Orient Issue 47

BRITCHAM ORIENT MAGAZINE

Orient

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE - SINGAPORE

SPECIAL FEATURES

16 SINGAPORE AIRSHOW 21 SIMON SHERWOOD ISSUE 47

ISSN 0219-1245

9 770219 124002

47

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities WWW.BRITCHAM.ORG.SG

ISSUE 47 / FEB–MAR 2014

When you want to get there faster, aim higher It turned out the fastest way to sail across the ocean, was to fly.

At Standard Life we’ve invested time into developing our savings and investment plans to get you where you want to be, quicker. So there’s never been a better time to invest in the future. www.standardlife.sg

Standard Life International Limited (Singapore Branch) is the Singapore branch of Standard Life International Limited and is registered in Singapore (T12FC0118K) at 30 Cecil Street, #26-00 The Prudential Tower, Singapore 049712. Authorised and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a direct life insurer.

Standard Life International Limited is a company registered in Ireland (number 408507) at 90 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2. Standard Life International Limited is authorised and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. www.standardlife.sg © 2013 Standard Life, images reproduced under license.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

4

Contents

07

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

09

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE SPECIAL FEATURE

12

Singapore’s PDPA: Time to Act

17

In Focus: Simon Sherwood

FEATURES 22

The Changing Global Order: The World in 2014

26

The Opportunities and Risks of Investing in Myanmar

30

Singapore: Asia’s Aerospace Hub

36

Creative Thinking

UK TRADE & INVESTMENT 40

Managing Cybersecurity

BUSINESS SERVICES NEWS 44

Business Services Update 2014

AT THE CHAMBER 46

Britain in South East Asia News

48

Business Group News

54

Sterling News

56

Corporate News

62

BritCham New Members

64

Events

76

Events Calendar

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE 78

Commemorating the Life of Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

British Chamber of Commerce, Singapore Sponsors PLATINUM SPONSOR

GOLD AND DIVERSITY SPONSOR

SILVER AND BREAKFAST CLUB SPONSOR

SILVER SPONSORS

GOLD SPONSOR

BRONZE SPONSORS

BRITCHAM BOARD: PRESIDENT: Hugo Walkinshaw: Deloitte Consulting SE Asia VICE-PRESIDENTS: Andrew Vine: The Insight Bureau Peter Allen: Pacific Century Group TREASURER: Dominic Nixon: PricewaterhouseCoopers HONORARY SECRETARY: Damian Adams: Simmons & Simmons BOARD MEMBERS: David Macdonald: Portfolio Builders Andrew Thomas: Ogilvy & Mather Singapore Chris Davie: Rolls-Royce Singapore Chris Kilburn: Watsons, Farley & Williams David Pugh: The Fry Group Ian Williams: HSBC Bank Mark Buchan: Ernst & Young Peter Hatt: Standard Chartered Bank Richard Burn: Diageo Singapore Robert Williams: British Airways

Editor: Vipanchi vipanchi@britcham.org.sg

Orient is a bi-monthly magazine published by the British Chamber of Commerce.

Content Co-ordinator Venges Nathan

© All rights reserved.

138 Cecil Street, #13-03 Cecil Court, Singapore 069538 Tel: +65 6222-3552 Fax: +65 6222-3556 Email: info@britcham.org.sg www.britcham.org.sg

Rudi Geerdink: The Royal Bank of Scotland Sian Brown: Barclays Bank Terence Yuen: BP Singapore Tim Harris: BT Singapore EX-OFFICIO: Judith Slater: British High Commission Roland Davies: British Council BUSINESS GROUP CHAIRPERSONS: Energy & Utilities: Damian Adams Entrepreneur & Small Business: Peter Seligman Financial Services: Gary Haran Doyle IT and Communications Technology: Henry Farahar Leadership: Peter Hatt Creative Industries: Frazer Macdonald Hay Professional Services: Martin Riddett Property & Construction: Richard Warburton Scottish Business Group: Neil Melnnes Shipping Transport & Logistics: Neil Johnson Women in Business: Sian Brown Young Professionals: Miles Gooseman

The views and opinions expressed or implied in Orient are those of the authors or contributors and do not reflect those of the British Chamber of Commerce, its officers or editorial staff.

No reproduction of articles without the prior permission of the Chamber.

Unsolicited transparencies and articles are sent at owner’s own risk and the

Chamber accepts no liability for loss or damage. Copy is not for sale and images belong to their respective owners. They are for illustrative purposes only, and no copyright infringement is intended.

Sub-edited, designed and printed by: NOVUS CONTENT. DI G I TAL. PUBLI SH ING.

www.novusasia.com

Contact: Simon Cholmeley simonc@novusasia.com Design: Kevin Ong kevinong@novusasia.com Khairunnisa khai@novusasia.com Sub Editors: Chua Kim Beng kimbeng@novusasia.com Iliyas Ong iliyas@novusasia.com Creative Services: Kwan Gek Lian gek@novusasia.com

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

7

President’s Message

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Dear members, Happy New Year to you all and best wishes for a healthy and prosperous Year of Horse!

As you may already be aware, 2014 marks a significant milestone for all of us as we celebrate the Chamber’s 60th Anniversary. We will be looking back at our history and growth since the Chamber, then known as the United Kingdom Manufacturers Representatives Association, was founded in 1954, and how the journey has brought us to our current position of being a core part of a robust Singapore–UK business landscape. I encourage you to participate in the events that are planned throughout 2014, and for those of you who would like to play a more prominent role in our celebrations, please take note of the 60th Anniversary Sponsorship Packages which provide increased exposure and branding throughout the year in the Chamber’s communication platforms and events.

Our already excellent cooperation with UKTI and the High Commission has taken another step forward with the launch of our Business Services for UK SMEs late last year, and I am pleased to announce that we are now up and running and have already provided research services to several organisations looking to invest in Singapore. We are currently working towards being formally accredited by the British Chambers of Commerce UK, and hope to be the first overseas Chamber to receive this accreditation, which will further reinforce our credibility as a business services provider. Our relationships with other business organisations and government groups in Singapore remain strong and productive.

Hugo Walkinshaw

President, British Chamber of Commerce

The sustained support from our sponsors is an integral part of our success, and it is with great pleasure that I can confirm our key sponsors have continued to engage us in 2014. This allows us to bring a wide variety of opportunities for our members to learn and network through our business groups and events, and I am very grateful to those organisations who continue to support us.

I am delighted to share that the Patron’s Award, which is nominated and presented annually by the British High Commissioner at the Sterling Members & Sponsors Dinner, was this year presented to Damian Adams. Damian, who has been actively involved in the Chamber since 2004, has contributed significantly in his capacity as a Board member, Chamber Secretary, Chairperson for the Energy & Utilities Business Group and as a founding member of the young chamber group. He has also invested significant time in guiding our Executive Committee from a legal perspective as we have developed our governance framework and Chamber charter. It has been a pleasure working with Damian over the years, and I would like to formally congratulate him on his Award.

I would also like to add my heartfelt congratulations to Steve Puckett, our former President, on being awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list, Steve was formally nominated for his contribution towards UK––Singapore business growth during his time with the Chamber, but those of you that have spent time with him will know his immense capacity for charitable work and giving back to the community, and this honour is as much a reflection of the time and effort he has put into that as it is his hard work over the years with the Chamber. Again, I would like to add my formal congratulations to Steve for this tremendous accolade, and we all wish him well for his trip to Buckingham Palace in the summer to receive his OBE…!

On the home front, the Chamber infrastructure has continued to develop over the past year, with new faces in the management team and a major overhaul of our technology platform coming your way by the end of March. Please look out for the launch of the new website, and make every effort to meet the Chamber team at upcoming events or at the Chamber office.

I wish you all well, and I look forward to seeing you in the coming weeks at our various Chamber events.

Best Regards,

I like to check on my patients and help them get better. Every week our dress-up corner is set up for something new. It’s so much fun, maybe one day I’ll be a real doctor!

Stamford is a world class school for students from 2 years old through High School. The Nursery Program combines play, culture and the roots of structured learning and features a daily Mandarin and Spanish Foreign Language Program.

Register for our Open House at www.sais.edu.sg

+65 6602 7247

www.sais.edu.sg

Stamford American International School CPE Registration Number: 200823594D Period of Registration: August 10, 2010 to August 9, 2014

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

9

Executive Director’s Message

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Dear members, I hope you had a good start in 2014, the Year of the Wood Horse!

Astrologers say that “a Wood Horse year is a time of fast victories and unexpected adventures; energy is high and production is rewarded. Decisive action, not procrastination, brings victory.

But you have to act fast in a Horse year. If you are not 100% secure about a decision, then don’t do it. Events move so quickly in a Horse year that you don’t want to gallop off in the wrong direction.” Sounds exciting and promising!

Your Chamber has kicked off the annual programme with a couple of regular networking and engagement events in January and is gearing up for a very active year, determined to continue to grow the membership and to provide frequent, useful and relevant member connect activities throughout the year.

We recently hosted the Sterling and Sponsors dinner, our annual event to thank our Sterling members and Sponsors for their continuous engagement and support. This year, we were fortunate to welcome as our guests two official visitors from the UK, Minister for Transport Stephen Hammond and Mathew Rycroft, COO of the Foreign Commonwealth Office.

Brigitte Holtschneider

Executive Director, British Chamber of Commerce, Singapore

The agenda for activities commemorating the 60th Anniversary is firming up: • Since January 01, you see the special anniversary logo on all our collaterals and communication. The logo has been developed with BBH’s great creative input; a big thank you to the team around Charles, John and Frances!

• The new, improved website will be launched at the end of Quarter One • A special celebration evening will be hosted on April 22 where we will invite external stakeholders from the Singapore community and members who are contributing with their input and time as Board members, Committee Chairs, Committee members, Business Group Chairs and Business Group core members • The Anniversary ORIENT will be published in August and we are working with our member Novus on a very special issue, which we plan to launch at a member party–– another occasion to come together and celebrate • The 15th Annual Business Awards Gala Dinner will be hosted on the October 01, with guests and a programme that will highlighting the importance of the 60-year milestone • The BritCham Anniversary Ball in December will round up this special year in the history of your Chamber!

We have created some very attractive sponsorship packages for companies, big and small, to support and help commemorating the occasion offering an on-going presence throughout the year. If you are interested, please contact me at Brigitte@britcham.org.sg.

I am happy to report good progress in the Chamber’s new line of business, Business Services.

Business Services Manager Jennifer Hainsworth, on board since July 2013, is now actively supporting UK SMEs who are looking at investing in or trading with Singapore. Jenny conducted the first webinar with members from the Liverpool Chamber on January 30 and hosted two incoming missions in February. For any further updates please log on to www.britcham.org.sg.

I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.

Best wishes,

Britain – nothing plain in sight Now flying 14 times a week from Singapore to London Heathrow Terminal 5, the home of British Airways.

For more information visit ba.com

1. TEA Also English for water. 2. STONEHENGE Was it druids, greeks or aliens? Its history shrouded in mystery makes it so appealing. 3. ROYAL GUARD We dare you to make a royal guard laugh. 4. PHONE BOOTH Once used for phone calls. Now used for photoshoots. 5. RIVER THAMES All that London rain has to go somewhere! 6. DOUBLE-DECKER BUS Hop on, hop off! You have not seen London till you have been on top. 7. NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Like an antique shop. Only nothing is for sale. 8. ABBEY ROAD Home of UK’s most frequently stolen street sign. 9. PUB Museums of the neighbourhood. 10. FISH & CHIPS Today’s catch in yesterday’s paper. 11. PIE The best thing to put in an English pie is your teeth. 12. OXFORD STREET You have been there in Monopoly. Now see the real thing. 13. BIG BEN The bell in the grandfather of grandfather clocks. 14. BUCKINGHAM PALACE One prince still up for grabs.

15. WEMBLEY STADIUM A cathedral of football and music. 16. THE TUBE Mind the Gap! 17. 30 ST MARY AXE Or the gherkin, as Londoners like to call it.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

11

Sterling Members

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

SINGAPORE

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

12

Special Feature

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Singapore’s PDPA: Time to Act

By Philip Chong Do you receive anonymous calls or mailers for things you don’t sign up for? Annoying, right? But are you sure your company is not doing the same to other people?

T

he first tenets of Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) came into force from January 2013 and gave organisations 18 months to comply; now, during 2014, the Do-Not-Call (DNC) provisions (already enforced from January 02) and related rights for individuals will be enforced and companies need to familiarise themselves with what this involves.

