ScandAsia February 2019

FEB 2019 BUSINESS

Finland Smart Solutions in Ho Chi Minh City

COMMUNITY

Norwegian Church Priest Singapore

INTERNATIONALISATION AndersenB2B-ScandAsia partnership

LIFESTYLE

Lifestyle Galore! Singapore!

Singapore destination theme

February 2019

ScandAsia Stories

16

Mr Sami Jääskeläinen Nordic Innovation House Singapore

8 Designed showcased at Danish Residence, Jakarta 10 Norwegian Church Priest Singapore 11 First Nordic Asia Christmas Festival Singapore 12 Nordics held sustainability luncheon in Singapore

16 Singapore destination theme

8

ScandAsia Business

12 Business Innovation Congress Philippines

NordCham supported congress

Mrs Shermine Gotfredsen

26

Danish company OnRobot

10

13 Business internationalisation AndersenB2B-ScandAsia partnership

14 Smart Solutions from Finland Showcased in Ho Chi Minh City

11

Ms Anna Korpi

36

Education and Science Counsellor, Finland

12

February 2019 • ScandAsia 5

Editorial

Welcome to Singapore!

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ordic embassy staff and many others have for years been calling Singapore by its nickname “Asia for beginners”, trying to sell the location to Nordic businesses looking for the right location to enter Asia. The transparency of doing business here, the well regulated society that reminds you of the past under British colonial rule, the safe haven to retreat to after having spent time on a sales trip around the region and you have had enough of the chaos of Asia.

There used to be - and still is - some truth to it. But reality has changed. A posting to Singapore is today more challenging than a postings to Hanoi or Shanghai used to be, albeit on a different level. Increasingly, well established companies no longer send their green horns to Singapore but seasoned, stable, proven and tested executives whose high living costs can be justified by the results they are likely to produce.

Singapore, however, has not lost its attraction to young people. In fact, Singapore attracts young talents like never before. The demographics of Scandinavian people in Singapore as reflected in the ScandAsia readership, shows that the number of Scandinavians aged 18 - 34 over the last twelve months climbed from 48 percent to 52 percent.

Meanwhile, ScandAsia readers in all of Asia aged from 18 to 34 years remains stable at 32 percent of all readers. A clear sign that Singapore attracts the younger Scandinavians more than any other country in the region.

ScandAsia is a printed magazine and online media covering the people and businesses of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland living and working in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

Who should subscribe:

ScandAsia subscribers are typically Nordic expats and companies from the Nordic countries living in and active in Asia.

Another group of subscribers are Nordic people living in the Nordic countries who subscribe to ScandAsia for personal or business reasons. We also have many Asian subscribers, who for a wide range of rea-

6 ScandAsia • February 2019

This issue of ScandAsia will focus on Singapore from a Nordic perspective and por tray some of the people, who have succeeded here and some of the initiatives, that are unique to Singapore. Given the many young people attracted to Singapore, it is no wonder that the new concept of co-working places has become popular in Singapore. Read more about that in our interview with Lars Wittig from Denmark who is the Regional Vice President of IWG - International Workplace Group. who caters to 175 centers across Southeast Asia including Singapore.

But Singapore is also a fun place to live. Not least if you are 18 -34 years of age.To find inspiration what to do, enjoy our feature “Lifestyle Galore! Singapore!”

Happy reading!

sons are following the activities of the Nordic expats and companies via a subscription to ScandAsia.

The ScandAsia magazine is produced every month and distributed to all print version subscribers via postal services and to all eMagazine subscribers via email. Subscribing to the eMagazine is FREE - simply sign up on the ScandAsia.com website.

Become a ScandAsia user/ get free digital ScandAsia magazine or paid subscription via

www.scandasia.com!

Gregers Moller Editor in Chief

Publisher : ScandAsia Publishing Co., Ltd. 211 Soi Prasert Manukitch 29 Prasert Manukitch Road Bangkok 10230, Thailand Tel. +66 2 943 7166-8 Fax: +66 2 943 7169 E-mail: news@scandasia.com Editor-in-Chief : Gregers A.W. Møller gregers@scandmedia.com Managing Editor: Joakim Persson Joakim@scandmedia.com

Advertising : Finn Balslev finn@scandmedia.com Frank Leong frank@scandasia.com Graphic Designer : Peerapol Meesuwan Peerapol@scandmedia.com Production Manager: Sopida Yatprom Printing : Inthanon Interprint Co., Ltd.

News brief

DCCC visited the Ministry of Commerce Beijing

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n early December DCCC (Danish Chamber of Commerce China) visited the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (MOFCOM) in Beijing.

The DCCC’s Acting Chairman, Mathias Boyer, along with DCCC General Manager, Mads Vesterager Nielsen and DCCC office manager, Emily Luo, had a discussion with

MOFCOM on how to strengthen and support the collaboration in the framework of the China-Denmark Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

The discussion also touched on oppor tunities for Nordic companies in Hubei (The Chinese Province selected to be par tner with Nordic countries in connection with the China International Import Expo CIIE in November) and to further support collaboration between Nordic and Chinese industries.

Source: DCCC

Design showcased at Danish Residence, Jakarta

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Danish design event was held in Jakar ta in mid-December.

The brands Hay and Montana showcased at the Danish Residence.

Ambassador Rasmus Abildgaard Kristensen welcomed interior designers, architects, celebrities and socialites to experience Danish design and taste Nordic Cuisine served by the Michelinstarred chef Poul Andrias Ziska from KOKS. “Hay and Montana had redesigned the whole residence to showcase their furniture in an exclusive Nordic Christmas setting. This created a beautiful and modern home with a cosy atmosphere. The guests were so excited about the event that the first buyers were already found on the night,” repor ts the Embassy of Denmark in Indonesia.

“The food served by Poul Andrias Ziska, winner of ‘Chef of the year’ by Den Danske Spiseguide in 2017, gave the evening a final Nordic touch. His 8 ScandAsia • February 2019

sustainable approach emphasizes local products and nose-to-tail cooking. The dishes united Indonesian local products with Nordic flavours, for example fish tartar and fermented lamb intestines to the guests’ delight.”

Source: Embassy of Denmark in Indonesia

February 2019 • ScandAsia 9

Community

Norwegian Church in Singapore:Young dynamic priest-family takes over

Text: Jonas Boje Andersen Photo: Sjømannskirken

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t the Norwegian Seamen’s Church in Singapore, a new adventure has started for the newly appointed priest and his family.

His vision is to give Norwegian expats with a changeable daily life a solid and steady community in the church.

On top of a little mountain looking over the impressive and gigantic container port of Singapore, a road sign is standing with a picture of a moose along with the name of ‘Kong Harald V’s Vei’. This is the place of the Norwegian Seamen’s Mission.A young family moved in this fall in the neighbouring building and has now more or less settled down.

The priest in the church, Alexander Colstr up, and his wife Chr istine Colstrup, Communication Manager of the church, are thrilled about their new life catering Norwegians in the tropic island-country.

“It was essential that Singapore became our foreign choice. This is nicely western, safe and efficient,” says Alexander Colstrup.

Their two sons Edwin and Abel aged three and six are also adapting 10 ScandAsia • February 2019

to their new life, and big brother Edwin have just started school where the big challenge is learning the new language.

39-year-old Alexander Colstrup has worked 11 years as a priest in the Mor tensrud Church in Oslo before he moved to Singapore the first of October this year. When the couple saw an ad for a vacant position as priest of the Norwegian Seamen’s Mission in Singapore, they found the idea intriguing, but were not expecting to get the offer. A few months later though, the young family could embark on a new adventure.

“If you had asked me half a year ago it would have been crazy to think about having this position,” says Alexander Colstrup. As he’s sitting in the main hall of the church talking to ScandAsia a group of Norwegians are still enjoying the traditional Norwegian buffet along with some waffles in the last hours of the church’s weekly Thursday Lunch.

Alexander’s wife , Chr istine , is walking around the area doing some of the daily chores as the busy Christmas

season is about to kick in. It was very much Alexander’s wife who were intrigued about moving the whole family across the globe. She explains that this was a perfect decision of them and they are still finding ever ything exciting and new. The weekend before, they had 450 people visiting the church for their annual Christmas Bazaar and the interior of the church is full of Nordic Christmas creating a genuine Norwegian atmosphere.

For the priest, the important thing about the job is to give Norwegians a b r o a d a s a f e a n d we l c o m i n g environment. A solid place where they can rest from their perhaps changeable daily life.

“Not everything can be bought with money and we try to offer what can’t be bought with money,” Alexander Colstrup says while addressing that they especially want to give the Norwegians a sense of community here.

The family is still adapting to their new home but they’re overall positive about the safe, modern and efficient country. When not on duty, Alexander Colstrup enjoys playing football along with some Norwegian expats or working out in his own little gym at the family’s home.

But with Christmas around the corner there might be quite less spare time. Alexander Colstrup is facing the busiest season for a Nordic church abroad with activities like the Christmas Bazaar s, Chr istmas ser vices and Christmas Eve. He’s looking forward to managing all of it, and with the help of his wife, volunteers and the rest of the staff, the Norwegians are in safe hands with the new couple in the church.

Community

First Nordic Asia Christmas Festival held in Singapore

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n 3 – 9 December, the very first Nordic Asia Christmas Festival took place at Millenia walk in Singapore.

The festival was opened by the Swedish Ambassador Mr. Niclas Kvar nström, Finnish Ambassador Ms. Paula Par viainen and Chief Representative Officer at Enterprise Estonia Singapore Ms. Kristel Alve, according to the Embassy of Sweden in Singapore.

At the festival, visitors could enjoy AR and VR showcase from Finland and products from Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Estonia.

The Embassy of Sweden had a booth selling Swedish Christmas goodies at the Festival together with Fika Swedish Cafe & Bistro.

Photos: Nordic Nature

February 2019 • ScandAsia 11

News brief

Business Innovation Congress Philippines

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ordCham Philippines suppor ted the 6th edition of the Business Innovation Congress in Manila on 15 November, with the main theme of the event: ‘Business Transformation in a Digital Ecosystem’.

Over 200 executives, technology influencer s, international business leader s and gover nment leader s from across the globe attended the conference to engage in intellectual exchange and in-depth discussions of innovations that will shape the future of businesses and manufacturing.

Speakers included c-level executives of leading corporations such as Ayala Corporation, Dentsu Aegis, Google Philippines, Lego, Mercedez-Benz and Siemens.

During the afternoon session, Bo Lundqvist, President of NordCham facilitated the panel discussion on the theme: ‘Growth Opportunities in Philippine Fashion E-Commerce and

Omni Channel Retail in ASEAN’ with Dennis Omila, Chief Information Officer at Union Bank and Jannis Dargel, Head of Fulfilment at Zalora as panelists.

This was then followed by an evening reception with live music, excellent networking and a wide selection of culinary dishes.

Source: NordCham Philippines

Nordics held Sustainability Luncheon in Singapore

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ogether with their Nordic Chamber friends Norwegian Business Association (Singapore), DABS - Danish Business Association of Singapore and FBC Singapore, a Nordic Ambassadors’ Sustainability Luncheon was organized on 11 December, reports the Swedish Chamber of Commerce.

12 ScandAsia • February 2019

“Thank you to the Nordic Ambassador s Niclas Kvar nstrom, Dorte Bech Vizard, Anita N. and Paula Parviainen, for sharing how the countries are working with the sustainability goals and Per Magnusson for moderating.

Very honoured to have Dalson Chung from National Environment Agency

presenting Singapore’s upcoming sustainability projects and their focus on waste management. Last but not least, thank you to our speakers from our Nordic companies: Anders Liss from Scania Singapore, Soren Kvorning from Danfoss, Marko Kärkkäinen from Ductor Corp. and Håkon Br uaset Kjøl from Telenor, who shared how their companies are contributing to fight the environmental challenges by implementing sustainable business models and projects.”

