News & Events

ABA Awardees Share Valuable Takeaways as Scholars to ASEAN Global Leadership Program

The ASEAN Global Leadership Program (AGLP) 2017, held last May 8 to 12, is designed for senior management of Southeast Asian countries as a crash course on relevant insights on Globalization, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership. With the theme “Shaping our Future as Leaders of Innovation” 38 senior executives, three of whom were scholars to the program, took part in lectures, exposure trips, and discussions hosted by SRW&Co. and UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Founder & Managing Director of City Mart Win Win Tint (Myanmar); Director of VG Offshore International Containers Anusia Ramasamy (Malaysia); and Founder & CEO of Zeenoh, Inc. JD Abenaza (Philippines), were the three awardees of the scholarships as recent winners of the 2016 ASEAN Business Awards. The three scholars participated in a moderated panel discussion and shared their experiences and insights as innovators and entrepreneurs in their respective countries.

Abenaza shared that as the only Filipino in the program, he was able to appreciate the business diversity across the ASEAN region. “It gives me a lot of insights on how to think globally and thrive at the ASEAN level.”

Abenaza also elaborated on the highlights of the program— “We were fortunate to have a distinguished faculty from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business led us deep into innovation’s key drivers namely, experimentation, global and local trends, customer centric product and service design, collaboration, and culture.” He reflected that the program allowed him to have an overview on the new trends and technology happening in the world. “It gives me more ideas. When I go back home I can enable all the businesses that I started in terms of research and development. I have a clearer idea of the innovative technologies that I will pursue.”

Ramasamy on the other hand felt that the program came at the right time for her and her organization. “Why I say it came at the right time is because the industry I am in is in a crisis right now.” Ramasamy shared that at a lecture in the program, one of the directors told them not to wait to do things out of desperation, but to do them out of aspiration. “At the moment in my organization, we are doing things out of desperation — we wanna do something new, do something great. That lesson was an eye-opener for me because it made me look and think ‘is this the right thing to do for our organization? Are we putting our people into the right direction?’”

Tint was enthusiastic about how the program was located in Silicon Valley, which she sees as the center of innovation in the world. “Seeing how fast innovations are happening and trends are changing — the knowledge and insights have given me a good sense of urgency that I will be bringing home with me. This is an unforgettable week for us.”

Overall, Abeneza says that he highly recommends the program as it will help one to become a world class and competitive business leader. Ramasamy also encourages others to join in. “Every individual who is running an organization—whether the CEO or an engineer—should be sent to such programs to open their minds, to look at a different perspective, and to look at what’s happening in the world.” Tint emphasized how value-adding the program is to business leaders. “We really see what’s happening out here in Silicon Valley and how it’s going to impact us in the near future. Senior leadership in companies need to know about these things to bring the needed change for their company.”

Since its establishment by ASEAN Leaders in 2003, the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) has been active in promoting public-private sector partnership and consultation to assist the integration of an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2017. In its efforts to bridge ASEAN Governments with its private sectors, the Council launched the ASEAN Business Awards (ABA) in 2007 to give recognition to enterprises that have contributed to the growth and prosperity of the ASEAN economy.

Source:
http://www.gonegosyo.net/
July 17th, 2017