Speakers’ & Advisors’ Profile

Cheryl Wee, Actress, Founder, Cheryl W Wellness & Weight Management

Cheryl Wee is an actress turn entrepreneur, founder of Cheryl W. The “W” stands for Wellness & Weight Management for the modern independent women. W also stands for wisdom and wealth as we believe that without health there will be no wealth.Thus, Cheryl W emphasizes on a holistic approach by focusing on treatments & therapies, Nutrition and Diet as well as healthy and balance lifestyle for maintaining one’s well-being.Through this brand, Cheryl Wee will share her years of personal experience battling with stress and weight management problems and how she overcomes them.

Viola Tan, Co-founder, LoveBonito
Women Entrepreneur Award 2017

Viola Tan is the co-founder and executive director of the Love, Bonito Group, Singapore’s largest fast fashion retail brand. Together with her co-founder, Viola turned just S$500 into the multi-million dollar company Love, Bonito is today, with outposts in Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia by expertly leveraging online platforms and social media channels and pioneering new strategies to reach the modern customer. She currently heads the Group’s business development efforts as Love, Bonito seeks to further expand its footprint across Asia.

Val Yap, Founder & CEO, PolicyPal

Val is the Founder and CEO of PolicyPal, that uses artificial intelligence to simplify and digitise insurance for thousands people. Prior to founding PolicyPal, Val was an Assistant Vice President at OCBC Bank. Primarily focused on launching the digital initiatives and campaigns, working closely with the wealth, digital and marketing to drive innovations. Previously served as Risk Assurance Associate at PwC London office, worked with UK Financial Institutions to develop implementation plans for the changes required for USA Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) compliance and regulatory assessment. When not at work, Val is an avid globe-trotter and a sports enthusiast

Melissa Nguyen, Vietnam Country Head, Google Marketing Solutions

Melissa Nguyen is the Country Head of Google Marketing Solutions for Vietnam, responsible for growing Google’s business in Vietnam across Agencies and Direct scaled Advertisers.

She has over 20 years of experience building businesses as a COO and CFO, including 10 years both investing in and leading private equity backed mid-market enterprises in the U.S. and Singapore. Before transitioning into operating roles, Melissa began her career in investment banking and private equity.

Melissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from Dartmouth College.

Nura J, Founder & CEO, Pearlista

Jenny Tay Managing Director, Direct Funeral Services

Jenny graduated from the University of New South Wales in Australia with a Distinction in Bachelor of Commerce and a Double Major in Marketing and Management. Self assured and articulate, Jenny never had any misgiving about the funeral industry. Jenny was as passionate as her father, especially when it comes to helping the less privileged in the society. As the assistant secretary of the Association of Funeral Directors (Singapore), Jenny hopes to improve the standard of the industry, to introduce a higher level of professionalism and transparency. She hopes to convince people, especially the younger generation, that death should not be seen as a taboo topic, but rather, one of life’s final event, that should be carefully planned for.

 

Yvon Bock, Founder, Hegen

Founder and Managing Director of Hegen Pte Ltd, Yvon Bock is a passionate designer and innovator. Together with a team of designers and engineers, she spearheaded the birth of a range of simple, practical and highly innovative baby products which focus on enhancing the breastfeeding journey for both mother and child. The Hegen feeding system is a sustainable, top quality product that evolves to meet the different needs of the growing child.

Susan Jain, CMO, IBM Asia Pacific

Susan is Chief Marketing Officer for IBM Asia Pacific, where she has responsibility for the company’s marketing, branding/advertising, communications and corporate social responsibility functions. She returned to Asia in June of 2015 to assume this role after 4 years at IBM worldwide where she led Portfolio Marketing & Seller Enablement for IBM’s largest business unit, Global Technology Services (2013-2015), and WW Channel Marketing (2011-2013).

Michelle Kung, Executive Director, BANSEA

Michelle Kung is Executive Director of BANSEA. She is in charge of administrative operations and strategic partnerships at BANSEA. Prior to BANSEA, she worked for a clean-tech company to drive strategic engagements with government agencies and international market development. She was the researcher and the writer of the book entitled “Built by Singapore- from Slums to a Sustainable Built Environment” under the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) of the Ministry of National Development.

Taseem Noor, Founder, Fika Swedish Cafe And Bistro

A graphic designer for eight years, Tasneem Noor decided to take on the position as an entrepreneur and try her hand at business at a young age of 26. In 2009, Tasneem is known as the founder of Fika Swedish Cafe and Bistro, a food and beverage business with a unique concept of selling authentic Halal Swedish Cuisine. In 2015, amongst the other projects, Tasneem was named an Honouree by the Spirit of Enterprise — an organisation committed to promoting and advancing the entrepreneurship in Singapore. She went on to become a Board Member of the Spirit of Enterprise, and currently heads the organisation’s Student Interviewer Programme.

