As ASEAN countries recommitted to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), our contributors were quick to share its impact on SMEs and the startups in the region.

As we draw closer to the end of the year, the battle against COVID has intensified and all ‘online-only’ life has given rise to other challenges like data management, customer retention, the traditional role of sales guys, etc. Thankfully our contributors have shared some of their tips on how to handle these.

Read on for a full lowdown!

Impact of ASEAN’s trade agreement

Leveraging new tech to propel SME trade in ASEAN  by Luc Hovhannessian, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Finastra

“One positive for trade in ASEAN is that amidst the global uncertainty, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its major trading partner countries have reiterated their commitment to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Despite their contributions and importance to the region’s economy, SMEs continue to face significant barriers that prevent them from being adequately represented in international trade.”

How a multilateral agreement will have important ramifications for Asia’s trade fraud landscape by Jesse Chenard, CEO at MonetaGo

“The establishment of one of the largest free trade deals in history– the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), marks a major step towards a seamless trade landscape in Asia Pacific, akin to the European Union.

With RCEP posed to bring Asia closer to becoming a coherent trading zone, we will see a flurry of activity in trade across the region. While the economic benefits of this are inarguable, another direct consequence of an uptick in activity is an increase in fraudulent activity.”

Role of regulation

Why neo banks are better than digital banks by Vincent Fernando, founder and CEO, Zero One Partners

“Banking has been one of the more slow-moving industries for disruption due to regulation and the type of people historically selected for leadership roles (‘rule-breaker’ personalities aren’t typically favoured to lead banks!). This is an extremely important distinction when one considers how fintech will transform banking in the coming years. ‘Digital banking’ is a widely used term with wildly different definitions.

Traditional banks launch slick mobile apps with a cool new brand and call it digital banking. New online-only banks emerge holding bank licenses and funky names but offer mostly traditional banking services called digital banking.”

Why only regulation can solve cryptocurrency’s perception problem by Vanessa Koh, CEO of Fincy Singapore

“When it comes down to it, the average person just does not trust cryptocurrency enough to integrate it into their lifestyle. And this is by no means an unfair risk assessment. On the contrary, people trust fiat currencies because their value is backed by the issuing authority. Five dollars is five dollars because the government says so.”

Continue to battle the COVID effect

How data can help the global fight against COVID-19 by Geoff Soon, Managing Director, South Asia at Snowflake

“Every day, new data sets become available for free to help ensure a safe society in the months and years ahead after we gain control of COVID-19 and others like it.

However, these data and solution providers are asking their own questions to make this happen: How do we enable the consumers of these data sets, and at what pace? What data security measures do we need to take? What about data governance and data privacy? How much information can we share and how should we do that?”

Paving the way for capital markets in the post-COVID-19 era by Julian Svirsky, CEO of UVAS.COM

“Many companies were struggling to access capital even pre-COVID-19 despite interest rates being at historically record lows globally, meaning that this problem wasn’t triggered, but only exacerbated by the pandemic.

One of the main hurdles standing between companies and investors is their inability to access capital available via public offerings and listing on stock exchanges due to incredibly high listing and maintenance fees, which only the largest enterprises can currently afford.”

How startups can consistently acquire new customers post-COVID-19 by angel investor, Marcus Ho

“Over the last few months, the global crisis has virtually wiped out supply chains, thus crippling most startups. Most startups rely on the latest technology to streamline their operations, and any hitches in supply chains affect operations.

While things are tight in the startups’ business landscape, this also presents an opportunity to rethink business models and find ways to survive. There seems to be no respite in sight even as countries start reopening cautiously.

If you own a startup or you plan to launch one in this environment, there are some factors to consider to acquire new customers. Take a look.”

The startup world

Why Seoul is emerging as Asia’s hottest startup hub by Nathan Millard, founder G3 Partners

“Startupblink ranked the city 21st overall in 2020, up a staggering nine spots from the previous year.

And Seoul might only be getting started as the city aims to become one of the world’s top five startup hubs, and it’s backing that ambition with over US$ 1.7 billion through 2022.

Seoul has clearly become venture capital pay dirt. But why?”

From 30 to 400: TNG Fintech Group founder and CEO Alex Kong shares how to grow your human capital by Billy Yuen, founder of StackTrek

“This week, I chat with Alex Kong, founder and CEO of TNG FinTech Group, Inc – a Hong-Kong based company that provides next-generation financial services to 1.2 billion unbanked individuals throughout Asia.

Kong incorporated the company in 2012 but launched its services in November 2015. At that time they were less than 30 people, and today they have close to 400 employees across 14 countries.”

The only guide to being a remote-friendly salesman every startup needs by Edward Senju, Regional CEO at Sansan Inc

“If there is one function that has been fairly challenged due to the pandemic, it is sales. A recent global Saleshacker report of sales workforce reveals that a majority of respondents are closing approximately 30 per cent lower deals due to the pandemic.

Considering social distancing will be here to stay for a long time and the fact that there is no playbook to do new business in the current times, business managers are now trying to figure out how to attract business interest in the remote age.”

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