Highlights:

1. Resignations, layoffs, absenteeism, presenteeism, and increasing competition from foreign companies hiring in the region driving local tech companies to mature in the way they attract and retain talent.
2. Demand for more secure and accurate Gen AI applications for enterprise impacting the way businesses allocate resources towards and manage data operations.
3. More capital and talent going into agritech has the potential to shift the way work in these industries (fisheries, farming) is viewed.
4. Government initiatives to catalyze global capital flows towards frontier industries (e.g., biotech, foodtech/agritech, AI, web3) will drive job creation in these sectors.
5. Higher expectations for companies in earlier stages to prove profitability and show governance maturity reshaping demands for the kind of finance talent and finance leaders hired by venture-backed startups.

Between the rise of generative AI mass adoption and tech layoffs, there are a myriad of forces that point towards a fundamental shift in the way we work and thus, build organizations. These shifts are not about jobs going away or being replaced – in fact, they signal the growth in talent pools across industries, and Southeast Asia is at the forefront of this shift in some key aspects, which we list below in four numbers:

(1) 81%. Based on the Michael Page’s Talent Trend Report 2022, Indonesia is one of the highest countries in APAC with tech talents planning to resign. Then according to a Duke-NUS study, absenteeism and presenteeism is costing organizations in Singapore nearly S$16B a year. Building a resilient organization is no small feat, much less one that is global. Today’s climate is forcing tech companies in the region to mature in the way they attract and retain talent. In our recently released cross-border hiring playbook, we share key practices that leaders need to take note of as they aim to build truly global companies.

(2) 5.3x. The increase in cost efficiencies for organizations that have switched to the AI-driven customer engagement solutions of WIZ.AI. It is clear that this “co-pilot” meta of generative AI is forcing businesses to rethink the way they operate, and this expands to adopting all kinds of AI-based solutions. But not all AI apps are equal, as we illustrate in the case of the GPT app wave here – and it’s important to have a strong foundation in data operations to effectively leverage AI for business. We write how this is quickly becoming a standard not just for AI companies but any company.

(3) 40%. Increase in the incremental income of farmers in Indonesian upstream agritech Elevarm‘s ecosystem. Also just one example, but the rise of venture-backed innovation in agriculture and fisheries is showing real potential to revolutionize the way people, especially women and youth, view work in these industries. In Elevarm’s impact report, they also mention how they are working to increase the share of women farmers in their ecosystem (currently at 14,000) and young farmers as well (currently 20-28%). The tech leaders (CTO and CPO) of this fast-growing agritech share more insights into the country’s agricultural potential in this podcast.

(4) 24,699. The number of jobs created by Global Investor Programme (GIP) investors from 2011-2022. This number looks to increase even further with the appointment of seven new fund management companies as GIP-select funds in the past months. Collaboration is important more than ever to build platforms for capital and talent to meet, especially as there is increasing interest in Singapore, and by extension, Southeast Asia, opportunities for deep tech innovation. Supply chain diversification for production of key components like semiconductors, demand for localized solutions, and more talent shifts to the region are drivers of this.

(5) 50%. The average governance score of companies that have used our ESG Assessment tool. See if your company can raise the average here. This survey a limited scope and not definitive by any means, but in Southeast Asia, there is an ongoing learning curve towards building up more robust governance structures earlier on in the life of the company, whether that’s prioritizing finance hires in founding teams or audit requirements for fundraising. We discuss this shift in the role of finance leaders in startups with seasoned founder and current CFO of ecommerce house of brands Rainforest, Jason Tan, on this podcast.

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