How this S’porean became a technopreneur in Hawai‘i and consultant to Bhutan

Singapore Global Network profiled Dr. Loretta Chen, tracing the route from Singapore’s entertainment scene — actor, emcee, radio presenter and theatre director — to a technology company run from Honolulu.

The turn came at a Singapore International Foundation event, where she was urged to consult for Druk Holding and Investments, roughly Bhutan’s equivalent of Temasek, training senior executives in marketing, leadership and presentation. She was handpicked by then DHI chair Lyonpo Om Pradhan. “I was just so taken with a country that has such a deep understanding of compassion and empathy,” she says. “All the buzzwords that we use today, like DEI and ESG, the country was already living them.”

Bhutan made her want a slower place to live; Hawai‘i, where she moved in 2014, became it. She found the spirit of aloha close to Bhutan’s philosophy of happiness, and the nature and architecture strangely familiar. She lectured at the University of Hawai‘i in performing arts, peacebuilding and entrepreneurship, and now lives in Hawai‘i Kai minutes from the ocean, with 23 cats and ten more who visit for meals.

In 2020 a former staff member approached her to co-found Smobler. She based the company in Singapore, where she could rely on her networks, the tech scene and a stable regulatory environment: “There was no rule book in the Web3 space during COVID, so my one anchor was Singapore.” It has since gone global, partnering with Airbus, PwC and Republic of Gamers and operating across Asia, North America, Latin America and Europe.

The studio has been building virtual twins of cities and countries — Bhutanverse launched in 2023 with DHI’s InnoTech department, and Cobbleland: Austin was unveiled at SXSW 2024 with Mayor Kirk Watson. At the end of 2023 Chen was named one of ten finalists, and the only one from Southeast Asia, for the UBS Female Founder Award.

The piece ends on the tension she lives inside: a founder is meant to strive constantly, while Hawai‘i and Bhutan taught her what enough looks like. “By taking the spirit of Hawaii and Bhutan and throwing in the tech savviness of Singapore, I find myself curiously living this Web3 ethos.”