RCI-POD

WEBINAR 12

Premiered on:
15 Sep 2020 (Tuesday)
15:00–16:30 (Manila)
Platform:
Microsoft Teams Meeting

Supporting SME Internationalization in the New Normal


Across Asia-Pacific, SMEs are an important part of the economy in terms of production and employment generation. However, they found it difficult to participate in the world economy even before the COVID-19 pandemic and have been devastated further by it now. This webinar examined what opportunities SME globalization offers the region and how these have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. It also explored how public and private sectors can work together to help globalized SMEs become more resilient.

Video Link:

Link to YouTube

Downloads:

Agenda (PDF)

Previous Episode:

COVID-19, Technology, and Polarizing Jobs
8 Sep 2020 11:00am–12:30
(Manila)

Next Episode:

Bilateral Investment Treaties and Asia’s FDI: Insights and Policy Challenges
21 Sep 2020 2:00–3:30 pm
(Manila)
Opening Remarks:
Jeffrey Tan Head, Corporate Development & Technologies, YCH Group
Bio

Mr. Jeffrey Tan brings along more than 18 years of experience in applying technology to drive business growth, digital innovation and operational excellence in smart cities, ports, customs, logistics, trade facilitation and supply chain management, across various sectors. Jeffrey is currently Head, Group Corporate Development & Group Technology, at YCH Group and covering CEO of Y3 Technologies, a leading supply chain management information technology and services company affiliated to YCH Group.

Aside from his appointment in YCH, Jeffrey also holds various positions such as; Board Member of OctoRocket (a SPH & Y3 Technologies JV); President of Supply Chain Management Chapter at the Singapore Computer Society; Adjunct Faculty for The Logistics Academy (TLA) by the Singapore Logistics Association (SLA) & National University of Singapore (NUS) Institute of Systems Science (ISS); registered UN/CEFACT Expert with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE); Co-chair the Digital Commerce Interest Group at Singapore Manufacturing Federation; Expert Mentor for PortXL (the World’s 1st Port & Maritime Accelerator) and is currently a Member of the Services Standards Committee, a part of Singapore Standard Councils.

He graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Computing and has also completed several executive programmes at INSEAD and has been awarded the INSEAD Certificate in Global Management.

Jeffrey has also obtained his certification in Professional Project Management (PMP®), Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP®) and Advance Certificate in Supply Chain Operations Management from the Project Management Institute, International Institute of Business Analysis and Supply Chain and Logistics Academy respectively.

Presentation:
SME Internationalization: Was there an old normal, is there a new normal?
Shigehiro Shinozaki Senior Economist, Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department (ERCD), ADB
Bio

Shigehiro Shinozaki is a Senior Economist in ADB. He supports ADB’s developing member countries in improving small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) access to finance through various technical assistance projects. His advisory and research expertise includes policy issues in SME development, inclusive finance, and financial sector development especially in developing Asia.

Prior to joining ADB, he held several expert positions at Japan’s Ministry of Finance, OECD in France, and as JICA expert in Indonesia. He holds PhD. in International Studies from Waseda University in Japan.

Paul Vandenberg Senior Economist, Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department (ERCD), ADB
Bio

Paul Vandenberg is a senior economist at the Asian Development Bank in Manila. His research interests include industrialization, the middle-income trap, employment, small and medium enterprises, tech startups, and skills training. He previously worked at the ADB Institute in Tokyo and was a consultant for a number of years with the International Labour Organization. He has taught at the University of Bristol, the International Management Institute (New Delhi) and most recently at Thammasat University (Bangkok). His co-edited books include SMEs in Developing Asia: New Approaches to Overcoming Market Failures and Managing the Middle-Income Transition: Challenges Facing the People’s Republic of China. He received a PhD in economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

Panel Discussion, followed by Q&A:
Moderator:
Ashish Narain Principal Economist, RCI Thematic Group, SDCC, ADB
Bio

Ashish Narain is a Principal Economist with the Asian Development Bank. Prior to this he was with the World Bank since 2004, and worked extensively in South Asia and Southern Africa. His main interest is in issues related to private sector development, growth, and trade. Ashish holds a doctorate in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park and a Masters from the Delhi School of Economics.

