alumni Award by Nanyang Technological University. Ser En was named as one of the Prestige 40 under 40 in 2020, and have been profiled in the Straits Times, Yahoo! Lifestyle and Women's Weekly. A passionate storyteller, Ser En is concerned with social impact, building communities, and creating meaningful relationships through innovative ways, whether it's film, TV, or a tech product. She believes that the medium doesn't matter, the message does. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/ser-en-low

Derek Handley is a futurist, entrepreneur and an aspiring civilian astronaut signed up to visit space with Virgin Galactic. He created the Aera Foundation in 2014 as a charitable studio catalysing social innovations to reframe the status quo for a sustainable future. Global venture fund Aera VC followed and has been backing global radical climate solutions and frontier breakthroughs for humanity since 2017. Prior to establishing Aera, Derek alongside Sir Richard Branson, was the Founding CEO of The B Team, a non-profit alliance of global business leaders acting as a catalyst for bold dialogue, courageous leadership and brave action toward a fairer, greener and more human economy. Prior to The B Team, Derek spent 10 years founding and growing an early mobile-phone tech company The Hyperfactory, which he built to be a global success and later exited to Meredith Corporation/Time Inc. Returning to New Zealand with his wife and family, Derek founded Wiser Conversations, an online conversation and podcast series helping people ask better questions to develop self-knowledge and purpose in their lives. Wiser programs run at AUT University in Auckland where he is an Adjunct Professor; through workshops for family offices and elite athletes around the world. Derek is currently studying towards a Masters in Religion at Harvard. Previously he studied at MIT, Singularity University and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/derek-handley

Cherilyn is driven by her quest to empower people and businesses and to help them make better decisions to emerge stronger. The companies that she has founded are testaments to this fact. As Founder and CEO of Interstellar Group, she started Asia Law Network in 2014 out of frustration at being unable to find a suitable and affordable lawyer at a time when she needed one the most. Over the last six years, Asia Law Network’s service offerings have included a lawyer-vetted legal blog, lawyer directory, flat-fee legal consult and quick contracts. Four years later, in 2018, Tessaract.io was launched to empower businesses across Asia Pacific by digitising their operations and introducing them to new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and data analytics. Today, Tessaract.io is a powerful and flexible business management tool that is powering countless businesses, big or small. Tessaract.io has become a cash-flow positive business and has launched operations outside of Singapore. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/cherilyn-tan

Andrew Senduk started his career in both consulting and banking at top-tier firms but found a true passion in e-commerce. He holds 12+ years of entrepreneurial experience building ventures across Europe and Southeast Asia. He co-founded Orami, Southeast Asia’s #1 online destination for mums & babies. Orami raised $20M+ in venture funding and employed 600+ people. Prior to this, Andrew spent 1 year building one of the fastest-growing digital agencies within the region, Lion & Lion where he acted as Country Managing Director Indonesia. He currently holds several strategic roles as an advisor to both startups and corporates and is a highly sought-after keynote speaker on entrepreneurial leadership, digital transformation, and growth. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/andrew-senduk

Ren Yi Hooi is the Founder and CEO of Lightning Social Ventures, a Fintech for Good startup which enables charities and public sector institutions to verify and accelerate support for people in financial hardship. A globally recognised impact award winner, Lightning launched in Feb 2021 and is now revenue generating with multiple national partners in the UK. Prior to this, Ren was the Product Director and Director of Financial Inclusion at Railsbank, a leading FinTech platform. Ren has also held a number of different roles at companies and social sector organisations across four continents, including Bain & Company, BIMA (a global InsurTech provider) and The Rockefeller Foundation. Ren graduated with an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from UC Berkeley. She is a recipient of the UK’s Tech Nation Exceptional Talent Visa. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/ren-yi-hooi

After starting her first storytelling company as a teenager, and then sailing around the world with a UN Global Climate Expedition as a documentary filmmaker; Jacqui came to realise that the best ESG solutions exist already, but these visionaries needed more visibility. Hence, she moved to Singapore to become a serial systems entrepreneur — building B Corp certified companies that work with multinational clients & visionary social enterprises around the world on their Strategy & Storytelling. Now a Forbes 30 under 30 and 2 time TEDx speaker, she hopes to be remembered for being on the forefront leading businesses to become the solution for the world’s problems and not the cause. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/jacqui-hocking

Tammie is the CEO and co-founder of Revery, a Sequoia Capital and GGV Capital backed startup using mobile gaming to deliver mental wellness. Revery’s mission is to make mental health affordable, accessible, and fun. Prior to launching Revery, she was an investment associate at Sequoia Capital and a strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/tammie-siew

Elena is the Founder of ConnectOne who since 2013 have partnered the early stage technology startup ecosystem to build and optimize teams for growth. In doing so, she and her team have met, coached and built a robust community of entrepreneurial minded individuals. Prior to ConnectOne, she had spent 15 years at Procter & Gamble. She is a proud mum of 4 kids aged 14 to 24. Outside of work, she teaches the youths in church, sits on a board of a kindergarten and is an advocate of functional training. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/elena-chow

Daniel is founder & CEO of Nimbus, an office facilities management platform. He is a former LSE & Oxford philosopher turned entrepreneur. He aspires to build a company that impacts lives and helps the most vulnerable in society. He was recently featured in the 2021 Gen.T list of young leaders shaping Asia for his work in social entrepreneurship. His company, Nimbus, helps office decision-makers to run their office well. Nimbus handles office cleaning, maintenance and supplies end to end. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/daniel-thong

Elaine Kim is a medical doctor, entrepreneur and educator. With over a decade of medical practice in palliative care, caring for terminally ill patients, she now serves as a clinical consultant for the Singapore Ministry Of Health. A passionate advocate for involved parenthood alongside career success, she is the CEO of Trehaus, an integrated co-lifestyle space for families with a preschool and childcare, office space and family club. Elaine is also the co-founder and CEO of CRIB, a social enterprise that empowers women to become successful entrepreneurs. Actively involved in philanthropy, she has led awareness-building and fund-raising initiatives for charities such as BMDP, HCA Hospice Care and Dover Park Hospice raising over $1 million for causes that support patients with cancer, the terminally ill and and victims of trafficking. She also launched CRIB's philanthropic arm CRIB Gives Back, which helps raise funds for charities, supports social enterprises and engages the philanthropic community, including through its "Holiday for Hope" programme which supports local communities in need in Cambodia and Nepal. Elaine was selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (WEF YGL). She is also a member of the International Women's Forum (IWF) , a member of the Milken Young Leaders Circle and actively involved in the Young President's Organisation (YPO). Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/elaine-kim

Gita Sjahrir is the Co-Founder and CEO of RFitness, Indonesia’s largest online and offline boutique fitness brand. She started her journey into wellness when she was diagnosed with Still’s disease, an autoimmune condition that affected her joints and lungs. She began a fitness community in 2015 after wanting an inclusive, equitable and non-judgmental space for those who exercise for the joy of movement, and not to achieve a societal standard of beauty. In 2017 it became the first boutique fitness company in Southeast Asia to ever raise venture capital funding. Gita has been in the startup space for 11 years, and has previously held positions in finance and business development. She is a graduate of the Wharton School (MBA) and the University of Chicago (BA). Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/gita-sjahrir

With more than 10 years of experience in impact investing, consulting, and most recently venture capital, Samantha has worked with over 200 founders and social sector leaders to help them achieve their vision and goals. She is currently the founder and CEO of Stonesoup Partners, which helps build companies that do well by doing good through connecting them with funding and talent. She was a founding member and CEO of Conjunct Consulting, a 1000-member social change consultancy in Asia. Samantha has a Master’s in International Policy from Stanford where she was an Asia Pacific Scholar, a Bachelor’s in Social Sciences (Honours) from the National University of Singapore, and spent a year at Yale University as an International Visiting Fellow. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/samantha-lee-sl

Rachit Dayal is the Founder of Happy Marketer. Born in India, educated in NUS Singapore and based in Singapore. Rachit Dayal started his marketing agency out of the gate of University with minimal funding before growing it to $10 million in sales in 9 years and later acquisition by Japanese media conglomerate Dentsu. Happy Marketer is Singapore’s most awarded digital agency, clients and partners including Google, Singtel, ING, Grab and BCG. He now serves as APAC CMO of Dentsu’s interactive division Merkle. Rachit is Singapore's first Google certified advertising and analytics professional, he help brands in Asia drive significant results from their digital marketing by using the latest technology and creativity. At Happy Marketer’s Consulting Practice, he handles all business relating to Search Engine Marketing, Web Analytics, Website Usability and Online Marketing Strategy. Rachit is also a Master Practitioner of NLP certified by Dr Richard Bandler, the founder of NLP. He is also an Advanced Communicator in the Toastmasters International Public Speaking program. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/rachit-dayal

