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I started going to Phuket for vacation almost 25 years ago, sometimes a few times a year even, as we had company offsites there and the bosses simply loved going there. I have seen the little island grow from a remote isolated status to a well-developed resort spot for a cosmopolitan group of people from all over the world.

We went to Phuket this week for a 6 nights holiday in 2 locations, spending equal time in 2 different locations. Originally, this was timed to allow my older son to join us for part of the trip after his army officer commisioning parade last Sat. But they changed his block leave to after Christmas, hence he could not join us.

We decided to stay at busy Patong for our first part of the holiday. Wife chose a nice resort at the northern edge called Graceland. It reminded me of one of our earliest vacations we had here, where we stayed at the same location. It was then in an old resort as we just started working and the budget was tight. Most the beach area remains the same but roads have improved. This was due to the big tsunami on boxing day in 2004 which destroyed parts of the town with waves of more than 10 to 30 meters high.

The busy main street was filled with a lot of drinking holes, bars and live bands playing very loudly. It was less seedy than what we have seen previously. It was an eye-opener for younger son as we still see so many women openly trying to prostitute themselves there. One of the live bands stood out for us and eventually, we spent 2 nights there chillaxing and enjoying the music.

Our hotel unit was wonderful as we had a balcony that connects directly with the swimming pool with a jacuzzi in front and the pool bar just less than 10 meters away. We did the usual tourist stuff, went for white water rafting and found a nice beach club called Kudo just in front of the beach to while away a whole day. Massages were cheap, so we each had 3 there (foot, facial and a Thai body massage) within the first few days.

Next, we moved to Movenpick in Karon beach. It is a more laid back and quieter place where beach life is slower and cosier. We upgraded to a bigger room that was on the 3rd floor. Had more massages and relaxing at the beach, which was one of the longest in Phuket.

There were so many Europeans there and it surprised me that there were so many Trump supporters there, aka Russians… Most spent weeks or months here to escape the winter cold for tropical weather where they can walk around in beach shorts rather than being wrapped in winter clothes in freezing cold. A lot of the restaurant menus have Russian versions. During the last evening meal we had, we were the only Asian family surrounded by other Russian families!

It was a relaxing and laid back holiday as we had planned. I am not one that can do this for long and a week was just nice. I was pretty much looking forward to going home as we will be having our annual Christmas and New Year gatherings soon.

This is shaping to be a messy ending for global financial markets which we will remember 2018 for. Stock markets are now lower than where we started. It all leads to Trump and he is unravelling fast. The desperate man is being hit from all sides and grappling at straws now. He is creating chaos to try to distract and deflect attention from himself. Flip-flopping on decisions to shut down the government after watching Fox news? Amazing but true… The sudden announcement of a pullout from Syria? Check.

It reminds me of a previous boss that was too difficult to predict. He prides himself for being able to keep everyone on their toes. But for the most powerful man in the world to do that? How can the world react to an egotistical tyrant who changes his mind by the minute??? Even all the generals have left, fed up with his insistence that he relies on his instincts alone instead of good common sense. Stable genius my foot. I can’t wait for 2019 to start – this is better than any reality TV series. Except that it has a real-world impact that touches everyone on planet earth… Stay tuned, amigos!

As we come towards year-end, the financial markets continue to be volatile over numerous events amidst a thinning liquidity environment in Dec. Trump is blowing up big time as bad news unravels by the hour. Brexit is getting doomed, oil prices down and the China/Huawei saga is getting worse.

I spent most of the week on a business trip to the capital of Myanmar, Naypyidaw. It was a study trip to visit some of the branches of the microfinance firm I am working with as a financial consultant and to also visit the regulators that are based there.

This is my second trip there, the first one was with my former company in 2015. This amazing white elephant city project was built secretly in 2003-2005 with rumoured help from China. The military had decided then that Yangon is too old and crowded for renewal and the solution was to build a new capital that is midway between Yangon and Mandalay that will be the new showcase capital of Myanmar.

