Tag: Southeast Asia

Singapore – Austria-based game publisher THQ Nordic has opened its office in Singapore as part of the company’s expansion to Southeast Asia. The new office will be tasked with serving the region, specifically public relations, marketing, and securing of SEA content creator talent for THQ Nordic and HandyGames’ slate of games in SEA.

The new Singapore office will be lead by Winson Lo as managing director with more than 10 years of experience working in the games industry; and Graeme Ching as the SEA social media manager, where he will be responsible for the digital and integrated advertising expertise for the company.

This is THQ Nordic’s second subsidiary on the Asian continent, following the incorporation of THQ Nordic Japan KK in October 2019.

Philipp Brock, marketing director at THQ Nordic, said, “Building on the success of our Japanese office, the next logical challenge to take on was entering the greater ASEAN region. With almost half of the world’s gamers located here, establishing a footprint poses not only a daunting challenge but a wholly exciting one as well. Plus and as always: our interest is long-term oriented, not just a quick pleasure.”

Meanwhile, Lo commented, “This region is one of big, open hearts and wonderful gaming fans. There is no better time than now to pick up our controllers, warm up our PCs and get to know this avid community.”

Vietnam – United Overseas Bank (UOB) in Vietnam has elevated Victor Ngo, former head of group compliance at UOB Vietnam, to be its new chief executive officer (CEO). The appointment of Ngo succeeds Harry Loh, who relinquished his position to return to Singapore to lead the Group Non-Financial Risk Management.

In his new role, Ngo will be leading efforts to deepen UOB Vietnam’s digital capabilities, expand its financing offerings, and connect clients to market opportunities in Vietnam and across UOB Group’s regional network.

Ngo is a banking veteran with more than 30 years of experience. He joined UOB in 2004, where he led leadership roles. Since 2015, Ngo has been active in engaging businesses and industry partners in Vietnam. He was instrumental in helping the bank to become the first Singapore bank to establish a foreign-owned subsidiary in Vietnam in 2017.

Wee Ee Cheong, UOB’s deputy chairman and CEO, commented, “Victor has deep market knowledge and a strong affinity with Vietnam. With his extensive experience in the banking industry and within UOB Group, he is well placed to drive our Vietnam franchise to new heights.”

Jakarta, Indonesia – Super, an Indonesian social commerce platform serving tier-2 and tier-3 cities and rural areas, has completed a US$70m oversubscribed Series C round led by NEA, with additional investment from Insignia Ventures Partners, SoftBank Ventures Asia, and DST Global Partners, as well as Amasia, and B Capital, amongst many others.

Super leverages a hyperlocal logistics platform to deliver consumer goods to agents within 24 hours of the order time. It partners with community agents such as individuals and warungs to aggregate and distribute millions of US dollars’ worth of goods to their communities each month.

The platform has launched two private-label brands that have realized product-market fit and will invest a portion of their new capital towards developing additional FMCG private-label brands in the next several years. Moreover, Super will be using the new fund to launch cosmetics products, as the desire for this segment is rising across Indonesia. It will also launch a feature for community agents to track end-consumer transactions to help community agents offer better-tailored experiences for the end customers.

Steven Wongsoredjo, Super’s CEO and co-founder, shared that Super is going after a huge untapped market; thus, they will deploy this investment to enable equitable access for people in Kalimantan, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Papua over the next few years.

“We will help more multinational, and provincial FMCG suppliers tap into new markets in rural areas and empower more community leaders to optimize their income and have a better quality of life,” said Wongsoredjo.

Meanwhile, Gisella Tjoanda, Super’s head of strategy and business development, noted, “As Super is entering its 4th year in business, we understand the importance of data collection and analysis as one of the keys to success in launching new SKUs. Therefore, we are going to expand our engineering team to improve Super’s warehouse management system by implementing machine learning to help Super better utilise data to expand its SKUs in the future.”

Andrew Schoen, NEA’s partner, commented that they are thrilled to back the whole Super team, as the platform is positioned to improve the lives of the 260 million Indonesians who reside outside of Indonesia’s capital city.

“Super is going to continuously improve access to basic goods, create meaningful and rewarding jobs, and streamline supply chains for Indonesia’s tier-2, tier-3, and rural regions,” said Schoen.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Dentsu Malaysia has won the digital transformation mandate for Malaysia’s retail food company QSR Brands, becoming the key partner on the company’s transformational journey for KFC and Pizza Hut. 

As part of the mandate, Dentsu Malaysia will be the partner of KFC and Pizza Hut in becoming a true data-first organisation, and future proof business verticals across marketing, operations, and supply chain. The brands have been in the phase of transformation and will go through a data-driven acceleration to improve business efficiencies.

