Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong

Vincent Wijnen, senior vice president from Nissan in Asia & Oceania joined us in a conversation to discuss the future of mobility in Asia. We began our conversation on the concept of autonomous vehicles and how it will transform the concept of mobility in Asia. We discussed the major themes around autonomous vehicles specifically in the areas of energy, communications and cybersecurity. Vincent also discussed how the regulatory bodies in Asia are thinking about self-driving cars and whether we will be living in a future where we are driving or be driven.

Rama Mamuaya, founder and CEO of DailySocial joined us to discuss one of the most important startup unicorns in Indonesia, Go-Jek. We discussed the backstory behind G0-Jek which evolved from a ride-hailing to now a super app that bridge payments, ride hailing and other services in Indonesia, and why it's giving Grab a run for their money. We examined Go-Jek's regional expansion strategy and how it is becoming a proxy battle between Alibaba Group and Tencent in Southeast Asia.

Rui Ma, founder of Transformative Technology Academy and co-host of TechBuzz China podcast joined us to discuss Jack Ma's recent announcement to step down as the chairman of Alibaba Group, the leadership transition within Alibaba Group and where they will be heading next. We discussed Jack Ma's influence within the Alibaba Group and how his tenure with the company has led to Alibaba becoming one of the technology giants not just in China, but the rest of the world. We continued our conversation to the future with Daniel Zhang, the successor to Jack Ma's chairmanship within Alibaba and where the group is heading with Ant Financial, Cainiao and international expansion in the midst of a leadership transition and what it means for their rivals: Tencent and Baidu.

Alex Crompton from Entrepreneur First (EF) joined us to discuss the progress of their startup incubator in Singapore and Hong Kong and how they are helping entrepreneurs to build their startup companies by employing a talent first approach. We dived deep into the vision, mission and backstory behind EF and how it operates across the region, and discussed interesting topics from how EF facilitates the interaction between entrepreneurs and steer them towards building companies, and whether the trend of too much incubators create an elitist atmosphere for startup founders out there.

James Crabtree, associate professor in practice at the Lee Kuan Yee School of Public Policy joined us in a conversation to discuss his new book "The Billionaire Raj: A Journey through India's New Gilded Age" and what it means for where India will move in the next decade. We discussed the major themes of the book and the intrinsic links between the political and business ecosystem across the country. As we progressed our conversation from the interesting Ambani family and Reliance Group, we shift our conversation to the current technology ecosystem in India where it is an open economy that are at the crossroads with US & China technology giants. Last but not least, James offered his perspectives to where India is heading for the future.

Magnus Grimeland, founder and CEO of Antler, joined us in a conversation to discuss the new startup incubator focusing on helping founders in building and scaling their own businesses. Magnus shared his early career story in special forces with the military and how his experience to deal with extreme situations of life and death becomes vital with his stints as an entrepreneur in Zalora and Global Fashion Group. We also discussed Antler, the mission and vision and what it means to succeed and differentiate themselves as a startup generator globally.

Matthew Brennan from China Channel and co-host of China Tech Talk joined us to discuss the mobile app Douyin aka Tik Tok (for the rest of the world) by Bytedance and why they are poised to be one of the new leading social media platform not just for China but for the rest of the world. We discussed the mechanics in how Douyin work for content creators and consumers and the monetisation model for the app, and how Douyin are now navigating the regulatory environment in China with their user generated content. Last but not least, we also discussed their ongoing feud with Tencent.  

Tim Culpan from Bloomberg joined us in a conversation on the two technology giants from Taiwan: Foxconn and TSMC and how they have evolved for the past three years since 2015. First, Tim started the discussion with Foxconn and the major milestones in the past three years from the acquisition of Sharp to the recent listing of FIH Mobile and Foxconn's efforts on automation and robotics in manufacturing. Next, Tim discussed the recent leadership transition in TSMC and where they are heading in the next few years.

Matthew Brennan, co-founder of China Channel and host of China Tech Talk, joined us to discuss Pinduoduo, the three year old social ecommerce company backed by Tencent slated for an IPO this year. We discussed the origins of Pinduoduo and why they labelled themselves as the amalgamation of Costco and Disney, their products and services on the mobile app and the business model that powered their rise. We also discussed the backers of the company together with the upcoming IPO of Pinduoduo in NASDAQ.

Tim Culpan, columnist at Bloomberg joined us to discuss the recent Xiaomi IPO and what it means for Chinese technology companies going public. Tim offered his analyses on Xiaomi and break down their media narrative versus what they are really are and where their core businesses and revenue models are structured. Last but not least, Tim discussed how the Chinese companies such as Xiaomi, Baidu and Alibaba might move with the Chinese government's scheme of Chinese depositary receipts (CDRs).