Coffee, anyone? Find out more about Singapore's attractiveness to international coffee brands

The Coffee Academics COO Justin Lam will be sharing his insights.

Justin Lam is the Chief Operating Officer of The Coffee Academics, Hong Kong’s leading specialty coffee company.

Before joining The Coffee Academics, Justin was an executive at an international food and beverage company where he headed up various specialty coffee and food business across the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to that, he was the co-founder of a technology startup business, managed a seed stage venture capital fund and was a turnaround and restructuring business manager for a leading telecommunications company in Australia.

Justin will be one of the speakers at the SBR Industry Insights Series. Find out more about him here:

SBR: What are your previous experiences and positions held that contributed to who you are as an entrepreneur/businessman today?

I have worked in various types of companies, from multinationals to start ups, been an entrepreneur as well as a consultant, managed cross-cultural and cross-border businesses in both technology and food and beverage. These experiences helped me see things in different perspectives and approach challenges in ways that are not typical of the environment I am in, and relate to people from a range of professional and cultural backgrounds. I think this has also helped me develop a flexible, adaptable leadership style that is open to new ways of doing things.

SBR: What are your key business philosophies?

I believe that diversity brings out the best in us, so I prefer teams with a diversity of cultural and business background and encourages team members to embrace each other's differences and see them as opportunities. A team with a wider range of perspectives are likely to make better decisions and create more exciting things together.

I think good business relationships starts with people who like each other working together. If you like the business partner, then it is much easier to define common goals and work towards achieving them. Although at the end of the day all business deals are based on commercial viability, relationships with people you like are much more likely to be successful and lasting.

Finally, I believe that no two problems are the same, and what worked yesterday won't necessarily work today, let alone tomorrow. Change is the only constant!

SBR: Can you give us a glimpse of what you will talk about at the SBR Industry Insights Series?

I will be talking about Singapore's attractiveness to an international coffee brand, some insights on the local consumers and trends as seen from an international perspective, and where we think the market is heading for coffee.