2018

University Media Centre, University of South Australia

The prestigious University of South Australia Alumni Awards is an annual milestone in the University’s calendar and showcases the most distinguished members of our global alumni community, our innovators and pioneers – people making a real difference in the world.

Former politician and Ambassador to Italy, now prominent media commentator, Amanda Vanstone, and Singapore business entrepreneur, James Tan will be among the University of South Australia alumni acknowledged at its Annual Alumni Awards. A key event in the UniSA calendar, the awards showcase and acknowledge the outstanding global contribution of UniSA’s alumni community now more than 215,000 strong.

Congratulating the 2018 winners, UniSA Vice Chancellor Professor David Lloyd says he is always proud to see how UniSA graduates have used their education to transform their own lives and improve the world around them.

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Reuters

Rushdi Siddiqui, Quest Ventures’ mentor for the Islamic economy, was asked for his thoughts on the future of Islamic Finance.

“Islamic finance has taken great strides this century, with sharia-compliant financial assets forecast to total $3.8 trillion by 2022, according to a Thomson Reuters report. That’s up from $2.2 trillion in 2016, with around 1,400 Islamic financial institutions now operating across 80 countries.

Yet financial inclusion in Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states lags global norms. Less than 30 percent of households in OIC countries have an account at a financial institution. That compares with more than 50 percent in non-OIC nations, a 2015 IMF report reveals.

“Banking is about data and its management. Artificial Intelligence and blockchain will re-engineer Islamic finance,” said Rushdi Siddiqui, Mentor, Islamic Economy, Quest Ventures (Singapore).

He predicts virtual assistants will replace call centres and many branches, with technology empowering customers to make better financial decisions, while fintech could provide a global fatwa database available in multiple languages.”

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KrASIA

Meituan-Dianping, China’s biggest on-demand food delivery mammoth, had a triumphal debut on the Hong Kong bourse. Its shares ended its first trading day up 5%, with a market cap of over US$50 billion.

“James Tan, the Managing Partner of Quest Ventures, sees profitability concerns as a valid part of the whims when a private company transits to become a public entity. Having seen through the Nasdaq listing of the then 55tuan – a startup he founded – despite the market onslaught and delays, he believes that Meituan, which has a good track record of growth thus far, will be able to weather the current storm.

Furthermore, China’s food delivery market is huge. Just like the case in the global food delivery space, it is likely that the market is sufficient to accommodate at least two dominant players.”

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938NOW

The National Research Foundation of Singapore was on national radio FM 938NOW with Quest Ventures to promote the upcoming Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology, commonly known as SWITCH.

Quest Ventures’ James Tan was on the show in his capacity as Chairman of the Business Angel Network of Southeast Asia, the region’s oldest angel network, which is responsible for a series of events during SWITCH. In addition to panel discussions with top angels and angel networks from the region, participants can look forward to closed door engagements and a celebratory dinner. A lifetime achievement award will also be given away during the festivities.

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搜狐

新加坡是一个高度依赖国际市场的国家，这一点既是优势，也是挑战。那么，以创新创业的角度来看，这些创新和挑战分别表现在哪些方面呢？

2018年8月27-28日，通商中国与新加坡工商联合总会联合主办“慧眼中国环球论坛”暨“新加坡暨区域商务论坛”2018特别年会。墨腾创投创始人&CEO李江玕作为演讲嘉宾，参与了“与王乙康部长对话：变革时代下的创新与创业”环节讨论。

参与本环节讨论的嘉宾有（从左到右，照片由通商中国提供）：

陈中，求索创投管理合伙人（主持人）

黎常文，Ninja Van联合创始人&CEO

王乙康，新加坡教育部长

李江玕，墨腾创投创始人&CEO

郑俊聪，祥峰投资管理合伙人

陈杰豪，新加坡资讯通信媒体发展管理局CEO

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展管理局CEO陈杰豪（Tan Kiat How）认为，新加坡有三大机会：