You have to be actually there to appreciate how huge the project was. Most of the multi-lanes roads are usually empty. The widest road has 28 lanes and probably can land a 747 jet plane. I was told that by 2008, most of the government departments were told to relocate themselves from Yangon as Myanmar declared to the world the existence of this new city on an auspicious day in the Burmese calendar.

We spent 2.5 days there, starting on day 1 with an early morning flight at 0630 which lasted only 35 mins. After breakfast, it was to an arranged meeting with the regulators at 0930. The meeting went well and they were very supportive of our microfinance initiative to help the agricultural sector. Farmers formed 36% of Myanmar’s GDP and most are struggling to make ends meet while being subjected to the forces of mother nature. They need lending facilities to buy better seeds and fertilizers and hopefully upgrade the manual nature of their farming processes with modern machinery.

Next stop was to the local wet market to talk to some of our clients who were vendors and wholesale sellers of goods. Most started here in 2008 when the city was newly formed. The CEO and his COO were with us to personally chat with a selection of end clients. We talked to a few ladies who were selling dried goods and fresh vegetables, getting valuable feedback from them.

After lunch, we headed off to a farming community. We were totally taken by surprise when we entered the village’s community building and found 50+ farmers waiting for us… Our CEO spoke to them and explained about our insurance policies built into the loans we provided which ensured that the loan will be repaid should anything unforeseen happens to the borrower. We had a Q&A session before walking over to observe a farmland. The farmer then demonstrated how they used pumps to irrigate their crops with groundwater.

We then returned back to the branch to meet our staff and have an internal discussion. Finally, we met another client (MSME – Micro Small & Medium Enterprise) who was selling traditional Burmese items of clothing called Longyi before calling it a night.

The next day, we had some visitors from a Japanese corporation who wanted a first-hand experience of microfinance for field research. The agenda of the day was to visit 2 branches and end clients. We went to another wet market to talk to a few shop owners who were selling textiles and another that owns a provision shop.

Then it was back to the branch to witness the disbursement of farming loans to the farmers. Over a 3 days period, farmers will visit the branch to sign documents to effect the new 6 months loan, witnessed by their village chief. The cash will then be passed to them once all papers are in order. On this day, there were 73 individual loans being disbursed. Finally, we went to the field to visit an actual farmer on his land. The journey there was longer than we thought and the roads were not too kind to the vehicles we were in.

This trip was a real eye-opener for me. While I have been working in the microfinance sector for a number of years, it was always at the strategy level concerning Treasury related topics of assets and liabilities, stressing on liquidity from an overall HQ macro level. Seeing the results of the company from an end user perspective was heartening and enriching for the soul. I could see the real hardship that the farmers were experiencing, that one year of bad weather can not only wipe out their crops but it can also cripple them financially. Living from hand to mouth was constantly an option that may occur to them suddenly.

With the ability to borrow, they can hopefully break out of the poverty cycle which their forefathers could not escape from previously. Life is hard for them and they really have to work their butts off just to maintain a family. It makes my little contribution all the more meaningful. To see the company succeed is to see the lenders have an improvement in their well being. This, in turn, will help the country’s growth. Myanmar is resource rich but needs a lot of help to develop its assets for the good of its people. I am greatful for this opportunity for me to contribute a small part.

I will be attending my older son’s officer commissioning parade this afternoon. We are all proud of him and so looking forward to the parade. I have seen this young man evolved and changed so much over the last 12 months of his National Service army life. Ah Boyz to Men indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week was a bloodbath in the financial markets for many. There were extreme volatility and wide swings in an illiquid market caused by multiple unexpected events.

For many banks, it has been a tradition to wind down trading activities by end Nov to get ready to close their books before year end and prepare for the next fiscal year. The trading positions are trimmed and traders get ready for their year-end holidays. Those that don’t meet their budgets by now will know that it will be hard to catch up within a month in an illiquid environment. Hence it becomes a self-fulfilling situation as most banks withdraw from the markets and liquidity becomes very tight and wild swings may occur.

