Organisation:
Deloitte Centre for the Edge, US-ASEAN Business Council, EDB Singapore
Resource Link:
Published in 2021, Link
My Key Takeaways
Most people know about the headlines – over 600 million people in ten Southeast Asian countries; including meteoric growth in the digital economy; an abundance of natural resources, and human capital.
But what do these numbers actually mean on the floating markets of the Mekong River, rice fields in Bali, and sky gardens and urban farms in Singapore?
I’m highlighting some SEA “Edges” that have the potential to disrupt the core of how people live, work and play in the future – regionally and globally.
Take a look at these case studies as they provide clues to pain points/growth opportunities in SEA that EU/UK companies could address as well.
Singapore-based gaming giant Sea Ltd’s mobile game was the most downloaded in the world in 2019 across Android and iOS.
SEA’s hyper casual market grew 170% from 2019 – 2020, 3x the industry average.
The Hungarian/Vietnamese co uses #blockchain tech for food supply chain traceability. It has 6,000 business customers globally, including EU-based Auchan, & Switzerland’s Migros.
The company offers mom-and-pop micro-retail outfits a digital-ready turnkey solution – pre-fabricated storefront, fully integrated supply chain tracking app – to improve customer experience and profitability.
In an increasingly digital world, the informal cash economy is one of the last frontiers with untapped opportunities for EU/UK companies
It’s 22% of the economy in Malaysia and Indonesia, rising to 28% in The Philippines and a whopping 43% in Thailand.
The son of a fisherman who lives in a Thai seaside village called Satun, the social entrepreneur sells dried shrimp, squid, and fish on Facebook livestream.
His rambunctious salesmanship has won him over a million followers on his business’s FB account.
SEA consumers’ conversational commerce awareness is at 79% versus world average of 49%.
How are you finding your customers? 🤔
- Halodoc
An end-to-end telemedicine platform in Indonesia that partners superapp Gojek to offer online consultations, medicine delivery, and payment solutions.
It has 20M users, 20K doctors and keeps growing. Why?
The country is made up of over 17,000 islands and heavily congested urban centres. Conventional physical clinic visits are challenging.
Created by the Singapore Health Promotion Board (HPB) in 2015, it offers citizens and permanent residents free fitness-tracking wearable devices and app. Participants carry out sports and earn Healthpoints, and redeem shopping vouchers/perks.
Over 800,000 participants took part from 2018-2019 (averaging 10,500 steps/day in 2018), including less digitally-savvy segments like the elderly.
The P4 healthcare outlook—predictive, preventative, personalised and participatory – in SEA remains strong.
What other disruptive business models and promising technologies have you observed that are still at the “edges” of your tech ecosystem?
My LinkedIn post here.
About Zhilin SIM
Having worked and lived in Singapore, the Nordics, China, Spain, UK, I’m now based in Paris.
I’m fluent in English, French and Mandarin, and I’m learning Arabic because it’s a beautiful and fascinating language.
My team creates and supports one-many initiatives connecting Corporate and Startup ecosystems in Europe to business and innovation opportunities in Singapore and Southeast Asia.
I’m passionate about horticulture, watercolour, startups/tech as well as French cuisine, Peranakan kueh techniques and other global cuisines.
Feel free to connect with me if you think my network in Europe and Asia could be of benefit to your business and innovation activities.
