Chapters & Study Groups
Virtual Study Group: Asian Circle
The Asian Circle is an online forum to educate, connect and inspire the Asian practitioners in the field of family enterprise. This is a multi-disciplinary group designed for advisors and consultants who have been practicing in the field in Asia. The Group seeks a multi-disciplinary composition to broaden and enrich the learning experience of its members.
About the Group
The primary purposes of the Group are to:
  • Build a strong presence of the Asian advisors and consultants, academics and family enterprise members
  • Provide multi-disciplinary learning opportunities through the use of case discussions, guest speakers, presentations and open dialog among members
  • Nurture and inspire potential Asian leaders within FFI
  • Leverage the insight and perspectives of experienced practitioners in the field, both from the West and the East
The secondary purposes of the Group are to:
  • Help promote the vision and missions of FFI, including the Global Education Network (GEN) program, in Asia
  • Develop and retain people from Asia in the FFI organization
Meetings
Group meetings are held quarterly. These meetings are conducted entirely online via live video conferencing. The meetings are expected to last up to two hours. Group members will also have access to the private Group website which includes discussion forums, file sharing and member directory for use between virtual meetings.

Visitors (up to ten allowed per session) may occasionally attend a meeting if they are considering joining the Group. Members will be made aware of any scheduled visitor prior to the meeting. Members who would like to invite a visitor must first receive approval from the Group chair. Non-members will enjoy a complimentary session for one session in a year, and may not visit more than once.

Each Group meeting agenda is distributed to Group members seven to ten days prior to the meeting by the meeting coordinator appointed by the Group chair. The Group chair is responsible for establishing study themes for the year, selecting meeting presenters, acting as host on the meetings and organizing the agenda of each meeting.

Best Practices
The Group members are expected to observe to the FFI Professional Best Practices. Discussions held during Group meetings or on the group private discussion board are confidential and should not be shared outside of the Group.
Membership
The Group is limited to 70 members. All Group members are required to be members of FFI in good standing, with practice in the family business field in Asia (or having an Asian clientele). Members have to attend at least two (2) meetings to retain the membership of the Circle.

Candidates interested in joining the Group must submit a professional profile to the Group chair with a brief statement of purpose indicating why they would like to join the Group, benefits that they anticipate receiving from the Group, and how they expect to contribute to the Group.

Group members are encouraged, although not required, to attend FFI Global Conferences, and seek one of the GEN certificates.

Group Chair
The Group chair(s) will act as liaison with FFI. Needs regarding the operation and facilitation of the Group will be directed to the Group chair who will communicate directly with FFI.

Group chair(s) are chosen for a one-year period by the members of the Group. Effective rotation of the role is considered a good practice and the Group should gradually build in a mechanism for this.

It is expected that the Group chair(s) will attend the FFI Global Conference.

Executive Committee
Navneet Bhatnagar (India)
Joy Chen (Hong Kong)
Paul Chung (Hong Kong)
Esther Kong (Singapore)
Anurat Kongtoranin (Thailand)
Loh Keng-Fun (Singapore)
Yirhan Sim (Indonesia)
Kazuyoshi Takei (Japan)
Mohar Yusof (Malaysia)

The Executive Committee consist of a minimum of five and no more than nine members, including the Group chair. The Committee helps design study themes and topics, invite guest speakers, and steer strategic planning of the Group. Diverse geographical representation and multidisciplinary involvement are important in considering the Committee membership.

Group Resource Persons/Subject Panel
The Group can appoint a “Resource Person” or a “Subject Panelist” as a go-to person for guidance that benefit the group at large. The nominee should be an experienced practitioner (normally with 15+ years of experience in the field), an academic from a reputable institution, FFI Fellow, current or prior GEN faculty member, or has been (or is currently) a member of the FFI Board of Directors.

Jeremy Cheng (Hong Kong)
Yirhan Sim (Indonesia)

Click below to apply online:
JOIN
Contact
Loh Keng-Fun, chair
Members Only Area
Click on the button below to access the Study Group private online forums. Please note: you must sign in to your FFI account to view the forums. Contact membership@ffi.org if you need assistance with your user id or password.
ACCESS FORUMS
Technical Requirements for Web Video Conferencing
As the Group is entirely virtual and meets live online via video conferencing, there are technical requirements to be observed. The software applications to access the virtual meetings are free to download, free to use and are available on nearly all computing devices including PC, Mac, and mobile devices. For questions about these technical requirements, contact the Group chair.
Equipment
  • An internet connection – broadband wired or wireless (3G or 4G/LTE)
  • Speakers and a microphone – built-in or plug-in
  • Webcam or HD webcam – built-in or plug-in
Supported Operating Systems
  • iOS5.0 or later
  • Send and receive video using front or rear camera
  • iPad 2, new iPad, iPhone 3 (no front facing camera) 4, 4S and iPod touch 4th Generation
  • Mac OS X with MacOS 10.6/(Snow Leopard) or later
  • Windows 7 or Windows Vista with SP1 or later, or Windows XP with SP3 or later
  • Android (coming soon)
Supported Browsers for Web Start
  • Windows: IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Safari5+, Opera12+
  • Mac: Safari5+, Firefox, Chrome
  • iOS: Safari5+, Chrome
  • Android (coming soon): Webkit (default), Chrome
Processor Requirement
  • Any 1 Ghz single core processor or better
All FFI Members are eligible to participate in study groups. Study groups meet face-to-face in locations around the globe as well as virtually within the FFI study group online community. There are no annual dues to participate. Study groups may be organized based on geographic region (as is the case with New York and Oregon study groups for example), topic of interest (succession or Latin American family enterprise for example), as well as profession of origin (accounting, finance or behavioral therapy for example). For more information on forming a study group, please contact ffi@ffi.org.