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TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) GT Cup ASIA 2021 : E-Motorsport racers gear up to compete in the Regional Finals

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 15 October 2021 – 21 national qualifiers from seven countries are set to compete in the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) GT Cup ASIA 2021 Regional Finals this Saturday, 16 October 2021. The skilled e-Motorsport racers will compete for the ultimate championship and the chance to progress to the Global Finals of the TGR GT Cup 2021 taking place in December.

Toyota has made it possible for thousands of motorsports enthusiasts to relive the thrill and experience of watching Toyota GR cars on iconic racing circuits through TGR GT Cup Asia 2021.

Return of Rivals

Finalists from the GR Supra GT Cup Asia Regional Round last year are back again in this year’s star-studded line-up of racers who will be competing to be crowned Regional Champion of TGR GT Cup ASIA 2021.

 

Muhammad Aleef of Singapore, Taj Aiman from Malaysia, and Nathayos Sirigaya from Thailand will compete head-to-head-to head again in their respective groups as they battle it out on four different racing circuits on the Tokyo Expressway in the newly introduced GR Yaris.

 

“This year’s TGR GT CUP ASIA will be oh so close, with so many top-class drivers, all prepared to put everything on the line to win, you can never predict how it’s going to turn out,” said Muhammad Aleef of Singapore, champion of the GR Supra Cup Asia 2020.

 

“If last year’s event is anything to go by, All I can say is that the TGR GT CUP ASIA is insanely competitive considering we will be racing against the region’s best drivers,” Said Taj Aiman. “The most important thing will be to remain focus and consistent. You cannot afford to make mistakes on any of the four races, and if you do, the odds of bouncing back into championship contention will be anything from slim to impossible.”

Cars in the Gran Turismo, like the GR Yaris, will drive like the real vehicle with GR-Four 4WD Traction

 

For the first time, each car will sport a unique livery[i] designed by renowned local artists from each of the participating countries – Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, and South Korea.  

 

TGR GT Cup ASIA 2021

The top five racers in each group will race their way to the finals. The remaining 11 racers will go on to compete in the Consolation Race on the Fuji Speedway racing circuit, in the GR Supra’20 for a last shot to be in the Final Race.

The Final Race of the TGR GT Cup ASIA 2021 will see 15 racers pushing their limits on two exciting tracks with equally thrilling, high performance vehicles. Racers will take their seats behind the all-new GR 86 as they take on five laps of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, which is also the circuit used by the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, which will include a mandatory pit stop and a compulsory tyre change. The fourth and final round, will take place on the iconic Le Mans circuit in France as where they will maneuver the 13.6km track with a TS050 Hypercar. The top two regional finalists will be guaranteed a spot to represent Asia in the year-end TGR GT Global Finals.

 

The TGR GT Cup ASIA 2021 will be streamed on One Esports platforms on 16 October 2021, at 6.30PM (GMT+8): 

For more information on TGR GT Cup ASIA 2021 Regional Finals, please visit here.



[i] A livery is the specific paint scheme and sticker design used on motorsports vehicles. 

 

About the TGR GT Cup ASIA 2021

TGR GT Cup ASIA 2021 is the regional online race, which will bring together the top racers from each of the participating countries in Asia to pit their skills with each other.

Players will race in “Gran Turismo SPORT” on their PlayStation®4*1 (PS4®) in the selected Toyota GR line-up. Global qualifying races was held from April to August 2021, with the top racers coming together in the final championship showdown in the Global Finals of TGR GT Cup 2021 in December.

Under the global vision of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, e-Motorsport has evolved to be one of the key pillars of TGR motorsport activities and is an exclusive platform to engage with the increasing motorsport-lovers around the world.

About TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR)

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) is TOYOTA’s racing company where motorsports activities are key in the company’s pursuit in product development with feedback and learnings gained on tough racing roads under harsh environment, with an aim to make ever-better cars.

About Toyota Motor Asia Pacific

Toyota Motor Asia Pacific [TMAP] is incorporated in Singapore and is the regional corporate headquarters and subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation. TMAP leads and supports the Asia Pacific region in sales and marketing activities, service parts, accessories and customer services, thus contributing to the overall development of auto industry and the growing economies in the region.

Toyota envisions the future mobility society to bring freedom of movement to all. Moving forward, Toyota will provide a diverse range of mobility services and transportation solutions to people around the world as we transform Toyota into a mobility company.

#Toyota

Laos Closes in On Illegally Imported Vehicles

Laos closes in on illegally imported vehicles
Laos closes in on illegally imported vehicles.