Personal data is defined as data – whether true or not – about an individual (living or deceased) who can be identified from that data alone or from that data and other information to which the organisation has or is likely to have access. This can include electronic and non-electronic data, including email addresses and phone numbers. It is

not restricted to information on customers and targets – it also applies to employee personal data held within your business.

However, business contact information is excluded from the data protection requirements of the PDPA, except for the requirements of the DNC registry.

This includes the individual’s name, position, business telephone number, business address and business email address. Essentially, these are not considered personal data – as long as the details were given for business purposes rather than personal.

This doesn’t mean that any data you have has to be erased or approval received from every recipient: for example, if you have

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

14

personal data collected prior to the effective date of the data protection rules, you can continue to use this for the reasonable purposes for which it was collected – but you cannot for instance use it for direct marketing if it was collected originally for a different purpose.

Everyone in Singapore is affected by the regulations: in particular, listed and private companies, partnerships, and charities must adhere. The consequences for noncompliance include financial penalties up to $1mn, criminal prosecution and potentially lawsuits. Companies using cloud services should be aware that it is they who are responsible for compliance, not the cloud service provider.

What can you do to protect your organisation?

Firstly, perform an impact assessment. Assess which parts of your business have access to data and how they use it and determine

Special Feature: Singapore’s PDPA: Time to Act

which internal processes need to be reviewed and which marketing approaches need to be remodelled.

Once you have evaluated the actions required, you can develop a data privacy and protection framework/programme, which you can implement relatively quickly.

The framework should include an incident response plan to address DNC-related complaints, a process for conducting DNC registry checks (including setting up a DNC account) and an overall governance framework. If your organisation does not have one already, you may consider appointing a Data Protection Officer.

To protect yourselves going forward, companies may arrange training and awareness programs for staff to ensure that they follow the regulations and understand what they can and cannot do, and to set up regular monitoring and periodic reviews to ensure ongoing compliance.

Assess which parts of your business have access to data and how they use it and determine which internal processes need to be reviewed and which marketing approaches need to be remodelled.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

The Nine PDPA obligations:

By the end of this process, you should be able to confirm compliance with key obligations of the PDPA, including: • Designation of one or more individual responsible for compliance with PDPA; • Implementation of policies and practices to meet obligations under PDPA; • Implementation of data protection processes; and • Communication to inform staff about the organisation’s policies and practices.

sufficient resources. Given the significant penalties and potential brand damage caused by violations, it may be best to get an expert opinion and ensure that your company complies from day one.

For many organisations, compliance with the PDPA will represent a significant challenge for which they may not have

About the Author Philip Chong is an Executive Director in the Enterprise Risk Services practice of Deloitte Singapore. He has over 27 years of experience in the information technology industry. He currently

leads the Technology Risk practice in Deloitte Southeast Asia comprising 150 professionals who provide sinformation technology as well as financial and risk management consulting services.

• Consent: Only collect/use/ disclose personal data with individual’s consent • Purpose limitation: Only collect/use/disclose for the purpose for which consent was given • Notification: Notify the individual of those purposes • Access & Correction: On request, give the individual the data and information on how it has been used • Accuracy: Ensure data is accurate and complete • Protection: Make reasonable security arrangements to protect data • Retention limitation: Cease retention of data once it no longer serves business/legal purposes • Transfer limitation: Only transfer data to another country in compliance with both nations’ regulations or ensure comparable standards of protection overseas before transferring • Openness: On request, provide information on your data protection policies, practices and complaints process

#Inspirational

[in·spi·ra·tional] {adj} Creates the desire to be exceptional. http://tts.edu.sg #tts

“Tanglin Trust School is a hive of learning that is both inspirational and exceptional… everything stems from the excellent relationships between staff and students.”

In January, Tanglin’s Senior School was again awarded Outstanding, the highest possible grade, in the British Schools Overseas (BSO) inspection, recognised by Ofsted. In addition to high standards and achievement, the inspectors commended the school’s strong pastoral focus and the enthusiasm of students for their learning.

Tanglin Trust School has over 88 years of experience and tradition in delivering a high quality education to students aged 3 to 18. The English National Curriculum is tailored to the context of South East Asia. A Level and International Baccalaureate Diploma pathways are available post 16 years. t: +65 6778 0771 | e: admissions@tts.edu.sg | w: www.tts.edu.sg British–based learning with an international perspective

Tanglin Trust School – CPE Registration No.: 196100114C Period of Registration: 7th June 2011 to 6th June 2017

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

17

In Focus

In Focus: Simon Sherwood With a one-way ticket, a small suitcase and a Filofax, Simon Sherwood arrived in Singapore to set up what would eventually become one of the most successful ad agencies on the island: BBH. Vipanchi gets insights from BBH’s global CEO.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

18

BBH’s mantra is “When the world zigs, zag.” How did BBH “zag” into Asia?

We took an interesting decision to come here when we decided to open our second office in the mid-1990s. Most agencies were heading to North America but we didn’t. We decided to come to Asia. We thought, perhaps naively, that one office in Asia would cover the whole region. We didn’t really know what “region” was.

We’ve been working with clients who had regional headquarters here. They helped us define a region that went from India to across Japan and down to Australia. So, roughly the middle was Singapore. But there were some discussions around where we should set up our office. I figured that if we’re only going to have one office, it should be somewhere that is easy to get in and out of. So Singapore it was.

How did you go about setting up the office?

I was running the London office then and I flew down on a one-way ticket, a suitcase, a Filofax and a strategy. That was it. That was absolutely what we had. There was

In Focus: Simon Sherwood, BBH

nothing at all. I moved into a service apartment, a building called The Ascott along Scotts Road then. In the morning, I used to stick a little sign on the front of BBH and, in the evening, I’d take it down. I hired a full-timer and a parttimer initially. My team and I worked there all day and after they left, I’d go to the other room and that was it. That was my office and my home for the first three months.

made their ads, we placed the media, we did all the kinds of analysis as to whether the advertising was working or not – we did the whole thing. And then it got separated into specialist industries and categories, and now it’s coming together again. So, to me it is almost an unrecognisable business. The essence remains the same: brands need to communicate through the expression of ideas that people can relate to.

During that time, we did some hiring and found our first office space at Duxton Hill. It was a very nice shophouse which we rented a part of. In the end, we took over the whole place obviously. So that was how it started. That was in 1996, a long time ago.

