Wharton Asia Business Conference, Repositioning Asia to Take the Global Lead
Napanand Bunyaketu (WG'09) & Bordon Lai (WG'09) Organizers, WABC 2008
Issue date: 11/17/08 Section: News
|
The 14th Wharton Asia Business Conference on November 8th, 2008 was a great success. This year we had more than 550 participants, including students from many schools on the east coast. The keynote and panel speakers discussed how Asia should position itself to take the global lead amidst the financial crisis. Speakers had different views as to how much Asia would be affected by the financial crisis but everyone agreed that growth in Asia is still strong and it is an exciting region of opportunities for graduating students.
Silas Chou, the president and CEO of Novel Enterprises Ltd., talked about what he believes are key factors for a successful economy like that of the US. He believes that in order to take the leadership position, Asian countries needed 3 key freedoms: freedom to make money, freedom to elect own government, freedom to choose your love partners. David Steel, Senior Vice President, Samsung Electronics' North American Headquarters, shared the story of Samsung, originally a trading company and transformed itself into a strong multinational company.
Mark Renton, Head of Global Investment Banking, Citi Asia Pacific, recipient of this year alumni award, shared his story of moving to Asia upon graduation, and how until this day, is still amazed at the exciting opportunities he comes across everyday. For him, the most attractive industries of in Asia now are: food, tourism, healthcare, infrastructure, water and security. He also mentioned gambling and global warming as important sectors in the future although he is not sure where the opportunities exactly lie.
This year we were delighted to have notable panelists from variety of industries: real estate, private equity, consulting, investment banking and investment management. The number of participants in each of the panel sessions seemed to be equally distributed. We learned that the structure and trend of each business are relatively different between in Asia and in the US. Asian market is less diversified but tends to follow the US trend over time.
The WABC career fair on November 7th successfully drew attention of more than 300 participants. The career fair featured many of the top companies from banking, consulting and private equity: Citi, Morgan Stanley, McKinsey and Company, Bain and Company, Baring Private Equity, Temasek Holdings and National Basketball Association. Participants enjoyed learning about the companies through the career fair and also the intimate interactions which occurred in the breakout sessions that occurred throughout the day and the cocktail event that followed.
Overall, the Wharton Asia Business Conference 2008 was a great success. Despite the financial crisis, people are excited about Asia and it was communicated through the number of participants and the discussions. Each year, the WABC has grown in size and the collaboration between MBAs and the undergrads are stronger than ever. Everyone involved in the conference was extremely proud of the event and celebrated the successful event with a party @ Pearl on Saturday night.
Be the first to comment on this story