AirAsia’s The Red Hub Convention: Connecting Digital Nomads Across Asia and Beyond

Air Asia | The Red Hub Convention,  March 17, The Axon at Green Sun

MANILA, Philippines—AirAsia, the World’s Best Low Cost Carrier, held a digital convention that gathered digital nomads and entrepreneurs last March 17 at the The Axon at Green Sun. The convention focused on the culture of digital nomads and how AirAsia connects them across Asia.

Who or what are Digital Nomads? They can vary from self-employed freelancers or full-time employees, often of start-ups. Digital nomads are internet-savvy individuals who earn their living from a distance. They usually move from one place to another from co-working spaces to coffee shops to beaches, both in Manila and in other parts of the world.

AirAsia Philippines CEO Captain Dexter Comendador welcomed everyone by how AirAsia supports the growing needs of these digital nomads in the workplace. Following him were prominent speakers such as Pete Chareonwongsak – Regional Chief Operations Officer, AirAsia, Norhizam Kadir – VP, Growth Ecosystems Development, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Johannes Jaeger – Co-founder, Hack Horizon, Shahab Shabibi – CEO & Co-founder, Machine Ventures, Steve Munroe – CEO & Co-founder, Hubud, Mikko Barranda – CEO & Co-founder, Acceler8, Aarom Sarma – CEO, Touristly and Trisha Velarmino – P.S. I’m On My Way, Travel Blogger.

AirAsia Philippines CEO Captain Dexter Comendador said “AirAsia aims to continuously provide better connection to our guests, not only through our massive network in Asia and beyond but also through innovative, digital, and mobile solutions so they can grow and expand their experiences and network on a regional scale. There is a lot of talent in the region which, to date, has lacked the access and opportunities that are readily available to budding entrepreneurs in the West. Through AirAsia Red Hub Convention, we aim to provide the platform and the environment to encourage, validate, and ultimately implement new exciting ideas.”

The Red Hub Convention Speakers focused on 3 topics, namely, (1) The Future of Work, which talked about the growth and expansion of the startup industry; (2) Venture Adventures, which focused on how the way we work is changing with the emergence of new, innovative economic models and how mobility has evolved to bring new opportunities for the workforce of tomorrow; and (3) Borderless Business, which highlights the opportunities and ease of doing business across borders, particularly for entrepreneurs in key startup economies such as Manila, Jakarta, Bali, Hong Kong, China.

The Red Hub Convention came at a perfect time for Filipinos,  especially with more people venturing into their own businesses. Manila is fast becoming one of Southeast Asia’s growing startup hubs. Although the startup scene in the country may be young, it has a lot of potential for innovation and the recent convention encouraged our fellow Filipinos to step up and step out of their comfort zones.

Through AirAsia, Filipinos now have the  opportunity to explore business beyond borders while continuing to thrive in entrepreneurial pursuits. With Air Asia’s  low-cost and efficient flying options, digital nomads can now easily  travel across different cities in Asia and look for business opportunities.

The Red Hub Convention was perfect for whether you’re a digital nomad, industry expert or social entrepreneur.

Captain Dexter M. Comendador, also known as Dex, has been Chief Executive Officer and President at Airasia Inc. since January 10, 2017. Captain Comendador also served as Director of Flight Operations - Philippines Division at AirAsia Berhad since 2011. Captain Dex has with him a wealth of aviation experience and business knowledge. He is a Filipino hero pilot, a homegrown talent with the extraordinary ability to connect and inspire people and ideas. Capt. Dex Comendador served as an officer in the Philippine Air Force and a commercial pilot for several airlines.

OPENING REMARKS

Captain Dexter Comendador

CEO, Philippines AirAsia

Captain Dexter M. Comendador, also known as Dex, has been Chief Executive Officer and President at Airasia Inc. since January 10, 2017. Captain Comendador also served as Director of Flight Operations - Philippines Division at AirAsia Berhad since 2011. Captain Dex has with him a wealth of aviation experience and business knowledge. He is a Filipino hero pilot, a homegrown talent with the extraordinary ability to connect and inspire people and ideas. Capt. Dex Comendador served as an officer in the Philippine Air Force and a commercial pilot for several airlines.

THE FUTURE OF WORK

Pete Chareonwongsak

Regional Chief Operating Officer, AirAsia

Over the last 18 months, Pete was seconded to Philippines AirAsia (PAA) to turnaround the business, help PAA grow and get IPO ready in 2018.

Prior to that, Pete was the Group Head of Business Development, based out of the ASEAN office in Jakarta and then in Kuala Lumpur, looking after AirAsia’s joint ventures and Mergers & Acquisitions activities. He has helped to set up AirAsia India and AirAsia Japan joint ventures, turnaround the AACE joint venture and spinoff our regional ground-handling (GTR) businesses. He was a board member of AACE, and is now a board member of the ASEAN ground handling joint venture with SATS (GTR Holdings).

Norhizam Kadir

VP, Growth Ecosystems Development, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) 

Norhizam Adbul Kadir (or Hizam) brings with him almost 20 years' experience in multi-market technology and energy industries in various markets across Asia Pacific. He was with Intel, Microsoft and Ballad Power System before joining MDEC as Vice President in 2015. He has wide experience in corporate marketing, end-customer sales, business development, communications and channel marketing and enablement.