But you know, back in those days and beyond, it was a simpler business. I mean, there weren’t many choices of media channels. So we either made print ads or made films for our clients, and then you sit down in the beginning of the year and agreed to what needed to be done. That was it.

Compared to then, how has the advertising industry transformed?

When I started working in this business 35 years ago, ad agencies did everything for their clients. So we did all the research for them, we did new product development for them, we

I used to make an ad film and then, three months after it aired, you’d work out whether it worked or not. Now you can work out in about three minutes whether it’s working and change it if need be.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

We now need different kinds of skills and different kinds of people. Multiple channels, different kinds of real-time adjustments, analytics and data have become critical.

What is your take on new media and access to data?

We don’t have that data. We don’t own it, we don’t collect it and we don’t manage it. But we need to be able to interpret it in order to make it useful as a basis for establishing creative platforms for the brands we work with.

Today, media companies are the ones who own large amounts of data. There’s a huge value in that data and this is what clients are buying. Since traditional agencies like ours don’t have access to this data, they tend to be excluded in parts of the journey. But the key thing to note is that media companies are trying to move towards us because, having gone through this period of massive segmentation, consolidation is taking place. So we need to make sure that we

have the ability to understand, interpret and use that kind of data.

What then will help creative agencies stay competitive in today’s market?

It’s a land grab out there because everyone is competing for the available revenue and everyone is trying to get a share of your competitors’ revenue. What clients have done is divide up their revenue pie to ever smaller slices, and the slices we get are getting smaller. We are therefore competing with shrinking revenue and, just for economic survival, agencies tend to operate in the adjacent segments as well as the one we’re in.

That said, I still believe that if you have ideas that make brands powerful and desirable, you can weather the changing markets and economy.

How do brands typically react to recession?

We are talking about an industry that is only about 60 or 70 years old since the advent of commercial television, which is

something that happened in the middle of the 20th century. So through the recessions in the last 60 or 70 years, of which I’ve worked for 35 years, I have been through three or four. Clients have learnt that actually reducing their investment in their brand is not necessarily good for their long-term health. And yes, you can take short-term measures, you can pull back your funds, you can cancel your support.

However, big multi-national companies like Unilever actually go, “This is the time to invest more” because we can really steal a march in our competition.

Comapre to MNCs, how do SMEs regard advertising and branding?

Most companies of that nature that I have come across have been very entrepreneurial. They are normally founded by people who have an idea to set up a business and have a very strong point of view about their idea and their business. Also, they provide the kind of inspiration for the business and the leadership. However, they can be quite difficult to work with or collaborate with

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

20

In Focus: Simon Sherwood, BBH

Our business is changing, and supporting ideas, keeping them alive and creating an environment that can contribute to more ideas is really challenging in a creative business. because they don’t necessarily want to hear about the direction someone else thinks they should go and what they would do. But other times, they would take on external input and advice.

As a global CEO of an organisation that sells ideas, how do you channel and streamline all the creativity that spews in different tangents?

A lot of creativity exists in the company, but only some of it is used to create advertising ideas for clients. So that’s part of the inefficiency of our business.

It’s the people who think the way you think or creative people think. A lot of that energy in creativity is wasted. The challenge is to find different ways of applying it. We have tried in the past to be entrepreneurial about how we run a business in order to capture more of that kind of value that we can create.

It’s always a challenge to work in an environment where power of the idea is the most important thing. However, our business is changing, and supporting ideas, keeping them alive and creating an environment that can contribute

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

to more ideas is really challenging in a creative business. Yes, it can be a bit chaotic, but we have quite a lot of processes in place that are there to try and channel those ideas the right way.

What was your first campaign that you worked on?

When I started working, I joined an agency in London called DDB in 1979. The first client I worked on was Volkswagen. Someone dug up this little fact on how Volkswagen was the number one imported car in Japan. At the time, Japan was exporting most of their cars and they were flooding European markets. Everyone was buying Nissans and Toyotas. In essence, Japan imported very few cars and Volkswagen was number one.

So this was the first commercial I worked on, which later became a very famous piece of advertising that existed in the late 1970s early 1980s. The commercial had a Japanese presenter talking about how the reason why Volkswagen is the

number one imported car is because they are so tough. And from the top of the screen, a Volkswagen Golf would drop onto the ground, and he would get in it and drive it off. This became a very famous piece of advertising in the UK, and that was the first thing I worked on.

Share with us your recent campaigns.

One really interesting and innovative campaign we did last year was for Axe Apollo. It was based on the idea that girls can’t resist astronauts. It was a competition to send people into space – “leave a man and return a hero” We won tons of prizes apart from the coveted Cannes effectiveness Grand Prix.

This multi-channel campaign generated a large-scale awareness with over one million views and more than half a million people participating in more than 50 markets. So in terms of scale, numbers and the sheer audaciousness the idea that a body spray will actually end up sending a man into space was a big thing.

What is your favourite part about building a campaign?

There are two high points when you develop a campaign. The first is when you actually present it and the idea is to climb.

And they go, “Love it, let’s do it.” You can’t beat that as a kind of high you get from this business. And the second thing is it takes quite a long time to create something and when you actually see it finished, that’s another kind of “Wow” moment.

Sometimes I forget why I went into this business in the first place and then occasionally you have these moments and you know that’s why.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

22

Feature

The Changing Global Order: The World in 2014

By Johnathan Wood

All good forecasts, particularly in the complex realm of global political and security risk, have a solid historical foundation and learn from past outcomes. This RiskMap 2014 outlook draws on a decade of risk analysis to identify underlying trends and assess how they are likely to evolve.

Looking Back: 2003-13

The 10 years from 2003 to 2013 were bracketed by the invasion of Iraq and US withdrawal from Afghanistan, enlargement of the EU and the eurozone crisis, SARS in East Asia and a similar outbreak in the Middle East, the relinquishment of chemical weapons by Libya and their use in Syria, and the decision to build a nuclear bomb in North Korea and renewed negotiations to preclude the possibility in Iran.

It was a decade of unprecedented opportunity and historic shifts of capital from the advanced to the developing world, tempered by rapidly evolving threats, a new emphasis on transparency and accountability, and rising concern about the sustainability of the post-war liberal democratic world order. With these shifts introducing unprecedented complexity and uncertainty into global affairs, managing security and political risks became more directly relevant to how companies do business.

