Lazada establishes regional HQ in SG, creates foundation geared at SEA women

Lazada Group has launched the group’s regional headquarters and Singapore office Lazada One building on its ambitions to grow the region’s digital commerce ecosystem. CEO and founder Chun Li said in an opening speech that eCommerce will be the biggest drive force behind Southeast Asia’s digital economy boom, which is projected to reach US$1 trillion by 2030.  The new office will be located in Bras Basah, strategically located near institutions of higher learning in Singapore. The new office space is designed with considerations for the future hybrid workplace in mind, focusing on facilitating collaboration both within the building and across its offices in the region.  

As part of its long-term growth strategy, Lazada One will bolster the company’s efforts in cultivating youths and talent to sustain growth and innovations in the next decade, focusing on data scientists, engineers, and product managers in domains such as payments and cybersecurity.

Additionally is the Lazada Foundation, an initiative established by the group this year, which aims to award scholarships and provide growth opportunities to women and youths across Southeast Asia. The initiative also seeks to secure more educational opportunities and close the digital gap for women and the younger generation. According to the company, this will be a sustained commitment across its six markets in SEA such as Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.    The group further explained that the scholarships are designed to support young talent to pursue their education and excel academically without financial hurdles standing in their way. In addition, the young talents will also receive career and internship opportunities, which will contribute to their holistic development and equip them with ecommerce skill sets for a digital future world.

Lazada Foundation will also work with local strategic partners to provide opportunities to women, with one of the foundation’s key pillars being to uplift women in technology. According to Lazada, in the Philippines for example, it is working with a local non-profit organisation, For The Women (FTW) Philippines, to offer scholarships for data science courses to young women, as part of the foundation’s aim to narrow the gender gap and promote greater inclusivity within the technology industry.

Chun remarked that with Lazada celebrating its 10th anniversary in March this year, the new regional headquarters marked an important milestone for the company and the wider eCommerce industry. “Establishing Lazada One in Singapore, the gateway to Southeast Asia, reinforces our commitment to support the growth of the digital commerce industry. Our presence here reinforces our mission to accelerate progress in Southeast Asia through commerce and technology in the next 10 years and beyond,” said Chun.

Chief people officer of Lazada, Lillian Jiang also said that Southeast Asia’s future is in the hands of the youths, and Lazada Foundation wants to help them fulfil their dreams. "The future of work goes beyond what is taught in the classroom. To prepare our youths for a digital future, Lazada is committed to providing coaching, mentorship and involvement with other technology-driven initiatives to bring youths one step closer to their dreams,” added Jiang.

In Chun’s speech, he remarked how in March, Lazada had hit a new milestone of one million monthly selling sellers on the platform, those of whom are mostly MSMEs. “It speaks of the health and vibrancy of this eCommerce ecosystem today. And behind these numbers, it indicates a bigger halo effect in how multitudes of livelihoods were created and lives uplifted in the past decade,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lazada has been ramping up its marketing efforts in the region. Earlier in March, as part of its 10th anniversary celebrations, Lazada Singapore said it would be handing out 10 Singapore Airlines First Class return plane tickets, which involved participants also partaking in the in-app game feature, Lazzie Star. Additionally, for Ramadan, the company created a new Halal category for Muslim businesses and consumers to tap into. Muslim businesses can get involved the platform’s newly introduced Halal Channel category on RedMart, which will feature Halal food products for Singapore’s Muslim community. This is followed by plans to introduce a Halal Cooking Show, as well as the distribution of groceries to those in need.

Related articles:
Lazada SG dangles 10 SIA First Class tickets in birthday bash marketing push
Lazada adds Halal category ahead of Ramadan, creates 9 personalised profiles for shoppers
Lazada SG to help Radin Mas merchants ride the eCommerce wave
Lazada to strengthen West Java digital economy and empower local biz