GATES Enterprise Channel Summit, Southeast Asia, 2025

H.E. Satvinder Singh
Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN Economic Community

H.E. Satvinder Singh is currently the Deputy Secretary General for ASEAN Economic Community. In this role, he plays a key leadership role in implementing the AEC Blueprint 2025 and overseeing the AEC Department at the ASEAN Secretariat. Additionally, he will offer strategic guidance to advance ASEAN’s economic integration agenda.​

Before assuming this role, he was the Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Trade Connectivity & Business Services at Enterprise Singapore, where he was instrumental in strengthening Singapore’s role as Asia’s trading hub, supporting the growth of 15,000 professionals, managers, executives and technicians jobs.​

With over 27 years of experience, he has held a variety of local, regional and global management positions across the region. At Enterprise Singapore, Mr. Singh oversaw four divisions and drove digitalisation efforts in Singapore amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.​

Mr. Singh holds a Bachelor degree in social sciences from the National University of Singapore and attended the Harvard’s Business School Advanced Management Programme in 2017.

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Dr. Boediastoeti Ontowirjo
Deputy for Research and Innovation Policy, National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia

Dr. Boediastoeti Ontowirjo currently serves as the Deputy for Research and Innovation Policy at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) since May 2022. In this role, she is responsible for formulating and setting research and innovation policies, coordinating and synchronizing programs, budgets, and work plans, and overseeing nuclear energy and space activities. She also chairs the ASEAN Committee on Science, Technology, and Innovation (COSTI) of Indonesia, where she leads significant initiatives, including collaborations with ASEAN-Korea, ASEAN-US, and ASEAN-India, and advises on the Roadmap on Blue Economy. Her leadership extends to high-profile events like the ASEAN Economic Forum & GATES Enterprise Tech Channel Summit 2024 and the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting for Science and Technology.​

Dr. Ir. Boediastoeti Ontowirjo, MBA, has an impressive educational background in management and engineering. Additionally, she was recognized with The Best of Research Proposal at “The 4th Management Research Center’s Doctoral Journey in Management” in 2009. She holds an MBA in Finance from the Graduate School of Business Administration at Northeastern University, Boston, MA, completed in 1999, and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Planning at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), graduated in 1992.​

Prof. Abhay Karandikar
Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, India.

Dr. Abhay Karandikar is currently Secretary, Department of Science of Technology (DST). Before joining DST in October 2023, he served as the Director, IIT Kanpur from April 18th, 2018 to September 25th, 2023 (on lien from IIT Bombay). He also served as Dean (Faculty Affairs) and Head of the Electrical Engineering Department at IIT Bombay. He spearheaded a national effort in setting up Telecom Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI), India’s standards body for telecom with participation of all stakeholders. Prof Karandikar was the founding member and former Chairman of TSDSI. He was also Member (Part-Time) of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from January 2018- January 2021. ​

​Prof Karandikar has several patents issued and pending, contributions to IEEE, 3GPP standards, contributed chapters in books and large number of papers in international journals and conferences to his credit. Prof Karandikar was awarded with IEEE SA’s Standards Medallion in December 2016 in New Jersey. ​

​His team also won Mozilla Open Innovation challenge prize in March 2017 for his work on rural broadband and digital empowerment in rural India.​

www.ee.iitb.ac.in/~karandi/​

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H.E. Jayant N. Khobragade
Ambassador of India to ASEAN

Mr. Jayant N. Khobragade joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1995. He has done postings at the Indian Embassies in Moscow (Russia), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Madrid (Spain) and served as India’s Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan.​

​While being posted in India, he has served as Deputy Secretary / Director of Disarmament & International Security (D&ISA) Division of Ministry of External Affairs; Joint Secretary, West Africa Division of Ministry of External Affairs; and Joint Secretary (External Relations), Department of Atomic Energy.​
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Before joining as Ambassador of India to ASEAN in Jakarta, he headed the Passport Seva Programme (PSP) Division of Ministry of External Affairs.​
Mr. Khobragade is an Engineering Graduate (Electrical).​

