Australia-Taiwan Young Business Leaders Program

The Australia-Taiwan Business Council Limited (ATBC) is conducting the Australia-Taiwan Young Business Leaders Program (Program), as a steppingstone in deepening the B2B relationship between Australia and Taiwan by identifying and encouraging the next generation of business leaders.

The Program will run across 2025 to 2027 as the first of two cohorts.

ATBC is pleased to announce the successful candidates who have been selected to participate in the Australia-Taiwan Young Business Leaders Program (the Program). The Program generated great interest from many highly qualified candidates in many fields from both Taiwan and around Australia. The 12 successful candidates bring with them a wide range of skills and experience. It is hoped that through the events, workshops and conferences of the Australia-Taiwan Young Business Leaders Program, they will be able to learn from each other and from the prominent stakeholders in the Australia-Taiwan relationship who are contributing to the Program. It will be an amazing chance to brainstorm new ideas, establish relationship, and find new connections to further vitalize the business interactions between Australia and Taiwan.

An official announcement of the 12 successful candidates was inaugurated at the first event of the Program on 12th June 2025 in Taipei and Sydney hybrid format.
After more than two months of preparation and interviews with over 50 candidates, the Australia-Taiwan Business Council (ATBC) officially launched the 2025–2027 cohort of the Australia-Taiwan Young Business Leaders (YBL) Program on 12th June 2025. The launch was held simultaneously in Sydney and Taipei and streamed online to connect participants across both economies.

The YBL Program is designed to identify and connect the next generation of business leaders in Australia and Taiwan, fostering both cultural understanding and commercial capability. This cohort is the first of two to be delivered over a four-year period. Selected YBL participants will engage in leadership and mentoring workshops, gain access to industry events in both countries, and strengthen their business networks and in-market knowledge. In addition, Track II dialogues will provide an avenue for open exchange between public and private sector stakeholders in priority business areas for Australia and Taiwan.

The launch formally introduced and welcomed the inaugural 2025–27 YBL cohort—a group of emerging leaders committed to shaping the future of bilateral business engagement. The initiative is proudly supported by the Australian Office Taipei (AO), the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA), Griffith Business School, the Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan (ANZCham), Sparke Helmore Lawyers and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia (TECO in Australia).

The event featured strong participation from senior government officials, diplomats, and business leaders from both Australia and Taiwan, underscoring the importance of this initiative to the bilateral relationship.

In Sydney, invited guests include:
 Mr Douglas Yu-tien Hsu, Representative, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia (TECO Australia)
 Ms Kim Pang, Deputy CEO, National Foundation for Australia-China Relations (DFAT)
 Mr David Cheng-Wei Wu, Director General, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Sydney (TECO Sydney)

In Taipei, attendees include:
 Mr Robert Fergusson, Representative, Australian Office in Taipei (AO)
 Mr Frank Wu, Secretary-General, Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA)

Senior representatives from prominent companies such as ANZ Group, Macquarie Group, Bank of Taiwan and TECO Australia Pty Ltd etc. also participated, underscoring the business community’s strong support for the initiative.

The 2025–27 YBL cohort comprise a diverse group of professionals from a range of sectors, selected for their potential to contribute to Australia-Taiwan collaboration – 7 from Australia and 5 from Taiwan.

Australia YBL
1. Ms Abigail Coffey – Asia Media Consultant & Masters student at the University of Oxford [Oxford, UK]
2. Mr Tim Joyce – Founder of Leverage Partnerships [Gold Coast QLD, Australia]
3. Mr Chris Cheng – Chartered Professional Engineer, entrepreneur, and technology leader and Co-Founder and CTO of Ready Team
One [Perth WA, Australia]
4. Ms Abbey Britt-Keen – Commercial Manager in an agricultural company [St George QLD, Australia]
5. Dr Ricardo Garcia-Rosas – Co-founder and CEO of Virtetic [Melbourne VIC, Australia]
6. Mr Jayden Moore – PhD candidate MEMS at UNSW /Founders of two startups focused on commercialising research in
semiconductors and MEMS [Sydney NSW, Australia]
7. Mr Martin Wirkus – Assistant Development Manager at Juxgold Group [Brisbane QLD, Australia]

