Meet the EF Amplifiers
We’re excited to unveil our first line up of EF Amplifiers, our new and exclusive talent affiliate and advisor programme. Designed to leverage synergies amongst key players in Singapore’s deep tech ecosystem, the Amplifiers Network provides a structured platform for established industry professionals to refer high-quality talent to the EF programme, while driving deeper connections and fueling greater collaboration within the global community.
The pioneer batch of EF Amplifiers comprises key individuals who have been paramount to EF Singapore’s growth since its inception four years ago. They consist of a mix of business and public sector leaders, academics, investors, start-up founders and advocates across the deep tech community, armed with global networks covering Asia, North America and the United Kingdom.
As prominent industry professionals who regularly engage with talented and ambitious individuals as part of their personal passion and roles, these Amplifiers are positioned to foster meaningful connections between potential entrepreneurs and the EF network. The Amplifier Network offers them a structured platform to connect with and bridge like-minded individuals to maximise each other’s success, ultimately accelerating the growth momentum of Asia’s deep tech ecosystem and the development of solutions for the world’s most pressing issues.
Li Hongyi
Deputy Director, GovTech Singapore
Hongyi leads a team of engineers, designers, and product managers who build technology for the public good. Projects they work on include Parking.sg – an app to replace parking coupons, and Data.gov.sg – the government’s open data repository. He believes in working on real problems, building for the user, and pushing for change. Prior to joining the public sector, Hongyi worked at Google on the distributed databases and image search teams. He previously attended MIT where he obtained degrees in Computer Science and Economics. In his free time, he works on personal projects like typographing.com and chatlet.com.
David Toh
Director, NTUitive
Mr. David Toh is the Director of NTUitive Pte Ltd, the innovation and technology commercialisation subsidiary of the Nanyang Technological University. He is a keen advocate of technology startups and has been an active angel investor since the late 1990s. He is also currently on the SGX Listings Advisory Committee Board, providing opinions on technology companies seeking IPOs.
Shao Ning
Founder, Angel Central Pte Ltd
Shao-Ning started her first business, JobsCentral, as a fresh graduate in 2000. She grew and eventually exited the business in 2011 to CareerBuilder. Since then, she has been actively advising deep tech startups and social entrepreneurs, with a focus on being relevant and paying it forward. On top of being a peer-mentor to aspiring female entrepreneurs, Shao-Ning is also a wife and mom to four boys. In the family angel/PE portfolio, she and her partner, Der Shing, have invested in more than 22 startups (of which, 6 are led by female CEOs) and 7 VC investments.
Reza Benham
CEO & Co-Founder, Taskworld
Reza Behnam is Co-founder and Chairman of global audience solutions company CtrlShift, as well as the team-collaboration SaaS platform Taskworld. He is a man who wears many hats. After leaving Yahoo! as Founding Managing Director of Southeast Asia in 2007, Behnam became an executive mentor at the National University of Singapore and a venture capitalist who co-led investment in Friendster and The Rubicon Project. He then co-founded IAB Singapore and served as Vice Chairman from 2011 to 2013. He is also currently an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at INSEAD and Global Chapter Chair/Ambassador for H2 (h2.co), a Silicon Valley-based network for digital leaders.
Anthony Chong
Assistant Vice President, A*ccelerate
Mr. Anthony Chong has been in the startup and innovation ecosystem since 1997. He currently is the Assistant Vice President at A*ccelerate, where he oversees programmes, services, alliances and facilities (including life science lab and prototyping) for deep tech startups. His past experiences include being the Director at SG Enable, Senior Vice President at iAxil (the Venture Accelerator and Business Incubation arm of Ascendas, for Singapore Science Park), Vice President of Business Operations at Commontown (an A*Star spinoff), Assistant Director of ICT Business Strategies at NTUC, and Inter
Creator, OnQuestions
Gwendolyn Regina
VC Program Manager, Facebook
Creator, OnQuestions
Gwendolyn has spent 15 years across the media and technology startup sectors across Asia Pacific, Paris, and Silicon Valley. She is currently building up a new VC engagement programme at Facebook and was previously Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Entrepreneur First.
These days, Gwen spends her time at OnQuestions exploring the question, “What is a good question?”
Previously a founder, Gwen built and sold tech media startup, SGEntrepreneurs, to Tech in Asia. She was also a founding team member of Thymos Capital, an early stage technology investment firm in Singapore. Gwen spearheaded Mashable’s expansion into Asia and as a professional host, hosted a TV documentary on the Internet of Things for Channel NewsAsia.
Prof. Weiyi Ng
Assistant Professor, NUS Business School
Prof Weiyi Ng is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Strategy and Policy at NUS Business School. His research interests fall at the intersection of large data analysis, careers and entrepreneurship, with his main line of work examining the career antecedents of high potential venture entrepreneurs in the technology sector through the lens of computational sociology.
At NUS, he teaches Venture Capital and Technology Strategy. He also advises the NUS Business School’s Venture Capital Investing Competition (VCIC) MBA team.
Naveen Bhat
Managing Director, APAC, Sandvine
Naveen is a senior growth orientated executive with a proven track record of building businesses and delivering outstanding results. His career in the ICT sector spans more than 26 years, across USA and Asia. He has helped transform and sustain double-digit growth for businesses, having taken on senior executive roles in the fields of General Management, Sales (both Direct and Channels), Marketing, Strategic Planning, and Product Development. Naveen is a leader with broad experience in managing businesses ranging from small start-ups, to large multinational companies with business volumes of $10M – $140M.
Deepraj Sawhney
Vice President Finance, Asia Pacific,, Wavecell (an 8x8 Company)
Deepraj has over 14 years of experience in management, operations and finance spanning four continents. He is former CFO at cloud communications platform Wavecell which he helped scale over several markets in Asia Pacific, leading the trade sale and exit of the company to NYSE listed 8×8 Inc in 2019. He is passionate about helping founder build and scale great businesses and he adds a unique value by coming from a prior startup success story himself.
Prior to joining Wavecell, he was an oil explorer with Schlumberger for several years based in Norway where he commercialized several new technologies for marine exploration. He also worked with a private equity firm looking for potential investments in the renewable energy and broadband sector within India. Deepraj is alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology and INSEAD Business School.
Pat Markey
Managing Director, Sierra Vista Resources Pte. Ltd
Pat Markey has over 28 years of experience in the Global Energy and Mining sectors. He most recently served as the Executive General Manager of Marketing for Whitehaven Coal Limited from 2012 to 2014.
Between 2004 to 2012, he served as the Chief Operations Officer for Global Coal Limited (globalCOAL), a London-based company promoting the commoditization of coal along with the development of risk management products. Pat began his career at Global Coal Limited in London and established the companies’ presence in Asia (Singapore) in 2003. Prior to globalCOAL, Pat worked in the commodity trading group for Enron Capital & Trade Resources both in the United States and Singapore.
Pat began his career with Conoco Inc. and worked in a wide variety of roles including engineering, strategic planning, internal consulting, and supply and trading. During his career, he has managed international teams in multiple continents in the commodity industry.