Adrian Watkins.
Singapore

Singapore is home

Singapore is where I live, work and build. Alongside my executive responsibilities, I contribute to programmes that help students develop their ideas, founders build stronger businesses and business leaders make sense of technology.

I bring the experience of working across markets and leading commercial and operating teams. In a mentoring session, that usually comes down to practical questions: who is this for, what problem does it solve, and what would you need to test next?

This page brings together some of that work in Singapore, alongside the regional relationships I continue to build from here.

Discuss a mentoring or guest session Explore my executive experience
Adrian Watkins delivering the BlackStorm What is Marketing, Really? workshop. Adrian at a flipchart with the workshop title on screen.
National Library Board and BlackStorm Group, Launch Entrepreneurship Bootcamp.

Helping students turn ideas into practical solutions

In 2026, I have been volunteering as a mentor with the Global Green Economic Foundation's SDG Open Hack programme in Singapore. Students work on challenges connected to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, developing solutions and learning how to explain their value.

My contribution is to question assumptions, give constructive feedback and help teams connect an ambitious idea with a credible next step. I particularly enjoy the point where a team moves from describing a product to understanding the people who might use it.

Giving students space to test their thinking.

SDG Open Hack, Ngee Ann Polytechnic · May 2026

On 21 May, I volunteered as a mentor for the Ngee Ann Polytechnic edition of SDG Open Hack, supporting students developing ideas connected to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

My contribution draws on the questions I use when building products and businesses: who would use this, what would make it useful to them, and what evidence would help us decide what to do next?

The responsible consumption and production theme offered a way to connect commercial thinking with everyday choices and behaviour.

For me, mentoring means helping students examine their own reasoning and find a practical next step. I want them to leave with greater confidence in how to develop an idea, including the confidence to change it when they learn something new.

Connecting sustainability with everyday use.

SDG Open Hack, Nanyang Technological University · September 2026

I continued my involvement with SDG Open Hack through the NTU edition, joining an online mentoring session on 5 September.

The programme explored nature-positive cities and communities, alongside responsible consumption through circular retail innovation. These themes bring an important question into focus: how can a worthwhile ambition become something people can use in everyday life?

My role was to help students question assumptions, sharpen their business pitches and connect their proposed solutions with the people they hoped to serve.

I value the opportunity to contribute experience while giving students room to develop their own approach. Supporting that process is a meaningful part of how I contribute to Singapore’s next generation of builders and business leaders.

Working with Singapore founders

Often voted as 'most requested mentor' Adrian has a natural talent for bringing people together and motivating them to achieve their best.

Selma AyuanshariMentoring programme collaborator · Read on LinkedIn ↗

Helping an idea become a business.

National Library Board and BlackStorm Group · March 2026

I returned to the Launch Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for a second year, facilitating the Business Model Canvas and Marketing module on 1 March.

The session connected the ambition behind a business idea with the choices needed to make it work: who it serves, what value it offers, and how to reach the people who might become customers.

I enjoy bringing an operating perspective into these conversations. A promising idea becomes more useful when its founder can explain the audience, recognise the assumptions they are making and decide what to test first.

I also joined Entrepreneurship Connect at the National Library the following week. Contributing to these programmes is one way I share what I have learned while staying connected to the ideas and ambitions emerging from Singapore’s founder community.

In March 2025, I led an afternoon session on marketing, audience engagement and using AI in execution. We worked through practical exercises in communicating an idea clearly and testing whether a message earns attention.

Extending my contribution across Southeast Asia.

ASEAN Foundation, ASEAN SOAR Together · New appointment, September 2026

I have been selected as a mentor for the ASEAN Foundation’s ASEAN SOAR Together 2026 Group Mentorship Programme, with onboarding beginning in September.

The appointment offers a further opportunity to support enterprises across Southeast Asia with practical commercial and operating experience.

I look forward to helping participants work through their priorities, test their assumptions and identify useful next steps, while learning from the different markets and communities they serve.

Bringing business leaders into useful conversation

Executive moderation

The Ortus Club, May 2026

On 15 May 2026, I moderated The Era of Services Delivery, a Singapore executive roundtable organised by The Ortus Club with Rocketlane.

The discussion explored services delivery and the impact of AI. My role was to guide the conversation, make space for different experiences and help participants examine the operating questions behind the technology. The discussion was held in confidence; the substance shared by participants stays in the room.

Making room for better conversations.

