Yap Kwong Weng
KPMG in Singapore
Yap Kwong Weng is a Principal Advisor with KPMG in Singapore. He develops the firm’s strategy in Singapore and focuses on transformation and growth strategy, including regional M&A projects. He has accumulated years of experience in frontier market entrepreneurship, organizational strategy, and research focusing on market growth, geopolitics, change management and entry strategy in ASEAN. Prior to joining the private sector, he trained as a US Navy SEAL and spent a 12-year military career in the Singapore Commandos jumping from planes and navigating dense jungle terrain in Southeast Asia.
He took the leap to head to Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia as a General Manager with Jebsen & Jessen (SEA) and also helmed an energy company dealing with oil blocks, construction and infrastructure. In 2014, he co-founded an e-commerce platform in Vietnam that provides online services for global travellers with local experiences. CNN named the company “one of the top 10 start-ups to watch out for in Asia” only a year later after it was formed. In 2018, it is named as one of the most creative start-ups by WEF. In addition to private sector expertise, he is the Regional Advisor (Indochina) of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Asia’s leading public policy school, where he taught executive education programs on change management, regional markets and organizational leadership to senior policy makers and business leaders. Kwong Weng is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. He holds a PhD in Crisis Strategy from the University of Glasgow.