FWA would like to thank KKR for the sponsorship of the venue and buffet

According to a survey by INSEAD, private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) together have an increasingly important role in the economic development of emerging markets providing alternative funding opportunities for entrepreneurship development, start-ups and private sector growth.

While the asset class is expanding, women remain significantly under-represented on senior investment and management teams and the untapped potential of female-owned businesses is largely ignored. Firms that actively reach out to women can double their talent pool and diversify their skill sets.

A new study into the extent and impact of gender disparity in the PE/VC industry across emerging markets has found that:

• 7 percent of PE/VC capital is invested in female-led businesses
• 11 percent of senior investment professionals are women
• 15 percent of firms’ senior investment teams are gender-balanced – with between 30 percent to 70 percent female in leadership roles
• 20 percent of portfolio companies’ senior leadership teams

There is a strong business case for addressing this gender disparity - the study indicated that funds managed by gender-balanced investment teams report significantly higher returns – 10 percent to 20 percent – than male-dominated funds.

This disparity has more than an impact on the future of these industries than is acknowledged. Without women at the table, female founders struggle to access capital and funds and miss out on deal flows and expertise.

Another study by Oliver Wyman says that women hold only 10 percent of all senior positions in private equity and venture capital firms globally, and women-led enterprises collected less than 3 percent of global venture capital in 2017. According to this study, only 15 percent of senior investment teams are gender-balanced and nearly 70 percent are all male and the performance of gender-balanced investment teams is correlated with higher returns.

We debate these issues with our esteemed panelists as we explore the topic of creating a sustainable talent pool in the PE/VC industry.

Event Agenda

12:00 – 12:30 pm             Networking and Lunch

12:30 - 12:40 pm              Opening remarks by FWA and KKR

12:40 - 1:50 pm                Panel Discussion

                                         Moderator: Jennifer Lewis, Managing Director & Advisor, Corporate Affairs & Communications, GIC

                                         Panelists:

                                         - Png Chin Yee, Senior Managing Director, Temasek

                                         - Ashish Shastry, Head of Southeast Asia, KKR

                                         - Andrea Hajdu-Howe, Partner, Antler

                                          - Alex Lee, Managing Partner, Axiom Asia Private Capital

1:50 – 2:00 pm                 Q&A

2:00 pm                            Close of Event

Moderator and Panelist Bios

Moderator:

Jennifer Lewis, Managing Director & Advisor, Corporate Affairs & Communications, GIC

Ms Jennifer Lewis is responsible for the strategic management of GIC’s internal and external communication activities. She joined the sovereign wealth fund in 2007 after more than twenty years as a journalist with television, print and online experience. She was the founding Editor of both Straits Times TV, Singapore’s first television news organisation owned by a newspaper, as well as STOMP (Straits Times Online Mobile Print), a news website that leveraged online tools to change the way news was received and distributed in Singapore.

Ms Lewis served on the board of the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) from 2007 to 2015. She remains active with the SIF and currently chairs the ‘Arts for Good’ Advisory Panel, and serves on the Board of Trustees of The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund. She also serves on the board of OnePeople.sg, an organisation launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to champion racial harmony initiatives in Singapore.

Panelists:

Png Chin Yee, Senior Managing Director, Temasek

Chin Yee joined Temasek in July 2011. She is currently both Senior Managing Director of Portfolio Strategy & Risk Group as well as Head of Financial Services, where she oversees Temasek’s investments in the financial services sector globally.

The Portfolio Strategy & Risk Group provides top-down guidance on our strategic direction and portfolio objectives, actively explores overlay and alternative portfolio strategies to enhance our portfolio returns and oversees portfolio risks.

Prior to joining Temasek, Chin Yee was Managing Director with UBS AG, where she was Joint Head of the Financial Institutions Group for Asia Investment Banking. At UBS AG, Chin Yee was responsible for providing investment banking solutions for clients in Asia.

Chin Yee holds a Bachelor of Accountancy with 1st class honours from the Nanyang Technological University.

