East West Hurricane Anthony McGuire

I recently interviewed Nafez Dakkak. Nafez is originally from Jordan and currently lives in the UK, where he is the CEO of the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development. Nafez is also pursuing a part-time Master’s Degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Nafez spent most of his career working in the Middle East, where he founded the Ed Tech platform Edraak. Nafez took Edraak from concept to full execution, reaching over 250,000 learners across the Arab world in under 12 months and with the company now reaching millions of learners across the Arab world. He has been at the forefront of Ed Tech in the Middle East, and has written a seminal piece on the topic titled, “MENA: Ed Tech’s Sleeping Giant.” Nafez went to university in the US and currently lives in London.
What did we talk about?
* His work with the Queen Rania Foundation and founding Edraak
* Growing up across MENA
* The evolution of the Ed Tech industry in the Middle East
* Analysing companies targeting cultural niches, particularly in the Arab world
* The global implications of remote work, Covid, and education
* Fleabag, The Queen’s Gambit, The Art of Persia, and The Anarchy by William Dalrymple, Invest Like The Best, Arabic podcasts
Find Nafez on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/ndakkak


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I recently interviewed Yang Liu. Yang is originally from China and currently lives in the UK, where she is the Co-Founder and CEO of JustWears, a direct-to-consumer underwear brand.
Yang is originally from Kunming, China and started her career working in startups in Shenzhen in 2011. Throughout her experiences, she has seen first hand the cultural differences between technology business leaders in China vs. the West and the evolution of China’s technology industry. She was also featured on Dragon’s Den!
Yang’s career has given her unique first hand perspective in the development of Chinese Tech. She talked about her experience meeting Zhang Yiming, the founder and CEO of Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok. She talked about her admiration for Jack Ma—I never realised how of an emphasis he put on female representation in his company. It’s fascinating to hear Yang describe the differences between what character traits are admired in China vs. the West. Listen to this episode for some stellar cultural insight!
What did we talk about?
* Yang’s experience working in the earlier days of Chinese tech back in 2011
* The evolution of China from ‘copycat’ to leading innovator
* Differences between the consumer market in China vs. Europe
* Her approach to building a brand over time
* The Chinese CEOs she admires and why - Jack Ma, Zhang Yiming
* The differences between Western and Eastern business culture
Yang’s Recommendations:
* General Magic
* Donald Trump’s Speech on Election Fraud
* Venture Deals Audiobook


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit eastwesthurricane.substack.com

