Using Singapore as a launchpad for SE Asia B2B and D2C sales

Yan Yan is the Regional Director, Europe at the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). Based in London, she oversees EDB’s marketing activities across UK and Europe, working alongside investors, corporates and ecosystem partners to support technology startups in uncovering and accessing new opportunities in Southeast Asia.

Yan Yan started her career in EDB helping Fast Moving Consumer Goods multi-national corporations expand their footprint in Asia. Motivated to share Singapore’s story with a broader audience, she joined the Brand, Marketing and Communications division as EDB’s market lead for Japan and subsequently led content development and branding for the digital technology sector.

Sarah Leonard is the Regional Manager for the Export Support Service – Asia Pacific at DIT. Sarah has lived and worked in two countries in Asia Pacific​ and travelled extensively within the region and she has direct experience in the education, banking, insurance and e-commerce sectors. The Export Support Service – Asia Pacific is the new global in-market export support service for UK exporters. With market advisors based in countries in the Asia Pacific region, the Export Support Service will provide practical export advice for all business sectors from across the UK through one-to-one consultations and off-the-shelf market reports.

Kevin is Vice President, Global Business Development at LF Logistics, the leading international e-Commerce and omni-channel logistics provider in the Asia Pacific region. Kevin works with organisations to help them design, develop and implement their optimum supply chain solutions that enable them to connect with their customers across Asia and the Middle East where he has lived and worked for over 20 years.

Timo is the co-founder of east, an agency that guides companies through the digital crossroads of our time. Intentionally designed to work collaboratively with a trio of competencies – data, media, and creative. Seamlessly and from day one. Born in Singapore, today east is a global collective of data scientists, creatives, developers, project managers, and producers across three continents, all working towards one shared goal: client success.

With 15 years of global experience in tech and media, Timo is passionate about driving measurable success for his clients. Before east, Timo worked at Google, where he was integral to Google Analytics's business development and subsequent roll-out of the Enterprise Suite for Google Analytics, in charge of the EMEA and APAC partnership ecosystem expansion. In this time, Timo has also racked up over a decade’s experience in APAC markets. Now, Timo takes that legacy experience in a fresh direction with east’s full-package, one-stop-shop offering, making optimised, stunning, successful campaigns for our clients worldwide. Timo is also a little bit obsessed with coffee.

Reza is currently Growth Sectors Manager, at the Department for International Trade (DIT), based in British Embassy Jakarta. He joined DIT in 2019 and is responsible for supporting UK companies’ interests in Food & Drink, Consumer & Retail, AgriTech projects in Indonesia, including providing advice on the best way to enter the market.

His previous role in DIT was Trade and Investment Officer for Infrastructure and Energy team. Before DIT, Reza has worked in similar role for Korea International Trade Association (KITA) – organisation under South Korean Government for two years where he helped South Korean businesses expansion plan to Indonesia with specific focus on FMCG sectors.

Emma is Head of Client Growth at Kantar Singapore, Insights division where she liaises with internal teams and external stakeholders to determine how Kantar can best partner with clients to use fact-based insight to inform their optimisation and growth strategies.

She has over 16 years’ experience in Market Insight, with tenures at Kantar in New Zealand, Thailand and Singapore. She has a strong background in client relationship management and technical research experience across most marketing disciplines (Brand, Creative, Media, Strategy, Segmentation, Market Landscaping, etc), and is well-versed across markets and industries, particularly in the APAC region.

Coming from rich e-commerce backgrounds across companies like Zilingo, Reebelo and Lazada, Yan brings to Sift & Pick a wealthy experience across multiple expertise, including vendor management, market expansion and cross-border supply chains.