TWIA #41: Hugh Mason from JFDI Asia

We all heard about the Hackerspace SG in Singapore set up by Meng Weng Wong last year. In conjunction with our special interview series, we invited Hugh Mason (@hughmason), one of the partners from the Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI Asia) to come and tell us about how their new venture incubator can make a difference for entrepreneurs by utilizing on the concepts of rapid prototyping and agile development to produce new lean and mean start-ups for the entrepreneurial ecosystem from Singapore to the region. Hugh also shares with us what he will be looking forward to in the coming Echelon 2010. You can go directly to TWIA website or listen the podcast here in SGEntrepreneurs.

About Hugh Mason and JFDI: Hugh mentors and invests in marketing, media and technology businesses and helps to build wealth for nations, regions and communities as a consultant to public sector intervention programmes.

Beginning his career as an electronic engineering apprentice, Hugh went on to read Physics at University. Shortly after graduating he became a science TV producer, joining the BBC’s flagship popular Science TV show, Tomorrow’s World. He went freelance and set up a successful independent TV production business that made multiple award-winning programmes for broadcasters around the world in addition to large-format digital media content for science centres.

Ultimately, running a creative business turned out to be more fun than hands-on creative work. So, in 2001, Hugh co-founded Pembridge Partners to provide finance and advice to marketing, media and technology companies. The sobering experience of investing his own wealth in other peoples’ businesses through Pembridge has given him a vivid picture of the real issues surrounding growth in sub-sectors as diverse as Digital, Design, Music, Television, Film, Animation, Games, Public Relations, Advertising, Direct Marketing and Sales Promotion.

Hugh relocated to Singapore full time with his young family in January 2009. He now works with a wide variety of marketing, media, and technology enterprises to help their owners create, build and realise value.