Category: Business

The G20 Interfaith Forum took place at Hotel New Otani Makuhari in Chiba prefecture from June 7 to 9. Speaking at the conference, Haruhisa Handa, Chairman of Worldwide Support for Development (WSD), a nonprofit organization that co-hosted the event, stressed that cooperation among religious, political and private sectors is crucial to the realization of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This year’s sixth annual G20 Interfaith Forum was the largest to date, attracting an audience of 4,000 over the course of the two days, with sessions open to the public. Discussions covered a range of local and global issues, and the forum’s agenda focused on how religious leaders can point the way forward and inspire people around the world—particularly in regard to SDGs—targets adopted by all U.N. member states in 2015 to achieve a better and more sustainable future.

The 17 SDGs are based on the philosophy that “no one should be left behind.” As all are linked, a breakdown in the process of achieving even one goal hinders the success of the entire agenda for sustainable development.

One of the major factors slowing down the movement is the lack of progress toward ending poverty—a target defined in goals one and two. The forum’s main mission is to highlight issues gathered from the global network of philanthropists and charitable organizations of various faiths that provide support in impoverished areas, and to make policy recommendations to G20 leaders.

Also attracting attention to the forum was key organizer WSD. The group offers humanitarian assistance to victims of conflict and refugees, and has established a neonatal hospital in Laos and a free medical emergency clinic in Cambodia. WSD also holds various international forums to promote the spread of peace around the world. It hosts the annual Global Opinion Leaders Summit, which has welcomed former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, among others, to present guidelines on how developed countries should tackle increasingly complex societal issues.

In addition to his leadership of WSD, Handa is President of Misuzu Corp., which runs the Handa Watch World event. Handa, who is well known for his numerous charitable activities and achievements, has named John Key, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Enda Kenny, former Prime Minister of Ireland, as honorary chairs of WSD.

At this year’s G20 Interfaith Forum, 300 leaders in the fields of religion, politics, economics, education and the sciences gathered in Japan to exchange ideas on topics ranging from poverty and the refugee crisis to education and environmental degradation. The lineup included prominent speakers such as former British Prime Minister David Cameron; Graca Machel, the first Education Minister of Mozambique and Chancellor of the University of Cape Town; and Nobel Peace Prize winner Denise Coghlan. Discussions on the second day of the forum began with remarks by Koichi Hagiuda, Executive Acting Secretary-General of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, who delivered greetings from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

WSD Chairman Handa opened the forum on June 8, stressing the need to include faith leaders in policy decisions: “As 85% of the world population has a deep connection to religion, politicians must include [a network of religious leaders] in addressing global problems,” he said.

Religious leaders, including Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, gave messages to the forum about the shared care and concern across diverse religious communities for underprivileged children and others. Professor Osama Al-Azhari, adviser to the Egyptian President on religious affairs, echoed this sentiment, noting that the principles of the SDGs match the teachings of the Koran—a view shared by Muslim leaders.

Innocent Children Are the Biggest Victims

Most of the speakers touched on the problem of poverty. Estimates from the World Bank show the number of people in extreme poverty—those living on less than US$1.90 a day—remains unacceptably high. According to U.N. data, most of the world’s poor live in developing countries, and one in nine are suffering from starvation. University of Cape Town’s Machel, who was married to late South African President Nelson Mandela and is a staunch advocate for women and children, spoke on the issue. “Due to conflicts and the effects of climate change, 6.5 million people are refugees, of which 52% are children,” she said, describing how the weak become targets of criminal networks engaged in human trafficking and illegal organ harvesting.

Machel also emphasized the necessity of providing education for refugee children, who are half as likely to attend elementary school as non-refugee children.

“Children are treasures. If given a chance, they will contribute to the economic growth of developing nations. Without [education], they will grow up without morals and creativity, and as adults they will be unable to fully participate in society,” she observed, urging collaboration among academic, religious and private sectors to come up with innovative solutions.