Ashish Shastry, Head of Southeast Asia, KKR

Ashish Shastry (Singapore) joined KKR in 2016 as a Member and Head of Southeast Asia. Mr Shastry started as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers in New York in 1996.  He moved to Singapore with TPG Capital in 1998 and spent 13 years there, ultimately running TPG’s Southeast Asia business. 

Mr Shastry then served for five years as a Managing Partner of Northstar Group, which at the time managed over US$2 billion in private equity and venture capital funds with a focus on Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia.  He currently serves or has previously served on the boards of Goodpack, PropertyGuru, MMI Holdings, Joulon, Bank BTPN, Parkway Holdings and Parkway Trust Management (manager of Parkway Life REIT). 

He graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. degree in economics (with honors) and currently serves on the advisory board of the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies

Andrea Hajdu-Howe, Partner, Antler

Andrea is a Partner within Antler’s global team. Her specific mandate is to drive the strategy and execution behind securing capital for Antler and its portfolio companies globally. Andrea is a senior financial services professional with a diverse 18-year international career across 3 different jurisdictions and multiple disciplines.

Prior to joining Antler Andrea was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs Investment Management Division where she was responsible for the investment management needs of clients across all asset classes. Before joining Goldman Sachs, Andrea spent over a decade at HSBC in various capacities ranging from designing and executing corporate strategy globally, leading selected M&A activities and undertaking investment and client management activities.

Andrea is an Honours Law Degree holder and a Fellow Chartered Accountant having trained with KPMG as her first professional mandate. Andrea has lived in Singapore for 8 years and is a proud mother of 6-year-old twins.

Alex Lee, Managing Partner, Axiom Asia Private Capital

Alex Lee is a Managing Partner at Axiom Asia Private Capital, a private equity funds-of-funds manager with US$3.5BN of assets under management. Alex leads Axiom's private equity secondary investments across Asia and is also involved in primary fund investments and co‐investments across Asia, with a particular focus on Australia, Japan and Southeast Asia.

Prior to joining Axiom Asia in 2009, Alex spent six years at global secondaries firm Coller Capital, first in London and later in Singapore. Alex also worked for Temasek linked companies, first as an engineer with Sembcorp Industries, then as an investment manager with venture capital firm Vertex, where he was active in both direct and fund investments.

Alex has a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University, an MBA from INSEAD, and an MSc in Applied Finance from the National University of Singapore.

Registration

Please note places are on a first-come-first-served basis so do register early! Deadline for registration is 10 October 2019. Please sign up early to avoid disappointment. We apologise that requests for places after the deadline will not be entertained. As places are limited and if you have RSVP but cannot make it, we appreciate that you cancel your registration so that we can make the place available to someone else. Cancellation details are provided below under NO SHOW POLICY. Thank you.

Members:

FWA members attend free of charge. Please login on the website before registering.

Institutional Members:

Diamond members- Registration at FWA member rates for up to 15 persons per Institutional Member.

Platinum members- Registration at FWA member rates for up to 10 persons per Institutional Member.

Gold members- Registration at FWA member rates for up to 5 persons per Institutional Member.

Please click 'RSVP Now' and register using your Institutional Codes (please check with your respective coordinators for your Institutional Code).

THIS IS A MEMBER AND INVITE ONLY EVENT. To join as a member, please follow this link

No Show Policy

We understand that with busy schedules, there may be times when you cannot make an event after you have registered for it. In the event that you cannot make an event, we appreciate that you use our new tool now available to cancel the event. Cancellation is allowed up to 2 days ahead of the event date. To do so, please log in to the FWA website, under “My Account”, select “My Events”, you can cancel the event registration under the “Cancel registration” column. For members that no-show for 3 consecutive events, we regret to inform that you will be barred from attending any FWA events for the next 3 months. We hope you understand this policy as our events are often in high demand and your co-operation will allow those who can and wish to attend our events to do so. 

For enquiries, please contact events@fwasg.org

To RSVP, please register at our FWA website. For further enquiries, drop a note to events@fwasg.org