Despite the fluid security and political environment of the last 10 years, business thrived as opportunities appeared in fast-growing emerging and developing economies. Since 2003, emerging and developing countries’ share of nominal global output has doubled, from 20% to 40%. Nominal output in emerging Asia alone, powered

by China, has increased by 700%, surpassing that of the eurozone in 2012.

As a result, by 2013, the proportion of global output generated by countries at medium or high political and security risk had more than doubled. Our data also suggest that this is largely because of faster growth in medium and high-risk countries, rather than increased risk in key economies. These trends are likely to persist in 2014.

Looking Forward: 2014 and Beyond

These trends place the world in a novel situation. The last time the current set of emerging and developing countries –

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Emerging markets is increasingly a misnomer. After 10 or more years of torrid growth, leading emerging and developing economies are highly globally integrated, and increasingly liberalised and competitive.

China, India, Brazil, Turkey and so on – had such weight in the global economy was probably in the late 19th century, under radically different social, political and geopolitical circumstances. Charting the risk landscape ahead therefore requires identifying and assessing how these fundamental economic shifts are likely to play out for security and political risk.

The mass social protests since 2011 – including the Arab spring, Occupy and Indignados movements, and antigovernment unrest in Turkey, Brazil and Bulgaria – reflect how economic change has greatly outpaced political change during the emerging market era. Rising middle classes, armed with the trappings and ambitions of technological modernity, remain saddled with antiquated, opaque, inefficient and frequently corrupt governments and bureaucracies.

However, emerging-market growth models are under pressure. Before the financial crisis, they relied on debt-fuelled consumption by the US and other Western countries. Since the crisis, growth has floated on a flood of cheap money, courtesy of rock-bottom interest rates in the US and Europe, and generous fiscal and financial stimuli at home. Moreover, emerging markets are still too reliant on relatively narrow bases of economic activity: manufactured exports, cheap credit and domestic investment in China; high oil and gas prices in the Gulf, Middle East and Russia; and mineral and agricultural

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

24

Feature: The Changing Global Order: The World in 2014 commodity demand in South America.

These sources of growth are already unsustainable: inflation, asset bubbles and overcapacity are increasingly problematic, the outlook for commodity prices is negative, consumption in the US and Europe is flat, and monetary tightening is inevitable. Indeed, a timely reminder of the inherent dangers of overreliance on cheap capital occurred in late 2013, when mere consideration of US Federal Reserve ‘tapering’ caused emerging-market currencies to plunge, and raised the spectre of crises from India to Indonesia to Brazil.

That was a dress rehearsal: tapering will be a reality by the end of 2014.

With the pillars of rapid emerging market growth eroding, political settlements founded on so-called ‘performance legitimacy’ – based on delivering rapid growth and achieving concrete policy objectives – are increasingly brittle. To stay in power, many emerging market governments will need to both find new ways of delivering growth and cultivate more durable sources of political legitimacy. The mass social protests since 2011 – including the Arab spring, Occupy and Indignados movements, and antigovernment unrest in Turkey, Brazil and Bulgaria – reflect how economic change has greatly outpaced political change during the emerging market era. Rising middle classes, armed with the trappings and ambitions of technological modernity, remain saddled with antiquated, opaque, inefficient and frequently corrupt governments and bureaucracies.

This is where political risk enters the outlook. It is impossible to restructure a large, complex economy without politicising the process. Many well-intentioned reforms have floundered in the face of well-organised political opposition. There is always an incentive to adopt populist policies or ideological frameworks that deflect attention away from slowing growth.

Looking Ahead

Over the last 10 years the global economy has shifted up the political and security risk scales, changing the types of threats companies are likely to face today and in the future. A decade of rapid growth in the

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

emerging world has fundamentally altered social arrangements and is beginning to put pressure on political systems, particularly in terms of how governments justify their authority. In certain regions, such as the Middle East and North Africa, this has provoked change that the current global power balance is ill-equipped to manage, introducing security threats that will cast a shadow over the coming year. These developments are coinciding with fundamental and long term shifts in strategic incentives, often linked to resources, that are likely to rewrite the global distribution of power as much as

About the Author Jonathan Wood is Associate Director, Global Risk Analysis, Control Risks.

Control Risks is an independent, global risk consultancy specialising in political, integrity and security risk. We help some of the most

economic change has revised the global balance of power. These factors put upward pressure on both global political and security risks in 2014.

But this comes at a time when opportunities for business are diverse and improving in some fundamental ways. Ten years ago, HIV/AIDS threatened economic and social coherence in much of the developing world. Today, access to treatment has expanded exponentially and annual new infections have fallen by 25%. Over the same timeframe, extreme poverty fell by more than 400 million

influential organisations in the world to understand and manage the risks and opportunities of operating in complex or hostile environments.

We support clients by providing strategic consultancy, expert analysis and in-depth investigations through to handling

sensitive political issues and providing practical on the ground protection and support.

people, even as the global population rose by nearly one billion, sending poverty rates to historic lows. Meanwhile, over the next year more people in developing countries will access broadband on mobile devices than there were global Internet users in 2003, and more children will have access to education than ever before. The hangover of the global financial crisis is fading, even in the US and Europe, Japan is at its most bullish in 20 years, and emerging markets in general are much better equipped to face economic challenges than during the 1990s. In this light, risk seems more attractive than ever.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

26

Feature

The Opportunities and Risks of Investing in Myanmar

By Duncan Falzon The foreign investment law that Myanmar passed in 2012 set off a wave of interest in the country. However, a closer look at the opportunities and challenges of doing business in Myanmar is still necessary before turning interest into actual investment.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

T

he law allows for 100% foreign ownership in non-restricted sectors and an increase in land lease duration. It also grants foreign investors corporate income tax exemption for three years at a minimum, and exemption from or reduction of taxes on imported capital goods and raw materials.

The opportunities in Myanmar

Myanmar, branded by the International Monetary Fund as Asia’s ‘final frontier’ has a population of 60 million and a growing GDP per capita at 7 to 8% annually. The consumer market is relatively young and offers great potential for suppliers of basic goods and services.

The country’s attractive geographical location connects it with China, India, Bangladesh and the ASEAN members of Thailand and Laos, providing access to a market of approximately three billion people.

The country’s abundant natural resources have attracted the most attention, with the oil, gas, and mining sectors receiving the largest amount of foreign investment.

