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Digital Transformation & Innovation to Accelerate Business Growth

Singapore | 2 & 3 October 2019 | 8am - 6pm

Asia’s most diverse & inclusive SME Business & Entrepreneurship Summit

Speakers

Swati Pandey, CEO
Arboreal Innovations
India

Swati is the CEO and Co-founder of Arboreal – an award winning plant biotechnology company focused on creating a diabetes free world. Arboreal has combined advanced scientific R&D and proprietary innovations with a traceable, sustainable and scalable supply chain to reinvent Stevia – a 100% natural, zero calorie sweetener that comes from a plant source.

Arboreal’s strength lies at the intersection of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Food Technology, and is currently focused on industrial scale production and marketing of its proprietary range of Stevia extracts and formulations globally. Arboreal is backed by a clutch of leading investors and angels from UK, Ireland, France, US, Indonesia and India.  Swati’s prior professional experience includes international stints in VC, Investments, Consulting and O&G sectors in EU, UK, Singapore and India.

Earlier last year, Swati was announced as the Asia-Pacific Laureate at Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards in Singapore from amongst 2900+ high quality women led ventures, from 130+ countries, which were adjudged by Cartier, McKinsey and INSEAD Business School. She is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy from Imperial College London, where she was a Commonwealth Scholar and an EIT Climate-KIC Scholar.

Her areas of active interest are Sustainability, Plant Biotechnology, Agri Tech and Clean Tech.

Violet Lim, CEO
LunchActually Group
Singapore

Violet Lim is the heart and soul of Lunch Actually – a matchmaking company that she founded with her then-fiancé, now-husband Jamie Lee back in 2004. Her inspiration came from observing her friends and colleagues who did not have time to date, due to their busy lives around work.

Today, Lunch Actually is Asia’s biggest premier lunch dating company with offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Jakarta and Bangkok. Together with Jamie, Violet also founded esync to fill the gap in the market for trusted online and offline dating service platforms, LunchClick, the dating app for serious singles to help them meet offline as soon as possible, as well as Lunch Actually Academy, the date coaching service to maximize singles’ dating
success. Her most recent venture is Viola.AI – the world’s first blockchain-powered lifelong love AI to help singles and couples across their relationship stages.

Violet was the first Asian to be certified by the Matchmaking Institute in New York City, and she is the pioneer in her field. She has appeared in over 4,000 media coverages in top local and international media such as FOX, Forbes, CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, Mashable, The Straits Times, ABC News 20|20, CNBC Asia and Radio Australia. She’s also a renowned public speaker, recently spoke at TEDxNTU in Singapore, PR Asia 2018, Southeast Asia CFO Vision, Asian Women in Leadership Summit, and more.

Michelle Peh, Chief Brand Officer & Global Group GM
MindChamps
Singapore

One of the pioneers of MindChamps, Michelle is the brand champion spearheading MindChamps’ global image and positioning over the last 14 years.

She is responsible for driving the visibility, values and strength of the brand across all touch-points in Singapore and across the world.

Michelle has been instrumental in making MindChamps, the number one brand position in the highly-competitive Singapore premium preschool space, with an impressive market share of 38.5%.  This was followed by a successful listing on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange in 2017, leading to the creation of a globally-recognised preschool brand.

Under her dynamic leadership, MindChamps received the following branding and marketing accolades:

The only preschool to be inducted into the Influential Brands® Hall of Fame for winning the Top Brand award for five consecutive years, 2014 – 2018


The only preschool to be awarded the Superbrands® Mark of Distinction for five consecutive years, 2014 – 2018


The Established Brand – Singapore Prestige Brand Award 2011, organised by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and Chinese Newspaper Lianhe Zaobao


2018 Influential Brands® Top Employer


2019 Asia’s Greatest Brands award presented by AsiaOne Magazine & PricewaterhouseCoopers

Michelle Yong, Director
Aurum (Woh Hup Group)
Singapore

Michelle is a 4th generation family business leader in Woh Hup and Director at Aurum Land, a subsidiary and real estate development company. In 2016, she started Collision 8, a co-working space and innovation community that brings together entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, and family business owners in downtown Singapore. Collision 8 has now merged with Found., and is now known as Found8.