Welcome to East West Hurricane! 🌪
We update you on the most essential news from Asia in tech, media, and business—the things you need to know that you probably haven’t heard in Western media.
Please share this newsletter with a friend! ⚡️
Chinese Vaccines as Soft Power?
In my recent interview with Peony Li, we talked about the idea of Chinese soft power. As Covid vaccines (hopefully) start to move the world out of the current crisis, China can play a huge role in this movement. There are several vaccines around the world, and a handful are being developed in China. While big name vaccines from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna are being scooped up by the major Western countries, emerging markets are turning to vaccines produced in China. Countries across South East Asia, Africa, and the Middle East are all in the middle of negotiations to receive the Chinese Covid vaccine.
With unfavourable views of China at all-time highs in several countries, China needs to do whatever it can to improve its international reputation. If these vaccines don’t work as well as expected, there will be backlash. If the vaccines work well, this helps build a closer relationship between China and emerging markets. It’s a big gamble—with huge upside and huge downside. So far, initial results from Brazil and Turkey have been positive.
Sequoia and KKR lead $2B round for Bytedance, valuing it at $180BN
Sequoia Capital and KKR are two of the biggest US investors leading the latest round of funding for Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok. This round values Bytedance at $180 Billion, and TikTok is expected to go public sometime next year. It’s a good reminder that there are many Western stakeholders with a lot of money invested in Bytedance who have a huge incentive to see it succeed.
One of the realities of globalisation is the globalisation of capital. If the world’s biggest companies have a mixture of investors from literally all parts of East and West, the idea of national interests defined by corporations becomes trickier to understand. So whenever the next ‘Chinese app’ is under threat of being banned in the West, there are plenty of Western investors who don’t want to see this happen.
Disney Hotstar, The International Growth Engine
Disney+ has been one of the most impressive media stories of 2020. The Disney Plus streaming service launched in November 2019 and around a year later, the platform now has 86 Million subscribers. That’s incredible growth.
For reference, when Disney first launched they forecasted that they would reach 60 to 90 million subscribers by 2024. Now they have revised their forecast to reach 260 million subscribers by the end of 2024. What drives this growth?
One major factor is international markets. Disney Hotstar is part of Disney Plus streaming platform that focuses on Asian countries like India and Indonesia. Right now, Hotstar accounts for 30% of Disney Plus’s total subscriber base and has more room for subscriber growth than in Western markets. Rebecca Campbell, Disney Plus’s head of streaming recently said, “We are uniquely positioned for India because of the rapidly growing middle class and their purchasing power.”
Indian Ridesharing With Global Ambitions
Ola is India’s largest ride-hailing service, valued at several billion dollars and funded by investors that include SoftBank. Ola’s business was hit hard by the pandemic but they have recently announced the creation of a new factory in Tamil Nadu, which aims to be the world’s largest scooter manufacturing facility.
At the beginning of this year, Ola launched its taxi-hailing service in the UK after previously launching in Australia and New Zealand. Ola has expanded into Europe and acquired Dutch electric scooter company Etergo several months ago. Now the UK is their big hope. Let’s see if Ola ‘the Uber of India’ can break into Europe. If they can, then we’ll have yet another example of tech innovation flowi

I recently interviewed Peony Li. Peony is originally from Hong Kong and now lives in London where she has her own stealth startup in the elderly healthcare space.
Peony moved from Hong Kong to UK in her teenage years, driven by a desire to study, work, and live in the UK. After graduating from Cambridge, she started her career within investment banking, followed by an incredible role as Head of Investments at Founders Factory, and then Head of Operations at Daye. Afterwards, Peony was driven to entrepreneurship and inspired to build a great business of her own.
Peony’s professional experience has brought her to the forefront of the most exciting businesses in Europe and her own life experience makes her attuned to China’s relationship with the rest of the world.
When you hear Peony’s perspective, you’ll learn a lot about the Chinese experience and the evolution of Asia over the last two decades. We talked a lot about soft power, which describes economic and cultural influence within international relations. There’s a major difference between being Chinese and being from Mainland China, a nuance that’s often misunderstood in the West. Different generations of Chinese immigrants to the West have pursued different things. The role of China (and more broadly, Asia) within Western society will continue to grow and become one of the most important topics of the next decade.
What did we talk about?
* Peony’s story through investment banking, technology, and startups
* The evolution of China’s economy and Chinese culture on the world stage
* The role of soft power when talking about international relations
* Misunderstandings and cultural stereotypes of the Chinese in the West
* The future of business relationships between the East and West
* As the world enters economic turmoil, the bright opportunity ahead
Peony’s Recommendations:
* Jordan Peterson
* Sara Blakely’s Masterclass on Self-Made Entrepreneurship
* The Wise Pen Pal campaign


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit eastwesthurricane.substack.com

