NoLimit and Rolling Glory Launch SocialMeter, a Social Media Engagement Platform

We’ve just heard from NoLimit that it is teaming up with Rolling Glory to build a social media engagement platform named SocialMeter, and today they’re set to launch it. NoLimit is a startup that mainly focuses on analyzing conversations on Indonesian social media while Rolling Glory is a digital media studio based in Bandung, Indonesia, that works on a broad range of media platform such as websites, games, interactive apps, videos, and advertising apps.

Aqsath Rasyid, NoLimit’s CEO, explained to me that with SocialMeter, people can participate in an online campaign by doing social media activities like following an account, tweeting with certain hash tag, or becoming a fan of a Facebook fanpage. These activities are then measured with points which can be redeemed for various rewards from the campaign owner. Aqsath also referred that this concept as similar to several services abroad such as Plyfe, CrowdTwist, and ChurpChurp. To some extent, I find this concept is also similar to Bouncity although Bouncity mainly focuses on location based activities.

To demonstrate some of SocialMeter’s features, Aqsath pointed out a “pilkada version” (pilkada is an Indonesian acronym for “governor election”) of SocialMeter that shows a live comparison of popularity of two Jakarta’s governor candidates in Twitter based on how many tweets are mentioning their names and the comparison is visualized as a game of tug of war as pictured below.

Aqsath stated:

SocialMeter is designed for everyone who loves social media and fun apps. In SocialMeter we want everyone to get rewards for what they did in social media so their social media experience can be more fun than ever. SocialMeter also for those who loves competition. You can compare your badges with your friends or other people beyond your circle of friends to know who are most sociable people on social media.

We want this app to be the platform for individuals to rank their social presence and for communities or groups to rank their loyal member in social media. As a platform, later we will provide option for them to customize the game play, challenges, and badges so that it can be aligned with their needs.

As for monetization, SocialMeter targets enterprises and SMEs who want to increase their brand engagement with their customers in social media. Aqsath added:

By accomplishing social media activity challenges such as following a Twitter account, being fan on Facebook, or posting specific hashtags, players will help enterprises & SMEs spreading their promotional content. This pattern can also work for events, organizations, and public figures who want to promote their brand in social media.

After this release, NoLimit plans to develop API for third party developers and work on the analytics dashboard for groups and members.

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Content discovery meets powerful recommendation engine at Pugmarks.me

There is quite a bit of ‘content noise’ on the web – i.e. very few original content and a lot of rehash with little value add (plus, the attack of SEO). For those who value content and need more rhythm over random, Pugmarks.me is meant for you.

Launched by Dhiti, which earlier raised funding from Ojas Ventures Pugmarks.me takes a very fundamental approach to content consumption on the web – i.e. of trusting the social web.  Available as a browser plugin for Chrome (and bookmarklet for other browsers), Pugmarks lets you ‘pugmark’ an article making it discoverable to those who follow you.

There are 4 main call to actions:

• Pugmarking: When you are reading an article that seems useful, just Pugmark it. Pugmarking makes this article discoverable for people who follow you (which includes yourself). Users who follow you on Pugmarks will be recommended this article if they are on a similar one.
• Recommendations: When you are on an article, the service will recommend similar and relevant ones from your web of trust.
• Suggestions: If you have a friend on Pugmarks who has marked similar articles, the service will recommend that you suggest the article to him.
• Grow: If we know there are sources or people that typically write or mark articles similar to the one you are on, we’ll ask you to follow them. This is a great way to grow your web of trust – contextually.

The product is aimed at a segment which needs to consume information (for their professional needs), filtered by the social web (i.e. sans chatter). Typical target segment for Pugmarks include entrepreneurs to venture capitalists, journalists, curators, market researchers, investment analysts, entrepreneurs, developers, designers etc.

In short, Pugmarks.me curates the web, as per your social connections and shares relevant content under a context.  That is, you and I need not share a lot of content taste, but maybe there could be a few contexts where we can help each other discover relevant content.

What about Privacy?

After all, the plugin is mining your web pugmarks! Here is what the team has to share:

Will your reading history be public?