About 90% of refugees flee to developing countries, where they are vulnerable to the worst human rights violations. It has been reported that criminal organizations impersonating humanitarians infiltrate refugee camps, kidnapping children and selling them into sex and labor trafficking.

What can we do? First, we must accurately grasp the situation, and then act upon our natural human emotions. The evolution of technology has made it possible for anyone to speak up and send a message all over the world.

 

WORLDWIDE SUPPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT (WSD)

https://wsd.or.jp

As a child growing up in the 1970s in Hanoi, Nguyen Thi Kim Duc, the founder of Vietnamese technology group HTD Media, dreamt of being an artist. But life was difficult in Vietnam in the years following the Vietnam War, so she put aside her artistic passions in favor of more practical pursuits.

She finished high school but found her employment prospects were limited to low-paying jobs. Determined to get ahead, Duc plunged head first into the world of entrepreneurship. She started her business in the 1990s with the meager savings she had managed to accumulate, filling the gaps in her knowledge by devouring books on business and economics.

“Initially I was just buying and selling some items to make a profit. After accumulating some capital, the savings from business profits gave me a chance to participate in real estate. This was a big turning point in my life,” recalls Duc.

She invested in property in neighborhoods around Hanoi that were thinly populated at that time though located relatively close to the city’s center. “I expected that after a few years, when the population increased, the economy would develop more and the areas I invested in would increase in value quickly,” she says.

Her instincts proved true; after a few years, the real estate market boomed, allowing Duc to net a huge profit. She sought the advice of experienced investors on how to make the best use of her new wealth, who suggested reinvesting the money in real estate with a focus on locations that had yet to be developed. It was a formula that made Duc a millionaire by the time she was 30. She believes the country’s buoyant real estate market—which has propelled the fortunes of other savvy investors—is a reflection of Vietnam’s rapidly growing economy.

She also learned an important lesson from her success in real estate investment: that women can succeed if they make the effort to acquire knowledge and are able to use their negotiating and diplomatic skills to their benefit.

“The real estate sector in Vietnam is dominated by men.” However, after what I experienced, I can be confident that women in Vietnam and developing countries can have equal opportunities to compete and even have an advantage over men in some areas,” she says.

The key success factors that can help any woman succeed in any field, she says, are “concentration, determination, derring-do, a spirit of not giving up, flexibility and discipline.”

Duc adds, “I have done it, [and] will continue to do more than that. Hopefully, my story will prove that women can succeed and follow their own destiny.”

Vision is Key to Success

After her success in the property market, Duc looked at other entrepreneurial opportunities that she could capitalize on. Realizing that the global economy is increasingly being driven by technology, she started investing in technology startups in 2015. “The reason why I boldly changed to a new field was based on my vision. It had previously helped me succeed in real estate, and today it will help me succeed in the field of technology. Vision is very important, it determines everything,” she explains.

Duc founded HTD Media, a technology company engaged in content production, social networking services, financial technology, communications, e-commerce and software production. The company’s vision is to become the leading technology company in Southeast Asia. Specifically, it aims to provide products and content that have a global influence and help put Vietnam on the world’s technology map.

Besides technology, she believes art will be another investment for emerging Asian wealth in the near future, and has invested in thousands of artworks around the world through an art investment fund. In the future, she plans to introduce an innovative service that uses blockchain technology to protect buyers from art forgeries as well as make the buying and selling of artwork faster and easier, creating greater value for global investors.

A Responsibility to Give Back

Duc believes in giving back to the communities around her. She chose reforestation as one of her key charitable initiatives after witnessing the negative impact of urbanization on trees and forests in Vietnam. Her efforts have led to the planting of about 200,000 trees across the country in the past five years.

Her company HTD Media has donated millions of dollars to the poor throughout the country, including the elderly, the disabled, students and orphans. “This is something I have to do to share opportunities with others and help reduce the gap between rich and poor, which is a serious problem in Vietnam,” Duc says.

