We organize a series of ad-hoc fireside chats each year, where we invite in speakers who have done outstanding work in their respective fields to speak with our community.
These fireside chats are held throughout the year. In the past, we have had the privilege of hosting Mr Gita Wirjawan, the former Indonesian Minister of Trade, and Ms Jiawen Tang, the Co-Founder of Southeast Asia-based startup Hive Health.
November 2023Fireside Chat with Ms Jiawen Tang
Ms Jiawen Tang is the Co-Founder and President of Hive Health, a healthcare startup backed by leading Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator. Hive seeks to offer best-in-class digital health insurance to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the Philippines, revolutionizing access to quality, affordable healthcare for millions of Filipinos — one SMB at a time.
A former graduate of Columbia University, Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Harvard Kennedy School, Jiawen also brought with her a wealth of experience in consulting and working at prominent international organizations like the United Nations and World Bank.
We were fortunate to have her in for a wide-ranging conversation on her journey founding a company in Southeast Asia, particularly as a female founder; her experience with the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem; and her insights from having led the company over the last few years. The discussion touched on a broad spectrum of key ideas, such as the need to build good organizational culture, the importance of being clear on what one’s mission is, and the urgency of recognizing that the Southeast Asian market is very diverse and is rapidly-evolving.
April 2023Fireside Chat with Mr Gita Wirjawan
The former Indonesian Minister of Trade and Chairman of the 9th World Trade Organization (WTO) Conference in 2013, Mr Wirjawan’s realm of expertise spans all sectors, ranging from government, to finance, to education, to philanthropy. He is the founder and present Chairman of the Ancora Group too, an Indonesian business group with interests in private equity investing, natural resources, real estate, sports, and music.
As part of his commitment to increasing access to quality education for all, the Ancora Foundation has sponsored the training of hundreds of kindergartens serving underprivileged children throughout Indonesia.
We had the privilege of hosting Mr Wirjawan for an eye-opening conversation on subject matter ranging from geopolitics, to economics, to philanthropy, and were fortunate to have learnt from his deep expertise in a wide range of fields. The discussion touched on ideas ranging from his thoughts on the action required to lift educational achievement in the region, to his reflections on how technology can be harnessed for social good while simultaneously mitigating the dangers associated with it.