No. Your reading history is private to you, and kept protected in our servers. Your reading history is not stored for ever. Only the articles you have read in the recent past are stored.

Will your data be mined?

Yes! Pugmarks.me is a recommender system. It analyses your marks, indexes them and helps you get better articles. However, only articles that you explicitly “mark” will be used to know what you like. Not your reading history.

Will your followers see a list of my marks?

Marking makes an article discoverable. These articles are shown as recommendations if your followers are on a related one. The list of your marks is only accessible to you. So, do not be worried about your marks spamming your friends.

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The biggest challenge, in my opinion for Pugmarks is to get users to pugmark articles. Unlike services like Facebook/Twitter, where there is a tangible benefit of sharing content (shares/likes/retweets), Pugmarks still doesn’t give an instant gratification to the user. Having said that, Pugmarks.me is one of those promising products that will find its own niche of users.

For sure, the product fits right into the current noise of content rehashed web and is strongly recommended for those who need to dive deeper into content topics, without getting into the pain of navigating through otherwise mediocre Google search.

Do give the service (though invite only, the team has opened up invites to 200 members) a spin and share your comments/feedback with the team.

[This startup coverage is part of Pluggd.in’s 65 startup special series, which is supported by Nexus Venture Partners. If you are a product startup, submit your details here.]

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Wine E-Tailer Jiumei Gives Taster of New Series B Funding Round

Just a week after one rival pocketed $32 million in funding, an executive at the wine e-commerce site Jiumei has revealed in an interview that it’s on the verge of wrapping up series B funding worth over RMB 100 million (US$15.8 million).

Jiumei – aka WineNice.com – completed its first major round at the end of last year when it netted RMB 80 million ($12.64 million) from Shenzhen Capital Group. The CEO, Lu Yide, did not identify who’d be leading this next injection of capital. But in his talk to Chinese tech blog Donews, he did explain that the RMB 100 million or more in funding would be used to bolster its B2C logistics and to grow its offline retailing operations.

The site initially grew slowly after launching in 2008. Jiumei mostly sells foreign wines, but also has a selection of Chinese rice wines and overseas liquors. Most of its stock is in the pretty affordable sub-200 RMB ($32) category, though I spot a 1988 Pétrus for a cool 30,000 RMB ($4,740).

A Jiumei wine "expericence store" takes the e-tailer into the offline world. (Image: winesino.com)

As for its offline ventures, it aims to have 100 brick-and-mortar stores around China by the end of the year, such as its “experience stores” (pictured right) which hold regular wine-tasting events.

Now, claims Lu Yide, Jiumei saw RMB 150 million ($23.7 million) in sales revenue last year, and he aims for “this to grow to RMB 1 billion [$158 million] in revenue within two to three years.”

Jiumei also has virtual stores on Tmall, China’s biggest online mall, as well as on Yihaodian, the largest food-oriented e-commerce site in the country.

We’ll update with more details once the funding news becomes officially official.

[Source: Donews - article in Chinese]

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Red Dot Ventures welcomes Zopim cofounder as Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Julian Low, cofounder of live chat solution Zopim, joins Red Dot Ventures as Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Red Dot Ventures (RDV), one of the seed stage investment firm which was selected as a startup incubator under the Technology Incubation Scheme, is recently joined by Julian Low, the cofounder of Zopim. At Zopim, Julian was handling business development, sales, operations as well as being an active evangelist for the company. With the service now growing faster than ever, having recently launched Zopim 2.0 and servicing more than 45,000 clients worldwide, Julian has left the company in search for newer ventures. Together with Leslie Loh who has three investment exits under his belt, Julian will add valuable experience to the Red Dot Ventures team.

The departure from Zopim

Julian said in an email interview, “Building Zopim with the rest of my co-founders was definitely one the highlights of my life and leaving them was not an easy decision. As a team, we came to a mutually-beneficial arrangement for all parties involved and I am still a shareholder (and firm believer) in the company. However, a startup goes through many different phases in its growth and I guess I am more of a firestarter-kind of guy. I love the exciting phase of starting new companies and which is why being at Red Dot now is a natural fit for me. I’m really grateful for Leslie to allow me to learn so much from him. He’s the only friend I know in Singapore that has started, nurtured, listed and then sold a successful company (System Access) and even after three months on the job, I’m still learning.”

