The Knowledge to Decide

A drone delivery service will make around 600 flights each day in Rwanda to deliver medicines, blood supplies and vaccines to 12 million people, including those living in remote areas. Launched in 2016, a robotics company based in California called Zipline started the delivery service in Rwanda with a grant from Ghana’s government. Since the launch, 13,000 successful deliveries were made. Each drone can carry 1.8kg and releases its payload with the help of a parachute. Will drone medicine delivery change the way healthcare is administered? Read more :  https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/drones-are-delivering-medicine-in-africa/

Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria, signed the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA) this year in July to boost intra-Africa trade. AFCFTA aims to remove trade barriers and bring together the 54 members of the African Union (AU), to trigger industrialization and create employment opportunities in a single market of one billion people. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) predicted that this could boost the intra-African trade by 52% by 2022. Will Nigeria’s entry into the AFCFTA African free trade agreement trigger a tipping point towards growth? Read more :  https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/nigeria-has-entered-the-afcfta-african-free-trade-agreement-increasing-its-market-size/

On 4 September, Spire Malaysia participated at WOW! Taiwan’s business matching event on behalf of CDRI (Commerce Development Research Institute) Taiwan to promote healthcare products in the Malaysian market at Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. With the support of the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) of Taiwan, 17 Taiwanese companies planning to expand their business into Malaysia were present. The event raised the profile of high-quality Taiwanese brands to Malaysian businesses in the medical and healthcare sector. I-health was the featured topic this year, with five categories, namely assistive devices, leisure/sport, healthy food, physiologic monitoring and medicine. More than 30 Malaysian companies participated with over 50 Business-To-Business matchings, technology briefings and media interactions. Apart from this, two public agencies, Seventyfive Creative Sdn. Bhd., and BSI Group Malaysia were there to provide professional advice. Moreover, the presence of Director Hsu Da Wei

Spire was honored to participate in the Samsung Top Achiever Retailer (STAR) event held on 22 August, in Jakarta. Albertus Edy Rianto, Senior Manager, Spire Indonesia, shared his insights on the significance of Omni – channel strategies for mobile phone retailers. Albertus discussed offline-to-online strategy, where multiple channels merge to help target customers across various channel platforms. He elaborated that more than 80% of Indonesian mobile phone retail sales in 2020 will still occur at physical outlets. However, 71% of Indonesians browse online for a while prior to shopping at a physical store. Factors that influence customers include better delivery conditions, storefront apps for better sales and even packaging. As customers become more tech-savvy and demanding, more consideration will be given to innovative payment processes and browsing more than one channel to make a purchase. As far as online purchases are concerned, 25% of customers still feel

India’s IT association Nasscom and GE Healthcare have forged a strategic partnership to co-create solutions for healthcare challenges through digital applications, remote and connected care among others. The partnership aims to provide cheaper, faster and more effective solutions for treating diseases while revolutionizing the relationship between medical professionals and patients to empower patients. Will tech investments digitalize healthcare in India? Get more information :  https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/it-investments-to-pour-into-indias-healthcare-sector/

Spire was honored to participate in a webinar organized by the US Commerce Department as well as Muziyi Advisory, the organizers of the ELDEX event. Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting group, shared his insights on the growing “silver” market opportunities in Southeast Asia. Leon shared that the number of persons aged 65 and above is projected to double by 2035 across several ASEAN countries, with Indonesia expected to have the largest elderly population of around 30 million, double its current elderly population. The fastest ageing markets in the region are Singapore and Thailand followed by Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines. The Asia-Pacific region is the world’s third largest region in terms of “silver” product and service revenue, but the fastest growing one. With an annual growth rate of 15 per cent, Asia is ranked among the top three nursing care markets in the world. Improving the social security system, enhancing th

On 17 July, Spire participated as a market advisor at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Market Validation Program in Jakarta, Indonesia. Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Spire Research and Consulting Group held sessions with Singaporean companies planning to expand their business into Indonesia. Jeffrey pointed out the utility of high-tech approaches for start-ups entering Indonesia, such as online advertising, usage of the Internet of things (IoT), data analytics and even Artificial Intelligence (AI). These approaches enable starts-ups to bypass mature importer-principal relationships that may be hard to overcome through conventional means. He also shared with individual companies his thoughts on developing customized strategies for Indonesian market entry. Get more information :  https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/spire-shares-business-advice-to-start-ups-on-indonesian-market-entry/

On 30 June, 2019, the European Union signed its first free trade deal with a developing Asian country – Vietnam, one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia. The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) would reduce 99% of tariffs on goods and services traded between European and Vietnamese markets. WVietnam’s exports to the EU were valued at 50 billion euros in 2018. This figure is expected to increase by 40% by 2025 under EVFTA. Between the years 2024 – 2028, the agreement would boost Vietnam’s gross domestic product by 5 to 6% annually. Will the EVFTA herald a closer economic relationship between Vietnam and Europe? For more information :  https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/the-european-union-vietnam-free-trade-agreement-evfta-is-set-to-open-doors-for-vietnamese-exporters/

Spire was honored to participate in a seminar organized by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) on 15th July, in Singapore. Japnit Singh, Deputy CEO of Spire Group, shared his insights on strategic planning lessons from leading organizations in ASEAN. Japnit discussed five steps of strategic planning, strategic priorities and tools used by leading organizations in ASEAN. The strategic planning process can be seen as consisting of five steps, distributed amongst different departments in the organization. These steps are defining the vision, gathering and analyzing data, strategy creation, planning resources & outcomes and finally evaluation and monitoring. An organization should formulate an overall vision for the future, gather and analyze all the available data and also consider all the available critical items of information while monitoring and evaluating key performance indicators (KPI). For Singapore-based firms, ASEAN continues to be the most popular

How can brands build brand loyalty and retain customers in today’s ever changing marketplace? Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his insights in The Business Times – Singapore. Many brand owners use loyalty programmes as a method to retain their customers and keep them from switching to other brands. However, the huge range of loyalty programmes in today’s marketplace can confuse customers. Leon highlighted that developing compelling and non-substitutable new products, and then defending that space against “copycats” through vigilant monitoring of the competitive landscape, is the best key to customer loyalty. Brand owners could also make use of behavioural data from existing customers to optimise pricing and promotions. Read more :  https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/media/the-key-to-brand-loyalty/