Source: Swedish Chamber of Commerce, Singapore

Business

AndersenB2B and ScandAsia partner up for business internationalisation

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nder senB2B, the digital business networking platform from Denmark for SMEs in the Nordics; and ScandAsia, the platform for Nordic News and Business Promotion in Asia, are partnering up to jointly suppor t increased business inter nationalisation for small to medium-sized businesses.

The new AndersenB2B approach enables companies to connect across borders, and to also get professional a-la-car te assistance to fur ther their international effor ts. As one of the member s, ScandAsia facilitates engagement and outreach, via content marketing and story-telling in an Asian context.

AndersenB2B has, within ScandAsia’s core target area, started targeting SMEs in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines,Thailand and Vietnam with the aim to generate more business both ways between the Nordics and ASEAN. “Our mission is to strengthen the access to new clients, markets and information. If you can recognise this requirement, we are relevant for you,” states AndersenB2B’s CEO Lars Siggard Andersen, as he advocates the motto that private sector has to work with private sector.

Export is growing from Scandinavia to Asia, but the number of SMEs exporting remains stagnant. Parallel to

the various public support programmes to enhance exports, the time has come for companies themselves to play a larger role, including the sharing of information.

“Our mission is to eliminate export barriers and accepting the fact that we are all in the same boat. We have to make business much more accessible.

This is in my opinion an enormously impor tant step to take,” says Lars Siggard Andersen.

“On our platform we are more than 200 individual companies. We view those and the people behind them, as colleagues. It’s about enabling our SME colleagues to search for and act on information when this information comes from your own well-meaning community,” says Lars.

“We to match companies with each other based on the member’s wish list. This could concern finding clients, suppliers or people with knowledge about markets. Or very specific issues such as how to identify the right staff on a strategic market, import challenges, permissions, etc.”

“If we strengthen communication, we break down barriers immediately. This is a given. The consultants and experts will meet a different company much better prepared. In turn, consultants get involved at a higher value level.

Everyone’s a winner,” adds Lars Siggard Andersen.

AndersenB2B delegation to Manila “ Wo r k i n g w i t h t h e d y n a m i c networking platform AndersenB2B is exciting since we reach more contacts on both sides of the Nordic-Asia divide than in any other way. We can immediately assist other members with small advice and if that was useful, maybe we have more business to do together,” says ScandAsia’s owner and editor in chief, Gregers Moller.

ScandAsia can enable individual businesses with outreach and to maximise their visibility in connection to delegation tirps or networ king activities in Southeast Asia.

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February 2019 • ScandAsia 13

Business

Smart Solutions from Finland

in Ho Chi Minh City

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s par t of the Week for Ho Chi Minh City Innovation, Star tup and Entrepreneurship (WHISE 2018), celebr ating the 45th Anniversary of Vietnam – Finland Diplomatic Relations, the Embassy of Finland in Hanoi and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee co-organise the event “Smart Solutions from Finland” on 18 October, 2018.

The event took place at Thames Hall, in, Ho Chi Minh City, implemented by Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City and the Vietnam – Finland Innovation Partnership Programme (IPP).

The main topics discussed in this event included: 1) Building Smart and Innovative Cities for Future Prosperity, 2) Future Education – Challenges and Finnish solutions, 3) Digitalization & Data – Offering new business opportunities.

Due to the impressive economic growth and declining pover ty Vietnam has seen in the past years, Finnish development cooperation with Vietnam is now decreasing and new forms of bilateral cooperation are being formed.

Finland is well known for its flourishing start-up ecosystem and has been happy to support Vietnam in the country’s effor ts of becoming an innovation-driven knowledge economy and a Startup Nation. The collaboration between the two countries has been supported through the Embassy 14 ScandAsia • February 2019

of Finland in Hanoi and since 2008 especially through the Vietnam - Finland Innovation Partnership Programme (IPP).

Continuing the success of WHISE 2017, the event is a unique joint effort between public and private sectors to showcase the vibrant start-up and innovation scene in HCMC As the city of HCMC aspires to develop the city into a modern smart city, the WHISE 2018 intended to create a new impetus for the development of local star-up and innovation ecosystems. With the participation of the government, academia, enterprises, venture capital funds and more stakeholders the common goal of building a prestigious City for start+up and innovation in the region can be achieved.

Keynote speakers from Finland were: H.E Mr. Kari Kahiluoto, Ambassador of Finland to Vietnam; H.E. Mr. Mika Lintilä, Minister of Economic Affairs of Finland; Mr. Riku Mäkelä, Trade & Innovation Counsellor, Embassy of Finland in Singapore; Ms. Kristina Kaihari, Counsellor of Education, Finnish National Agency for Education; Mr. Armodio Corrado, CEO Difitek Inc.; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thuc, University of Sciences, Vietnam National University – HCMC.

The sessions included the following topics: Building Smart & Innovative Cities Innovation Cities are planned and built to boost industrial renewal and business development towards high value creation. However urban planning and co-location of innovation actors in one district doesn’t guarantee the expected outcomes. Evidence shows that true Innovation Growth Engines are needed in their core. And these engines require a comprehensive, internationally proven Innovation Hub framework to be developed. HCMC has an agenda to become an Innovation City.

Typically innovation ecosystems are organized around a hub organization like a science-technology park/district, or alternatively a regional cluster management office. But, it should be noted that a innovation hub is a much wider concept than only a park or coordination office. It has all the regional innovation ecosystem elements, star ting from supportive policies ending with global market-driven business development activities.

This session brought in experienced Finnish exper ts engaged in building of Innovation Agendas worldwide.

Future Education Reforming the Education System is one of the key priorities in Vietnam to meet the human resource quality needs for industrial renewal. Education is the key element to be developed for the knowledge driven economy.

The education system in Vietnam is facing challenges in many areas including curriculum development, teaching methodologies and capacities inclusive the emerging need for entrepreneurship education.

In 2016, Finnish schools throughout the countr y adopted a new curriculum: phenomenon based learning.

This approach gears learning towards solving real-world problems and acquiring 21’st century skills. Digital solutions, innovative school buildings and the surrounding city are integral parts of the new curriculum. Finland also excels in teacher and adult training, professional and vocational education, and recently has started to export its solutions.

This session facilitated dialog between Finnish exper ts and Vietnamese education actors to discussÖ What is important in the education reform? What could be done between Finnish and Vietnamese counterparts to develop this sector in Vietnam¬?

Quality education has today a crucial role in the knowledge-driven wor ld. Students are expected to be socially responsible, contribute to the economic development and social transformation. This expectation calls education teaching and learning to foster personal attributes such as critical thinking, analytical problem-solving, negotiation and mediation competencies. Entrepreneurship education is to develop knowledge, skills and attributes that support the four key characteristics of an entrepreneur in real world contexts: motivation, opportunity identification, risk-uncer tainty and the ability to network. A keynote presentation gave insights how entrepreneurship education fosters students personal attributes for innovation and entrepreneurship.

A batch of leading Finnish education solution providers also presented their offerings for Vietnam which span from early childhood education to adult education, continuous skills’ developments and cutting edge EduTech solutions.

Digitalisation & Data This B2B session engaged the Finnish VMAP and other companies inclusive their case manager s and the extended IPP network interested in digitalization and data solutions. The goal was to discuss Vietnam B2B partnering opportunities and provision of talent resources for Finnish data driven businesses. The overall aim was to clarify and share views on the global digitalization trends and recent developments in Vietnam which are offering new business par tnership oppor tunities in many areas inclusive the financial market.

February 2019 • ScandAsia 15

Singapore destination theme

Nordic Innovation House chose Singapore as Southeast Asian hub The much anticipated joint initiative Nordic Innovation House – Singapore (NIH-SG), which opened in October 2018, is a new milestone of sorts in terms of business connections between the Nordics and Southeast Asia – via Singapore as a hub. It will function as a soft-landing, community and resource centre, as well as networking hub for Nordic start-ups.

By Joakim Persson

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IH-SG comes with high hopes and expectations from all stakeholder s, describe for example by Business Sweden’s spokesperson as a “dream come true”.

Community Director Sami Jääskeläinen is its first employee, tasked to build the operations, while supported by a Nordic steering group. NIH-SG’s setup is a partnership between the Business Sweden (coordinator), Innovation Norway, Finnish Embassy and Embassy of Iceland (Tokyo).

It is an appointment Sami is very excited about: “Wow! It just ticks so many of my personal boxes. It’s a great opportunity as well; helping Nordic companies to enter Singapore and this region, getting to know entrepreneurial talent and being the connector and bridge between the Nordics and Southeast Asia. And for me I have always been that kind of connector, ecosystem builder, so helping and supporting other people is a big driver for me,” responds Sami.

I

n focus for Sami will be to build the strong community and network needed in order to help businesses navigate the landscape and connect Nordic companies with the right ecosystem stakeholders; such as investors, co-working spaces, incubators, accelerators, government and academia in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

“I understand both sides of the business world; the start-up life and its mentality and struggles, but also the corporation side. I have previously worked extensively on that bridge and also on understanding the ecosystems; which the players are there, the different innovation platforms and what corporations expect from the star t-ups. It’s really important to understand the expectations from both sides,”

16 ScandAsia • February 2019

he highlights from his own experience, where he most recently was with Padang & Co. “Padang’s an open innovation consultancy that unlocks new business oppor tunities by using different open innovation tools – like hackatons and Innovation Challenges – for large corporations and also works a lot with the government agencies in Singapore. It’s an interesting set-up in many ways because in that co-working space we had a lot of other corporate innovation labs.”

Prior to that, and in addition to a career within digital advertising agencies (initially for Nokia on an international scale), he worked for Slush Singapore as Head of Partnerships.

“I see it as key in this role to understand both the Singapore ecosystem and, on regional level. But then also to understand the Nordic ecosystems, the drivers, the values... so it’s actually quite challenging because you need to understand multiple regions and players, and through Slush I have those connections and the understanding of both sides; the corporate and then the governments as well.”

“In the old model you usually have a government layer – the over-arching big brother in many ways – setting up the regulations. Then you have the large corporations owning the value chain from the very beginning to the very end.

Then there are some smaller players. Now that whole setup is changing, with disruption coming from multiple angles,” says Sami, as he describes what fascinates him.

“Smaller start-ups are basically disrupting and breaking those value chains so I see that the whole world is changing; it is opening a lot of new oppor tunities for the smaller companies to collaborate with the larger corporations and also with the governments. There are lots of good start-ups in the impact world, representing real sustainability and really bringing different values to this game as well. And I

I have always been that kind of connector, ecosystem builder, so helping and supporting other people is a big driver for me

February 2019 • ScandAsia 17

There are lots of good start-ups in the impact world, representing real sustainability and really bringing different values to this game as well

hope that the world will be a better place when these startups are able to bring their innovation and ideas to these ecosystems and develop new business models etc.”

“Coming from Finland, I see the quality of innovations, the talent and the products that the Nordics have been building and developing over the years, and obviously their mindset is very different – especially if you look at the energy and sustainability so it’s very much in our DNA; those values that are still very much still not-existing or just slowly crawling into the consciousness in Singapore. So in that sense I think the Nordics has a lot of potential, a lot to give to this region as well!”

It stimulates Sami immensely to be able to help companies on this journey. And reflecting further on why everything seems to be taking off now on a larger scale he says that it depends on which market.

“In the Nordics, take Slush that started 11 years ago as a very organic organisation; a gathering of entrepreneurs that thought there was a valid reason, with entrepreneurs’ lives being very hard, while the government wasn’t supporting it. But at some point it realised that something interesting was happening and started providing funds and building up the infrastructure and a better ecosystem as well. And then you had Nokia kind of playing a big role. Suddenly you 18 ScandAsia • February 2019

had thousands of engineers who had a very good golden handshake from Nokia, and with international experience, having worked in cross-functional global teams. That world was very familiar to them and also very digital-driven.” eanwhile, digital transformation has become the talk of the town, creating a kind of new demand.