 

Following on from Found8, she started a new business concept, Core Collective, which is a collaborative health and wellness community and coworking centre that fosters entrepreneurship and facilitates cross-sharing of knowledge within a curated environment. She has also most recently launched a corporate venture fund, Aurum Investments, which invests in startups that have synergies with the group’s core businesses.

 

Michelle triggers corporate innovation from within, and has brought to Aurum the innovative mindset, attention to detail, and rigor that she learned as a consultant, and has since grown it to an award winning $100 million+ business.

 

Now as the founder of Found8 and Core Collective, Michelle is transforming Aurum into a space and business innovator with a focus on the future of people. In a time of increasing connectivity, where customer experience is the gold standard, Aurum is the core of a trusted network of communities, creating opportunities across diverse industries for businesses, professionals and individuals seeking growth in Singapore and beyond.

 

Ever on the go, Michelle is the mother of three young children, and a foodie at heart. She strongly believes that great food makes both life and business better.

Ng Aik-Phong, MD
Fave
Singapore

Aik-Phong is the Managing Director of Fave Singapore, Southeast Asia’s leading Online-to-Offline and cashless payment startup. AP, as he is more commonly known, is a founding member of Fave. He currently heads out Fave’s Singapore business, focusing on growing the FavePay cashless payment and loyalty rewards solution amongst F&B and Retail merchants, as well as driving rapid customer adoption, crossing 1 Million FavePay transactions in Singapore within a year of launch.

 

He was previously the Head of National Accounts for Groupon APAC, building and driving a regional business unit that generated annual revenues in excess of $50 Million across 6 countries (Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia & Singapore). 

AP is a former Team Singapore Fencer and a SEA Games medallist. At 16, he entered Carleton University in Canada, graduating with a degree in Electrical & Systems Engineering as one of the faculty’s youngest graduate.

In recognition of his business and organisational leadership, AP was The Leading CEO Award recipient at the prestigious 2018 Singapore HR Awards.

Grace Park, Co-Founder
DocDoc
Singapore

She brings with her more than 19 years of leadership experience, nearly 13 of which were spent in international healthcare when she led large-scale teams of distributors and a direct-to-doctor, pan-Asian sales force for Fortune 500 companies. She joined the private healthcare sector with the vision to extend and enhance human lives. She strongly believes that it is possible to do good and do well at the same time.

Prior to DocDoc, Grace held leadership positions at Medtronic, most recently as the Managing Director for its ASEAN operations, leading the company to expand its footprint for medical technology in these markets. Over the years, she has also worked in companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb where she managed local grants of +US$100M to support women and children with HIV/AIDS in 10 African countries.

Grace arrived in Singapore as a Fulbright Fellow and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School alongside an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Formerly, she graduated with honors from the United States Military Academy at West Point, where she was a four-time All American National Judo Champion. Highlights of her military career include leading a platoon, rappeling from helicopters and parachuting from planes to earn her badges in the Army’s Air Assault School and Airborne School, and completing her service as a Captain at the Pentagon.

An active philanthropist, Grace believes in contributing to charitable causes and has raised significant donations by running 250 kilometres across the Gobi Desert to benefit children’s heart surgery in Vietnam and China. She has also climbed Mount Fuji during the winter to donate funds to children’s diabetes research in Australia, and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Singapore.

Alexander Pang, CEO
New Ubin Seafood Group
Singapore

As of October 2018, Alexander took on the position of Chief Executive Officer and Chef of the New Ubin Seafood Group.

Prior to this, Alexander was appointed as a director of the Group in September
2017. Alexander recently represented Singapore at the World Restaurant Awards in Paris (Feb, 2019) (“WRA”) to prepare Singapore cuisine for over 500 chefs and F&B media at the WRA gala dinner.

