WE BELIEVE
IN THE POWER OF COMMUNITIES AND CONNECTING STARTUP ECOSYSTEMS
ACROSS ASIA AND BERLIN.
AsiaBerlin, powered by the Berlin Senate Department, forms the collective platform that brings together communities within the startup ecosystems across Asia and Berlin. We enable relationship-building among investors, startups, and bridge builders by organizing monthly AsiaBerlin events and delegation trips to Berlin and Asia throughout the year. Our flagship event, the AsiaBerlin Summit is the annual summit of year-long AsiaBerlin activities where policymakers, startups, and investors meet to discuss the newest tech trends and cross-border collaboration between Asia and Berlin. We work closely with our partners in the Asia Berlin Forum Berlin e.V. (ABF) and enpact, along with the ever-growing support of our honorary Ambassadors.
Meet Our Team
Rainer Seider, strong on 29 years’ experience in international cooperation and projects, is Head of Unit International Affairs, Office of Governing Mayor of Berlin - Senate Chancellery.He initiated the AsiaBerlin Summit (former Asia-Pacific Week) as a platform for dialogue with Asia in 1997.
For the last few years, Swantje was with Brot für die Welt which is a large development cooperation organisation based in Berlin. She worked in the Asia & Pacific Department and was responsible mostly for projects with partners in India and Nepal. Her focus is on a span of topics from Human Rights, Health, Gender Equality to Climate Change. Swantje has a background in international economics; she studied in Göttingen, Istanbul and Shanghai.
Diksha Dutta is Head of Marketing and Communication at AsiaBerlin, an initiative by the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, connecting startup ecosystems in Asia and Berlin. Based in Berlin, she is a business columnist and podcast host covering AI and Data related topics. Former chief editor of Dataconomy Media, Diksha started her career as a feature writer and gradually stepped into business news reporting where she closely tracked the private equity, venture capital and startups focusing on US funds investing in the Indian market. Her work is published in The Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Thrive Global, Financial Express, News Corp India. She is working on a book on the Indian startup ecosystem to be released by Bloomsbury Publishing UK and India in 2021.
Bao-Tram Thai was born in Saigon, Vietnam. In 2013, she decided to go to Germany for her studies and career. She studied Business Administration with specialisations in Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Management. In 2018, she co-founded Vietnam Startup Network in Europe - the biggest community for Vietnamese young entrepreneurs and startups in Europe. Her ambition is, with her community, to build a sustainable connection that strengthens economic relations between Asia and Europe, and opens opportunities for both European and Asian, especially Vietnamese startups for collaboration.
Starting his career 2003 in Shanghai, Marten setup multiple companies in the area of content production, marketing, 3D and project management. After 13 years of entrepreneurship in China, he moved to Berlin in 2015 and worked since then on a variety of value propositions. He wrote a white paper about a DAO-governed ICO-rating DAPP, scaled a self-funded distributed 3D-video-production house and is currently working as CTO for enpact e.V. creating technology and platforms for thousands of participants on entrepreneurial programs.
With a wide variety of Smart Change partners, Helen sheds light on important framework conditions for innovation potential, responsible sustainability and inclusion in Jakarta and other growing metropolitan areas. The administrative exchange between Berlin, Jakarta and Bangkok in order to learn from another on improved good governance measures, especially on Smart City, is an invaluable experience for her. The project will further support Berlin's as well as Europe's collaboration in Indonesia. Helen has previously worked in the EU liaison office at the Technische Universität Berlin and graduated in European Studies.
Sidd's a senior programme manager with Enpact; currently building a strong bridge between the entrepreneurial ecosystems of Asia and Berlin with a special focus on investor relations and acceleration programs. Prior to this, he worked as a portfolio manager with a Berlin based VC firm heading a portfolio of multiple startups in the domain of IoT and Blockchain. Sidd loves being in the midst of the tech world and has invested as an angel in tech startups himself.
Jan is the managing director of enpact - a non-profit organization which empowers entrepreneurship in emerging and developing countries. Enpact leads all AsiaBerlin activities including monthly events, investors relations, delegation trips, pilot soft-landing pad, network building and community management and FEBI. He is a tech entrepreneur and former management consultant; leading a wide array of projects ranging from private sector, EU and government-funded projects right through to organising major cultural events. Besides working at enpact he is the co-founder of the tech startup FORMATION - which provides location-based productivity enhancements for workers and businesses across different industries.
Kalbiye heads AsiaBerlin activities led by enpact such as overseeing monthly events, and delegation trips. In the last 6 months, she has overseen multimedia events for startups as far-flung as China, Singapore, and India. She brings with her more than 15 years of experience in project management and event facilitation, varying from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation to government officials and the German University Cairo. Needless to say, Kalbiye is well-versed in bridging different cultures having previously overseen high-level meetings between international heads of state.