Zopim team hopes the best for Julian at Red Dot Ventures

Royston, one of the other cofounder at Zopim, hopes the best for Julian. “No departure is ever a smooth one, especially when it involves a founder who went through the toughest times with us, and is someone we still treat as a very close friend. That said, it was an amicable departure. There are professional reasons involved of course, but that is confidential and not something we feel the need to disclose. I think the ability for startups, and entrepreneurs to be able to compartmentalize personal emotions from professional decisions is really important. And I’m really proud that both Julian and ourselves achieved that, in reaching an arrangement that mutually benefitted both parties. We still hang out for drinks these days. It’s gratifying for us to hear that Julian is doing really well at Red Dot, and passionate about his ability to help many startups who were in the same position as we were when Zopim first started all those years back.”

Main role at Red Dot Ventures

At Red Dot Ventures, Julian takes the role of an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. His job involves reviewing startup investment opportunities in a myriad of fields including Biotech, MedTech, Web, Mobile, E-commerce as well as working with local research institutes to commercialize new technologies and bring them to market. At Red Dot Ventures, the team is very hands-on and Julian will get to work with the startups that they have invested in and to do everything to help them grow and scale. “It’s like being in multiple startups at the same time and their energy is simply infectious. They are one of the prime reasons why I love working at Red Dot Ventures.”

Julian to bring extensive experience at Zopim to assist his role at Red Dot Ventures

When asked how would his experience at Zopim would help him in Red Dot Ventures, Julian replied confidently: “As someone who has roughed it out with the rest of my team at Zopim, I think I can say with much confidence that I can empathize with my fellow startup entrepreneurs with their struggles and fears. I know what it is like to go on a few hundred bucks a month while your peers are making tons more because you believe in a dream. I know what are the personal sacrifices an entrepreneur has to make just to stay in business and keep their dreams alive despite what their naysayers and critics say.”

Julian adds on by saying: “Being part of the team that grew Zopim also allows me to know what are the things a startup should focus on early in its growth phase, like hiring, customer acquisition and how they should spend their time. On the topic of time, I always tell the startups I meet that the real limiting factor for them is not money but time. Money can be earned or raised, but time once squandered cannot be retrieved. For the startups that pitch to us, you’ll have my assurance that we will do our utmost not to waste any of your time because I know how precious it is. All we hope for in return is that you repay the favor.”

Finally, Julian calls out for startups whom are looking for investment or just startup advises. “So if you are in the process of building an awesome company, please email us (contact[at]reddotventures.com) and tell us what you are passionate about as well as how we can help. I really look forward to having that conversation with you all.”

The team at e27 wishes Julian all the best at Red Dot Ventures and looks forward to sharing more news from him.

Featured Image Credits: Quarkbase

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Red Dot Ventures welcomes Zopim cofounder as Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Julian Low, cofounder of live chat solution Zopim, joins Red Dot Ventures as Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Red Dot Ventures (RDV), one of the seed stage investment firm which was selected as a startup incubator under the Technology Incubation Scheme, is recently joined by Julian Low, the cofounder of Zopim. At Zopim, Julian was handling business development, sales, operations as well as being an active evangelist for the company. With the service now growing faster than ever, having recently launched Zopim 2.0 and servicing more than 45,000 clients worldwide, Julian has left the company in search for newer ventures. Together with Leslie Loh who has three investment exits under his belt, Julian will add valuable experience to the Red Dot Ventures team.

The departure from Zopim

Julian said in an email interview, “Building Zopim with the rest of my co-founders was definitely one the highlights of my life and leaving them was not an easy decision. As a team, we came to a mutually-beneficial arrangement for all parties involved and I am still a shareholder (and firm believer) in the company. However, a startup goes through many different phases in its growth and I guess I am more of a firestarter-kind of guy. I love the exciting phase of starting new companies and which is why being at Red Dot now is a natural fit for me. I’m really grateful for Leslie to allow me to learn so much from him. He’s the only friend I know in Singapore that has started, nurtured, listed and then sold a successful company (System Access) and even after three months on the job, I’m still learning.”