There were telling signs that Dec was going to be a crazy ride as Americans celebrated Thanksgiving towards the end of Nov. We had the G-20 meeting last weekend which pundits predicted correctly that it will not end well. Theresa May was trying to sell her Brexit plan to Britain which was doomed for failure. And finally, we have Trump with his multiple shenanigans and flip-flops which really confused the markets further.

The noose around Trump’s neck is also getting tighter – Mueller’s investigations coming to a head – Cohen, Manafort and Stone either frantically trying to complete plea bargains or doing a final last-minute hero’s stand (pending a presidential pardon?). In desperation, he is trying to deflect attention to anything and everything but himself. Lies and untruths are now being generated at an accelerated rate.

First off was his interpretation of the dinner with Xi via tweets. Even his own US team could not comprehend what he thought was agreed upon. The Chinese were also confused and stayed silent, trying to decide how they can respond to actions which Trump thought he had made with China over just one dinner. Markets initially rallied on the 90 days delay on the tariffs implementation date and perceived beginning of peace talks. It unravelled again when they realized that US is actually playing hardball when the Huawei CFO was arrested in Canada at the request of the Americans.

Meanwhile, the Republicans and Democrats were briefed on the Khashoggi murder by the CIA and they are crying out for justice now against MBS and for the orange one to change his tone. He is also waging another war to keep oil prices low while OPEC is meeting to agree to cut production to support oil prices.

A lot of the White House positions are still vacant and the capable ones are avoiding it like the plague. He is literally scrapping the bottom of the barrel trying to fill understaffed departments. Did you hear about the replacement for Nikki Haly? Fox news is running out of people to offer. Soon, we will have cartoon characters taking over the WH.

We should expect more volatility ahead into Christmas as everyone is falling over each other trying to react to new knee-jerk events and 180 degrees change in positions. Hang on tight! I am looking to buy some more US equities on dips while my crypto portfolio is going into the red now.

Looking towards an exciting week ahead for me. Preparing for the SCB half marathon tomorrow morning at 4 am, then off to Yangon again. We will be travelling with the senior management team to visit some of the microfinance branches around Nap Pyi Daw. Then it is to attend the officer commissioning of my older son as a proud parent before we have a week of family vacation time in Phuket. Have a great holiday ahead!

 

 

 

I was in Yangon most of this week for my monthly trips as a part-time financial consultant to a microfinance company which I started from Jan this year. My designation was the ALCO (Asset & Liability Committee) Chairman.

This opportunity came along when my ex-colleague became the CEO in Jul 2017. He thought that I could add value to his company because of my Treasury experience and the similar work I had done with him from 2014 to 2016 in Cambodia and Myanmar in our previous company that was linked to a sovereign wealth fund.

We had started from scratch 2 microfinance companies in Phnom Penh and Yangon with a local partner. These Joint Ventures provided the strength of robust parentage and technical expertise gained from previous experience from similar setups. We had plug and play operational systems which were refined from our projects in Indonesia, China and India. Most of us in the HQ office were ex-bankers who brought our global banking experience into this operational investment setup.

The company which I joined this year was already 4 years old and had not broken even yet. The owners had decided that a change in management was required and hence the new team was put in place. My friend became the new CEO in the middle of last year. He had the experience to know what was required to make it successful. He identified the many gaps there were missing and needed to be corrected and strengthened to put the company into shape before growth can happen.

On my end, I set about to map out the ALCO process to help institute discipline and structure to allow for strategic planning to happen. The monthly meetings were difficult at the beginning and took a bit of selling to convince the senior management on its effectiveness since they never had it before.