At MDEC, currently, he is championing the growth of digital entrepreneurial ecosystem in Malaysia. He has been tasked to manage the development of Malaysia Digital Hub, a program that recognizes startup ecosystem development in co-working spaces. He is also responsible in enriching Malaysia's startup ecosystem by engaging and redomiciling global ecosystem players such as key internet companies, accelerators, talent providers, venture capitals, and startup communities. He also leads the Bumiputera internet Economy initiative that aims to upskill Bumiputera ICT companies and getting their products and services to be recognized regionally and globally.

Steve Munroe

Co-founder & CEO, Hubud

Steve Munroe is the Cofounder and CEO of Hubud, the award winning bamboo coworking space in Bali that is changing the way people live, work and learn, with over 7500 members from 80 countries in 5 years.  Steve also founded and produces Asia's largest coworking conference (CU Asia) and is the Founder and Director of CAAP. (Coworking Alliance of Asia Pacific). In another life he spent a decade doing things like clearing landmines in Cambodia and disarming militias in Sudan for the United Nations.

VENTURE ADVENTURES

Johannes Jaeger

Co-founder, Hack Horizon

Johannes, originally from Germany, has been living around Asia Pacific for over ten years. During university, he represented Hong Kong at the world championships for underwater robotics where his team placed 3rd out of 600 teams. After leaving the robotics team he co-founded Plain Exchange, a peer-to-peer foreign exchange platform, which was voted 'Top Fintech Start-up' by Barclays Bank, and received an all-expenses paid start-up boot camp training at Stanford University. An active hacker, he and his team won the world's largest hackathon: AngelHack, organised Europe's largest hackathon: Junction and the largest hackathon in Greater China: hackUST. His latest venture was Hack Horizon (www.hackhorizon.com) – the world’s first TravelTech hackathon on a plane, which he co-founded to extend the innovation runway beyond the hackathon and break siloes within the travel and start-up ecosystem. He is now working for Agorize, co-building innovation programmes with MNCs around Asia Pacific, helping them connect with the best startups and entrepreneurs from around the world.

Shahab Shabibi

Co-founder & CEO, Machine Ventures

Shahab is the Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Machine Ventures that prides itself in “Transforming Ideas into Companies”. Under Machine he founded HeyKuya, an SMS-Based Personal Assistant Service which was sold just 6 months after its launch, making it the Philippines fastest acquisition. As of today Machine’s portfolio include MyKuya, Get.Place and magnitude.asia. Prior to starting Machine, he was among the founding team of 3 companies. After starting his first venture in music distribution by the age of 13, he moved into sports media by being part of the team that started Tarafdari, Iran’s leading sports social media network with more than 5 million monthly visitors. After graduating and getting his degree in Business Administration, he joined Rocket Internet and launched their carpooling platform, Tripda in the Philippines. He was recently selected as one of Asia’s most influential entrepreneurs Under 30 by Forbes magazine. cts and services to be recognized regionally and globally. ventures, turnaround the AACE joint venture and spinoff our regional ground-handling (GTR) businesses. He was a board member of AACE, and is now a board member of the ASEAN ground handling joint venture with SATS (GTR Holdings).

BORDERLESS BUSINESS

Trisha Velarmino

Travel Blogger, P.S. I’m On My Way

Trisha didn't quit her job to travel the world. She made a job out of travelling and learned about life. Her style is to stay in one place she likes for 3 months (or more) to know what it feels like to eat, cook, speak and sleep in another culture that isn’t hers. She'd like to believe she's not traditionally travelling but she just chooses to be somewhere else all the time. Trisha also loves extremely spicy food, pineapples, plants and symmetry. In no particular order, her favourite cities in the world are Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong and Tel Aviv. Follow her life adventures on Instagram:  @psimonmyway

Mikko Barranda

Co-founder & CEO, Acceler8

Mikko is the CEO and co-founder of Acceler8 a hybrid workspace that offers coworking space, service office suites and events space across South East Asia. He is also the Associate Director for Leechiu Property Consultants, a real-estate services firm specializing in commercial leasing, BPO site selection and Sales & Acquisition.

Apart from this, he serves as the current Chairman of the Urban Land Institute Philippines - Young Leaders Group (ULI YLG) which is a non-profit research and education organization with 30,000 members worldwide.  He is also part of the executive committee of Global Chamber Philippines the chamber is engaged in cross border trade and investments to accelerate global business growth.

Mikko obtained his bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Communications from the Ateneo De Manila University.

Aaron Sarma

CEO, Touristly

Aaron serves as the founder and CEO of Touristly. A travel activities startup which was launched in June 2015 that serves 77 destinations with 13,000 bookable activities in Asia Pacific. The company was acquired by AirAsia in 2017 with the aim of scaling and growing their business within the AirAsia network and beyond. Aaron believes in the power of the internet to power travel discovery and with his team is working tirelessly to bring the amazing experiences the region has to offer to the world.