Zopim team hopes the best for Julian at Red Dot Ventures

Royston, one of the other cofounder at Zopim, hopes the best for Julian. “No departure is ever a smooth one, especially when it involves a founder who went through the toughest times with us, and is someone we still treat as a very close friend. That said, it was an amicable departure. There are professional reasons involved of course, but that is confidential and not something we feel the need to disclose. I think the ability for startups, and entrepreneurs to be able to compartmentalize personal emotions from professional decisions is really important. And I’m really proud that both Julian and ourselves achieved that, in reaching an arrangement that mutually benefitted both parties. We still hang out for drinks these days. It’s gratifying for us to hear that Julian is doing really well at Red Dot, and passionate about his ability to help many startups who were in the same position as we were when Zopim first started all those years back.”

Main role at Red Dot Ventures

At Red Dot Ventures, Julian takes the role of an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. His job involves reviewing startup investment opportunities in a myriad of fields including Biotech, MedTech, Web, Mobile, E-commerce as well as working with local research institutes to commercialize new technologies and bring them to market. At Red Dot Ventures, the team is very hands-on and Julian will get to work with the startups that they have invested in and to do everything to help them grow and scale. “It’s like being in multiple startups at the same time and their energy is simply infectious. They are one of the prime reasons why I love working at Red Dot Ventures.”

Julian to bring extensive experience at Zopim to assist his role at Red Dot Ventures

When asked how would his experience at Zopim would help him in Red Dot Ventures, Julian replied confidently: “As someone who has roughed it out with the rest of my team at Zopim, I think I can say with much confidence that I can empathize with my fellow startup entrepreneurs with their struggles and fears. I know what it is like to go on a few hundred bucks a month while your peers are making tons more because you believe in a dream. I know what are the personal sacrifices an entrepreneur has to make just to stay in business and keep their dreams alive despite what their naysayers and critics say.”

Julian adds on by saying: “Being part of the team that grew Zopim also allows me to know what are the things a startup should focus on early in its growth phase, like hiring, customer acquisition and how they should spend their time. On the topic of time, I always tell the startups I meet that the real limiting factor for them is not money but time. Money can be earned or raised, but time once squandered cannot be retrieved. For the startups that pitch to us, you’ll have my assurance that we will do our utmost not to waste any of your time because I know how precious it is. All we hope for in return is that you repay the favor.”

Finally, Julian calls out for startups whom are looking for investment or just startup advises. “So if you are in the process of building an awesome company, please email us (contact[at]reddotventures.com) and tell us what you are passionate about as well as how we can help. I really look forward to having that conversation with you all.”

The team at e27 wishes Julian all the best at Red Dot Ventures and looks forward to sharing more news from him.

Featured Image Credits: Quarkbase

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Mumbai Turns to Twitter, Google Docs to Arrange Car Pools After Train Stoppages

There’s an interesting account over on Indian tech blog Pluggd.in showing how folks in Mumbai made very creative us of Twitter and Google Docs to arrange a #MumbaiCarPool after heavy rains in the city brought local trains to a halt.

It once again highlights the usefulness of Google Docs as an impromptu means of centralizing information on the fly, but at the same time I think it also shows Twitter’s shortcomings. Twitter is always a key communication tool in events like this (see the recent floods in the Philippines as well) but people continually find the need to centralize information during times of crisis, and Google Docs is repeatedly being used to pick up the slack.

Such makeshift solutions to immediate civic problems around Asia should serve as a signal to developers that there is an itch out there that needs scratching. I wonder if any smart developers out there could devise a system that could be deployed quickly in a crisis to address such an issue.

For more information, check out the full story over on Pluggd.in.

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GREE and IPSJ holds programming contest for young engineers

(Credit: Jezebel)

Calling all aspiring young engineers! Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) and GREE will be holding the IPSJ International AI Programming Contest SamurAI Coding, a programming contest for young engineers.

