#FridayFive from the Executive Director: 27 September 2024

Hello everyone – here is my #FridayFive (which didn’t post on Friday) from the British Chamber of Commerce Singapore (BritCham) covering last week and a bit of the week before.

1.  BISEA: I was delighted to host the Britain in South East Asia | BiSEA CEOs from the #British Chambers of Commerce across the region. We had very productive sessions, and with the region being so important for UK business, the network available to UK companies looking to ASEAN or new markets is extremely strong. Matt Ryland Jennifer Lopez Ian Fox Andrew MILLAR Chris Wren Greg Watkins MBE - we also visited the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore (URA) to see the next stages of Singapore's development and construction.
Thank you to Richard Bradshaw 理查·布德潇 and his brilliant colleagues at Ethos BeathChapman for hosting us all at a member networking event at their fab office space on Thursday, and to Rhiannon Harries for her morning briefing to the team. We concluded our conference with a networking reception at HMTC Martin Kent's residence. Thank you Martin for capping off a great couple of days. 🌏 🤝

2.   BCC Board Meeting: I was back in London for a British Chambers of Commerce Board meeting. It is always great to connect with my colleagues in the UK and across the network, supporting the voice and opportunities for British business both there, and across the international markets. The wonderful Liz Willingham arranged a few hours of music and singing. 🏛 🎹

3.  Philippines: I had the pleasure of meeting up with one of my regional colleagues, Chris Nelson, CEO of the British Chamber of Commerce Philippines in London as we talked about regional connectivity, what both of our chambers were up to, and some of the successes across the network. Did you know the main destination of pig meat exports from the UK are China, France and the Philippines? 🇵🇭 🇬🇧

4.  ESG and East of England: I had the pleasure of catching up with the sustainability team at Howden in London, and look forward to reconnecting with their team in Singapore. Also brilliant to catch up with Steven Lynch MBE from the Eastern Powerhouse, who also Chairs the Institute of Directors (IoD)’s China group in London too. Great to connect again and talk about export opportunities for companies in the East of England. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏭

5.  Small World: I love how connected our network is, and it was brilliant to catch-up with my previous President, Damian Adams after his move back to the UK from Singapore. Great to down tools, put the world to rights, and plan how we can collectively support the opportunities between the UK and Singapore/ASEAN. And, had the pleasure of also catching up with Janelle Gavin who was also back in the UK. 🫶 📶

Hope you have had a couple of good weeks and look forward to seeing you soon.