In our fourth 2025 interview, we leave South Korea to come back home to Sydney, Australia. Duco van Breemen is the CEO of Haymarket HQ, an Australian go-to-market platform for the APAC.

I met Duco for the first time in 2018 when the Korean Investment Trade Agency and I were putting together an Australian VCs and Incubator delegation. Being a Dutch, Duco towered over me by about two heads length.

I was blown away by Duco’s experience in China running corporate innovation incubators and building startup ecosystems.

Listening to Duco’s story makes me realise the power of serendipity. Duco is one of the few people I know who is able to turn a casual encounter into a genuine long-lasting relationship, both personally and commercially.

At that time, there was no Asia-focused startup hub or incubator and Duco started the Haymarket HQ (HHQ) from scratch in the heart of Sydney’s China Town. I love the smell of fried rice whenever I visit him in Sydney.

Under his management, HHQ has sent and hosted countless startup delegations throughout Asia, increasingly focused on Southeast Asia recently.

If you are interested in Southeast Asia, this article will give you a holistic view of the space from someone who builds ecosystems. It’s a perspective not to be missed.

Let’s unpack Duco’s story, journey and vision.

It was 2008. I was a bored student in the Netherlands who wanted to travel outside of Europe and see something of the world. I was fascinated by China. I didn’t know anyone who had been there. All I knew was that it was the world’s factory, rapidly growing yet a mystery to outsiders like me. I simply wanted to experience it firsthand, to travel and understand the country beyond the headlines.

I did a lot of research and found a great university in a second-tier city in China that ticked all my boxes. What was supposed to be six months turned into 8 years of living and working in China, where I worked in a range of different industries and companies from fashion to industrial manufacturing and consulting.

Eventually, I felt the pull of something new. I missed nature, a sense of belonging beyond being a foreigner, and being closer to my family. On a whim, we visited Australia to reconnect with relatives I hadn’t seen in two decades and explore the country. That trip unexpectedly led me to the career I have now where I work with companies of all sizes to grow their revenues across the APAC region.

Southeast Asia has seen massive growth over the past decade, with several nations leapfrogging outdated systems to go digital in areas such as finance.

China did this over a decade ago by bypassing traditional Western legacy e-commerce and digital services systems.

Vietnam is an exciting market that is heading in a similar direction as China, with an energy on the ground that is hard to describe. You can just sense the ambition, hustle, and drive everywhere. No matter which direction you drive from HCMH, you'll see new roads, skyscrapers and office buildings being built.

Markets like Vietnam and Thailand use technologies to develop at a much faster pace than what we’ve seen historically.

That said, you can really see the impact of slowing Western economies on export-reliant countries like Vietnam. They’ve benefited from the “China dividend,” with manufacturers shifting operations from China to Vietnam for cost and risk reasons. But now, with weakening global demand for goods like TVs and other discretionary items, Vietnam is feeling the adverse effects of a manufacturing slowdown. The same applies to other countries in the region such as Cambodia who have seen their tourism numbers drop significantly in recent years. Add in legacy systems and corruption, and you’ve got major roadblocks to success for some countries in SEA.

While SEA is often depicted as the next big growth region, the reality is more nuanced—there are stark differences between countries, from the tech and apps they use to their average GDP. Outside of places like Singapore, GDP remains relatively low. Take Indonesia, for example: it has over 280 million people, yet its GDP is smaller than Australia’s, which has just 27 million.

Despite the global headwinds, the overall energy on the ground feels optimistic, with a real sense of change, similar to what I felt when I first moved to China in 2008.

Since Australia and most of SEA are such different markets, everything from GDP to consumer habits, it can feel like fitting together a tricky puzzle. Australian goods and services tend to be expensive, while SEA products are often more cost-effective but face tough competition in Australia.

When it comes to Aussie brands expanding into SEA, I’ve seen the same pattern I first noticed when I moved to China. It’s a well-documented trend - when the middle class in developing markets grows, they invest in health, education, and aspirational products first. That's why Australian manufacturers and producers of e.g. beef, wine and health foods tend to do quite well in SEA. Another example is RMIT university, who has a large campus in Ho Chi Minh and is one of the larger foreign universities in Vietnam. 

The reverse is a bit more complicated. We mainly see companies from places like Vietnam servicing Australia by providing developer talent and Indonesian companies providing lower-cost handmade goods, like custom furniture. Singapore, on the other hand, tells a different story. There are several Singaporean companies that have done quite well in Australia. 

What people often overlook is that Australia itself has a large global talent pool and a strong ability to develop world-leading companies, think Canva and others.

The best part of my job is that it is a real-life MBA, getting to learn from and work with hundreds of companies.

I’ve built and the chance to learn from the hundreds of companies we’ve worked with so far. Over time, you start to notice patterns, spot common pitfalls, and figure out where to invest your energy. You take something away from every company you work with.

Of course, the “industry” I work in isn’t without its challenges.

Startups are incredibly volatile and sensitive to macroeconomic trends, especially when it comes to funding. The reality is, most don’t end up succeeding, which is just part of the innovation process: trying something new and unproven means taking on risks that established SMEs simply don’t face.

When it comes to cross-border business development, things get even trickier. Just because you’ve been successful at home doesn’t guarantee you’ll make it in a new market. For many companies, it’s like starting from scratch: nobody knows you, the competitive landscape is different, and you have to build your sales pipeline from zero all over again. My job is to increase those companies' success by helping them to validate their commercial opportunities first, act as their in-country partner and connect them to the right people. 

 My typical day starts with grabbing a coffee, setting my priorities, catching up with the team, and then diving into a mix of meetings - everything from finance and strategy to CRM implementation and, of course, some proper focused work.

My main focus is helping SMEs and tech startups with their business development across Australia and the APAC region. That doesn’t mean I personally handle all the BD for every company. Instead, we’ve built a strong network of fractional leaders and consultants who support the companies we work with. Ironically, because I’m so busy working on other people's companies, I often have little time left to focus on BD and sales for our own company. It’s that classic dilemma: working in your business versus working on your business.

Outside of my day job, I make time for my own interests and hobbies. For example, I discovered Stoov, a Dutch company that’s one of Europe’s fastest-growing DTC brands-they sell heated cushions. I knew I had to reach out, because anyone who’s spent a winter in Australia knows just how cold it can get, especially in places like Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. I pitched them on the potential of the Australian market, and that eventually led to me helping them launch their products here, which have been doing really well. I hadn’t done much ecommerce work in Australia before, so this was a good learning experience and a real departure from my usual work at Haymarket HQ.

I also love being active, which is a good way to stay healthy and not get too heavy because my other hobby is eating!

If you are looking to build your career and add value, specialise in an industry or vertical, not a country.