Most recently, she participated in a campaign to limit plastic waste. This initiative led her to being honored in June by Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. “I believe that there are many successful people around me and most of them are talented, kind people, so hopefully through my story, I can further promote the spirit of giving back to the community to successful individuals around the world,” she says.

As for her childhood dreams of being an artist, Duc has not given up on that either. Earlier this year, she presented “Cover of Future”—which she painted to show the devastating result of climate change—to world leaders at the UN Vesak festival in Vietnam.

“Through the ‘Cover of Future,’ I wanted to remind world leaders about their responsibility of preserving our world. Even though I’m just a businesswoman in Vietnam, I want to do my part in preserving our world and this is the first step,” she says.

In the digital economy, the challenge for the next generation of leaders (Next Gen) in traditional family businesses is to innovate or risk being upended by new market disruptions.

The Asia Innovatif+ Summit & Awards, which will be held October 26–27, is aimed at “promoting innovation through global collaboration by bringing together Next Gen leaders, startup owners and venture capitalists from across the region under one roof,” says Mei Tan, Co-founder of Asia Innovative Agency, the event organizer.

“The movie ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ may be fiction but there is some truth to family offices holding enormous wealth in this region, and many are prepared to embrace innovation or invest in startups,” she says.

Tan herself is no stranger to innovation. After an eight-year stint in the U.S.—first as a student and later as a graphic designer—she returned to Penang in 2010 to join the family business, Asia Green Group, an established property developer, plywood manufacturer and international trading company. As the company’s COO, Tan began to introduce innovative technology in the workplace. On the side, she launched a co-working space called Scoopoint to foster creativity within a community of like-minded people. The Asia Innovatif+ Summit & Awards event is her latest initiative, working with Co-founder, Steve Wee and the Penang state government to promote innovation in the digital economy.

“There is a bit of something for everyone attending the summit. Next Gens will get the chance to hear success stories first-hand from those who have successfully transformed their businesses. They will also get new ideas on how to incorporate innovation into their family businesses and how to leverage on startup ventures. VCs will get the chance to tap into the Next Gen network and resources, and at the same time discover new startup ideas. Last but not least, startup owners will get exposure and may potentially find the right match for their future growth,” explains Tan.

The summit will feature a star-studded cast of Next Gen leaders coming from companies such as BookDoc in Malaysia, MaBelle in Hong Kong and PT Citra Marga in Indonesia, among others. Topics discussed will range from real estate, manufacturing, agriculture and retail to artificial intelligence, fintech and B2B innovations. Startup owners will get the chance to present their business case and vie for the “Startup of the Year Award.”

Keynote speakers during the event include Penang’s Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, President of the People’s Justice Party and leader of the Pakatan Harapan coalition. Joining the lineup will be speakers from China, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Germany and the U.S., besides Malaysia.

One of the event highlights is a panel discussion by Next Gen leaders who will share their views on challenges faced by family-owned businesses. Fringe activities during the event include industry visits, sightseeing and networking sessions.

Besides Next Gen leaders, venture capitalists and startup owners, the event is expected to attract entrepreneurs and C-level executives from 18 countries to the island state of Penang, famous as a tourist destination with Unesco World Heritage status and hailed as the “Silicon Valley of the East” by international media.

“With this event, we hope to create a better ecosystem linking Next Gens with startup entrepreneurs. We also hope that all the participants will better understand innovation and be prepared to create disruptions in their respective industries. Who knows, the next Airbnb or Uber could arise out of this event to revolutionize old business models,” says Tan.

 

www.innovatifplus.com

Few people would assume that a popular medicated soap brand sold in West Africa has its origins in Southeast Asia. This, however, is the case of Delta Soap, a leading personal care brand owned by Orange Group, a large, diversified fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) group in West Africa.

Founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Sir Anthony Ezenna, Orange Group has supported the entry of several Indonesian companies into the African market. The group is present in West Africa across four key segments: pharmaceuticals, beverages, personal care and lighting. It counts some of Indonesia’s largest family businesses among its partners, including Kalbe Farma, the country’s largest pharmaceutical company, as well as Tempo Scan Pacific, Dexa Medica and Mensa Group.

