Budget airline operator AirAsia Group founder and CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes announced that it will soon be launching ride-hailing services, according to local media reports.

This move comes after the company launched a food delivery service in Singapore and the pilot trials for drone delivery service.

Understanding the potential comparison with existing ride-hailing giants such as Grab, Fernandes affirmed that AirAsia can become successful in this sector even with the heavy competition, citing history where the company managed to raise funding quicker than any other airline company.

“I don’t have a big shareholder like Khazanah (Nasional Bhd), okay? If you say that Malaysia Airlines is faster, of course, it is. Like who else? Singapore Airlines? They also have a big shareholder called Temasek. Name me a private airline that has been faster than AirAsia? It’s not easy to raise capital in the aviation business … The reality is, which private airline has received funding quicker than us or done a placement?” Fernandes told The Edge in an exclusive interview.

Also Read: AirAsia, MaGIC partner to introduce drone-based e-commerce delivery in Malaysia

“I’ve got eight years of Grab doing it to learn from. I don’t have to waste all that money, with experimentation, building technology, training drivers, and training the market how to order, they have done it all for me,” he asserted.

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly caused a hit for the travel and hospitality sectors, which is the primary reason why AirAsia has decided to pivot its services.

Subsequently, AirAsia has also revealed plans to enter the fresh produce delivery market in Singapore where consumers can order imported fish from Japan or short ribs from Korea directly to their homes in Singapore within 48 hours.

Despite the startup making attempts to enter various digital spaces, another Edge report has revealed that the company is posted experience a bigger-than-expected net loss of RM2.44 billion (~US$500 million) for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 (4QFY20).

Commenting on the future prospects, AirAsia responded, “It is notable, however, that the Philippines doubled its passengers carried whilst Indonesia multiplied its number of passengers carried by 11 times quarter-on-quarter. This is a testament that for areas where travel restrictions are lifted, there is a solid domestic rebound for air travel,”.

“Even if borders remain closed, the group is well-prepared to rely solely on domestic operations alone this year,” it added.

Countries such as Singapore have also begun to prepare a comeback for their travel and tourism industry by collaborating with both local and global startups. These collaborations aim to create a safer travel and tourism experience for tourists in the post-pandemic era.

–

Image Credit: Macau Photo Agency

The post AirAsia aims to fulfill super app ambition with upcoming launch of ride-hailing services in Malaysia appeared first on e27.

Nongsa D-Town held a virtual grand launch on March 2nd, 2021. Opening statements for the event were officiated by Airlangga Hartarto, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, and Chan Chun Sing, Singapore’s Minister of Trade and Industry. The event was then subsequently split into three “fireside chats” — themed discussions, each featuring their own array of panellists and moderated by E27 co-founder Thaddeus Koh.

Speakers for each fireside chat hailed from all stakeholders involved with the development of D-Town, including government officials as well as current tenants at Nongsa, providing a glimpse of what Nongsa Digital Park (NDP), the initial tech office campus at Nongsa D-Town, has blossomed into so far since it started operation in 2018, and what the future may hold with the Nongsa D-Town masterplan to create a vibrant regional tech hub that represents a digital bridge between Singapore and Indonesia.

Introducing Nongsa D-Town

D-Town is a proposed digital hub built on the Indonesian island of Batam, situated a mere 40 minutes off the coast of Singapore. Nicknamed “The Digital Bridge between Singapore and Indonesia”, D-Town grew out of the existing tech ecosystem at NDP and the creative community that is spawned from Infinite Studio’s animation and film studio that has been in Nongsa for over a decade. Nongsa D-Town is designed with the tech and creative industries in mind with the intention to grow a digital ecosystem filled with regional talent between Indonesia and Singapore.

Also read: Here are 5 reasons to expand your business to the Philippines

Every element in D-Town was designed for the express purpose of building a vibrant community of digital talent who can work, live, and play, within 62-hectares of developed space.

The vision behind Nongsa D-Town

A common point of discussion throughout the webinar was the apparent tech talent gaps in Singapore. Being a small nation-state, Singapore’s small population alone is unable to meet the demands of its booming economy despite its technological and economic advantages, which larger populations like Indonesia are able to supplement.

Wilson Tan, the co-founder of the Webimp group, a bespoke IT solutions firm that set up shop at Nongsa three years ago, described the role businesses based in Nongsa have in bridging this talent gap during the event’s third fireside chat.

Also read: Making smart manufacturing a cost-efficient reality for SMEs

“In an entrepreneurship perspective, it doesn’t make sense for Singapore to keep treating Indonesia as a ‘factory,’ in the sense that local workers remain as programmers who only do work. At Webimp, we promote organically and train our local technical talent for the opportunity to become senior programmers and engineers so that they can fill the apparent gap.”