Chua Khai Lin, Co-Founder, CFO, Fundnel

Khai Lin is the co-founder and CFO of Fundnel, a private investment platform that offers unlisted securities in growth and pre-IPO stage companies across industries to a qualified network of investors. She co-founded Fundnel with the belief that it could make a difference to small and medium-sized enterprises that had insufficient access to growth and expansion funding.

At Fundnel, she is responsible for administrative, financial and risk management operations and development of the company’s financial and operational strategies.

Khai Lin has significant expertise in banking and private investments, having had more than five years of experience working at JP Morgan, Citibank and CIMB-GK Securities. She holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Economics from University College London (UCL).

She is also a passionate animal rights activist, having volunteered for numerous whale and dolphin conservation and research projects.

Abdul Malik Hassan, Co-founder, Crave and Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak

The eldest of five, Abdul Malik Hassan had one ambition when growing up: To be a pilot. However, he gave up his dreams to run his family business when his late father shared his wish for him to take over Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak, a family-run business that was already a popular stall then at Adam’s Road Hawker Centre.

When Malik took over the business, he streamlined processes and improved the menu. The stall started to gain more popularity and soon drew attention from high-profile individuals such as the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah and Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Mailk was even featured in Eric Khoo’s telemovie Wanton Mee – a homage to Singapore food.

In recent years, Malik made efforts to expand his business and partnered with Pezzo Group to open 14 outlets all over Singapore. The joint venture allowed Malik to maintain the Nasi Lemak’s authenticity and quality while his partners looked after the outlets. The outlet is call Crave Nasilemak by selera rasa.

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Thomas Fernandez, Chairman, CEO, PestBusters

Thomas Fernandez is the Chairman & CEO of PestBusters Pte Ltd. He is also the best-selling author of Secrets to Dominate Your Niche. He has led PestBusters to be recognised as one of the most successful pest control companies in Singapore. Thomas has revolutionised and transformed the traditional pest control industry with a Pest Management System that encompasses new innovations. Today, PestBusters leverages on technologies such as a state-of-the-art Command Center, deployment of drones and specially trained specialist with body worn cameras to bring about greater productivity, professionalism and safety to further improve the pest control industry.

Renee Tan, Founder, Managing Director, Rendeur

Renee Tan is an entrepreneur and trainer with a unique background of science, psychology and business in her past education and work. She started her career doing Stem Cell research. She left the laboratory to pursue a Double Major in Psychology and Marketing, joined a B2B media company handling several portfolios in multiple sectors such as Life Sciences, Healthcare, Mining, Energy, Supply Chain, Hedge Funds, Private Banking amongst many others, for the Asia Pacific business and led a team. Her network of clients include the government, MNCs,  investors, institutions and associations. She is now the Founder and Managing Director of Rendeur Pte Ltd, providing training, consultancy, and seminars for corporate organisations and individuals. She created HER Entrepreneur to provide women with the resources and platform to connect with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and learn from other aspiring entrepreneurs.

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SO-YOUNG KANG, Chief Energizer, Gnowbe

Founder of Awaken Group, Author of “Inside Out”, WEF Young Global Leader, former McKinsey and Citigroup, MBA from Harvard Business School, BA from Univ of Penn. So-Young is a serial entrepreneur who wants to change the world by maximising the potential within people. This is her 2nd (if you don’t count her restaurant project in NY) start-up across the US and Asia. She builds businesses and organizations that have impact globally as she creates solutions that are borderless. So-Young considers herself blessed to be in community with the world’s leading thinkers from Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, TED, and as a Young Global Leader nominated by the World Economic Forum. She is an experienced entrepreneur, published author, global speaker and educator. She started teaching piano at age 11 and started her professional career teaching in Japan nearly 20 years ago before moving onto Citigroup and McKinsey & Company.

Anna Trybocka, CEO, CrescoData

Anna is the CEO and founding partner of CrescoData; an eCommerce automation platform that helps businesses amplify their sales across the Asia Pacific region. Anna has worked in both the public and private sector. She has a 17-year digital career spanning Europe and Australiasia and has worked in brands, telcos, publishers and agencies. She has enjoyed working on a number of bleeding-edge projects, including the UK’s first cross-carrier text message service (yes there was life before SMS!), the UK’s first mobile internet site and in Australia the first live streaming service across the 3G mobile networks. In Australia she was Head of Mobile for Yahoo!7 where she managed a team that was responsible for the productisation and commercialisation of the Yahoo! mobile portfolio and 7 Media Group properties including Pacific Publications and Channel 7 shows. Her work has won multiple Mobile Marketing Awards. Prior to leaving Australia she was Director of Investment and Institutional Investment for UKTI, the commercial arm of the British Government where she helped businesses expand into the UK. In Singapore she is a mentor on the start-up scene.