Dheeraj Raina, CEO of Dentsu Media in Malaysia, shared that QSR has set a bold vision for their KFC and Pizza Hut businesses, and the agency shares this vision with them and believes that these brands have a big potential of becoming data companies. 

“For the next 18 months, we will be working with the marketing, data and business teams of KFC and Pizza hut in unlocking the real consumer value with the use of media tech, data and marketing technology. We are bringing the best minds across our service lines together to co-create this powerful and rewarding future with QSR,” said Raina.

Meanwhile, Nehchal Khanna, CEO of QSR Brands (KFC & Pizza Hut) for Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, and Brunei, noted that over the last two years, significant digital investments have been made to provide better digital customer experience and restaurant operations efficiencies and to pivot their business to digital sales because of the changing consumer landscape. 

“We are now ready to realise our bold vision of becoming the number one food technology business in ASEAN, and as part of that aspiration, we are embarking upon this journey with our partners at Dentsu who have gone through a rigorous process of evaluation and selection for this role,” said Khanna.

Singapore – Global marketing agency VMLY&R has announced that its CEO for Singapore, Preethi Sanjeevi, steps down from her role after 16 successful years with the network. Following through on a long-held dream, Sanjeevi will be moving on to begin her own digital venture, creating products and solutions outside the marketing space to solve global issues.

Commenting on her departure, Sanjeevi said, “It’s been a journey of 16 years, since joining VML (Qais) back in 2006, and a dream career with the agency. I will always be grateful for the journey full of fantastic clients, learning, mentors who gave generously and most of all the life long friendships. Thank you for everything VMLY&R!”

Meanwhile, Hari Ramanathan, CEO of VMLY&R South, Southeast Asia, and Japan, said that they will soon announce new leadership for the office under the new structure, designed to continue supporting collaborative and dynamic work across the agency’s customer experience (CX), brand experience (BX), and commerce teams, giving the employees, who are housed in Singapore, the chance to learn and grow with the best in the business and to provide world-class solutions for their clients.

In recent months, Singapore’s investment into capability growth includes moving Saurabh Mathur, previously EVP of growth and innovation for India into the role of regional head of customer experience & head of experience for Singapore. The team has also hired Alex Tan as regional commerce director. Both Mathur and Tan will be based out of Singapore and lead growth in solutions for Singapore and regional clients.

Ramanathan further shared that VMLY&R Singapore is a flagship for the region and has gone from strength to strength under Sanjeevi’s leadership, and she leaves it perfectly primed for its next stage of growth. 

“We thank her for everything she’s contributed to the network’s growth over the past 16 years and wish her all the best with her new venture,” added Ramanathan.

He also noted, “In the coming months, our renewed and strengthened Singapore teams will continue to make an impact on our clients’ businesses, reiterating our focus on commerce as the intersection point between BX and CX. This seamless coming together of the three pillars (BX, CX, Commerce) places us perfectly to partner with our clients to diagnose their business problems and work with them on solutions that have an impact far beyond the traditional communications and marketing sphere.”

Singapore – Financial service giant HSBC in Singapore has elevated Alan Ng, former country head of global trade and receivables finance at HSBC Vietnam, to be its new head of SME banking, HSBC’s specialist coverage division supporting small businesses.

In his new role, Ng will be reporting to Regina Lee, HSBC Singapore’s head of commercial banking. This appointment succeeds Li Lian Ng, who was appointed to lead a new coverage division in March 2022, supporting internationally-minded mid-sized businesses in Singapore.

Ng joined HSBC in Singapore in 2008 and has since held coverage and sales roles across the bank’s trade and commodities divisions. Aside from his recent role at HSBC Vietnam, Ng was also the head of global trade and receivables finance at HSBC Taiwan in 2017. He also spent over 10 years at various banks in Singapore.

Commenting on Ng’s elevation, Lee said, “Alan’s many decades of experience both in Singapore and around Southeast Asia will be of great benefit to our SME customers, and will enable HSBC to continue to capture more share of this growing market.”

Singapore – Small-and-medium enterprise (SME) payments platform HitPay has raised US$15.75m to continue building its payment gateway service for SMEs in Southeast Asia. The funding round was led by Tiger Global and joined by returning investors Global Founders Capital and HOF Capital.

With the capital raised, HitPay will continue to build a leading payments infrastructure platform — with unique SME-friendly features including support for local and international payment methods, best-in-class business software, and integrations with accounting and e-commerce platforms.

HitPay’s range of payment solutions — including local and cross-border payment acceptance and payouts, an online store platform, POS software with card readers, plugins, and payment links — help resource-strapped SMEs improve their payment gateways.