This contest aims to revamp the entire software industry by motivating young software engineers to face new challenges in the name of science. For this contest, engineers worldwide, aged 25 and below, are eligible to apply. Interested applicants should know that they will be tested on their game engineering skills against each other and remaining teams get the chance to showcase their skills at a global level.  Involving multiple matches, each subset will be played by four teams (each consisting of three to five members). Every team will expand its territories using its own agents which are a samurai and a dog in the game.

Contest Overview

Entry qualifications: Age 25 and under (born on or later than January 1, 1987)

Registration:

• Sign up at the website of SamurAI Coding.
• Participate in the SamurAI Coding competition via “My page”, and create a team.
• Number of members per team: Three to Five
• Note: (Partial) funding for travel to Tokyo is available for up to three members of teams reaching the World Finals.

Key Dates:

11 September, 2012 – Briefing session at Nanyang Polytechnic (3.00pm – 5.00pm)

12 -27 September, 2012 – Deadline for submission of AI program for qualifications

1 – 3 October, 2012 – Qualifying results released on website

About Information Processing Society of Japan

The largest society and a leading authority in information processing in Japan; it is also current a member of Academic Research Community Cooperation Science of Japan.

Featured Image Credits : Richmond News

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GREE and IPSJ holds programming contest for young engineers

(Credit: Jezebel)

Calling all aspiring young engineers! Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) and GREE will be holding the IPSJ International AI Programming Contest SamurAI Coding, a programming contest for young engineers.

This contest aims to revamp the entire software industry by motivating young software engineers to face new challenges in the name of science. For this contest, engineers worldwide, aged 25 and below, are eligible to apply. Interested applicants should know that they will be tested on their game engineering skills against each other and remaining teams get the chance to showcase their skills at a global level.  Involving multiple matches, each subset will be played by four teams (each consisting of three to five members). Every team will expand its territories using its own agents which are a samurai and a dog in the game.

Contest Overview

Entry qualifications: Age 25 and under (born on or later than January 1, 1987)

Registration:

• Sign up at the website of SamurAI Coding.
• Participate in the SamurAI Coding competition via “My page”, and create a team.
• Number of members per team: Three to Five
• Note: (Partial) funding for travel to Tokyo is available for up to three members of teams reaching the World Finals.

Key Dates:

11 September, 2012 – Briefing session at Nanyang Polytechnic (3.00pm – 5.00pm)

12 -27 September, 2012 – Deadline for submission of AI program for qualifications

1 – 3 October, 2012 – Qualifying results released on website

About Information Processing Society of Japan

The largest society and a leading authority in information processing in Japan; it is also current a member of Academic Research Community Cooperation Science of Japan.

Featured Image Credits : Richmond News

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Shit Gets Real, and Personal, as Chinese Business Leaders Slam Short Sellers Citron

A bunch of Chinese business leaders have grouped together to set up CitronFraud.com, a site dedicated, it says, to exposing “the lies Citron tells about China.” Citron Research is a financial analysis firm and short seller that, says the group of over 60 businesspeople in their first collective post, routinely practices “deception” in its attacks on US-listed Chinese stocks. The post goes on to explain:

We are investment professionals and company founders/executives in China. We are joining together in this effort to expose and condemn the deception and ignorance of Citron and other short sellers like them. This English website (citronfraud.com) is being created to host this ongoing fight against fraud. […] Citron’s reports take advantage of the information asymmetry between China and the US, and boldly tell lies, knowing that their American readers have no way of verifying them.

Citron's Andrew Left: "a record of fraud"?

The Citron slam got personal very quickly, as Citron’s founder Andrew Left (pictured right) was branded “a man with a long record of fraud, deceit, and unlawful behavior.” That includes how Andrew was fired from his first ever job in 1998 for misleading and defrauding customers, as ruled by an investigation by the National Futures Association. Just fours year later he departed the role of CEO at Detour Media after the company “sued him for stealing six checks worth about $25,000.” The CitronFraud site asks:

One has to wonder why an investor would trust the investment advice of someone with a record of fraud, deceit, and unlawful behavior.

