BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK ENTREPRENEURSHIP STARTUPS STRATEGY TECHNOLOGY Southeast Asia Could Have a $200B Internet Economy With the Right Set Up The Southeast Asian startup scene is strong and getting stronger. Across the region, companies are emerging in fintech, edtech, insurtech, blockchain and many other areas. In 2017, Southeast Asian startups received $7.86 billion in investor funding, which is triple the investments seen the year before, according to Tech in Asia. The region also boasts four unicorns, including Grab […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
STARTUPS Startup Festival 2017 @ Seoul, Korea The Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science & Creativity (KOFAC) has been creating spaces and infrastructures to support individuals in Korea realize their creative ideas. KOFAC along with the Ministry of SME’s and Startups have partnered up with 500V2 an ad agency company to launch Korea’s very first Global Startup Conferencecalled Startup Festival 2017. […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS Women on Top in Tech – Anna Gong, CEO of Perx Technologies (Women on Top in Tech is a series of Women Founders, CEOs & Leaders in technology. It aims to amplify and bring to the fore diversity in leadership in technology.) I am talking to Anna Gong, CEO of Perx Technologies, a leading mobile customer engagement and loyalty software company headquartered in Singapore. Anna was born […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ENTREPRENEURSHIP STARTUPS 3 Things Asian Startups Should Do To Avoid American Rejection The startup world has morphed into a global subculture with technology making us feel like we’re all the same – regardless of cultural or geographical differences. As a startup founder in Asia, especially if you’re based in a smaller consumer market like Singapore, you will likely include other Asian and/or global markets as part of […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS Jesrina Arshad, Founder of PurelyB Jesrina is the founder and CEO of PurelyB.com, namely PurelyB – a one-stop multi-lingual portal that makes it easy and convenient for people in Asia to lead healthier lifestyles. Jesrina has over nine years of experience in the digital industry starting out in web design and development at Integricity (VLT), to leading top digital client […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
INTERVIEWS Kunal Shah, Co-Founder of FreeCharge Apart from being the Co-founder and CEO at FreeCharge, Kunal Shah is an avid student of behavioral economics & science and a hardcore poker player. A proud college dropout from the NMIMS MBA program, Kunal believes in the power of things being “FREE.” While working at his previous startup PaisaBack, Kunal was struck by an epiphany […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS Kunal Narang, Co-Founder Of MakanLuar Today the Asian Entrepreneur speaks to Kunal Narang, who along with Hiro Mohinani are the founders of MakanLuar, a startup worthy of following. Kunal Narang, is a former employee at Bloomberg LP (Singapore) and Apple (New York City). He graduated with Economics degree from Clark University (outside Boston). He grew up in Jakarta and graduated […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS Alfred Chong, Founder of Nanoveu Alfred Chong is the Founder and CEO of Nanoveu Pte Ltd. Mr Chong began his professional career in his garage with just 2 employees and US$1,000 of borrowed capital in building a Systems Integration company which was acquired by CompuCom Systems Inc. After the acquisition, Mr Chong took on the challenge to built CompuCom’s services’ […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS Jong Lee, Co-founder of Lotsofbuttons.com Jong Lee is Managing Director, RGL Holdings, Ltd. and has spent over 15 years building and reinventing businesses as principal, executive, investor, banker and lawyer in the United States, Japan, South Korea and greater China. Jong specializes in technology, media, social enterprise, traditional industries and special purpose real estate. Current and prior portfolio companies include […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS Prukalpa Sankar, Co-founder of Social Cops Prukalpa is the co-founder of Social Cops, a technology social enterprise that harnesses citizen voice as a powerful resource and builds synergystic, connected communities. She started building communities using technology from the age of 10 when she hardcoded an HTML website for Harry Potter Fans around the world. In her university days, she founded the […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Consciousness Conundrum Key Takeaway: The mystery of consciousness has been a subject of debate for centuries, with numerous theories vying for the title. In 2024, the Cogitate Consortium conducted an “adversarial collaboration” between Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) and Integrated Information Theory (IIT). The study aimed to test the theories under neutral conditions, revealing that confirmation bias […] Written by Empirics Asia May 2, 2025May 2, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Illusion