About Us
Elevating business journalism through human interest stories
Gulf–ASEAN Exchange (GAE) is a storytelling and community platform examining how business, power, identity, and opportunity move between the Gulf and Southeast Asia.
We believe the most important business stories are not just about capital, policy, or expansion plans — they are about people navigating complexity. Founders crossing borders. Professionals rethinking careers. Institutions shaping markets. Cultures negotiating values.
GAE publishes essays, commentaries, and community conversations that surface what is often missing from conventional business coverage: context, lived experience, and human judgment.
This is not news for speed.It is journalism for understanding.
A value driven creative house
Our mission
To elevate business journalism by centring human experience, critical context, and community dialogue in stories shaping the Gulf–ASEAN corridor.
We exist to create clarity in complexity — not by speaking alone, but by convening people who are navigating uncertainty together. Through essays, commentaries, and open conversations, we aim to support a community that shares insight, challenges assumptions, and learns collectively.
Our vision
To become a trusted cross-regional platform where business, policy, identity, and lived experience intersect — and where community becomes a source of clarity.
We envision a future where:business journalism is shaped not only by institutions, but by people on the groundreaders are not passive consumers, but active contributors, understanding emerges through thoughtful exchange, mutual support, and informed disagreement.
In a fragmented and uncertain world, we believe clarity is strongest when it is built together.
Work With Us
We collaborate with organisations aligned with our editorial values — those seeking meaningful engagement rather than transactional exposure.
Partnerships may include editorial collaborations, community dialogues, research-backed storytelling, and curated events. Where relevant, we also provide creative and media consultations, as well as digital marketing and social media management support, particularly for organisations navigating cross-border narratives across the Gulf–ASEAN corridor.
We work best with partners who understand that trust, relevance, and clarity are built through substance — not noise.
A value driven creative house
Cross-border Support
For individuals and organisations navigating cross-border work across the Gulf–ASEAN corridor, we offer a point of connection.
While we are not a service marketplace, we can direct you to credible partners across multiple functions — including market entry, legal, finance, communications, and operations — based on relevance, context, and trust.
This support is grounded in our network and community, guided by the belief that clarity often comes from being connected to the right people, not more information.
Contribute & Convene
We support and co-host closed-door roundtables, public forums, and cross-regional conversations that bring people together to exchange ideas, surface tensions, and build shared understanding.
These convenings extend our journalism beyond the page and into real-world dialogue.
We welcome writers, practitioners, and thinkers with lived experience across the Gulf–ASEAN corridor. Contributions may take the form of essays, commentaries, or community-led discussions. We prioritise insight, honesty, and relevance over credentials.
If you have a perspective that adds depth to an ongoing conversation, we want to hear it.
Meet our in-house team
Ifwat Irsyaduddin
Irfan Salim