“Consumer behaviour was changing with everything shifting to mobile, so companies began digitalising their services – all this opening new opportunities for startups as well.”

Multiple things contributed to the transformation, thinks Sami.

“Then, while key thing in Finland and the Nordics is that the mindset shift happened first on the ground, things happened the other way around in Singapore, where the government decided: ‘We want to build innovative ecosystems and star t-ups here’ They star ted pouring in money directly, really building the infrastructure.Then, young entrepreneur-minded people saw: ‘Now, there are lots of grants available and people are talking about the start-ups everywhere in the world, so maybe we should start doing it as well.’ But it’s a very different challenge, because you then build the infrastructure, and the mindset build will come later on.”

M

But some years later it is really starting to happen in Singapore, however still catching up slightly.

“If I compare to the Nordics, it is slightly behind. But now we start seeing in Singapore as well that you have this second generation of entrepreneurs; the guys who have been doing exits, or they failed a couple times but are still coming back. These are very valuable; they have the knowledge, know how rough and tough it is to be an entrepreneur but still want to continue building new startups – they have a lot of knowledge and information to share with the newcomers.”

“The awareness towards the NIH in the U.S is somewhat there. Now we want to get the message out that we are open over here too. These companies who have been building their products and platforms back home in the Nordics and have been successful, now it is the time to scale and I want to ensure that they are aware of the opportunities in Singapore and Southeast Asia. If they know what the market potential is, they’ll probably come here at least once to explore. And once they have done a strategic decision to scale, in for example Singapore and Southeast Asia, and have the funding they will know who to contact and where to find us and what our services are. And before that I will make sure they have the information needed

available.”

NIH-SG is suppor ted with funding from Nordic Innovation and the Nordic Council of Ministers for three years and the idea is to build a financially sustainable model so that the Singapore entity can stand on its own feet after that period.

“In some cases we might sponsor start-ups in terms of attending big events, combined with national funding and support.”

NIH-SG will do matchmaking within its mentor network - with different functions, ver ticals and industries. Their package will include two 60-minute meetings per month with these mentors. Also own events will be arranged.

Access to the country office of Business Sweden, Innovation Norway etc. will also be facilitated.

“It doesn’t make sense to build these services in-house – because Singapore has a lot of good service providers so it’s more about finding those right partners and connecting them with the start-ups.”

This landscape is so rich that you can actually spend a lot of time and in worst case lose some money as well if you don’t know who to work with and who the best service providers are from different verticals,” ends Sami.

February 2019 • ScandAsia 19

Singapore destination theme

IWG leads the workspace revolution

Lars Wittig on the office of the future Everyone has heard about co-working places by now. But what is it really about? A ‘workplace revolution’ is under way where IWG (International Workplace Group) is leading the way in adapting to this new reality where companies’ team members get to work where, when and how they choose! IWG’s brand portfolio includes the serviced office brands Regus and Spaces – both fast expanding in most of Southeast Asia’s major cities.

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By Joakim Persson he millennial workers and the growing startup scene are the big drivers behind a ver y strong growth for flexible working solutions in recent years. It is also a consequence of the fast-growing cities in Southeast Asia suffering from traffic jams; still with significant lack of public transportation.

In cities such as Manila the bad traffic situation in the metro calls for flexible working setup. And the feedback of an IWG global survey from 2018 speaks volumes: The

20 ScandAsia • February 2019

benefits businesses are experiencing are clear: a resounding 93% said that flexible workspaces enable employees to be more productive while on the move.

Lars Wittig from Denmark is our cicerone for insights, being the IWG Regional Vice President who caters to 175 centers across Southeast Asia and beyond, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Taiwan, and South Korea.

“In many cases, the daily use of a traditional office is not required. Employees may need to simply drop in for key

Flexible working spaces also deliver the ideal work environment that most employees demand these days

meetings, have access to remote locations and a network of business environments around the world when and where they require. Technology and work culture are changing quickly to suppor t these new flexible demands,” he begins.

Lars, who has been with IWG since 2012, was previously the Country Manager of IWG (Regus) in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia. He can thus relate to how things were previously: “The flexible working solutions that we offer have been there for quite a long time. In the Philippines, we were there since the ‘90s. It was just a few years back when the whole work style revolution star ted, but it’s being obser ved and was perused by previous generations.”

“Other than bringing optimized expense sheets to companies, to star t-ups, in par ticular, flexible working spaces also deliver the ideal work environment that most employees demand these days,” says the Dane.

The sur vey also showed that due to the increased travel time caused by traffic in most Southeast Asian cities remote working locations helps reduce commuting time for employees, while around 82 percent stated that providing employees with access to remote working locations provided better work-life balance. Doing so also helps a business to retain talent – at all levels of the company.

“The workplace has gone through many changes over the past few years.There have been advances in technology, distributed teams, and locations, increasing freelance/ contractor mixes, rising real estate prices and more millennials arriving in professional roles” Lars continues.

“This evolution is not going to stop and it’s clear that the office of the future will be a very different place. Our experience, as well as recent studies into the way workplaces are changing, gives us a good picture of what these offices might look like. In the coming years, we can expect firms

consolidating their offices for more efficient use, greater staff density, satellite offices, and agile working increasing.

There will also be a growing need for collaborative spaces,” he elaborates.

IWG’s different concepts are set up to suit different customer segments, based on their preferences.

Spaces is IWG’s answer to win over the new generation of workers in the flexible workspace sector – currently expanding all over Southeast Asia (for example opening on five new locations in Singapore by the end 2019).

In Manila Spaces opened in Bonifacio Global City in October 2018, described as a warm, free-spirited, businesscasual vibe, with individual workstations, meeting pods, private rooms, phone booths, and an in-house Little Flour Café.

Spaces is all geared toward expanding one’s networks and making connections with like-minded members to link up and share ideas. What really makes Spaces unique is the community they’ve worked to cultivate – full of forward thinkers, innovators and game changers who love what they do.

Lars says that in Spaces they encourage the millennials to seek the advice of the masters and for these seasoned practitioners to look at the up-and-coming generation as their partners.

“The Spaces environment is definitely the same across all the sites in the world. A great essence of IWG flexible space solutions is its huge network, and for Spaces, in particular, the members enjoy its unique proposition. The members, traveling within the country or outside, would feel at home in each of the Spaces they go to because they would be welcomed with the same design framework and community vibe.”

February 2019 • ScandAsia 21

Singapore destination theme

Denmark takes pole position as Singapore initiates

‘Infrastructure Asia’

‘Infrastructure Asia’ (IA) is one of the Singapore Government’s most recent and very important initiatives (launched during its presidency of ASEAN in 2018, at the 8th Asia-Singapore Infrastructure Roundtable) – an entity put up to support Asia’s economic and social growth through infrastructure development.

Denmark in Singapore has immediately responded to this by engaging and highlighting the sustainable infrastructure growth opportunities from Danish expertise.

22 ScandAsia • February 2019

The ‘Infrastructure Asia platform’ is open to all Danish companies, including SMEs, with an established track record of infrastructure related solutions

E

By Joakim Persson nterprise Singapore and the Monetary Authority of Singapore launched IA in October 2018 to serve as one-stop platform to facilitate regional infrastructure collaboration, not least to address the region’s investment gap. IA is foreseeing a combination of concrete infrastructure projects and worldclass technical competencies.

It will serve as a bridge for different industry players across the infrastructure ecosystem, multilateral development banks (MDBs) and the public sector, including the information exchange and sharing of best practices in Asia.

One core reason for the new platform is to address an investment gap in Asia of US$ 460 billion annually for infrastructure. That requires thinking outside the box and a concerted effort. The bankability of such projects also remains a challenge. To drive and address some of these gaps, IA will focus on: one, connecting partners in the ecosystem and catalysing collaboration; two, building capacity in markets with infrastructure needs through knowledge sharing or training sessions; and three, providing advice to help improve the chances of the projects to be financed.

Danish embassy platform

As Dorte Bech Vizard, Denmark’s Ambassador to Singapore got news about IA she did not let this opportunity slip, and engaged right away with the stakeholder. In December Danish companies presented their solutions and expertise to IA. The Embassy also set up its separate platform to connect to IA. “Denmark’s IA platform is an initiative from the Danish Embassy in Singapore, linking Danish solution providers and Danish institutional investors to Singapore’s Infrastructure Asia Office,” Mark Perry, Commercial Advisor at Embassy of Denmark in Singapore, tells ScandAsia.

The ‘Infrastructure Asia platform’ is open to all Danish companies, including SMEs, with an established track record of infrastructure related solutions.

“We initially approached Danish solution providers with a base in Singapore. The exercise was very well received both among the Danish companies and Infrastructure Asia and will be repeated as an integral component of

Mark Perry, Commercial Advisor, Embassy of Denmark in Singapore the Danish Embassy’s Infrastructure Asia platform. Here, Danish par ticipants will be empowered to influence Infrastructure Asia’s project scouting activities through sharing of competencies and regional business interests.”

“Infrastructure Asia is demand-driven: they will identify any cross-sectoral opportunities where there are gaps to be filled. Examples include water & wastewater, power, waste-to-energy, transpor t, and urban development,” he furthermore explains.

The Danish embassy’s view is that “sustainable infrastructure oppor tunities are booming in Southeast Asia”.

Denmark will utilize its international recognition and world-class products and innovation: “Denmark is widely recognized as a world leading provider of a range of sustainable development solutions (e.g. wind and water) stemming from a long tradition of pursuing solutions that are sustainable in the long run. Moreover, Denmark is widely recognized as a frontrunner and global role model

February 2019 • ScandAsia 23

Denmark has taken an early lead in securing Danish solution providers’ pole position in the race to secure Asia’s infrastructure needs.

in sustainable development with a universal health care and educational system, gender equality, a generous social safety net, cooperation among social partners, responsible business, clean and efficient energy production, personal freedom and more.”

In the IA context Mark Perr y says that “sustainable infrastructure opportunities encompass projects that are designed, built, and operated in ways that do not diminish human equity, diversity, and the functionality of natural systems. Sustainable infrastructure opportunities are closely linked to UN’s 9th Sustainable Development Goal and include any projects including resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes. Examples include: renewable energy installations, industrial waste water and water reuse facilities; and energy efficient urban development”.

Denmark will, with its strong presence in Southeast Asia/Asean, do its best in being involved. Early engagement through the Danish Embassy’s Infrastructure Asia Platform initiative is key to unlocking the market potential for infrastructure investments.

“Denmark has taken an early lead in securing Danish solution providers’ pole position in the race to secure Asia’s infrastructure needs. As such, participants on the Danish Embassy’s IA will be ideally positioned to benefit from collaborations with other international players who may engage with Singapore’s Infrastructure Asia office.”

The Danish initiative will work closely with Singapore’s 24 ScandAsia • February 2019

IA Office to deliver regional infrastr ucture project opportunities for Danish solutions providers. The Danish Embassy functions as the link between Infrastructure Asia, Danish institutional investors (e.g. pension funds, EKF, IFU, etc.), and Danish solution providers. IA intends to engage and collaborate with regional governments to identify concrete project opportunities.

Danish companies joining the Infrastructure Asia Platform will enjoy the following main benefits:1. Get firsthand pre-tender information of new infrastructure project opportunities in Southeast Asia. 2. Ensure their solutions are top of mind at IA, who will facilitate the dialogue between project owners and solution providers. 3. Jointly bid on high value projects through partnerships with complementary solution providers within the Danish coalition.

Fact-finding trips

“Infrastructure Asia will work closely with the private sector, governments, commercial and multilateral development banks to provide solutions that are customised to meet the local market’s specific needs and requirements. We will also offer advice to relevant countries and work with them on capacity building.With better knowledge, skills and resources, we can improve project feasibility and bankability, enabling project leads to become viable commercial projects,” said Mr Seth Tan Keng Hwee, Executive Director, Infrastructure Asia, upon its launch.

