Former Macquarie chief Nicholas Moore urges Australian startups to lift 'underdone' exposure to Southeast Asia
The comments come as the Prime Minister announced a suite of policies including a $2 billion finance facility, visa reforms and startup landing pads in key regional cities.
Former Macquarie Group chief executive Nicholas Moore has encouraged Australian startups to strongly consider expanding into booming Southeast Asian markets, as the federal government unveiled a suite of policies to designed to strengthen the nation's trade with the region.
At the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will announce a series of measures to boost Australia's economic presence in Southeast Asia including "landing pads" in Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City to help startups launch their businesses into key markets and a $2 billion finance facility to fund clean energy and infrastructure projects in the region.
Moore, who led investment banking giant Macquarie for a decade until 2018, was appointed Australia's special envoy to Southeast Asia in 2022 by Albanese, and developed the recommendations as part of that role.
On the sidelines of the summit on Monday, Moore told Capital Brief that the landing pads will be "very tech focused", taking advantage of the digital economies of Southeast Asia which are predicted to be worth between USD600 billion and USD1 trillion, up from an estimated USD200 billion in 2022.
