Fintech ASEAN Mentor: Justin Wong

Jun 15, 2023

This is the fifth in a series of interviews with the many Mentors involved with the ASEAN Fintech accelerator in partnership with Founder Institute [ fi.co ].  This video is to provide prospective applicants with an overview of the breadth and depth of professional talent we have in this Fintech accelerator program.  You are welcome to apply to join the accelerator and details can be found at:  https://fi.co/fintech-asean

Script of Interview

Interviewee                                      Mr. Justin Wong (JW)

Position                                             Manager

Company name                               PwC Entrepreneurial & Private Business Group

Company website                           https://www.pwchk.com/

Interviewer                                       John D. Evans, CFA (JE)

Interview conducted on                15 June 2023

Talking Points

Preamble:  Prospective Founders have many challenges to face.  But as most early stage companies are run by Founders with subject matter knowledge, they often need outside help in dealing with all the business and commercial issues of running a business.  Justin specializes in business advisory, fundraising and deal sourcing for start-ups and scale-ups.  He is also the Project Driver for PwC NextGen Club Hong Kong

  1. Provide us with a personal and professional background on yourself.
  2. Provide us with an overview of the activities of the Entrepreneurial Business Group and the services it provides.
  3. What services can you provide to Founders in the accelerator?

END.

Benny Cao, CFA

Manager, Investment Management

benny.cao@seiml.com

Benny has worked in the financial markets of China with an emphasis on fixed income, currency and asset-liability management.  He is currently Vice President of Longly Capital, a medium-sized, Ningbo-based private fund management company. The firm’s strategies include various types of fixed income portfolio management and convertible bond portfolio management. In addition, Benny offers financial investment services to professional investors such as Fund of Funds (FoF) of securities companies, enterprise investors and high net worth (HNW) individuals.

Benny has also been active on the commercial side of the securities business managing client business development strategies, marketing programmes and roadshows and developing and delivering financial markets training programmes for small and medium-sized banks and other financial institutions.

Benny is fluent in Mandarin, English and Japanese.

Jina Zhu, CFA Institute, Investment Foundations

Manager, Corporate Relations

jina.zhu@seiml.com

Since returning from graduate studies in France to China in spring of 2014, Jina has been continually working in the field of e-commerce and its applications to the financial, entertainment and automotive industries. She is a multi-functional talent and fluent in Mandarin, English and French.

Jina is SEIML’s key relationship manager between foreign clients and the Chinese administrative authorities and has held many responsibilities dealing with international companies and executives operating in China.  As a result, she manages all of the company’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) activities with clients

With her graduate degree in economics and completion of the Investment Foundations certificate from CFA Institute, she has the knowledge to assist foreign companies in China market research, including reviews of potential customers, suppliers or other third parties.  She is also quite savvy in the use of Chinese social media.

Jina is fluent in Mandarin, English and French.

John D. Evans, CFA

Founder & Director

john.evans@seiml.com

John spent the first 24 years of his career in investment banking, first in Toronto, briefly in New York and then London.  He was involved in DCM, ECM and strategic investment advisory to large funds in EMEA.

In 2004 he moved into academia and designed and ran MSc programs in investment management at universities in the UK and China. He also created and managed one of the larger financial professional training organizations in Europe while at the UK university (that was a JV partner in the training firm).

In 2016, John returned to industry to work with start-ups and various platforms and eco systems to support these early and middle stage companies. Initially he pursued this venture in the Shanghai region but then moved to Hong Kong in 2024 to build SEIML’s footprint in Southeast Asia. John is also a Director of the Hong Kong Founder Institute (FI) eco system and Program Director for the FI ASEAN Fintech accelerator.