IA has already made fact-finding trips to seven markets, including Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam, as well as come up with strategic plans for 2019.

The sectors they will end up focusing on for each market depend on the actual demand of the regional governments.

IA is specially set up with a broad mandate to provide infrastructure solutions from not only local Singapore companies, but also foreign companies present in Singapore.

“As IA’s overall aim is to grow Singapore as a leading infrastructure hub, locally based Danish companies as well as Danish companies looking to leverage on the collaboration between Infrastructure Asia and the Danish Embassy to be part of Singapore’s infrastructure ecosystem, are welcomed,” states an embassy report

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Singapore destination theme

Singaporean representing Danish business culture in Southeast Asia: Shermine Gotfredsen Shermine Gotfredsen is a Singaporean who moved to Denmark after getting married to a Dane, learned the language and its business culture – and was then tasked to represent that back in Singapore!

26 ScandAsia • February 2019

It’s not as upfront or straightforward as the Danish culture here in Asia; a lot more diplomatic and about relationship-building.

‘‘Y

By Joakim Persson ou marry a Dane, and you move there and you start all your life from the beginning again, because you have to learn the language, have to try to get into the job market, which very much depends if you have an education in Denmark and the language skills – the whole integration part of it,” begins Shermine.

She has apparently done well in this regard, because she was later offered to set up, for her former Danish employer, a robotics company’s subsidiary in Singapore, which meant moving back to Singapore.

However, the family is just back in Denmark again since late 2018, as she continues to build her career, based on a mix of Asian and Danish business cultures.

Becoming integrated into the local culture is essential if moving to Denmark, according to Shermine. In fact, its integration regulation for foreigners is limited to three years.

And learning Danish is free – for a limited period of time.

“So I was attending school the first year full time, studying everything in Danish. But the teachers are very nice and patient, going through things slowly,” she recalls. “From my perspective, coming from a very hectic work environment and knowing everything, you go to the level where you feel you are back in kindergarten. Learning how to pronounce the words and say numbers in Danish that was hard.”

As part of her education Shermine did internship with a Danish home ware company and it was after doing sales there that she got in touch with the robotics sector – in which Denmark is world-leading as test bed and for product development and innovation.

She joined Universal Robots in 2011 to help out with the business development as they were entering the Asian market, which was like a ticket to go back to Asia. As the

business grew very quickly new career opportunities kept coming.

“I was given the opportunity to do business development in the Asia-pacific and did that for close to three years, travelling back and for th. The business kept on growing so they needed to set up a subsidiary here. The company asked if I would move back to Singapore to start up the operations and develop the team here, so we moved here in 2014.”

S

uddenly Shermine found herself in the seat where she represented the Danish business side. This also means that she, being Singaporean, can better share insights from both sides regarding the challenges to match two very different cultures.

“I’m very proud of it actually!” she laughs, “reason being when I first worked in Denmark I found it really difficult with the work culture because I come from an Asian culture and it’s really different. But after couple of years, and of course going through difficult times as well in learning it very quickly and adapting to it, I found it to be very good. It’s a very flat organisation, where people are able to contribute actively, e.g. we can speak our minds and if we have ideas we can push our ideas forward. It’s a very open relationship you can have with your managers and be very focused on just getting things done.”

She describes it as efficiency, productivity and resultsoriented, compared to the Asian culture with too much politics, bureaucracy and hierarchy etc.

“At the same time I feel that opportunities are there if you can contribute to the company. The managers are very

February 2019 • ScandAsia 27

Danish business culture has a very flat organisation, where people are able to contribute actively, e.g. we can speak our minds and if we have ideas we can push our ideas forward.

open to developing and supporting the team members in the Danish work culture. So I brought a lot of this into the Singapore setup of Universal Robots. The way we ran the business inside our company was very much the Danish way, with a very strong focus that we needed to localise and have that Asian culture still as part of what we had to serve our stakeholders. We had to relate to them and to our Asian team members we hired as well.”

It was quite well received she concludes. “Initially, team members found it difficult to adapt but long-term it’s been beneficial for their career progress. They also felt really part of the team building, not just being told what to do on a daily basis. They are active contributors.”

In Asia, she believes, managers tend to tell employees what to do and do not develop them in a way that they get taught to think for themselves. Many of them can do the job, it’s just to set the expectation that it’s O.K to be active contributors and speak one’s mind.

“If we’re a Danish company we need to keep that culture, that identity, in us. But the Danish side need to understand that when they are no longer standing on Danish ground they cannot expect others to respond exactly the same – we need to move ourselves to the middle to meet there. That’s the practice I have. And it’s very impor tant to be sensitive to the local culture. And 28 ScandAsia • February 2019

then a lot of communication is required to make them understand why you expect cer tain things because they don’t know the culture. I think there is a lot of value in the Danish culture but it needs to be communicated, it needs to be fused together with the local cultures and then you’ll have a very strong par tnership and success in penetrating new markets. And I guess it’s the same with any businesses going abroad.”

“It’s not as upfront or straightforward as the Danish culture here in Asia; a lot more diplomatic and about relationship-building,” she concludes.

W

orking for a robotics company she meanwhile feels that Singapore has been much focused on technologies development and on ensuring that the know-how is being created locally. “It is also very focused on how to help manufacturing stay competitive.

There have been a lot of initiatives, R&D and monetary support to drive this. I’ve really been seeing in the past 4-5 years how much investment, time and effort Singapore is putting in; all these innovations hubs where they want to attract companies from all over the world to set up to cover this region.”

What I’m seeing is that many of the businesses setting up a company, an office, in Southeast Asia think about

Singapore because of the many other reasons but also because of that there has been so much suppor t from the government in driving this that allows them to get a good start here. That also helps the spin off to upgrade the workforce and thereby also allowing them to grow in their career development, or, rather, when new jobs are created due to technologies advancement they transit into these new jobs instead of becoming obsolete.”

Recently it was again time to move back to Denmark.

When her former boss, the CEO of Universal Robots, star ted OnRobot A/S, a merger of three end-of-arm tooling companies to facilitate the growth of collaborative robotics and drive innovation, he asked Shermine to come on board.

“For personal reasons I had also decided that we should move back to Denmark in the very near future, and it so happened that this new opportunity came up!”

“OnRobot is basically a company that envisions being the one-stop shop for robot accessories that make it possible for manufacturers to deploy robots safely. There is a trend now that many factories will want to utilise collaborative applications in their manufacturing – that involves robots as well – but meaning to say that people can work and interact safely with the robots.“ Shermine gets to develop herself in channel par tner

development and management, which involves distributor networks, finding the right strategy for different markets so that the products can reach the users.

“Now I’m more on a strategic level working on supporting the different regions on what they need to achieve in the regions. We just incorporated a Singapore entity which is going to cover Southeast Asia, Oceania,Taiwan, India and we have also one in China, so we are slowly expanding.”

“I still have a lot of ground to cover; I have had a lot of experience out in Asia and previously some in Europe. Now it’s really a chance for me to explore more business cultures all over the world and figure out those by using the same set of skills and make the business work in there.”

February 2019 • ScandAsia 29

Singapore destination theme

Finnish Business Council Singapore is seeing stronger influx

FBC Singapore Chairman, Janne Lautanala 30 ScandAsia • February 2019

Finnish Business Council in Singapore bears witness to that the city state is very much a hub for Southeast Asia, with a strong influx from Finland in recent years, including more start-ups and individuals than previously. FBC’s Mr. Janne Lautanala talks to ScandAsia about the development.

F

By Joakim Persson innish Executive JanneLautanala, who arrived to Singapore four years ago, joined FCB in the spring of 2018 –.as its new Chairman.

First of all Janne acknowledges that a transition is ongoing and that the interest in coming there from Finland, and indeed the Nordics, is increasing.

“Traditionally – and this applies probably to all of the Nordic countries – the business council members used to be these big multinational companies. Now it is more towards small companies and star t-ups, even one-man/ woman operations coming here. Their needs are ver y different from multinationals, and there is much more eagerness to enter the market and of course the smaller companies need much more help in finding the connections, dealing with practicalities, the legal stuff, closing the first deals etc. and we trying to help in those aspects also,” he says.

FBC is very much operated on a voluntary basis but tries to assist member companies and new arrivals as much as it can.

“People and Finnish businesses in Singapore want to enhance collaboration and business between Finland and Singapore. That is what we try to do, through a number of mechanisms: we arrange events and provide support for any new companies trying to enter the market. We have certain help to provide; for example coaching and mentoring. And of course we do heavy collaboration with the Embassy and Business Finland,” adds the Chairman.

All Board members are engaged in such effor ts: “Everyone has a specific network, and depending on what the industry is, what type of help they need, we re-direct to the proper person. If legal advice we redirect to our lawyers, if education we have a person from Aalto University as a natural person to help out, if something relating to industrial contacts I can help out, or if digital it can be for example Anna Ratala from Slush Singapore. She is a natural person to help out in start-up-related matters.”

“The initial part is included into the membership fee; we try to help out as much as we can. If it starts to be really extensive we have partner companies or other companies who can help out and we try to do the matchmaking,” Janne adds concerning their “ceiling” of assistance.

A star ting point is that there are regular welcoming coffee events held at the embassy for new Finns arriving.

There, FBCS promotes the Finnish community network.

I think the visibility and awareness around Nordic companies have really increased during the past 2-3 years

“Even if you’re not here on a job assignment FBC is a way to stay connected with the Finnish business community, look for work opportunities etc.”

The Chairman describes the participation in events and company member volume as “decent”.

“We would like to have even more individual people, consultants and what not, joining FBC, to see even more participation. And that includes the locals; we already have a few Singaporean companies with some kind of Nordic connection as members but we are aiming to welcome many more.”

Another focus is to have more collaboration with the other Nordic business associations.

“We have organised joint evens and want to do that more and market each other’s events. What I have been seeing during the past year is that there are more and more people from other Nordic chambers attending events of other chambers. It’s a very good sign; to me it looks like the needs and challenges of the Nordic companies are actually fairly similar across the countries.”

Finland as a country, he feels, has in particular really been succeeding in gaining attention in Singapore and beyond.

February 2019 • ScandAsia 31

Especially Finnish companies first look to enter Singapore and then using that as a launch-pad to Indonesia, Malaysia and so on

Photo: FBC 32 ScandAsia • February 2019

“Finland 100 [100th anniversary of independence] in 2017 really helped out and Finland’s Ambassador Paula Parviainen and her team have done a really good job in increasing visibility and helping Finnish companies in making connections. Also, if you look in the media here there are more and more articles on Finland and the Nordics. I think the visibility and awareness around Nordic companies have really increased during the past 2-3 years, which is really good! And hopefully all that visibility and awareness turns into more business, for Nordic companies overall.”

Singapore also still is a preferred regional hub location.“If you look at the multinational companies Singapore is a natural place if they want to enter these Southeast Asian markets; it’s a very safe and friendly place to come to.

Especially Finnish companies first look to enter Singapore and then using that as a launch-pad to Indonesia, Malaysia and so on. It’s still is a major place for companies to place theit Asian headquarters. MacGregor, subsidiary of Finnish Cargotec, even moved their headquarters to Singapore, mainly because of having the majority of their customers here.”

Setting up a business the Chairman thinks is ver y easy.“There are good facilities and the government helps out so you nave possibilities for grants and other mechanisms – they are really pushing the regional headquarters scheme here.”

In 2016 a repor t listed Singapore still as the most attractive destination for multi-national companies to set up their Asia Pacific headquarters (RHQs) thanks to comparatively lower costs, good business environment, and strategic location. These factors make Singapore a prime candidate for companies that wish to scale up. A new International Partnership Fund was also started in 2017 that co-invests with Singapore-based businesses in scale-up and internationalisation opportunities, with a focus on Asian markets.

