:00:00. > :00:00.At least two suspects are being hunted.
:00:00. > :00:15.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:16. > :00:23.The US Federal Reserve is set for its next meeting. What can be
:00:24. > :00:29.expected from the Central Bank? Nailed it. How one of Singapore's
:00:30. > :00:34.entrepreneurs set up a business empire. Good morning, Asia. Hello,
:00:35. > :00:41.world. Welcome to another edition of Asia Business Report. I'm Rico
:00:42. > :00:46.Hizon. It's a Tuesday. Glad you could join us. We start off with the
:00:47. > :00:51.US Federal Reserve and its meeting in Washington on Tuesday. It is not
:00:52. > :00:57.expected to move interest rates but investors will watch for clues about
:00:58. > :01:00.the next rate hike. There is a backdrop of political uncertainty
:01:01. > :01:06.with tensions running high between the US and North Korea. I spoke to
:01:07. > :01:15.our guest in Sydney to see what he was expecting. Two more rate hikes
:01:16. > :01:18.this year are on the cards. What they have become good at in the last
:01:19. > :01:22.few years is signalling its intention down the road. There has
:01:23. > :01:25.been an interesting shift away from talking about just the rate hike to
:01:26. > :01:29.actually talking about its balance sheet. We will see a lot of
:01:30. > :01:35.speculation today and in the next few weeks about what it is going to
:01:36. > :01:39.do with this massive balance sheet worth about $1 trillion, and how it
:01:40. > :01:45.will unwind that. If we think about this year, a rate hike at the start
:01:46. > :01:49.of the year, one in the middle, one near the end, that is three we think
:01:50. > :01:53.will happen this year. But on the table in the second half of the year
:01:54. > :01:56.it will start focusing markets on what it is going to do about
:01:57. > :02:00.reducing the scale of that balance sheet. That will be slight monetary
:02:01. > :02:04.tightening as well. Bite for this particular meeting, there seems to
:02:05. > :02:12.be no impetus for a rate hike, because inflation slowed in March.
:02:13. > :02:18.-- but. There is also weak US factory activity. That is the latest
:02:19. > :02:24.data. Remember, what the Fed, and in fact, any US bank does, is they have
:02:25. > :02:32.to look 12- 18 months down the road. They have the gas in fact written
:02:33. > :02:37.how much of Trump's spending stimulus and tax cuts are going to
:02:38. > :02:43.get through. We see the data and a drop back in inflation. You have to
:02:44. > :02:48.assume there is going to be enough inflationary force in the market
:02:49. > :02:52.early in 2018. That is what will guide them in their decision-making.
:02:53. > :02:58.Richard in Sydney. In Australia, take a look at these. They are
:02:59. > :03:03.called smashed avos. In Mexico, guacamole. Wherever you are, these
:03:04. > :03:09.avocados are getting more expensive. Prices have more than doubled last
:03:10. > :03:13.year. That is due to a lack of supply in America. Demand is
:03:14. > :03:19.surging. What has led to these surging popularity of avocados? We
:03:20. > :03:25.spoke to a restaurant and bar operator in Singapore. It definitely
:03:26. > :03:31.is. Look at the entirety of Singapore and restaurants. Five
:03:32. > :03:35.years ago, there were maybe five Mexican restaurants. Now there are
:03:36. > :03:39.20. There are chains. People are more aware of what avocado can do
:03:40. > :03:43.for you with health benefits. There are many young families in Singapore
:03:44. > :03:49.and it is good for your kids. It is out there and in demand to bite we
:03:50. > :03:55.will break down the nutrients. What makes it a healthy fruit? It has way
:03:56. > :03:58.more potassium than bananas. That used to be the free people would eat
:03:59. > :04:04.for potassium. It creates electricity in your brain. I needed
:04:05. > :04:11.that this morning. It definitely helps you. It has a lot of Vitamin B
:04:12. > :04:24.and C and one saturated fats, the ones that are healthy. --
:04:25. > :04:28.monosaturated. Why are they surging? People are wanting more. The same
:04:29. > :04:33.reason people it fruit and meat. They think it is healthy for them.
:04:34. > :04:39.They think it is beneficial for them. You can eat it healthily and
:04:40. > :04:45.unhealthily. I usually chop it into two and put condensed milk around
:04:46. > :04:50.it. Healthy viewers will not like that. It is exactly that to be back
:04:51. > :04:55.in Australia where I used to live, London, anywhere, people put
:04:56. > :04:59.something unhealthy next to something healthy. If you have beans
:05:00. > :05:04.and sausages but it would avocado on it, you feel healthy afterwards.