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Mr. Cyrus Daruwala
Adviser, ASEAN Economic Forum

Cyrus is the Advisor of ASEAN Economic Forum & Managing Director Global Financial Services @IDC. His research and advisory practices cover banking, insurance, and capital markets and topics such as legacy modernization and transformation, hybrid cloud, Big Data and analytics, customer life-cycle management, digital experience, ecommerce ecosystems, IOT, cognitive, blockchain, and fintech.​
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For the past 20 years, Cyrus has been working with financial institutions to help them assess their business and operational and technical challenges, select the right vendors/partners, better understand their IT TCO, and grow their customer base. Before joining IDC Financial Insights, Cyrus was a managing partner with a regional research and publication firm. He was instrumental in growing the firm’s proprietary as well as subscription-based research business along with the publishing businesses. ​

​His understanding of a range of business, market, regulatory, and investment-related issues enable him to work closely with financial institutions, consultants, vendors, and government agencies on various multidisciplinary initiatives. ​
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He has a Master’s degree in Business Finance, Economics, and Business Law from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics​

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Ben Tan​
Senior Executive Partner, SEA & KOREA at GARTNER.​

Ben is a senior business executive specializing in business strategy and digital transformation advisory. He has in-depth insight and knowledge of the Asia Pacific market, having spent the last 28 years in the region – competency from Board Member, Business Owner, Research, Advisory, Consulting, Program Management, Business Development, and Sales and Marketing roles.​

Ben is currently an Executive Partner with Gartner Executive Programs based in Singapore, manages CIO and CxO relationships in Southeast Asia region. In this capacity, acts as mentor and trusted adviser to senior IT and business executives on mission critical initiatives and priorities that are underpinned by technology investments. He is also a frequent speaker and presenter at various forums. ​

Prior to joining Gartner, Ben was the Country CEO of COURTS Singapore was responsible for driving all of COURTS’ local retail and business operations across its island wide network of stores as well as its e-commerce platform, COURTS​

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Juan G. Chua
CEO, Nexus Technologies Inc, Philippines.

Juan Chua, with a background in electronics engineering and computer science, has been involved the Philippine IT industry for 40 years. ​

​He is one of the founders of the Philippine IT trade association: COMDDAP. He currently heads various IT companies in the Philippines : Nexus Technologies Inc., a leading Systems Integrator ; Wordtext Systems Inc. (WSI) the oldest IT distribution company in the Philippines; Jupiter Systems Inc. a 35 year old software development company; and Bnext Inc, a SAP consulting firm.​

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Japnit Singh
Chief Operating Officer​ Spire Research & Consulting

Japnit is the Chief Operating Office at Yamada Consulting and Spire. He specializes in supporting organizations with marketing entry and growth consulting in Asia. With over 20 years of regional experience he has worked with fortune 500 companies as well as government agencies from Singapore, USA, Spain, Oman and Japan.​

These include Ithraa (Oman), Catalonia Trade and Investment, Austrade, JETRO, United Nations, ASEAN secretariat and others. He also works with private sector organizations such as Hewlett Packard, Schneider electric, Hitachi, Rakuten, Griffith Labs, Chilli’s Restaurants, Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola and others​

His expertise lies in market analytics, business partner matching and go-to-market strategies for multinational organizations as well as SMEs having successfully completed over 1000 market research projects globally.​

Japnit is passionate about education and spends a lot of his free time lecturing and working with local student bodies at NUS and NTU.​

Japnit holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi, and is a part of the MBM 2004 Batch of AIM.​

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Michele Huang
Founder and director, GA ESG solutions

Michele Huang is an experienced business leader with over 25 years in the technology industry in brands such as Intel, Microsoft and HP. She has deep go-to-market knowledge in both Commercial and Retail channels in Southeast Asia where she was the head of the Printing business in HP till 2024.​

She has always had a strong focus on consumer engagement innovation and most recently launched the first ever ink subscription program in Asia with predictive delivery, a convenient and green solution to customers. She was also conferred the 2023 Singapore 100 Women-In-Tech award from the Singapore Computer Society for her achievements.​