Aditya Haripurkar, CEO and co-founder at HitPay, said, “We are thrilled to have the backing of incredible investors in our mission to empower SMEs with easy, accessible digital payments. SMEs are still underserved, with limited resources and poor access to affordable payment services. With our Series A funding, HitPay can continue to support the unique needs of our merchants, and build the best payment gateway for small businesses.”

HitPay is now available in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, the US, Europe, and the UAE — and is poised to serve new markets in Southeast Asia in the coming months.

Malaysia – Malaysia-based leisure entertainment specialist and theme parks developer and operator, Sim Leisure Group (SLG), has appointed celebrity host and TV presenter Baki Zainal as its first-ever brand ambassador. This appointment will see Zainal anchoring and championing prominent brands under the group, including its proprietary ESCAPE brand of nature-inspired theme parks.

Zainal, who has made significant strides in Malaysia’s entertainment industry with his talent and linguistic edge, is perhaps most known for his claim to fame as a multilingual TV host, conversing effortlessly in English, Bahasa Melayu, and Mandarin, amassing a wide-reaching audience and fan base. He is also known to be an avid traveller, adrenaline junkie, and thrill seeker, making his appointment as SLG’s brand ambassador a rather natural one.

Commenting on his ambassadorship, Zainal shared that he has always had a lot of respect for Sim Leisure Group, especially for the ESCAPE brand of themed attractions, as they are a fine example of a homegrown Malaysian success story, who have made their mark in the international travel and leisure industry. 

“And as a TV and travel show host, this is something I try to promote and portray – the multifaceted nature and richness of Malaysia and Malaysians. So, when I was approached by the group to be their first-ever brand ambassador, I did not hesitate to jump on the opportunity. It’s going to be exciting and I’m truly looking forward to working with them,” said Zainal. 

Meanwhile, Choo Kheng Sim, Sim Leisure Group’s founder and CEO, commented that they are thrilled to have Zainal on board as their first-ever brand ambassador, as they have had a wonderful working relationship with him in the past when he hosted the launch of many of their attractions. 

“In addition to his natural charm and magnetic personality, his spirit of excitement and adventure has truly stood out, making him the perfect fit for this role. Moreover, his involvement with various travel and tourism bodies around the world bodes well for the group’s ongoing expansion plans, not only in Malaysia, but also internationally. We’ve got a lot of plans in store and are already working with him on several engagements to take our brands and attractions to even greater heights,” said Sim.

Senai, Malaysia – Impiana Hotel Senai, a business hotel located in Johor, has launched the new Impiana Hotel Senai Rewards App. This mobile app allows users to access the latest F&B deals and room promotions. All registered users are entitled to get one point for every RM1 spent via the app and enjoy various rewards throughout its usage.

While cumulative points are redeemable at all F&B outlets, as well as at the hotel in the form of room nights, the app is user-friendly and offers instant rewards such as F&B discounts, complimentary meals on birthday month, and special room rates dedicated only for the app users. It allows users to choose a promotion of their choice by clicking on any of the offers displayed, and then filling in the necessary information before being directed to the payment gateway.

Mahadi Mathana, Impiana Hotel Senai’s general manager, said that with this one-for-all app, they are not only building a platform that gets them closer to a full omnichannel experience with the shoppers, but also increasing their capabilities to deliver more customisable options for users.

“In conjunction with Impiana Hotel Senai 5 years anniversary since its opening on 10 October 2017, the hotel grants instant 500 points for every installation of the app until October 2022,” he added.

The hotel said that all promotions are viewable on the newly launched app and foreseen to be one of the best-selling deals on the platform is the BBQ Buffet Dinner. The latest updates are also available on Impiana Hotel Senai Facebook and Instagram page.

Singapore – Digital marketing and advertising agency Bonsey Jaden has announced the promotion of Francois Filamor, former general manager for the Philippines, to be its group general manager. Through the new role, Filamor will aid the agency’s continued growth in its service lineup across Southeast Asia and Australia under its parent company Cue Group.

His 15 years in the industry have taken him from strength to strength, with his work encompassing major tech and finance brands such as Galderma, BPI, and Grab. Through the new endeavour, the role of general manager for the Philippines will be turned over to Kris Villongco.

Speaking on his promotion, he said, “[We’re all] excited—there is a lot of progress even beyond the seven markets that Bonsey Jaden is currently present in. We look forward to widening our footprint globally and furthering our strategy-driven talent on the international stage. And I personally look forward to scaling what we’ve accomplished in the Philippines in terms of client growth and retention, operational efficiency, and employee satisfaction to drive success further across the region.”

Meanwhile, Daniel Posavac, founder and CEO at Bonsey Jaden, commented, “We are extremely happy to promote Francois into this new role as we move forward with offering new services on data, market analysis, and AI. He will be leading all of our general managers across the different markets and be a vanguard for our company’s growth.”