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Wong Li-Lin, Executive Director, Public Hygiene Council

Wong Li-Lin is Executive Director at Public Hygiene Council where she is committed to keeping Singapore clean.

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Her ethos that we must “better ourselves to better our world” frames how she conducts both her professional and personal life.

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In her spare time, Li-Lin shares Emotional Communicative Strategies and Wellness Strategies to accelerate life skills learning for success and well-being at home, in school and at the workplace.

Jaz Athenia Chua, Head of Strategy and Operations, Marketing, APJ, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Jaz is the Regional Head of Marketing Strategy and Operations in Hewlett Packard Enterprise. She coaches and builds talents to power high performance teams to deliver the objectives of senior management in an era where change is the only constant. Outside of work, Jaz is involved in various social initiatives. She is the executive events chair in the HPE Inspire Group which aims to empower female employees to proactively embrace opportunities, lead with confidence, and thrive in everything they do. Being a founding member for the INSEAD Business Club, Jaz campaigns for gender balance in organizations. At the same time, she serves as a mentor to grow young women into leaders. Additionally, as an advisor for INSEADERs, Jaz connects INSEAD entrepreneurs to venture capitalists and consultants, with the mission of increasing the number of successful entrepreneurs.

Clair Deevy, Head of Community Affairs, APAC, Facebook

Clair Deevy joined Facebook in 2015 as Head of Economic Growth Initiatives for Asia Pacific. She is focused on community engagement and partnerships using technology to create positive impact.   Previously the Director of CSR in Microsoft APAC Clair’s professional and volunteer experience over more than 18 years encompasses Government, NGOs, private sector and corporate foundations. Clair holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Management, a Master of Management is a qualified Partnership Broker and in 2014 was appointed an Ambassador for Women in Technology for UNWomen in Singapore.

Tina Chopra, Founder, Script Consultants

I am a Founder, Investor and Mentor.

After working for nearly twelve years as a journalist, I started Content Marketing Agency – Script Consultants. Some of our clients have been Grab, OCBC Bank, Unilever Food Solutions, A*STAR, MPA among others. I am also an investor in tech startups, which include Impress.AI, Whizpace and Hackertrail. An Alumni of London School of Economics, I am also one of the Mentors for the HBSCS Mentorship Programme, which is jointly run this year by alumni of Harvard Business School and London School of Economics.

Kanika Agarwal, CEO and Founder, Passion Peers

Kanika is one of the youngest parallel entrepreneurs of her generation. She is the CEO and Founder of Passion Peers, a digital transformation consultancy, agency and tech platform solutions; CEO and Co- Founder of Fempeers, a woman health – tech platform; Chief Growth Hacker and Co-Founder of Rapid Rabbits, an on-demand last mile delivery service. Her passion in digital led her to build an ecosystem of organizations that reflect the present and future of #digitaltransformation and a better world.

Gary Loh, Deputy Chairman & CEO, SunMoon Food Company

Gary Loh is the Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SunMoon Food Company Limited. Mr Loh joined the company’s Board as Non-Independent Director and Deputy Chairman in 2007.

Since joining the Board, Mr Loh has provided SunMoon with the management expertise to transform the company, putting in place a strong business model after restructuring its debt and injecting capital.

Mr Loh is also the Executive Chairman of First Alverstone Capital Ltd, a private equity firm that he founded with his wife in 2005.

He first started his career as a venture capitalist for Pacific Capital Pte. Ltd. from 1992 to 1995, before joining Merrill Lynch as a Financial Consultant from 1995 to 1997. Subsequently, he was with UOB Kay Hian and BNP Paribas.

Outside the world of business, Mr Loh is involved in an array of philanthropic activities, and possesses a strong passion towards children’s causes in particular. Mr Loh is the Founder and former Director of Operation Smile Singapore, as well as a board member of the Stop Cleft International Alliance.

Chatri Sityodtong, Founder, Chairman, CEO, ONE Championship

Chatri Sityodtong is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of ONE Championship, Asia’s largest sports media property in history with a global broadcast to over 1 billion potential viewers across 128 countries around the world.  His rags-to-riches life story has inspired millions around the world on BBC News, CNN, Bloomberg TV High Flyers, CNBC Entrepreneur Asia, Channel NewsAsia, Harvard Business School, Sports Illustrated, and other major media.  Forbes recently selected Sityodtong as one of Asia’s next generation tycoons.  He was also called “Asia’s King of Martial Arts” by Financial Times, and the “Most Powerful Person in Asian MMA” by Yahoo! Sports, and International Business Times.  ONE Championship is a celebration of Asia’s greatest cultural treasure, martial arts, and its deep-rooted Asian values of integrity, humility, kindness, honor, respect, courage, and discipline.  Through the power of media and the magic of storytelling, ONE Championship has the precious opportunity to unleash real life superheroes, celebrate values, ignite dreams, inspire nations, and change the world.

