Tell us why your startup is Asia’s best and you could get an exclusive invite to START in Dublin

In the past two years, Dublin Web Summit has established a firm presence in the European tech scene. In 2011, there were over 1,500 attendees from 45 countries across the world. It is helmed by the team at F.ounders, an annual private gathering for 150 of the world’s leading tech company founders (the Jack Dorseys and Niklas Zennstroms of the world has spoken and attended F.ounders’ gatherings).

Now, this same team behind F.ounders and Web Summit aims to inspire a more-focused audience: the early-stage startups -through the launch of an event aptly titled START, which seeks to be an interactive platform for a small group of the world’s most exciting early-stage startups, plus investors and media in Dublin (Ireland) in October.

The START organizers are looking for startups under 3 years old who have raised under €5M (US$6.2M). A number of the best European and US VCs and a range of entrepreneurs and some journalists will be attending too. The startups will get access to an exclusive series of events and the Dublin Web Summit itself.

This is where it gets even more exciting. SGE has been asked by F.ounders to nominate the top 10 Asian startups.

So if you wish to have your startup nominated and attend the invite-only START, please first submit your application to the START team here and send us your answers to these questions:

• Your elevator pitch (25 words)
• How are you disrupting your market?
• What can you contribute to START?
• What do you want to gain from START?
• Proof that you’re headquartered in Asia
• Do whatever you can to convince us why your startup is Asia’s best.

We look forward to receiving your responses by THURSDAY 16TH AUGUST.

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Calling Indonesian App Devs! Telkomsel To Hold App Competition in September

Indonesian telco giant Telkomsel (NYSE:TLK) will hold a competition for mobile app developers this September in a bid to encourage local devs to build more Android apps.

According to Ivone Handayani, a representative of Telkomsel speaking to Antara News, developers can register via Flexi Market or the Telkom Store on September 2, then they can start building mobile apps. But the final product must be uploaded no later than September 9.

The winning apps will be announced on telkomstore.com. Telkomsel aims to publish the apps worldwide, not only to the Flexi Market and Android Telkomsel stores.

September is a busy month for Indonesian developers it seems. On the 13th, Facebook will hold its own hackathon competition for developers in Jakarta. And we here at TechInAsia are getting ready to host one in Bandung later in October.

[Source: Antara News]

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China’s Huawei Mixes Messages for Home and Abroad

Stephan is a Beijing-based graduate of Oberlin College doing translation and communications consulting work for non-profits and technology startups.

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Recently two influential magazines boast cover stories on Huawei (SHE:002502) which bring to light the Chinese technology giant’s two contradictory public relations faces: a patriotic company defined by its founder and president, former PLA engineer Ren Zhengfei, faces inward to China, while the outside world sees a company moving to distance itself from those same military ties.

The inconsistency could later haunt Huawei’s public relations efforts in western markets.

The English-speaking world received a report back in June from The Economist which reveals that Huawei is beginning to take measures to quell suspicions of its military and political ties to assuage foreign governments and corporations. Huawei has allegedly “hired lobbyists and public-relations consultants, and assembled well-paid advisory bodies” in important markets to tell one story of Huawei: it is a private-sector firm run by an engineer who retired from the PLA twenty years ago without a military rank.

But the story may not be as compelling as the one being told in China’s domestic market.

This week the Chinese-language China Entrepreneur magazine boldly states “Ren Zhengfei is Huawei, Huawei is Ren Zhengfei.” The article, which focuses on Huawei’s “genetics,” touches on a two-week “military-style training” that is a part of each new Huawei recruit’s six-month training period. According to China Entrepreneur’s report, in order to keep Huawei’s “genes from being diluted,” the same new recruits are subject to a “special” human resources assessment. Results from the assessment are fitted against the results of assessments of current corporate leadership. Huawei, at least culturally, seems intent to stay true to its military beginnings, which is at odds with the message it is trying to promote to the rest of the world.

China Entrepreneur’s coverage ends with a monologue by Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, that reflects on why he works at Huawei. He derides working solely for money, raves about the hard work of the nearly 70 year-old Ren Zhengfei, and ponders the importance of contributing to society. “How do you contribute to society?” Yu says, “Develop a company, create national income, create profits, create taxes, pay more taxes. That is contribution to society.”