This kind of on-the-job training is exactly why the Indonesian government is so eager to support the project. An exchange of talent and technology between Singapore and Indonesia seems inevitable at a place like NDP, where tech talent from the two countries are able to collaborate with each other.

“Nongsa presents an opportunity to upskill our younger workforce for the digital economy,” said Tommy Suryopratomo, Indonesian ambassador to the Republic of Singapore, at the first fireside chat of the webinar.

How D-Town serves as a digital bridge between Singapore and Indonesia

Indonesia is a young country with a deep talent pool. Roughly 60% of the country’s 257 million people are within the productive age range of between 15-64 years old. It is not surprising, then, those hopes are high for Indonesian youth working for tech companies and startups at Nongsa to eventually bring back their newfound knowledge to their hometowns and villages across the archipelago.

This arrangement is a win-win situation for both employer and prospective employee as an operation in Nongsa also serves as a springboard for international, especially Singaporean, companies who want to expand into the Indonesian market.

Another overarching topic discussed during the grand launch is the geographical advantage of establishing a tech team in Nongsa for Singaporean companies or other multinational organizations. Batam’s close proximity to Singapore allows it to serve as a springboard for Singaporean companies, as the 40-minute commute between the two islands makes it possible for an executive or entrepreneur working in Singapore to visit the tech team in Nongsa and return home within a single day.

Also read: Innovating medical devices towards better dental patient care

Indonesia’s current tech capital in Indonesia is Jakarta, but NDP is an ideal bridge for Indonesian tech talent who desire to work for overseas companies due to said proximity to Singapore. Simultaneously, the increased flow of talent to Nongsa-based Singaporean companies solves Singapore’s finite tech talent gap.

NDP builds on Infinite Studio’s decade-long presence in Batam, which has been a success and a sort of “microcosm,” to quote Mike Wiluan, President Director of Nongsa D-Town, of what the settlement will look like in the future.

The future of D-Town

When asked about the estimated completion date, Marco Bardelli, Boardmember and Senior Director of NDP, and Andrew Wee, Director of Design at Surbana Jurong, predicted that the entire Nongsa D-Town would take 10 years to finish, with Phase 1 of development coming to a close in 2023. At that point, around 8000 tech and creative talents will be based in NDP in addition to the roughly 1000 currently living and working there.

As D-Town opens for business to the outside world, the incentives for companies on both sides of the Singapore strait to set up shop on Batam will continue to grow.

Interested in learning more? Watch the full Nongsa D-Town Virtual Grand Launch through this playlist on YouTube.

– –

This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by 
Nongsa D-Town

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

The post Nongsa D-town: bridging the digital talents of Southeast Asia appeared first on e27.

Data is at the centre of banking and financial activities and will be even more in the future. Data related to the knowledge of the clients, such as individuals or legal entities are, definitely strategic.

That’s why the ecosystem (regulators, banks and providers) are considering the mean of optimising the data collection processes and, at the same time, the partnership with market KYC initiatives known as the ‘Utilities Services’ and e-KYC all around the world.

The existence of data governance, a strong internal process, and specific tools to serve a single vision of third party data –used on the client onboarding and during the KYC reviews– must go through the construction of an industrial and centralised approach to digital data processing.

Indeed, offers from data providers are still highly segmented. Banks are forced to use several solutions to cover the regulatory requirements and meet the needs of their business lines. Consequently, the huge number of utility providers and market solutions may result in higher costs for banks processing, rather than reducing them.

Also Read: Blockchain-based e-KYC platform claims the throne at Binar Academy and Tokopedia’s Hack of Thrones

Mergers between the same data providers and utilities have begun to take place with the aim to extend the offer over all the value chain and ultimately to address a wide range of clients. Data aggregators can become a serious competitor to utilities because they provide the tech flexibility via APIs, which frees banks from the constraints of interfacing with several data providers and promoting e-KYC digital process.

Several banks have established collaboration or investment links with the best external data and documents providers in the market while maintaining high-level internal expertise. Currently, there is no universal third-party data sharing model approved by markets, regulators and banks.

Some banks no longer wish to be the intermediaries and have already turned to a strategy of mix-sourcing through appropriate partnerships with data providers in Europe, the US and Asia. The consolidation between the various market providers, which has accelerated for almost three years now, will have to lead to conglomerates by large geographical areas.

Despite the good start to the consolidation process to serve a wider data value chain and extended geographical coverage, there is still a lot to be done to be able to share data –to standardise it and to make it reliable. A niche that can favour new players in the e-KYC aggregator utilities with better offers at the business and technical levels.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: Tech Daily on Unsplash

The post How e-KYC aggregators are the future players in the data supplier market appeared first on e27.