Labour is currently cheap, albeit lower

skilled, and productivity gains are to be expected along with industrial reforms and the introduction of modern technologies.

Such factors make intensive Burmese export-oriented manufacturing attractive.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

28

Feature: The Opportunities and Risks of Investing in Myanmar and 30 offshores oil blocks for tender by international oil giants. Currently, 70% of the Burmese population does not have access to electricity, and the private sector faces serious challenges in coping with the growing demand for electricity. The government is eager to improve the current situation, and a comprehensive power expansion plan has been drawn up.

Daewoo Group, a South Korean conglomerate, has successfully conducted resource development investment in Myanmar. By the end of this year, Daewoo expects the natural gas it sells to China from Myanmar offshore wells to increase from 120 to 500 million cubic feet per day.

4) Tourism

Limited hotel rooms, logistical capacity and coverage, as well as an underdeveloped banking system hold back a boom in tourism. As such, the government has formulated a seven-year tourism development master plan worth US$500 million.

5) Market research

Transparency is a tricky issue in Myanmar.

Reliable information is not always available from the government, nor is there sufficient or accurate trade and market information.

As such, it is expected that market research and consulting firms that provide marketspecific consultancy to potential investors will be in demand.

The Burmese government has identified the four pillars of growth for development.

They are telecoms, banking, energy and major infrastructure. Besides these four, other key industries include tourism and market research.

1) Telecoms

Myanmar is one of the world’s last untapped mobile markets, with less than 10% of the 60 million population currently using mobile phones. The government is stepping up its liberalisation of the telecommunications sector by allowing international firms to form joint ventures with local ICT (information and communication technology) players.

After the civilian government took power

in 2011 and conducted successful reforms, the Internet has become more accessible to the Burmese people. Samsung is a market leader in Myanmar for mobile phones, tablet computers, TV sets, video players and refrigerators. Samsung, as one of the early movers, began work with two local partners and expanded its distribution in 2012.

2) Banking

The Burmese government has introduced a range of industry reforms to revitalizse the banking sector and support an influx of investment, one of which allows foreign banks to establish joint ventures with local partners.

3) Energy and Resources

The government has put out 18 onshore

6) Major infrastructure

The underdeveloped telecom and logistics infrastructure in Myanmar has long been an operational challenge to its businesses, which direly need good ports, road and rail systems. There is pent up demand for infrastructural development.

The risks of investing in Myanmar

As it is with any new frontier market, there are risks associated with investing in Myanmar.

1) Reliance on agriculture

Although Myanmar’s economic structure is transforming, the agricultural sector still contributes to around 40% of the GDP, indicating that the economy is potentially vulnerable to natural disasters such as storms, floods and earthquakes.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

2) Political risks

Political instability and ongoing religious conflicts can fundamentally impact foreign businesses’ operations in Myanmar, as seen from occasional uprisings.

3) Cost of poor infrastructural support

Those operating on the ground in Myanmar frequently experience power outages, unstable telecoms services and limited transport coverage. Foreign businesses may find that they have to make their own capital and technological investments, just in order to ensure smooth daily operations.

Cash-based economy

Myanmar’s economy is still substantially cash-based, with less than 20% of the population having access to any formal financial service. Businesses also have to manage their daily finances on a cash basis, and this increases risk and cost.

Lack of skilled labor

As much as 70% to 80% of Myanmar’s workforce is employed in the agriculture sector, which still engages in traditional farming techniques.

Local partnerships

Foreign investment in key sectors such as telecoms, banking, energy and infrastructure, are still restricted to joint ventures, making the choice of local partners crucial for foreign investors, particularly identifying the ones with the right marketspecific knowledge and localisation strategies.

About the Author Duncan Falzon, Managing Director of Global Intelligence Alliance, Singapore has over 15 years of experience in market intelligence. He leads a group of consultants who provide research-based consultancy and advice on market opportunities in Asia Pacific.

Duncan can be reached at Duncan.Falzon@globalintelligence.com or Tel. +65 6423 1681.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

30

Special Feature

Singapore:

Asia’s Aerospace Hub The Singapore Airshow is Asia’s largest and one of the most important aerospace and defence exhibitions in the world. Despite being a platform of choice for industry leaders and high-level government and military delegations to network, forge partnerships and do business, it is also a springboard into the thriving Asia-Pacific region

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

S

ingapore has achieved a strong reputation as a global air hub. With over 450 accolades, Changi Airport is widely recognised as one of the world’s best international airports.

As of 2013, the industry achieved a record output of over $8.7 billion, and employed over 19,800 workers.

Today, there are over 100 aerospace companies in Singapore with nose-totail capabilities that include airframe maintenance, engine overhaul, structural and avionics systems repair, as well as aircraft modifications and conversion. These core competencies, coupled with commitment to quality and safety, have made Singapore a recognised one-stop solutions provider for airlines’ maintenance and repair needs.

Besides MRO, aerospace-related R&D in Singapore has grown significantly over the past few years.

The 2014 Airshow which played host to over 1,000 exhibitors from 47 countries ended with lucrative deals, its organisers say. The total announced deals that were sealed

during the event were worth $32 billion among them contracts for Airbus, Embraer, Boeing and Rolls-Royce.

According to Singapore’s EDB, in the recent past, key investments have been made on the following aerospace sectors:

MRO

Companies have been expanding to ride the growth in Asia-Pacific, and have been deepening their MRO capabilities to service new generation aircraft that are entering the market. Recent new investments include: Bombardier Aerospace is setting up a new Bombardier Service Centre (BSC) to offer comprehensive aftermarket services to their customers in the Asia-Pacific region.

The new facility will be the first companyowned and company-operated BSC in AsiaPacific. It will be capable of performing a variety of light to heavy maintenance tasks for the full range of Bombardier business jets – the Learjet, Challenger and Global aircraft families.

To pre-position for business aviation growth

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

32

in Asia-Pacific, Jet Aviation has constructed a new hangar next to its existing facility to increase its MRO capacity to service new large business aviation aircraft types such as the Gulfstream G650, G280, future GLX, and Bombardier Global Express 7000/8000 aircraft. Beyond the expansion of MRO activities, the new hangar allows Jet Aviation to add capabilities in aircraft modifications, avionics upgrades and interiors refurbishments.