Jiezhen is a connector, collaborator, and changemaker. She was most recently an Equity & Inclusion Fellow and part of the Mindful Leaders Collective at Harvard University - where she completed her Masters in Education with a focus on leadership, inclusion, and organizational transformation. Before Harvard, she worked in social innovation and social impact - leading The Hidden Good, a social enterprise and media platform in Asia, and facilitating global summits and spaces for wellbeing for changemakers and collaborators. She also serves on several national committees and nonprofit boards in Singapore, and is a global facilitator and changemaker for Ashoka’s ChangemakerXchange initiative, and holds a degree in Positive Psychology, is a certified yoga teacher (RYT200) and positive psychology and possibility coach while being a mother, wife and community advocate. She currently coaches and consults with Linden Leadership and The Possibility Playbook for organizations and leaders looking to build more conscious, inclusive and impactful organizations. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/jiezhen-wu

Dom Clonen is the Founder and CEO of TechBridge Market, a tech-enabled recruitment services company Headquartered in Singapore. Their mission to reinvent traditional recruitment services. Instead of charging large commissions for a role, they have developed a highly optimised talent acquisition process that guarantees predictable hiring outcomes at a fraction of the usual cost. Dom is from the UK and graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelors in Modern History. He spent the better part of 14 years as a Managing Partner for MICE companies, developing and commercialising niche technology conferences and exhibitions in the US, Europe, and Asia Pacific. After moving to Singapore in 2006 he co-founded a global peer-to-peer community for leading enterprise technologists before becoming the sole Founder of TechBridge Market. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/dom-clonen

Raymond is the CEO and cofounder at Lumina, a hardware company building AI-powered devices that make you look and sound good. Raymond is also the founder at Scalable, a 300-person ecommerce infrastructure company that empowers sellers in emerging markets. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/raymond-lei

Liyana Sulaiman is a Singaporean entrepreneur who has been a technology advisor, mentor and founder across the US and Southeast Asia startup ecosystems. Currently, she is the CPTO and Co-Founder of Pollen, Asia’s first B2B Liquidation marketplace designed for sustainability. She is recognized as a technology product leader in Singapore, Top 30 Women in Product Management for APAC 2019 by PMF, and ‘Woman of the Year’ category finalist for the 2020 Women in IT Awards APAC edition. As a technology advisor and mentor, Liyana has served on several steering committees which include the Media Development Authority, Science Centre Singapore, and Yayasan Mendaki on Digital Transformation for Malay Muslim Organizations(MMOs) in Singapore. She is a startup mentor at the Founder Institute - Kuala Lumpur and has been a zero to 1 product mentor at several technical hackathons across the region. Liyana is passionate about bringing more diversity and inclusion into the technology and innovation spaces. Previously she was a founding board advisor and Managing Director for global non-profit organization Girls in Tech Singapore (2012-2016). As a recognition of her early contributions and achievements, she has been appointed a UN Women Singapore Ambassador in STEM for the Girls2Pioneers Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/liyana-sulaiman

Jane is the CEO and Founder of Pawjourr (Powered by Woof Agency), the world’s first self-serve marketplace created to reward pet owners to co-create with their favorite brands. Pawjourr is supported by Antler and alumni of Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Sandbox. Prior to starting her own business, Jane spent 3 years in top advertising agencies, working closely with clients such as Tiffany & Co., Borneo Motors, Qantas Airways, and TAFEP. She later moved on to the consulting space, where she helped to manage the PayPal Global & TATA Communications accounts. Since its inception, Pawjourr has more than 6,000 pet owners under their network and worked with global brands like Nestle, MARS Food, Crayola and featured on the local national TV, newspaper, and an upcoming episode with BBC World. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/jane-peh You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/jane-peh

Cliff is a serial entrepreneur of enterprise & tech startups. He’s currently a Cofounder & CEO of Multiverse.ai, a blockchain-powered ideation & funding platform for early-stage startups. He previously was at Merrill Lynch, IBM, mobile engineering lead at Google and founder of Fanpop. He’s a Stanford graduate in Computer Science. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/cliff-szu You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/cliff-szu

