A day-long business summit was held in Melbourne on Saturday to connect South Asian entrepreneurs with Australian entrepreneurs to promote innovation in digital economy, exchange of knowledge and partnership, organisers said in a statement.

More than 300 successful entrepreneurs attended the summit held at the Crown Conference Hall in Melbourne, it said.

It said the main aim of the summit was to help emerging and existing entrepreneurs by bringing together both Australia-based and global leaders, decision makers, global industrialists from major sectors like education, health and wellbeing, digital technology, real estate and property investment.

“South Asia has been experiencing a rapid digital transformation thanks to highly supportive government initiatives, fast development of digital infrastructure, rising consumer class and presence of a strong startup culture. But the potential of the digital economy of this region with almost 25% of the global population is enormous and has remained untapped,” said the statement sent to UNB.

“So, we wanted to bring the entrepreneurs under spotlight,” said organiser Hemi Hossain, a Bangladesh-origin entrepreneur and career coach.

The Australian Academy of Coaching & Leadership in partnership with Digital Entrepreneurs Hub Australia organised the summit.

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Australian politicians Matthew Guy and Jason Wood attended as guests of honour along with Zed Nasheet, director at Zed Real Estate, former professional tennis player Jelena Dokic attended as guest speakers.

Published international authors Hemi Hossain and Kaley Chu, together with property investors like Intaj Khan and Helen Tarrant and international investors took part different sessions.

Also, Ron Malhotra, an award-winning wealth & business specialist and leading mentor to entrepreneurs and executives, spoke on the occasion, the statement said.