About the event

The Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono and the ASEAN New Zealand Business Council warmly invite you to join us for an evening of stories and insights from a group of Southeast Asian tech entrepreneurs visiting Aotearoa New Zealand as part of the Foundation’s ASEAN Young Business Leaders Initiative (YBLI) programme.

The delegation of 10 entrepreneurs will be meeting with tech businesses in Auckland and Christchurch before wrapping up their visit in Wellington, where they will attend the New Zealand High Tech Awards Gala—one of the country's largest celebrations of innovation and cutting-edge technology.

At the Auckland Asia After Five event, the entrepreneurs will share stories about their companies, offer insights into their tech industries in their home countries and share their impressions of New Zealand so far. The entrepreneurs are from countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

The event will feature an Asia-focused panel talk, along with time to meet and connect with others—following the popular format used by the Foundation and ANZBC.

Event details:
Date/time: Tuesday, 20 May 2025, 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Venue: MC Centre, 8 Hardinge Street, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010

Tickets are limited, so get in quick! Please RSVP by Monday, 19 May 2025, for catering purposes.

Meet our Panelists

Throughout the evening, we'll hear from a selection of four panelists from the delegation, while we invite you to network and meet the rest of the travelling delegation afterwards. Read on to get a glimpse of their experiences:

1. Ella Trinh - Vietnam

Co-founder and COO, Vulcan Augmetics

Ella is the Co-founder and COO of Vulcan Augmetics, a pioneering medtech company based in Vietnam. Vulcan is the only company in Southeast Asia developing and scaling advanced prosthetics and wearable sensor technology. Under Ella’s leadership, Vulcan is now serving amputees in 10 countries in emerging markets and conflict zones, including India, Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan and delivering affordable, life-changing solutions for amputees. A serial entrepreneur and ecosystem builder, Ella brings expertise in strategic operations, market expansion and innovation for social impact. She is the Vietnam winner of She Loves Tech 2021, a participant in MIT’s Venture Advancement Program and was named one of the Top 20 Global Social Entrepreneurs by Chivas The Venture.

2. Fam Alonto - Philippines

Founding Partner, Embiggen Group

Fam is a dynamic leader in innovation and digital transformation, currently serving as Founding Partner at Embiggen Group, a digital transformation strategy-to-execution firm with offices in Switzerland, Singapore, and Manila. Previously, she headed innovation at Insular Life, a financial institution in Southeast Asia with $3.5 billion worth of assets, and at 917Ventures, one of Asia's largest corporate venture builder backed by Singtel, Globe Telecom Group and Ayala Corporation. Her career reflects a commitment to building impactful ventures that drive financial inclusion, digital adoption and societal change. Passionate about nation-building, she has worked closely with the Philippine government, teaching entrepreneurship in underserved communities and championing women’s empowerment. She believes in building doors where none exist and leaving them open for others.

3. Tan Sukhonpanich - Thailand

Chief Product Officer, FutureSkill

Tanpong is a dynamic executive, driving product innovation and B2B growth at FutureSkill, Thailand's leading workforce development platform. FutureSkill combines strategic product vision and business development expertise to create learning solutions that address organisational pain points while building partnerships for long-term growth. He is passionate about utilising technology to accelerate Thailand's economic progress through workforce transformation. Skilled in market opportunity identification, cross-functional team management and customer need-to-product feature translation, he is committed to bridging Thailand's digital skills gap through developing competencies that enable workers to compete in the global economy.

4. Dr Darren Gouk - Malaysia

Founder, AOne

Dr Darren Gouk is the founder of AOne, a software-as-a-service and payment system for educational businesses  in Southeast Asia.  AOne is an end-to-end management system for educational centres, such as tutorial schools, preschools, childcare centres, enrichment centres, sport academies, music academies and all kinds of learning centres. Currently, AOne has been used by more than 2000+ learning centres in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand across the SEA region. They aspire to be the Everyday App for educators and students/parents.