“The main obstacles I have seen from companies are twofold. First, if you want to recruit the best talent there is huge competition here in Singapore. And if you want to bring in expatriates you have the quite tricky issue with getting the Employment Passes.”

FBC organized in total nine ScandBizBar networking nights in 2018. Altogether ScandBizBar nights attracted over 450 participants. Photo: FBC Janne feels obtaining this permit has become more difficult but mostly relating to SMEs. This leads on to the big increase in the start-up scene, where the government’s Enterprise Singapore assists foreigners to set up for instance as a Representative Office.

Also, since August 2017 the ‘EntrePass’ scheme, under Startup SG, is enhanced to facilitate the entry and stay of promising foreign start-up talent in Singapore.

Significantly, Finland’s proud tech start-up event Slush entered Singapore in 2016, and the Nordic Innovation House (NIH-SG) has just started.

“I have very much been looking forward to Nordic Innovation House; it will further increase the start-up scene and Nordic start-ups’ eagerness to come to this market.

Typically, one of the biggest challenges is closing the first deal, and if they can help to make the connections, help promote these great Nordic start-ups that are out there, and increase the commerce between the Nordics and Singapore, then, in my mind, they will have accomplished the mission.”

In his day job as General Manager of Wärtsilä’s Digital Foundry (an innovation lab both for internal and external innovation) Janne is very much in touch with the start-up scene, innovation and digital transformation. Wärtsilä has launched a Digital Acceleration Centre in Singapore.

“We are getting ideas and projects from our internal sources, academia, partner companies, and other sources, and are incubating them, first analysing if they are worth investing in more, if yes also and doing actual implementation,” explains the Finn.

In general if you look at the Singapore start-up scene it’s been getting better and better all the time.The Singaporean government has been putting huge effor t in promoting some of the start-ups and there are things like SG Innovate, an organisation promoting deep-tech. There are also these start-up hubs for different sectors, like Pier 71 for shipping and Block 71 for general start-ups; it’s a very good active scene. There is still a bit of catching-up to be done, but Singapore’s closing the big gap really quickly now.”

There are also university-related activities taking place in a Finnish-Singaporean context. Janne is aware of such

by KONE, that MacGregor arranged a boot camp with NUS and University of Turku, and of course Wär tsilä’s collaboration with NUS and NTU. “Quite a bit is happening both between universities here and in the Nordics but also between companies and universities. To me it looks like it is increasing - which is a good thing.”

FBC is also ready for future transformation: “It is about making sure we are fulfilling the needs of the companies.

If the nature of the companies changes a little bit we just have to adapt. We do much more communication online nowadays,” he gives as example.

For instance, all the events are recorded so that members are able to take part of presentations also afterwards.

“The traditional mechanism has been about face-to-face needs, which absolutely are needed also in the future but we also want to be providing alternative mechanisms – at least from the information-sharing perspective.”

February 2019 • ScandAsia 33

Theme: Lendela

Swedes successfully launch lending platform in Singapore, target Southeast Asia

Fr. left: Shylendra A S Nathan, CEO; Nima Karimi, COO of Lendela

Lendela, set up in 2018 in Singapore by founders from Sweden and global fintech group Zentro, forms proof of how Singapore is a preferred hub also for start-ups when it comes to entering the Southeast Asian market. And with the right business model local financing can, it appears, easily be obtained.

34 ScandAsia • February 2019

L

By Joakim Persson

Co-founder and CEO of Lendela, Shylendra A S Nathan

endela is in the business of connecting consumers with the best credit providers (normally banks), as a digital loan broker and finance platform.

Co-founders Shylendra A S Nathan (also CEO, fr. Malaysia and with long online business experience working for Scandinavian companies) and COO Nima Karimi (fr. Sweden, with extensive experience in Insur tech and Fintech) are steering the new fintech business, eyeing a gap in the Southeast Asian market they intend to fill.

“Southeast Asia has all the right conditions for this model to work and, although there are similar services, no one is doing the Nordic model that we are bringing here. We saw an opportunity in providing another model than what the competitors here are offering,” Nima Karimi explains.

Lendela speeds up the loan application process by allowing borrowers apply for a personal loan to multiple lenders through a single application. These (consumers and sometimes also companies) will then be able to view valid and relevant offers tailored to their specific demographic and financial situation.

In the Scandinavian region the founders have over 15 years of experience in helping connect consumers with the best credit providers. They have channelled millions of customers to over 25 well established banks and lenders in the region.

Prior to Lendela Nima worked at Zmarta where they built more services around private lending. However, by then Scandinavia, Sweden in particular, had become very competitive with this.

“As co-founders our team decided to bring the model to other countries, first to Brazil, and I took on to launch in Southeast Asia. When we came here in 2017 and did our pitch week we met many investors, all of them showing interest, so everything went smoothly. By March 2018 we had closed a deal and had the money in our bank account. I think this had to do with the fact that the benefits of the model are quite obvious and it’s easy to show a proven business model not only in the Nordics but in Brazil also; a by no means mature market. And there is hunger here for fintech,” “Hand on heart; it would have been much easier for us to get funding in the Nordics, where everyone knows this market’s fintech successes. But we are focused on finding local investors because we know that even though we have this Nordic experience we need local expertise also to succeed,” emphasizes Nima.

“Why we chose Singapore is obvious; this is where fintech is hot. At the end of the day we are a consumer service and will not be satisfied to have Singapore as our main market, so we have our targets going beyond that.”

In Singapore Lendela launched August 2018 after par tnering up with three banks, but have spent more effort on Malaysia and also Thailand recently.Singapore and Malaysia are strikingly similar in maturity, while the first has a more developed digital identity, which simplifies a lot the valuation process of a customer. In contrast, in Malaysia it is much easier to work together with credit agencies, thanks to regulations.

“I can say with 100 per cent certainty that there is no one in Singapore doing the model we offer where the customer comes to us, filling out our form and we collect the offers.What you have here is the aggregator or leads generator model where the customer’s basically gets a list of all banks available on the market, and if they are interested they must visit the respective bank site to apply.”

Lendela’s solution includes several par ts: First, the sourcing of customers, where we find strategic partners who can provide us with leads. We then utilise technology to create a dynamic form that is customised to the individual.

The second part is the credit scoring we add on, done partly by traditional credit scoring agencies in these markets but also some more innovative solutions. This gives us a more complete picture of an applicant’s financial situation. Due to our wider range of credit scoring capabilities we are usually able to give our partners more information about the applicant than their own internal scoring models.”

“Another par t of our service which is impor tant to highlight and that we are bringing with us from Sweden is re-financing. Customers come to us while they are still paying off these loans but we help them consolidate bad credit into one loan with better terms,” he adds.

“We look at the market demands and adapt. We can find clients in various ways, that’s our strength, as well as helping them through a very complicated and cumbersome loan application process. We do this while at the same time helping our partner banks get access to the right lenders for a fraction of what they usually spend on customer acquisition.”

In March 2019 Lendela will also launch its lending service for SMEs in both Malaysia and Thailand.

February 2019 • ScandAsia 35

Singapore destination theme

Visiting Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore with Finnish Ambassador Paula Parviainen.

Finland’s new education expert resource for Southeast Asia As Finnish education and knowhow has increasingly become an export product, paired with rising start-ups within edutech going international, Finland’s Ministry of Education has strengthened its presence in the Finnish embassies with specialist positions, one appointed to Singapore, Education and Science Counsellor Anna Korpi.

By Joakim Persson 36 ScandAsia • February 2019

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overing Southeast Asia she is especially tasked to make Finland’s higher education and research communities more internationally linked but also to attract talent to Finland and upgrade the overall quality. Strengthening brand Finland as an education, science and innovation country is definitely on the agenda for the Team Finland Knowledge network that she belongs to.

One element is to facilitate not only education export, but better collaboration, including all non-commercial activities and traditional academic and research cooperation, explains Anna Korpi.

“It’s also about seeing what we can learn from these countries. For example the Southeast Asian economies and societies are developing so rapidly. And even though people come to Finland to study our entrepreneurship and startup ecosystems, the economies here are also booming and entrepreneurially-spirited. On the other hand, for example Singapore is developing its education and knowledge with many interesting models, so the idea is also to bring back those messages to refresh our own policy-thinking.”

A

s Counsellor she will also help organisations to do business here in Asia in the field of education; something Anna Korpi has own experience in doing from her previous position.

She worked for a Finnish education company, EduCluster Finland, first in the Gulf region, and during the last four years both in China and Southeast Asia. Crucially, she was then active in piloting different ways to export Finnish education solutions, practices or know-how to different parts of the world. Anna worked with different projects together with other Finnish organisations and usually the government in the different countries.

“That has offered me the window, first of all, to see the interest in Finnish education from different countries and regions but also to see at close hand how these kinds of operations are built, how they grow, what mistakes one does and where one can succeed. So I have seen the evolution of these operations at close hand.”

“Whenever we work in somehow a targeted way, with defined pilots and in a way where you can actually influence different elements of an education system at the same time - there we can get actual impact. But overall I think the Finnish education, especially the student-centred educational approach, with high-level pedagogical skills of teachers are our core value adds we can share to the world.

Our education system as a whole in Finland is very good,” is her conclusion from these efforts.

Much adaptation is anyhow needed but where we can add value is on the grassroots level. Seeing is believing; often the first people you need to convince are the parents of the students. The Asian systems are often very top down, very different from the Finnish model. Before you star t to completely overhaul another system you have to have the flagships or the pilots that show impact and results, continues Anna.

“I think the best results I have seen have come from either having a full-scale school operation, where the Finnish model is used as a whole, or the different teacher training, teacher upskilling capacity building and in-service practices Finland has been active with during the past years.”

Teacher training she says must be taken step-by-step.

One can’t expect teachers to fully go for Finnish-style student-centred teaching and learning after a one-week training programme. On the other hand, a true shift requires the support of the whole system or the school, especially the support of the leadership.

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inland has been able to take the lead in education results and building this next export product thanks to the huge international interest in Finnish education since the early 2000s. That is when the PISA results started, where Finland was in the top year after year. Hence delegations started pouring in to see what made Finnish education so successful.

“I think we always knew we had a good system but did not think it was that extravagant, until we started to have this huge international interest.Then we also woke up to the idea that we needed to define what the education solutions actually were that could be of value to somebody else, to some other systems and how do we needed to be able to adapt them etc.”

Education and Science Counsellor Anna Korpi, Embassy of Finland in Singapore February 2019 • ScandAsia 37

Visiting Van Lang University in Ho Chi Minh City in November 2018 with colleagues from Embassy of Finland in Hanoi and representatives of Finnish universities of applied sciences.

That is also when Finnish education organisations realised the need to establish some business entities or operations to answer to these needs and new opportunities.

In parallel, Anna also thinks that the shift in education is ongoing everywhere, and all the countries are realising that it is the way to go; modernising education and thinking of ‘future schools’ concepts.

“How countries address it differs quite a lot. Singapore has scrapped at least two of the standardised tests from the first levels in primary school. I think this is also from the same purpose, that what we need is more creative thinking people who are geared towards innovating rather than memorising. Singapore has been quite forward-thinking even though their system is quite different from ours.”

“Finland, I think, has always been quite good at implementing and rolling out things that we plan on the education policy level So, often visitors to Finland say that it is remarkable that the same things that are in the policy documents they also see on the classroom-level in the everyday schools. I think that in education, as in all policy making, it’s quite easy to write down fancy ideas and goals.

For that to happen in real life is another thing.”

“In Finland the strength in our system to implement reforms well is thanks to how people from the grassroots have been part of making the reforms; it’s not something that is dictated from top-down. For example there were some that found the latest curriculum reform overwhelming.

