Corporate Innovation Towards Recovery and Growth

He has more than 30 years experience at Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), a government related organization mandated to promote trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world. Previously he was assigned to New York and Toronto. Most recently he was a director at JETRO Tokyo, in charge of overseas promotions and branding of Japanese Agri-food products. He arrived at the Philippines in June 2021 and is looking forward to assisting businesses between Japan and the Philippines.

A 2018 Business Administration Major in Management Graduate of University of Asia and the Pacific and current Business Promotion Assistant of JETRO Manila.

Ee Ling heads up 500 Startups' Global Innovation team for Asia Pacific, with teams in Singapore, Malaysia, S. Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, India, and Cambodia. In her role, she works with various ecosystem stakeholders - Governments, corporations, foundations, startups - to accelerate their innovation journey.

Ee Ling is also the Co-Founder and CEO of Smarter Me, an education platform which equips children with the skillset, mindset and heartset to define their own success and happiness in the future. Based on a unique framework that combines digital skills (coding, robotics) with 21st century skills (entrepreneurship, design thinking), Smarter Me aims to empower kids and teens not only with the tools of today and the future, but with a deeper sense of self-understanding that will help them overcome any changes in the future.

Prior to starting up Smarter Me, Ee Ling spent almost a decade as an Investment Banker, executing billion-dollar transactions in M&A, equity and debt capital markets. She also specialized in Consumer, Retail and Technology.

Ee Ling has been featured in and spoken on The Straits Times, Money FM, 938 Now, The Asian Entrepreneur, Tech Sauce, Tech Collective, Lian He Zao Bao etc.. She was invited to speak at/for Horasis Asia, Wild Digital, SCMP, e27, IMDA, Julius Baer's Young Partners Event, BaseConf 2020, Corporate Innovation Summit by Rise, Swingvy LIFT, Techshake and more. Apart from conducting workshops for kids and teens, she has also workshopped for DBS Imaginarium, Standard Chartered Bank, Enterprise Singapore's SWITCH and QBO Philippines.

Nick is Global Client Director, Transformation Consulting at dentsu international, advising multinational clients in the field of data-driven Marketing Transformation. Nick joined dentsu international in 2017 following the acquisition of his marketing consultancy business, The Customer Framework (TCF). Nick joined TCF in 2010 as Managing Partner where he led the CPG & Retail practice, spending 5 years designing and delivering the global digital transformation program for The Coca-Cola Company. Nick joined TCF from drinks giant Diageo where he spent 7 years as Global Head of Digital Marketing & CRM, credited with leading a step-change in Marketing strategy and execution for brands including Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Guinness. In 2014 Nick was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing (IDM/DMA) for services to the digital and data industries.

Kazuhiko Yoshimatsu joined the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in 1997 and was responsible for business development & planning in securities/derivatives trading, listing rule & corporate governance, compliance & market surveillance areas. He worked at the Financial Services Agencies of Japan (JFSA) for 2 years, and experienced corporate strategy, global strategy, media relations & investor relations at the Japan Exchange Group (JPX). He was also experienced a promotion and policy recomendations of Japanese capital market at The Consortium for Japan International Asset Management Center Promotion (JIAM) and The Organization of Global Financial City Tokyo (FinCity.Tokyo).

Mr. Somei joined Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in 2016. He has served in the new listing and derivative market operations. He leads activities to encourage domestic and overseas companies to list in Japan and increase their corporate value in the market. He graduated from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

James Tan is Managing Partner at Quest Ventures, a leading venture fund for technology companies that have scalability and replicability in large internet communities. Prior to this, James was co-founder and COO of 55tuan, a NASDAQ listed e-commerce group that grew to more than 200 cities and 5,000 employees across China.

Hanno is Partner & Director at BCG Digital Ventures, the venture incubation unit of the Boston Consulting Group. He is based in Singapore and part of the leadership team of BCGDV’s new South East Asia Incubation Center. At BCGDV he is dedicated to inventing, building, investing in and launching category- changing businesses at start-up speed for the world’s most influential corporates. DV’s portfolio includes ventures such as OVO, Boost, HeyCar, Coup, QantasAssure, Formation, MachineMax or AutoGravity.

Chiharu engaged in audit services and IPO consultation services for startups in at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLP in Tokyo and Singapore. He joined in Spiral Ventures, a Japanese VC based in Singapore, in Nov 2018 as a portfolio manager and promoted as a CFO in Jan 2020. He handles company and existing funds' overall management especially from middle and back tasks of VC fund perspective, IPO support services for local startups, and new business development . He holds a B.S. in Faculty and Commerce at Keio University, Certified Public Accountant (CPA) qualification in Japan and USCPA.

Mohan Belani is the Co-founder and CEO of e27, a startup and tech ecosystem platform focused on helping startup founders build and grow their companies. He believes that startups can make the world a better place, and in order for Southeast Asia's tech ecosystem to be relevant, it needs to be driven by sustainable and impactful companies solving problems at scale. He enjoys working with Founders and helping them alleviate the challenges of building great companies specifically around the areas of talent, funding and market access.

