Day: November 21, 2019

Known to be Singapore’s largest shipping company, Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS), has announced a partnership with early-stage investor and accelerator Techstars to launch the dedicated global maritime accelerator called the Eastern Pacific Accelerator powered by Techstars.

Eastern Pacific Accelerator powered by Techstars also announces its first class of nine startups, selected from hundreds of worldwide applicants. The class of startups was selected with consideration and input from EPS’ Operations, Marine Technical, Commercial, IT, Fleet Personnel, and Management teams, all who would work closely with each startup to test their technologies and accelerate their businesses.

The Eastern Pacific Accelerator powered by Techstars aims to bring digital, technology-led solutions to problems faced by the shipping and maritime industry. From November 2019, the nine startups will go through a three-month programme of research and development, mentorship, and collaboration at EPS headquarters in Singapore.

The nine startups are from Singapore, Denmark, the UK, and the US. One of the startups, C-Log has recently moved its global headquarters to Singapore, while US-based Volteo has spun-off Volteo Maritime as a Singapore company.

Nautilus Labs is also establishing a permanent office in Singapore while keeping its headquarters in New York City.

Also Read: Seed-stage accelerator Techstars raises US$42M funding; plans Southeast Asia expansion

Gil Ofer, the Head of Open Innovation at Eastern Pacific Shipping said, “We see a need for technology to propel the maritime industry forward, especially with a rapidly digitalising society and an increase in global trade. That means the shipping industry needs to innovate to solve problems such as fuel consumption, operational efficiency, fleet performance, and improving life-at-sea for seafarers – and we are doing just that with the Eastern Pacific Accelerator powered by Techstars.”

“EPS can provide access to a deep network of industry players, real-world data, and operational insights from our experienced maritime experts that will accelerate the development of their products,” Ofer continued.

The world’s shipping and maritime sector continue to grow, accounting for around 90 per cent of all goods moved globally, spanning over 50,000 vessels and over a million seafarers, according to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS). The United Nations Conference of Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD), meanwhile, estimates that volumes of global seaborne trade will grow by 3.8 per cent between 2018 and 2023.

Despite the predicted growth, the industry remains challenged with a number of critical issues that can be solved with crucially-proven innovation to sustain its competitiveness and growth.

Claus Nehmzow, Chief Innovation Officer at Eastern Pacific Shipping commented, “Issues such as sustainability, reducing emissions, and seafarer’s mental and physical wellbeing can no longer take a wait-and-see approach. The goal is to address these issues in the maritime sector today through the accelerator and to inspire the industry to take a technology-first approach to solve problems.”

Also Read: Maritime tech startup Claritecs raised US$600K pre-Series A funding from INNOPORT

During the three-month programme, the startups will receive hands-on mentorship from industry experts, access to EPS’ operational data, and the opportunity to deploy their technology on EPS’s diverse fleet of over 150 vessels. The programme will also provide the founders with access to Techstars’ network of mentors, investors, and partners.

In February 2020, the accelerator will culminate in a Demo Day where the founders will pitch to an audience of top investors, multinationals, government partners and other ecosystem players.
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Photo by Billeasy on Unsplash

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Tokocrypto, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, announces that it has become a government-approved platform for the trading of cryptocurrency assets in Indonesia. On February 15, 2019, Indonesia’s Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (BAPPEBTI) announced that Tokocrypto is the only officially-recognized cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.

The approval, the company noted, allows traders to eliminate legal concerns, enabling them to buy and sell cryptocurrency assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum on the platform with more confidence and certainty.

Based on a report by Google and Temasek, Indonesia’s digital economy is projected to quadruple from US$40 billion in 2019 to US$133 billion by 2025.

Tokocrypto was founded in Indonesia in 2017 by a Singaporean entrepreneur, Pang Xue Kai, who is also a governing council member in the Singapore Chamber of Commerce Indonesia. Year-to-date since 2018, it has facilitated more than USD 250 million in cryptocurrency assets.

“Being ​the first cryptocurrency exchange to be registered with Indonesian regulators to operate legally in the country ​is a huge milestone for Tokocrypto as it brings us one step closer to being the leading cryptocurrency exchange platform in Southeast Asia,” Pang said

Also Read: Bitkub, Bitcoin and Bangkok: Thailand’s cryptocurrency exchange raises pre-series A round

​BAPPEBTI is the regulatory body in Indonesia overseeing crypto-asset trading. They have issued two regulations regarding crypto-assets trading in Indonesia, namely No. 5 of 2019 in February 2019 and No. 9 of 2019 in July 2019, in which Indonesian has to comply with these two regulations to be able to register with BAPPEBTI for licensing.

