meet our Leader

He holds a Master's degree in international development from the University of Tokyo. Currently, he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Sustainability Science at the University of Tokyo. He started his career at SoftBank Corporation where he was involved in the new business development department working with Japanese and global startups.

Born in a remote village near Mt. Everest in Nepal, he received a government scholarship to study in one of the finest schools in the country when he was 10 years old. This changed his life. Therefore, to give back to his beloved country, he established two schools in his community where the future of more than 500 kids is being shaped today. He has also successfully established non-profit organizations in Nepal and Japan that have touched the lives of more than 20,000 students across Nepal.

With a vision to contribute to Nepal’s economic growth by 1% in the future, he has built Asha & Company. Nepal is a landlocked country, and traditional fields of industrialization such as manufacturing are not feasible. Thus, the country’s biggest strength is its people and its intelligence. By nurturing some of the top-notch talents in Nepal, he aims to create a whole new research and consulting industry in the country.

He currently divides his time between Tokyo and Nepal. 

Tuan graduated from Virginia, USA-based College of William & Mary with an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship with a Mason Scholarship and from New York, USA-based Saint John's University with a Bachelor of Science in Finance Summa Cumme Laude.

He started his career as a foreign exchange trader at Tien Phong Bank, a prominent bank in Vietnam. He then moved to Dream Incubator, a Tokyo-headquartered consulting and investment firm, as a Senior Associate and then advanced to Country Manager, Business Intelligence Division. At Dream Incubator, he built a logistics, healthcare, and agriculture database to provide insights and recommend tactical and strategic actions for local and international clients. Tuan also acted as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategist at Dr.OH, a Singapore-domiciled health tech startup where he helped the company raise bridge round funding. Tuan also led Investor Relations, Market Intelligence, and Business Intelligence functions.

• Yui worked as a business development expert at European and North American companies in the automobile sector.
• Implemented business development in Japan e.g. technology installation into Japanese companies incl. subsidiaries in other countries, launch, and facilitation of joint development projects.
• Also, he was an Executive Officer at a Japanese company developing a business matching platform and providing global technology search/research services:
• Launched various businesses, built corporate structure/system, and managed operations.
• Now, he is an Executive Officer at N&S Partners and a Chief Managing Officer at Asha & Company, both are research & consulting companies in the Asia region.
• Engaged in supporting overseas and new business development supporting of major companies in automobile, construction (machinery), logistics, and consumer goods sectors through analysis of the global market environment and trends (incl. companies and technologies), consideration of market entry strategies for new countries and business strategies for new businesses, analysis/selection/negotiation of candidate companies for alliances and acquisitions, etc.
• In parallel, engaged in launching regional research hubs and facilitating business development in the global market.

After graduating from the Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo, he joined Dream Incubator. After engaging in strategy consulting, staying at a venture company, and listing one company, he started an in-house business. He started up a research company in Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia and served as its representative. After that, in 2017, he opened a Tokyo office (now N&S Partners) and became independent through MBO in 2019. Served as a business strategy discussion partner, mainly for customers in the automotive, entertainment, and consumer goods sectors.

Also active as a novelist. His novel "Survive" won the 120th Bungakukai Newcomer Award, and "Share" and "Capital" (both published by Bungeishunju) were nominated for the 154th and 156th Akutagawa Awards. Other publications include "Sea Turtles" (Shinchosha).

Seunghul Seo is the Founder and President of Projeteam, Inc. He has extensive international experience both in for-profit and non-profit settings, including in the US, South Korea, Myanmar, Fiji, Switzerland, Uganda, and Rwanda. He is fluent in Japanese, English, and Korean.

A graduate of Waseda University and the University of Michigan, where he earned his first master’s degree, he started his career in the field of international development. Working for international organizations as a field officer, he gained experience in organizational and human resource development in the context of developing countries.

He then joined Bain & Company and honed strategic analysis and planning skills through his involvement in consulting projects in a wide range of themes and industries at Bain’s Tokyo and Chicago offices.

After he earned MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, he entered the internet service industry and held a variety of executive positions, including at Groupon Japan, Medina (KDDI Group company), and AIP (currently Rakuten Insight Global).

Hiro graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Economics & Harvard Business School with a joint degree in Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Administration.

He started his career at Mitsubishi Corporation in the food industry Group. Then at Dream Incubator, Inc., he provided management consulting services to information technology, finance, healthcare, and investment funds.

Hiro acted as Representative Director of Aoyama Shachu Co. Engaged in management consulting and policy research, mainly in the field of government relations. Lecturer for MBA program at Graduate School of Management, Globis University.

Hiro is currently President of Linkers International Corporation, Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Japanese Studies, University of California, Berkeley