Ready for mega projects?
Tap into markets where megaprojects are creating new business opportunities: Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the Philippines for SMEs in Sweden, Finland, Estonia & Latvia within the Central Baltic area.
About the project
By connecting SMEs with major urban development “megaprojects,” ICC creates direct opportunities for sales, contracts, and international growth. The initiative emphasizes sustainability, aligning business activities with global goals while fostering long-term economic development.
Through digital portfolios, strategic partnerships, targeted training, and collaboration with EPC companies, ICC engages over 80 SMEs with the aim of securing 20 international contracts.
Building on cooperation between Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Latvia, the project leverages regional strengths to overcome global market barriers and position Central Baltic SMEs at the forefront of sustainable urban innovation.
Meet the mentors
Marc Silberstein
Silberstein + Partners Pte. Ltd.
Singapore
Marc brings more than 20 years of international experience spanning top-tier strategy consulting, investment banking, and hands-on advisory work. Prior to moving into independent advisory roles, he was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he spent nearly a decade advising CEOs, boards, and senior leaders on corporate strategy, value creation, M&A, divestments, and transformations. Marc is a Managing Partner of Silberstein + Partners, a Singapore-based advisory firm helping European businesses enter, scale, and operate in Southeast Asia. Marc is based in Singapore and works extensively across ASEAN. His company helped >50 European SMEs across various industries to grow in Singapore.
Droston Tang
Whizmeal Pte. Ltd.
Singapore
Droston Tang brings 18+ years of market entry and business development experience across multinationals and startups. Based in Singapore with deep local networks, he specialises in greenfield market development, implementation, and launch. For the past five years, Droston has mentored at regional accelerators, helping businesses with market validation, B2B/B2G partnerships, and regulatory compliance. His expertise covers renewable energy, travel, circular economy, and food & nutrition, backed by roles at Hertz, REC Group, SMEs, and early-stage startups. He delivers practical, on-the-ground execution to turn market potential into revenue.
Priyankar Bhunia
Intralink Limited
Singapore
Priyankar Bhunia is responsible for project execution across the six major economies in Southeast Asia at Intralink. Based in Singapore, he works with Intralink’s in-country teams to identify and act on opportunities for clients. Piyankar work focuses on cross-border projects – from understanding new markets and finding the right partners, to engaging customers, stakeholders and potential collaborators. Priyankar has worked across diverse sectors, ranging from agrifood, industrial technology and cleantech to medtech, software and mobility. He brings a practical, on-the-ground view of Southeast Asian markets, backed by 15 years of experience in the region.
Zal Dastur
Lucep Pte Ltd
Singapore
Zal Dastur is a Singapore-based entrepreneur, business development advisor, and founder coach with more than 15 years of experience helping companies enter new markets and accelerate growth across Southeast Asia. Having built and scaled his own B2B software business across multiple countries, he brings practical experience in sales, partnerships, gotomarket strategy, and market expansion. Zal has coached more than 200 founders and worked with organisations including A*STAR, Temasek, Plug and Play, and Start2. He primarily supports technology, deep-tech, climate, and innovation-driven companies seeking to validate markets, refine their commercial strategy, and scale sustainably in Asia.
Christine Joy De Padua
Asian Insiders / Asia Sales Channels Ltd.
Philippines
Christine De Padua is an associate at Asian Insiders,based in the Philippines and has 10 years of experience in developing business, with a focus on market entry, B2B and B2G connection and matching. She works closelywith European SMEs and mid-sizecompanies to help them explore and enter the Philippines. Her main sectors of expertise are construction across all industries, including infrastructure and urban development, cleantech and energy. With her experience, she was able to help a steel expert to find a local partner and form a JV to be able to join a billion peso project. Also, she was able to grow a trading company’s profit margin to 300% by introducing a new and effective business model.
Carlo Edmund C. Calimon
Triple C Management Consultancy
Philippines
Carlo Calimon is a dynamic entrepreneur, innovation advocate, and startup mentor driving inclusive growth through entrepreneurship. He is the Co-founder and President of StartUp Village, a top incubator/accelerator in the Philippines, and a global mentor for Google Launchpad and AMEN. A recognized thought leader, Carlo was named among the Top 100 Filipinos on LinkedIn (2024) and the 100 Most Influential Global Marketing Leaders by the World Marketing Congress. His over 20 years of experience in the MSME and startup development has helped him build a diverse network in government and private sector. His on ground experience helps in providing mentorship and advise for market entry and value proposition alignment for companies entering the Philippines.
Carma May Macasaet Abrera
Intralink Limited
Philippines
May Abrera is a Project Director at Intralink, based in Manila. Since joining in 2016, she has supported foreigngovernments and companies in entering into the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Her work focuses on market research, partner and customer identification, trade mission delivery, due diligence, and supporting market access issues across smart cities, ICT, cleantech, and other sectors. Her accomplishments include leading a foreign government export program in Southeast Asia that generated multimillion-dollar in export sales, as well as researching the market and connecting foreign companies with stakeholders, resulting in sales, distribution agreements, and pilot deployments.
Nisar Ahmad Zafar
Habtal
Saudi Arabia
Dr. Nisar Ahmad Zafar is a Riyadh-based AI advisor and business leader with more than 20 years of experience driving market entry, go-to-market strategy, partnerships, and revenue growth across Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC. Deeply connected to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 ecosystem, he supports technology firms, investors, government entities, and large enterprises in AI, cloud, cybersecurity, IoT, smart infrastructure, and digital transformation. He has served as CEO of LCC Tech Mahindra and Senior Director for Enterprises and PIF at Detasad, where he built a $700M+ enterprise pipeline, and also serves as a UN ITU expert.
Ben Queisser
Apex Ventures
Saudi Arabia
Ben is an industrial strategist, venture builder and market-entry expert with extensive experience helping technology, industrial, energy and advanced manufacturing companies enter, localize and scale in Saudi and the GCC. Having held senior leadership roles at the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and NEOM, he combines deep knowledge of the Saudi market with strong relationships across government, industry, investment and innovation ecosystems. With more than 20 years of international leadership experience, he’s led business transformation, growth and commercialization initiatives across multiple regions, developing market-entry strategies and building partnerships in complex environments.
Baraa Shaker
Loul FZE
Saudi Arabia
Mr. Shaker is an accomplished entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience in ICT, digital transformation, and consulting across the M.E., particularly in Saudi Arabia. He leads innovative initiatives in cognitive cities, 5G monetization, and city-as-a-service. As the founder of Loul and co-founder of Be-link, he has dedicated over a decade to AI, business development, and renewable energy. His extensive experience includes roles at HP Enterprise, Cisco, and Tellabs/Infinera, and he advises companies such as Nokia, ZTE, and Business Finland. His impactful projects span various sectors, focusing on green energy and technology business integration, while he actively engages on social media.
Find ICC on social media