:05:05. > :05:13.Either coming from Mexico or the united dates? There are two. The one
:05:14. > :05:26.from California, has, it has a beautiful colour. Fuerta is much
:05:27. > :05:29.smaller. Do you think avocado prices will continue to rise? Definitely.
:05:30. > :05:36.With the way people eat them, I would say they will go up. A
:05:37. > :05:49.restaurant and bar operator in Singapore. Indonesian President Joko
:05:50. > :05:53.Widodo received a welcome from the Indonesian community, many of whom
:05:54. > :05:59.are migrant workers, to talk about economics. The Indonesian president,
:06:00. > :06:04.Joko Widodo, has gone to Hong Kong to drum up business. The tycoons in
:06:05. > :06:22.the city have long been investing in the most populous Muslim nation.
:06:23. > :06:28.Joko Widodo wants more. I hope that this will increase benefits. He also
:06:29. > :06:32.invited mainland Chinese companies to expand operations in his country.
:06:33. > :06:38.China was Indonesia's third-largest investor last year, followed closely
:06:39. > :06:43.by Hong Kong. Ties between Indonesia and Hong Kong already run deep. On
:06:44. > :06:47.the first day of the trip, Joko Widodo was given a rockstar welcome
:06:48. > :06:57.by thousands of his countrymen and women. More than 150,000 Indonesia
:06:58. > :07:01.is work domestically in Hong Kong. -- Indonesians. They work hard to
:07:02. > :07:06.improve the economy back home. I hope when we return back to
:07:07. > :07:10.Indonesia we can find work so we don't have to stay here for so long.
:07:11. > :07:13.During the event, a small group of Labour activists demonstrated
:07:14. > :07:17.outside, asking Joko Widodo not to forget the plight of domestic
:07:18. > :07:22.workers overseas, even as he sought to increase business relations
:07:23. > :07:29.between Hong Kong, China, and Indonesia. How do you go from just
:07:30. > :07:36.one spa in a small Singapore suburb to running more than 100 spas
:07:37. > :07:42.throughout all in the world. She credits tenacity and passion for her
:07:43. > :07:46.business empire that spans not only Singapore, but also in London,
:07:47. > :07:52.Shanghai, New York, and elsewhere. Sharanjit Leyl caught up with her.
:07:53. > :07:59.Thank you very much, Cynthia, for inviting us into your spa. We will
:08:00. > :08:03.get a manicure done while we do this interview. Tell us how you got on to
:08:04. > :08:11.this business. I have a really short stay in banking. I found the 9-5
:08:12. > :08:19.hours and arable. There were several options I was exploring. OK,
:08:20. > :08:24.childcare, a nurse, a day spa. I felt this was something I wanted to
:08:25. > :08:29.pursue. That is how it all got started. You are now in other cities
:08:30. > :08:33.beyond Singapore. London, New York, Shanghai, multiple other cities as
:08:34. > :08:38.well. What was the reason you went abroad? I think every city is very
:08:39. > :08:43.different in a way. For example, going to China, you would think
:08:44. > :08:50.going to China would be easier than London or New York. But there was
:08:51. > :08:55.such a stigma in China. Product registration is extremely difficult.
:08:56. > :08:59.Just to get the products registered before you could even have your
:09:00. > :09:05.products, you know, used in your salon,
:09:06. > :09:13.retail, it was difficult. Labour laws. It was very difficult. And
:09:14. > :09:18.then the compliance, you know, in terms of taxation, filing off
:09:19. > :09:23.accounting, licensing of beauty treatments. There were many things
:09:24. > :09:27.that were very difficult. I think that in every city you want to go
:09:28. > :09:31.into, it takes almost three years to learn something. That is about
:09:32. > :09:36.right. Someone said if you have to be good at something, you need to
:09:37. > :09:40.invest about 1000 hours. It is never easy. We have just come from your
:09:41. > :09:47.spa to one of your restaurants just down the road which is quite an
:09:48. > :09:53.unusual concept. This is a big garden community. And now we are
:09:54. > :09:59.going to the cafes. From spas to restaurants to cafes. How hard was
:10:00. > :10:04.that transition? At first it was fun, from beauty to food. But once
:10:05. > :10:08.you get into the kitchen and all of that, recruitment, it gets tough.
:10:09. > :10:16.But I think there is no shortcut ever. I think having it right smack
:10:17. > :10:20.in the city is different. That is the entire journey of how I got
:10:21. > :10:29.every little step got me a successful entrepreneur from
:10:30. > :10:38.Singapore. The markets. The Nikkei is up but the Lord's is down. -- All
:10:39. > :10:39.Ords. Thank you for investing your time with us. I am Rico