Executive Impact: Pirata Group CEO Christian Talpo on Investing in People

Following the success of its debut event last year, LOUDER Connect is set to return on Oct. 23, 2024 at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum and Star Ferry. This year’s event will focus on responsible technology and its potential to shape a more sustainable and equitable future. Bringing together industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators, LOUDER Connect aims to spark meaningful conversations about how technology can serve the greater good.

The event will open with welcoming remarks from Yamilette Cano, Founder of LOUDER Global. With over two decades of experience in the entertainment industry and a passion for empowering momtrepreneurs, Yamilette will share her journey of balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship while advocating for global communication and purpose-driven leadership.

One of the event's major highlights will be the debut of the STAR FERRY RADICAL DEBATE PITCH™, which will challenge startups to present bold ideas in a high-stakes, competitive setting.

On the Main Stage, we have Casey Lau, Founder of HKG DAO & co-host RISE, Web Summit, Collision, who will start off the RADICAL DEBATES™ on "AI and I: What is AI Doing to Me?" in the morning. Later in the day, while Hong Kong's iconic ferry traverses Victoria Harbour, Adam Thacker, Co-founder of PAKT, will lead thought-provoking discussions on "Responsible Tech: Should Social Impact Be Our First Priority?". With a diverse career that spans education, sustainability, and creative design, Casey and Adam bring a wealth of experience to the table, ensuring dynamic and insightful exchanges.

Among the featured speakers is Mandy Pao, Founder of Eloquence International and an award-winning entrepreneur. Known as the "Woman of Wellness," Mandy has worked with renowned brands like LVMH, UNESCO, and Forbes. She will share her holistic approach to brand-building and business growth, helping entrepreneurs align their ventures with purpose and values.

Naman Tekriwal, the Co-founder of Breer, a Hong Kong-based food upcycling startup, will discuss how his company transforms surplus bread into craft beer. Recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia honoree, Naman’s story of using sustainability to drive impactful change will resonate with those looking to turn challenges into opportunities.

Also joining the speaker lineup is Rasheed Shroff, Founder of Banyan Workspace, Hong Kong’s most eco-friendly coworking space. With over 25 years of experience in building brands and businesses across Asia-Pacific, Rasheed will share his insights on creating socially conscious enterprises that prioritize community and sustainability.

New to LOUDER Connect this year is Jessie Li, CEO and Co-founder of Relief X. A former investment banker turned AI health entrepreneur and social media influencer, Jessie is dedicated to philanthropy, empowering young girls, and challenging gender biases and has gained recognition from Insider's International Women's Day Campaign and Vogue China.

Similarly, Jodie Chan, a Google Women Techmaker Ambassador, is a SaaS product developer at Chinafy, which aims to support companies entering China markets. By night, she becomes "Joya," a Hong Kong-based independent artist and Spotify Radar HK Artist for 2024, with her music featured in major media and performances across Asia.

With a mix of networking opportunities, mentorship sessions, and engaging debates, LOUDER Connect 2024 promises to be an inspiring platform for those passionate about driving responsible tech and ethical innovation.

We're offering our readers 70% off on tickets with code LOUDERTHEBEAT. Get yours now!

For tickets, more information, news, and updates, you may visit LOUDER Connect's official website.

ReThink 2024, Hong Kong’s most well-attended and ambitious business event for sustainable development, truly lived up to its reputation in its fifth edition this year.

Held on the 12 and 13 of September, 2024 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Sustainable Business Forum and Solutions Expo drew more than 8,000 attendees over two days, including over 6,000 in-person participants from 2,255 organizations, making the event a smashing success.

This year also marked the event's fourth year of partnership with the Business Environment Council (BEC), continuing their exclusive co-organizer role. It was inspiring to see nearly 41% of delegates involved were in board-level or sustainability lead roles, all committed to making transformative investments for their businesses.

But ReThink 2024 wasn't solely focused on business—it also supported local nonprofits, with all delegate proceeds directed to NGOs chosen by The ReThink Foundation.

Over the two days, the business ecosystem event was a hive of activity, spanning eight theatres and stages, deep-dive workshops, and stimulating roundtable discussions. Over 500 experts contributed to the sustainability discourse across more than 120 sessions.

