These days I'm in Milan, I had the SQ Airbus for Singapore on May 20th. I said “I had” cause the flight is canceled.
Ok, Let me explain the story since the beginning.
Some days ago I had a piece of very good news, my Pfizer vaccination confirmed for the 8th of June, in Singapore.
In other words, at my arrival, after spending the SOH period (the quarantine that in Singapore you have to do in a hotel designated by the Government), I can go directly to receive my 1st shot. 💪
Perfect. But nothing is stable nowadays. Everything can change in a blink.
Last wednesday morning I woke up, and the first thing I saw a bunch of notifications regarding the Covid-19 updates. Ok, what's new? Nothing. Every morning is the same, unfortunately.
I chose to read, before everything else, the Italian newspaper. They were speaking about easing the quarantine rules for foreigners coming to Italy for their holiday (really?!). A sort of help to speed up a recovery for the massively affected travel industry.
I doubt it is the right choice. I see more risk than gain.
But then, I saw this:
"Singapore extends stay-home notice from 14 days to 21 days for travelers from higher-risk places" Straits Times
And yes. Italy is an higher-risk place! I need to re-plan everything. OMG I cannot do my vaccine on 8th of June, my meeting on the 4th, the handover of the apartment...
No matter what, I will be a free man in Singapore only after 21 days locked down, in an hotel room.
Lesson learned
Everything in these days can change fast; Covid-19 is still up and speeding up, you need to switch your plan (and your mood) even quicker.
So, after some calls and a complete re-shuffle of my next month agenda, I tried to understand how to survive the additional seven days of quarantine, doing in-room sport.
And, I discovered David Lee, a 2 times SHN (quarantine) user, that decided to make it a business. During his last lockdown, he launched a new website for renting tech products for indoor sport.
"Whatever reasons you have for traveling, staying in a confined space for 14 days (21 days now azz) is not an easy task. We're here to make things more bearable, providing SHN essentials without having to pay the full sum to buy them, and worry about bringing it home after that. You can even take the chance to review a product that you've always wanted since you have lots of time anyway."
“Happy” Stay Home Notice
And if a business is running well, a competitor is over the corner. Here another website with the same idea: SweatSpotSG
You rent a treadmill or a bike, they send it to your hotel. The reception deliver it into your room and, when you check-out, they come to get it back.
Life, or an approximation of it, has chugged along in the world and that has sometimes eclipsed that we are still very much in the shit.
Erin Cook on Dari Mulut ke Mulut
No entry. No Happy
Friday, at 4pm CET (10pm in Singapore) Singapore 🇸🇬 Manpower Ministry
In view of the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in several countries and emergence of new virus variants, the (Singapore) Government is reducing entry approvals for work pass holders entering Singapore in the coming weeks and rescheduling entry into Singapore for work pass holders who had earlier obtained approval to come to the Republic. via MOM
In other words: They closed the borders for all foreigners coming from all the countries with the exception of Mainland China, HK, Taiwan, Brunei, Australia and New Zeland.
I cannot land in Singapore until they will re-open. Ciao ciao.
#super-apps
The short-terms renting is an honey 🍯 playground for super-apps, I won’t be surprised if they will embed Happy SHN services.
In the meantime every app want to be super-.
Lazaro is going to offer taxi 🚕 booking
Lazada and ComfortDelGro have officially announced a partnership giving users of the ecommerce platform access to taxi-booking services within its mobile app. via Techinasia
Revolut starts India operations
Revolut will enter in India trying a premium positioning on UX and services. They are focusing on the top of the pyramid instead of the bottom.
CRED (a $2,2bln worth indian startup) is a successful example of this market strategy focusing on the high-end consumers instead of trying to convert the TAM - Total Addressable Market.
“India has 57 million credit cards (versus 830 million debit cards) [that] largely serves the high-end market. The credit card industry is largely concentrated with the top 4 banks (HDFC, SBI, ICICI and Axis) controlling about 70% of the total market” Analysts at Bank of America wrote in a recent report to clients.
“Very few startups like CRED are focusing on this high-end base and [have] taken a platform-based approach (acquire customers now and look for monetization later). Credit card in India remains an aspirational product. The under penetration would likely ensure continued strong growth in coming years. Overtime, the form-factor may evolve (i.e. move from plastic card to virtual card), but the inherent demand for credit is expected to grow”
The shot-gun approach of Tencent
Tencent employs what many have called the “shotgun” approach, which is characterized by taking minority stakes in companies from wide-ranging verticals and letting them operate in relative independence. JD.com, Meituan, Pinduoduo are classic examples of such partnerships.
2020 was Tencent’s most active year as an investor, despite the Covid-19 pandemic and China’s cooling venture capital scene. The company backed more than 163 startups, which amounted to US$12 billion in investments.
via TechinAsia
And China 🇨🇳 regulates everything
China’s antitrust regulators announced a probe into online food delivery, travel and services giant Meituan.
via Bloomberg
#growth
Asian bounce
Why China GDB will continue to grow strongly
I’m reading these days about the demographic data of China. Finally, they published the once-a-decade census report.
Population growth seems flatting. Chinese grew, but the number of new births fell, and the population is becoming older year on year.
The birth policy was eased in 2016, but the economic boom and the expectation for kids of many young married make it expensive to have more kids.
The real challenge for China will be how to manage health care and financing pensions.We know well how the population growth is one of the main driver for the GDP of developing countries.
Do we have to expect a slow down of GDP in the next years?
I don’t think so. The main boost of China GDP is the move from rural areas to urban ones. A trend that it is still running during COVID-19 pandemic.
There is still a lot of room to grow.
Singapore is the best place to be during COVID (if they make you enter 🙈)
Singapore is now the best place in the world to be during the pandemic. A combination of containing the virus and rolling out vaccines at one of the fastest rates in Asia saw the city-state top Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking this month/
When citizens have faith in the authorities and their guidance, lockdowns may not be needed at all, as Japan and South Korea showed through most of 2020, though fierce winter waves definitely challenged those more open approaches.
Now No. 2 after a five-month run at the top, New Zealand emphasized communication from the start, with a four-level alert system that gives people a clear picture of how and why the government acts as the outbreak evolves. Like China, Singapore and Australia, it also shut its borders, which has proven a key metric for containment success.
Investment in public health infrastructure also matters. Undervalued in many places before 2020, systems for contact tracing, effective testing and health education bolstered the top performers, helping socialize hand-washing and the wearing of face masks. This has been key to avoiding economically crippling lockdowns, according to Anthony Fauci, the U.S.’s top infectious diseases official. Singapore—our new No. 1—mandates masks in public and uses apps to make contact tracing easier.
via Bloomberg
Martin Wolf must read article
About the fall of USA vs China.
China is wrong to think the US faces inevitable decline.
https://on.ft.com/3tWUBwh