The Government of Laos has begun taking measures to resolve the ongoing problem of illegally imported vehicles.

Woman Appeals to Social Media After Neighbor Walls Off Property

Neighbor walls off property
A wall restricts access to a woman's home.

A resident of Vientiane Capital has taken to social media pleading for assistance after her neighbor constructed a wall preventing her from entering or exiting her home.

Indonesian SMEs Accelerate Economic Recovery

JAKARTA, INDONESIA – Media OutReach – 13 October 2021 – The pandemic started a global crisis which ravaged economies and businesses around the world. It has certainly brought everything to a standstill and forced SMEs in Indonesia to adapt and change their business plan and strategy to survive.

 

Indonesian SMEs form the backbone of the nation’s economy and contribute largely towards the nation’s GDP as well as the employment market. Despite the massive hit it took, Indonesia is showing signs of recovery with business owners relying on resilient and agile planning to overcome the fog of uncertainty brought by the pandemic.

 

“When the pandemic started, no one expected the drastic effects it had on our livelihood and the implications it has to the economy. There were lots of uncertainties but 2021 is the year of hope and many of the winners here today have reaped the benefits of resilience and agile planning. With that tenacious spirit, Indonesia is well on track to return with a vengeance to spur the economy forward” said William Ng, group publisher and editor-in-chief of Business Media International and organizer of SME100 Awards.

 

The SME100 Awards serves as pinnacle of trust and a benchmark of reliability among business owners. Be it for business ventures or attracting investors and clients in both foreign and domestic markets alike, The SME 100 Awards has become the beacon of attention on all platforms across all industries.

 

Indonesia is one of the four ASEAN member states to organize SME100 Awards, after Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore.

SME100 Award Winners Indonesia:

No

Company

1

PT. EDSEN GUDANG KOMPUTERINDO

2

PT AIDIA MEDIA SEMESTA

3

PT ULIVE EDUCATION CENTER

4

PT CAKRA ALPHA SPEKTRUM

5

PT TIRTA MARITIM INTERNASIONAL

6

PT TOKOPLAS ECOMMERCE INDONESIA

7

PT TRIFECTA SINERGI INTERNATIONAL

8

PT NCIG INDONESIA MANDIRI

9

PT TALENTA UNGGUL INDONESIA

10

PT INDONESIA POLYURETHANE INDUSTRY

11

PT AGUNG BUMI AGRO

12

PT SURVEYOR INDONESIA

13

PT MENARAVISI

14

PT KEDAI SAYUR INDONESIA

15

PT COFFEE TOFFEE

16

PT JAVAPRIMA ABADI

17

PT PISMATEK TEXTILE INDUSTRY

18

PT MID SOLUSI NUSANTARA

19

PT MAS SUMBIRI

20

PT CITRA MULTIMEDIA INDONESIA

 

For more information, please visit http://sme100.asia.

About Business Media International

Business Media International is a subsidiary of Audience Analytics Limited, a regional leader in enabling growth companies through data-driven brands. Our properties include media brands such as SME Magazine, HR Asia, Capital Asia, Energy Asia, Logistics Asia, TruthTV and CXP Asia, business impact assessment brands such as SME100, HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia, Golden Bull Awards and CXP Asia Best Customer Experience Awards, exhibitions, and growth analytics SaaS.

About SME100 Awards

The SME100 Awards is a business recognition awards program recognizing and celebrating fast-growing and the most innovative SMEs in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam across 20 selected industries. The Awards identify and recognize SMEs based on a basket of quantitative and qualitative criteria with a focus on growth (turnover, profit, and market share) and resilience (best practices, sustainability, and vision). More than an award, SME100® is a powerful learning and business development platform. Through our extensive university-level classes, enrichment seminars, workshops, and forums – SME owners and key personnel up-skill themselves with the latest know-how and intelligence.

#SME100Awards

Okta study: In a post-pandemic world, organisations in Asia Pacific prioritise Zero Trust Security more than other regions; but lag in implementation

The remote work economy has accelerated a Zero Trust culture in APAC, but companies urgently need to upgrade their defence to adapt to a new threat landscape

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 14 October 2021 –  Across Asia Pacific, the unprecedented mass migration of organizations’ IT infrastructure to cloud and digital systems in the past year has compressed years of planned digital transformation into a matter of months – or even weeks.

While this agility is impressive, the addition of countless new devices, networks and applications to organizations’ IT ecosystems within a short period of time has increased businesses’ vulnerability to threat actors, who now have more avenues to exploit.

