Inside Asia Podcast

My guest this episode is serial entrepreneur, tech optimist, venture capitalist, and long time friend, Paul Meyers. WI first met Paul in 1997. He sat behind a custom-built desk-top terminal with plans to deliver cable-TV news across high-speed networks. Real-time news at your fingertips. Can you imagine? It was a revolutionary idea at the time. Today, its yesterday’s news.  Paul has spent nearly 30 years operating in Asia, first as a film-maker then as a pioneer in the interactive and mobile space. He’s a serial entrepreneur who in recent years has turned his attention to vetting, advising and funding start-ups from Indonesia to Bangladesh. Paul’s CV reads like an Alice in Wonderland journey through the early years of what we then called the interactive movement. It’s a mind-bending experience to explore all that Paul has witnessed.  

Brian Rogove, Founder and CEO of Singapore-based A-Star Education is in the for-profit education business. And when you consider the premium that Asian families place on education, it’s easy to see how profits might follow. Brian doesn’t beat around the bush when talking about education’s return-on-investment. He says that while “for-profit” education feels like a dirty phrase to those in the West, Asians see the private sector as critical in shoring up public education short-falls throughout the region. Dissecting the relative strengths and weaknesses of education in Asia is as complex and diverse as the region itself. When it comes to public education, quality is oftentimes directly proportional to the level of government spending. Building schools and staffing them with well-versed teachers takes time and money. It’s for that very reason that large-scale private equity firms are entering the space. Baring, Blackstone and KKR are just a few of the many major investors increasing their holdings in education

In this weeks episode we meet politico, public relations specialist, former ambassador, private equity advisor, digital nomad, and public commentator, Curtis Chin. Curtis is many things to many people. And while he likes to think of himself as a kind of modern-day Renaissance man, his parents say that’s code for “unemployed.” We’re talking about what it means to have what Curtis calls, “a portfolio” life.” We also move the conversation in the direction of Asia in transition and take from Curtis his view on the emerging and potentially disruptive influence of China. His comments come at a critical time when the world is debating how best to engage with this emerging Superpower in order to secure political détente, new prosperity, and greater integration of our global economy.

China is not the nation it once was. It’s grown up, become stronger; more resilient and self-assured. Its influence in matters of global geopolitics is absolute and bending the knee to the US is most assuredly not in the script. Jim McGregor, long-time China resident, corporate advisor and respected insider, shares his unfiltered opinion on the evolution of US-China relations and how and why things have gone so off kilter. In this week’s Asia Insider Minute, we take a cut at thinking past the blame and towards the solution - and imagine a future where policy-makers on both sides see a future fashioned from collaboration versus competition.

Neil Bearden is an INSEAD Professor, investor, decision scientist, and children’s book author. Neil is many things, but above all others, he’s a story-teller. On this week’s episode he shares his views on the art of story-telling and why it is so essential to lean into story in this age of science. And why we, as humans, have found such meaning and utility in the telling and receiving of stories.

This week’s guest is Glenn Chickering, Head of Faculty at the Green school on Bali, Indonesia. Students there live and breathe the environment and all things sustainable. Raise the subject of climate change with any 4th grader here and you’ll get an earful on everything from personal accountability to corporate responsibility. Sitting in the heart of the jungle, surrounded by rice paddies and flanked by a river, there’s arguably no school like it in the world…

Gregory Burns is an artist, story-teller, and Olympian. It’s an unlikely combination of talents and the fabric of a man who’s made Singapore his home. The 19th century American writer and Naturalist, Henry David Thoreau claimed that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Is it possible that the artist offers us a way out?

This week’s guest is Ian Chapman-Banks, CEO of Sqreem, an AI-enabled adtech company working to take on the US 1 trillion-dollar global advertising business - a sector ripe for disruption. It’s no easy feat to entirely unwind an industry eco-system, but that’s what Ian and dozens of ad-tech entrepreneurs around the world are trying to do. As he rightly points out, the playing field has shifted. Advertising goes where consumer eyeballs roam. And in this case, digital platforms are the place where consumer buying decisions are taking place.

Take a quick poll among your friends and associates on what they consider to be one of the greatest challenges of our day, and increasingly, liberals and conservatives alike will say climate change. The subject has had its share of detractors and political nay-sayers, but with the passage of time, evidence mounts that humans – not Mother Nature – are the undeniable chief culprits of this pending disaster. Acknowledging the crises is one thing. Actually doing something about it is another. Where to begin? My guest this week, Assaad Razzouk, says there are lots of moving parts in this climate change puzzle, but holding corporations accountable, he says, could prove a catalyst. Assaad has a vantage point on the subject. He’s Group Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Sindicatum Sustainable Resources, a Singapore-based clean energy investment group that buys, owns and operates projects throughout India and Southeast Asia. From this vantage point, Assaad has learned a few things about government intransigence, corp

This week we turn to the subject of Education. It ranks alongside food, shelter, and job opportunity as a foundation requirement for any progressive society, yet, the very tenants of traditional education and the perceived importance of a formal degree are increasingly the subject of scrutiny, and in some cases, derision. The universal question being asked is this: Do high schools and universities effectively prepare students for a world rife with change, disruption, and the unpredictable impact of artificial intelligence and the likely displacement of hundreds of millions of jobs? To help me answer these questions, I spoke with Crystal Lim-Lange, a self-described “future-readiness expert,” who in partnership with her husband, Dr. Gregor Lim-Lange, have created a business to help students cope with the growing pressures of growing up and entering the workforce.