In mid-March 2020, Bitcoin price shot up beyond US$61,000. Just when the world thought the US$50,000 was the highest point the digital currency could breach, it zoomed past an unprecedented number and stunned many.

Based on research by Japan-based exchange bitFlyer, there is compelling enough reason to believe that “the last run-up in price was mainly driven by US investors.” The US still accounts for the overwhelming majority of activities and interest in Bitcoin.

According to the bitFlyer study, 30 per cent of people in the US consider Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as attractive investments in 2021. Stocks remain the most preferred investment option among Americans, but Bitcoin and crypto are already considered as the fourth most popular investment. These assets are twice more popular than gold.

Moreover, around a fifth of Americans say that they are currently using or have already used cryptocurrencies in the past. Also, more than three-quarters of people in the US say that they know about cryptocurrencies and have a positive perception of these assets as investments.

Digital currency interest in Southeast Asia

In contrast to the US situation, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies did not immediately get a warm welcome in Southeast Asia. In 2017, Singapore issued a warning and expressed uneasiness with the rise of Bitcoin. In the same year, Vietnam banned the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as methods of payment. Also in 2017, Indonesia declared Bitcoin payment as illegal.

Things have changed over the years, though. Many countries in the ASEAN bloc have already enacted policies and legislation that somehow legitimise the use of digital currencies. Most countries still do not consider Bitcoin and crypto as legal tender, but they have adopted rules that legalise digital currency in other forms of financial transactions.

Also Read: Tesla is now accepting bitcoin. Are crypto payments the future of business?

Notably, in a Statista survey, two ASEAN countries rank second and third among countries with the highest rates of cryptocurrency adoption. These are Vietnam and the Philippines, which have 21 per cent and 20 per cent of their respective populations saying that they have used or owned digital assets in the past year. The survey polled 1,000 to 4,000 respondents in each country.

These numbers for Vietnam and the Philippines, two of the most promising economies in Southeast Asia, compared to the 20 per cent of respondents in the US who say that they have used or are currently using cryptocurrencies according to bitFlyer’s study. “Seventy-six percent of people in the US that have heard about crypto have a positive perception about cryptocurrencies as an investment … Our research shows that the current (crypto) market sentiment amongst American investors is very bullish,” writes the bitFlyer study.

Other Southeast Asian countries also rank relatively high on the list. Thailand is fifth (17.6 per cent), while Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore are tenth (13 per cent), twelfth (12.3 per cent), and twenty-third (9.6 per cent) respectively.

With these many people admitting to having some experience in owning and using digital currency, it is not a stretch to think that Southeast Asia will soon have a significant impact on digital currency similar to what the US has.

The potential Southeast Asian impact

With a population of 655 million, the impact of the ASEAN bloc on digital currencies cannot be understated. The region has a massive digital economy estimated to be worth US$100 billion in 2020 and is expected to surge to US$300 billion by 2025. Countries in the ASEAN bloc also have some of the biggest internet-connected populations in the world. A report from Google approximates Southeast Asia’s number of internet users at around 400 million.

The question is this: Will a good portion of these 400 million adopt digital currency use? The answer is likely affirmative. According to bitFlyer’s study, the reasons for people’s interest in crypto assets are the same for almost everyone.

In its comparison between the US (where there is high interest in crypto) and Japan (with relatively low interest), the study noted similar answers to the question “what drives people’s positive perception about cryptos?”

Also Read: Tesla is now accepting bitcoin. Are crypto payments the future of business?

The reasons include the growing value of crypto assets, positive news about them, asset decentralisation and democratisation, and most notably the high-profile expression of interest or support by large institutions in these assets. These reasons are similar to what any Southeast Asian would likely say if asked why they want to obtain or use digital currencies.

“When you look at this Bitcoin rally that we’ve been seeing over the last couple of weeks and months, really there are two elements driving it. One is the continuous entry of institutional players,” says PwC’s Global Crypto Leader Henri Arslanian.

The growing and well-publicised interest of large corporations and organisations facilitates a bandwagon effect that convinces many to get involved with digital currencies.

By now, Bitcoin prices are gradually dropping after peaking at US$61,283 on March 13, 2021. There have been no steep decreases yet, but the trend points to a slow fall with some occasional marginal increases. According to Cryptocurrencies and Financial Market Strategist Aayush Jindal, “there is a key bearish trend line forming with resistance near US$57,500 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair.”

This could indicate the moderation of interest in bitcoins for now, mostly in the United States. The same trend can be observed in ether price.