There is also a push for more digitalisation of learning and use of more technologies, so with all the reforms there are people that don’t take change that well. That is the reality and we have recently invested quite a lot in cascading the 38 ScandAsia • February 2019

processes in our schools. Some teachers are trained for the technology use and newest tools and they then work as mentor teachers to coach the others. We have learnt that when you have as highly capable professionals as our teachers are, peer learning is a very effective way to approach new skills requirements.”

W

hen it comes to exporting the Finnish education methods to Asia the national education regulations must also be taken into account, such registration and certification “My job is also to try to map these requirements and see where the opportunities for cooperation are.”

“Finnish universities are interested in having collaborations with Singapore Universities but then I hope to all also raise awareness that they need to have better connections to the rest of Asean as well, to be a bit future-oriented also there.”

Anna is spending her initial time screening the field, really finding out what collaborations are already ongoing, “There have even been many Finnish delegations visiting Singapore and we don’t have a clear picture of what all already exists. My mapping also includes meeting with local partners here to understand better the interest towards Finland so that we build collaborations on genuine interest and added value.”

The concrete agenda for the Team Finland Knowledge work in Southeast Asia will be gradually developed. Anyone is welcome to contact Anna, whose job, in a nutshell, is to help all kinds of educational and science collaborations to happen.

Singapore destination theme

Finland’s Singaporebased innovation and trade specialist continues

Embassy of Finland in Singapore has grown its contact network tenfold in the last three years. The number of new Finnish business entities starting their business in Singapore has grown steadily. The innovation and trade specialist working at the Finnish Embassy continues to connect Finland and ASEAN through Singapore.

T

By Joakim Persson eam Finland, in its effor t to assist business internationalization and also to target foreign companies in terms of investing into Finland, during 2016–2018 appointed specialists in foreign trade and innovation to be placed in six hotspots, one being Singapore. Another impor tant objective was to identify and seize the new opportunities arising globally. This pilot project was deemed fruitful so it is continuing in 2019.

Riku Mäkelä, Counsellor for Innovation and Trade on one of these positions, based out of the Embassy of Finland in Singapore, has been appointed anew. Previously Finland had not had anybody looking after these trade connections or FDI or innovation connections between Singapore/ Southeast Asia and Finland. Now the resources are even enhanced further.

“We were able to show that good resource use produces results, and continuation of these positions was decided last summer. I am still the only one in Asia-Pacific, but I have other people doing the same work, however in different positions. We have Business Finland people like in Vietnam, Malaysia, and they do the same work as I do,” says Riku.

The previous period also coincided with a very timely year for Finland to get extra attention and roll out many initiatives, namely the 100 years of Finnish independence that was celebrated and highlighted throughout 2017. The official report from ‘SF100SG’ highlighted the results with all the good achievements, which also connects to Counsellor Riku’s efforts.

Riku Mäkelä, Counsellor for Innovation and Trade, Embassy of Finland in Singapore February 2019 • ScandAsia 39

Getting the attention of many more Singaporeans for Finland to become as well known as the other Nordic countries had been one of the goals for 2017- they also reached. Team Finland declared that the work would continue doing more together with the other Nordics going forward.

A key approach during SF100SG was themed: ‘Facing Common Challenges’, which led to “deepened trust with local partners”.

“We have continued to learn from each other as we have so many similarities between Finland and Singapore.

Delegations visiting both ways initiated collaborative efforts in the core themes of the SF100SG year of 2017. The biggest interest and largest number of business deals and joint projects happened within the topics healthtech, smart properties, edutech and skills development,” Riku reports.

O

ne of the tools of the Team Finland network was ‘Marketing Oppor tunities’, where the embassy in Singapore published and marketed to Finland business opportunities relating to Smart nation, design, and digitalisation of healthcare.

This resulted in a hugely increased interest of Finnish companies towards Singapore, which in turn raised the interest among Finnish government agencies and other

national level coordinators of joint operations related to innovation and business. This led to significant increase of resources helping Finnish companies towards Singapore and Asean.

Almost all Finland 100 innovation and business events were knowledge exchange, marketing and matchmaking platforms for these sectors, where 160 Finnish organisations participated. The purpose of all the events was for those first timers, Finnish start-ups and SMEs to come and get a sense of the markets in Singapore and Asean.

“I see our role mainly as a platform provider; platforms being operations such as delegations, events and market entry programs. Our platforms provide knowledge, contacts and inspiration for Finnish companies wanting to grow in Singapore and SE Asia, and for Singaporean actors to find oppor tunities in Finland. More and more individual companies contact us, but our main goal is to connect them to different platforms and to 3rd party service providers,” Riku evaluates.

During the last three years they annually served 100–150 Finnish companies and produced or co-produced between 22 to 42 business-to-business events.

“According to local authorities, the number of Finnish companies operating in Singapore is currently 180. The number was 160 a year ago and 140 two years ago.”

Riku Mäkelä, Counsellor for Innovation and Trade; Ambassador Paula Parviainen, Embassy of Finland in Singapore 40 ScandAsia • February 2019

Our platforms provide knowledge, contacts and inspiration for Finnish companies wanting to grow in Singapore and SE Asia, and for Singaporean actors to find opportunities in Finland

“Out of the 160 Finnish organizations who participated in our events around Slush and SWITCH 2017 more than 40 continued their business development effor ts towards Singapore and more than 20 came to the SWITCH 2018 week. A few of them also established their office in Singapore during 2018.”

As for the initiated discussions about concrete FinlandSingapore collaboration in innovation and business in several sectors with Singaporean counterparts Riku says: “We have not established bi-lateral agreements between our governments, yet. We believe more in cooperative efforts where front line organizations really do education, research, innovation and business development activities together. On that front, it has been great to witness and support initiatives with our targeted services. Among those are Wärtsilä’s maritime-related cooperation with PSA and MPA, concrete cooperation between Singapore University of Technology and Design SUTD and Aalto University, and projects to implement Finnish technologies in Singapore in several sectors.”

T

he focus areas in 2019 will be healthtech, smart cities, edutech and circular economy.

“A major difference in our operations when moving forward is that we will do the majority of our visible business development activities together with other Nordic countries under the joint umbrella Nordic Innovation House Singapore. For example, a joint Nordic Healthtech event late this year during SWITCH week will replace the annual Finnish Healthtech event we have done already three times.”

“Nordic Innovation House is going to change the way the Nordics and Finland will be visible going forward.”

Be it a tech-oriented, young start-up or an established innovative SME Riku sees their approach to business internationalisation as depending on the key questions

around the willingness towards international growth and capabilities.

“I would estimate that one third of the companies contacting us have a clear will to grow here. Half of them have the needed human and monetary resources to do it.

Most of these companies that have what it takes are techdriven companies. Some of them are young and some are more mature SMEs. We try to be more serious with those companies who have at least a few million euro of revenue, several people who can invest their time to Singapore efforts and have experience from also some other foreign markets.”

In Vietnam, Finland has also staked big regarding Finnish innovations and start-ups during recent two years in Ho Chi Minh City. “Ho Chi Minh City innovation week has been one of the visible showcases of cooperation between Finland and Vietnam. That is one result of more than 45 years of international aid-related cooperation moving to a new era this year. In the future, we will build cooperation in education, research, innovation and business without running international aid programs in Vietnam. Innovation and entrepreneurship was one of our last focus areas in large scale aid programs that just finished,” Riku informs.

Finally, Finland is also utilizing the ongoing EU Business Avenues for Southeast Asia programme well: “We have been successful in encouraging Finnish companies to apply for EU Business Avenues’ delegation trips. These trips are great opportunities to showcase products and services in Singapore and one additional ASEAN country 4-6 times a year in different topics. Each trip accommodates 35-50 European SMEs. Each trip has included between 2-8 Finnish companies who have given positive feedback about the amount and quality of potential customers and business partners they have met during the program.”

February 2019 • ScandAsia 41

Singapore destination theme

High grade of activity, new ‘Business Blueprint’ concept: SwedCham Singapore Since the Swedish Chamber of Commerce (SwedCham) was formed in Singapore its professional business activities have exceeded anything seen under the previous organisational format, known as SBAS.

By Joakim Persson

SwedCham announced Annelie Nikou as ‘Swede of the year’ at the Midwinter Ball 2018 42 ScandAsia • February 2019

‘‘W

e have increased the volume of activities by 500 per cent and in 2018 we had on average one event per week! During the one and a half years SwedCham has existed we have increased our membership with over 40 per cent. And we were over 100 more at the gala in 2018 than two years earlier. These are incredibly good numbers for us. And it is very satisfying and fun!” says its General Manager Cecilia Oskarsson.

“We have four priority themes for 2019: Sustainability of course, and trade – with the landmark Singapore-EU free trade agreement that was signed on 16 October last year. We presented that within Eurocham and with a workshop held in January.The third theme is Innovation and digitalisation and design. And the fourth is Leadership and keeping Talent. We have had a People & Culture seminar and will have it again.”

“We also have five sub-committees that are our engine in SwedCham: Sustainability, People & Culture, Female professionals, Entrepreneurship who are responsible for or new ‘Business Blueprint’ guides, and Innovation,” continues Cecilia.

SwedCham also sits with Business Sweden and have extensive collaboration with them, including arranging seminars.

The Business Blueprint concept debuted in 2018 when SwedCham created the first such paper about Singapore.

For SwedCham the country is most definitely a hub for the region, highlighted by its new Business Blueprint, which debuted in 2018 with the first such a paper on Singapore as market.This was followed by editions on Indonesia, Malaysia

Singapore is a transitioning place with people coming and going constantly so to be able to show that you are worth investing the time in is worth a lot Atlas Copco, Swedish Company of the year, for being one of the fastest growing Swedish corporations in the region and Thailand, advising businesses also on other markets.

It is about guiding on how to successfully do business in Southeast Asia, based on input in roundtables with Nordic companies present in Singapore, plus guest speakers from the respective countries.

The template for the blueprint contains: establish a local presence, relationship building, sales and marketing, recruitment and organisation, financials, and support from government and trade organisations.

T

he Singapore edition describes it as a key market in Southeast Asia as well as an important strategic hub for conducting business in the region. Many companies not only base their ASEAN headquar ters in Singapore, but also establish their APAC core there, using it as a base from which to manage their businesses other markets in the region.

“With Singapore we did not have a market outlook but did a business blueprint directly, in the form of a roundtable discussion where we invited not only our own Swedish but also all Nordic companies were invited to join and discuss to give tips and tricks and share experiences in doing business in Singapore.”

The result is a brief but very to-the-point paper with advice gathered from entrepreneurs and executives, from Nordic businesses in the region - wor th studying for businesses considering entering the Singapore or even the Southeast Asia or APAC markets.

For instance, it states: “You need to have a local presence, in one way or the other. Flying into the country for quarterly meetings is not enough to build trust with potential customers and enable long term growth in the market.”

“Singapore is a transitioning place with people coming and going constantly so to be able to show that you are worth investing the time in is worth a lot. Once people realise that you are sticking around and that you have a love for the country and a genuine interest in its people and culture, relationships will advance to the next level and you will find a lot of doors suddenly open.”

The Business Blueprint Singapore also launches an alternative way to find a market: “Find a cluster of similar companies to collaborate with as this can make you stronger than trying to penetrate the market on your own. If you are aiming for a large client it might help to join forces with your cluster partners and ask for a joint meeting where several ideas, services or products can be presented at once.”

“We try to direct the talks into certain categories, and real experiences that are exemplified. For example if one arrives as new to Asia one often notices that this thing with business cards is something completely different here than it is in Sweden. You must have lots and exchange with everyone you meet,” says Cecilia.

“For us this is just a way to accommodate what we notice; that the companies want to meet in a less formal setting but also not entirely loose-fit, to have certain discussions.”

Next up are the neighbouring countries. “Malaysia is very interesting, and we had the ambassador and Business Sweden’s project leader from Kuala Lumpur here. Then we had Indonesia, a country that is seen as one of the most interesting for our Swedish companies here in Singapore.

Indonesia is really important now.”