From fresh-faced startups to Hong Kong’s largest sustainable corporations, the expo offered a rich variety of showcases, providing eco-friendly solutions by 250+ companies, and featuring a diverse range of products and services.

We chatted with many innovators, like UNIFi3D, a fashion digital transformation company reducing carbon footprints, and Materials Creation, which recycles and repurposes materials for buildings, furniture, lighting, and accessories, showcasing the diverse, sustainable, and forward-thinking approaches to community functionality in Hong Kong.

The eight theatres and stages highlighted key facets of sustainable development, addressing issues specific to various industries and job functions. This year, ReThink also launched a Smart Mobility and Transportation section, showcasing cutting-edge low-carbon fuel solutions and innovations in sustainable infrastructure and vehicles.

A standout was Alexander Dennis’ zero-emission bus, the Enviro100EV. This bus was not only roomy and modern but also boasted a small vehicle footprint, making it an excellent choice for urban environments.

Another highlight of the event was the closing Great Debate on achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Moderated by Brian Wong, the debate featured six guest speakers from corporates, NGOs, and business associations, and was entertaining throughout, while rigorously scrutinizing current business policies, technologies, and collaborative efforts.

ReThink concluded with a heartfelt message from Founder Chris Brown, who brought his child with him to the stage. Together they were a poignant image, aptly emphasizing the importance of taking better care of our planet for the sake of future generations.

Looking ahead, ReThink 2025 will return on September 11-12 with exciting new developments, including PAC Pavilion Roundtable Luncheons, an Innovation Pitching Stage, and an expanded Smart Mobility & Transportation sector.

Stay tuned and visit ReThink HK’s website, Facebook and Instagram for more information!

With sustainability at the forefront of discussions on Hong Kong’s development, multiple drivers have always worked to promote solutions amongst key stakeholders in the city. These efforts, however, are often solely comprised of individual parties’ objectives, lacking a unified stance and the collaboration needed to build that sustainable future we all dream of.

After arriving in the city and recognizing this gap, Chris Brown, the Founder of ReThink Hong Kong, set out on a mission to unite Hong Kong in its sustainable development efforts.

Since he founded the conference in 2019, successfully maintaining its growth throughout the global pandemic, ReThink has now become the largest sustainable business event in Hong Kong. Its 2024 edition, however, was even bigger, welcoming over 8,000 attendees to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai. The event aims to not only act as a platform to support cross-business collaboration, but also support local nonprofit organizations — all proceeds from attending delegates go towards NGOs carefully selected by the ReThink Foundation.

Building on his background working in the events industry for 23 years, Chris found his calling in Hong Kong, which he has now made his lifelong mission. Facilitating discussions on sustainability is no easy task in one of the world’s financial centers which prioritizes convenience over anything, but Chris and his team have effectively engaged Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), multinational corporations, and the local government from day one of ReThink, supporting each step the city takes towards building a circular economy.

The Beat Asia sat down with Chris to reflect on five years of positive influence in Hong Kong, celebrating progress made along the way and highlighting the important work yet to be accomplished, ReThink HK 2024, and how everyone has the power to make an impact.

Can you start off by sharing more about ReThink HK with our readers?

Rethink Hong Kong is now Hong Kong's largest, but more importantly, most ambitious and impactful business event for sustainability.

Our job is to design and host a platform that brings together the full business and impact sustainability ecosystems, like a melting pot of ideas and inspiration, to share best practices, and try and overcome challenges. To build partnerships and collaboration that support the triple bottom line: the planet, people, and profit.

It's been a crazy journey to get to where we are. It's been hugely rewarding, creatively challenging, and stressful, but ultimately, we provide something totally different and unique that genuinely helps individuals, businesses, and the wider community to make progress towards a cleaner, greener, more equitable Hong Kong.

What led you to found ReThink HK – the city’s largest sustainable conference?

I've been working on business events for 23 years and I feel very privileged to be able to take all that experience and put it towards something good. I've done [events] for the nightclub industry, dentists, bulk transportation, and theme park owners, but to be able to do it for something so important, for a city that I absolutely love and that I want to continue to call home in the future for me and my little family, I honestly never dreamt that I'd be responsible for something like that.

I just really enjoy working on events, but it's evolved into something really special, and it's given me a purpose. This is what I might be here [for]; I've never felt so passionate or determined.

When I first came up with the idea [for ReThink] and was soliciting ideas and feedback, there were comments like ‘Oh, we don't need another sustainability event,’ and that was in 2019. What people really meant to say is ‘We just don't want another [bad] sustainability event.’ So we broke down [what was going wrong and] identified what people want and need from a sustainability event.

Right from the beginning, it was designed and influenced by heavyweight sustainability leaders or practitioners, and some very influential Hong Kong organizations. A lot of them are now our big sponsors, partners, and strategic advisors.

[ReThink is] their annual festival for everyone who is either directly or indirectly connected to sustainability or sustainable transition for their business.

Our event provides an open, accessible, neutral platform, and people see a lot of value in [that]. There are no barriers. If you’re able to contribute, doesn't necessarily mean financially, then there's a seat for you at the ReThink table. If you can help raise awareness, help people understand how to really prove that business case, you can demonstrate that you're doing it, how you've done it, and the difference it's making, then we will find a seat for you somewhere in the event.

Can you share more about the ReThink Foundation?

The first two years [of ReThink HK] was [during] COVID-19 and [we received] cash donations for charities who needed extra [funds] to keep supporting [their causes].

Then the projection for the delegate revenue as we moved to the Convention Centre, started to get quite [substantial]. Alongside that, I was getting approached by NGOs [asking to be a] charity partner. So, we decided that we would set up a separate entity which is called the ReThink Foundation.

So that is a not-for-profit [and] the custodian of all the delegate fees. [When] they get paid to ReThink, we transfer that to the Foundation. We have a separate board for the Foundation, and they help us assess the impact projects that get submitted. Going into our second cohort of projects, we had 84 project submissions which went down to three, so, those projects were announced at ReThink [2024].

We've already started funding them and announced them on the keynote stage. In a way, everyone in that room has contributed towards the funding of those projects, whether that's because they bought a ticket, are a sponsor, or a speaker. Everyone contributed towards the overall ReThink proposition that people want to pay to come to an event [where their] money goes to fund those projects.

Have you always had an interest in promoting circular solutions? Can you share more about your sustainability journey with us?

We always knew that running big events is inherently wasteful, but when [we were] running those events in the past, did we really think about it? [When] I moved to Hong Kong in 2015 to launch some events and that project finished, I did a bit of consultancy work in Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai, and was [using] that as an opportunity to keep working and have a rethink about what did I want to do?

I was back in Hong Kong for a couple of weeks from traveling and there were about four different things that happened over three months that if I look back, all contributed towards me going [into sustainability].

I just talk about one of them because it's slightly funny. Every Tuesday or Wednesday morning, I’d go into a restaurant for their breakfast offer. I went to the toilet [one morning] and the tap in the sink was running water. I went back and [told the server] and he said, ‘I know we're going to get it sorted out.’ I went back in the next week [and the] tap was still running. I said [to him again], ‘Has this tap been running [all week]?’ He said, [he’d] spoken to management but [they] just don't care. Me and my partner went back a few weeks later, and it had been fixed.

Reflecting on five years since you founded ReThink HK, what sustainable development have you observed in the city?

I think ReThink is a pretty useful barometer of what's happening in the sustainability space. Our job is to be near the forefront of what's happening: discussing and debating what's actually happening, as well as what should and could be happening. I hope that people see a reflection of reality in ReThink.

This core vision around proving the business case for sustainability has been challenging over the last five years; COVID-19 and the impact it had on global economies. I read a phrase recently that says we're in a sustainability recession, so that is people pulling back on investments, delaying projects, and cutting head count.

Ultimately, I think [the pandemic] was probably a good thing for sustainability awareness. Most people, and hopefully most businesses, are more aware of the fragility of existence. I hope it never happens again, but if you do want to take some positive out of it, there was a shift in human consciousness.

In addition to that, let’s celebrate some of the direct impact ReThink HK has had on the city. What are some notable milestones for you?