The Group owns the New Ubin Seafood brand, and began as a homegrown, family-run business in
2007.

Its first outlet at Sin Ming, which has since moved to Hillview, has garnered multiple awards. In particular, these include three consecutive Michelin Guide “Bib Gourmand” from the inaugural year the Guide was launched in Singapore in 2016, all the way through to 2018.

The Group presently owns and/or operates three separate outlets in Hillview, CHIJMES and Ramada
Hotel at Zhongshan Park, with the latter two outlets opening in February and December 2018
respectively.

Alexander is married and father of two. He is also an avid photographer and specialises in street, portraiture and landscape photography. Alexander also holds memberships with the Restaurant
Association of Singapore, the Insolvency Practitioner’s Association of Singapore, INSOL International, the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association, the Singapore Institute of Directors, the Law Society of Singapore and the Singapore Academy of Law.

Koh Seng Choon, Executive Director
Project Dignity
Singapore

Mr Koh Seng Choon is the founder and
Managing Director of Dignity Kitchen, Singapore’s first hawker training centre for the disadvantaged and people with disabilities. The mission is to build and help these people regain a sense of
dignity through their work.

Mr Koh Seng Choon has written three books – Elements of Success: Business, Elements of Success: Education and Elements of Success: Living – of which the first book mentioned is a best-seller in India. He is also the owner and management consultant of Christopher Benjamin Consultancy Services, and a professor at SP Jain School of Global Management.

Laura Bertotto, CEO
VMV Hypoallergenics
Philippines

Laura Verallo de Bertotto is the CEO of VMV HYPOALLERGENICS®, a Philippine company whose mission is to save the world’s skin with the safest, most (proven!) effective care on the planet.

With zero of all 109+ common allergens and over 75 clinical studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals, there is no safer, more effective skincare or makeup brand out there. A multi-award winner and regular in global beauty, fashion, and health media, VMV HYPOALLERGENICS is present via omnichannel distribution in several countries, including Canada, Costa Rica, Japan, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, and the USA. VMV walks the kindness and inclusivity that it talks, boasting a diverse workforce that is over 71% women (leadership is 80%), and initiatives such as a small organic collective farm in Leyte, Philippines, that provides free education and community building.

Laura grew up in the Philippines and the US, is an active member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), and was awarded PLDT SME Bossing (2015), Marie Claire Philippines’ 10 Women of the World (2006), and the Randolph Edmonds Young Scholars Award for scholarly writing (1993, Black Theatre Network). Laura previously worked in branding in Manhattan, and has a B.A. and M.A. from Brown University.

Rehan Amarasuriya, Executive Director
BP deSilva Group, The 1872 Clipper Tea Co.
Singapore

Rehan Amarasuriya, the second son of Mr Sunil Amarasuriya, graduated in 2010 with a bachelor of finance degree from Monash University in Melbourne. Since then he has joined the family business, working very closely with the management and his team to grow the group as a whole.

Specifically, Rehan has focused on the BP de Silva Group’s tea business – The 1872 Clipper Tea Co., a local specialty tea company, and Tea Tang, a production arm supplying tea to quality-oriented markets, from Singapore, Japan and Europe. Rehan also co-founded Teapasar, a multi-brand tea marketplace, in
2018.

Despite his young age, Rehan has an innate flair for business, and is deeply passionate in his work. He is also involved in the tea blending process, working closely with master tea blenders at Tea Tang to concoct new and interesting blends that will pander to the local palate. Rehan also has an outgoing
personality and loves to share his passion and knowledge about tea.

Atchara Poomee, Founder
PAC Corporation
Thailand

Miss. Atchara is a founder and managing director of PAC Corporation (Thailand) Co.,Ltd., the producer and developer of the innovative technologies; PAC energy saving water heaters and air conditioners.

