Toyoyuki "Toyo" Ushioda

Toyoyuki did not begin his career with a clear ambition to become a global finance leader. Growing up near Tokyo, his early interests leaned toward music rather than business. Influenced by a father who worked as a sound engineer on weekends and relatives involved in creative industries, Toyoyuki once imagined a future far from spreadsheets and boardrooms. While he performed reasonably well academically, he deliberately avoided elite universities and conventional career paths, choosing instead to study international law at a less prestigious institution and devote much of his energy to creative pursuits.

That choice came with consequences. Upon graduation, Toyoyuki had no job lined up and worked part-time in a restaurant while holding on to the idea of a musical career. Within a year, reality set in. Letting go of that dream was difficult, but it created space for something unexpected: an interest in English and cross-cultural communication.

Toyoyuki had disliked English throughout school, but a university assignment that required interviewing foreigners on the street became a turning point. For the first time, language felt like a bridge rather than an exam subject. He asked his parents for one year abroad to study English. With limited means, he chose Dublin, deliberately avoiding destinations with large Japanese communities. Living as a visible outsider forced him to adapt quickly and built a level of resilience that would later shape his professional identity.

After returning to Japan, Toyoyuki joined the Peace Boat as a volunteer translator, using English professionally while traveling the world. It was there that he met his future wife. The experience blended language, travel, and purpose, but it was not a long-term career. When the voyage ended, he relocated to Kyoto and began searching for stable employment.

His first full-time role was in residential real estate, serving expatriates. While the job was unplanned, it proved formative. At just 24, Toyoyuki found himself negotiating with senior executives from multinational companies. He was not particularly interested in real estate itself, but he became increasingly curious about the financial logic behind property investment—especially as foreign capital began flowing into Japan’s traditionally domestic market.

That curiosity led him to GE Capital, where he hoped to move closer to real estate finance. The reality was sobering. He was positioned in a front-line sales role, far from strategic decision-making. When the global financial crisis struck, layoffs followed quickly, and Toyoyuki was among those let go. The experience was humbling and clarifying. He realized that without a distinctive skill set, he was easily replaceable.

Rather than retreat, he recalibrated. While working in property management at Japan Property Solutions, he invested heavily in himself, using his severance package to pursue the USCPA qualification. The job paid the bills; the studying rebuilt his confidence. He negotiated relentlessly with tenants during a difficult market and delivered strong results, but more importantly, he was repositioning himself for a different future.

That opportunity came in 2012, when Toyoyuki joined GLP Japan as the company’s first FP&A hire. It was a rare opening that valued his unusual combination of frontline real estate experience, financial training, and English fluency. With no existing template, he built the role from scratch, becoming a bridge between finance and the business, and between Japan and global headquarters.

His progression was rapid. Responsibilities expanded from FP&A into reporting, treasury, and senior management leadership. He eventually became part of GLP Japan’s executive committee, effectively operating as a de facto Japan CFO. When GLP was privatized and his boss moved into a Group CFO role, Toyoyuki faced another defining decision: remain in Japan on a familiar trajectory or step fully into a global role.

He chose Singapore.

From 2018, Toyoyuki operated at group level with GLP Capital Partners, working across geographies and asset classes on strategy, capital allocation, and financial governance. To strengthen his leadership capabilities, he enrolled in the INSEAD Executive MBA programme, which he completed in 2024. The experience broadened his perspective beyond finance into strategy, leadership, and organisational dynamics, and helped him articulate his value in a global context.

Toyoyuki concluded his chapter at GLP Capital Partners in December 2023. In March 2024, he joined Mapletree as Senior Vice President, Group FP&A and Financial Risk Management, taking on a group-wide role focused on performance management, financial discipline, and risk oversight across a global platform. He remained in this role until August 2025, deepening his exposure to institutional-scale capital management.

Alongside his corporate roles, Toyoyuki steadily expanded his professional portfolio. Since August 2022, he has been active as an angel investor and is also a limited partner in two venture capital funds focused on early-stage startups in Southeast Asia. In January 2024, he founded World Finance Edu, a training organisation focused on advancing practical financial capability for professionals in finance-related roles.

Since August 2025, Toyoyuki has taken on fractional CFO roles, supporting startups and SMEs in Singapore with strategic finance and advisory work. His focus includes financial planning, scenario modelling, and preparing companies for investor discussions and fundraising. He remains open to opportunities involving financial modelling, business planning, and enhancing fundraising readiness—particularly where his cross-border experience and structured thinking can add value.

Looking back, Toyoyuki’s career is anything but linear. Music, language, real estate, finance, and strategy each played a role. What ties the journey together is a consistent pattern: choosing slightly unconventional paths, investing deliberately in differentiation, and moving closer to where value is created.