Brunei will be bringing in industry experts, policymakers and investors to discuss how businesses can leverage on opportunities within the digital economy at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC) Online-to-Offline (O2O) forum for SMEs this March 28 at the International Convention Centre (ICC).
Bruneian businesses are invited to attend the event at the Musyawarah Hall of ICC, which is being held in conjunction with the 46th APEC Small, Medium Enterprise Working Group (APEC SMEWG) meeting which Brunei is co-hosting.
The O2O forum will deliberate on how businesses can use online technology – in marketing to operations – to improve their offline operations and be more competitive overall as a business internationally. Although e-commerce has expanded exponentially in the past decades, the majority of sales continue to take place offline, with several of the world’s largest online businesses expanding strategically into offline settings.
Managing director of venture capital Yushan Ventures Volker Heistermann, former chief information officer of Coca-Cola Company’s Asia Pacific Group Olivia Chang, co-founder of augmented and virtual reality tech company Shadoworks and co-founder of Vietnam based consultancy Thang Huynh will be the international speakers and moderators, with local startups and SMEs also expected to feature.
Two dialogues will take place as part of the forum; Digital Transformation: Opportunities and Challenges for SMEs and Unleash the Potential of SMEs through Digital Transformation for a Shared Future. Selected regional entrepreneurs will also have the opportunity to pitch and get consulted by the invited experts on their business plans – with the winner getting sponsorship to attend the next APEC SME O2O summit in 2018 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
To join visit http://dare.gov.bn/SitePages/APEC-SME-FORUM.aspx. Registration is free but limited to 100 participants.
Picture for this story is from the second APEC O2O SME forum and is courtesy of APEC.