Panelists:
Anil Bhardwaj Secretary General, Federation of Indian MSMEs (FISME)
Bio

Anil Bhardwaj is Secretary General of Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME), New Delhi and holds a Masters in International Trade. After serving for almost a decade in Private Sector in international trade, he moved on to take up the challenge of leading a national federation of SME sector.

His specializations include industrial and trade policy issues and framework conditions of promotional and regulatory environment for SMEs and Market Access issues of MSMEs Multilateral Trade Negotiations (such as WTO) and at Regional Trade Agreements.

He has served on many high profile Committees recent being as member of Domodaran Committee on Regulatory Reforms in India and a member of Drafting Committee on National Voluntary Guidelines for Responsible Business under Ministry of Corporate Affairs. He has advised and worked on several SME development projects supported by Govt. of India, ILO, UNCTAD, UNIDO, UNDP, UNESCAP, ITC & UNCTAD (Geneva), UNDP, ADB, Asian Productivity Council (Tokyo), EU, DFID, GTZ, Commonwealth (London) among others. He has authored books and guides for SMEs. He writes regularly on Indian MSME issues and has recently started writing a Blog- ‘The wind beneath the wings’ for India’s largest business daily The Economic Times.

He is also on Governing Board of Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), Ahmedabad.

Jennifer Buckley Senior Managing Director, Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF)
Bio

Jennifer Buckley is a Senior Managing Director at SEAF having joined after 20 years in private equity leadership roles focused on growing mid-sized businesses across Europe and Asia as Head of GE Capital’s EMEA private equity business and as CIO of its Asian operations. Ms. Buckley is on SEAF’s Global Investment Committee and is based in Singapore from where she leads SEAF’s women’s economic empowerment fund programs. During her career, she has worked at Goldman Sachs International and Private Advisors in London and at Fletcher Challenge in Auckland. Ms. Buckley received her MSc in International Accounting & Finance from the London School of Economics. She also holds a LLM (Hons) and LLB (Hons) from the University of Canterbury.

Madhurjya Kumar Dutta Director, Trade & Investment Facilitation (TIF), Department at Mekong Institute for Cooperation and Development (MI), Thailand
Bio

Mr. Madhurjya Kumar Dutta is currently the Director of Trade & Investment Facilitation (TIF) Department at Mekong Institute for Cooperation and Development (MI), Thailand. Mekong Institute is an Inter-Governmental Organisation (IGO) established by the six Greater Mekong subregion countries for capacity development and regional cooperation in areas of Trade and Investment, Agriculture development and Commercialisation and Technology and Innovation connectivity (www.mekonginstitute.org).

Mr. Dutta has over 23 years of experience in private sector development in South and South East Asian countries. His key areas of interest are Small & Medium size enterprise (SME) development, trade and investment facilitation. He has designed and implemented several multilateral capacity development projects on SME development for regional and global value chain integration, Cross border trade, Special Economic zones (SEZ), Transport and logistics including green logistics, SME Market access, eCommerce, Sustainable tourism, Investment forums etc.

Mr. Dutta earned his Master of Science in Regional Development Planning and Management from Technical University of Dortmund, Germany and Master’s degree from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.

Nana Khurodze Investment Specialist, Private Sector Financial Institutions Division, ADB
Bio

Nana Khurodze works at Asian Development Bank as a Relationship Manager of Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program since 2015. Nana manages ADB’s Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program (TSCFP) in Central Asia, the Caucasus, Mongolia and Pakistan. Her main responsibility is to manage relationships with banks to maximize transaction volumes, provide excellent client service and ensure constant vigilance in assessing and monitoring risk. Aside from that Nana is working on knowledge sharing and other initiatives.

Nana has been working in banking sector since 2006. Before joining ADB Nana worked as Head of Trade Finance at TBC Bank (Georgia) and her main responsibilities were developing and managing Trade and Supply Chain Finance Business; implementing the long-term objectives, policies and procedures. Prior to that Nana worked at HSBC Georgia and Switzerland (UK branch) and held various positions in Bank of Georgia and Basisbank (Georgia).

Summary & Closing of the Webinar