Sityodtong holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Tufts University.

Rebekah Woo, Committee Member for Diversity, Singapore Institute of Directors

Rebekah Woo, Venture Investor & Partner, and a Committee Member for Diversity at the Singapore Institute of Directors.

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Born and raised in Singapore, Rebekah has more than 15 years of international finance and investment experience across geographies and asset classes.   Rebekah is a strong supporter of startups and women found and led businesses and has invested in a number.  Rebekah graduated from the LSE and Yale University and holds the CFA, CAIA designations. Proud mother of 3 daughters, Rebekah actively supports working mothers and ‘mumpreneurs’.

Ami Iwakami, Startup Ecosystem Partnership Development Lead,

Female Founders

Ami is currently working as Regional Talent & Organizational Development Manager in a US MNC, as well as involved with Female Founders by advocating on women in entrepreneurship. She is also active in supporting startups build their corporate and HR strategy. Previously she has worked in sales, consulting, and HR in various industries, working with colleagues of multinational background. Ami has a MBA from INSEAD and has grown up in Latin America.

Jenny Wee, PBM, District Councillor, South West Community Development Council

Jenny is the owner of 2 nail salons and a hair salon under the branding Nails & Brows and Manicured with a staff strength of 30. She graduated with First Class Honours in Microbiology and a Post-graduate diploma in Education, entrepreneurship has never been in her mind until her first child came along and she started a successful online Parenting forum and business selling and distributing Baby products. Jenny has 3 children aged 14, 11 and 9 years old and she looked after them without the help of a helper. Jenny is also an active community leader. She is currently a district councillor with South West Development Council where she is the vice-chairperson of the Family and Resilience  Functional committee. During her service at SWCDC she helmed projects like Weworkz as well as Baby bliss program which are implemented at the district level. Jenny is the recipient of the National Day Award 2017 receiving her Public Service Medal.  During her free time, Jenny enjoys shopping and chilling out with friends.

Grace Ho, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer and Strategy Leader, IBM ASEAN

Grace Ho is Chief Marketing and Communications Officer and Strategy Leader of IBM ASEAN, where

she is responsible for Brand and Communications, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Marketing

of IBM’s portfolio of hardware, software and services, which includes routes to market such as digital,

social and partners. In addition, as Strategy Leader, she has business transformation responsibilities

to tighten the interlock between sales, marketing and product groups so as to derive synergies from

integration, and achieve scale in execution at the country level.

Prior to IBM, Grace was Chief Commercial Officer of Singapore Post Limited (SingPost), responsible

for the commercial strategy and execution of SingPost’s marketing, sales and commercial operations

for Singapore and International business. She played a pivotal role in transforming the operations of

the commercial team, particularly in the go-to-market of Postal and Logistics business in domestic

and international markets. In addition, she was instrumental in strengthening SingPost’s brand

strategy and thought leadership in digital and social channels.

Prior to SingPost, she was Head of Marketing for SAP Asia Pacific and Japan, where she led the

transformation of Marketing to become more aligned with SAP’s business outcomes and more

digitally relevant to how customers want to buy.

Grace possess over 20 years of sales and marketing experience internationally and regionally in the

IT industry. She held several senior-level sales and marketing positions at prestigious organizations

such as Hewlett-Packard, Compaq Computers, Microsoft and Motorola Solutions. She was Country

President and APAC Head of Sales at Motorola Solutions. In her 10 years at Microsoft, she also held

several leadership roles, including Global Director of Product Management, Asia Pacific Marketing

Director for Enterprise Solutions, and Enterprise Solutions Sales Director for Singapore.

Grace was appointed to the Board of Directors for NTUC Link in July 2016.

Grace holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management, University of New South

Wales, Australia; and a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology and Biochemistry from the

National University of Singapore

Loren Mack as Vice President for PR and Communications, ONE Championship

Loren is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a M.A. in Integrated Marketing Communications from Marist College in New York. He has been an active member in the sports community of Las Vegas and cares deeply about its development. He has a passion for boxing and currently serves as the Asia Representative to the prestigious Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame (NVBHOF).

Loren has been involved in the combat sports industry and began his career in the early 2000’s, rubbing elbows with prominent figures for over a decade. He joined ONE Championship shortly after the company was established in 2011 and has since led the PR Team which has been instrumental in developing the ONE Championship brand and Asian martial arts all across Asia and the entire world.

Aside from being an expert PR strategist, Loren is also a passionate writer and contributes stories to the Jakarta Globe and other publications. He has traveled across the world, including the farthest reaches of Southeast and Central Asia as well as the Americas. In his free time, Loren engages in charity work for the Salvation Army and Feeding America. Despite his busy schedule he devotes time to his family, to a loving wife and two beautiful little girls.