She holds a management position in the water heating and energy efficiency industry. Atchara has more than 15 years experience in business management, marketing and innovative products. She is also a guest lecturer in business innovation, Clean Technology & Green Innovation.

Imelda Harsono, Director
Samator Group Indonesia

Imelda Harsono serves on the Board of Directors of Samator Group, Indonesia’s largest industrial gas producing corporate group, where she is Director of Technology and Compliance and Executive Director of Aneka Gas Industri Tbk, Samator Group’s largest subsidiary company.

In 2015, she founded Samudera Biru Internasional, a renewable energy company facilitating wide-scale adoption of solar projects throughout Indonesia. Her passion for improving the skills and education of working age Indonesians led her to join the Board of HarukaEdu, a company dedicated to providing technology platform solutions that enable lifelong learning.

Imelda holds a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from the National University of Singapore, a Master of Management from Universitas Pelita Harapan Graduate School of Business (Cum Laude), and a Master of Laws in International Commercial Law from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She currently studies Owner/President Management program at Harvard Business School. She also taught Legal Aspects of International Business Transactions at Petra Christian University.

Imelda is the Chapter President for Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Indonesia east Chapter. EO is a global business network of 13,000+ business owners in 180 chapters and 57 countries.

Imelda has received several awards and recognition, such as “99 Most Inspiring Women” by Globe Asia in 2019, chosen as Top 10 Most Powerful Businesswomen in Indonesia 2018 by Indonesia Tatler and Top 10 Indonesia Young Women Future Business leaders 2014 by SWA Magazine.

Claire Sancelot, Director
The Hive
Malaysia

In 2010 while living in Hong Kong, Claire Sancelot realised after the birth of her eldest daughter that the waste generated by her family was totally unsustainable and the biggest threat to humanity is climate change. From then on she set her sight on living zero waste.

Claire moved to KL in September 2015, opened the first Cooperative zero waste store in Malaysia.

Ever since, she has been a guest on many radio shows, featured on magazines and newspapers. People have been very excited about the concept and more and more people had been embracing the lifestyle. Claire has been giving cooperative talk since 2015 in Malaysia (L’Oreal, L’Occitane, World Health Organisation, Securities Commission Malaysia). The talk is light hearted people easily relate to it. The way Claire introduces zero waste lifestyle is through simple domestic examples although climate change is a very serious subject, Claire makes sustainable living fun and achievable.

Manisah Sapari, Business Advisor
SME Centre@SMCCI
Singapore

Manisah is a graduate from Northumbria University, Bachelor of Arts in Business with Marketing Management (HONS), with Second Class Honours (Upper Division). She has more than 14 years of working experience from the private to government sectors and has gained diverse expertise from different industries such as: F&B, retail, tourism and events management.

Prior to this role, she managed a series of government led nationwide projects and community engagement work in the healthcare industry. She is an enthusiast in giving business solutions on the availability of programs and funding from Workforce Singapore (WSG), so that business owners and companies are aware and can leverage to meet the ongoing economic challenges.

She also believes that the human capital is the most valuable investment of a company and hence creating a fulfilling career of every individuals with progressive employers.

Kamlesh Mahtani, Sales Director (Asia)
Oracle NetSuite
Singapore

Kamlesh Mahtani is currently the Sales Director for Emerging Markets for Asia with Oracle NetSuite based in Singapore.

In this role, Kamlesh is responsible for leading the Asian sales team Emerging segment.

With several leadership positions under his belt, Kamlesh has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry focused on accountants, marketing and direct and indirect sales. 

Prior to joining Oracle, Kamlesh was Head of Sales, for the Start-up and Small Business (SSB) regional team at Sage Asia.

Before joining Sage, Kamlesh was with Intuit Singapore, where he held the position of Head of Business Development for Asia and Middle East, after developing the Australian market for intuit. Whist in Australia, he was in charge of developing new markets, leading revenue growth, channel partner development and led efforts for the bookkeepers channel.

Prior to that, Kamlesh was the Country Sales Manager for MYOB, a leading accounting software brand in Australia, where he was responsible for overall sales and channel partner management and also directed marketing campaigns for Asia. 

Kamlesh also used to manage a garments distribution business and was also involved in the F&B industry.

Rebekah Woo, Managing Director
Fosun
Singapore

With degrees from LSE, Yale and CFA, CAIA professional designations, Rebekah has 20 years of investing and relationship management experience. Rebekah started her career with the the government of Singapore (EDB), in Singapore and New York.

She then spent more than 6 years with a multi-billion single family office in New York, investing across asset classes, with focus on emerging markets and philanthropy. She then joined J.P. Morgan Asset Management, first in New York before moving back to Singapore in a new role called Global Strategic Relationship Group. Headhunted into Canada’s 2nd largest pension plan, CDPQ, Rebekah became the 1st local employee when it opened its Asia Pacific HQ in Singapore, responsible for developing key partnerships with major families in emerging Asia, sourcing and executing direct and co-investments.

After a stint at Lufax, a leading fintech company by Ping An Group, Rebekah is now with Fosun, responsible for covering investments in the Maternal Infant & Family sector, focusing on fast growing regions such as Southeast Asia.

Joelle Chia, Board Member
BANSEA
Singapore

Joelle is a board member of BANSEA, a leading angel investment network promoting the development of the angel investment community in Southeast Asia.

She is an early stage angel investor, and have personally as well as through syndicates invested in close to 10 startups in the healthcare, F&B, logistics and e-commerce verticals.

Joelle is also an expert in healthcare regulatory affairs and compliance in Asia-Pacific. She now runs Pharma To Market – Asia, a consulting company  that helps healthcare  companies access the fast-growing Asia markets with  regulatory affairs and pharmacovigilance services. 

Over her career, Joelle has combined her pharmacist training with her knowledge of regulations to develop regulatory strategies, expedite approvals, establish and direct regulatory and ongoing compliance operations in 13 countries in the region. She has previously worked for pharma companies that range from small regional firms to huge multinationals; assisting to expand the market presence of their product portfolio. Her skill sets include facilitating interactions between companies and government authorities, negotiating terms in compliance situations, and representing company interests in trade associations.

Round Table Speakers

Brendan Yong, Founder
Scale-Up Marketing
Singapore

Brendan Yong, from ScaleUp Marketing is a marketing automation CRM Specialist helping SMEs grow their revenue without spending more money on advertising & with less effort, using a multi-channel approach to keep buyers interested about your products and service.

Michael Chua, Independent Digital Technology Consultant
Singapore

Michael Chua is a technologist specialising in digital transformation and Cybersecurity. He  has served banks, governments and businesses in Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia, for more than 30 years. 

In his leisure, he is also an award winning film actor and director; and a tropical fruit wine brewer. He is currently based in Singapore.

Jeffrey Nah, Growth Consultant & Advisor, Managing Director
JN Capital & Growth Advisory
Singapore

Jeff is a former banker turned entrepreneur and investor with 39-years business experience across 7 countries. 

Besides investing in technology and education startups and venture capital funds, Jeff lectures part-time on topics relating to entrepreneurship and innovation at the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technology University, Singapore Management University. 

Jeff is passionate about preparing our children for “the Future of Work” especially given the immminent massive disruption from exponential technologies like AI, 3D-printing, “artificial meat”, autonomous cars, robotics, virtual & augmented reality, nanotechnology.

…and more to be confirmed!


To speak at our summit, submit your CEO/Founder photo & biodata to [email protected] for our team and advisory board’s evaluation.

What is H.E.R® Asia Summit?

We are Harnessing the power of women in Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Relationship.

We believe in the education, empowerment, and support of women in Entrepreneurship & Intrapreneurship. 