Meggitt Aerospace Asia Pacific has officially opened its new aftermarket centre at Seletar Aerospace Park. This will enable Meggitt to offer comprehensive aftermarket support to their growing base of Asia-Pacific customers, especially as new aircraft such as Boeing’s 787 and Airbus’ A350 come into service in the Asia-Pacific.

Safran Electronics Asia has plans to develop repair capabilities for Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) engine control units including that of the GE90, CFM56, and GEnX in Singapore to support the rapid growth of the Asia-Pacific fleet.

Special Feature: Singapore: Asia’s Aerospace Hub

ST Aerospace has built a two-bay narrowbody hangar in Changi North to increase its annual MRO capacity by 200,000 man-hours, and has constructed a new General Aviation hangar as part of the expansion of its facility in Seletar Aerospace Park.

Standard Aero opened its new engine overhaul facility at the Components Manufacturing and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Facilities (CMMF) at Seletar Aerospace Park. It provides complete MRO services for Rolls-Royce M250 turboshaft engines, which are widely used on Bell helicopters.

Pratt & Whitney’s newest facility is the company’s first investment in Seletar Aerospace Park, and will undertake the MRO of PW4000 low pressure compressor stators, high pressure compressor shrouds and air seals. Significantly, Singapore will be P&W’s only in-house OEM MRO centre for these commercial aero-engine products in the world.

This myriad of investments and activities enhances Singapore’s comprehensiveness as

an aftermarket services hub.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing will continue to be a key pillar in Singapore’s economic development.

The city-state has started, and will continue to invest in, the development of advanced manufacturing technologies such as robotics, additive manufacturing and data analytics.

Many companies have cited Singapore’s strong manufacturing base, skilled manpower and focus on science and engineering as reasons for setting up manufacturing activities here. Recent new investments include: In 2013, Pratt & Whitney broke ground on its first engine component manufacturing facility in Singapore. The Seletar facility will manufacture hybrid fan blades and high pressure turbine disks for its latest Geared Turbofan engines that will power five new generation aircraft platforms.

RLC Engineering Group will be opening their first facility outside the British Isles, at Seletar Aerospace Park. The company specialises in the provision of complex manufactured

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

products to the aerospace industry, and its new facility will manufacture titanium panels for Rolls-Royce’s wide chord fan blade facility.

ST Aerospace was selected by Airbus to be the engineering and programme lead to develop the A330 Passenger-toFreighter (PTF) conversion. This is the first time Airbus is appointing a third-party to develop a PTF conversion, which is the most complex aircraft modification type. The A330 PTF development programme will seed the formation of a sustainable aircraft modifications development centre.

Research & Development

Singapore is fast establishing itself as an R&D hub. Besides the increasing aerospace R&D efforts driven by public-funded research institutes and universities, aerospace companies’ in-house R&D footprint has also grown with the increase in manufacturing activities in Singapore. Highlights include: A*STAR’s Advanced Remanufacturing & Technology Centre (ARTC) is a publicprivate centre that performs R&D to develop

technologies for remanufacturing that can be readily adopted by industry. The R&D of three core themes in repair and restoration, surface enhancement and product verification will enable companies and businesses to translate end-of-life products into “good as new” ones for the market. Participants include leading industry companies such as IHI, Rolls-Royce and Siemens.

In March 2013, NUS’ Department of Mechanical Engineering launched the Centre for Aerospace Engineering (CAE) in collaboration with three industry partners, namely DSO National Laboratories, SIA Engineering and ST Aerospace. The CAE is a comprehensive centre for aerospace-focused research, education and outreach activities.

Pratt & Whitney’s new facility at Seletar Aerospace Park will provide MRO for PW4000 engine components. It also houses Pratt & Whitney’s engineering arm, Global Services Engineering-Asia. This engineering hub for Asia-Pacific was first established as a 25-man engineering centre in 2005 to augment its aftermarket support in the region. Over

the years, Pratt & Whitney’s engineering presence has grown significantly to a 100man engineering centre, and now provides research and design services to Pratt & Whitney’s aftermarket businesses worldwide.

Rolls-Royce’s Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) is now well established in Singapore to support Seletar Campus’s manufacturing activities through its research in manufacturing technologies and provision of materials support. The ATC also delivers R&D solutions in the areas of computational engineering and electrical power & control systems to Rolls-Royce’s global R&D network.

In July 2013, Rolls-Royce @ NTU Corporate Lab was launched as a joint-investment

by NTU, Rolls-Royce and the National Research Foundation (NRF). The $75 million tie-up kick-starts 32 new projects over the next five years, and will train up to 70 researchers, 40 PhD and 25 Masters’ students. Its core research areas are in electrical power and control systems, manufacturing and repair technologies and computational engineering.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

34

Special Feature: Singapore: Asia’s Aerospace Hub

Supply Chain Management

Singapore’s connectivity and robust infrastructure have made it ideal for aerospace companies to site their regional distribution centres here. Recent new investments include: Airbus and Satair is opening a joint distribution, logistics, repair and support service centre at Seletar Aerospace Park which will also house Airbus’ inventory of spares and parts, supporting the Asia-Pacific region.

Other companies with spares distribution facilities in Singapore include Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer, GE Aviation, MessierBugatti-Dowty and Pratt & Whitney.

Today, more than 20 aircraft lessors operate their regional headquarters from Singapore, performing key functions such as sales and marketing, aircraft asset management, technical support, financing and legal services. Highlights include: Nordic Aviation Capital Singapore foresees significant growth potential for Asia-Pacific and is keen to grow its Singapore operations to support Nordic Aviation Capital’s marketing efforts in Asia Pacific.

Titan Singapore Aircraft Leasing was established to support the Group’s sales and marketing efforts of freighter aircraft in Asia Pacific, China and Africa. The local office has plans to establish new functions in fleet management and finance.

Training

Singapore is committed to developing talent to meet the needs of the industry. Aerospace courses and specialisations offered at local technical and tertiary institutes remain highly popular, and local education institutes produce over 1,500 aerospace trained graduates annually. Singapore has also evolved to be a training hub for the region.

Recent new investments include: ATR opened its new training centre at Seletar Aerospace Park. The centre will

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

house the company’s first ATR 72-600 aircraft full-flight simulator outside its headquarters in Toulouse.

Boeing Flight Services’ Singapore Campus (BSTFS) is one of Boeing’s three regional training campuses, and provides maintenance training for aircraft operators and total training solutions for pilot and cabin crew. In April 2013, BSTFS announced the installation of two new full-flight simulators – a Boeing 777 and Next-Generation 737. The simulators are expected to be ready for training in mid-2014.