One wonders if Ren Zhengfei’s ideas of contribution to society are as straightforward. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

The post China’s Huawei Mixes Messages for Home and Abroad appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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Tokyo-based Invoicing Service MakeLeaps Gets a Boost, Picks Up Competitor Noroshi

Webnet IT Corporation, the operators of the multilingual invoicing system Makeleaps, is announcing today that it has acquired Noroshi, a competing quoting/invoicing service from 7-bites that caters to freelancers and small businesses in Japan.

Noroshi is just over a year old, having been in operation since July 2011. 7-bites’s Shouta Sawada commented about coming under the MakeLeaps umbrella:

We considered multiple companies to approach to discuss acquisition before we decided upon MakeLeaps as they have been developing and operating, specifically for quotes and invoice since 2009, have great user support, and their continuous development have led us to decide on MakeLeaps as the best new home for Noroshi’s data and users.

MakeLeaps co-founder Jason Winder tells TechInAsia today that the acquisition of Noroshi helps solidify MakeLeaps moving forward in the next year:

Our target was having 10,000 businesses using MakeLeaps by August 2013, and this acquisition helped us make significant progress towards this goal.

MakeLeaps itself was launched back in October 2011, and has been incrementally improving since then, offering an alternative to Microsoft Office solutions (*yawn*) when creating quotes and invoices.

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6 finalists of Ideas.inc Business Challenge are all winners in their own right

Nothing beats a winning idea, right? Wrong. Nothing beats a winning idea with the right dose of passion and grit — and these 6 grand finalists of the Ideas Inc. Business Challenge have shown they have everything it takes.

From as early as 1st November 2011, each of them submitted their ideas, went through workshops with industry experts to pick up essential skills and knowledge, and even validated their ideas with entrepreneurs before settling on their strategies. Their unwavering passion through this grueling period can only prepare them for their journeys from here on.

FlagAHero invites users to “raise a flag” when they need something done, and the network of “heroes” will respond to requests. These heroes’ tasks and services get completed in exchange for an agreed sum of money. This community shows how you can get things done faster, more efficiently, and more cost-effectively.

Fruzine tickles the palate with the creative use of fruit in their menu, showing all foodies that healthier options can also be tastier. Their offering includes both Asian and Western cuisine, serving up balanced meals from a kiosk in the business district.

Gazaab catalyzes the creation of Social Entrepreneurs, helping people in rural communities in fighting poverty. Their Business Challenge Toolkit equips participants with not only the know-how, but with the funding to help these rural entrepreneurs.

Joytingle provides tailored solutions, medical knowledge and experiences for child patients. Armed with the belief that every child deserves a childhood, regardless of their medical condition – Joytingle works closely with hospitals and children, helping to connect child patients together and empowering them.

Schmieden Electronics improves the mobile experience of mobile users by innovating technology and mobile services — for example, SPYK was invented to allow mobile users to enlarge the small display on their mobile phones to a tablet-sized screen.

SL2 (Sustainable Living Lab) is a community-oriented ground-up innovator that believes in leadership and learning from Nature. True believers of the Kampung spirit, they teach prototyping and innovation to people from all walks of life, from organizations and students alike. They also make products from sustainable or waste materials like bamboo, cardboard and fire hoses.

Now all 6 finalists can look forward to the final conference on 20th October 2012, where 3 special awardees will be presented with SS$100,000 (US$80,000) in prize money. Clearly, though, all 6 finalists are already winners in their own right.

About the author

Sharon Yar is a self-confessed Coca-Cola addict, paper model maker, aspiring karaoke superstar – and also Creative Entrepreneur at Peepshow Creative. With close to 16 years of experience in consumer advertising, her portfolio of clients includes Singapore Airlines, Volkswagen, Sony, Nike, Levi’s, Tiger Beer, Chivas Regal, Raffles Hotels and Four Seasons. She has developed campaigns across a wide range of channels, including Corporate Identity, Web Design, Digital, Social Media and App Development. Want to know more? Email Sharon at yar (at) peepshowcreative.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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Shekhar Kapur and A R Rahman’s Qyuki to launch by November: CEO

Qyuki, the new social network co-founded by film maker Shekhar Kapur and music legend A R Rehman will be launched nationwide by November this year, a top official of the startup told Pluggd.in on Thursday.