As a result of these relationships, Orange has gained valuable insights from studying how its partners compete in Southeast Asia’s dynamic consumer markets. Some of these lessons were applied to the successful launch of Delta Soap in Nigeria.

Spotting an Opportunity

In the 1980s, Reckitt Benckiser launched its Dettol brand in Nigeria and proceeded to build the medicated soap market in the region. The benefit of protection from germs made medicated soaps an instant success in Nigeria, which struggles with sanitation issues and access to clean water. Dettol was so successful that it began to threaten the already established beauty-soap segment.

By 1993, Sir Ezenna saw an opportunity to establish a competing brand that could deliver the same benefits at an affordable price. At that time, Dettol was produced in Europe and exported to Nigeria, which was experiencing a currency crisis and had highly price-sensitive consumers. The key to Orange Group’s strategy was to source soaps competitively from either Malaysia or Indonesia, which have a global comparative advantage in producing palm-based products such as toilet soap.

Delta Soap was rolled out to the Nigerian market in 1994 as a more affordable alternative to Dettol. Although sales were brisk initially, its brand equity paled in comparison with Dettol. Sir Ezenna’s foray into the personal care business demanded that he learn more about brand building and guerrilla marketing. Orange Group began developing TV campaigns to market Delta Soap, and differentiate it from Dettol’s highly successful branding campaign that featured doctors.

As many new consumers of medicated soap were former beauty soap users, Delta’s TV commercials focused on the more aesthetic benefits of using medicated soaps. The product was positioned as providing protection from germs while also delivering the moisturizing and “skin glowing” benefits of beauty soaps. Commercials featuring pop music and young trendsetters became synonymous with the Delta brand and were a hit with the target audience. The branding campaign was a success and Delta Soap would go on to become a market leader in the medicated soap segment.

In 2005, the Nigerian government banned the importation of finished soaps, and this drove Sir Ezenna to invest US$23 million in the construction of a 20,000-square-meter production site in the eastern city of Onitsha, Nigeria. The investment paid off; by 2007 Delta Soap realized US$12 million peak in annual sales.

Declining Market Share

In the following years, Orange Group witnessed a series of management changes, which involved Sir Ezenna stepping down from day-to-day operations. However, the new management team had little sales and marketing expertise, which meant that little attention was given to brand building and improving the company’s route-to-market. The team also made some unpopular changes to Delta, such as switching its composition from mainly palm oil to tallow.

As a result of these and other misguided strategic decisions, Delta Soap lost significant market share over the next decade. By January 2017, the product had dropped to No. 4 in the segment with 12% market share. Dettol, meanwhile, had regained its market leadership.

Refreshing the Brand

As Delta approached its 25th anniversary, the company embarked on an aggressive relaunch that included changing the product’s packaging and formula while introducing it to a younger market segment that was not as familiar with the brand.

Under the new management team lead by second-generation Ezenna family members, Orange Group adopted a “back to the core” approach to sales and marketing. “We simply decided to go back to doing what worked and made commercial sense. Nothing fancy or complex. We had to go back to the basics,” says Ernest Ezenna, who currently serves as the group’s Business Development Director and is part of the second-generation Ezenna family management team.

First, the team decided to launch a “new” Delta Soap with a modern look and shape, and revert back to the original palm oil-based formula. This new formula enriched the soap fragrance, which was found to be a key driver for purchase in consumer studies. Second, the sales team focused on primary markets and channels in the traditional trade segment that would allow the soap to be distributed more effectively among small retailers. Nigeria currently generates 95% of its retail sales from traditional trade.

Finally, the team developed a campaign to relaunch Delta to appeal to a younger audience, similar to the campaign used at the brand’s inception. But this time around, the campaign would be driven by social media.

