Your Way Home with Hongbin Jeong

As Singapore's first Olympic Esports finalist in motor racing, Aleef Hamilton will be hoping to fly the flag loud and proud for the Lion City at the inaugural event happening this week. But just how did this Lewis Hamilton fan go from chasing autographs to chasing his ultimate dream? Tune in to find out! Got a story to tell? Get in touch with us! edanker@sph.com.sg | raushan@sph.com.sg

The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) May Day Awards 2023 have honoured 128 distinguished and deserving individuals, including union leaders, workers, management partners and government representatives.  We speak to Alexander C. Melcher, Vice President, Singapore National Employers Federation, an awardee of the Distinguished Service Award for the May Day Awards 2023 and what this award means to him and his ongoing mission to encourage diversity and age-inclusion in the workplace.

With cybercrime estimated to cost the world $8 trillion annually in 2023, there is one more insurance policy businesses need to add to the list, cyber insurance. But when looking to purchase cyber insurance, there are several factors to consider. Sathish Murthy, Director of Systems Engineering, ASEAN/India, Cohesity shares with us the factors companies should consider when getting cyber insurance. 

Today we’re going to talk about a fashion brand or company that would come to mind when we mention the phrase ‘heat-tech’.  Bingo if you guessed UNIQLO! With over 2,400 stores in 25 markets including Japan, UNIQLO is the largest of eight brands in the Fast Retailing Group, which is one of the world’s largest apparel retail companies.  The company attributes its success to unifying the entire clothes making process, from planning and design to producing, distributing and retailing. But how does it work in reality and what kind of activities are centralised versus managed by individual stores?  Speaking of designs, how have UNIQLO’s basic designs and focus on comfort widened the company’s customer base, especially in Singapore?  And with rents of prime spaces on the rise– what will this mean for UNIQLO Singapore when it comes to store expansion? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Joey Tong, Store Development Director at UNIQLO Singapore.

Earphones that give the best listening experience, whether you are listening to songs, podcasts, or anything else, is something that many look for but feel it is hard to find. Those who embark passionately on the search for 'the perfect sound' are known as audiophiles. This comes hand in hand with these earphones having qualities such as being water resistant, being aesthetically pleasing, and having a comfortable fit. We speak to Jeremy Lim, Co-Founder & CEO, Zerest Audio more about this.

Singapore shares opened lower today, after European markets ended lower as investors waited for further cues on the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy outlook. In early trade, the Straits Times Index (STI) was down 0.2 per cent to 3,233.65 points after 27.2 million securities changed hands in the broader market.  In terms of companies to watch, we have OCBC increasing its stake in its insurance subsidiary Great Eastern from 87.9 per cent to 88.4 per cent.  Meanwhile, investors continue to keep their eyes on a number of developments ranging from Singapore’s Grab planning the biggest round of job cuts since the pandemic, to China’s smaller-than-forecast interest rate cut and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony about the state of the US economy. On Market View, the Drive Time team dived into the details with Khoon Goh, Head of Asia Research at ANZ. 

Ronaldo, Benzema, next who? Saudi Arabian football is in the spotlight with a host of footballers rumoured to be on their transfer radar with Neves, Kante and Ziyech the latest names mentioned. Will Saudi football take flight? Or will this be CSL 2.0?  Got a story to tell? Get in touch with us! edanker@sph.com.sg | raushan@sph.com.sg

Gen Z and Millennial Singaporeans have a more open mindset to dating nowadays and having a holiday romance is something that a large number of them look forward to having. Online dating is a way for them to achieve this. Yet, especially in an unfamiliar environment, there is a safety concern when meeting someone you've only interacted with online. How do we deal with issues such as this and still have an enjoyable experience? We speak to Lucille McCart, APAC Communications Director, Bumble more about this.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s landmark trip to China concluded on Monday with both sides vowing to steady ties to ward off conflict. What will this mean for the future of US-China relations?  Next up, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hosts Premier Li Qiang for talks today in Berlin. How will Germany find the middle ground between maintaining their economic ties with China, and complying with their G7 pledge to de-risk from Beijing? We speak to Dr. Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow, Singapore Institute of International Affairs more about these headlines.

Water is an essential part of our lives, but ever wondered who are the ones behind the clean water we use and drink everyday? Our guest for today is Memiontec, a Catalist-listed water treatment company that designs and builds systems and water treatment plants in countries such as Singapore, Indonesia and China.  Recently, the company also moved into financing, operating and maintaining plants and selling their treated water. But what was the reason behind the firm diversifying its revenue streams? Meanwhile, Memiontec clinched its largest contract worth S$56.6 million to install equipment for the Changi Water Reclamation Plant last year and started expanding to Vietnam. But what do the developments mean for the firm’s balance sheet?  Also, the company intends to achieve a market capitalisation of S$500 million by 2026, up from the S$132 million when it was listed on the Catalist board in 2020, but how does it intend to do so? On Under the Radar, finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Tay Kiat Seng, CEO, Memiontec for more.