On 11 April, the first TIEMBA online panel discussion was held. With profound knowledge and experiences in the area of investment and healthcare industry, TIEMBA alumni explored how to invest and drive a positive change in the uncertainty brought by the outbreak of COIVD-19. More than 60 alumni and students of TIEMBA program joined in this online panel from different parts of the world.
Jireh：The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought huge impacts to the commercial world. What impacts and what bright spots have you seen for investors and individuals in the next coming years?
Fong Jek：Under the current situation, we need to refill our strategy. My background has been in TMT in the last 20 years and I think at this point, everyone starts to see the value of internet infrastructure. One big trend I am seeing is the growth of data center business. The reason why I am seeing this as an opportunity is that more and more companies are forced to online strategy or digital strategy. The other investment sector is moving on to application level, video collaboration tools. I believe that it is going to drive the decentralization of office work and internet of work at home.
Yair：A lot of areas have been affected by the current situation. What is interesting for me is looking at China and trying to see how China is recovering and how China’s new normal is playing out. This has a lot of hope and messages to the rest of the world. To categorize what kind of investment opportunities might be ahead of us, I think we can break it down into three types. First, the opportunities that are directly addressing COVID. Technology startups or companies which are directly targeting the pandemic, remote monitoring, home care. Second, the business that are naturally positioned to benefit from the pandemic, such as online education mentioned by Fong Jek. Third, the business that are not well positioned but could be well positioned under some changes, as Horace has mentioned. I’d love to get some insights into this type of business. In traditional and conservative industries, there is still a place for the new normal. How they are going to reposition and how they are going to use the new tools that would need? That’s very interesting in my point.
Horace：The pandemic is an event affecting many industries and companies, however there are still investment opportunities. The first level is the obvious investment opportunities, such as online applications which will be accelerated. If you go down deeper, you will find the second level, which is less obvious, such as data infrastruction.
Bin：Internet healthcare is quite hot topic in the past several years, especially this year, because the Chinese government is encouraging to leverage it as a critical tool to encounter COVID-19. Basically, internet healthcare encompasses any health related activities facilitated by tele communications and technologies, from consumer facing healthcare services, such as online consultation and pharmacy e-commerce, consumer healthcare and appointment booking to more innovative concepts, such as data driven, discovering, disease diagnoses. Internet healthcare is showing its value during the pandemic, not only for the patients but also for hospital and governments. So the key stake holders are changing their approach and mindset for the value.
“Great TIEMBA alumni sharing!” commented Susan Zhang, from TIEMBA Class 2020. “Thanks a lot for an enlightening talk!” remarked Yu Shu, participant of TIEMBA Calss 2021. The first TIEMBA alumni panel was interactive and received positive feedbacks from our alumni and students. At this critical time, we remain hope to arrange more online events through various channels in order to strengthen the communications and connections between our fellow alumni and students.