Slowly but surely, we begin to identify bottlenecks and issues that were impeding the progress of the company. Some were simple to correct once they were identified and after getting the buy-in of everyone. Others took longer to change as we thrashed out the issues over the monthly ALCO meetings and separate offline discussions.

The first part of the year was to get the house in order. One of the main initiatives was to amend/implement policies which were inadequate or missing. The other was to benchmark ourselves to the market to see where we were and where we want to go. Once a benchmark competitor was targeted, we seek to learn from it and how we can be like them. Risks within the portfolio were also identified and action plans put in place to mitigate them. Silos within the senior management team were also vigorously torn down. We had to generate more teamwork and instil best practices that were good for the company.

Myanmar is a relatively young country on the global stage as it had shut itself from the rest of the world for more than 50 years. It had only opened up in recent years, since 2015. Prior to that, it was a backward country that had military police spying on its citizens in a totalitarian regime. Within a few short years, it has achieved a lot. Everyone has a smartphone now whereas a SIM card used to cost USD1,000+ a few years ago and you can only get it via a lottery system… The people have tasted what the world has to offer and there is no going back to the old ways.

Talent was and still is in short supply. Most people have never been exposed to a professionally run commercial setup and even office politics was new to them. There was an exodus of Myanmar nationals seeking work overseas for years and some are now looking to return back to the motherland except that the discrepancy in pay is still quite wide compared to what they can get outside of the country.

We had to assume that most of the local management team had no idea of best practices and therefore needed baby steps to educate them accordingly. Given that the CEO, COO and independent advisors (myself and another ex-colleague who joined us in May) are foreigners, we had to help nurture and mould behaviours for the good of the company while being culturally sensitive.

As luck would have it, we secured our first lending facility by Apr and we challenged the team to grow the business in Q3. We were pleasantly surprised that demand was very good and managed to grow the loan portfolio by more than 100% in a short time. Our parent company was also supportive and injected more capital.

Just last month, we finally confirmed a new minority equity partner. They are the arm of the World Bank that has been actively investing in Myanmar. This is a great boost to us as it sets the stage for better things ahead. With such strong parentage now, we can now leverage our capital to attract more lending facilities. Our 32 existing branches in the rural areas are also able to effectively gather more target clients and our strengthened infrastructure is ready to do much more.

We had arranged to meet a number of foreign banks operating in Yangon during my trip this week. The central bank had also recently removed the barrier between local and foreign companies working together to provide facilities to each other. This was an opportune time for us to bang our drums and signal to foreign parties that we are a good partner to work with in this changing landscape.

I am very bullish about our business into 2019. In a matter of a year, we have shown and proven to ourselves that the ambitious goals we had set were achievable. We are now almost 1 year ahead of our original 5 years plan. The senior management team is energized to face new challenges and it is a very rewarding and warm feeling for me to know that I had participated in this journey with them.

https://ifcextapps.ifc.org/ifcext/pressroom/ifcpressroom.nsf/1f70cd9a07d692d685256ee1001cdd37/c9b0a711aef7625f8525814700244185?OpenDocument

 

I am always a history buff when it comes to movies. Learning about things that happened a long ago (eg. Rome, Vikings) or recently (eg. 20th-century stuff) appeals to me. With new TV series exploding across the world (at least 500+ to choose from annually), there are so many choices to consider and some will catch my attention.

Netflix had also encouraged binge-watching, offering a buffet at a ridiculously low price. I pay USD 7.99 per month that allow my family of 4 to use 6 devices to access everything they have to offer (only one device can stream at a time, but downloads to a device are possible too). Cable TV providers are now going out of business thanks to these live video streaming giants that stores all content on the cloud. The term “Netflix and Chill” is being used nowadays by couples to mean that they will binge watch movies and also have sex!!

This week, my binge watching attention has been focused on the newly released Narcos Mexico series on Netflix. They had just released all 10 episodes at the same time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcos:_Mexico . The previous 3 seasons were on the Colombian drug cartels based on the Medellin (Escobar) and Cali cartels. It is frightening how cocaine corrupted and destroyed the country with its violence and the complete destruction of its citizens. Season 4 now moves to Mexico to focus on the beginning of the  Guadalajara Cartel and their rise to power. It is an interesting study of how absolute power corrupts.

At that time, Mexico was deep into marijuana (from the cannabis plant, also called weed) production. As a side note, we now see a resurgence of this drug being legalized around the world in recent times… Share prices of these companies were the star performers in stock exchanges this year.  The Mexican drug lords then found a more profitable venture in cocaine (from the coca plant) that Colombia was mass producing, by helping them transport the drug to North America via their borders with USA. Billions of $$$ were already changing hands in the 1980s before it even became fashionable to talk about such eye-boggling numbers in the financial sector!

Cocaine is now making a new comeback in the world.  We in Asia are new to this game that happened in Central America in the 1980s as it now moves eastward to our region in a big way. The latest update on cocaine trafficking into Asia :   https://multimedia.scmp.com/week-asia/article/2174634/narcos-hidden-drug-trafficking/

Thanks to these shows, I have now learned more about these drugs and their differences and why marijuana is being legalised around the world. Differences between marijuana and cocaine:   https://thehealingclinic.org/cannabis-vs-cocaine-2016-infographic/

Both are manufactured from plant-based sources (cannabis and coca) which were historically used by the people in South America as natural products to boost their energy in a tough living environment.

I wrote about the opioid crisis in my blog a few weeks ago. These are made from synthetic materials that are customizable and made to order without the need for plantations. I fear for my kids as they are now exposed to a world of drugs which are slowly becoming acceptable nowadays…

Separately, I finally used my birthday gift this week. I asked my wife specifically to buy me a DJI Mavic Air drone. I am into video editing and photography, having done a lot of family and company video and photo slideshows for the last 20 years. I was highly impressed with the top quality drone shots used by many youtube videos nowadays in 4K resolution. DJI is a China-based company and one of the top drone manufacturers in the world.

I brought my new toy to the big field near my place for a first time spin around after studying the training 101 drone videos on youtube. First impressions: it was unbelievably easy to fly and control the drone. They had built-in software which made it idiot proof to produce fantastic videos of aerial shots that will enhance the quality of my future MTV production. It even has a “return-to-base” button which will automatically make the drone land on the exact spot it took off from. This is especially useful when the battery is running low. I will need to practice more in order to create content for further experimentation. The biggest drawback I see is battery life. Each can only support a flying time of only 21 minutes and I had to buy 2 extra batteries to be on standby.

The other thing that I did this week was to progress to the next step in my home hydroponics experiment which I term version 2.0 . I had spent a few weeks trying to learn how to grow seedlings from scratch using seeds I had purchased online. Thankfully again, there were many youtube videos to gather this information from.

I finally transplanted some seedlings to the hydroponics structure I bought a few months ago from China. It was made up of PVC piping which used a small pump and gravity to circulate the nutrient-rich water (using A/B solutions)  to grow plants in a soilless environment. After a few days, some of the seedlings seem to be a stable situation now. Hopefully, I can grow enough vegetables to put on my dining table. This will be an eco-friendly way of being self-sustainable by using 95% less water without the need for pesticides with an accelerated rate of growth without using soil at all.

 

 

This was a week of reflection where I had a number of good conversations with persons who were at various stages of the lives. I could relate to all of them as I had previously been there and done that. I shared with them about my experiences and how I dealt with them, with the hope that this will provide comfort and direction for them on how to deal with their own personal journey.

Met a friend mid-week who was experiencing nervous panic attacks recently. In the last 16 months, he had started running the biggest role in his career as CEO of a company. He has been driving himself very hard during this time and the fear of failure was very real to him. Being totally immersed in the role, he is frustrated that others around him may be hindering his progress but yet feels powerless at times to do anything about some of them. He then tries to second guess every step and agonizes over the various permutations of how a situation may play out.