Zabrina Chew was previously the Co-Founder and CEO of Soda, a community-centric social discovery platform. Prior to that, Zabrina spent almost a decade in thought leadership, gaming, and start-ups. At Singapore's Economic Development Board, she has collaborated with Fortune 500 companies, McKinsey, BCG and The Conference Board. At the global gaming giant, Ubisoft, she led and guided strategy, operations and growth of APAC teams, before taking on the role of Head of Operations at a rising startup building a blockchain-enabled energy ecosystem. As a creative, she performed internationally and taught the violin, as well as ran a blog with 1.5k subscribers on travel, food, and literature. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/zabrina-chew You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/zabrina-chew

Sean Si does speaking engagements throughout the Philippines. He is the CEO and founder of SEO Hacker and the host of the LeadershipStack podcast. He has led his team through a decade of the chaos of starting up and the upward slog of scaling up. Today SEO Hacker is a multi-million peso company that has weathered times of crisis time and again. He has shared the stage and worked with some of the biggest names in the public speaking industry. Namely: Francis Kong, Chinkee Tan, Randell Tiongson, Anthony Pangilinan, Carlo Ople, former president, Joseph (Erap) Estrada, former president, Fidel V. Ramos, and Manuel V. Pangilinan to name a few. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/sean-si You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/sean-si

Gaby is the cofounder and CEO of Bolu, a Jakarta-based social enterprise that empowers MSMEs in Indonesia to sell online by providing them the education, mentorship, and support they need to grow their businesses through WhatsApp courses, webinars, and mentorship sessions. She is passionate about education and sees its potential to help overcome socioeconomic inequality, especially in Southeast Asia countries like Indonesia. Prior to Bolu, Gaby was a consultant in Bain and Company and had graduated with a degree in Economics and Sociology from UC Berkeley Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/gaby-wantah You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/gaby-wantah

Jonathan Ng is the CEO and Founder of Iterative Scopes, a pioneer in the application of artificial intelligence-based precision medicine to gastroenterology with the aim of establishing a new standard of care for the detection, and ultimately, treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. Iterative Scopes is a startup that spun out of MIT, recently raised $150 million in Series B financing to accelerate development of its core algorithmic innovations. Jon has spent over 10 years working in various healthcare systems around the world and training at top healthcare institutions such as Massachusetts General Hospital. Through his work and experiences, he has been inspired to bring an appropriately focused application that could potentially eliminate the barriers within healthcare around the world. Prior to his work at Iterative Scopes, Jon has established two large pediatric facilities in Cambodia, as chairman and founder of Children of Cambodia. Children of Cambodia is a philanthropic organization that provides valuable healthcare training programs and establishes advanced pediatric facilities throughout southeast Asia. The foundation has helped establish Cambodia's first neonatal ICUs, pediatric burns units, and pediatric cardiothoracic surgery units at Angkor Hospital for Children. Jon is the Strategic Director and Founder of Optimimed, a medical services startup in Singapore which works in partnership with large public hospitals to deliver optimized healthcare solutions through technological advancements. Jon also serves as a Medical officer in the Ministry of Health Singapore in hopes to transform healthcare delivery in Southeast Asia. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/jonathan-ng You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/jonathan-ng

Benjamin Loh is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and Professional #Millennial Speaker. As the youngest Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) in Asia, an accolade accorded to top 12% of professional speakers globally, an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the International Coach Federation (ICF), Benjamin has empowered over 120 senior leaders individually in topics like strategic communications, public speaking and presentation skills as their Executive Presenting Coach etc. In the role of a Professional #Millennial Speaker, he has also partnered over 55,000 executive clients and entrepreneurs, professionals, directors and CEOs from over 9 countries in Asia from corporations like ANZ Bank, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Porsche, UOB Bank to enhance their performance on stage and communicate effectively across generations. His work in entrepreneurship and activism has also been covered on over 70 occasions on the following media platforms like The Huffington Post, Channel News Asia (CNA), Straits Times (ST), Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), and BFM89.9 Malaysia Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/benjamin-loh You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/benjamin-loh

Vinay Palathinkal is Regional Head, Wise Platform at Wise. Formerly known as TransferWise, Wise is a leader in cross border money movement, processing nearly $100 billion every year and employing 2300 people across 14 global offices. Wise Platform is the third and newest pillar of Wise’s products, allowing platforms like Google Pay and banks like Monzo to integrate and benefit from Wise’s powerful global payments infrastructure. Previously, Vinay was Director, USA, at Arcus, a Y Combinator and a16z backed payments fintech based in NYC, focused on lending and merchant payment processing across Latin America and USA. Vinay helped Arcus scale its processing volume to $1B annually, a 1000x year on year increase. Vinay runs a SEA-focused angel investment syndicate, Fintech Angel Operators, with Chia Jeng Yang (Principal, Saison Capital) and Keng Low (Founder, Finantier) and Rachael Defoe (Founder, RDF Strategies). He likes writing about fintech in SEA in his weekly newsletter called Island Fintech Weekly, and he writes long-form ‘think’ pieces on his personal website. Vinay studied at NUS and NYU, plays in a band on the weekends and is a cycling and fitness enthusiast. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/vinay-palathinkal You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/vinay-palathinkal

