Deep Dive Series 2022: Start-up companies in Japan and Asia- "Boom Time?"
8:30-10:00 am, Friday, June 24, 2022
(The speech and Q & A will be in English.)

Richard Katz
Special correspondent for Weekly Toyo Keizai and
senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for the Asia Dialogues Programme

Keiichi Aritomo
Executive Director of FinCity,Tokyo and
co-founder and Board Director of JIAM
(the Consortium for Japan International Asset  Management)

Suzanne Gaboury
Director General for Private Sector Operations,
Asian Development Bank in Manila

Following recent corrections in stock prices, the "tech boom" of recent decades is being referred to by some as the "tech wreck" - which raises questions about the direction that official policies with regard to fostering start-up enterprises should take, especially in the tech sector.

The issue is important  not only in Japan where prime minister Fumio Kishida has voiced his "earnest wish to create the next startup boom" but also in other Asian centres which have similar ambitions to become centres of start-up company activity in high-tech and other areas.

Japan has many start-up ventures but their growth after launching is the slowest among OECD countries. Among the hurdles they face is limited access to finance for expanding operations. Elsewhere in Asia start-up activity is brisk, from China to Indonesia and India to name but a few.

How should policies be shaped to encourage growth of a dynamic but balanced and sustainable start-up culture in Asia, one well supplied with financial, technological and human resources? Deep Dive has invited three prominent experts to brief members and guests on the state of start-ups in and beyond Japan and to talk about where the future lies.

RICHARD KATZ is a Special Correspondent for Weekly Toyo Keizai and a Carnegie Council Senior Fellow for the Asia Dialogues Programme. He has authored two books on Japan- "Japan: The System That Soured—The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Economic Miracle" and "Japanese Phoenix: The Long Road to Economic Revival." He has taught on Japan as an adjunct professor in economics at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and at the New York University Stern School of Business. His new book, to be published early next year in English and Japanese, is tentatively entitled, "The Contest For Japan’s Economic Future.”

KEIICHI ARITOMO is  Executive Director of FinCity.Tokyo. He is also a co-founder and Board Director of JIAM (the Consortium for Japan International Asset Management Center), and Asia Head of Kensho Technologies, LLC, a leading financial AI solution provider and a subsidiary of S&P. He was formerly a Partner at McKinsey & Company, Deloitte and PwC, where he specialized in financial services industry and technology strategies across North America, Europe, Southeast Asia and Japan. He has co-authored several books including “Single View of Customer for Financial Institutions” published from Kinzai and Shanghai Communication University Press both in Japanese and Mandarin.

SUZANNE GABOURY is Director General of the Asian Development Bank's Private Sector Operations Department. Before joining the ADB, she was Chief Investment Officer at FinDev Canada where she was responsible for strategic vision, including defining business markets, clients, product investment strategy, and development. A Canadian national, Ms. Gaboury holds a BA (Economics) from the University of Alberta, Canada, and a Masters degree in Business Administration from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Ireland.

In-person attendance
Members: 450 yen (including tax), coffee or tea included
Non-members: 1,650 yen (including tax), coffee or tea included

Online attendance (via Zoom):
FCCJ Members: free of charge
Non-members: 550 yen per person.

Please indicate when signing up whether you will attend on-line or in-person.

Details on how to join online will be sent to individual emails by Wednesday, June 22.

Non-members can reserve at the reception desk only by email front@fccj.or.jp
Payment by Non-members must be made in advance by 3PM, Wednesday, June 22.

No refund is available unless the event is cancelled by FCCJ.
Member reservations cancelled less than 24 hours before the event will be charged in full.
We kindly ask for your cooperation with Covid-19 prevention measures at the reception and to wear a mask in the premises.

Thank you.

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