Global e-commerce logistics provider Asendia today announced the appointment of Senthil Kumar as CEO of Asendia Singapore/South Asia (Asendia Singapore Pte Ltd) and Stuart Foster as Managing Director of Asian Desk, APAC (Asendia Asian Desk). 

The hires of Senthil and Stuart strengthen Asendia’s commitment to Asia-Pacific, in-line with its e-commerce logistics solutions that offer e-commerce focused companies a strategic foothold in the growing South-East Asia and North Asia markets.

“Senthil and Stuart are both highly experienced and bring with them a deep understanding of the industry and the region. They have great strategic vision to grow Asendia in Asia-Pacific while better serving our fast-growing customer-base. Asendia is on an expansion plan in Asia-Pacific, and we are excited by the region’s unexploited potential that we aim to be a market leader for sustainable cross-border e-commerce solutions by 2025,” said Lionel Berthe, Head of Asendia Asia Pacific. 

The Asia Pacific B2C e-commerce gross merchandise value is projected to increase from US$3,082.3 billion in 2021 to US$5,306.2 billion by 2026. Based on external data, Singapore has a significant 78% of online consumers shopped with international merchants, and cross-border e-commerce. While in Hong Kong, cross-border transactions make up 25% of all e-commerce sales.  

"Although the current market situations are not ideal from a macro-economic perspective - South and Southeast Asia is still very rife with opportunities from a cross-border logistics perspective. Having successfully deployed growth strategies in various companies in prior years, I look forward to working and implementing fresh growth trajectories by synergising the strong Asendia products with the market needs," said Kumar.

Senthil brings with him over 15 years of experience in general management, e-commerce and logistics and has held senior leadership positions in DHL E-commerce, Samsung and most recently Janio Asia. 

He was awarded the Asian Business Fellowship Award (by the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore) in the early years of his career and has had market exposure and hands-on knowledge across various geographies (South Asia, Southeast Asia, North Asia and Oceania) that would be critical in his new role with Asendia Singapore.           

Stuart brings with him 19 years of extensive and rich experience in the parcel delivery industry. He has built his career working in diverse functions from sales to the management of the pricing and customer solutions, and to international sales director.

“The shipping routes from Asia to Europe are constantly evolving and the Asian Desk department of Asendia APAC is the single-entry point for all Asian clients who have facilities in Europe. We are taking care of the client on the operation and sales level. With Asendia APAC, we are not only talking about last mile but the entire parcel journey including the custom clearance,” said Foster remarking on the need efficient Europe-Asia goods flow.

Stuart started his career with UPS before moving to La Poste France where he successfully launched the International Sales department of Colissimo (a subsidiary of La Poste) as the Head of International Sales. 

He led his team to support clients and local partners to develop cross-order shipments to France and Europe. His last stint was as Managing Director Asia for Seven Senders, a European leading delivery platform, where he oversaw the optimisation of international delivery services from Asia to Europe, and vice versa.  

Asendia has been active in Asia-Pacific since from the time of the company’s creation in 2012. The group has subsidiaries in Singapore, Hong-Kong, Australia and New-Zealand. The group provides brands, retailers, marketplaces and consolidations logistics and digital solutions access to global markets through extensive and innovative distribution solutions, harnessing their worldwide postal partnerships.