Pan-Asian Networking Group Launched
By J. LIEN
Singapore Business Times

Pan-Asian networking group launched ASCV aims to bridge vast intellectual resources between Silicon Valley, Asia.

SINGAPORE businesses hoping to start a presence in Silicon Valley will soon be able to tap not just a network of Singaporeans here, but a pan-Asian networking coalition that has just been launched.

The Asia-Silicon Valley Connection (ASVC) (www.asvc.org), brainchild of three young Asian-Americans, has an ambitious goal: to have a senior member of all the ethnic Asian networking groups on its board. This will help bridge the vast intellectual resources between Silicon Valley and Asia, says founder and ASVC president Louis Nguyen.

Launched last week, the ASVC is the result not just of its three founders' efforts. A group of some 16 charter members, including Singaporean investor and consultant Jek Kian Jin and Singapore-born entrepreneur Tony Goh, have been meeting twice a month for two months to chart the new group's direction. "ASVC transcends most nationality-bound organisations by opening itself to all Asians and Americans in the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley," said Mr Jek. "I mean, why bother to have a Singaporeans-only organisation in Silicon Valley? This is the so-called New Economy, and nationality-restricted business organisations start looking tired and unprogressive."

The group expects to win support, particularly, from younger Silicon Valley Asians. "These first or second-generation Asians view the technology and business as their common denominator, instead of politics or place of origin," said Mr Nguyen.

Mentorship: To start with, ASVC's activities will include a monthly speaker series in which a distinguished Asian-American high-tech pioneer will recount his success story. Kicking off the series next month will be Broadvision chief executive officer Pehong Chen and venture capitalist Deepak Kamra. Mentorship is a big theme for all three ASVC founders. While they come from different Asian traditions, they share a common history: immigrating to the US at a young age, at a time when Asian-Americans had not yet made their mark on US society and big business.

Said venture capitalist (www.ospreyventures.com) Mr Nguyen, 37, who came from Vietnam to the US when he was 12: "When I was a kid, there weren't any major Asian-American role models. In the past few years, you see Asians taking executive roles in business, founding prominent companies, holding government offices, taking influential roles all over."

ASVC's research shows that a quarter to one-third of high-tech CEOs in the Valley are Asian. "It's a great time to acknowledge the pioneers," said co-founder Alex Chou, 26. Inspired by the stories of some of its charter members, who include tennis star Michael Chang, who is also principal of CMBC Ventures, and senior executives from Silicon Valley Bank, Intel Corp and Cisco Systems, the group decided that the speaker series would be its first regular activity.

Also, networking parties, to be held regularly, will also help Asian companies trying to establish a foothold in the US. "I have seen many companies reaching US$20-30 million (S$34.9-52.3 million) in revenues in Asia starting to look at expanding into the US," said co-founder Porter Wong, 40. "They start calling up friends in the US asking for help, but sometimes they don't get the right contacts, and it's a waste of time."

To help US companies wanting to expand into Asia, the group is also recruiting Asian-based sponsors.

Then there is a more altruistic motivation -- to give back to a society that has helped all three achieve personal success in the Valley. The group plans to organize computer donation drives for needy students, and other activities. Social vacuum: On a lighter note, the three youthful founders, mindful of the male-female imbalance (3:1) in male-dominated Silicon Valley, also hope that their group will help fill a social vacuum for the many engineers here. "Maybe we can have a part of our website where members can discuss the lifestyle in Silicon Valley, where the good Asian food is, or entertainment issues," offered Mr Nguyen.

With such lofty plans on so many fronts, are the founders worried that traditionally-insular Asian groups may see ASVC as a threat and resist joining?

"Not all of them will join," admitted Mr Ngyuen. "But we're trying to show them that we're not really in competition with them, we want to work with them for the benefit of the community." For example, concerned that its planned speaker series may duplicate similar efforts by the other groups, ASVC is proposing that different groups take turns to organise the monthly talks.

"The fact that we've invited the groups' senior officials to our advisory board shows how sincere we are," added Mr Wong. "So far, the response has been pretty good."

Groups that have indicated their interest include: Taiwanese group Monte Jade, the Chinese Software Professionals Association, Indian group The Indus Organisation, the Asian-American Manufacturers' Organisation, the North American Taiwanese Engineers' Association, and several Asian university alumni groups in the Bay Area.

The founders hope to have "a couple thousand" members -- Asians and non-Asians -- on board in the next couple of years. Financial sustainability is also a primary concern. Apart from charging membership fees, the group has also signed up other sponsors, including Yahoo, Ernst & Young, Silicon Valley Bank, Charles Schwab, US Trust, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, law firm Wilson Sonsoni Goodrich & Rosati, and IBM Corp.

While Singapore still accounts for a small slice of the Silicon Valley Asian landscape, Mr Nguyen says a meeting with Singapore entrepreneur Ray Wee was a "turning point" in nudging him towards the founding of ASVC.

"That's when I learned that Singapore was the most connected country in the world, and that there were many businesses seeking to break through in Silicon Valley, with the support of their government," Mr Nguyen said. "Then I thought: who will facilitate this?"

"You seldom get a chance to meet other members of the diverse Asian community in Silicon Valley," adds Mr Jek, who met Mr Nguyen through Mr Wee. "Of course, at some point we will throw a great satay party in Silicon Valley just to show the people how we can contribute to this fellowship."

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