Big Plans for Microlearning

Today’s workforce and business leaders need new ways to master crucial digital skills, veteran technopreneur and investor Frank Meehan tells Hong Xinyi

- Hong Xinyi

Many Asian cities want to become the next Silicon Valley, and these aspiring regional tech hubs have an interesting competitive advantage—there’s a much stronger female leadership presence in Asia’s start-ups, says veteran digital entrepreneur and investor Frank Meehan.

Frank first started working in Asia in 1998, and co-founded venture capital firm SparkLabs Global Ventures. Its offshoot, SparkLabs Korea, invests in early-stage Asian start-ups with global potential. In 2015, he also co-founded microlearning app SmartUp, a UK-based operation that recently opened its Singapore office.

“Silicon Valley is very much a boys’ club, but Asia is totally different,” the affable technopreneur shares. “At SparkLabs, 40 per cent of the senior management in our start-ups are women.” This trend could boil down to Asian women facing less pressure to pursue traditional corporate careers in finance and law, he speculates, and the resulting gender equality bodes well for the vitality of the regional start-up scene.