BY THE end of a single morning at the 2025 ATxSummit, the apex event of Asia Tech x Singapore, Allan Teng had unlocked doors his usual business channels rarely could.

The Workato founder and senior advisor for Asia-Pacific and Japan – who is also vice-president and general manager of the cloud platform’s Japan office – found himself in direct dialogue with ministers, global chief technology officers, artificial intelligence (AI) researchers and senior tech executives from around the world.

“I met India’s minister of state for electronics and information technology, the Rwandan minister of infocomm technology and innovation, and Indonesia’s vice minister of creative economy,” says Teng.

“The industry speakers and participants were also very senior leaders, giving me opportunities to build meaningful connections I may not necessarily make in my day-to-day life.”

As an SG Digital Leader under the Singapore Digital Leadership Accelerator (SGDLA), Teng enjoys access to platforms such as the ATxSummit.

Launched in 2022 by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the SGDLA has grown into a community of 1,500 digital leaders, comprising corporate executives, product innovators and start-up founders.

Its aim is to build a pipeline of Singaporean leaders who can drive digital transformations at scale, both regionally and globally.

“The SGDLA connects us with people to help us accelerate our business and gives us access to people we wouldn’t otherwise have,” Teng says.

Having that access is important for leaders.

“As leaders, we need to bridge the gap between what we know and what we do not know because we must be able to see five, ten years ahead of everybody else,” he says. “Otherwise, how are we to steer the ship?”

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