Anurag Banerjee is the Founder and CEO of Quilt.ai, an artificial intelligence, or AI-enabled consulting firm that mines data for the greater good. Anurag’s group recently released its “Beyond the Bottom Line: Sustainability Report” with two stated objectives: The first: To uncover six so-called Cultural Codes of Sustainability, representing what matters to people with regards to being ‘Sustainable’, ‘Ethical’ and ‘Responsible.’ And the second: To measure and rank the Sustainability Performance of 50 Organizations across 10 Industries. In our conversation with Anurag we explore the insights of Quilt.AI`s sustainability report, discussing the evolving willingness of consumers to make sustainability-driven choices, as well as what brands might do in order to become more sustainable.

Richard Borsuk is a veteran journalist, long-time resident of Southeast Asia, and a leading expert in Indonesian political economy. When I first met Richard in the early 1990s, Indonesia felt like a sleepy backwater, better known for its plantations and fishing villages. Back then, from my high-rise and fast-paced outpost in Hong Kong, Indonesia felt like a sleepy backwater, better known for its plantations and fishing villages. Still, it was a nation on the rise. In my conversation with Richard, we explore how Indonesia’s rising religious and sectarian divides could put a damper on the country’s economic prospects. In a country where 50% of the population remains under the age of 40, youth holds the key – both as a powerful voting block and also as the custodians of a more forward-looking, economically vibrant Indonesia. Of course, youth can go both ways. With better job prospects and improved economic output, Indonesia could begin to take its rightful place as one of the most important economies in Asia, i

This week’s episode brings us to Lebanon, a country of six million people precariously situated between arch rivals - Israel to the south and Syria to the north. It’s also a part of what some say is a re-emergent region of Western Asia. Lebanon sits at the heart of the Mediterranean basin. And that very fact poses both promise and peril. Promise, because of its rich and diverse culture that when combined with expertise in trade and finance, could earn for Lebanon its rightful place. Peril, because Lebanon is – as it has always been – subjugated by unwanted meddling from foreign interests. Its recent history is pockmarked by the devastating effects of war, sabotage and assassination. Still, there’s hope, and that - perhaps more than any other feature - characterizes the people of Lebanon. Join me in my conversation with my Ronnie Chatah - the son of Mohammad Chatah, who served both as Lebanon’s Ambassador to the US and a former Minister of Finance - who shares the story of modern-day Lebanon by drawing on hi

This week we take a break from the big themes of tech, trade, environment, and other topics driving Asia’s transformation, in order to explore a small group of islands at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago. The Komodo Islands are unique in so many ways. It’s a world-class diving spot where you can swim up-close and personal with giant manta rays, drink sun-downers and watch fox bats fly overhead by the thousands, and of course, take a peek into the world of the legendary Komodo Dragons. However, not all is well in the land that time forgot. Komodo National Park is home to 5,000 dragons but increasingly, the giant reptiles are under siege from a trifecta of tourism, food shortages and smuggling. Join me on this trip to the Komodo Islands to learn more.

John Stanton is a venture capitalist and co-founder of Chosen, a leadership experience company that seeks to re-shape the way high impact entrepreneurs and executives think, live and engage with the world around them. If the name Chosen strikes you as Old Testament or even elitist, think again. The term comes from the Japanese word 挑戦 (chō-sen), meaning ‘to challenge’. And that’s what the seven-day curated experience is all about; bringing ambitious men and women face-to-face with an array of physical, emotional, and intellectual experiences that challenge without threatening. With Chosen, John is looking to deliver back to the market a healthier, re-invigorated and more self-aware professional armed with an ability to traverse life in the fast lane.

This week’s guest is Aaron Fishman, Founder and CEO of East Bali Cashews. In our conversation, we explore what it takes to make a labor and capital intensive cashew processing business fly and what it means to be a social enterprise. Aaron’s point of view will surprise you. Although East Bali Cashews has been touted as a best-in-class example of a model social enterprise, Aaron thinks the term has become overplayed. “It’s the quality of our product that sets us apart,” he says, nothing more.

Increasingly, technology defines our future. Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, robotics, machine-learning, blockchain, 3D printing, and much munch more. It all speaks to a world preparing to unlock and accelerate the way we live. As this new wave of innovation further empowers the individual and diminishes the role of traditional institutions, governments need to have some say in what happens and what doesn’t. What will it mean, for instance, when blockchain empowers a crypto-currency revolution that undermines a nation’s principal medium of exchange? One choice is to intervene and intercept. Another choice is to get involved and invest. Having a vantage point on the world of bleeding-edge technology is the privilege of my guest this episode, Steve Leonard. Steve is the Founding CEO of SGInnovate – a technology incubator and early-stage investment firm with direct backing from the Singapore government. Listen to today’s conversation to learn more about Singapore’s approach to innovation, and how Steve Leon

My guest this week had an euphonious moment when a close friend and work colleague unexpectedly took her own life. That set in motion a series of questions about life and the world of work that resulted in a book, called Futureproof: Reinventing Work in an Age of Acceleration. Diana Wu's book is a tour de force in understanding and addressing the changing world of work facing white-collar workers and professionals. Diana addresses some of the many ways people tackle workplace demands and how others opt out for more dynamic less myopic professional paths. She also notes how the gig economy is throwing up new possibilities allowing smart, risk-ready individuals to create livelihoods with a new twist. The workplace is a central part of living. More than income, corporate professions have the power and potential to add meaning and purpose. Looking back over the long-arc of your professional career, where do you stand? Has it delivered all that it promised? Could it be time for that hard conversation, that exist