GroundAI

Founder & CEO of GroundAI, AI Business Asia.

Founder & CEO

Huawei

At Huawei, I am the Chief Digital Officer and Founder of the Spark Program. 

Huawei Spark is a global accelerator program, a platform for tomorrow’s scale-ups. Our purpose is to incubate and accelerate startups to become tomorrow’s scale-ups. The Spark accelerator is all about forging open collaboration and innovation so the right people can connect and flourish. I work closely with startup founders and entrepreneurs to scale their tech-based products and solutions to foster growth and drive diversity of thought for creating real-world impact. Through our program, we are bringing active investors, corporates and businesses onto one connected platform to showcase and build the startup ecosystem. We have been recognized and awarded as one of the best startup programs in Asia, despite just starting out in 2020. 

Our annual Spark Ignite Global Startup Competition has become Asia’s largest startup competitions, and just this year alone, we had over 1,200 startup applications from 120 countries. We have a portfolio of over 100 companies and have raised $50M in under 12 months.

Chief Digital Officer

Vodafone Business

During my time as Head of Consulting & Innovation in Asia Pacific, I was designated to establish and develop a consultancy business and innovation practice that generated €30M in total contract value within a highly volatile market. Championed go-to-market strategies to forge partnership alliances, and executed sales plan to deliver on goals; led a team of up to 8 pace-setting individuals across business development, business and technology consulting & innovation.

Achieved YoY business and revenue (consultancy service) growth of 70% from 2014 to 2017 with total pull through of total contract value of €18M and €2M of consulting revenue in FY2017; used targeted market research and custom strategies which are now considered the gold standard across other regions.

Other key achievements were being selected as the keynote speaker at the Vodafone Analyst Summit in 2015 and the Vodafone Talent Program where I was part of the top 1-2% high performer in FY15, 16, 17.

Head of Consulting & Innovation - Asia Pacific

Head of Consulting, Asia-Pacific

First joined Vodafone Business as Principal Consultant where I oversaw the work of client teams within the firm to develop strategic plans. Guided clients to succeed in their businesses through collaboration.

Principal Consultant

Orange Business Services

Created one-of-a-kind “blue-ocean” strategy for OBS HK based on a unique value chain as of “service that you can touch and see”, employing an in-depth understanding of contemporary practices and trends. Helmed $100K - $7M projects through deployment worldwide, covering data communication, contact center, datacenter, security, and cloud services to maximize return on investment and overall client value. 

Governed service delivery to 30+ regional and global MNCs while administering 7 project & program managers, introducing new tactics to elevate performance and engaging while handling P&L (€ 1+ Million).

Grew PM revenue from <€500k in 2010 to ~ €1M in 2013, receiving commendations for outpacing projected growth by 97%. Transformed project management practice & capability to value-added and consulting & outsourcing model, expanding from three to seven PMs in 2010-2012; provided clear, actionable reporting to executive leaders on regional developments, current outcomes, and potential inclusions for strategy in other regions.

Selected talent for the coveted Orange global leadership program, one of three nominations from Orange APAC, and elected to train incoming hires on related topics after completing the program.

Head of Project and Program Management - Hong Kong & Taiwan

BT Global Services

As the Acting Lead of Portfolio & Services Design division, I oversaw global services with emphasis on building delivery capability in Greater China via indirect sales channels and partners.

Led 20+ consultants and IT professionals and promoted workplace culture of collaboration and innovation while managing complex projects & programs (up to USD $7M) and integrated various cost-saving initiatives. Expanded expertise with multiple tier-5 managed service contract delivery ($10M+), working in line with numerous stakeholders and departments worldwide.

Acting Lead of Portfolio & Services Design - China

During my first role with BT Global Services, I was recruited into the APAC Talent Program and gained extensive knowledge base on concerning practices.

Here we achieved the largest transformations project in APAC to uncover various performance gaps which enabled $78K in cost reduction. Delivered several large scale projects such as the multi-sites data centre project and Owen Illinois securing DMZ project. 

Another key achievement was when I led PepsiCo regional program to deliver WAN and conferencing deployment  to consolidate information gathered for 50 business units and distribution sites across 8 countries.

Senior Project Manager

My primary responsibility at EDS was delivering specialized speech recognition with a total budget of US$5.2M. I guided critical enhancements to PM practice and performance in IT operations.

For 3 years, I rose to positions of increasing authority and managed project delivery for EDS New Zealand top 2 outsourced IT service account. I rescued a 12-month project that was 30% over budget and 2 months behind schedule. At the same time, we advocated for the best-in-class security patch management program for Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd where we produced a unique handbook sharing best practices as an internal advisor.

Project Manager

CallTime Solutions

As a Systems Engineer, I demonstrated technical acumen in engineering telephony systems while handling call centre IVR design and consulting. 

During this time, I revamped efforts to support large-scale telephony network such as McDonald’s New Zealand with 250+ seats that lead to improved satisfaction ratings and an increase in account retention.

Systems Engineer

Are you looking to expand your business, particularly into new overseas markets?

 🌍 As a recognized leader and startup advisor, I help B2B Tech companies (big and small) grow the smart way through audience-led growth strategies.  My experience includes building one of Asia's largest startup ecosystems as the former Chief Digital Officer at Huawei, and I have helped more than 100+ companies strategize, scale, and fundraise in Asia. 📈

At GroundAI, we provide the platform, community, and services designed to fuel your growth 🔥, moving beyond product-led approaches that often fall short in unfamiliar territories. We focus on building a strong community 🤝 and creating engaging content ✍️ to broaden your reach. Our approach focuses on three pillars: Building presence, product launch, and business growth. 

GroundAI’s first step was creating AI Business Asia - The fastest-growing AI publication in Asia with over 10,000 tech business subscribers globally. 

I am trusted by MNC executives via driving innovation and transformation. Named a global top 200 CIO by the Global CIO Forum in 2023. 

In 2022, Technology Magazine nominated me as one of the top 10 most influential CDOs globally.

I am a change agent by nature and a hustler in practice.

I believe that the biggest risk in life is not taking any risk.

taplio