“The site is in alpha stage now and its by invitation mode. The platform will be online by end of October or early November,” said Poonacha Machaiah, CEO, Qyuki. The social network is for people with a creative bent to showcase their talent, get noticed and earn from their creativity.

For a country which draws millions of viewers and hundreds of participants to television programs the Indian Idol and Dance India Dance, the platform is likely to draw a lot of attention from hundreds of artists looking for recognition as well as brands looking to promote their products and services.

The company which raised Rs 27 cr from networking giant Cisco in exchange of 17 % equity last year, was founded by Shekhar Kapur and A R Rahman, two heavyweights in the entertainment industry to introduce a new social network which will help in discovery of untapped creative talent of India and the Indian diaspora.

 

(Shekhar Kapur, A R Rahman. Image: Wikipedia)

“We are a platform of creative expression,” said Poonacha. “Every person has an urge to express their creativity and be recognized and we see that especially in India,” added Poonacha.

(Poonacha Machaiah, CEO, Qyuki. Image: poonacha.com)

The community will also be mentored by the founders as well as people like Imtiaz Ali, Chetan Bhagat and Suresh Natarajan.

At Qyuki, you can connect to new people, showcase your creativity, view creative work of others, find mentors, collaborators and fans. You can also follow Qyuki experts, respond to their project ideas and see content created by the Qyuki team and experts.

Presently, the site has four genres with mentors in each section. Photography is mentored by Suresh Natarajan, Stories by Chetan Bhagat, Films by Imtiaz Ali and Music by Ranjit Barot.

“We want people of common interest to come together at Qyuki and form a community. It’s not a platform to make friends like Facebook,” said Poonacha.

The team is also building a marketplace for the creative community where creators can showcase their works. Poonacha says that the platform will start generating revenue from March/ April 2012.

Qyuki will have four primary ways of making money, says Poonacha. The company is planning to generate revenue through brand sponsorships, content placements, marketplace and advertising.

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China’s ‘Kidney for iPad’ Trial Opens, 5 Facing Prison Terms

The young man, identified as Wang, showed his post-operation scars last year when the grim case first emerged.

Remember that dismal story of the young Chinese man who sold his kidney to buy an iPad last year? Justice is now close to being served, with the trial underway of five people who were arrested in April this year. They’re charged with being central to the illegal kidney transplant and are now facing up to 10 years in prison. Four others are also in the dock having assisted in the operation, but face only fines.

Under the spotlight at the trial – at the People’s Court in Beihu District of Chenzhou, Hunan province – are the surgeon and the fixer who arranged it all via online chatrooms. Song Zhongyu is the surgeon who performed the operation in April 2011, earning himself 52,000 RMB (US$8,228) from the kidney which was actually worth $35,000 when they sold it on the black market. The arranger and mastermind, He Wei, profited to the tune of 56,360 RMB ($8,920). The three others facing jail terms also got substantial cuts of the money.

The young man at the centre of the case, identified only by his surname, Wang, is said to be in poor health on his remaining kidney. He got only 22,000 RMB (about $3,000) for his harvested organ, with a chunk of that earmarked by the man to buy a new iPad. But with no social safety net in terms of healthcare in China, Wang is facing hardship as his kidney-related medical expenses will likely exceed the money he got from the sinister deal. Wang suffered from renal failure shortly after the surgery.

The trial opened yesterday, and heard how the fixer, He Wei, was penniless and mired in gambling debt in early 2011 when he first hatched the plot with a few associates to lure someone into an illegal transplant. They even leased an operating room from a hospital contractor, who’s also in the dock.

Wang’s lawyers are seeking as much as RMB 2.27 million ($359,000) in compensation. The trial continues, and we’ll let you know when a verdict is reached.

[Source: People’s Daily]

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Lobangclub changes name to Save22, because Lobang in Indonesian means a woman’s…

Lobangclub, a Singapore and Philippines-based startup has changed its name to Save22. If you recall, Lobangclub is a mobile app that lets users compare prices of off-the-shelf items by scanning barcodes. Guyi Shen, the founder, shared his story with us, and we found it so amusing that we’ve decided to just include his whole telling below:

I was eating at a kopitiam in Central Jakarta and playing with my phone. A family of five was eating besides me, there was a young boy of 12-13 years curiously looking at my iPhone, I smiled as I grabbed the half-empty can of Pepsi I was drinking and scanned it with the lobangclub app, as I showed him the results the boy’s face spread into a smile.

