As economic headwinds collide with unprecedented opportunity, Singapore's financial vanguards gathered recently to confront the uncomfortable truth: expand or expire. The 9 April 2025 CFO Forum hosted by Airwallex didn’t just discuss expansion — it exposed the raw calculus of survival for “Singapore Inc.” in today’s cutthroat global marketplace.
During the riveting panel discussion, Ershad Ahamed, head of Southeast Asia at Airwallex joined JJ Ang, chief financial officer at Carousell Group, Musa Fazal, chief policy officer at Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and Dominic Ong, chief financial officer and head of strategic partnerships at Endowus, to dissect the multifaceted theme of “Singapore Inc: Expanding Horizons in ASEAN and Beyond.”
The dialogue provided a provocative and fast-paced exploration of the challenges and opportunities facing Singaporean businesses on the global stage.
The context for this discussion was especially meaningful as Airwallex continues to see tremendous growth in Singapore.
Lucy Liu, president of Airwallex, highlighted “triple-digit growth across both revenue and transaction volume — 215% year-on-year for revenue and 192% year-on-year on transaction volume” in the region in a press conference prefacing the panel discussion.
This growth underscores the increasing demand from local businesses for smarter and faster ways to operate globally.
Navigating financial pressures and building resilience
The challenges of rising costs, inflation, and volatile cash flows loom large for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) venturing beyond Singapore’s borders. SBF’s Fazal articulated the proactive stance of his organisation in addressing these pressures.
“About two years ago, as we were emerging out of COVID-19, there were a lot of cost pressures already. Inflation was high. There were supply chain constraints, manpower constraints, and so on,” he noted, highlighting the SBF’s collaborative efforts with the government to co-create solutions.
The government’s response, including CIT rebates and measures to alleviate manpower costs, demonstrates a commitment to bolstering business resilience. However, Fazal cautioned that the implications of recent U.S. tariffs present additional challenges, requiring businesses to make critical decisions on cost absorption and pricing strategies.
This sentiment was echoed in Airwallex’s recent survey of 250 Singapore businesses, which identified managing finances and rising costs/inflation as the most pressing issues facing SMEs today.
Airwallex’s Ahamed pointed out during the earlier press conference that “managing cash flows is a crucial part of every SME, because SMEs essentially don’t have a sizable amount of cash flow. A lot of the money that they have essentially ends up getting poured onto their business.”
The panellists emphasised the importance of balancing growth with financial prudence. Endowus’s Ong stressed the need for sustainable growth, focusing on acquiring the right clients and maintaining cost discipline.
“For us, sustainable growth is about acquiring the right type of clients that are aligned with us in terms of what we’re trying to solve, which is the long-term mission of retirement adequacy,” Ong elaborated.
Carousell Group’s Ang agreed, advocating for a focus on addressing user pain points and prioritising impactful innovation.
“Innovation doesn’t have to come at an expensive cost,” Ang asserted, highlighting Carousell’s strategic approach to scaling up high-performing business categories.
The talent crisis: Singapore’s Achilles’ Heel
The perennial challenge of attracting, retaining, and developing talent emerged as a critical concern for businesses expanding internationally. Ang shared Carousell’s strategy of building local teams and fostering partnerships with universities and polytechnics to cultivate talent aligned with the company’s culture.
“It’s very important to go to market with a local team,” Ang emphasised, highlighting the importance of structured partnerships for talent development.
Fazal acknowledged the difficulties in persuading Singaporeans to work in regional countries, citing the allure of more comfortable postings in Europe or the U.S.
“Generally, Singaporeans don’t mind working overseas, but they prefer to go to some of the nicer places such as Europe,” Fazal noted, underscoring the need for initiatives like the Overseas Markets Immersion Program to provide regional exposure and leadership opportunities.
Seizing opportunities for expansion
Despite the challenges, the panel exuded a sense of optimism about the growth prospects for Singaporean businesses in ASEAN and beyond. Ong shared Endowus’ experience of expanding into Hong Kong, emphasising the importance of strategic market selection and customisation of solutions to meet local needs.
“Be very deliberate about which markets you enter and why,” Ong advised, highlighting the need to deeply understand the nuances of each market.
Ang offered Carousell’s perspective on maintaining agility while operating across multiple markets. The company employs a matrix framework to prioritise business units based on their growth potential and capital allocation needs.
“You want to first [find out whether] is this a build versus buy?" Ang posed, emphasising the importance of value creation in market expansion strategies.
During the press conference, Ahamed shared that Singapore businesses are investing for both short and long-term growth, particularly in Southeast Asia, then East Asia and beyond.
“They’re investing in areas that are beneficial for short-term and also long-term, which will help them grow across multiple categories. They’re prioritising areas which bring them efficiency... which enable them for R&D... [and] grows their businesses over time.” Ershad Ahamed
The digital imperative and embedded finance
The panel discussion underscored the increasing importance of digital adoption for finance teams and the transformative potential of embedded finance. Ang advocated for a multi-year vision for FinTech adoption, emphasising its impact on closing, reporting, and planning processes.
“Pursue digital transformation with intent,” Ang urged, highlighting the need to leverage technology to generate insights and drive decision-making.
Ong addressed the critical role of trust in the adoption of new financial tools, particularly in the context of managing customer funds.
“If you look at it from a client perspective, the underlying tools themselves are not the most critical,” Ong stated, emphasising the importance of consistent messaging and established trust factors such as the ability to invest CPF in building trust in Endowus.
Charting the course for the future
As Singapore’s financial architects navigate this treacherous landscape, the panel offered tactical directives that transcend conventional wisdom:
- Embrace technological disruption before it renders you obsolete
- Deploy capital with surgical precision, not sentimental attachment
- Cultivate talent ecosystems that overcome geographic reluctance
Ang reiterated the call for digital transformation with intent, emphasising the need for robust data security and system interconnectivity. Fazal invoked the wisdom of Bruce Lee, urging businesses to be adaptable and agile in the face of change.
“Be like water,” Fazal advised, underscoring the importance of nimbleness in navigating the evolving international trading order.
Ong offered a succinct yet powerful directive for CFOs: “Stay close to the business, and even closer to the client.”
For Singapore's expansion-minded CFOs, the message is clear: the horizon offers unprecedented opportunity, but only for those bold enough to embrace disciplined transformation, talent innovation, and strategic agility. The rest will be left behind — footnotes in Singapore Inc.’s global conquest.