If Southeast Asian businesses, investors, and individuals were to start showing significant activity in support of digital currencies, they can easily make up for the diminishing interest in the United States. They can easily influence the perceived value of bitcoin, ether, and various other digital currencies.

Biting into American dominance

In a piece for CoinTelegraph, former SEC Legal Specialist and Florida International University School of Law Adjunct Professor Marc Powers expressed his worries over the possibility of other countries overtaking the US when it comes to digital currencies.

Also Read: Why Bitcoin is set to boom in a post-COVID-19 era

“What most politicians and regulators in the US fail to appreciate is that while we stifle blockchain advancement and the use of cryptocurrencies for capital formation, there are other countries and jurisdictions which welcome and embrace it. In failing to adapt, the US faces the real risk that this new technology will be ‘owned’ by other countries,” Powers wrote.

This point makes a lot of sense, as Southeast Asia is quickly becoming one of the major players in the blockchain and digital currency markets. As early as 2017, Singapore already gained the renown of being one of the world’s biggest ICO capitals. With tweaked policies and laws on dealing with digital assets, Singapore has been attracting more ICOs and crypto investments. Indonesia is already in the process of creating legal frameworks to facilitate blockchain and crypto innovations.

Additionally, Thailand passed cryptocurrency laws in 2018 to take advantage of blockchain-powered solutions for cross-border transactions. The Philippines is also making headways into digital currency adoption as it pioneered the use of blockchain for treasury bond distribution.

Meanwhile, Vietnam passed Resolution No. 17/NQ-CP to facilitate the country’s development of its e-government system while establishing a legal framework for blockchain use.

Slow but steady progress

Digital currency dominance may be a tall order for Southeast Asia, but it is not an impossibility. The openness and dynamism of the Southeast Asian market make it an agile player in modern technological and economical developments.

At the very least, the region is expected to become a formidable force in the decentralised digital currency market, especially with the perceived Asian digital currency leader making it clear that its state-backed digital currency does not intend to follow the footsteps of bitcoin and other decentralised and largely unregulated digital assets.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page

Image: Unsplash

The post Will Southeast Asia become a dominant force in the digital currency space? appeared first on e27.

Singapore-based Monk’s Hill Ventures has partnered with talent platform Glints to launch the Southeast Asia Tech Talent Compensation report.

The report scoured through more than 1,000 data points and interviews with over 20 founders to uncover the latest trends in building teams, attracting, and compensating tech roles in Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

It also encompasses the wider tech talent landscape in Southeast Asia, and the motivations and drivers of both startups and their employees.

Also Read: How foodpanda CTO approaches hiring and retaining the best tech talent

The report found while compensation packages for both tech and non-tech roles within the region have increased, it remains an attractive market for securing experienced and diverse talent to building quality tech teams.

Here are the main takeaways:

Talent crunch

There’s a talent crunch regionally — particularly in Singapore — for engineering and product manager roles. The US and China tech companies entering the region — including TikTok, Tencent, Alibaba, and Zoom — are more likely to pay above-market rates for tech talent or, in some cases, write blank cheques for high performers.

Cash is king

Cash is still king, though things are changing. Fewer than 32 per cent of participants reported being compensated in equity. However, the report revealed that some founders are spending time educating their teams on the benefits of equity.

Technical triumphs

Technical roles are still the most in-demand and highly remunerated across the region. Technical roles (product, data science, engineering) earned 54 per cent more than non-technical roles (marketing, operations, sales, finance).

Specialisation pays

The differences in base salary between product and data science roles over non-technical roles were one to two times higher than for engineering. This suggests that while engineering skills are becoming more common across the region, specialised product and data science skills remain hard to come by.

Vietnamese growth

Salary differences for senior roles relative to junior roles were the highest in Vietnam for both tech and non-tech talent compared to Singapore and Indonesia, suggesting strong potential for upward salary growth within the Vietnamese tech sector.

Following the big boys

Besides big tech companies, some startups are now offering annual wage supplements (AWS), bonuses, restricted stock units (RSU), or employee stock ownership plans (ESOP).

Remote-first

Remote work is here to stay. Most founders have adjusted to the new normal, implementing staggered work schedules in the office or 100 per cent work-from-home policies. The report revealed the emergence of founders building completely remote teams and being more flexible on where to source the best talent.

Leverage SEA

A regionally-distributed talent strategy is a winning strategy. Given the wide range of salaries across SEA, many startups are shifting towards a strategy of regionally-distributed teams to take advantage of skill sets and compensation benchmarks across the region.

—

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page

Image Credit: Monk’s Hill Ventures

The post Singapore faces talent crunch for engineering and product manager roles: Report appeared first on e27.