The need for Zero Trust Security – which emphasises a “never trust, always verify” approach through continuous assessment of user access privileges for individual resources – has thus become crucial, especially with greater adoption of cloud-based technologies. 

To learn more about how organizations in the region are approaching Zero Trust Security today, and in a post-pandemic world where hybrid working becomes a norm, leading independent identity provider Okta surveyed 400 security leaders in Asia Pacific, as part of a study – The State of Zero Trust Security in Asia Pacific 2021.    


Notably, APAC organizations prioritise Zero Trust Security the most – COVID-19 has accelerated Zero Trust Security as a priority in 77% of APAC organizations –  higher than EMEA (76%), and North America (74%).

Despite the emphasis on Zero Trust Security, at the time of the survey APAC organizations were clearly lagging their counterparts in EMEA and North America – only 13% had already implemented a Zero Trust Security strategy, compared to 20% of organizations each in EMEA and North America.

The greatest challenges for Asia Pacific organisations in adopting a Zero Trust Security infrastructure include:

  • Talent/skill shortage (44%)
  • Cost concerns (22.3%)
  • Technology gaps (14.3%)

“Organisations across Asia Pacific have practiced hybrid working arrangements for the past year and a half. Today, most business leaders recognise the value of such arrangements in driving long term business growth post pandemic, and are committed to sustaining them,” said Graham Sowden, General Manager, Asia Pacific, Okta.

“However, it is imperative to the long-term growth of these businesses that they continue to be vigilant in anticipating new threats that emerge in this new digital landscape, by continually assessing their current IT infrastructure, and making strategic investments to stay ahead of threat actors,” he added.

The study introduces Okta’s Identity Access Management Curve, which reviews organizations’ identity-driven security practices on everything from the type of resources they manage, to how they provision and deprovision users.

Adoption in APAC is promising – Stage 1 implementations such as single sign-on for employees, along with multi-factor authentications have been implemented at 84% of organizations.

However, when it comes to Stage 2 strategies and solutions, there is room for improvement – for instance, only 35% have implemented secure access to APIs. Additionally, while only 3% of organizations have context-based access policies, 40% intend to implement it within the next 12-18 months.

“It is promising that most APAC organisations have the fundamentals covered,” Sowden adds. “But the reality is that threat actors will only get savvier and find new avenues to exploit vulnerabilities. Adopting advanced measures like passwordless technologies such as biometrics and contextual factors, for instance – will help businesses increase security and tackle data breaches more effectively.”

About Okta

Okta is the leading independent provider of identity for the enterprise. The Okta Identity Cloud enables organisations to securely connect the right people to the right technologies at the right time. With over 7,000 pre-built integrations to applications and infrastructure providers, Okta customers can easily and securely use the best technologies for their business. More than 10,650 organizations, including JetBlue, Nordstrom, Slack, T-Mobile, Takeda, Teach for America and Twilio, trust Okta to help protect the identities of their workforces and customers.

Methodology


Commissioned by Okta, Pulse Q&A conducted a survey of 300 director and above security decision makers at APAC companies across multiple industries. In Japan, Rakuten Insight conducted a survey with 100 security decision makers. Decision makers were defined as someone responsible for making technology purchasing decisions, and Pulse collected responses in early 2021.


Respondents hailed from organisations with at least 500 staff. About 40% of the
respondents worked with companies with more than 10,000 headcount. Key industries covered include finance, banking and insurance, healthcare and social assistance, software, and others.


#Okta

OctaFX takes a look at the race for monetary supremacy: Blockchain vs Legacy Finance

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – 14 October 2021 -There is hardly anyone left who is not familiar with the bitcoin bull market. A few but dramatic corrections made this historic run more exciting. Blockchain technology is here to stay. And the way legacy institutions and governments react will determine the future of finance. The global broker OctaFX prepared an expert article exploring whether peaceful co-existence might be an option.

The U.S. and bitcoin: teasing as a sign of affection

 

Corporate America is slowly but surely approving bitcoin as a credible long-term investment and even payment method. Elon Musk’s electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla temporarily granted selling its cars for bitcoin. Elon Musk is known for his advocacy for new technologies and his interest in blockchain. Popular online payment service PayPal started offering cryptocurrencies to get into this emerging market. Social media platform Twitter recently launched tipping in bitcoin for followers to support their influencers financially. It is worth keeping in mind that even Goldman Sachs, which until very recently underestimated bitcoin publicly and showed expert distaste for the opinion that cryptocurrency would be a powerful investment, changed its position.