But, hey, we’re talking about the financial trading sector here, so that’s a bit like asking why one weasel mates with another.

Who’s behind CitronFraud? Among the many signed names are the CEOs of major Chinese tech firms – usually the kind of stock that Citron and other short sellers like Muddy Waters attack in their reports – as well as investment groups. Unsurprisingly, the biggest victim of Citron’s recent four reports is on the list: Zhou Hongyi, CEO of Qihoo 360 (NYSE:QIHU). Also in the group is the former head of Google’s China operations, Kai-Fu Lee, who first took umbrage with Citron last week when he pointed out a number of factual errors in its report on the search engine Sogou.com.

A bit like Fox News being anything but fair and balanced, we have long since noted that Citron seemed to lack a true understanding of China’s web scene, and this new site should be a useful check-and-balance on the short sellers’ claims, and a useful reference tool for overseas investors. And a source of hilarious personal slams.

Tell us what you make of this new collective in the comments.

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Helene Auriol appointed as new Managing Director of Microsoft Singapore

(Credit: Microsoft)

Former managing director for Microsoft Singapore, Jessica Tan has been appointed to lead the company’s Enterprise business in Asia Pacific. Helene Auriol, from Microsoft France, will take over as the new managing director for Singapore.

Under Jessica’s leadership, Microsoft Singapore has seen business doubled as she not only focused on the business side of the market but counted in the welfare of society in order to make technology more engaging for them as well. Jessica has been an enabler for most people with disabilities, seniors, start-ups and education institutions with technology. By empowering these sections of society, it has contributed to Microsoft’s business growth. Microsoft Singapore has been a strong supporter of the tech community through events like Geekcamp and also bringing in industry experts, such as the senseis of Halfbrick Studios, to share their experiences.

Taking on her role as the new General Manager for Microsoft’s Enterprise business in Asia Pacific, Jessica will be responsible for pushing growth by providing opportunities in over 12 markets in Asia which sees both emerging and mature markets with a potential of over 15 percent year-on-year growth potential over the next three years.

Jessican commented, “Taking on the country manager role in Singapore was very rewarding for me personally. I love building and working with passionate and strong teams. It was more than just a job. It has shown me time and time again, that technology and the people behind it can change lives and businesses. While this is my second opportunity as the Enterprise business lead for Asia Pacific, this business has evolved in complexity and has grown tremendously over the last few years. It is also very diverse in its needs and growth plans. I feel it gives me the opportunity to further influence an important part of Microsoft’s business which I’m very passionate about. We are heading into a year with an amazing innovation pipeline. I am excited to be given this opportunity while Singapore continues to stay very close to my heart”.

On the other hand, Microsoft Singapore’s newly appointed managing director, Helene Auriol, is very familiar with Microsoft and the Asia region. Having worked with Microsoft for about three years, she has been known to lead Microsoft’s top performing teams. Her focus is substantial as she prioritises on people development, building strong teams and working to improve Microsoft experience for customers and partners. Before she was appointed as the new managing director, she worked at Dell as General Manager for Africa and the Mediterranean region. She has also spent 20 years with Nortel and France Telecom, of which she has held several international executive positions.

“Like Jessica, I am very passionate about our mission as a company, to enable customers, partners and employees to realise their full potential. It has been my personal dream to work in Singapore and I am grateful to have the opportunity to lead such a strong, diverse team and business,” said Helene.

This shift in executive roles proves Microsoft’s commitment to diversity and inclusion especially with Helene’s appointment as the third female and second foreign managing director to lead the Singapore subsidiary. Both appointments are effective from 1st September, 2012. Jessica will continue to oversee the Singapore operations in September to ensure a smooth handover to Helene.

e27 wishes to congratulate these two amazing women on their promotion and we hope to see Microsoft flourish under their leadership.

Read the full press release below.

 

Press Release

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Singapore, 28 August 2012 – Microsoft announced today that Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo, Managing Director for Microsoft Singapore will take on a new and expanded role to lead the company’s Enterprise business in Asia Pacific. Microsoft also announced the appointment of its new Managing Director for Singapore, Helene Auriol, who will join the Singapore team from Microsoft France.

Said Ms Tracey Fellows, Area Vice President, Microsoft Asia Pacific: “Through Jessica’s leadership, the Singapore business has doubled its revenue in the last four years, an amazing feat considering the maturity of the market and the very competitive nature of our business. Her focus on ensuring Microsoft Singapore attracted top notch talent, while having a relentless focus on addressing customer and partner needs, has paid off tremendously for our business in Singapore. I am very pleased to see her take on this new and expanded role.”

Aside from business growth, Ms Tan has been an industry champion for enabling people with disabilities, seniors, start-ups and education institutions with technology. Microsoft has increased investments in Singapore through the Microsoft Technology Centre, the Singapore data centre, BizSpark for start-ups, DreamSpark for students, new pedagogical initiatives in Singapore schools, the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Scholarships and community training centres for people with disabilities and seniors to enable more inclusive growth by these segments of society.

In her new role as the General Manager for Microsoft’s Enterprise business in Asia Pacific, Ms Tan will be responsible for driving growth in one of Microsoft’s largest business segments by developing the larger Asia Pacific team, driving an industry leading partner strategy and leading breakthrough customer engagements for the breadth and depth of Microsoft solutions which address a wide range of customer needs. She will spearhead the creation of opportunities for growth in over 12 markets in Asia including both emerging and mature markets with a potential 15%+ YoY growth potential over the next 3 years,  as the company takes the lead in delivering on its strongest ever pipeline of innovation this year. This is her second stint in this role after nine years at Microsoft and will report to Mr Alvaro Celis, Vice President, Microsoft Asia Pacific.

“Taking on the country manager role in Singapore was very rewarding for me personally. I love building and working with passionate and strong teams. It was more than just a job. It has shown me time and time again, that technology and the people behind it can change lives and businesses.

“While this is my second opportunity as the Enterprise business lead for Asia Pacific, this business has evolved in complexity and has grown tremendously over the last few years. It is also very diverse in its needs and growth plans. I feel it gives me the opportunity to further influence an important part of Microsoft’s business which I’m very passionate about. We are heading into a year with an amazing innovation pipeline. I am excited to be given this opportunity while Singapore continues to stay very close to my heart,” said Ms Tan.

Microsoft Singapore’s newly appointed managing director is no stranger to Microsoft and the Asia region. Ms Auriol joined Microsoft in 2009 to lead the Small, Medium and Partner business which has since gone on to be one of Microsoft’s top performing teams in its large business division worldwide, growing 15% during the past three years.

She is known for her focus on people development, building strong teams and consistently improving the Microsoft experience for customers and partners.

Before joining Microsoft, Ms Auriol worked at Dell as General Manager for Africa and the Mediterranean region and prior to that spent 20 years in the telecom industry with Nortel and France Telecom, holding a number of international executive positions.

Commenting on the newly appointed MD for Microsoft Singapore, Tracey Fellows added “Helene was identified through an extensive search within and outside Microsoft. She has an outstanding track record in Microsoft France and brings with her an international experience in both the IT and telecom industries.

“She is someone who invests her efforts into building strong teams and relationships with customers and partners.”

“Helene joins an already diverse Singapore management team and I have full confidence in her to lead the Singapore team and build on its strong growth trajectory.”

Said Ms Auriol: “Like Jessica, I am very passionate about our mission as a company, to enable customers, partners and employees to realise their full potential. It has been my personal dream to work in Singapore and I am grateful to have the opportunity to lead such a strong, diverse team and business.”

Ms Auriol’s appointment demonstrates Microsoft’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, being the third female and the second foreign Managing Director to lead the Singapore subsidiary in the company’s 22 year history in Singapore.

While both appointments are effective 1 September 2012, Ms Tan will continue to oversee the Singapore operations in September for a smooth handover to Ms Auriol.

 

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

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Featured Image Credits : Microsoft

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