At Echelon Asia Summit, empowering startups and entrepreneurs has always been the name of our game
If I had it my way, all would-be entrepreneurs would undergo a mandatory psychological test before they even lay out the blueprint of their startup.
My rationale is simple: To be a founder of a company takes not only wills of steel but also, dare I say, a streak of insanity (and maybe a little penchant for masochism).
It is not an outlandish description. Readers of e27 or other tech blogs would no doubt be acquainted with the familiar founding story: it is one fraught with precipitous cliffs and painful stumbling blocks. The failure rate of startups is astronomically high, and so are the consequences of dropping out or burning out.
To be an entrepreneur is to be willing to face incredible odds stacked against your favour. But yet, you would give up everything and endure anything to succeed. If that is not the definition of insanity I don’t know what is.
Here at e27, we understand these challenges very well. We have been in the business of empowering entrepreneurs from all walks with life with the tools and means to build their companies — business connections, workshops, talks, resource articles, feature stories on inspiring entrepreneurs, and more — for well over 10 years.
Whether you are running a five-person pre-seed company operating out of various coffee shops in Bandung, Indonesia, or a Series D company getting ready to move into a swanky office in town and take off on the global stage, there will be challenges of varying difficulties and magnitude to overcome.
One of the ways we bring visibility to these issues is through our annual Echelon Asia Summit tech conference.
In past years, our summit has played host to panels that cover a variety of topics: from startup-building 101 topics such as ‘scaling your company to 1,000 employees’, to market access topics such as ‘harnessing Cambodia’s untapped talent’, to even mental health issues among entrepreneurs — burning out is a real and growing problem among founders and industry stakeholders need to take this issue seriously.
Of course, being a tech conference, we have also organised discussions on trends in various tech verticals, including AI, blockchain, fintech, e-commerce as well as niche industries such as social impact.
Inclusivity, diversity
The work of building the ecosystem is far from complete — and to be honest, it will always be in a work-in-progress.
As a key enabler of Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem, we strive hard to ensure stakeholders from every background — and every sector — get their day in the spotlight.
And on that note, this year, as with previous incarnations, we will make it a point to ensure that diversity and inclusivity remain integral to our agenda — and we will work even harder this year to accomplish that objective.
We are not doing this for the sake of being politically correct; but if technology is to make the world a better place for all — from the daughter of a street hawker in Cambodia to the teacher managing a class of 40 students in Jakarta — discriminatory practices and inherent biases need to be rooted out.
Also Read: Why be a thought leader at Echelon Asia Summit 2019?
There is also evidence that shows that building an inclusive and diverse environment creates better products, happier and more engaged employees and, in turn, stronger financial results; bringing in a team that can offer a diversity of viewpoints and expertise results in a product that is accessible to a larger market — it is sound business sense.
This year, we will also bring to light emerging industries that we think have the potential, or already well on their way, to becoming billion-dollar industries, We will also feature up and coming companies that we think, well, will appeal to the common people and/or make a meaningful impact on society.
These industries include e-sports, game development, space tech, medtech, mobility tech and more.
At Echelon Asia Summit 2019, you can expect to hear experts from various fields expound on their knowledge building products and companies, through fireside chats, panels and workshops.
Already, we have a list of stellar entrepreneurs from rockstar companies onboard. They include Ankiti Bose, Co-founder and CEO of Zilingo; Fajrin Rasyid, Co-founder of Bukalapak; and Pieter Kemps, Principal at Sequoia.
Entrepreneurs who are building products in emerging industries in Asia will also be speaking. They include Simon Davis, who co-founded Singapore-based gaming studio Mighty Bear Games (who just soft-launched their first mobile game last week); Janine Teo, who built edtech startup Solve Education! to help kids learn better.
These are just some of the amazing entrepreneurs who will grace our event. Expect more to be announced in the coming weeks.
Together, the companies that they lead — big and small — are working to power up the region’s tech ecosystem, and through effect long-lasting change in ordinary people’s lives — whether it is by giving more kids access to tech education, or by growing financial inclusion in less-developed regions.
So come join us at Echelon Asia Summit 2019, this May 23 to 24 at the Singapore Expo, — and together, we will be able to make more people’s lives richer through tech.
Come watch, listen and be inspired.
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The post Why Echelon will give voice to a diversity of startups appeared first on e27.