“You want to try it?” I said as I handed him my phone.

He started rummaging through his parent’s shopping bag for things with barcodes he could scan.

“It’s called Lobangclub” I said proudly. He looked at me with confusion. “Lo-bang-club…” I said each syllable slowly.

He continued to scan but now his smile had turned into a sheepish grin.

I finished my lunch and got up to leave so I asked for my iPhone back…The boy sauntered over to me and pressed the phone into my palms, he hesitated slightly, before leaning over and whispered “Lobang in Indonesian means a woman’s….”

His face suddenly turned red and his voice trailed off…He didn’t finish the sentence as he turned around and trotted back to his parents.

A woman’s…? The wheels started spinning in my head.

What in the world was the boy referring to?

I stared down at my business card with LOBANGCLUB written in big letters…*

* P.S. For the curious on what lobang means on the street in Indonesia,  read the first comment on this article.

Note: We were reminded of another startup from Cambodia called Chibi, whose name is actually Hokkien for a woman’s…

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4 essential duties of a Singapore company director

(Credit: Rikvin)

Singapore is undeniably a hot destination for company incorporationand some entrepreneurs and HNWIs are making a beeline to open set up headquarters in the republic.

As many as 7000 multinationals have also demonstrated the importance of establishing a presence in Southeast Asia via Singapore as they understand the strategic importance of the country as a gateway for their business to the rest of Asia.

However, it is not enough to understand the merits of doing business via the republic or entertain the idea of Singapore company registration. Before signing up one’s incorporation documents, it is of utmost importance to understand the basic duties of a Singapore company director.

Fiduciary Duties of a Director in a Singapore Company

One of the requirements to register a Singapore private limited company is at least one Singapore resident director. This means that the person has to be a citizen, Singapore permanent resident or Entrepreneur Pass holder.

In general, a Singapore director has to act with honesty while discharging his duties with a sound mind and diligence. As he acts on behalf of the company, he should not do anything to further his personal interests at the cost of the interests of the company.
The following are his fiduciary duties:

1. Duty to act honestly and in good faith in the interest of the company.

2. Duty to avoid clash of interests (his personal interests with those of the company).

3. Duty of care, skill and diligence.

4. Duty not to misuse his powers and information as a director of the company.

Knowing all about the duties and following them is essential 

Wherever a director finds that he has personal interests that are in conflict with the interests of the company, it is the duty of the director to reveal the facts in front of the board of directors to seek approval of the company before proceeding.

If the director wants to transact business with an entity and he has any interest in this transaction, it is the duty of the director to reveal the extent and nature of his interest in the entity and in particular, the transaction that he wants to conduct with the entity as the director of the company.

Unfortunately, many new directors do not understand that the above is a statutory duty of a director.

The failure to disclose the nature and extent of interest while transacting with an entity as the director of a company can result in a fine not exceeding $5000 of imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months.

This post was originally published on Rikvin as Four Essential Duties of a Singapore Company Director.

About Rikvin

Established in 1998, Rikvin has since partnered with thousands of investors, entrepreneurs and professionals in their pursuit to access business opportunities overseas. Rikvin’s areas of expertise include Singapore company incorporation, offshore company setup, accounting, taxation and other related corporate services. Rikvin is also a licensed employment agency with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and offers a full spectrum of Singapore work visa services for foreign professionals who wish to relocate to Singapore.

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With ‘Japs’ and ‘Pearl Harbor’ Trending, US Tweeters Take Olympic Gold in Being Dicks

Japan Probe points out this morning that after the US women’s soccer team beat Japan for Olympic gold, a number of Twitter users from back in ‘Merica were not handling the win very graciously, many tossing around some pretty racist comments on the microblog. Today the terms ‘Japs’ and ‘Pearl Harbor’ were trending topics, which is pretty classless to say the least. See the link below for samples of the messages.

Now before we take the the ‘a few bad apples’ defense, we should point out that this happened during last year’s World Cup as well, when ‘Japs’ was a trending topic then too.

The post With ‘Japs’ and ‘Pearl Harbor’ Trending, US Tweeters Take Olympic Gold in Being Dicks appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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