His appointment comes at a time when the company is facing some serious challenges in the region, apart from a tough battle with regional cab-hailing firms

Brooks Entwistle

Global ride-hailing giant Uber today announced the appointment of Brooks Entwistle as its new Chief Business Officer for Asia Pacific, effective immediately.

As a key member of Uber’s regional leadership team, Entwistle will be responsible for business development, including autonomous vehicle alliances, in addition to corporate development and experiential marketing across the Asia Pacific region.

David Richter, Global Head of Business and Corporate Development, said in a statement: “With his (Entwistle) experience living and working across Asia for over two decades, his appointment reinforces our commitment to writing a new chapter in the region, as we explore new opportunities to invest and grow our presence through strategic partnerships and investment opportunities.”

Brooks joins Uber from The Everstone Group, an India- and Southeast Asia-focused Private Equity and real estate investment firm, where he was CEO for the past three years. Previously, he was Chairman of Goldman Sachs Southeast Asia, in addition to stints at The United Nations, McKinsey, and various Board positions with The Asia Foundation, The Aspen Institute, EmancipAction and YoungLife.

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An MBA from Harvard School, Entwistle successfully summited Mount Everest with a group of people in May this year. However, it is yet to see if his rare feat of summiting the earth’s highest mountain will come in handy when het gets into the business.

Entwistle’s appointment comes at a time when San Francisco-headquartered Uber is facing serious challenges in Asia, apart from neck-to-neck competition from regional players, such as Grab and Ola, besides a few offline players. Yesterday, Uber had to suspend its services in the Philippines for a month following a government order, after it disregarded an earlier instruction to stop recruiting new drivers.

Things are not so rosy in neighbouring Singapore either. As per various reports, Uber knowingly leased cars that were subject to a recall to drivers in Singapore.

Things are no different in the far east either. In India, one of its most lucrative markets, Uber is locked in a bitter battle with home-grown Ola, who had dragged the former over legality of the service as well as nationality. In Bangalore, Uber had to stop car-pooling services after the Transport Department found it a direct violation of the Motor Vehicles Act of India. This was in addition to a flurry of allegations of driver misbehaviour with women passengers.

In June this year, a top executive, who obtained the medical records of a woman passenger who had been raped by a driver contracted to the company during a ride in India, was fired. Eric Alexander, President of Business (Asia Pacific), obtained the documents and showed them to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and SVP Emil Michael. The records were later accessed by numerous other executives at Uber.

Last year, Uber had to sell its China business unit to Didi in a deal valued at US$35 billion, unable to withstand the tough competition.

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