GBxAsia
Board Members

Natalie Black was appointed Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for Asia Pacific, covering North-East Asia, South-East Asia and Australasia in September 2018. She has held a number of posts in Her Majesty’s Government.

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Before joining the Civil Service, Natalie was the Chief of Staff for Security at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, London2012, and a management consultant.

Natalie is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Harvard Kennedy School, where she was a Fulbright scholar.

Entrepreneur with 28 years building businesses in Europe and Asia, VC (Wavemaker Impact) and impact investor/mentor (30 companies). Passionate about tackling climate change & inequality.

 

In 2007, Steve co-founded PropertyGuru to increase transparency and “empower consumers to make confident property decisions”. He led the business as CEO for its first 10 years, growing it with his co-founder Jani, from scratch into a proptech unicorn us listed on New York Stock Exchange (“PGRU” NYSE ticker). Steve remains on its board.

Nicki Ramsay is CEO and Founder of CardUp, a fast-growing payments platform based in Singapore. An expert in the payments industry, she has built digital payments products and previously held leadership roles including Head of Consumer Insight for APAC and Director of International Business Development.

 

She is seen as a thought leader in the fintech space, featured in media such and is a regular speaker at industry events. Nicki started her career as a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting, with a first-class degree in Economics.

Michael is the Managing Partner and Co-founder of early-stage venture capital firm Cocoon Capital. Cocoon focuses on pre-seed and seed-stage deep tech and enterprise tech companies across SE Asia with a hands-on, founder-first approach.

 

Before this, Michael was a veteran angel investor. He was named UK Angel Investor of the Year 2015 and selected as one of the Maserati 100. Having moved to Singapore in 2013 to help his portfolio companies expand to Southeast Asia, Michael noticed an opportunity to create value, specifically at the seed stage, in the start-up landscape here.

Rajeev Natarajan is the Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific for ICONIQ Capital, a privately-held investment firm that serves some of the world’s most influential families and organisations.

 

Prior to ICONIQ, Rajeev spent nine years within the Investment Management and Securities Divisions of Goldman Sachs across the London, Sydney, and Singapore offices. He also spent two years in a raw material and commodity trading business in Hong Kong and four years as a Management Consultant with Accenture in their Melbourne and

Atlanta offices.

Venkatesh led Wise's expansion efforts across Asia-Pacific, co-led the multi-currency debit card program globally, and served as the CEO of Wise Asia-Pacific Ltd, the company's APAC hub in Singapore.

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Prior to joining Wise, Venkatesh was with the Office of Tony Blair, where he advised governments on topics such as economic reform and electronic payments. He is an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania, where he received an MBA from the Wharton School and an MA in International Studies from the Lauder Institute.

Sam is a master relationship builder whose experience traverses the public and private spheres. In her current role as Head of International at Tech Nation she has built a new division for the organisation, scaling the company into four overseas markets.

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Sam sits on the UK Government’s Trade Advisory Group for Technology and Telecoms - representing high growth tech companies and ensuring their voice is heard in the UK Government's trade negotiations. She also sits on the UK Governments Digital Trade Network Board in APAC.

Pooja B Gurbani has a BSc (First class honors) In Management Sciences from the London School of Economics. 

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As President of Amazin Grace, one of the fastest growing health food companies in Asia Pacific, Pooja is leading discussions with international FMCG players who are keen to invest or be a strategic partner in the business. She is also instrumental in developing the overall business strategy and business development with an aim to dominate the breakfast and snack categories regionally.

As the Department for International Trade’s Regional Director for Asia Pacific, Chris is responsible for the UK’s exciting new Digital Trade Network, which is enhancing UK digital tech capability overseas; digital tech trade and investment promotion; and a new in-market tech entrepreneur network to support scaling UK tech companies to internationalise.

 

He has worked in the UK Civil Service for 14 years, in roles ranging from digital tech, industrial strategy and science policy, through to ministerial private office, strategy and trade and investment.

Stephen Hunt is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Aglaia Family Office, which advises a collection of 35 families in a bespoke manner. He has more than 30 years of experience in global markets.

 

Stephen chairs the investment committee and manages the client facing functions for the business. Prior to founding the company, Steve ran local, regional and global equity teams for the Asian businesses at Credit Lyonnais Securities, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and Nomura Securities. He is a charter member of the Association of Investment Management and Research.

Kay Poh Gek Vasey is the Founder of MeshMinds, a creative technology studio, partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme. Kay spends her days blending the worlds of art and technology with powerful partnerships to drive awareness, ignite conversations and inspire behaviour change for the sustainable development of people and our planet.

 

 She will continue to champion Women in Technology with her small but mighty team and will always remember that she stands on the shoulders of giants.