Michele has a deep passion for sustainability and has been a director and mentor in a Singapore-based sustainability consultancy for more than 10 years. She is now pursuing her passion full-time in GA ESG Solutions, providing practical solutions to IT channels and SMEs in their sustainability journey.​

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Sanjeev Gupta
CTO, GATES APAC Pte Ltd​

As a Director at Certification Partner Global (CPG), I lead the cloud audit programs for various international standards and certifications, such as SS 584, CSA STAR, ISO 27001, ISO 20000-1, ISO 22301, and ISO 9001. I have over 30 years of experience in IT management, business alignment, risk management, and project delivery, working with clients such as the Singapore Stock Exchange, AWS, Microsoft, G42 Cloud, and IBM Cloud.​
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I am also a co-founder and CTO of Gates APAC Pte Ltd, a platform that connects IT vendors and resellers in the Asia-Pacific region, and a vice-chairman of the IPv6 Forum Singapore, a non-profit organization that promotes the adoption and deployment of IPv6. I hold several credentials, such as CISA, CDPSE, and Lead Auditor. I am passionate about applying my IT expertise and leadership skills to create value and innovation for businesses and communities.​

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Mr. Sachin V Gopalan​
Chairman​ ASEAN Economic Forum

Sachin currently chairs the ASEAN Economic Forum. He is a serial entrepreneur with leadership level experience across sectors of Media, Education, Conferences, Events and Startup Incubation. He is the Founder of Indonesia Economic Forum. ​

​He is also the Co-Founder of Orbit Future Academy, Director of Investor Trust Media, Chairman of IndoFringe International Festival of Performing Arts and Advisory Board Member of Inotek Foundation.​

​In his career spanning 33 years, he has been the founding CEO of BeritaSatu Media Holdings, Marketing Director of CastleAsia’s Indonesia Country Program & Research Services and Regional Marketing Manager of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. Sachin is a University Gold Medallist in Bachelor of Engineering (Production) from the College of Engineering, Anna University, one of India’s leading engineering institutions.​

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Shiva Kumar Y
Senior Director, Distribution Sales Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China Cisco Systems ​ ​

Shiva heads Distribution Sales for APJC at Cisco. He is responsible for driving growth and operational excellence with Distribution and 2-Tier Partners in the region. Shiva leads this central distribution organisation, collaborating with APJC Partner organisation and distribution teams across all countries in APJC.​

With 25 years of Experience in the technology Industry, Shiva has been with Cisco for the last 21 years. Most recently, he was the Managing Director for Commercial, Midmarket and Small & Medium Business segment for Cisco India & South Asia. He has done various roles across Enterprise, Global, Commercial and Public Sector segments. Shiva has played a key role in driving several strategic initiatives and customer engagements for Cisco, ensuring greater Customer satisfaction. He has a proven track record of scaling businesses, accelerating new growth engines, and is known for his steadfast customer and partner focus.

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Ashish Kapahi
Executive Director,​ GATES APAC Pte Ltd​

A visionary business leader with over 25 years of experience in the dynamic world of technology. In 2005, he earned a nomination for the “Outstanding Chief/Senior Executive (Overseas) Award” from IE Singapore, a testament to his exceptional.​

​Ashish is the founder and CEO of GATES APAC Pte Ltd., Asia’s largest independent Technology channel platform. He is a hands-on strategist, adept at developing and managing large cross-functional teams to achieve organizational objectives. His global experience includes starting and managing greenfield operations across Asia, ANZ, and Western Europe, transforming them into sustainable profit centres. ​

​Beyond the corporate achievements, he is an advocate for public-private partnerships and have played a pivotal role in initiating and leading various PPP and intergovernmental projects, both regionally and globally. With a passion for creating value in the tech industry he continues to be a driving force in shaping the future of the technology channel ecosystem.​

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Samir Dixit
Head@Acorn Consulting - Brand Growth & Transformation