“We will also continue our efforts in engaging the cryptocurrency community across Southeast Asia as the leading cryptocurrency exchange platform in the region. With the high potential of cryptocurrency in the region in terms of investments and transactions, we are confident that we are the pre-eminent gateway for traders and consumers alike to seize opportunities as they arise,” said Pang.

Following the registration, Tokocrypto said that it is also working closely with other government agencies in Southeast Asia to seek licensing and collaboration opportunities.
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Photo by Aleksi Räisä on Unsplash

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A great leader doesn’t have to do everything. Go back and read that again. You can read it again if you need to, but don’t keep going until you really get the fact that as the leader, it is not your responsibility to do everything in the workplace.

It’s hard to give up control but you’ll quickly find that delegating certain tasks out to others not only frees you up to be more productive on more important tasks, it’s also good for your mental health.

Here are some good ways to start delegating tasks out to free yourself up more.

1. The power of priorities

Wouldn’t it be amazing to only have to focus on one project at work? Most of us can only dream of such a scenario, so it’s vital that you learn to prioritize.

Get an idea of what tasks are most important down to the least pressing ones, then break each one down into the steps that will be required to get them done. You’ll find that there are a lot of small steps involved that you could delegate to someone else and allow you, as the leader, to focus more on the big picture.

2. Leaders know who follows them

The worst thing a leader can do is to put somebody in charge of a task that is the total opposite of their skill set. If you have a member of your team that isn’t great at talking to people on the phone, don’t give him or her a list of phone calls that need to be made.

Also Read: Singapore to send delegation of 11 startups to TiEcon 2017 to strengthen ties with Silicon Valley

If you’ve got somebody who struggles with grammar, maybe they shouldn’t handle all the electronic communication on a project. Know who is following you and assign tasks based on what they do well. Great leaders set their people up to succeed.

3. Follow up to follow through

As the leader of any team, ultimately the results are your responsibility. The people who lead you aren’t interested in what the people you’ve delegated tasks to didn’t get done; they’re going to ask you why they’re not complete. You can delegate tasks out but it’s important to stay informed and be prepared to help during the process.

You don’t have to do it all in the workplace. Find a happy medium between producing results and overworking yourself.

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Mastercard today revealed the third edition of its Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs, celebrating the markets where women entrepreneurs are most likely to thrive while sounding the alarm that there are still significant inequalities that hold us all back. New Zealand emerged as the top-ranked market in the Asia Pacific region, and second in the world behind only the United States, for its conduciveness to women’s entrepreneurship.

Based on publicly available data from international organizations including the International Labor Organization, UNESCO and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the global Index tracks the progress and achievement of women entrepreneurs and business owners in 58 societies (representing nearly 80% of the world’s female labor force) across three components: (i) Women’s Advancement Outcomes, (ii) Knowledge Assets & Financial Access, and (iii) Supporting Entrepreneurial Factors. The results reaffirmed that women are able to make further business inroads and have higher labor force participation rates in open and vibrant markets like New Zealand, Singapore, and Australia, where the support for SMEs and ease of doing business are high.

Women are also able to draw from enabling resources, including access to capital, financial services, and academic programs. Typically, these markets are also driven by social norms that deeply encourage and promote innovation,
creativity, risk‐taking, and success through personal perseverance, and grant women fair opportunities to rise as business leaders, gain tertiary education and to be perceived and accepted as successful entrepreneurs. Out of the 20 highest-ranking markets globally, 80% are high-income economies.

While US, New Zealand and Canada rule the top slots in most favourable markets for women entrepreneurs, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Hong Kong are not too far behind in the top 20. Of the 58 markets included in the Index, eight moved up by more than five ranks year-on-year. Asia Pacific’s fast-rising markets included Indonesia (+13), Taiwan (China) (+9) and Thailand (+5) all saw significant jumps in their rankings.

On the other end of the spectrum, for markets at the lower end of the Index, women tend to be held back by lack of opportunities to assume higher-level economic roles, are marginalized by poor support for SMEs, low financial inclusion, poor opportunities for tertiary education and often restrictive and underdeveloped business and financial systems that make doing business difficult.