Inspired by a trip to Jakarta, Ernest witnessed first-hand the potential of social media and leveraging the influence of online celebrities. “All you have to do is open Instagram or YouTube in Jakarta, and you are bombarded with multiple ads targeted at young consumers by companies like Unilever Indonesia and, of course, our partners like Kalbe and Tempo Scan,” says Ernest.

Using this insight, the management team developed a social media commercial in the form of a music video to appeal to the music-loving, social media-savvy Nigerian millennials. Since the launch, the music video has generated more than 14 million views across Instagram and Facebook.

Because of the campaign’s success, social media has become the cornerstone of the team’s marketing plans. “It’s all about interacting with the younger generation of Nigerian consumers. Through social media, we are able to engage with them directly and this gives them a voice to feel that their individual needs are being met by the brand. We plan to build on the success of Delta’s relaunch, and increase our digital investments for other brands,” says Uchenna Ezenna-Gboneme, another second-generation Ezenna family member who oversees Media Relations for the group.

Brand Extensions With Asian Partners

The successful relaunch of the Delta brand has led to plans to diversify the group’s personal care offerings. This includes introducing a shaving line, with razors sourced from China, and a moisturizing cream lotion, possibly sourced from Indonesia. With its strong distribution network, fully integrated logistics, and warehousing and sales operations, Orange Group is confident that it will be able to leverage its insights and partnerships from Asia to explore the vast potential of the FMCG market across Africa.

“The Delta experience shows us that there is a lot we can still learn and leverage from our Asian partners,” says Ernest. “Africa is next, and we believe that the explosive growth that happened in Asia in the early 2000s will occur in Africa soon. We are very excited about the future and are investing aggressively to ensure that we are adequately prepared to take advantage of that growth.”

 

Medtech start-up BookDoc is on a roll and the secret, according to Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Chevy Beh, lies in forging meaningful partnerships within an ecosystem that is aimed at building long-term relationships.

“We are always on the lookout for new initiatives to add value to our healthcare ecosystem,” says the 34-year-old co-founder of BookDoc. “BookDoc may have started with a simple idea of matching patients with doctors but it’s now more than that; it’s about growing our partner and user base.”

The company began in 2015 with the aim of providing a convenient way to match patients to doctors through a mobile app, which has since evolved to connect corporate customers with insurers and syncs with wearable devices such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit.

It counts among its clients Top Glove, Petronas, Malaysia’s Ministry of Health (MOH), KPJ Healthcare and Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care. Regionally, its services are used by PT Siloam International Hospitals in Indonesia and Bumrungrad International Hospital in Thailand.

It’s just the beginning for Beh. In the past nine months alone, Beh has added a string of Malaysian government ministries to its list of partners. These include the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR) and the Ministry of Defence.

“The idea is to get large government agencies and its employees onto our Book-Doc platform so that we can expand our healthcare benefits as widely as possible,” he explains. “For example, BookDoc, the MOH and MOE are together promoting healthier lifestyles among Malaysian students in schools by getting them to sign up for the app. Our tie-up with MOHR is to promote a healthy workplace environment at offices.”

Beh believes BookDoc can be the catalyst to promote healthier lifestyles. Behind this effort is the company’s loyalty platform dubbed Activ, which aims to reward people for setting fitness goals and exercising.

He says Activ is designed to create a “wow” factor to motivate people to take care of their health and be recognized for their efforts.

“We’ve partnered with hundreds of retailers, and BookDoc users who meet their exercise targets can, for example, redeem their rewards at over 1,600 offline locations as well as with online partners in 12 countries.”

Beh says the Activ loyalty program is constantly evolving based on what its users are doing with the BookDoc app.

“We collect a lot of data, such as the frequency of visits, the different health screening packages and exercise data from smartwatches connected to BookDoc. “Our app can then target specific users with different offers and rewards,” Beh explains, adding that all data collected complies with guidelines in the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to safeguard patient health information.

Beh says in the near future, BookDoc’s ecosystem will grow exponentially. He is currently working on securing another government partnership before the end of the year that will add 1.6 million Activ users to its existing 500,000 members.

