SBF elects new chairman, will focus more on internationalisation

SINGAPORE — The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) is looking step up its efforts to help its members to explore overseas opportunities in the coming years, while keeping a close watch on the challenges at home.

This is according to Mr Teo Siong Seng, the newly elected SBF chairman, during the Federation’s annual general meeting today (June 27). He will succeed Mr Tony Chew, who is stepping down after completing a six-year tenure.

“I aim to focus on increasing our members’ reach to external markets, particularly ASEAN, China, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa,” said Mr Teo, who is also a nominated Member of Parliament. “SBF will also continue to advocate for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and help them through restructuring.”

Since its inauguration in 2002, the SBF has grown its membership to 21,000 companies, around 70 per cent of which are SMEs. As these companies come under pressure of the ongoing economic restructuring, the business chamber has been vocal on raising issues of rising business costs and tightening manpower to the government.

Speaking to media ahead of SBF’s AGM, chief executive Mr Ho Meng Kit acknowledged that many of these challenges yet remain.

“We will never let up, we are a members organisation therefore we need to reflect the needs of businesses, and we’ve had success on this front. Many of our budget requests submitted through the SBF-led SME Committee were accepted by the government, including the popular Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) scheme,” he said. “We will continue to pluck at these issues and seek support for our members.”

But increasingly SBF and its members must now move from surviving the restructuring to seeking growth opportunities beyond Singapore, Mr Ho stressed, especially with ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) set to take shape next year.

“Just last month we organised an AEC seminar, which was well participated by our members. Creating awareness for regional opportunities and helping our members network — that’s definitely an agenda item that SBF will look more into going forward,” Mr Ho noted.

Mr Tony Chew agreed, saying: “SBF can help members tap these opportunities through its overseas MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) partners and by advocating for our businesses in key overseas markets. So I hope to see more of our members taking part in our programmes, seminars and networking sessions.”

Elected as chairman in 2008, Mr Chew helped grow SBF into Singapore’s apex business chamber that offered 550 events to 74,500 participants in last year alone. In 2013, SBF also launched the SBF Foundation, which will support businesses in raising the skills and wages of low income employees. As part of it efforts to help members venture overseas, the NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies was also established last year.

Reflecting on his tenure, Mr Chew said: “No matter what we do, we can always do more. But for me, it’s been a satisfying experience. We’ve just started — SBF is just 12 years old, and there’s a lot more to be done. The SBF journey is ongoing, and one that will go through many generations.”