Digitalisation and sustainability give firms opportunities for post-pandemic growth: panel

Jakarta

DIGITALISATION and sustainability offer the two biggest opportunities for businesses that operate in Southeast Asia in the post-pandemic era, said a group of business leaders at a virtual seminar.

DBS Group chief executive officer Piyush Gupta said that the emergence of the digital economy will create opportunities for companies in the region as different types of hubs are formed.

Speaking at the Beyond Pandemic & Politics: Behold Southeast Asia And The World event organised by law firm Rajah & Tann, he stressed that digitalisation will be critical for growth.

"Being able to access financial services on the go has been a game-changer for the financial sector," he said. "Secondly, the value of data has increased significantly as technologies such as AI are now starting to make sense as we can offer services we could not before."

Picking up on this point, Traveloka president Caesar Indra said that the Indonesian unicorn began its digital strategy before the pandemic but had accelerated its execution over the past 18 months.

"People have shifted their preference in lifestyle and spending from one product category to another. For example, we have seen increased spending in healthcare and we have tried to capitalise on this opportunity by introducing a number of products in this area," he said.

Traveloka started in 2012 by offering online travel services to middle-class Indonesians who wished to see the world. The company has since expanded to seven markets and offers a host of services such as finance and healthcare.

But even as the company continues to expand, Mr Indra emphasised that Traveloka makes great effort to work closely with regulators so as to help shape the regulatory environment in each of the market it operates in.

"Technology will always evolve faster than regulations," he noted. "Technology has become an integral part of people's lives, and as a tech company, we have a bigger responsibility to protect private data."

Given the emergence of the digital economy, Mr Gupta added that governments in the region should be looking at creating digital agreements that allow for a common digital infrastructure, as well as a common payment structure that can foster a common supply chain structure.

Another panelist, Chia Kim Huat, the regional head (corporate and transactional group) at Rajah & Tann, said that South-east Asia is emerging as a neutral manufacturing hub for global companies caught in the cross-fire of the US-China trade war.

This would open up new opportunities for businesses wanting to access both regional and global markets.

He added that in the sustainability industry, China is now the largest solar energy producer in the world and countries in the region should leverage China's technological advantage in this area.

Aw Kah Peng, the chairman of Shell Companies in Singapore, also said that energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables would be critical to the long-term growth of the region.

"Clearly, the risk and opportunity is in energy transition. As economies grow, they will need energy to power that growth but the question is can it be greener?" she said.

"Asean is currently a collection of fragmented markets and energy transition offers a real opportunity over the next three to five years."

In terms of the biggest risks facing South-east Asia, the panelists all agreed that geopolitical instability is a main concern given the potential fallout of the US-China competition.

"This is the biggest risk as it will not be easy to dance between the US and China," said Mr Gupta, adding that to mitigate these risks, Asean countries need to adapt and move away from protectionist policies.