“We are continuing to grow our corporate customers and reward partners, and have plans to add features like telehealth and remote monitoring,” he says.

“It’s an honor to be invited to such a wonderful event by Haruhisa Handa. I respect him for running so many charitable organizations, which support people who have suffered difficulties throughout the course of their lives. His spirit has a positive impact on the world,” U.S. actor Nicolas Cage said at the December 20th opening of the Tokyo Art Foundation Christmas concert and exhibition.

Cage’s own career needs little explanation. In 1990, he got his big break in David Lynch’s film “Wild at Heart,” which also became a smash hit in Japan. Five years later at the age of 32, he received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in “Leaving Las Vegas,” and has remained a permanent fixture in the world of entertainment. Cage has starred in several major works and blockbuster movies, but in recent years his taste in feature films has changed dramatically. Since 2010, he has opted for roles in B-movies over scripts offered to an actor of such standing—a decision that has garnered disapproval from some critics.

Cage, however, doesn’t subscribe to Hollywood values and rejects the idea that box office success and awards are the measures of a performer’s worth. What matters is the belief of the audience, and it’s more important to be able to fully inhabit a character, he says, than to star in a major film.

“When I get a casting offer, I focus on how the role synchs with my imagination, memories of the past or life experiences—whether or not I can find a little bit of common ground. Then I ask if I am really able to play that role at this point in time. In that sense, appearing in mainstream action films during the 90s was a rather reckless challenge,” he explained.

His career has been a series of challenges, which have introduced him to talented performers and helped polish his art. “Working with superstars like Meryl Streep and Sean Connery gave me new motivation. From Jon Voight, I learned that making a movie is about teamwork rather than individual effort. These days, I am picky about who I work with,” he says.

Cage’s philosophy of life was largely shaped by his late father, August Coppola. “My dad was a university professor and very involved with the arts. He was familiar with the culture of every country and was, in fact, particularly interested in Japan. He introduced me to the classic films of Akira Kurosawa at a very young age. Even now, my heroes are [legendary swordsman] Miyamoto Musashi and [actor] Toshiro Mifune,” he recalled.

A professor of comparative literature, a film executive and a lifelong advocate of the arts, August Coppola also had a strong influence on his younger brother, acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola, who dedicated the coming-of-age drama “Rumble Fish” to his elder brother. August encouraged members of the Coppola family, including Nicolas and Sofia—Francis’s daughter who has become a prominent director in her own right—to embrace other cultures and pursue creative endeavors.

“My father and Haruhisa Handa resemble each other closely, in personality and way of thinking,” Cage said. “Both of them are teachers, knowledgeable about world literature and art, who also love sports. However, there are many people who can’t easily engage with these things. Take, for example, the visually impaired. Both men share deep empathy for people in these circumstances. Based on his desire to connect people through sports, Dr. Handa established the International Blind Golf Association, which now operates in 16 countries. My father August wanted blind people to be able to experience art, so he built a structure [called the Tactile Dome] in California where you use your sense of touch to appreciate the artwork in complete darkness. In my opinion, Dr. Handa’s vision overlaps with my father’s.”

Before designing the Tactile Dome in 1971, which is located inside San Francisco’s Exploratorium museum, Coppola went about daily life wearing a blindfold for three months to better grasp the experience of blindness. “Sympathy alone is not enough to make this kind of social contribution. My dad and Dr. Handa started by trying to understand the lives of people with disabilities. It’s not about just participating in charities and volunteering, but rather focusing on actions. By spending time with one another, we are trying to find the meaning of life together. It’s a relationship of equals. If we as a society could all become aware and accepting of diversity, just think how happy the world would be. This is what I learned from my father and Dr. Handa,” Cage said.

It seems Cage has based his career on the mindset that he inherited from his father. “As society becomes more diverse, the characters we as actors portray are becoming more complex. I want to be able to play those characters, whether they’re good guys or bad guys,” he said.