How we measure success [is because] we're still traditional in terms of what we are, a big expo conference. So, how many people attend, how many sponsors there are, and what do the surveys say? But alongside that, and this is difficult to measure, is what impact does ReThink HK really have?

The more people that attend, the bigger the pot that goes to the Foundation [to support local sustainability projects], so there's an impact there, and of course, we ask our stakeholders how has coming to the event changed the way you're going to do things, but that's all pretty subjective.

So where can we make a real difference? What I really want to do is change the way events are run in Hong Kong. I want to put pressure on my peers within the trade and expo industry and hold the lens up to them.

We try to be this best example; we have our own internal sustainability expert who's helping to run the event as sustainably as possible, measure everything, rapport, and disclose everything. Our goal is that, after this year's event, we will set our first [sustainability] targets.

A major barrier to Hong Kong’s sustainability journey is its import dependent economy. How do you foresee the city working to transform into a more circular model?

The way Hong Kong is traditionally operated is it’s market-led, so business leads the way, and at the point where they need or require government intervention or government support policy, the government will respond and provide that pathway forward. From a sustainability perspective, five years ago, that was still very much the way things were working. But with the government setting a 2050 Target, that really put the focus on the four key areas of the decarbonization of Hong Kong: buildings, transport, energy, and waste.

There’s been a lot of media in the last weeks from South Korea about how they now recycle 97% of their food waste. It is phenomenal. Now, it didn't happen overnight, but a clear vision and investment [was required] for that to happen. And I think that's what the sustainability sector is looking for here.

An impressive achievement at ReThink has been your continued partnerships with large corporations, including HSBC, JLL, Lufthansa Group, etc. Although their participation is crucial, how do you hold these large businesses accountable for their greater impact or lack of sustainability initiatives compared to the scale of their operations?

Fundamentally, I believe that the impact, the outcomes, and the progress that ReThink helps to facilitate is real. In order for us to do that and continue to build on it, we need commercial support.

What we can do is ensure that those sponsors do not use the platform to gloss over the issues that they're facing. You can probably imagine that some financial institutions have to be very careful about who they put on stage and who can say what. But we make them very aware that we are not going to control or restrict the discussion to protect them.

Because we're not a membership organization, we have editorial neutrality. Our job is to host the discussion. And we've done a good job of that.

What were the highlights of the 2024 edition of ReThink HK?

This is a really hard one because we put so much time, effort, and care into designing [the event]. It’s like going to a one-day conference but there's eight of them happening in the same room at the same time. The highlight, hopefully, is that someone came for half a day, a day, or two days, and built their own snapshot of sustainability in Hong Kong. I truly hope that everyone took at least something away with them.

If [I were] to pick one thing, I'm going to have to go with something that was totally new this year: the closing debate.

All the programs ended earlier than normal, and we closed the event on the main stage with a debate. Hopefully, that provided an element of ceremony and provided the audience with something lively, but thought-provoking. There was also a live vote before and after the debate on whether the attendees at ReThink believe that we have a credible path to carbon neutrality.

What is an effective and achievable goal businesses can start to apply today to become more sustainable in their operations?

If you are thinking about it, and you're starting to put the wheels in motion to do something about it, there is probably someone else who is either in exactly the same position as you, or a few steps ahead.

There will be others, in very close proximity to you, that will have already started that journey. They may not have made much progress, or they could be a step ahead of you, and I promise, if you reach out to them, they'll be very grateful that there's someone else out there who's thinking about the same challenges that they are.

You know who your competitors and suppliers are, you know your customers are all interlinked. You all have this Venn diagram of challenges, and it's so much easier than doing it on your own.

What’s next for Hong Kong?

Hong Kong has a proven history of being able to adapt and I don't think that'll be any different for sustainability. The pace of transition might be slower than is required, but there will be an inflection point, and I think as Hong Kong has proven many times in in the past throughout its history, there will be a real call to arms from businesses if Hong Kong starts losing out in certain areas.

You'll get a response. It will all come together, and there will be a point when it will change, and when it does, it will change quickly.

That's why, I'm committed to Hong Kong. That's why I'm hugely excited about the future for ReThink, and to be a key touch point in that transition process around sustainability, but also other areas of transformation as well.

Learn more about ReThink Hong Kong and follow them on Instagram and LinkedIn.