Judges

Judges
Jean Salata
Chairperson EQT Asia

Jean Eric Salata is the Chairman of EQT Asia. He previously founded Baring Private Equity Asia in 1997 and led the management buyout that established BPEA as an independent firm, which eventually became one of the largest private equity firms in Asia. In 2022, BPEA merged with the Swedish-listed firm EQT to create a global private markets firm spanning the US, Europe, and Asia.

EQT in Asia has 350 team members across 8 offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, and Sydney. EQT has invested approximately USD35 billion in the Asia Pacific region since 1997 in over 180 transactions across our Private Capital, Infrastructure, and Real Estate strategies. EQT’s portfolio in Asia employs more than 410,000 people.

Mr Salata brings an international perspective, having lived in Chile as a child, completed his education in the United States, and lived and worked in Asia since 1989. Mr. Salata graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Finance and Economics.

Cilia Holmes Indahl
CEO EQT Foundation
Head of EQT Foundation

Cilia has a double degree in sustainable innovation and international business from HEC Paris and the NHH and started her career as trainee for the Norwegian Mission to the UN, assisting on the negotiations of the UN SDGs.

Prior to joining EQT, Indahl was CEO of the impact investing organization Katapult and Sustainability Director at Aker Biomarine. She also holds several board positions to help companies with sustainable transformation. In 2016, Cilia co-founded the non-profit association Sustainability Hub Norway that helps companies integrate sustainability into their strategies and she also represents Norway on the jury for the Nordic Council’s Environmental Prize.

Eugene Tang
Chief Development Officer;
Managing Director, PostMag
South China Morning Post

Eugene Tang, the South China Morning Post’s Managing Editor for Business & Projects, has spent three decades in financial journalism and in the business of real-time news.

His career began in 1994 as a corporate news writer for The Edge weekly newspaper in his native Malaysia, followed by 14 years as a reporter, editor, bureau chief and team leader at Bloomberg News in Malaysia, Japan and China.

Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Mr. Tang has spent more than a decade living in mainland China, covering everything from economic policies to financial markets and earthquakes in Beijing, Shanghai and China’s far-flung provinces.

Prior to joining the SCMP, Mr. Tang was Asia-Pacific Product Director at The Wall Street Journal’s publisher Dow Jones & Co., where he was responsible for the company’s Dow Jones Newswires real-time news and content licensing for the Factiva news database business.

As SCMP’s Managing Editor, Mr. Tang oversees coverage of financial markets, banking and finance, property, technology, healthcare and the business of climate change.

Erica Ma
Managing Partner of CoCoon Ignite Ventures
Co-founder of CoCoon
Co-founder of The CoCoon Foundation

Erica is focused on investing in the pioneers of our future and building a global home for entrepreneurs. She spent her early working career in Silicon Valley before returning to Hong Kong to build and operate CoCoon. Her work at CoCoon evolved to cover community, education and investments within an ecosystem for founders, students, investors, engineers, designers and corporate innovators. She is always looking for ideas and people who can turn them into reality. The CoCoon Foundation partners with the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, Lee Kum Kee Family Foundation and D.H. Chen Foundation bringing entrepreneurship education to over 30,000 local secondary school students. Erica also serves on the Advisory Council of the Stanford Bing Overseas Program, Advisor to Our Hong Kong Foundation, Member of the Museum Advisory Committee, and the Board of Directors at Cyberport.

Joyce Li
Portfolio Management and Fund Strategy Lead
01Fintech Group

Joyce Li is a passionate and seasoned professional in digital innovation, currently leading Portfolio Management and Fund Strategy at 01Fintech Group in Hong Kong. Specializing in private equity investments in growth-stage companies, Joyce brings expertise in fund strategy, portfolio management, and investor relations. Prior to joining 01Fintech, Joyce held advisory roles at Ant Group and Alibaba.com, where she led strategic planning, globalization research, and data analytics at the intersection of fintech and cross-border e-commerce. Joyce’s career began at Neustar, now a TransUnion Company, where she provided predictive analytics solutions to global clients.

Joyce holds an MSc in Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BBA from Emory University, both with highest distinction.

Outside of fintech, Joyce is actively engaged in projects related to EV infrastructure, smart home technology, and digital literacy in early childhood education. She is also dedicated to making a positive impact through local environmental initiatives and foodbank organization.