When asked by Handa about his upcoming project with Sion Sono—a director who has been dubbed “the most subversive filmmaker in Japanese cinema today”—Cage answered enthusiastically: “I’m really excited to work with Mr. Sono.”

About Nicolas Cage

American actor, director and producer Nicolas Cage was born Nicolas Kim Coppola in Long Beach, California, in 1964. Raised among a family of artists and entertainers, he is the nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, and cousin of directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola. After working with the prestigious American Conservatory Theater, he made his film debut in the 1982 film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” In 1995, we won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in “Leaving Las Vegas.” He has appeared in numerous works, such as “The Rock,” “Con Air,” “Gone in 60 Seconds” and “Mandy.”

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Contact information:

Misuzu Corporation

81-3-3247-5585

www.misuzu.com

Led by Singapore-based food and beverage (F&B) company BreadTalk Group, renowned Taiwanese restaurant chain Din Tai Fung and it’s signature dish xiao long bao (broth-filled steamed pork dumplings), made their debut in London in December, marking the brand’s maiden venture in Europe. Located in the city’s West End district, the flagship restaurant is Din Tai Fung’s 153rd restaurant globally. A second restaurant in the British capital will open in 2019.

Ranked as one of the world’s top 10 gourmet restaurants by The New York Times in 1993, the brand has been awarded a Michelin star and enjoys a global presence in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates.

“We wanted to bring this world-renowned brand to London because it is home to some of the best chefs and restaurants globally. Consumers in London appreciate good food and quality Taiwanese cuisine. In addition, through the opening of our first Din Tai Fung restaurant in London, it provides our team with many learning opportunities, which will be useful for future growth and expansion”

– Henry Chu, Group Chief Executive Officer

BreadTalk Group’s partnership with Din Tai Fung began 16 years ago when it brought the brand’s first restaurant to Singapore. It opened the first Din Tai Fung branch in Thailand eight years later. To date, there are 22 Din Tai Fung restaurants in Singapore, six in Bangkok and one in London operating under BreadTalk Group.

Din Tai Fung’s U.K. venture is led by Taster Food UK Ltd., a subsidiary of BreadTalk Group. Taster Food’s subsidiary, Together Inc., is in a joint venture with Din Tai Fung Restaurant Co. and other partners.

Henry Chu, Group Chief Executive Officer shares: “We wanted to bring this world-renowned brand to London because it is home to some of the best chefs and restaurants globally. Consumers in London appreciate good food and quality Taiwanese cuisine.

“In addition, through the opening of our first Din Tai Fung restaurant in London, it provides our team with many learning opportunities, which will be useful for future growth and expansion,” he adds.

Chu says Din Tai Fung’s London restaurant will differentiate itself through the quality and authenticity of the chain’s signature dishes and other delicious Taiwanese staples, including its steamed chicken soup and world-famous xiao long bao. The dumplings have a minimum of 18 folds and pass through six different stations—each manned by a team of dian xin (dim sum) chefs—before steamed to perfection for more than 40 minutes.

Global Expansion

London is BreadTalk Group’s first foray into Europe, with the majority of its outlets in Asia. Looking ahead, Chu says the group will pursue its expansion plans in the United Kingdom and elsewhere through one of the 12 brands in its stable. To support this, it is looking to grow its brand portfolio, and has added five more to its offerings in the past two years alone. “The end goal is to strike a balance between having more countries to operate in and strengthening our presence in countries we already operate in, with new, refreshing brands,” he explains.

BreadTalk Group has four business divisions: bakery, food atrium, restaurant—which manages the Din Tai Fung brand—and a recently launched division called 4orth Food Concepts that identifies suitable joint-venture partnerships. In May last year, for instance, BreadTalk Group partnered with Shenzhen Pindao Food and Beverage Management to introduce popular beverage brands Tai-Gai and Nayuki, respectively known for fruit-blended premium teas and the cheese tea bakery café concept, to consumers in Singapore and Thailand, with a first right of refusal to operate in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Both brands were founded in 2015 and have become two of the most iconic beverage brands in China, with more than 240 stores in 22 major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. “Nayuki is a brand that we will consider bringing to Europe. It’s tasty and healthy, so it appeals not only to the young but also to a broader audience of tea and milk lovers,” explains Chu.