Samir is an award-winning strategist and business transformation expert with over 3 decades of brand, marketing, IP Management, M&A, and accelerated business growth experience having worked across business consulting, IP management, and valuations (Brand Finance), client side (Standard Chartered, LG) and multiple agencies (Ogilvy, Bates, Publicis etc)​

​Samir has been guiding C-Suite, company boards and governments on their IP and business growth strategies across Asia. He knows and understands what it takes to build a branded business, drive preference, loyalty and most of all profits and competitiveness. ​
Samir has worked across a plethora of product categories and segment and can always help find the right balance between internal strategy and external market reality.​
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Samir likes to trek, travel, read, play golf and shop. Samir is also a whisky aficionado and passionate about everything whisky.​

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Madhav Narayan
CEO, IIT Madras, Global Research Foundation

Madhav Narayan, is a Global leader at the intercept of Technology & Business, who has successfully built, transformed, scaled businesses, developed new markets, driven business model innovation, championed digital transformation for hyper growth of Tech MNCs, Public Authorities and startups (Intel, HP Inc, Dell, Samsung, Epson, Redington, DEWA, Shycocan Corp.) over a 38-year career in pan regional senior leadership roles. Since 2011 Madhav Narayan has been actively mentoring young entrepreneurs & disruptive tech start-ups and helped them raise capital to scale globally. Madhav Narayan is now The Chief Executive Officer for IIT Madras Global Research Foundation (IITM Global), with a charter to take the research, innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem of Indian Institute of Technology Madras, global.​

Mr. Madhav Narayan is a Bachelor in Electronics and Communications from Coimbatore Institute of Technology, University of Madras (1985) and holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) jointly awarded by Stern Business School (NYU), London School of Economics & HEC, Paris. Mr. Madhav Narayan has also completed various certified professional development programs in Advanced Leadership, Management Core, Digital Transformation from world renowned Academic Institutions like Stanford, UC Berkeley.

Daniel Schroeder
Head of Digital Transformation Centre.​ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) ​

Daniel Schröder is the Head of Digital Transformation Center of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Indonesia. Working out of Jakarta, he is responsible to establish and steer digital innovation and solutions in the portfolio of the Indonesian-German development cooperation.​

His current priority project is all about identifying digital & green innovation and making them ready to scale. Daniel is committed to creating new opportunities for Indonesian and German businesses for sustainable growth.​

Prior to joining GIZ, Daniel spend 15+ years with Deutsche Telekom, designing, developing and launching digital products. The last 5 years he lead the Berlin campus of hubraum – DTs tech incubator, focusing on building and supporting technology startups.​

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Celine Schulze
Managing Partner​ 10Power9 Pte Ltd

Celine Schulze is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of 10power9 Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based fund management company. Through its impact fund Narwhale Ventures, the company provides equity and capacity building to ocean-related, sustainability-driven early-stage companies from Asia-Pacific and Europe.

Beyond her role at 10power9, Celine is the founder and leader of the Southeast Asian Chapter of the global “Women in Carbon”, a non-profit of 700+ female members leading the transition towards a low-carbon economy.

Celine brings her expertise in finance and sustainability to the leading Singaporean University Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where she lectures on sustainability principles and practices, carbon markets and mechanisms, and climate finance.

Prior to this, Celine worked with a venture capital firm in Shanghai and a hedge fund in Geneva, and is a sought-after mentor and business coach. She currently advises startups in Singapore Management University’s incubation program, supported entrepreneurs in fundraising and negotiation for Innosuisse—the Swiss Federal Agency for Innovation Promotion—and guides emerging businesses through Climate and Blue Economy organizations across Asia and Europe.

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Frederic Cosny​
Co-Founder​ Over The Line Pte Ltd

Passionate about automating the way companies engage with partners and customers.​
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Currently working on the next enablement platforms to help customers scale and manage scale.​
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​❤️ I love building solutions that help make sales people/organizations better. ​
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👣 Co-founder of Over The Line, I started in product marketing for HP Inc a couple of decades ago and have always wanted to design products and solutions that will make people perform better. ​
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💪Getting rid of cognitive or behavioural biases is a key motivator.​
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👉🏽Quest keynote speaker at GATES.​

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