The blueprints are available to members or by special request.

February 2019 • ScandAsia 43

Singapore destination theme

Lifestyle Galore! Singapore!

Where to start? Lifestyle in Singapore these days is exciting, vibrant, historyrich, multi-facetted, impressive, opulent – and transformed! The city state has been undergoing a sea change in its upgrade and diverse selection, reaching standards up there among the very top cities/ countries internationally, also still with nature as an important component; in particular the green belts that are still intact. Let’s jump right into it, with a comprehensive but qualityfocused selection of recommended experiences – also with some Nordic ingredients in the mix. It offers much more than you have time for during say 48 hours in Singapore, and yet it’s just a selection, from a tremendously wide and exciting smorgasbord of experiences.

Text and photos: Joakim Persson

44 ScandAsia • February 2019

I

t begins already at Changi airport – easily one of the best in the world. It has to highlighted, really: how many airports comes with a swimming pool, with Jacuzzi and poolside bar!? At Changi’s Terminal 1 travellers can opt to enjoy these facilities. And at Terminal 2 there is a fascinating installation created by Stockholm-based artist collective Humans since 1982, which took them four years to make. ‘A Million Times’ is both a kinetic sculpture and functioning clock that reinvents the presentation of time.

For visitors some recommendations for lodging are appropriate, and we begin in a distinguishing residential neighbourhood, halfway between the airport and downtown, called Katong.

There, RedDoorz (fast-growing value hotel chain) near Marine Parade Central is a just refurbished property (small rooms but qualitative and value for money), with excellent bars and restaurants next door, and all over Katong.

Along the same road also Santa Grand Hotel East Coast is situated (has conservation status), recognisable by its whitewashed European-colonial facade. The refurbished hotel takes cue from a culture that Katong is known for: Peranakan (Straits-born Chinese), for instance with a vibrant velvet wine red bedhead and bespoke black-andwhite floral wall paper in some of the rooms.

Many of the colourful traditional shop houses built by Peranakan families and tradesmen in Katong in the 1920s and 30s are intact, in which discoveries await, such as restaurants with this culture’s unique cuisine – Nyonya. This is on offer in several dedicated restaurants, of which Kim Choo Kueh Chang not only serves Nyonya rice dumplings

Santa Grand Hotel East Coast

Santa Grand Hotel East Coast hotel but also offers its Peranakan beadworks workshop (Their fashion designer, Mr Raymond Wong teaches how to make these unique beaded shoes). Or book a Heritage Walk for maximum five people that explores the community. You’ll gain a glimpse into their shared Nanyang (Southeast Asian) heritage, and get to truly understand what it means to be Singaporean.

In the Rumah Bebe Peranakan Heritage Shop (next door) there are amazing fabrics, shoes, and blouses in genuine Peranakan design to buy.

Next to Katong is also the residential area of Marine Parade, with several access points to the seaside East Coast Park, highly recommended for a morning walk or run, and a perfect star t before breakfast and, say Sunday brunch indulgence!

At this point the park stretches another 4 km to the east and 6.5 km to Gardens By The Bay downtown. Via Siglap Park Connector this park also interlinks with Telok Kurau Park, Bedok Town Park, and Bedok Reservoir Park, forming an artery of exercise routes.

Observe the latest fitness fashion, e-bike riders with mounted mini sound systems, tai chi practitioners; workout with jungle gym equipment; rent a bike; or relax on the beach and have a picnic! One can even camp here in dedicated areas - unfortunately limited to residents of Singapore.

Back in Katong for breakfast Brawn & Brains Coffee is, upon the visit, so new there is not even a price list yet.

Excellent cinnamon buns, dark chocolate croissants and coffee were served and a food menu was in the pipeline.

Firebake next door offers a weekend menu between

East Coast Park

East Coast Park

Brawn & Brains Coffee February 2019 • ScandAsia 45

Dolce Vita, Mandarin Oriental

Dolce Vita, Mandarin Oriental

ATLAS bar

10am – 2.30pm, including dishes such as: Freshly baked wholemeal butter scones, fresh cream, marmalade or jam; Smoked eggplant, spiced hummus, tomato and manchego; or Spiced mushroom soup with smoked paprika and bread.

The toasted sourdough butter brioche, meanwhile, comes with Norwegian butter! The Swedish – locally produced – Nordaq water is also on offer.

Another interesting and different all-day-breakfast spot is Double Joy Lifestyle Garden Centre with its nursery lifestyle garden, and boutique home & décor shop and café.

Throughout the long afternoon Kitchenette café on 19 East Coast Road offers an Eggs & Brunch menu. Treat yourself to Eggs Benedict paired with happy hour rosé (among other handpicked wines), while sitting down streetside in the five-foot walkway.

On the opposite side of the road also lies 112 Katong, with lots of stores, restaurants and cafés, one of them serving a big coffee together with scones, whipped cream and jam.

On a Sunday (also with a Saturday edition) the Sunday Brunch at Mandarin Oriental’s Italian Dolce Vita, in a resortstyle setting, belongs to the top choices. Situated next to the pool and with a superb view of Marina Bay Sands you can concentrate on sipping bubbles while others do the exercising in the pool. An Aperitivo welcome drink is followed by Vino Franco Prosecco Spumante Superiore “Rustico” and other free flow wines (optional) together with the optimal brunch (perfect selection without being overwhelming) There are plenty of cold cuts and cheese,

antipasti, an awesome dessert spread, in addition to choices served at the table.

Seared barramundi fillet with green pea coulis, tomato olive tar tare and tapioca chips; and Risotto with special selection acquerello rice, freccia cheese and Mediterranean flavours were among the menu choices.

Turning to the bar scene, there a few positioned a few notches above the rest – and we are then also talking on an international scale.

In nearby historic Bugis, ATLAS bar is situated in one of the city-states most iconic buildings - Parkview Square, which is inspired by the glamourous Art Deco skyscrapers of Europe and New York. The environs in a Batman movie feel like a fair comparison.

Dress for success and feel that have you come to the proper place, celebrating life in the most impressive setting, that is guaranteed to make you look up to the ceiling more than once! Just as impressive are the menus on offer, featuring a collection and cocktails like no other; in menus thick as novels. Inspired from the 1920’s rich culinary and beverage traditions ATLAS Collections feature two of the world’s most remarkable physical collections of gin and champagne. Currently, the collection stands at 50,000 bottles of fine wine and over 10,000 bottles of whiskey.

There are also well over 1200 gin brands where Australia tops the list with 95 brands! There are quite a few also from Finland and Sweden. Champagne by the glass from SGD 22, and a Late Night Dining menu sustains you while imbibing.

Afternoon Tea is also served. Make sure to reserve your table!

46 ScandAsia • February 2019

Village Hotel Bugis

Ash & Elm, InterContinental Bugis Very close by Village Hotel Bugis offers among the most affordable club room stays in Singapore and renovated bright and large rooms and a rooftop outdoor garden with pool! This is also very close to Bugis Junction – excellent shop house cluster with indoor/outdoor stores.

Aside great shopping Bugis Junction offers another preferred choice for Sunday Brunch at the outstanding Peranakan-influenced InterContinental Bugis. Enter the hotel and step in to Ash & Elm, for its British-inspired, sumptuous Sunday experience, offering also a Taittinger Champagne free flow package, a great guest vibe and top notch service. This Brunch keeps you busy well into the afternoon, with dishes like Grilled lamb chop, green peas and mint jelly sauce; Steamed halibut, grilled leek and lemon butter sauce; Pan-seared scallops, Savoy cabbage, and Bacon; or Mushrooom chestnut wellington, roasted vegetables and Lancashire cheese.

In nearby Kampong Glam, a former fishing village and marked out as a Malay enclave during the colonial period we find highly-recommended The Sultan Hotel. This is a magnificent Singaporean mansion-like shop house with great arches and columns, which has been preserved and recreated as boutique hotel with a roof cour tyard, bar, restaurant and the Sultan Jazz Club (with live band from 9 pm).

No room is identical and come with Indonesian furniture, wooden floor and lamps that are like art pieces, that anyone can buy from from VerdeLight.sg. The Puteri Room features iron and wooden beams under the ceiling, and full-length French shutter windows that overlook Aliwal Street. This

Ash & Elm, InterContinental Bugis

The Sultan Hotel

The Sultan Hotel February 2019 • ScandAsia 47

The Great Madras hotel

M Social

The Great Madras

M Social

The Daulat

room type also come with a hand-carved, very comfy King size boat bed and plush armchairs.

Shops in the area hawk Malay-Arab waves, craft and other items. There are plenty of trendy cafés (including Fika Swedish Café and Bistro) and boutiques. Several streets also house bars and drinking joints for a young and modern crowd.

In nearby Little India (offering a wide choice of Indian Muslim restaurants), steps away from Rochor MRT station, there is new boutique hotel duo to recommend for its personality and quality: The Great Madras/The Daulat; suitable both for business and pleasure, with an amalgamation of modern contemporary design and British colonial shop houses.

The Great Madras (34 rooms) comes with an outdoor plunge pool, and a barber service in the lobby offers a classic gentleman’s cut. The Courtyard Room has access to an outside sitting area.

Among the latter’s 16 rooms (all with a Nespresso machine and exquisite tea selection) the Loft Suite stands out. It comes with a separate sleeping quarter on a mezzanine floor, including tilted wooded ceiling, furnished with a queen size bed by the white-washed brick wall and accessible by a staircase.

Next hotel to highlight also comes with loft room options: M Social, situated upstream Singapore River in Rober tson Quay, a residential area, these days with a number of good hotels and dining adventures. But few stays can be ‘a place to be’ like M Social, with its own rooftop pool, social restaurant zone and relaxed neighbourhood setting.

48 ScandAsia • February 2019

Regent Hotel, afternoon tea

Regent Hotel, afternoon tea Being a creation by renowned interior designer Philippe Starck this contemporary lifestyle hotel impresses in every part. His description of it as “a stage dedicated to creative people” is hard to object to, with its experience-rich and inspiring hotel vibe. One can also see on the guest clientele that it succeeds in appealing to global travellers with a millennial mindset.

Standouts are: the lobby’s alabaster floor lit from the inside, recalling the effect of marble; the Loft Premier room with its upstairs bed and a fantastic design including glass, steel, sparkling silver blinds, mirrors, brown wood and beige leather; and concierge robot AURA who performs room ser vice! Signature restaurant Beast & Butterflies offers modern Asian cuisine and happy hour, including the M Social Mojito.

From here the famous Regent Hotel is not far away, situated near where Orchard road starts. Regent Hotel has a number of F&B highlights, where the princess fairly-tailed Afternoon Tea (also Weekend High Tea Buffet available) is presented in the stylish, timeless setting this hotel is known for. This British tradition - how we love it in Asia, these days – here deserves praise for its the amazing tea selections, aside the ubiquitous scones and the rest of it!

The tea ceremony is based on finely tuned recipes such as: The Earls (Bergamot imbued black tea with choices Imperial, Earl of Regent, Russian or Flower y Earl); The Oolongs (Black Dragon tea of China with choices High Mountain, Tea Lounge, Darjeeling or Jasmine Green; or Greens and Whites (with choices: Sencha Fukujyu, Organic Health and Well-being Green, Fortune Flowering Tea Bali or

Manhattan bar

Manhattan bar February 2019 • ScandAsia 49

Food Exchange, Novotel/Mercure Singapore on Stevens

Food Exchange, Novotel/Mercure Singapore on Stevens

Mount Faber

Organic Jasmine Pearl). Writer’s choice: Harmony consisting in chamomile and mint tea.

Picks from the menu: finger sandwiches such as Squid ink focaccia with cocktail prawns; Seasonal quiches; and desserts, incl. Dark chocolate forest eclair, Granny Smith apple tar t and Blackcurrant milk chocolate mousse in shooter.