 

The influential multinational investment bank, having close ties to the most powerful governments in the world, announced in March 2021 a ‘full-spectrum’ cryptocurrency investment offer, including bitcoin, for its private clients.

 

Although, the narrative from U.S. governmental institutions suggests a different approach.

 

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she is eager to crush the influence of cryptocurrencies by pushing International Monetary Fund (IMF) capacities further. Many financial experts consider the IMF to be the future issuer of a new worldwide digital currency—centralised, of course.

Who are the new kids on the blockchain?

 

Decentralised finance (DeFi) and so-called ‘smart contract’ platforms on blockchain networks have many runner-ups: Ethereum is the most used network and the first of its kind. But lack of scalability and high transaction fees give Ethereum’s competitors a chance to succeed. Polkadot, Cardano, Cosmos, Harmony and others have significant potential to solve these systemic weaknesses.

 

The DeFi marketing slogan for the crypto sphere is about ‘helping the masses of unbanked people’, for instance, in Africa, Asia, and South America. It gathers significant trust in these populations over classical banking institutions.

 

On 14 April 2021, Coinbase, the most prevalent cryptocurrency exchange, was directly listed on the Nasdaq exchange. This move indicates even more mixing of crypto and traditional finances and implies a rising future influx of retail investors into crypto assets.

 

A win-win for Forex

 

Regardless of the transition’s nature into this advanced future financial order, Forex brokers need to adapt to this new vibrant parallel development—staying competitive and relevant in the long term. The ability to offer the most popular and influential cryptocurrencies means that a broker keeps significant doors open for new demographics. But this is also crucial to stay with legacy currencies. Their centralised successors, which the IMF, FED and others already plan to launch as digital counterparts to their crypto challengers, should not be disregarded.

The worldwide financial system is ripe for significant paradigm shifts, which will ignite even greater competition between centralised and decentralised systems and their services. But Forex brokers, like OctaFX, are already taking on the exciting task of offering the best of both worlds, building long-term trading relationships with their growing client base—with the best of conditions.

About OctaFX

OctaFX is a global Forex broker that has provided online trading services worldwide since 2011. It offers a state-of-the-art trading experience to over 7 million trading accounts worldwide. The company is well-known for its social and charity activity, supporting infrastructure and humanitarian projects in many joint ventures. OctaFX has won more than 45 awards since its foundation, including the 2021 ‘Best Forex Broker Asia’ award and the 2020′ Most Transparent Broker’ award from Global Banking & Finance Review and Forex Awards, respectively.

#OctaFX

Hotel Partygoers Test Positive for Covid-19

Police Bust Party at Vientiane Hotel
Police apprehend partygoers at the Khongkham Hotel in Sisattanak District, Vientiane Capital.

Seven of 32 partygoers arrested at a hotel room in Vientiane’s Sisattanak District last week have since tested positive for Covid-19.

CFA Institute Finds Singapore Graduates’ Outlook on Careers is Confident Despite Pandemic

New survey finds finance remains a top career choice; graduates consider more education and credentials; optimism exists while reevaluating career trajectories

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 14 October 2021 – CFA Institute, the global association of investment professionals, today releases results from a survey conducted on the career outlook of more than 15,000 current university students and recent graduates aged 18 – 25 years old from 15 markets, including Australia, Hong Kong SAR, India, Japan, and Singapore in the Asia Pacific region. The results find that globally, 58 percent of respondents still feel confident about their future career prospects in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The findings also indicate that traditionally stable fields, such as finance, remain attractive for graduates navigating these uncertain times. In fact, respondents across all 15 markets ranked finance as one of the top five most valuable majors for finding a career. Overall, graduates felt that medicine/science was most stable and attractive, followed by healthcare and education.

 

Nick Pollard, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, at CFA Institute, said, “Graduating and starting a career amid the COVID-19 pandemic requires a mindset shift to be workforce-ready. While some graduates don’t feel prepared or willing to jump into the job market where it’s currently at, others, ironically, are going to be better suited to the new normal of hybrid workplaces, video conferencing, remote working and flexible hours. With a job market that will likely remain somewhat distorted for the foreseeable future, it is clear there is value in developing skillsets that are adaptable, flexible, and ready to pivot at any time.”

 

Graduates have a positive outlook overall, despite the COVID-19 pandemic causing them to reassess their career paths.

 

A majority of graduates believe their future career will be as good or better than their parents’ generation, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings showed that those studying accounting and finance were particularly confident, with 80 percent believing their prospects are as good or better than their parents’ generation, compared to three quarters (75 percent) of respondents overall.