I recently interviewed Bea Trinidad. Bea is from the Philippines and we met through the On Deck Writer fellowship.
Having grown up in Manila, Bea decided to go to university in Australia, where she set up her own restaurant and worked across the advertising and media industry. She is now back in Manila working on her family business in the culinary industry.
Bea’s experiences make her a cross-cultural diplomat who has dealt with the true cultural complexities of working both in the East and West.
When you hear Bea’s story, you’ll learn a lot about the differences in culture between a place like the Philippines and Australia. The Philippines, like many emerging markets, works differently compared to countries in the West and requires a sophisticated level of cultural understanding in order to get business done. It’s also important to consider that Philippines is heavily influenced by Latin culture, which is unique compared to other Asian countries. A large part of our conversation revolved around this topic!
What did we talk about?
* The biggest business opportunities and coolest companies in the Philippines
* Comparing business and life in the Philippines vs. Australia
* How Latin culture influences the Philippines in terms of emotion and language
* Typical misunderstandings in board rooms, kitchens, and more
* Crafting brand strategy and messaging in the middle of the coronavirus
* What makes the Philippines a major emerging market opportunity
Bea’s Recommendations:
* TV/ Film: The Godfather series, Rocky, The Queen’s Gambit, The Last Dance
* Books: Barbarian Days, On Writing Well, Charles Bukowski, Atomic Habits
* Audio: The Art of Happiness, Hollywood’s Bleeding from Post Malone



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit eastwesthurricane.substack.com

Welcome to East West Hurricane! 🌪
We update you on the most essential news from Asia in tech, media, and business—the things you need to know that you probably haven’t heard in Western media.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram! ⚡️
I’ve recently joined the OnDeck Writer Fellowship. I’ve met some great people and received some amazing advice regarding the frequency of posting newsletters.
As per some feedback, I’m going to experiment with sending a news update on a weekly basis, rather than daily. It has taken A LOT of work to write 86 weekday updates over the last few months, and I think a weekly update should provide the same level of value.
Of course, I will still be having interviews and longer-form analysis on topics in Asian tech, media, and business.
Always feel free to reach out and give me any feedback!
Everything is Bigger in China
A few months ago, I read an article in the Financial Times called The Asian century is set to begin. It sounds pretty obvious, but the FT put together the most cohesive, data-driven argument I had ever seen on the rise of China.
Last week, billionaire hedge fund investor and macro-thought leader Ray Dalio wrote an article in the FT called “Don’t be blind to China’s rise in a changing world.” It’s another amazing article that succinctly summarizes why you should care about China.
In the US, there’s a saying that “everything is bigger in Texas.” My takeaway about the modern world today is that “everything is bigger in China.’
In 2020 so far, 23 Chinese companies have gone public on American stock exchanges, 180 companies have gone public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, 115 in Shenzhen and 99 in Hong Kong.
Ant Group, a financial services company spun out of Alibaba, is in the process of going public on the Hong Kong and Shanghai Stock Exchange. This will be the biggest IPO of all time, with the company aiming to raise $34.5 Billion on a $313 Billion valuation.


The last biggest IPO in the world was Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, which raised $29 Billion last year.
Many investors are betting on Ant Group as a bellwether for the Chinese economy, as Ant Group is essentially the biggest fintech company in China, a country of 1.4 Billion people who likely all need financial services.
At the same time, Bytedance is making plans to take their short video app Douyin public, either in Hong Kong or Shanghai. Douyin is the Chinese version of TikTok, so does this mean a TikTok IPO comes next? Probably.
I don’t think it’s hard to see that TikTok is following the path of Douyin, which is probably 18 months ahead of TikTok in terms of product development. As an example, TikTok just announced a partnership with Shopify to have a more integrated social commerce experience on the app.
Douyin has had much deeper social commerce features for a while. As described in an article from SupChina last year, people on Douyin can directly buy products on the app after watching a video. You can also book hotel stays on Douyin, or coupons for restaurants.
If you believe that TikTok follows Douyin’s lead, it’s kind of obvious to think what comes next in TikTok’s product road map…
Western Investments
People working at Snapchat are probably in a good mood right now, as the company reported positive results at their most recent earnings call last week, which sent their stock price to all time highs of $44 a share.
A big part of Snap’s focus is India, where their user numbers have grown 150% year-on-year. India is Snap’s biggest market outside of the US. Snap has created augmented reality training programs in Indian schools, Indian content on the app, and support for nine Indian languages.
In Vietnam, Apple is building new factories and employing Vietnamese workers as part of their new supply chain. This has caused an increase in wealth within several rural Vietnamese towns who have experienced a local boom thanks to investment from Apple.
Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas