SINGAPORE, 10 September 2019 – As an initiative to prepare the next generation leaders of Asia’s family-led firms to run their businesses, United Overseas Bank (UOB) launched The Business Circle which is open to the Bank’s clients, including young entrepreneurs who have built successful companies.
The Business Circle aims to create a community of next generation family business owners who by learning from successful entrepreneurs will be aided to fast track their own company’s growth. Members will also learn how to sustain growth by tapping the deep industry insights, business acumen and innovative thinking of the business leaders. UOB’s initiative will also facilitate cross-industry and cross-border connections and collaborations for its members across the region.
At UOB, they are committed to helping companies stay relevant and competitive for the long term. Family firms are also a significant contributor to Asia’s continued economic growth, accounting for 34 per cent of the region’s gross domestic product.
Mr Frederick Chin, Head of Group Wholesale Banking and Markets, UOB said that having worked with businesses across generations, they know that experience, expertise, and creativity can take any business to greater heights and they want to help the business in that process. In time, they hope that the members themselves will help other family firms reach success.
“The Business Circle will then be a virtuous circle where valuable experience and knowledge are passed from one generation of business owners to the next.”
Mr Frederick Chin
Masterclasses and workshops will be run by UOB and its partners for The Business Circle which will cover on topics such as business diversification, digitalisation, and cross-border expansion. The Bank will also organise business missions overseas for the members to explore opportunities and to connect with local business leaders for knowledge sharing and collaboration.
The first overseas trip will be to Chengdu and Chongqing, China in November 2019. Fifty next generation business leaders will visit the Liangjiang New Area’s Digital Economy Industrial Park to learn how companies use technology to design solutions to widen their market reach or to improve customer experience. They will also visit Hema, Alibaba’s technology-driven supermarket, to understand how the company is redesigning the retail experience.
The launch of The Business Circle was attended by more than 300 business owners from Singapore, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand.
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