The rise of Global Asean: The next-generation leaders

I first wrote about Asean integration three years ago in this column and how the prospect of economic integration will change business dynamics, create new opportunities and introduce new risks.

In that article, I added that even for the experienced businessmen, embracing change will not be an easy task but as it draws closer, they will have to recognize that it will no longer be business as usual for competition will be more pronounced and complacency will not stand.

To manage the impact of the integration, I prescribed the ABCs of Asean Integration: Audit, Brand, and Communicate.

In business planning, it is important to map your company’s strength and weaknesses vs threats and opportunities locally and regionally, and look for ways to increase your company’s efficiency. Second, armed with a strong understanding of your market, align your brand with its needs and establish credibility.

Find ways to stay ahead of the curve by being more innovative. Lastly, properly engaging all your stakeholders at the most opportune time and on the proper platform. Change, as it seems, is not only coming into governance but also in business and how you manage the shift in the environment with the opportunities and risks that it brings will spell the difference between success and failure.

In August of this year, a dream project came to life as the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) mounted the first SME Business Clinic in partnership with PLDT SME Nation.

It brought together various local and medium-sized enterprises and opened to them the opportunity for a hands-on application of the ABC’s of Asean integration.

The clinic set up roundtable discussions which allowed participants to deep dive into one of three potential areas of interest and a rare one-stop shop of government agencies and organizations for consultation.

As though a culmination of all these efforts to equip local businesses for the future, I am excited for tomorrow’s 14th MAP International CEO Conference—The Rise of the Global Asean: The Next Generation Leaders.

The conference will feature six carefully selected speakers from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines who will present their stories, modern currencies and brand new roads for doing business in today’s disrupted and evolving world.

To give us a different perspective as we craft our strategy, Edward Clayton of PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia will talk about alternative approaches to strategy development: Focusing on unique strengths and capabilities and saving ourselves from getting lost in the forest of opportunities and drowning in blue oceans.

Christian Razon Gonzalez of ICTSI understands the immense value of collaborating with stakeholders— how to deal with customers, how to create a safe environment for employees, how to operate ethically, how to integrate with communities, governments, etc. He will talk about why this is critical to doing business in this new age.

“Responsible business is about making money without hurting society; it does not mean business at all costs”—This is the mindset of Philanthropy Works founder Vivian Claire Liew, a sought after global thought leader, an expert practitioner in Sustainable Development and Strategic Philanthropy.

She was named the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader in 2015 and her leadership honored by the Asean 100 Leadership Forum and Asia Society.

In this age, no planning will go  without mention of digital disruption, digital strategy, digital transformation, digitalization, etc. Bob Hayward, the Principal of KPMG’s Management Consulting in Asia Pacific, will make sense of it all. What do all these terms mean and why are we all consumed by it?

Hendy Setiono of Indonesia, the president and director of Baba Rafi Enterprise that owns Kebab Turki Baba Rafi, now the world’s biggest kebab chain and slowly becoming Asia’s version of Subway, will share his story.

At 20, he borrowed $400 from his sister to start a pushcart kebab business—Now, he has a total of 1,200 outlets in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China, the Netherlands, and the Philippines, with over 1,900 employees.

He was 2009’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

Finally, 2012 Young Australian of the Year and Founder and CEO of 2Mar Robotics Marita Cheng will share her passion for the role of engineering and participation of young women in the field.

Through Robogals Global, she has inspired many young women to explore engineering and technology and use it to redefine the future.  2Mar Robotics’ pilot product is a telepresence robot that is designed for large corporations, museums, schools, and healthcare industries. It allows navigation through offices, conduct meetings, attend events across the world via a robot. The company is also doing work in robotic arms that help people with disability—from feeding themselves, opening doors, pouring a drink, administering medicine, etc.

The 14th MAP International CEO Conference is tomorrow, Sept. 6 at the Rizal Ballroom of the Makati Shangri-La from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Limited slots available. For reservations and inquiries, please contact the MAP Secretariat at 7511149 to 51 or [email protected].

(The author is chair of the MAP CEO Conference Committee. He is also CEO of EON The Stakeholder Relations Group. Send feedback to <[email protected]> and <[email protected]>. For previous articles, please visit <map.org.ph>)