Embracing Technology, Supported by Our Values

To fuel its global expansion, the group looks to leverage technology and automation to overcome pertinent issues faced by the F&B industry, such as its heavy reliance on manpower. Chu notes, “F&B is a labor-intensive industry and, coupled with long working hours, it’s difficult to hire younger people to join this industry. By investing in automated solutions in the kitchen and leveraging consumer technology, such as iPad ordering, we can create a more efficient working environment and enable our staff to engage more with our customers.”

Guiding BreadTalk Group’s growth strategy is its recently revised vision, mission and core values statement. The group continues to embrace innovation and ongoing improvement, with both supported by a spirit of professionalism and integrity. “We always ensure that we use the freshest ingredients and deliver the best value for our customers in every product we serve,” says Chu. The group conducts regular audits to ensure that quality is consistent across its vast array of brands and outlets, and is committed to a culture of continuous training for its staff.

“The United Kingdom is a new market for us. Therefore, we will continue to invest time and effort so that we can deliver an enjoyable brand experience to our British customers as they learn about our brands and products,” says Chu.

 

www.breadtalk.com

Already one of only a handful of Singaporean companies operating in Guinea, Top International Holding is making further inroads into the West African nation with plans to build a port along one of its major waterways. The mining and trading group specializes in the export of bauxite—the raw material for aluminum production—as well as the trading of coal. Over the years, it has expanded its operations into a number of markets, including Malaysia, Indonesia and Africa.

In February, plans for the port along Guinea’s Fatala River came closer to fruition when Top International signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China’s Yantai Port Group and Guinea’s Societe Bauxite Kimbo SA Unipersonelle (Kimbo) to embark on its development. Another member of this partnership is Singapore’s Winning International Group, which will provide maritime-logistics support to the venture.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr G. Jayakrishnan, Global Markets Director, Middle East and Africa at Enterprise Singapore, said the MOU reflected growing ties between Asia and Africa, and the economic dynamism of the two regions.

When completed, the port will serve selected mining concessions and help fuel the growth of Top International’s bauxite business in the country.

“Discussions of this port project have now reached a mature stage, where all parties agree that a more formal understanding in the form of an MOU is the logical next step. With this MOU, we expect our momentum to increase and we are one step closer to achieving the goals of our collaboration,” said Dato’ Victor Tan, Chief Executive Officer of Top International, in a speech at the MOU signing ceremony.

Yantai Port Group is a China state-owned enterprise with more than 150 years of experience in building and operating ports around the world, including Guinea. At the signing ceremony, Yantai Port Group President Ji Shaobo said the company has established an international bauxite-logistics chain that connects Guinea to China as part of its overseas expansion strategy. He noted that in 2018, Yantai Port was the world’s leading port for bauxite imports for the sixth consecutive year, having exceeded 100 million tons in throughput. Meanwhile, bauxite-exploration company Kimbo has been granted mining concessions in Guinea, signifying it has the support of the government.

Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

Dato’ Victor Tan said the development of the Guinea project will be carried out in phases to enable the group to progressively scale the port in terms of capacity and operational efficiency. The project will also include a network of roads connecting the port to the relevant concessions. “The project may seem complex, but with the combined strength of our collaboration, the outcome will be greater than the sum of its parts,” he said.

Looking ahead, he hopes to see a growing community of Singaporean businesses operating in the largely untapped markets of West Africa. “The insights we’ve garnered in Guinea have shown us that there are a lot more opportunities beyond Southeast Asia,” he said. “What we need is to have a broad mindset, be enterprising and not be afraid to seek out new markets outside of our comfort zone; all of this, of course, with proper planning and having the right partners.”