The CurrencyFair Business Webinar: Business Culture in Asia is now available to watch on demand.
It brings together three remarkable executives from a diverse selection of industries across the region who share their stories of expanding into the dynamic Asian market while revealing how their companies have adapted and flourished.
Moderating the discussion is renowned host of The Global Innovation Show Podcast, Aidan McCullen, who is joined by panellists:
Cathal is an Emmy Award winner and EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist. Having studied animation in college, he established Brown Bag Films with fellow animation director Darragh O’Connell in 1994. In 2019 they acquired an Indonesian animation studio to complement their global expansion. As Chief Executive of the company, Cathal is executive producer and has a particular focus on the development of television and feature properties.
Emma is the co-founder of Spokes Jewelry Services, a fine jewelry manufacturer based in Bangkok, Thailand. Renowned for their traditional Thai jewelry craftsmanship and production, Spokes Jewelry have been commissioned by fine jewelry brands and designers from the US and Europe to exclusively manufacture their collections. In addition to jewelry manufacturing, Spokes experience extends to many other facets of the industry including jewelry CAD CAM design / rapid production, e-commerce, jewelry website management and gold refining.
Paul is a successful entrepreneur having scaled and exited three successful tech businesses. In 2016, he joined CurrencyFair, a payments business providing access to low cost foreign exchange rates and faster international payment services, with a view to scaling it globally and capitalising on the growing international demand for SME and Enterprise FX and payments solutions.
Commenting on why CurrencyFair developed the webinar, Byrne said, “We wanted to share some of our experiences of entering the region with other businesses to help them better understand the culture and local nuances of operating in or expanding there.
“We knew there were other experienced CEOs and founders in the region who could also talk to the challenges and opportunities so we put together this webinar to share that knowledge and hard earned experience.”
Describing CurrencyFair’s initial foray into Asia he said, “Our CFO Ruth moved over to Hong Kong for a year in order to place herself on the ground and make all the local connections so we could get our infrastructure built in the region. I am a firm believer in boots on the ground.
“You have to physically go into a market to really understand it, meet the people, but most importantly, demonstrate to your customers and partners that you're committed. Flying in and flying out for a couple of days doesn't really work. They need to be able to trust that you'll be around to support them.
“You have to be local. The culture is different, people’s attitudes are different, doing business is different, the infrastructure is different, and you really need to know the people you’re dealing with. And frankly they need to know you because one of the big differences is that Asia is much more relationship driven than Europe.”