An avid triathlete, Bernard is the co-founder of Hatio Group - a technology business based in South Korea specialising in digital warehousing & network distribution. Since 2012, Hatio has a proven track record of envisioning and delivering major transformational change, cost reduction and operational improvement programs in a KRX top 5 blue chip organization. As the group COO, Bernard plays an instrumental role in expanding the Hatio brand across Southeast Asia with a mission to help local SMEs digitise. He currently leads a strong team of software engineers, project managers, designers on large scale digital transformation projects in the telecommunications, healthcare, supply chain & logistics industry. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/bernard-hor You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/bernard-hor

Farand Anugerah is the cofounder of Segari, an Indonesia-based fresh produce grocery commerce upstart that he founded during the onset of COVID outbreak. Started with a simple mission to help his mom - who suffers acute asthma - to buy groceries, Segari later got seed funded and has been growing at a high double digit growth rate month to month since then. Segari is well positioned to enable thousands of households to get their daily quality fresh produce needs in the most affordable and convenient fashion. In his own tiny way, he aspires to be able to disrupt the legacy food supply chain, which is tainted with multiple layers of middlemen. Prior to founding Segari, he headed various departments at Grab Indonesia and the Philippines. Farand received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University and is currently taking gap years from Harvard Business School. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/farand-anugerah You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/farand-anugerah

Sadaf is the Founder of Finprojections.com , a financial modelling resource hub for startup founders. Finprojections seeks to make financial modeling accessible by providing standards-based, rigorous Excel-based templates that can be used to build any kind of startup projections irrespective of industry. Sadaf brings his extensive experience working as an investor and advising startups in the region. Sadaf worked for DWMarkets, a private equity firm focused on investing in financial services. In a personal capacity, Sadaf mentored startups in SEA as a 500 Startups mentor. Sadaf started his career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs, and transitioned into his investing career with the IFC, the private investment arm of the World Bank. Beyond investing and financial models, Sadaf is passionate about expanding education access through technology. After IFC, Sadaf took a break from his investing career to return to his home country of Bangladesh to work at BYLC, a social enterprise promoting leadership education for his nation’s youth. He helped BYLC adopt digital channels of dissemination to make leadership education more widely accessible in his country. Sadaf completed his MBA from INSEAD Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/sadaf-sultan You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/sadaf-sultan

Michi has spent over five years working in social enterprises across the United States, Africa and Southeast Asia, with a focus on education and the future of work. Her most recent full-time role was at the African Leadership University, where she was part of the founding team that built and launched a 6-month intensive work readiness program for recent college graduates in Kenya. Currently, Michi is helping to set up an early-stage education fund in East Africa before starting her full-time role as a consultant at Bain and Company. She is the co-founder of KadaKareer, a start-up non-profit that provides career development support and resources to underserved Filipino youth hoping to enter the digital space. Michi recently graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was a Horace Goldsmith Fellow, and received a BA in Sociology, cum laude, from Harvard College Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/michi-ferreol You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/michi-ferreol

Adzmel is one of the Co-Founding Partners of Piva Capital, a venture capital firm based in San Francisco investing in deep tech and climate tech companies across North America and Europe. The firm is currently investing from its inaugural $250 million fund, backed by PETRONAS. As one of the founding Partners of Piva, Adzmel was instrumental in setting up the firm’s investment strategy. Piva focuses its investment activities in early stage breakthrough technology companies that are changing the way the world works and consumes energy; companies at the intersection of product-market fit and demand inflection for faster scale-up. Prior to his investing career, Adzmel spent more than a decade in the energy sector across various engineering, technical and business management roles. Before he left for San Francisco, Adzmel was instrumental in launching PETRONAS Ventures, the corporate venture arm of PETRONAS. Adzmel grew up in Malaysia, spent 7 years of his early childhood in boarding schools before going to read Mechanical Engineering at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland where he graduated with a MEng. He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and is currently completing his Kauffman Fellowship under the mentorship of Robert E. Siegel. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/adzmel-adznan You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/adzmel-adznan

