Forbes Asia Best Under A Billion Virtual Forum And Awards Ceremony

By Jeanhee Kim

Tapping Opportunity

On Nov. 23, Forbes Asia held its Best Under A Billion Virtual Forum and Awards Ceremony. The event was tied to the Best Under A Billion list published in August, and included two panels of leading CEOs sharing their experiences on navigating the pandemic. After the discussion, a virtual awards ceremony hosted by Forbes vice chairman Christopher Forbes was held for the members of the list from this year and last year, which were selected from 18,000 publicly listed companies in the Asia-Pacific region with sales under $1 billion.

First Panel: The New Normal

A recurring theme during the webinar was the positive outlook of Asia’s corporate leaders as they recalibrate amid new realities. Bangkok Bank president Chartsiri Sophonpanich described how his bank is providing working capital to customers to help them restructure and adapt to recent disruptions. “This is the new normal,” he said.

Sophonpanich predicted the Thai economy may not recover to pre-pandemic levels until the end of 2022. He believes the incoming U.S. president should be aware of changes in the global community. “A new world order will arrive in the next few years,” he said. “Asia will continue to grow, especially China and India.”

With the property sector hit hard by the pandemic, group CEO Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi of Frasers Property, which is based in Singapore, said he was focusing on adjusting to the new realities. “We are looking at the way people are talking about Covid-19 as being most effective at digitizing organizations and the big thing is the future of work,” he said. “Those changes will project into new business processes.”

Malaysia’s Top Glove is one company that has thrived during the pandemic. The world’s largest maker of rubber and nitrile latex gloves used in healthcare and sanitation saw demand and its stock price skyrocket in 2020. Executive chairman Lim Wee Chai said one had to be nimble in a fast-moving environment as he rushed to fill orders despite a struggle to get raw materials and extra labor. “In business, sometimes it’s difficult to predict what will happen,” he said. (That prognosis seemed to come true, as Top Glove announced on the day of the webinar that it was temporarily closing 28 factories in Malaysia after over 2,000 employees tested positive for Covid-19.)

Second Panel: Best Practices

A trio of company founders recognized in previous Best Under A Billion lists shared their advice on handling crises. They highlighted their agility as smaller players to survive, even thrive, in the face of adversity and their drive to be sustainable and digital. Wendy Yap, CEO of Nippon Indosari Corpindo, the largest bread company in Indonesia, cautioned that business owners should avoid too much debt. She also emphasized how mercurial consumer behavior had been during the pandemic, noting that consumers were no longer going out to minimarts and convenience stores to buy her company’s ready-to-eat bread products popular before the pandemic; her company’s distribution channels were completely upended. “When a crisis hits, you have to be so nimble, so flexible, and your foundation already has to be in place,” Yap said. “If you don’t have the foundation, you are shot.”

As a leading supplier of financial software, Malaysia’s Silverlake Group has long prized flexibility. “We learn from everyone and always have to correct ourselves,” said Chairman Goh Peng Ooi. “If we are wrong, nobody works with us so we look back, forward, left and right all day. We are a checking-ourselves business.” That said, he described the group’s operations as somewhat insulated from the pandemic. “Digital businesses are crisis neutral, we do not depend on business being up or down.”

Hong Kong asset-management company Value Partners Group saw opportunity in mainland China as it returns to normalcy ahead of other countries, said co-chairman Cheah Cheng Hye. He described a “historic opportunity” that came in April when China fully opened its doors to international and Hong Kong-based securities and fund-management firms. “We are allowed to own 100% of our business in China,” Cheah said. “This is going to be the biggest growth driver in the world’s asset management industry in the next decade.”

Overall the business leaders attending the webinar had a sanguine outlook. In an online poll, attendees were asked how far the pandemic had set them back. Almost 60% said they hadn’t experienced any fallout, or if they had, expected to recover within a year—evidence of how solid these companies can be under pressure. As Yap said: “A crisis accelerates what was brewing before. It just propels you to run faster.”

The resilience of the Best Under A Billion companies was noted by Forbes vice chairman Christopher Forbes, who has attended nearly every Best Under A Billion awards ceremony since 2002.

This year, he joined (virtually) to congratulate the winners. In opening remarks, he said: “This event is a celebration of what Forbes is really all about—entrepreneurs who are building great companies. It is never easy to get on the Best Under A Billion list—running a small or midsized company is a big job.”