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Who we are
We know South East Asia!
We have hands-on operational experience in creating downstream success in South (East) Asia for retailers and producers. We have worked with brand owners and manufacturers who have strategically chosen to develop new retail-based consumer extensions of their brands.
AsiAspire will help you grow in ASEAN, the exciting cooperation of the group of countries consisting of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam. In addition, we are currently working on a long term assignment in Bangladesh.
Our team members know the ASEAN countries where we have lived and worked for many years. Here we have been in charge of the execution of strategies that were often developed with top tier advisory firms. We also have the actual knowledge of implementation in the field, an experience often lacking in consultants. We will help you develop your strategy and implement it with you.
We have the experience and the contacts to make you succeed.
Managing partner Matthys van der Lely
Matthys founded AsiAspire in 2019 with the intention to use his knowledge of the ASEAN markets, the culture, the languages and his extensive network to make companies successful in this exciting market.
Matthys has a background in retail and in the meat/protein sector. Most of his career he lived and worked in South East Asia; from 1990 to 2001, he led the growth of cash and carry group Makro to become market leader in Thailand and Indonesia, first as Group Operations Director and later as President Director. From 2001 to 2012, he managed and, after a management buy-out, owned the leading bookstore group Selexyz in the Netherlands.
Returning to South East Asia in 2013, he joined large scale protein producer Bounty Fresh Group in the Philippines as SVP retail, M&A and business development. He was instrumental in developing their downstream strategy and created retail-based extensions for the Bounty Fresh poultry, egg and pig brands. In the M&A field, Matthys led Bounty’s international expansion to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia and the acquisition process of poultry market leader Tegel in New Zealand.
After five years at Bounty Fresh, KKR invited Matthys to move to Vietnam to become Chief Executive Officer of one of their investments: Masan Group’s MNS MeatLife. He was responsible for the development and implementation of the farm-to-market strategy, including production, marketing, sales, retail, distribution and logistics. In December 2018, the company simultaneously launched the largest slaughterhouse in Vietnam and the chilled pork brand MEATDeli in own stores and in the Vinmart supermarket chain. Rapid expansion of production and the downstream value chain resulted in the company becoming the leading branded meat player in Vietnam. In 2017 Matthys was the founding President of the Dutch Philippines Chamber of Commerce in Manila and is presently treasurer of the Philippines Netherlands Business Council in the Netherlands.