1、新加坡正处在数字经济的前沿，为每个人都提供了巨大的机会。谷歌、Facebook、微软等公司掀起的第一波革命浪潮已经证明了这一点。

陈杰豪表示，他曾经和一位来自中国的高级政府官员讨论过：预计到2021年，中国的数字经济将达到8.5万亿美元，相当于中国GDP的55%。比农业等其他行业的表现都要好，这一点对于那些科技创新企业来说，这是一个难得的机会。

2、东南亚是发展最快的地区之一，预计到2030年将成为第四大经济体。东南亚的人口超过6.5亿，其中超过一半的人年龄在25岁以上，他们对手机和和互联网接受很快。对许多中国企业来说，新加坡是通向东南亚和海外的门户，同时新加坡也是许多人才创新和企业进入中国的跳板。

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(주)브레이크뉴스

Quest Ventures establishes social innovation platform with the City of Daegu in South Korea. The Memorandum of Understanding will accelerate social ventures in the Daegu area by utilizing Singapore as a bridgehead for Southeast Asia.

“박성원 기자= 대구창조경제혁신센터(센터장 연규황)는 해7일, 싱가포르 벤처캐피털(VC)인 퀘스트벤처스와 상호간 네트워크와 자원을 활용해 스타트업과 소셜벤처를 공동육성한다는 양해각서(MoU)를 체결했다고 10일 밝혔다.

금번 MoU를 통해 양 기관은 상호간의 네트워크를 활용해 대구와 싱가포르 소셜벤처와 스타트업을 공동 육성하고 해외 진출까지 지원하는 소셜 이노베이션 플랫폼을 구축하고 이를 통해 스타트업 육성 생태계를 확대하기로 합의했다.”

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Singapore Business Review

With the recent shut downs of oBike, Gbikes and ShareBikeSG, Quest Ventures senior analyst Jasmine Toh provided her opinion on alternatives for last-mile transportation, and commended the regulators for their enforcement actions.

“Despite the latest development, bike sharing still remains an attractive last-mile transport option for commuters looking to travel short distances especially with a gap in the market for end-to-end transport solutions, Quest Ventures senior analyst Jasmine Toh told Singapore Business Review.

Aside from bike-sharing, Toh mentioned e-scooters as an option for last mile transportation.

“Last mile transportation was traditionally settled with walking or buses,” she said. “We believe that as long as last mile issues in transportation continue to be unsolved, there will be new business models to tackle this.””

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Singapore Business Review

Quest Ventures referenced China’s WeChat and Indonesia’s Go-Jek to provide commentary on Grab’s latest effort to improve their app.

“Jasmine Toh, senior analyst at Quest Ventures sees Grab’s situation is almost like China’s WeChat. “Referencing WeChat, which now includes all manner of e-commerce and other options such as entertainment, we see that Grab’s direction mirrors it, i.e., leveraging an existing user base into other verticals,” she said.

“By building new verticals directly into an existing app, it significantly reduces friction from download, registration, and most importantly, payments,” Toh said. Go-Jek is another example which has taken the same route of building a ‘superapp’.””

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e27

Senior analyst Jasmine Toh provides her views to e27’s Kevin McSpadden on the messy exit of oBike, which was funded by some well-known investors in Singapore.

“The current negative sentiment comes from a multi-year build up of inconvenience and eyesore due to irresponsible parking, that has now culminated in irresponsible market exits with the hapless consumer continuing to be the one to bear the brunt of the impact with lost deposits,” said Jasmine Toh, a Senior Analyst at Quest Ventures, when asked about the closure.

Toh also said oBike needs to “exercise their responsibility to the public” and clean-up the exit process. The Consumers Association of Singapore has apparently told oBike that the messy exit is “unethical and unacceptable”.

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Singapore Business Review

Quest Ventures provided commentary on the decision by the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) to fine Grab and Uber for their merger that it deemed anti-competitive.

“Quest Ventures senior analyst Jasmine Toh noted that the situation is that Uber has left the scene, and the remedies, if any, are only applicable to Grab. “Singapore’s taxi landscape, lethargic for too long, was shaken up when there was competition,” she said.

“Our hope is that even with reduced competition, these taxi companies will not stop their efforts to innovate to meet today’s customers’ needs. If they do slow down or stop delivering what consumers want, new competitors will surely emerge to eat their lunch,” Toh added.”

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