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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

Medtronic proposes to invest up to US$50m for the first-of-its-kind regional Open Innovation Platform to advance the future of healthcare technologies in APAC

Investment focusing on development of talent and technology to be made over a period of five years

DUBLIN and SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 14 October 2021 – Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT), a global leader in healthcare technology, today announced the launch of the Medtronic Open Innovation Platform (OIP) in Singapore. The OIP will bring strategic collaboration in healthcare technologies among various stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem through capability development, partnerships and business organizations networking in the areas of medical technology and digital health in APAC, with Singapore as the epicenter.

Medtronic Open Innovation Platform (OIP) supported by the Economic Development Board of Singapore was launched today. Wan Yee Goh, senior vice president and head, Healthcare, EDB (left) and Chris Lee, president for Asia Pacific, Medtronic (right) signed the MOU at the launch ceremony which will focus on development of talent and technology under this platform.

 

Focusing on the unique healthcare needs of the APAC, this first-of-its-kind platform will be supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). This will enable Medtronic and the EDB to support talent and technology development which can help Medtronic leverage data, AI, and automation to address patient needs.

 

“Singapore has been a strategic hub for Medtronic with a manufacturing facility, its APAC regional headquarters, and now an epicenter for the Open Innovation Platform. We are excited to work with EDB’s support on this program, aligned with our vision to lead the way for healthcare technology and address the complex challenges of the sector,” said Chris Lee, president for Asia Pacific, Medtronic, at the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Medtronic and EDB.

 

“Medtronic’s decision to establish its first ever Open Innovation Platform for Asia Pacific in Singapore is a testament to our leading role as a vibrant innovation and business hub. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a growing pool of MedTech and Digital Health start-ups in Asia Pacific and close to 200 local start-ups. The Medtronic OIP puts us in a strong position to serve the region’s growing healthcare needs, including those brought about by an aging population, and create new exciting job opportunities for Singaporeans. Healthcare continues to be one of the key pillars of the Singapore economy, and we look forward to working with Medtronic to further strengthen the sector’s innovation capabilities,” said Wan Yee Goh, senior vice president and head, Healthcare, EDB.

 

As part of the OIP, Medtronic also launched the Medtronic APAC Innovation Challenge (MAIC) today, where business organizations in APAC will have the opportunity to showcase innovative medical technology solutions in one of the four domains – namely, ‘Life Transforming Technologies’, ‘Better Outcomes for All’, ‘Experiences that Put People First’ and ‘Insight Driven Care’.

 

MAIC will provide an opportunity to selected participants to collaborate with Medtronic to further develop and innovate in the medical technology sector. The final round of the MAIC is scheduled to take place alongside the Medtronic Asia Innovation Conference in the first quarter of 2022.

 

The top five winners of the MAIC may have the opportunity to partner with Medtronic for a commercial pilot on their proposed MedTech, digital health or solution, valued up to US$200,000 for each of the five winners.

 

In addition to MAIC, and as part of the OIP, Medtronic will also open its first-ever Digital Medtronic Innovation Centre (dMIC) in Singapore. When completed, the facility will offer a collaborative space for an all-round immersive experience of product and therapy innovation.

 

“Building on the entrepreneurial spirit that we share with other companies, including our Medtronic OIP start-ups serves as a launchpad for us to grow new ideas, empower an innovative ecosystem and translate collaboration into actionable outcomes. Medtronic is one of the best destinations for innovation and innovators due to its large and diverse portfolio across 70 disease states. This is indeed aligned to our new brand and bold ambition to become the global healthcare technology leader, with a focus on AI, robotics, automation, IoT and digital health,” Lee added.

 

EDB and Medtronic have a long-standing relationship, one such example being a leadership development program – TalentX SG+ – operating since 2019. The program is unique to Singapore, identifying top local talent in the company and offering them a year-long rotational job posting, giving participants exposure to different businesses and countries in APAC. With the support of the EDB, Medtronic has also recently founded the Intelligent Supply Chain Planning Hub, a predictive and exception-based planning program which aims to develop and attract the best supply chain talent and capabilities.

 

Medtronic APAC Innovation Challenge launches on October 14 with submissions open until November 26. For more information about the MAIC, please visit http://maic.medtronic.com

About Medtronic

Bold thinking. Bolder actions. We are Medtronic. Medtronic plc, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is the leading global healthcare technology company that boldly attacks the most challenging health problems facing humanity by searching out and finding solutions. Our Mission — to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life — unites a global team of 90,000+ passionate people across 150 countries. Our technologies and therapies treat 70 health conditions and include cardiac devices, cranial and spinal robotics, insulin pumps, surgical tools, patient monitoring systems, and more. Powered by our diverse knowledge, insatiable curiosity, and desire to help all those who need it, we deliver innovative technologies that transform the lives of two people every second, every hour, every day. Expect more from us as we empower insight-driven care, experiences that put people first, and better outcomes for all. In everything we do, we are engineering the extraordinary. For more information on Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), visit www.Medtronic.com and follow @Medtronic on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties such as those described in Medtronic’s periodic reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results.

#Medtronic