Zelia is the Co-Founder of PraisePal - The Peer Recognition tool for companies with global teams to grow employee engagement and build stronger culture. No matter where or how their employees work. She also co-founded travel curator Anywhr, which was part of Google For Startups' Blackbox Scholarship and Google Demo Day Asia. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/zelia-leong You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/zelia-leong

Co-Founder and CTO of Strive Education (YCS21), teaching K12 math through code via live 1:1 online classes. Tamir is a 3x startup founder, namely Quillo South Africa's largest online 2nd hand textbook marketplace and Insupply, where Tamir worked with the South African presidency to get PPE to front line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/tamir-shklaz You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/tamir-shklaz

Amra is Co-Founder of Accelerating Asia and General Partner at Accelerating Asia Ventures, an award-winning startup accelerator that scouts and propels the best founders in the region and provides pre-Series A startups with the resources and investment to scale their growth. Amra is passionate about working to close the gap between commercial and social sectors and supporting for profit businesses to exceed commercial KPIs while driving social impact. She is the Asia Pacific lead for Shaper Impact Capital, a Singapore Global Shaper, an initiative of the World Economic Forum and is the host and creator of the Doing Good Podcast. For close to a decade this passion has driven Amra’s innovative approach to program execution and partnerships that intersect both business and social objectives. Amra has spearheaded high-impact partnerships local, regional and globally. Her successful campaign and project outcomes consistently achieve results. Previously Amra led the award-winning UN Women Singapore global social entrepreneurship program, Project Inspire and was a key contributor to muru-D’s wide recognition as one of the top startup accelerator programs in Asia. She has been interviewed and featured as a guest author on industry blogs, including The Straits Times, Techcrunch, Reuters and named as one of Harpers Bazaar’s Women Who Inspire Others. She also is a regular guest on 938Now’s drive-time show – Singapore’s national English news radio station. Amra regularly speaks about the intersection of business and impact, including at global events such as Money 20/20 (Singapore), Singularity University Impact Challenge (Poland) and the Asia Corporate Sustainability Summit (Philippines). Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/amra-naidoo You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/amra-naidoo

An established Market Research expert and a known face amongst Asian clients, Rajiv Lamba holds an invaluable accumulative experience of more than 20 years in the field of market research spanning across the FMCG segment and with proven records of building ‘Quality Leaders for Tomorrow’ Rajiv founded Neurosensum in 2018 which led to an impressive transformation in the world of market research by combining conventional methods with a neuroscience-based approach. A year later, with an intent of making consumer insights real-time and affordable for enterprises, Rajiv also built an AI-Enabled Customer & Employee Experience Measurement and Improvement Platform called Surveysensum that analyzes customer feedback and any unstructured data in real-time, enabling enterprises to get meaningful insights at an affordable price in no time. A truly positive person who considers his employees as the biggest asset, Rajiv has pioneered the use of Neuroscience and Artificial intelligence for consumer research in Asia and continues to empower innovative solutions to create customer-centric mindfulness. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/rajiv-lamba You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/rajiv-lamba

Calvin Chu Yee Ming is Managing Partner of Eden Strategy Institute, an award-winning strategy consulting firm that specializes in social innovation. Over the past decade, Eden has advised corporations like Bell Labs, General Electric, and Samsung; multilateral organizations such as UNDP, UNESCO, and UN Women; as well as governments in Singapore, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia co-create sustainable value propositions, develop strategic roadmaps, and assess the impact of their interventions. Passionate about the interplay between businesses objectives and societal impact, Calvin is also Associate Lecturer in Strategy and Organization with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He has served on the boards of Biofourmis, Conjunct Consulting, Credence Labs, Rotary Club, the World Toilet Organisation, and as President of the Chicago Booth Alumni Club of Singapore. He was inducted into the International Who’s Who of Professionals in 2009 and recognised as a NetImpact Changemaker in 2014. Most of his free time these days is spent exploring nature trails with his two young children. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/calvin-chu You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/calvin-chu

Joseph is a 1x exit founder, serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and a father of a beautiful daughter. He runs his family business that operates in technology, infrastructure, bio-technology, and natural resources industries. He is also involved as an advisor to several startups, as well as launching his own new startup venture in the social commerce space to help non-formal ecommerce sellers sell easier. Show notes at: https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/joseph-simbar You can find the community discussion for this episode at: https://club.jeremyau.com/c/podcasts/joseph-simbar