Then, cer tainly with some exercise in-between, over to a must-do experience; namely Singapore’s first adultsonly cocktail brunch at Manhattan bar, Regent Hotel. For star ters Manhattan has been voted Asia’s Best Bar for two consecutive years and this means a stunning interior and a bartender team that is doing amazing things. Sitting at the bar offers up-close observation of the action and opportunities to chat with bartender artisans Cedric and Tim. Just the sight of when they cut out ice cubes, out of a huge ice block, with the Manhattan emblem “embedded” is quite something!

Then, the food – indeed not “an after thought”, the cocktails and wine choices form a sumptuous and flavoursome journey that lasts four hours easily. Hot plates and starters seamlessly appear on the bar table nearly unnoticed.

Manhattan’s tireless attention to detail also extends to its custom cocktail glasses, handcrafted by one of the world’s oldest glass factories. This is also a bar that blends and stores, in-house, its single-cask cocktails in oak barrels!

And of course it has its own elevated edition of the classic Manhattan cocktail...

In the neighbourhood, and for those visiting the famous

Orchard shopping zone, the selection continues with one more dining recommendation, by going up Scotts Road and into Stevens Road. Soon you reach the new integrated lifestyle hub that is Novotel/Mercure Singapore on Stevens, hosting no less than 14 dining outlets and impressive large lap pools.

In focus is the stylish ‘Food Exchange’ featuring Thai, Indian, European and Singaporean cuisine. Its name comes from a local and global culinary “market place” exchange setting.

Overlooking one of the illuminated infinity pools, the evening buffet is lavish, including, among a multitude of choices, slow-cooked beef cheeks; European cheese and cold cuts; Waldorf salad for ‘Fawlty Towers’ fans; and awesome Indian cuisine.

A new vegetarian menu, with vegan (scrambled eggs) option, includes meatballs without meat.

Time for some back-to-nature excursion after all this food, shall we? Head to Harbourfront, and from there, the opportunity for shopping can be followed by trekking in Mount Faber, also home to Danish Seamen’s Church. Locate Bay Hotel and follow Temenggong Road up the hill behind it and then the trail, which follows a road up the hill.

Mount Faber’s flora and fauna is secondary rainforest terrain with impressive tree canopies, inhabited also by wild monkeys. On the mountain top the Singapore Cable Car ride to Sentosa Island starts. But the trek continues to Telok Blangah Hill Park, with Gillman Barracks, which alone makes this excursion worthwhile. This former British military compound is now the home to 11 international and

50 ScandAsia • February 2019

Urbana Rooftop Bar, Courtyard By Marriott Novena

Hotel Jen bar

Graffiti Sky Bar, Carlton City Hotel

So Sofitel Singapore

local art galleries, shops, bars and eateries! Hence this is the perfect ending to a nature walk, though this park actually also connects to Kent Ridge Park, which ends up some just a kilometre from Norwegian Seamen’s Mission and near to Haw Par Villa yellow line MRT station. Heritage Trails & Guided Tours are also available at Mount Faber Park.

One other important heritage suggestion leads to the highly interesting Balestier/Novena district. This is one of Singapore’s most prized historical areas, where the ‘Balestier Heritage Trail’ presents the history and social memories of the places in Singapore that many may not be aware of.

The American Consul to Singapore in 1836 planted sugar cane in swampy terrain and dense jungle there, followed by wealthy townsfolk who had begun to move out of city centre in late 19th century, building mansions. Pre-war terrace houses were built in the 1920s and 1930s, reflecting European neo-classical influences. Ar t deco shophouses became an architectural trend popular in 1930s and 1950s.

And Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall sheds light on the lesser-known details of Singapore and Nanyang’s involvement in the 1911 Chinese Revolution.

The founding father of the Republic of China, Dr Sun Yat Sen, played a very important role in the modern history of China and Singapore played a very important role in the contemporary revolutionary history of China, it states.

Singapore pioneer and rubber magnate, Teo Eng Hock offered his villa to Dr. Sun to suppor t his revolutionary activities. There is lots of intriguing history to learn more about in this memorial hall.

Rooftop and sky bars bring us back to Singapore’s

So Sofitel Singapore contemporary attractions. From Balestier Road, walk up to Novena Square and head up in the lift of Courtyard

by Marriott Singapore Novena. From level 22 continue in another lift to the rooftop Urbana Rooftop Bar for sunset happy hour cocktails. The view towards the nor th and Woodlands is impressive from here and on the opposite one sees the downtown skyline with sea as backdrop. On Thursdays enjoy one-for-one all night until 1 am.

February 2019 • ScandAsia 51

Six Senses Duxton

Lau Pa Sat

Six Senses Duxton

Head downtown for a much more view up close of the harbour, Sentosa island and parts of the CBC from level Carlton City Hotel’s level 29. Graffiti Sky Bar is open from 3 pm, offering delectable bar snacks, aside extended happy hours until 8 pm (wine by the glass from SGD 10).

In terms of hotel bars Hotel Jen Orchard’s Lounge Jen is a third pick, not so much for the views as for the vibrant gathering of people there for evening drinks and happy hour, where Watermelon Mojito and two cocktails with Havana Club 3 Years Rum, Bojio Banana and Uncle Kaya are among the selection.

Back to the hear t of the financial district, where refurbished Lau Pa Sat (built in the 19th century) al fresco hawker centre/market is worth a visit both for the diverse and local food selection and its history and architecture.

This true Singapore landmark was gazetted as a national monument in 1973. Correctly described as “an architectural gem”, the market comes with a distinctive octagonal shape and ornamental Victorian columns.

Next door, at So Sofitel Singapore luxur y boutique hotel (housed within an iconic former telecommunications building and decorated with a perfect blend of both French style and chic Singaporean influences) the SO/ Afternoon Tea Set is served from 3 pm in the design-driven Xperience restaurant, which of course comes with delicious scones, the finest artisanal teas and gourmet coffee, priced at SGD 45 only. This is a perfect break between explorations of the neighbourhood.

Nearby Tanjong Pagar’s Duxton Hill is the last, off-thebeaten-track stop, where shuttered terrace houses and

boutique shops dominate a web of smaller streets. It is there where well-known Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas have opened their first ever two city hotels.

Tanjong Pagar is known as Jinrickshaw Place named after the rickshaw pullers who used to gather by the station.

Jinricksaw was introduced from Shanghai in 1880.

That Six Senses Duxton comes with a distinct personality feels like an understatement, where each of the 49 guestrooms and suites comes with a unique individuality.

Large golden fans and strong hues of black, gold and yellow, layered with Oriental screens and calligraphy wallpaper from the designer’s personal collection dominate the amazing interiors.

The antiquarian-themed Yellow Pot bar ser vers up ‘Escape To Kaifeng’, the hotel’s signature cocktail of Tanqueray gin and chrysanthemum cordial, crowned with a yellow chrysanthemum.

Elsewhere, Swedish-operated Fung Kee Hotdogs SG has opened their second outlet at 68 Duxton Road, an evening joint serving delicious hotdogs, awesome cocktails and champagne! The whole area is great for socializing, dining, nightlife and shopping actually. Do also check out ‘Monument Lifestyle’, where for instance Hawaiian shirts, and other handpicked items and labels from the US made with passion, are being sold in this concept space that merges retail with a café.

52 ScandAsia • February 2019

Neste will increases production of renewable fuel in Singapore

N

este Corporation, the Finnish provider or sustainable fuel solutions for tr anspor t, business, and consumer needs, has announced that it will invest in additional production capacity for renewable products in Singapore.

“Neste’s fuel and other sustainable products help the transport sector and cities, aviation, polymers and chemicals customers make their business more sustainable and will continue to lead the way for renewable products. We are already a global leader in renewable products produced from waste and residues. This investment marks an impor tant step in the execution of our profitable growth strategy globally,” says Peter Vanacker, President and CEO of Neste.

Neste currently has a renewable products production capacity of 2.7 million tons annually. Of this total, over one million is produced in Singapore, the same amount in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and the rest in Porvoo, Finland. Before the new production line in Singapore, we will continue eliminating bottlenecks in our existing production, bringing the

Business

existing capacity to 3 million tons by 2020.

The investment worth approximately EUR 1.4 billion will extend Neste’s renewable product overall capacity in Singapore by up to 1.3 million tons per annum, bringing the total renewable product capacity close to 4.5 million tons annually in 2022. The company’s target is to start up the new production line during the first half of 2022.

February 2019 • ScandAsia 53

Business

Norwegian Seafood moves to Thailand

T

he Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) has decided to move its regional office from Singapore to Bangkok when its current director for South East Asia Jon Erik Steenslid this summer leaves Singapore to be replaced by NSC’s new representative, Asbjorn Warvik Rortveit.

“NSC has been actively working in the Thai market for the past five years; and since last year,Thailand has become the most important market for us in Southeast Asia due to its robust growth in domestic consumption,” explains Jon Erik Steenslid.

Rortveit has worked with NSC for the past 10 years.

“It will be incredibly exciting to embark on this task, and I am particularly looking forward to working closely with the Norwegian players so that together we can build a strong preference for Norwegian seafood among importers and consumers.”

Norwegian Salmon ATM is here!

T

he wor ld’s fir st Norwegian Salmon ATM was installed on January 19, 2019 in Singapore in the basement level of Yishun’s Wisteria Mall in front of Kopitiam food court.

Here, you can buy a 200g raw frozen fillet at S$5.90.

Credit and debit cards are the only accepted modes of payment.

Based on the storage instruction, one can keep these fillets for at least one to three days in the freezer of a typical home refrigerator.

Mr Manish Kumar, who is Norwegian and lives on Frøya Island in Norway, first got his idea over ten years ago, while on a promotion and sales trip around Asia to sell Norwegian Farmed Salmon in Asia. Years later, Mr Manish mentioned it to Mr Tore Lyng, who is a Fisherman/Investor, Seafood Producer & Trader and lives in Måløy-Norway.

Mr Tore Lyng believed in the idea and decided to invest in it.

So, with long working experience in Norwegian Farmed Salmon industry and partnership with Mr Tore Lyng, Mr Manish Kumar moved to Singapore in 2018 to set up the launch.

Besides the “laksomat” at Wisteria Mall, there are now 14 more of such vending machines placed around Singapore:

54 ScandAsia • February 2019

Tore Lyng and Manish Kumar installing the first Norwegian Salmon ATM in SIngapore.

1. Wisteria Mall, 598 Yishun Ring Rd, Singapore 768698 2. Blk 508 #01-166 Jurong West Street 52, Singapore 640508 3. 157, 01-66, Mei Ling Street, Singapore 140157 4. 372 Bukit Batok Street 31, Singapore 650372 5. 446 Clementi Ave 3, Singapore 120446 6. Blk 345 Jurong East Street 31 [near #01-15], Singapore 600345 7. 709 Ang Mo Kio Ave 8, Singapore 560709 8. Blk 152, Bukit Batok, Street 11, 01-274, Singapore 650152 9. Blk 407 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10, # 01-757 Singapore 560407 10. Blk 301 Woodlands Street 31, #01-209, Yellow Box (Marsiling MRT) 11. Market @ Tampines, 139 Tampines Street 11#01-60, Singapore 521139 12. Simon Plaza @ Kovan, Centre Lobby, Singapore 548008 13. Bedok Point, 799 New Upper Changi Road 467351 14. Sembawang Shopping Centre, Singapore 758459 15. BUGIS CUBE, 470 North Bridge Rd, Singapore 188735 The vision is by the end of the year to have set up 200 machines across the island.

At Bangkok Patana School... ...children are given a rigorous education inside and beyond the classroom, so they can be prepared to nimbly manage a changing world.

We are the original British international school in Thailand with a reputation built from over 60 years of inspiring students to fulfill their potential. admissions@patana.ac.th Tel: +66 (0) 2785 2200 www.patana.ac.th Bangkok Patana is a not for profit, IB World School accredited by CIS and NEASC.

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