Taiwan YBL
1. Ms Elaine Chen – Co-Founder &; President of Billion Watts Technologies Co. Ltd [Taipei, Taiwan]
2. Mr Danny Ho – COO of Seven Pyramid Enterprise; General Manager of Seven Praise Optical Industry and MD of Free Time Digital
Wine [Taipei, Taiwan]
3. Ms Jessica Ho – Product Designer and Project Manager [Taipei, Taiwan]
4. Ms Jasmine Tsai – Leads the Investment Department at Ina Energy [Taipei, Taiwan]
5. Ms Karen Kao – Founder of IMPOSSIBLE [Taipei, Taiwan]

With the official commencement of the ATBC’s Emerging Business Leaders Program on 28th April 2022 in Sydney and Taipei using a hybrid format, the 16 successful Leaders are already hard at work preparing for their first activity, which will be unveiled in an open-to-the-public Workshop on Wednesday 18th May. The 16 participants have been divided into four teams, each with a mix of skills and experience. Each team has given an icebreaker topic for them to work together to present at the online Workshop to the public. This provided a chance for this talented group of people to show how, working together, they can generate bigger and better ideas that will benefit the commercial space between Australia and Taiwan. Setting the tone for the Workshop will be keynote speaker Dr David Howard-Jones, a partner in Marsh McLennan’s finance and risk practice and Director, Oliver Wyman Australia with live voting poll as which was the best performed Team.

Australia–Taiwan Young Business Leaders Program (YBL)
Lunar New Year & Leadership Networking Event – 19 January 2026

Following the successful Track II Dialogue (T2D) and Taiwan Program in August 2025, the Australia–Taiwan Young Business Leaders Program (YBL) 2025–27 Cohort proudly delivered its Lunar New Year & Leadership Networking Event, held simultaneously in Brisbane and Taipei on Monday, 19 January 2026.

This milestone event was made possible through the generous support of the National Foundation for Australia–China Relations (NFACR), the Australian Office Taipei (AO), Griffith Business School of Griffith University (GBS), the Australia & New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan (ANZCham Taiwan), Sparke Helmore Lawyers (SH), the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Australia (TECO in Australia), and our valued Taiwan partner ROCABC/CIECA. Since the YBL’s launch in early 2025, these organisations have played a pivotal role in the program’s continued growth and impact.

With a strong commitment to nurturing emerging leaders in both Australia and Taiwan, the YBL program continues to promote mutual understanding and deepen engagement between the two regions. The 2025–27 cohort comprises twelve outstanding young business leaders who form a dynamic and collaborative network across both economies. Through structured dialogue, leadership engagement and cross-border cooperation, participants strengthen cross-cultural understanding while addressing emerging opportunities and challenges within their respective industries.

Event Overview

The evening commenced with registration and arrival of guests, with drinks served upon entry.

The formal program opened with welcome remarks from Mr John Toigo, Chairman of the Australia–Taiwan Business Council (ATBC), followed by remarks from Mr William Fan, Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brisbane (TECO Brisbane), and Mr Christopher Lim, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner and Deputy Representative of the Australian Office Taipei (AO).

The first keynote address was delivered by Professor Ashely Goldsworthy AO OBE KSS KM, followed by a presentation from Mr Ryan Chua, Senior Managing Director, Investment Team at Stonepeak Partners.

A moderated Q&A session was then led by Professor Caitlin Byrne, Pro Vice Chancellor (Business), Griffith University. The discussion provided attendees with the opportunity to engage directly with the speakers in an interactive and insightful exchange, encouraging thoughtful questions and collaborative dialogue across the Brisbane and Taipei audiences.

The formal proceedings concluded with a group photo, followed by continued networking over drinks and canapés.

The event concluded at 7:30pm (Brisbane time), marking another successful chapter in strengthening Australia–Taiwan leadership engagement.

The session will be an online escape room for the Leaders’ networking only – Not to the public.