#WHubatRISE: Day 2 Recap

Day 2 of RISE Conference has come and gone! The past two days have been full of incredible ideas, speakers, and conversations. Here are highlights from the second day of the conference:

Read what happened on the other days of RISE: July 9| July 11

HIGHLIGHTS – BREAKFAST SERIES

How HK Became a FinTech Powerhouse

We hosted our second Rise conference breakfast at We Work! 40+ attendees gathered to learn about How Hong Kong became a FinTech powerhouse.

The panel had Jessica Lam of We Lab, Mikaal Abdulla from 8 securities, our co-founder and CEO of Angel Hub Karen Farzam, and was moderated our co-founder and CEO Karena Belin. The experts discussed how over the last 5 years, Hong Kong has established itself a global fintech powerhouse.

Notable Quotes:

“I have an unhealthy appetite for risk. So when I hire people I look for someone who isn’t afraid to take risks.” – Mikaal Abdulla, 8 securities

“Go meet people. Build relationships, don’t under estimate the power of relationships” – Jessica Lam, We Lab

HIGHLIGHTS – KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Innovating for Hong Kong’s future

Andrew Young, Associate Director of Sino Group, discussed the huge opportunities technological advancements are bringing to Hong Kong and how the developments in the Greater Bay Area are sparking new innovations that are revolutionising the business ecosystem.

Sino Group’s backing of the Hong Kong Innovation Foundation is helping to foster growth within Hong Kong.

Notable Quotes:

Robotics is one area that will impede on our businesses. The average age of a construction worker is 50, meaning we’re not getting enough young people in the field. So we will use robots to supplement. Robots will play a big role, not in replacing people, but in enhancing how we live.” – Andrew Young

Key Trends Shaping the future of consumer markets

Fflur Roberts, the Global Luxury Manager at Euromonitor, talked about the dramatic change in consumers’ values and the shift in focus from traditional transaction value based consumption to personal value based.

Notable Quotes

“Experience trend is taking over. Developing strong personalisation strategies is more important now than ever before” –Fflur Roberts

HIGHLIGHTS – PANEL

The China Internet Report

Edith Yeung of Proof of Capital and Ravi Hiranand and Chua Kong-ho of South China Morning Post discuss the big players and over arching trends in China’s tech industry.

Here are the four tech trends that are hot in 2019:

1. Chinese “copycat” tech industry is now being copied

2. China is using AI on a massive scale

3. China is racing ahead with 5G

4. Social credit becoming a reality in China.

Predicting what’s in fashion

Stock X and Citizen’s Mark two fashion platforms that are making waves in sustainable fashion. The founders of the companies, Josh Luber and Cynthia Salim, discussed what’s in fashion and how millennial consumers are helping to shape the fashion value chain.

Notable Quotes

“Everyone wants sustainability, make sure you’re voting with your wallet.” -Josh Luber

Fintech in the 5G Era

How will 5G change the finance industry – and the world? David Ye, of Rong360 Jianpu Technology, Alex Kong of TNG FinTech Group, and Avril Rae of KPMG discussed whether FinTech has what it takes to ride the 5G wave!

Notable Quotes:

Right now we are addressing the problem of financial inclusion because more than 50% of the world’s population does not have bank accounts. – Alex Kong

HIGHLIGHTS – STARTUP SPOTLIGHT

We’re spotlighting the 3 finalists from Pitch! Powered by Manulife:

Booqed

Booqed is a Hong Kong-based startup that is optimising the way Organisations utilise spaces and link workers with temporary office spaces and event venues. (Did you know? Booqed is a part of the WHub community!)

Haulio

Haulio is Singapore’s largest network of haulage service providers. It is the simplest and most reliable way for businesses to get their containers moved.

Presso

Presso is a dry cleaning kiosk that can dry and clean clothes in under 5 minutes. It is a micr0-retail solution for ultra-fast dry-cleaning.

HIGHLIGHTS – HOT TAKES

(Stay Tuned) Interview with Digital Ocean

Our co-founder and CEO, Karen Belin, sat down with Digital Ocean’s SVP Product, Shiven Ramji, to discuss how the platform is making waves in the tech sector. Stay tuned for the full interview!

Tinder CEO Announces New Venture

Tinder CEO Elie Seidman announced the dating platform’s hot new venture, Tinder Lite, in an intimate press conference this afternoon.

The app will be a smaller, more lightweight version of the current flagship app, and will specifically address the unique needs of users in areas where data usage, bandwidth and storage space is a concern.

Say Cheese!

Our social media and content coordinator, Phelisha Cassup, poses with her long-time idol comedian and actor Hannibal Buress!

That’s all for day two! Now time to rest up for the final day of conference – we heard it’s going to be a big one!