Investment Strategies in Asia Post the Covid-19 Pandemic

Asia Business Outlook team recently got a chance to interact with Alex about the current investments scenario in the Asia region, his investment strategies & policies and various other aspects. Below are the excerpts of the exclusive interview with Alex –

What are the tech-savvy finance functions for growing businesses in Asia, in your perspective, and why are they a must-have in today’s day and age?

AI and ML technologies are gradually coming to the fore and becoming increasingly mainstream in the business world. People are increasingly transforming themselves into more AI and ML-centric individuals. Many organizations now are relooking at their operations searching for ways in which these technologies can be incorporated into their business functions. Businesses are increasingly relying on AI to help them identify the latest trends and point-out any discrepancies/problems that might exist in the process.

Which stage in the history of financial management, in your opinion, places a greater focus on working capital management?

A startup company always lacks in capital. Since expanding the business operations or product/service portfolio requires significantly large sum of money, most startups founds these days spend over 60 percent of their time in sourcing fresh capital to grow the company. Once the startup grows and starts generating revenue, it still needs working capital to continue its growth journey and not be stagnant at any particular growth phase. Additionally, working capital is very much essential to pay the employees, creditors and various other individuals/organizations associated with the startup. From an established larger company’s perspective, the problem is still the same as a startup, but on a larger scale. Thus, be it a startup, an SMB or an established corporate, efficient management of working capital is paramount in the organization’s growth journey.

"Currently private lenders and investors are trying to be cautious in their decision making process due to the recent happenings such as the pandemic and tensions between Russia & Ukraine"

What factors do you look into while investing in a company? Also, what is your primary preference for making an investment – a startup or an established business?

The main aim of any startup is to cash-out as much as possible. The challenges here are majorly pertaining to the interest of the investors and the state of development of the startup. If the startup is at a very early stage, not many people show confidence in it and thus hold back from making an investment in it. Thus, your business model, reach to investors and the ability to convince investors that your company’s offerings are in demand are some of the key aspects that every startups founder must work towards in order to attract investments in this dynamic business scenario.

Do you believe that a variety of interconnected factors are transforming global capital markets in the aftermath of the epidemic and an uneven economic recovery? If so, please elaborate.

Looking at the current scenario, the war between Russia & Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic are the two developments that have had the most significant impact on the global business world economy as a whole. Being two of the largest exporters of wheat and other essential food grains, the war between these two nations had a very drastic impact on the global food supply chain, thus resulting in the hunger rate increasing in many regions. Another factor is inflation, which has affected the whole world. What nobody foresaw what that the high interest rates further resulted in the depreciation of the value of tech papers. This has been the major reason for banks facing liquidity crunch. Also, Americans are now trying to decouple sensitive technologies from China, but I feel this move will see a very limited success. To summarize, I feel there are currently a lot of interconnected developments happening in different regions across the world that have been causing tremendous shifts in the way businesses function and thus impacting the global economy.

What are your thoughts on how public and private financing practices are evolving today?

Currently private lenders and investors are trying to be cautious in their decision making process due to the recent happenings such as the pandemic and tensions between Russia & Ukraine. They are now taking a very conservative stance and restraining themselves from making investments like how they used to earlier. Private funders’ main priority now is to protect their investments and stakeholders. Only when they see signs of record are they going to gradually start spending their monies on investments.