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Steven Heng is doing what he set out to do, represent a business in the APAC region. He is the Managing Director of VoxSmart and is expanding its global presence with a regional office in Singapore.
What’s your story?
After leaving the Financial sector (10 over years with BGC partners and Royal Bank of Scotland), I decided not to remain in this fast-paced, stressful environment. Setting up my own business came to mind but the capital required to sustain it would be challenging for me as I was the sole breadwinner. The idea of representing a business in the APAC region came to mind. VoxSmart, headquartered in London, was undoubtedly the best choice! I came up with a business proposal for VoxSmart to set up a Regional office in APAC and it took flight!
What excites you most about your industry?
VoxSmart specialises in mobile compliant solution to capture mobile voice calls, SMS, voicemail, Whatsapp and Wechat text messaging centrally at a native level, meaning a seamless experience to the user.
This is catered to the heavily regulated financial sector where all conversations need to be recorded.
For the longest time in the financial space, corporate mobile devices were never recorded due to technology limitation and we know everyone owns a mobile device in this modern time. It is exciting to close this compliance risk and gap with VoxSmart!
What’s your connection to Asia?
I’m a true blue Singaporean, grew up, studied, served National Service and worked in Singapore all my life. I travel widely and Asian countries are my favorite places. I have also travelled in Asia for my business trips in my years of work in the APAC region.
Favourite city in Asia for business and why?
Singapore! The perfect place as a financial hub and smart nation for our business.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
“You will never know if you never try”
Who inspires you?
VoxSmart CEO- Oliver Blower, Mark Zuckerburg, Bill Gates and Jack Ma. It is not because of their wealth but the vision they possessed.
What have you just learnt recently that blew you away?
My wife lost her Rolex for 3 years, which we believe was dropped at the car park.
I was in self-denial for 3 years, believing that the watch must be somewhere in the house, and it will surely be found in good time
One day, I had a brainwave and, I called up the retailer where I bought the watch and I asked if I had sent that watch for servicing. I expected to hear a big “NO” and was astonished when they said they had the watch in stock as they just bought it from a seller!
I made a police report and recovered the watch some time later!
If you had your time again, what would you do differently?
I would write a book and explore e-commerce.
How do you unwind?
Reading the Bible, watching movies and spending time with my family.
Favourite Asian destination for relaxation? Why?
Okinawa. To me, it is a place that has everything; shopping, sight-seeing, great culture, good food and beautiful waters for snorkeling!
Everyone in business should read this book:
It is not too hot to wear a suit ~ Aden Liu
Shameless plug for your business:
The future of finance is mobile. VoxSmart is the future!
How can people connect with you?
Everybody uses Whatsapp, that is how I connect and that is how Financial users connect too – that clearly spells the need for our solution!
Twitter handle?
@VoxSmartGlobal, @StevenHeng4
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This interview is part of the ‘Callum Connect’ series of more than 500 interviews
Callum Laing is an entrepreneur and investor based in Singapore. He has previously started, built and sold half a dozen businesses and is now a Partner at Unity-Group Private Equity and Co-Founder of The Marketing Group PLC. He is the author two best selling books ‘Progressive Partnerships’ and ‘Agglomerate’.
Connect with Callum here:
twitter.com/laingcallum
linkedin.com/in/callumlaing
Download free copies of his books here: www.callumlaing.com
