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

16

Mr Sami Jääskeläinen

Nordic Innovation House Singapore

ScandAsia

Stories

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

13 Business internationalisation

AndersenB2B-ScandAsia partnership

14 Smart Solutions from Finland

Showcased in Ho Chi Minh City

Mrs Shermine

Gotfredsen

Danish company OnRobot

26

10

11

36

Ms Anna Korpi

Education and Science Counsellor,

Finland

12

February 2019 • ScandAsia 5

Editorial

Welcome to Singapore!

Nordic 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.

This issue of ScandAsia will focus on Singapore from

a Nordic perspective and portray 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!

Gregers Moller

Editor in Chief

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 reasons

are following the activities of

the Nordic expats and companies via a

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6 ScandAsia • February 2019

News brief

DCCC visited the Ministry

of Commerce Beijing

In 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

opportunities for Nordic companies

in Hubei (The Chinese Province

selected to be partner 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

A

Danish design event was held

in Jakarta 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,” reports 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


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


Community

Norwegian Church in Singapore: Young

dynamic priest-family takes over

Text: Jonas Boje Andersen Photo: Sjømannskirken

At 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

Colstrup, and his wife Christine

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

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

Mortensrud 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, Christine, 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 everything

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

abroad a safe and welcoming

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

Bazaars, Christmas services 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.


First Nordic Asia Christmas Festival held

in Singapore

On 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

Kvarnström, Finnish Ambassador

Ms. Paula Parviainen 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

Community


News brief

Business Innovation Congress Philippines

NordCham Philippines

supported 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

influencers, international business

leaders and government leaders

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

Together 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.


“Thank you to the Nordic

Ambassadors Niclas Kvarnstrom,

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 Bruaset

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

AndersenB2B, 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 support increased business

internationalisation for small to

medium-sized businesses.

The new AndersenB2B approach

enables companies to connect across

borders, and to also get professional

a-la-carte assistance to further their

international efforts. As one of the

members, 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

important 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

“Working with the dynamic

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 networking

activities in Southeast Asia.

Being seen in ScandAsia is usually

the gateway to wider outreach and

market penetration for most businesses,

and the perfect platform to generate

awareness around one’s products and

services, whether one is introducing, or

as an established player.

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Business

Smart Solutions from Finland

in Ho Chi Minh City

As part of the Week for Ho Chi Minh City

Innovation, Startup and Entrepreneurship

(WHISE 2018), celebrating 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

poverty 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

efforts of becoming an innovation-driven knowledge

economy and a Startup Nation. The collaboration between

the two countries has been supported through the Embassy

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, starting

from supportive policies ending with global market-driven

business development activities.

This session brought in experienced Finnish experts

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 country

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 experts

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 world. 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-uncertainty 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 managers 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

partnership opportunities in many areas inclusive the

financial market.



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

NIH-SG comes with high hopes and

expectations from all stakeholders,

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.

In 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 start-ups. It’s really

important to understand the expectations from both sides,”

he highlights from his own experience, where he most

recently was with Padang & Co.

“Padang’s an open innovation consultancy that unlocks

new business opportunities 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 opportunities 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


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

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.”

Meanwhile, 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 start-ups here’ They started 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.”


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 supported 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, verticals 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.



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.

By Joakim Persson

The millennial workers and the growing startup

scene are the big drivers behind a very

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

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 support 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 started,

but it’s being observed and was perused by previous

generations.”

“Other than bringing optimized expense sheets to

companies, to start-ups, in particular, flexible working

spaces also deliver the ideal work environment that most

employees demand these days,” says the Dane.

The survey 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.”



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.


The ‘Infrastructure Asia platform’ is open to all Danish

companies, including SMEs, with an established track

record of infrastructure related solutions

By Joakim Persson

Enterprise 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 participants 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, transport, and urban development,” he

furthermore explains.

The Danish embassy’s view is that “sustainable

infrastructure opportunities 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


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 Perry 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


IA Office to deliver regional infrastructure 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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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!


It’s not as upfront or

straightforward as the

Danish culture here in

Asia; a lot more

diplomatic and about

relationship-building.

By Joakim Persson

‘‘You 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 forth. 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.”

Suddenly 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


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 important to be sensitive to the local culture. And

then a lot of communication is required to make them

understand why you expect certain 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 partnership 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.

Working 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 support 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,

started 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 partner

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.”



Finnish Business Council

Singapore is seeing

stronger influx

FBC Singapore Chairman, Janne Lautanala


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.

By Joakim Persson

Finnish 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 start-ups, even one-man/

woman operations coming here. Their needs are very

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 efforts:

“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 starting 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.


Especially Finnish

companies first look to

enter Singapore and

then using that as a

launch-pad to Indonesia,

Malaysia and so on

“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 very

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 report 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.”

Photo: FBC


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 effort 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 Wärtsilä’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.”


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.


By Joakim Persson

Lendela 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 Insurtech 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.

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

“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

partnering 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 parts: 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 part of our service which is important 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.



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


Covering 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.”

As 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 start

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.

Finland 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


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

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.”

When 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.



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.

By Joakim Persson

Riku Mäkelä, Counsellor for Innovation and Trade,

Embassy of Finland in Singapore

Team Finland, in its effort 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 important

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.


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.

One of the tools of the Team Finland network was

‘Marketing Opportunities’, 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 opportunities 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


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 efforts

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 Finland-

Singapore 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.”

The 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.”



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


‘‘We 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.

The 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 headquarters 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 - worth 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.



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


It 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 start 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


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 tartare 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!


Village Hotel Bugis

Ash & Elm, InterContinental 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 courtyard, 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

The Sultan Hotel

The Sultan Hotel


The Great Madras hotel

M Social

The Great Madras

The Daulat

M Social

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

Robertson 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.


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

service! 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 Flowery 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


Food Exchange, Novotel/Mercure Singapore on Stevens

Food Exchange, Novotel/Mercure Singapore on Stevens

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 tart and Blackcurrant milk chocolate mousse in

shooter.

Then, certainly with some exercise in-between, over

to a must-do experience; namely Singapore’s first adultsonly

cocktail brunch at Manhattan bar, Regent Hotel. For

starters 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 afterthought”,

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

Mount Faber

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


Urbana Rooftop Bar, Courtyard By Marriott Novena

Hotel Jen bar

Graffiti Sky Bar, Carlton City Hotel

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. Art 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 support 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

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 north 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.


Six Senses Duxton

Lau Pa Sat

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 heart 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 luxury 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

Six Senses Duxton

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 servers 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.


Neste will increases production

of renewable fuel in Singapore

Business

Neste Corporation, the Finnish

provider or sustainable fuel

solutions for transport,

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

important 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

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.


Business

Norwegian Seafood moves to Thailand

The 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!

The world’s first 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:

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.

Don’t just hope

for a better future.

Plan for one.

What does the future look like for you and your loved ones?

We are all about helping you achieve your aspirations,

and we acknowledge that everyone has a unique set

of challenges. That is why we are genuinely committed to

understanding you and your ambitions for the future.

To find out what we can do for you, contact us in Singapore:

Tel: +65 63 57 08 95

singapore@sebprivatebanking.com.sg

sebgroup.lu/privatebanking

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken S.A.

50 Collyer Quay #12-03 OUE Bayfront, Singapore 049321

ScandAsia February 2019

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