Xavier Marzan is the Managing Director / CEO at F(DEV), the venture and innovation arm of the Filinvest Group of Companies and Board Advisor of several tech startups. He was previously the Founding CEO at TrueMoney PH and CEO/COO at GCash.

He is a digital venture builder, changemaker, and fintech influencer, passionate about building and scaling-up MISSION-DRIVEN and HIGH-IMPACT digitally-enabled ventures that solve real challenges as well as reach underserved sectors in the Philippines & Southeast Asia.

Manny launched and currently runs the Philippine office of Endeavor, a New York based non-profit focused on helping high impact entrepreneurs scale up their businesses. Prior to Endeavor Manny founded Hatchd, a tech incubator in the Philippines that has built and invested in a portfolio of consumer tech companies, including Rappler, PawnHero, PurpleClick, GrowSari and Ayannah. He is a past president of the Philippine Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization (“EO”), where he launched the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards across Asia.

Florence is a Researcher at Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Skin & Tissue Regeneration Research Scientist.

Joined Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd in 2018.
2018-2020 Skincare Product Development // Product Formulator
2020~ Skin Basic Research – Tissue Regeneration Group & Global Human Resources Development

Education
Osaka University / Master of Engineering, Biotechnology
April 2016 - March 2018 (Osaka, JAPAN)
Applied Microbiology Laboratory

Richard Dasher has been Director of the US-Asia Technology Management Center at Stanford University since 1994. From 1998 – 2015, he concurrently served as Executive Director of Stanford’s industry-funded Center for Integrated Systems (CIS). His research focuses on innovation and the impact of new technologies on industry value chains, with special focus on U.S.-Asia patterns and relationships. He was an outside Board Director and member of the Management Council of Tohoku University in Japan (2004 – 2010). He is currently an advisor to government S&T funding programs, start-up companies, business accelerators, venture capital firms, and nonprofits in Silicon Valley, Canada, China, India, Japan, S. Korea, and Thailand. He is fluent in Japanese.

Ramon M. Lopez is the Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). His extensive government experience with the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), DTI, and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) in the early part of his career followed by over two decades of extensive positions in a private corporation, provided him with a solid background on macroeconomy; and industry and business development, that allowed him to adopt a more holistic perspective on trade and industry development. He is also a strong advocate for free entrepreneurship education for 12 years until he was called to serve the country again under President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s administration as the DTI Secretary. He has received several awards such as: the 2016 Nation Builders Award for Government Service for his role as prime mover in Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) development; and the Philippine Innovation Man of the Year Award in 2017 for the promotion of social entrepreneurship through innovation. In 2018, he received from President Duterte the Order of Sikatuna, with a rank of Datu, one of the senior honors one can receive in the Philippines. Just recently, he was also named by People Asia as one of the 2020 People of the Year for his efforts in the gradual, safe, and calibrated reopening of the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

After 12 years of international assignments across London, Singapore, and Beijing. Cesar G. Romero was appointed President of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation and Country Chairman of the Shell companies in the Philippines, in November 2016.

Prior to that appointment, Cesar was the Vice President for Shell’s Global Retail Network where he was responsible for the management and capital investment associated with the Global Retail business’ physical assets worldwide. This included network planning, real estate, petrol station construction, facilities maintenance, soil and groundwater services, HSSE, and Continuous Improvement.

From September 2009 up to July 2013, he served as the Vice President of Retail Sales and Operations East which was accountable for the Operating Profit and Loss of the Shell Retail Petrol stations in SE Asia, South Asia, and China.

In these capacities, Cesar was a member of the Shell Global Retail Leadership team which set policies, strategy, annual business targets, capital allocation, and operations for Shell’s Global Downstream Retail Business.

He joined Shell Philippines in 1987 as a Refinery Engineer and has had a broad range of assignments within Shell locally, and internationally including stints in Supply, Lubricants, Strategy, and the world-renowned Scenario Planning team.

Cesar holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (cum laude) from the University of the Philippines, and a Masters in Business Administration with High Distinction from the University of Michigan. He has also attended a variety of management development courses at the London Business School and the Wharton Business School.

Cesar is married and has two children, aged 19 and 17.

Education: Ph.D. in Hotel and Tourism at Kyung Hee University

Work Experience
- 2019.08~ Present
· Executive Director of Tourism Companies Support Department, KTO
- 1989.01 ~ 2019.07
· Executive Director of Gyeonggi-do & Incheon Office, KTO
· Executive Director of Planning & Coordination Department, KTO
· Executive Director of Tourism Strategy Department, KTO
· Executive Director of Sydney Office, KTO

Academic Activities
- 2019.08~ Present
· Vice President of Korea Association of Trade Exhibition Studies
· Committee President of Korea Mice Tourism Society
· Author of Tourism Venture Startup Theory (21.8.30)

Quentin joined Schoolab in 2017 as an Innovation Consultant to support companies and to coach startups to accelerate and launch new products/services using Design Thinking and Lean Startup. After co-creating an internal startup enabling companies to scale open-innovation (2018), Quentin launched Schoolab's activities in Vietnam in 2019 with an early-stage incubation program and dedicated corporate training.
Quentin has now accelerated more than 20 innovation projects & coached +500 executives & entrepreneurs.