Amartha CEO also resigns from Indonesia’s presidential staff position
Andi Taufan Garuda Putra, CEO of fintech company Amartha, has resigned as a special staffer for President Joko Widodo, following allegations of conflict of interest, according to a Kr-Asia report.
Earlier, Ruangguru CEO Belva Devara also resigned from the same position over the controversy.
The resignations came following an article in The Jakarta Post, in which critics questioned the involvement of startups founded by the special staff of the President with the government’s national-level programmes.
“This resignation is based solely on my sincere desire to fully serve the economic empowerment of the community, especially for micro and small businesses,” the 32-year-old Putra said in a statement.
Other than Ruangguru and Amartha, education startups MauBelajarApa, Pijar, Pintaria and Tokopedia Pintar are among the startups involved in the programme, whose founders are still holding various positions in the Presidential staff.
Razer launches fully automated masks to fight COVID-19 in Singapore
Gaming company Razer has launched a fully automated masks to support Singapore’s fight against COVID-19, according to a company statement.
The ‘Made in Singapore‘ masks have been created in an ISO 13485 certified control room and will be validated as per local and international standards.
The line is currently expected to have a manufacturing capacity of five million masks per month which can be scaled up if necessary.
Razer said that this initiative began due to the lack of face masks and a growing demand in Southeast Asia.
“Due to the lack of high quality and reliably manufactured face masks in the market as well as the lack of face masks in Southeast Asia, Razer committed to setting up a fully automated face mask production line in Singapore within 30 days from 1 April 2020,” a company spokesperson said.
Companies such as Frasers Property, JustCo and PBA Group have already committed up to US$50,000 for initial shipments of the masks.
In addition, Razer’s subsidiary, Razer Fintech, has also recently launched a US$50M COVID-19 relief fund for its partners.
India’s online travel company Expedia names new CEO
India’s online travel firm Expedia has elevated Vice Chairman Peter Kern as CEO, according to Techcrunch.
Expedia has also appointed company veteran Eric Hart as its CFO.
At the same time, the firm has informed that the executives and Board members will forgo their salary for the remainder of the year and senior executives will take a 25 per cent pay cut due to a dip in the travel demand.
“We are unable to make any predictions as to when travel will rebound, but we emphatically believe that it will, for … ‘if there’s life, there’s travel,’” said Barry Diller, Expedia chairman.
The company recently received US$3.2 billion investments from Apollo Global Management and Silver Lake to sustain its business through the pandemic.
“This investment helps ensure the company has the resources to sustain market leadership and emerge from the current economic environment stronger than ever. While it may not emerge stronger than ever, certainly having a significant chunk of operating capital will help ensure that it emerges merely whenever this industry slump ends,” said Apollo partner Reed Rayman.
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Image Credit: Arga Aditya, Expedia, Razer
The post Afternoon News Roundup: Amartha CEO resigns from Indonesia’s presidential staff position; Razer launches fully automated masks appeared first on e27.