Of Control Key Takeaway: Magicians have long exploited the quirks in our perception and thought processes, manipulating the gaps between perception and reality. Recent scientific research shows that the real magic lies in what their craft can teach us about the human brain. Magic is increasingly becoming a research tool in psychology and cognitive science, uncovering profound […] Written by Empirics Asia April 30, 2025April 30, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Is Big Tech Killing Free Speech or Saving It? Key Takeaway: President Donald Trump’s executive order titled “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship” accused the previous administration of stifling free expression by working with social media companies to curb misinformation and label misleading content. However, recent research suggests that less regulation can actually make the internet a less free place for speech, […] Written by Empirics Asia April 23, 2025April 23, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How The Brain Learns Key Takeaway: Recent research published in Science has revealed that the brain uses multiple learning mechanisms simultaneously, revealing the complexity behind brain wiring. Neurons communicate through electric signals called synapses, which form complex networks of connections that transmit information. The traditional theory of synaptic plasticity assumes uniformity between neurons, but the new study found that […] Written by Empirics Asia April 22, 2025April 22, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Did We Just Discover Life On A Distant Planet? Key Takeaway: A new study published in Nature Astronomy claims that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected atmospheric signals on K2-18b, a distant world 124 light-years from Earth. The researchers found traces of molecules often associated with biological activity on Earth, including dimethyl sulphide (DMS). The scientists are 99.7% confident in the presence […] Written by Empirics Asia April 21, 2025April 21, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Why So Many People Believe In The Supernatural Key Takeaway: Belief in the supernatural, including ghosts, spirits, astrology, and psychic powers, is more common than people might expect. These beliefs offer a sense of control, meaning, and comfort in the face of life’s unpredictability. They fall outside the boundaries of conventional science and include ideas like fate, spiritual forces, and life after death. […] Written by Empirics Asia April 18, 2025April 18, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Future Merging Of Mind And Machine Key Takeaway: Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology is rapidly redefining human potential, with breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and machine learning enabling the translation of thoughts into action. The brain is a complex network of over 80 billion neurons, processing thoughts, memories, emotions, and sensory inputs. Advances in AI, miniaturized electronics, and neuroimaging have led to the […] Written by Empirics Asia April 16, 2025April 16, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Rethinking Education Key Takeaways: The Industrial model of education that fueled the modern era and its dizzying reach did its job incredibly well. In his writing, Flynn illustrates study after study, spanning nations and decades, in which modern educational gift of abstraction — a transcendent sign of intelligence, as we saw in Raven’s Matrices — has been […] Written by Anthony Fieldman March 2, 2022October 19, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How China Is Transforming Its Economy Through Learning I highly recommend reading the McKinsey Global Institute’s new report, “Reskilling China: Transforming The World’s Largest Workforce Into Lifelong Learners”, which focuses on the country’s biggest employment challenge, re-training its workforce and the adoption of practices such as lifelong learning to address the growing digital transformation of its productive fabric. How to transform the country […] Written by Enrique Dans February 1, 2021February 1, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Why You’re Not Seeing Success With Influencer Marketing With the new year around the corner, now is a good time to re-evaluate your past marketing strategies and gear up for the year ahead. For some businesses, influencer marketing has simply not seemed to live up to its lofty promises of genuine engagement, credibility, and transparency. Some have claimed that it has been failing […] Written by Michael Tan January 14, 2021January 15, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
A New Philosophy of Business I’m about to ask you to take a mental leap. For the next 8 minutes, suspend your notions of what a business is, and I’ll propose a new lens for you to look through. There are a lot of questions asked around what “community” means for business. “Where should community fit in my organization?” and […] Written by Empirics Asia September 5, 2018September 5, 2018 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked