S’pore can serve as platform to Asean as companies seek ‘huge growth opportunities’

SINGAPORE — As companies turn increasingly to Asia — including South-east Asia — to learn about best practices instead of looking to Western countries such as United States and those in Europe, that puts Singapore in a “unique position” to function as a platform to the region.

This was the view that emerged from a panel discussion held on Thursday (Feb 14) at co-working space TheBridge after the Economic Development Board (EDB) announced its year-in-review statistics. Members of the panel included representatives from ride-hailing firm Grab and tech company Sea Group.  

The dialogue, titled Singapore: A Platform for Asean, came on the back of EDB’s announcement that one of its priorities for this year would be for Singapore to be a platform for regional and global businesses to expand into the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean). 

Dr Santitarn Sathirathai, group chief economist of Sea Group, suggested that one way to do that was to get Singaporean youth “excited” about going into the region to learn about emerging markets and growth opportunities.

“A lot of Singaporean youth still want to go to the US and Europe, which is great, but I want to direct their attention a bit more — (there are) huge growth opportunities here (in Asean),” he said.

However, it could get “tough” as it involves stepping out of one’s comfort zone and “not everything is going to be clearly by the book”, he noted.

However, that is “exactly the point in this day of the fourth Industrial Revolution, where you need to embrace new things, disrupt yourself and also open your mind”, he added.

Echoing his sentiments was fellow panellist Ngiam Xin Wei, Grab’s head of marketplace and shared mobility.

Ms Ngiam noted that in the past, companies would look to the US and Europe as the “benchmark” for best practices.

When Grab first began operations, the ride-hailing firm turned to American peer Uber to see how it ran its operations, she said.

But there were other lessons to be learnt instead.

They first saw how Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing took on Uber and succeeded as the latter sold its operations in China to Didi Chuxing in 2016.

“(It showed us) that a local champion could know the local market better, and serve them better than a national or global player,” Ms Ngiam told the audience.

Grab also realised that some of Uber’s practices did not work in South-east Asia, she added. For instance, Uberpool, a service used in the US for drivers to pick up carpool passengers at fixed points, may not work in certain countries because some streets may not have distinctive landmarks or pavements that act as waiting points for passengers.

Ms Aparna Bharadwaj, a partner and managing director of Boston Consulting Group in Singapore, added that she no longer has to persuade multinational companies to locate their offices in the region as many are already doing so.

“Most of them are coming here and are asking how to grow... It is about how to get the next wave of growth, how to maximise potential,” she said.

On what it was about Singapore and South-east Asia that appealed to them, the panellists pointed to the stability of the region and its growth potential.

Dr Santitarn also noted that while the region held “huge” growth potential, there is a tendency for people to think of China and India when they talk about Asia, and “they tend to forget about South-east Asia”.

He added that Singapore was in a unique position to be a platform to the region.

“(It is) a platform where you link globalisation and localisation together. You have the global ideas, you have top financial industries and tech industries,” he said.

“But at the same time, you are close enough to be the gateway to South-east Asia, where there are huge untapped growth opportunities.”