Breakfast with Ryan Huang, Emaad Akhtar and Audrey Siek

Latest out of America - the US Department of Education has announced plans to slash about half of its workforce, in what appears to be an intermediate step as President Donald Trump considers an executive order that would shut it down altogether. This follows just after Trump’s recent joint address to Congress, where he repeated claims about wasteful spending, touted divisive executive actions and said he’s “just getting started.” Is Trump widening the political divide between the Republicans & Democrats? On this episode of Morning Shot, Bryan DeAngelis, Partner & Head of Washington Office at Penta Group shares his insights. Presented by: Audrey Siek Produced by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)  Photo credits: Erin Scott/Bloomberg/Getty Images; AFP

Singapore's 2025 budget, titled "Onward Together for a Better Future Tomorrow", was delivered by Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Lawrence Wong on 18th February 2025. The Budget reflects the country’s ambition to propel forward into its next lap of inclusive and sustainable economic growth.    On Money FM 89.3's Post Budget Roundtable, we deep dive into the key highlights with: Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office. 2nd Minister for Finance, and National Development Shawn Huang, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Finance Ang Yuit, President, ASME Trisha Suresh, Head of Public Policy, Southeast Asia, LinkedIn Xander Ong, CEO, Centre for Fathering (which runs both the Dads For Life & Mums for Life Movements) Produced and Moderated by: Ryan Huang Audio Edits: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)

According to Deloitte’s SEA CFO Agenda 2025 research report, Chief Financial Officers today are displaying a significant shift in sentiment and strategic approach as compared to the previous year. To find out what’s driving this change, the strategic approaches being adopted, and how the AI revolution is being factored into their businesses, Dan Koh speaks to Ho Kok Yong, CFO Program Leader, Deloitte Asia Pacific & Southeast Asia.

Singaporean voters will head to the polls in 33 electoral divisions in the 2025 General Election, up from 31 in the last polls. This follows a slew of proposed changes by the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee, which the government has accepted. Sweeping changes have been made to Singapore’s electoral map, with just five Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) and four Single-Member Constituencies (SMCs) remaining unchanged from the last election. According to the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee, the changes were driven by voter growth and future housing developments in areas such as Punggol, Tengah and Bukit Batok West. Presented by: Audrey Siek Produced by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) & Dan Koh (dankoh@sph.com.sg) Photo credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

Did you know that SMEs in the Asia-Pacific region are estimated to represent 98% of enterprises and employ 50% of the workforce? But despite playing an integral role in driving economic growth, SMEs in Asia are not growing as fast as their Western counterparts. Emmanuel Van De Geer, CEO of Labamu joins the Breakfast Show to discuss how he’s empowering small businesses across the Asia Pacific markets through his newly launched invoicing and billing platform. 

Micro-retirement. If you still don’t know what it is, it’s a big work trend that’s picking up globally! Younger workers are now taking little retirements throughout their careers to travel, explore… and  just slow down and enjoy life. Is this something you could see yourself doing? Audrey and Emaad talk about the risks, what they’d do if they had the opportunity to micro-retire! Presented by Audrey Siek & Emaad Akhtar  Produced by Audrey Siek Photo and music credits: Pixabay & its talented community of contributors

Recent data shows that Indonesia's consumer price index fell for the first time in more than two decades in February. What kind of spillover effects might this have on other Southeast Asian countries?  On this episode of Morning Shot, Dr Oh Ei Sun, Principal Adviser of the Pacific Research Center of Malaysia & Senior Fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs shares his insights. Presented by: Emaad Akhtar & Audrey Siek Produced by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) Photo credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

Describing the start to the year as ‘a parade of horribles’, it does seem like there’s some truth to Delta Airlines’ CEO’s outlook of the travel sector. In fact, many airlines have recently announced diminishing outlooks, citing economic volatility and concerns over flight safety that have weighed on the US industry in recent weeks. Join Dan Koh and Emaad Akhtar as they take a whirlwind tour of the airspace sector, and analyze the influence of consumer sentiment on the performance of airline companies in the foreseeable future.

Joseph Sroka, Chief Investment Officer & Co-Founder, NovaPoint Capital shares his insights on how investors are reacting to Trump's back-and-forth trade policy moves, fears over a potential recession and expectations on February's consumer price index. He also weighs in on the AI buzz and whether we are set to see gold prices soar to $3,000 an ounce this March. Presented by: Emaad Akhtar Produced by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) Photo credits: Danielle DeVries | CNBC

Despite an exponential surge in demand for cybersecurity professionals amid the rapid advancement of digitalisation, women remain underrepresented, holding only 20-25% of roles within this landscape. So amid this growing push to create a more inclusive industry, what does it take to make real, lasting change? Jasie Fon, the Regional Vice President of Asia at Ping Identity joins the Breakfast Show to discuss how she is utilizing digital identity security tools to address unique business concerns, and her secrets to thriving and excelling in an male-dominated industry.