Jibu Philip Head of Value Creation, Private Equity KPMG

Jibu Philip, based in Singapore, is a distinguished leader in Merger and Acquisition Strategies, Value Enhancement, and M&A Advisory, advising both Private Equity and Corporate investors. His expertise lies in maximising deal value, insightful management of portfolio companies, and providing decisive advice for high value exits.  His wider experience spans buy-side and sell-side advisory, and includes deal strategy, value creation, due-diligence, carve-outs, and integrations.

With an advisory career that began in the US, and then continued in the UK and Europe, Jibu's track record includes pivotal advisory roles in global landmark deals, and value creation experience spanning over 100 M&A transactions across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia. He has diverse experience, having delivered advisory projects in a range of sectors such as financial services, technology, industrial, and retail and consumer sectors.

Jibu Philip's clientele includes global private equity firms, sovereign wealth funds, and corporate investors, with his work consistently driving revenue growth, profitability enhancements, and transformative changes. In Asia Pacific region, he leads Go-To-Market for KPMG ELEVATE, our market leading and proprietary value creation service offering. Jibu is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA from London Business School, UK.

Jessica Huang Pouleur Partner OPENSPACE VENTURES

At Openspace Ventures, Jessica leads OSV+, Openspace Ventures' mid-stage growth fund, and is a Director on the Investments team.

 She has over 14 years of growth- and late-stage investment and corporate strategy experience across Asia Pacific. Her previous roles include leading the investment team in Southeast Asia for Providence Equity Partners – a global telecommunications, media and technology sector focused private equity fund. More recently, she headed Corporate Strategy & Business Development, APAC, for The Walt Disney Company, where she helmed key strategic initiatives and M&A across the region. Earlier in her career, Jessica worked in the Healthcare Investment Banking and Asia Debt Capital Markets teams at Citigroup.

 Jessica holds a BA in Political Science from Barnard College, Columbia University.

Utsav Garg Managing Director, Head of Southeast Asia & Australia ALVAREZ & MARSAL

Utsav Garg is a Managing Director and Head of the Southeast Asia and Australia Business unit of Alvarez & Marsal. The Alvarez & Marsal businesses includes Private Equity services (CDDs, ODDs, FDDs and post-deal value creation, carveouts and PMI support), Corporate Performance improvement (with high results orientation and interim management services) and Restructuring and Turnarounds.

He brings more than 20 years of experience in large scale transformation programs, focused on sustained growth and profitability improvement across various industries, including consumer goods and retail, telecommunications, information and communications technology (ICT), healthcare, logistics and process industries.

Prior to joining Alvarez and Marsal, Utsav led Kearney’s ASEAN business across four offices of Singapore, KL, Jakarta and Bangkok, expanding the company’s business in the region. Prior to that, he worked with Unilever in sales and brand leadership roles across South Asia and Southeast Asia. Mr. Garg began his career at STMicroelectronics as a Semiconductor Design engineer.

Utsav earned an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is a frequent speaker and fundraiser for charitable giving.

Ashish Kotecha Partner BAIN CAPITAL

Ashish Kotecha is a Partner at Bain Capital Private Equity, having joined the Firm in 2010. He leads their consumer and retail investments in India and Southeast Asia.

Ashish is a member of Bain Capital Asia’s investment committee and Asia Operating committee which oversees larger operating decisions for the fund. Ashish also leads Bain Capital’s Portfolio Group in Asia – a group, responsible for Bain’s value creation efforts within portfolio companies. As part of this, he actively works with many consumer companies across the region including India, Australia, China and Korea on strategy, operations and performance transformation topics.

Over the last 13 years, he has been personally actively involved in 12 of Bain Capital’s investments across Asia including Axis Bank, L&T Finance Holdings Limited and Hero Motocorp in India. Camp Australia, Only About Children in Australia. Hugel in Korea. Gymboree China, Rise Education and APMG in China.

He was also a Board Member of Axis Bank – India’s 3rd largest private bank. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Mr. Kotecha was the acting Chief Operating Officer at Tourneau, in New York – then the world’s 2nd largest luxury watch retailer and a Leonard Green & Partners portfolio company. He replaced the CEO of the business and successfully led a turnaround of the business through the global financial crisis in 2009. Earlier, he was an Associate Principal with McKinsey & Company, in San Francisco, where he led engagements in Retail, Consumer and Private Equity. He also co-founded their Retail Private Equity Service Line and spent time with McKinsey’s economic think tank (MGI), where he was part of a team that analyzed the impact of FDI in emerging economies, including India. Some of his work at McKinsey has been published in the McKinsey Quarterly and quoted in several external publications, including the Economist. Prior to that, he worked at Goldman Sachs and the Kotecha Group.

He received an MBA with Honors, from The Anderson School at UCLA, a Master of Commerce (Banking and Finance) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Financial Accounting and Auditing) from Sydenham College, University of Mumbai.

Kate Kui Partner HARVEST CAPITAL

Kate Yingchun Kui, Partner, Harvest Capital.

Kate Kui graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University with BA in English Literature and the University of Birmingham UK with MA in International Political Economy. Before joining Harvest Capital in 2023, Kate has more than 15 years of professional experience in investment banking and e-commerce. She headed the tech franchise of Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong) and acted as senior vice president of the JD group responsible for financing and platform business. Kate Yingchun Kui was awarded “Mu Lan Female Entrepreneur in China” in 2015 and she is a fellow of the Aspen China Fellowship Program.