Also read: 8 things female entrepreneurs in Asia need to know according to Forbes 30 under 30 Michelle Yuan

Importantly, societal and cultural norms also discourage them from working, being ambitious, or assuming
leadership roles. “What is clear through this research is that gender inequality continues to persist across the world, although it manifests in different ways. It isn’t a developed or developing world problem alone. Even in markets with the most promising entrepreneurial conditions, women’s business ownership hasn’t reached its full potential. This marginalization hinders the empowerment of women socially, professionally, economically and politically – to the detriment of society as a whole,” said
Julienne Loh, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Partnerships, Asia Pacific, Mastercard.

Mastercard says it is committed to helping pave the way for the progress and prosperity of businesses owned by women
around the world. In Asia Pacific, Mastercard is cultivating entrepreneurs through programs like Start Path and Fintech Express. The company has provided financial literacy training to nearly 200,000 women across Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam, and offers grants to women to grow their businesses through the Mastercard Impact Fund.

In September 2019, Mastercard announced that it is working with the apparel industry to financially empower tens
of millions of garment factory workers around the world by digitizing wages. Furthermore, the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth has helped to bring to life more than 750 financial inclusion programs across more than 80 countries to tackle income inequality challenges. Download the full Mastercard Index for Women Entrepreneurs 2019 report and infographic.

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Want to learn more about fintech in Malaysia? Read the e27 Malaysia Fintech Ecosystem Report 2019.

Image credit: Pixabay

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“Building a global bank account is our number one value proposition. Even if you have local apps, for local payments, it does not allow you to use them globally,” says Revolut CEO Nikolay Storonsky during an interview with e27 when asked about competition from local payment apps in Singapore.

On October 24, Revolut the UK headquartered fintech company — which offers fee-free currency exchange, commission-free stock trading, cryptocurrency exchange and peer-to-peer payments– made its official entry into the Asian waters by launching into the Singaporean market.

According to the CEO, the firm aims to become a one-stop solution for financial services, starting with its ongoing plans to kick start commission-free trading for stocks via its platform in Singapore which is currently not available in the region but has already been seen as a feature in the UK.

While local companies such as Nium offer services like instant money transfers and have been in the Asian market for longer, Storonsky stresses that even though they do it, they do not do it for free, which come across as a valid argument and could be one of the reasons why Revolut’s perks could be more attractive to the mass.

The relatively young fintech company has already managed to acquire over seven million accounts and an average of 3.7 million active users each month. Along with more than 30,000 customers in Singapore after only a year of beta testing in Singapore, the company is confident that local users will see a unique value in its vision of moving money freely around the world -“as easy as sending an SMS”.

“One of the reasons why we picked Singapore as a base for the Asian expansion is because of the rather transparent regulations to get licenses. However, in the majority of the countries, regulations are more or less the same for crypto or remittance offerings. Certain local laws might be different, but overall, the infrastructure to implement these regulations is very similar in every single country,” explains Storonsky on how different country regulations might affect Revolut’s remittance and crypto offerings.

However, despite its ambition, various reports stated that Revolut has withdrawn from the digital banking licensing race, along with Nium and Transferwise due to high capital requirement.

Also Read: Revolut arrives in Singapore after a year of beta testing, providing more overseas money transfer option

Big plans for Asia

For foreign companies entering a new, culturally oriented market such as Asia, marketing is often seen as one of the greatest challenges.

When being asked if Revolut has any plan to localise its awareness campaigns, Storonsky mentions that the company is more positioned towards building a strong local leadership team and products teams in different locations, that will allow it to tweak and localise the product. The principle, however, will remain the same: To build a powerful platform that makes it easy to move money around the world in a seamless manner.

Storonsky also admits that one of the key challenges for the company has been “hiring”. To which Jakub Zakrzewski, Head of APAC at Revolut, added that “We see that Singapore has a great pool of local talent. However, in Singapore, at the beginning of their career, many people want to go into banking, consulting, or work for big companies because it offers a lower risk and is considered as a safer option. However, we see that the trend is shifting. More and more people are getting into the tech industry, knowing that this is the industry of the future. While it is not simply about having a big name on the CV, Revolut has already managed to build a reputation for itself, and it is already a brand that can compete with all the other bigger prestigious brands.”

Even though hiring might have been a challenge for the company, the team has already multiplied considerably from 50 people from two years ago in the London office to 500 and 1,500 globally.

Being currently present in the Asian frontier, Storonsky also said that Revolut aims to be in almost every country in Asia within five years.

That being said, the company plans to launch in Japan early next year, with Hong Kong and New Zealand subsequently. It is also looking to execute live beta testing plans in Australia.

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Image Credit: Revolut

 

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