Moderating executive discussions in Singapore is one way I contribute to the business community. It brings people with different responsibilities and experiences together to explore decisions they are working through.

In my interview with The Ortus Club, I reflected on what makes those conversations useful. Preparation matters, but so does noticing whose experience could move the discussion forward, who has not yet contributed, and when a different question would help.

Having participated as a sponsor, guest and moderator, I understand the value of creating space for an honest exchange. The aim is for people to leave with a perspective they can use.

I bring that same approach to mentoring founders and students: ask thoughtful questions, listen carefully and help people turn what they know into a practical next step.

Read my interview with The Ortus Club ↗

Adrian Watkins moderating an Ortus Club executive roundtable in Singapore.
Exchanging perspectives at an Ortus Club executive roundtable. Singapore.

Building growth the whole business can support.

Building Sustainable Sales Engines for SMEs · August 2026

On 5 August, I joined a panel exploring sales frameworks, hiring and the organisational foundations needed to support growth.

It is a subject closely connected to my executive experience. Sales performance depends on how well the wider business works together, from the clarity of the offer and the way it is priced to the team’s ability to deliver what has been promised.

My perspective is that sustainable growth needs alignment across those decisions. Incentives, responsibilities and customer expectations should reinforce one another.

Conversations with SME leaders are an opportunity to explore how these principles can be applied at different stages of a business, with an approach suited to the team and resources available.

Keeping human judgement at the centre.

EntreBoss Hub, The Competitive Edge · August 2026

I joined Mark Gaynor, Paddy Tan and Victor Chan for EntreBoss Hub’s The Competitive Edge panel, moderated by Darius Chang.

The discussion brought together different perspectives on strategy and executive performance, including the role of human judgement when using AI.

My contribution focused on connecting technology with the decisions a business needs to make. That means being clear about the intended outcome, understanding the evidence and ensuring someone remains accountable for what happens next.

This is also the thinking behind EDGE. Tools can help us explore options and improve our reasoning, while experience and judgement help us decide what deserves action.

Explore The Competitive Edge panel ↗

I also contribute to public discussions through the founder and business community. In August 2025, I joined Koo Ping Shung and Longjin Guo for Beyond the Hype, an online panel on fractional AI leadership and its practical value for executives.

A regional perspective from Singapore

My work with founders and business leaders extends across the region. Those conversations give me different perspectives to bring back to my work in Singapore.

Helping founders prepare for growth.

BEYOND4, Pahang Innovative Startup Accelerator · June 2026

Through BEYOND4, I continued supporting the Pahang Innovative Startup Accelerator in 2026, following my involvement with the previous year’s cohort.

In June, I delivered a Product Development for Scaling session and an accompanying office hour, alongside individual founder mentoring during the programme.

Scaling brings a different set of decisions from launching. Founders need to consider which parts of their product and operating approach can be repeated, where customers need something different, and what the team can deliver consistently.

I bring experience of working through those choices across businesses and markets. These regional relationships also broaden the perspectives I bring back to my work in Singapore, particularly around adapting an approach to local customers and commercial conditions.

In 2025, that included an eight-session mentoring engagement.

Taiwan

In November 2025, I travelled from Singapore to Taipei for Smart Living, Sustainable Future 2025 at t.Hub, working with the Industrial Technology Research Institute and the event team.

I delivered the opening keynote, Democratising Intelligence for a Sustainable Future, and moderated a startup panel with Jameson Hsu and Debbie Chien. The visit prompted further writing about AI's energy demands and the responsibilities that come with building its infrastructure. Read my Taiwan reflection.

Adrian Watkins on stage opening the Taipei City Government Smart Living, Sustainable Future 2025 event.
Opening keynote, Smart Living, Sustainable Future 2025. Taipei City Government, November 2025.

Sharing what I learn

I publish AIinASIA and write about leadership, technology and the business decisions behind AI adoption. Singapore is a recurring part of that work, from its approach to long-term planning to the way its businesses and institutions build capability. Read my writing.

Invite me to contribute

I welcome conversations with Singapore universities, polytechnics, student programmes and founder communities about mentoring, guest sessions and practical workshops.

Topics I can contribute to include customer discovery, commercial strategy, moving from an idea to an operating plan, and making informed decisions about AI. I am happy to discuss pro bono student sessions where the topic, audience and timing fit.

Tell me about your programme, who will be in the room and what you would like them to take away.

Discuss a session me@adrianwatkins.com