 

Despite this overall confidence, nearly half (45 percent) of the Asia Pacific respondents reported they are reassessing their career paths in light of the pandemic — their top concerns now include feeling underqualified for the job they want (24 percent); low pay in their preferred sector (23 percent), wage reductions as a result of the pandemic (22 percent) and lack of jobs in their preferred sector (22 percent). 46 percent of respondents in Asia Pacific said their perceptions on career prospects, desires and expectations have changed since the pandemic outbreak, and 41 percent of respondents said they have had to reassess the sector they want to go into after the pandemic.

 

Further education is key in the volatile job market

Another primary concern for students is developing work-related skills during degree programs and after graduating. Those surveyed in Asia Pacific shared personal insecurities about this, with one in five respondents (20 percent) saying they feel the lack of career progression in their preferred sector and that they do not feel ready for the working world.

 

When approaching the current complex job market, students and graduates see value in further education. 85 percent of respondents in Asia Pacific feel that upskilling and post-graduate qualifications are important in the current job market, and more than half of respondents (51 percent) believe postgraduate qualifications/professional certification will give them an edge when looking for a job. Particularly in Singapore, 83 percent thought that upskilling and professional and/or postgraduate qualifications were valued by recruiters.

 

This is causing a significant uptake of further studies, with more than 40 percent (42 percent) of graduates planning to prolong their time in education. In Singapore, 38 percent of respondents indicated plans to do so until the job market recovers.

 

“As more students and recent graduates choose to further their studies, the pandemic may end up yielding a more highly skilled workforce. Alongside public and private sector efforts to nurture strong financial talents in Singapore, especially amongst individuals who can help build capacity in FinTech and Environmental, Social, and Governance, as well as experienced wealth managers, the preference for further education bodes well. To meet this demand, higher education and credentialing institutions need to ensure their offerings can help graduates enhance their professional skills and boost their job prospects,” Pollard said.

 

Graduates want to make a positive impact

Working in an industry that makes a positive societal and environmental contribution ranks very important to recent graduates, with 84 percent of respondents in Asia Pacific saying it’s an important part of their career choice. Worryingly, only 9 percent of respondents see being an investment professional as a career in which they could make positive environmental and societal impact. This finding shows that, to retain talent, the sector must do more to educate students around the positive impact they could have by a career in investment. 

 

Key findings in Singapore

  • Lack of jobs causing them to abandon their preferred sector is the biggest fear with regards to respondents’ career prospects (22 percent); followed by feeling underqualified for the job they want (21 percent)
  • 39 percent of respondents said they feel their career prospects are better than their parents’ generation; 36 percent said the career prospects are about the same
  • Close to 40 percent (38 percent) said they plan to prolong their time in education while the job market is still volatile
  • The top three things that respondents feel would give them an edge in the current job market include, skills acquired, the reputation of their course or universities, and networks and contacts
  • 83 percent of respondents said upskilling and professional/post-graduate qualifications are important in the current job market
  • Respondents are equally split in their top three preferences for working location including the ability to work abroad (28 percent), a return to city life (28 percent) and the option to live away from major employment city hubs (28 percent)

Note to Editors

The research, conducted by Censuswide, surveyed 15,186 students studying for a bachelor’s degree or higher, or have graduated with a bachelor’s or higher within the last 3 years. The respondents were from the UK, US, Canada, India, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE, Germany, South Africa, Spain, France, Brazil and Mexico. The full results of the Graduate Outlook survey can be viewed here. For further information, please contact pr@cfainstitute.org.

About Censuswide

Censuswide is an international market research consultancy headquartered in Clerkenwell, London. Our dedicated and passionate teams are expert across various areas, including healthcare, corporate, international and consumer research. Over the years we have partnered with insights, communication and marketing teams in the world’s most respected companies. At the heart of our business is our clients and we pride ourselves on our care. Our dedicated account managers provide expert consultancy through a project’s various stages and we work closely with clients to understand their challenges.

About CFA Institute

CFA Institute is the global association of investment professionals that sets the standard for professional excellence and credentials. The organization is a champion of ethical behavior in investment markets and a respected source of knowledge in the global financial community. Our aim is to create an environment where investors’ interests come first, markets function at their best, and economies grow. There are more than 175,000 CFA charterholders worldwide in 160 markets. CFA Institute has nine offices worldwide and there are 160 local societies. For more information, visit www.cfainstitute.org or follow us on Linkedin and Twitter at @CFAInstitute.

#CFAInstitute