The H.E.R® Asia Summit is the most strategic SME & Female Entrepreneurship Business Conference in Asia. For 2019, H.E.R® is supported by the Singapore Tourism Board and other affiliate government boards to bring in over 350+ local & regional SMEs to the summit.

H.E.R® serves as a massive networking conference, where C-Level Executives and local SME Business Owners can gather and make meaningful connections.

Attendees come from SMEs & MNCs alike, and part of the proceeds from the H.E.R® Platform will go to beneficiaries supporting the empowerment, education & support of marginalized women.

This conference is not restricted to ladies – men are welcome too!

What can you expect?

Distinguished Keynotes

In previous years, we've had Minister Grace Fu (Minister for Culture, Community, and Youth) to grace the event, as well as Former Olympian, May Ooi from ONE Championship Singapore.

Panel Discussions

The conference will be hosting 3 full length panels discussing the latest (and most relevant) topics in local & regional business realms. Previous years, we've had panelists like Steen Puggaard (Former CEO, 4Fingers Crispy Chicken), Anna Lim (Founder, The Soup Spoon), and Wendy Liu (Co-Founder, EzBuy), etc.

Roundtable Workshops

Mini-Workshops to discuss business strategies, aimed to be educational, practical, and relevant to day-to-day business processes. Ie. Previous years, we've had Simone Heng (Radio Personality, Class95FM) coming in to talk about Personal Branding in the Business Setting, as well as Bansea & Moolahsense to discuss growth & financing for SMEs.

Speed Networking

We are expecting nearly 350 Business Owners & Key Decision-Makers in our midst, coming from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, China, etc, to participate in our massive speed networking session. Expand your network!

Data collected from H.E.R® Asia Summit 2018, available in the H.E.R® Post Event Report.

H.E.R Advisory Board

Rebekah Woo

Partner, Crimson Capital

Steen Puggaard

Operating Partner, Archipelago Capital Partners

Ravi Govindan

Executive Chairman, Mercatus Capital

Silver Sponsor

Oracle Netsuite

Exhibitors

Held in

Supported by

Global Partners

Lifestyle Partner

Supporting Partners

Media Partners

Photobooth Partner

Post Event Party Partner

Official H.E.R® Asia Summit
Post Event Party

3 October | 6pm | 1-Altitude @ Raffles Place

Free Entry to 1-Altitude Restaurant & Bar, including 1 complimentary drink!

Simply show your pass at the door and enjoy a free drink and free entry to Singapore’s tallest al-fresco bar!

2019 Beneficiaries

New Hope Community Services

New Hope Community Services (NHCS) was registered as a charity in 2004. Our sole motivation is the love of God and the conviction that His church must stay relevant to the needs of the community. We are concerned for those in need and we strive to reach out to them, regardless of their race or religion. In June 2007, New Hope Community Services launched the Shelter for Displaced Families. We recognise that homelessness can strike in many ways. Our mission is to stand in the gap and provide a Shelter of Hope to these homeless Singaporeans and to empower them to alleviate and improve their situation. At New Hope Community Services, our goal goes beyond providing temporary shelter to those we serve; we want to infuse them with real hope to see their lives changed.

2017/2018 Beneficiaries

World Vision

Part of HER Asia Summit 2017's went into supporting the cause of empowering females as agents of change in India initiated by the World Vision.

As a child-focused organization, World Vision is concerned about the development and the well-being of children. World Vision’s Female Empowerment Project in Faridkot, India, is committed to empowering and educating adolescent girls.

Daughters of Tomorrow

Daughters Of Tomorrow (DOT) is a registered charity organisation with IPC status in Singapore and our mission is to facilitate livelihood opportunities for underprivileged women, and support them in building financially independent and resilient families.

Part of the proceeds from HER Asia 2018 contributed to helping families forge better futures by supporting underprivileged women with confidence and practical support in their back-to-work journeys.

For more information on the Summit, or to inquire about Sponsorship Opportunities with the H.E.R® Platform, contact [email protected] or +65 8868 1418.