ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Carnival 2018 fosters stronger regional partnerships, smarter financing in Singapore

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 13 November 2018 - The Singapore Business Federation hosted the 3^rd ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Carnival (AYEC) on 13-14 November 2018, in conjunction with the ASEAN Business & Investment Summit in Singapore.

Some 300 young business leaders from 10 ASEAN countries, China, India and Australia gathered in Singapore for the AYEC event, themed 'Smart Leaders: Smart Business'.

With Singapore as Chair of ASEAN in 2018, AYEC is being organised in partnership with the national young entrepreneur organisations from 12 countries.

Focus on financing and innovation to help growth and transformation in businesses, the conference highlighted the use of artificial intelligence and analytics to help young leaders improve their business performance, and learnt about innovative strategies to strengthen management capabilities in their respective businesses.

There were several networking and collaborative sessions tailored for five specific industry sectors: IT & Technology,Agribusiness & Commodities,Construction & Real Estate Development,Supply Chain & Logistics, and Consumer & Lifestyle.

The opening address was given by Mr Kesavan Sathyamoorthy, AYEC Chairman, and this was followed by a high-level dialogue with Guest-of-Honour Ms Sim Ann, Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Ministry of Communications and Information and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. The dialogue included panellists Mr Lionel Yeo, CEO Advisor of Grab; and Ms Chong Ee Rong, Singapore Business Federation (SBF) Council Member and Chair of SBF Young Business Leaders Network (YBLN).

Mr Sathyamoorthy said: "The ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Carnival is centred on the core principles of partnership and collaboration to enable aspiring young leaders to step forward and drive business and economic growth in the region. With technology and analytics becoming ever important in business today, AYEC 2018 has embedded these core themes into this forum." 

There were two agreements signed during the event. The first agreement was between AYEC and the Council Confederation of Indian Industry where both parties will collaborate to support the growth of ASEAN and Indian trade and investment champions among young entrepreneurs and startups.

A second agreement between AYEC and the China Young Entrepreneurs Association was also signed between both parties to seed greater collaboration between young entrepreneurs' groups in these countries.

The AYEC is a regional young entrepreneurs organisation incubated by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC).