Located at the heart of the Asia-Pacific region and situated across major trade routes, Southeast Asia today has become one of the world’s most exciting areas for doing business. Even amid the current global uncertainties, it still seems that nothing can stop the growth of this region, with Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, as well as the region’s hub Singapore, being at the forefront of this growth, attracting companies from all over the world to expand and benefit from the opportunities presented in these burgeoning markets.
As such, with the goal of giving Sri Lankan businesses an overall understanding on how they can benefit from the opportunities offered in these prospering economies, PwC Sri Lanka has collaborated with The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce to hold a discussion on Market Opportunities and Entry Strategies into the South East Asia markets ( SEA) to be held on the 13th of October 2021.
The discussion will feature consultants with experience across the South East Asian Region, each of whom has garnered a solid reputation of having helped many companies to expand to Southeast Asia, from the smallest startup to some of the largest MNCs.
This expert panel will consist of Managing Director at PwC Venture Hub, Max Blein with his 15+ years of experience in strategy and business advisory, Louise Broderick who will guide and help companies to grow in the region and advise businesses on go-to-market strategies and Ted Seo an expert on corporate tax, tax risk management and tax structuring for fast-growing companies and start-ups who will guide the audience on liaising with various stakeholders and developing new business opportunities.
These experts will illustrate the opportunities in Southeast Asia and delve into areas covering growth drivers in the region. Additionally, the consultants will discuss some commonly faced challenges for companies entering the region such as company structure and functions, tax and legal barriers, and strategic challenges for scaling up operations in the region.
The experts would share their observations from working with companies that have expanded in the region and outline how these companies were able to overcome the challenges and successfully scale into South East Asia.
Giving an insight into the goal of this discussion, Mr. Channa Manoharan, COO and Advisory Leader at PwC Sri Lanka stated “Southeast Asia has been riding on the wave of globalization that has brought benefits and economic growth with expanding trade and investment linkages. It is therefore important that Sri Lankan companies reap these opportunities and blaze a trail in these markets for their products and services. With our experience in helping companies establish a strong footprint in these regions, we are keen to support local companies and share our knowledge and experience with them to support their future expansion plans.”
Mr. Prajeeth Balasubramaniam, Chairperson, Council for Startups of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Chairperson, Sri Lanka Singapore Business Council of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce stated “We are pleased to collaborate with PwC on this knowledge sharing webinar focused on helping identify some of the challenges faced by companies expanding into the Southeast Asian region. The members of the Sri Lanka – Singapore Business Council and Council for Startups, and the wider Sri Lankan ecosystem, are all keen to expand into the SEA region and will benefit from this event”
With an overall aim of propelling discussions towards building up knowledge, opportunities and access to the leading and fast growing South East Asian markets, this webinar is ideally targeted to both SME’s and leading exporters, who will benefit from the strategic actionable insights on the ecosystem provided by the keynote speakers and most importantly, how to successfully engage, connect and build successful businesses in the region.