I empathize with him as I was in a similar situation during the Asia Financial Crisis in the late nineties. I had just started to management my first team as a leader while in the midst of a market meltdown which the region has never seen before. I was totally overwhelmed by events happening around me and the pressure was so very severe. Luckily, I had a good mentor and boss to guide me through and provide assurances that things will be alright.

I told my friend that he was over-thinking all situations, that 50% of the stress he is feeling is mostly self-created. He is assuming worst case scenarios and trying to predict 10 steps ahead of the game. With the big burden of doing the biggest job he ever had in his life, he is trying to be superhuman. He should move with the flow and manage things he can control, rather than trying to over analyze every situation. Part of being in control and managing a team is to prioritize tasks and to ensure one does not burn out too soon.

I assured him that he will become stronger in the process and all these things will pass. One needs to enjoy the ride and not over analyze as we are only human. There is much to be thankful for and we should count our blessings. I hope that he is able to digest what I said and reflect upon himself to resolve his panic attacks.

I had another lunch meeting with the mentee whom I had “adopted” for the undergrad mentorship program on Thursday. As this was the second time we were meeting, I had him propose a few questions for me to prepare and share with him. He came back with 3 before the meeting and I asked him to also prepare his answers to share with me. The questions revolved around work-life balance, biggest success and failures.

We had a good sharing session as we got to know each other better. Given that he has not started out in the real working world yet, I could see that some of his thoughts may be too idealistic. I shared with him my experiences working for the last 28 years and my thoughts on the topics being discussed. It was also refreshing to listen to his thoughts and aspirations and what he wanted for his career. I wished I had someone to guide me while I was in uni. So hopefully, I hope I can do a capable mentorship role to pay it forward and provide value-add advise to him.

Another good friend also just informed me that he is leaving his senior banking job in a European investment bank after 11 years. He decided to take the package after turning down an alternative role offered to him. I empathize with his feelings now as I had been through a similar stage 7 years ago. There is a huge sense of loss and uncertainty, some regret and anger mixed into the emotions at this point in time. I can only give him some words of comfort for now and arrange for a meet up next week to talk further.

To round off the week, I had lunch with some old friends at a new concept supermarket billed as a multi-sensory, tech-meets-food grocery and dining experience. It is totally cashless end to end, using its app to enhance the customer experience with maximum efficiency while enjoying the shopping encounter.

https://habitat.honestbee.sg/

Technology has improved so much that it is now capable of totally revamping traditional retail processes. Transport (Uber/Grab) and Holiday Accommodation (AirBnB) industries have already been disrupted and I don’t see why all industries cannot experience the same eureka moment too. I had seen the same in the Hema store during my Alibaba Hangzhou study trip 2 weeks back. The future is already here and how we traditionally do things will become obsolete overnight.

There is no way we can or want to go back to doing things the old traditional style once we experience the ease of doing it the new way, thanks to technology. We have to embrace change or change will engulf us totally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oftentimes, we have heard news about the opioid crisis in America that is causing more deaths than ever. It seems to be a developed world problem as countries like Australia and New Zealand are also being hit hard by this issue. What is the story behind this and is this the next big problem for millennials and Asia in particular?

The crisis has snowballed into a much bigger crisis because technically, the supply of such drugs is unlimited as most of them are man-made and are also customizable to individual users. It used to be that law enforcement officers can try to stop drugs at the production point (eg. heroin, cocaine – destroy plantations and hold certain countries like Colombia responsible) from natural plant-based sources but what if they can be made in the basement of any house in the world using easily available chemicals now???

The explosion of this problem can be traced down to a popular TV series that started in 2008 called “Breaking Bad” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Bad . This was the sad story of a Chemistry teacher that was trying hard to make ends meet and stumbled into an alternative career path by accident. With his knowledge in chemical engineering, he was able to manufacture high quality “meth” (methamphetamine – a synthetic drug) which drug dealers soon came knocking at his door, constantly telling him to increase production as demand shot through the roof. This journey soon spiralled out of control and drug lords literally destroyed his family and the friends he treasured.

This hit TV series which ended in 2013 sparked an entrepreneur light bulb in many parts of the world as a possible upcoming business opportunity. One could easily do an online mail order service to anywhere in the world from one’s basement laboratory. Soon, countries like Australia faced an avalanche of synthetic drugs from China which they could not control https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-05-22/deadly-chinese-fentanyl-is-creating-a-new-era-of-drug-kingpins

Imagine that you can do a mail order for a custom-made synthetic drug that suits your liking. These drugs get more and more potent and some are even 50 times stronger than heroin! Just tick your preferences from a checklist like ordering a salad and Viola! the end product is delivered to your apartment from any part of the world’s home chemical labs. This becomes an addicts nirvana dream come true as they demand higher highs until the body hits a brick wall and collapses.

Singers Michael Jackson and Prince are prime high profile casualty cases in recent years that involved fentanyl, another synthetic drug. George Michael might also have been abusing himself on these recreational drugs for years. Because they are so strong now, an extra gram may just tip you over the line easily. The quality of the product is also suspect if you obtain it from an unknown illegal source. If you are using it alone, the after effects might just kill you on the spot with no one to help in time. Even with friends around, it may be too late.

Just a few weeks ago, a friend told me about the unfortunate story of a perfectly healthy young mother who was with friends in Bali and passed away suddenly in a club during a night of partying. They might have participated in party drugs which were impure or had an accidental overdose. Previously, people were buying Ecstasy in clubs to get a party high but drug pushers can now recommend “better” ones which can easily kill a horse if you are not careful. The cautionary advice is to not accept any drinks from strangers nor buy any drugs at all as you do not know the source and they might be contaminated.

In America, many are innocently hooked onto such drugs as pharmaceutical companies were aggressively pushing them out to doctors as the miracle painkiller solution. Little did the patients know that they may become addicted to it and forced to consume more until they collapse from an overdose. It has become an epidemic problem that is running out of control as more young people become hooked on it and cannot get out of the spiralling hole they fall into.

This is a crisis that is coming to the rest of the world as the pill-popping culture is becoming a norm – there is a pill solution for every problem you might have. Instant gratification is the way to go for millennials. Weed/Marijuana/Cannabis is even legal in some countries now as people get desensitized to what was a no-no previously. The only possible prevention is to constantly educate yourself to be aware of these dangers and actively avoid them.

In America, the government has to first recognise the problem and punish the pharmaceutical companies who have been guilty of aggressively courting many innocent victims in a push for profits. Funds have to be invested to set up programs for patients who have been identified as addicts so that they can have a structured program to wean themselves off these drugs.

As the crisis spreads around the world, all governments should work together to set global taskforces to tackle this impending future catastrophe.

 

 

 

I chanced upon this when I attended the grand opening event of the Alibaba TaoBao university in S’pore earlier this year. Managed to convinced my wife to join me for this study trip to Hangzhou, the HQ of Alibaba. We finally went last week after postponing our earlier July date.

https://www.sirsdigitalcommerce.com/alibaba-ceo-programme1.html

This course was heavily subsidized by the Skillsfuture initiative, up to a tune of 90%. Accommodations and food were provided, except for the flights. It was intended to be a deep immersion introduction to the new e-Retail concept in China over 5 days. These monthly trips started in Apr this year and our class was the largest so far at 48 pax. Most participants were like us, leveraging on the subsidy and wanting to see if a new career path in e-commerce is possible.

The first day was spent travelling to the Alibaba HQ campus for an on-site experience of their work environment. We were introduced to their core beliefs and corporate structure, plus their recent initiatives. I was highly impressed with the latest concept store called Hema. It is a supermarket cum restaurant structure that changes the whole shopping experience. Its stock of live seafood was pretty impressive. The store has mapped out its client target market to within 3 km of the location and they can ensure that any online order they received will be delivered within 30 minutes!!  (12 mins for packing and 18 mins for delivery by scooter).

https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail-financial/offline-retail-store-hema-seeing-success

This was followed by 3 days of classroom lessons that provided us with a history of China’s e-commerce landscape and the current situation. Alibaba started in 1999 and it was only around 2006-08 that things started to take off in a big way. In a country where privacy is non-existent where it is always the country/state before the individual, this big social experiment has also evolved in ways we can never imagine.

All actions can be tracked and hence any discrepancies can be detected eventually. The resulting social behavioural changes are amazing. Everyone wants to do the right thing now as it really does not pay to be dishonest. As an example, I paid the coach driver at the end of our tour and then discovered that the classmate who had booked it for me had already paid upfront to the transport company when he confirmed the trip for me the night before. When he called them up the next day, they immediately credit back the double payment to him, no questions asked. The company cannot afford to have a discrepancy in their books which could potentially cause more problems for them with the tax authorities as all transactions have a digital record.

We also learned about the opportunities available in the e-commerce space in China. Two points stand out: that most buyers are born after the 1980/90s, and that items related to health/beauty have a very strong selling point. Speed and convenience of service are now a given. An alive and still swimming fish can be delivered to your doorstep easily. Same day to plus 1 day delivery time is the norm and they have even succeeded in providing 30 minutes turnaround time in the new Hema concept supermarkets.

B2B is passé, C2C is extremely advanced already and now S2B2C is the next big thing where every order is customizable to the end user requirements. Big Data is now ever so important for the analysis of trends and for strategy implementation.

Many case studies were provided during the 2nd day of classroom lessons. While the China e-commerce market population is so big with new opportunities, strategy planning is even more important now in this online cutthroat world. Every little step can mean success or failure. Everyone wants to be number 1 and number 2 will be fighting so hard to win the crown while the rest of the competition is eliminated.

The trainer shared a story that captivated all of us. In our overseas view, it would have been a boring but crazy tale of a simple product. It was about a big online fight between 2 sellers and how he was advising one side on how to stay on top of the game and to retain their number 1 position. And the product that they were selling? A portable water heater that cost less than USD 5 bucks… A pricing war erupted and target marketing to buyers resulted (mainly undergraduates). They developed a side war by launching a new product (mini cook pot for 1) to cross-sell and regain market share. Sales were about 80,000 units and pricing was a mere RMB 19.90 level. Both went for an all-out war to try to kill each other. Eventually, they reached a truce and move pricing levels to a more survivable RMB 39 level.

We did e-Retailing product line strategy (product lifecycle),  product competitive analysis (SWOT, data mining) exercises and more comparisons between online e-commerce and traditional commerce.  The trainer provided more e-Retailing examples of how successful brands generate product experience which in turn enhances customer experience.

In between the training sessions, we got to know the other classmates better. We were from all walks of life. There were traditional manufacturers (sausages) trying to go digital. Others were in diverse industries seeking to understand e-commerce better and to assess its impact on their industries (banking). Some are looking to penetrate the China market while others want to replicate this in their world.

It seems that China is way, way ahead of the rest of the world in e-commerce. It has only been about 10 years for them but because they do not have privacy concerns, they are able to think out of the box on how technology can improve the overall quality of life. AI (Artificial Intelligence) is one of their focused pillar of growth for the future and with Big Data, the sky is the limit. Holding cash in your wallet is non-existent and everyone uses their eWallets in their mobile phones for all transactions.

I am excited by all these as I see opportunities. Many old world industries will be swept away by the onslaught of new technology, but many more new jobs will be created. The fear of being left behind is very real if we do not constantly aim to improve ourselves and learn new things, to adapt. Change is constant but its velocity is increasing.