The 20th Forbes Global CEO Conference took place in Singapore on September 26 and 27, gathering some 450 prominent business leaders from around the world.
Notable speakers at the event included: Lawrence Wong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Singapore; Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group; Erick Thohir, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Indonesia; Jenny Johnson, President and CEO of Franklin Templeton; Eduardo Saverin, Cofounder and Managing Partner at B Capital; Jenny Lee, Managing Partner at GGV Capital; Ajay Banga, Vice Chairman of General Atlantic; Adar Poonawalla, CEO of SerumSRM 0.0% Institute of India; Miwako Date, President and CEO of Mori Trust Co., Ltd; and Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media.
For a full list of speakers, please visit the conference website. Key insights and highlights from the conference can be found below.
“Despite these challenging times, we believe that here in Singapore, the little island that we are, we can continue to be a bastion for stability, opportunities and innovation,” said Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
“In 2021, India added a unicorn [startup] every 9 days…India is now on the cusp of creating several thousands of entrepreneurs,” said Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani.
“We're reducing the number of [SOEs] and creating a good economic system. If you have too many [SOEs] in innovation, it's also killing local businesses,” said Erick Thohir, Indonesia's Minister of State-Owned Enterprises.
“I've been doing this for 15 years, and the aim is to do this for another 30 years…The world needs 10 more companies like ours. If you do good, you’ll end up doing well,” said Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO of BYJU’S.
“As private investors, we’re investing in the next generation of leaders…true entrepreneurs, who want to make a change,” said Jenny Lee, Managing Partner of GGV Capital.
“Singapore broadly, if you go beyond healthcare, is a launchpad for innovation...especially with this mentality of starting here, but expanding to the world,” said Eduardo Saverin, Cofounder and Managing Partner of B Capital.
“I think global central banks have an unenviable task. But I think we need to get away from this mindset that there's nothing central banks can do,” said Janet Henry, HSBC’s HBA 0.0% Global Chief Economist.
“Inflation and other issues…we had it so bad, we are just coming back from the grave, so nothing could faze us right now for the next few years,” said Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings.
“Despite helicopter money and zero interest rates, the reason why prices for goods have stayed down for so long is because of the vast efficient manufacturing engine of China,” said V. Shankar, CEO and Cofounder of Gateway Partners.
“What happened since Covid is that ESG took on a different framework. For the first time, people started to pay attention to their supply chains,” said John Studzinski, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of PIMCO.
“So we all laughed at NFTs. But if you can take intellectual property and validate usage, think about what that opens up...I think it could be very interesting going forward,” said Jenny Johnson, President and CEO of Franklin Templeton.
“We’re moving from a period of peace to a period of war and conflict—that has brought about deglobalization. As a result, corporations need to invest more to ensure resilience,” said Ng Kok Song, Founding Chairman of Avanda Investment Management.
“China is trying to position itself as the key sustainable society going forward…they are at the forefront of trying to reduce global warming,” said Cheah Cheng Hye, Co-Chairman and Co-CIO of Value Partners Group.