CAE’s Singapore Training Centre at Seletar Aerospace Park currently has installed two A320 full-flight simulators, an A320 cabin crew emergency evacuation training device and an A320 integrated procedures trainer.

To better support its airline customers from both North and South Asia, Haite has invested in a new pilot simulator training centre at Changi Business Park, their first

investment outside China, which will house six full-flight simulators.

ST Aerospace opened its first integrated training services hub called the Seletar Aviation Centre (SAC). The SAC combines a six-bay pilot simulator training centre with an aviation technical training centre, allowing ST Aerospace to better serve airlines’ talent training needs from one location.

Education

Over the years, there has been stronger collaboration between industry players and education institutes that offer both full- and part-time courses. As such, ensuring that the academic curricula at the local education institutions remain industry-relevant and aligned with regulatory requirements is of top priority. This will develop talent who are equipped with the most relevant skills required for the advancement of Singapore’s aerospace industry.

Outlook and New Growth Opportunities

The long term prospects of the aerospace industry remain highly positive. Over the next two decades, some 35,000 new aircraft are anticipated to be delivered; and Asia-Pacific is in the vanguard leading this growth, accounting for over a third of all deliveries.

Singapore is well positioned to ride this growth. Over the years, the city-state has leveraged its strategic location in the heart of Asia to develop a strong aerospace cluster. The Singapore Government remains committed to the aerospace industry.

Manpower and infrastructure development will continue to support further growth in MRO, manufacturing and R&D activities in Singapore, thus capitalising from emerging trends and emerging markets in Asia Pacific and beyond.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

36

Feature

Creative Thinking

By Ray Bigger Many companies don’t walk the talk when it comes to creative thinking.

Here are suggestions on how to make that change.

Creative thinking may mean simply the realisation that there’s no particular virtue in doing things the way they have always been done.

D

oes the above statement reflect your thinking or approach to creativity?

Randomly ask any 10 people if they are creative and you might get two or three hands going up. Virtually every decision made is aimed at resolving a problem, capturing an opportunity, making something better, or all of the above. And that requires imagination, thinking, creative input, questions, a decision and then action—in other words, innovation, passion and a sense of purpose.

Drawing on numerous discussions with many C-suite executives across multiple industries and functions, the barriers above are real but far from insurmountable.

Lots of companies talk about creativity but don’t walk it. Creative thinking and problem solving should be part of a company’s DNA, but you need a process.

Creativity either bluntly or subtly expressed requires change. How much change depends on the business gaps that need to be filled. We humans inherently resist change, so where do we start?

So what are the obstacles that get in the way of creativity for individuals and teams?

Here are some suspects:

Yes, we all enjoy our own moments of inspiration. However, when it comes to more robust outcomes, teams that work trump individualism every time (you knew that already, right?). When you put a team together, how do you select the members?

Do you pick the same people every time or do you mix it up?

• Limiting Beliefs: “I’m not a creative person.”

• Lack of Confidence: “I’d better not speak up.”

• Maintain the Status Quo: “Everything’s fine, it isn’t broken.”

• Bad Habits: “That’s the way we’ve always done it.”

• Fear of Change: “What if it goes wrong?”

• Lack of Awareness: “Problem? What problem?”

Is the next step ‘Brainstorming,’ or what we call ‘Brain Numbing’? If it is the latter, ditch this step. It does not recognise thinking styles, misinterpretations nor numerous other diverse team differences that should be capitalised.

But isn’t it a good thing if everyone thinks the same way? Not according to George S Patton. “If everyone is thinking the same way then nobody is actually thinking,” insisted the US general who distinguished himself during World War II.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

38

Feature: Creative Thinking

Do you know your preferred thinking style and your team’s preferred thinking style? How do you harvest the rich diversity of that team and bury ‘Groupthink’?

Allow team members space to think in their ‘mother tongue.’

Look at the two profiles (Chart 1 and Chart 2). Given the scattering of thinking styles, how did the ad agency present their case?

What do you think was the outcome?

Could you be in a similar position with your presentations?

Chart 2

>

Chart 1

>

>

We all have a preferred thinking style. Which quadrant do you think you would appear in and would you be extreme or just a little? When you chart the team as a scatter diagram, it will show their thinking make-up and with the imbalances. How will those imbalances affect your creativity outcomes?

Chart 3

Most teams today are diversified across nationality, culture, language, religion, race and so on. That being the case, create a safe environment where people can be completely stupid—yes, stupid—and encourage people to contribute without fear of getting shot down or humiliated.

Some stupid, initially rejected ideas have made billions of dollars—think Post-It Notes.

Allow team members space to think in their ‘mother tongue’ by using our proprietary process called MindmaXXing. Chart 3 illustrates how it works:

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Stage 3 is crucial as it allows everyone the freedom to think on their own without being unduly or unfairly influenced. Notice the stages are time-constrained, allowing you get more done in less time. We’ve seen this process galvanise even the most creative sceptic.

When people and teams are allowed to let loose creatively, extraordinary ideas evolve. The final outcomes are rarely the

About the Author Ray Bigger is the Managing Director of Think8, a group of Productivity Architects that helps senior management and their teams grow their sales force, make key meetings

When people and teams are allowed to let loose creatively, extraordinary ideas evolve.

and conferences more effective and productive, and help develop executive teams’ capability and people skills. He is also a Meeting Architect with q3Global. Bigger was a former board member

of UWCSEA, CEO of BritCham, President of Asia Professional Speakers Association and Football League / Premier League referee. www.think8.net ray@think8.net +65 9750 6751

output from individuals, but rather they are a rich combination of different perspectives, varied thinking, an open mindset, vivid imagination, lots of questions, safe environment and the ditching of limiting beliefs.

Remember this: “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.” Think about it.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

40

British High Commission

Managing Cybersecurity

By Tom Crawley Corporate finance transactions are an important and vibrant element of the economy. They bring together expertise from a range of professions and help to create value across many sectors.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

The very features of a corporate finance transaction that help to create this value – the involvement of different professional advisers and financiers, the multiple flows of information and data – also create vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Sharing so much information so widely, above and beyond the daily course of business presents a real challenge. Cyber attacks are a threat to all businesses today. Indeed the Director of GCHQ, Sir Iain Lobban, reports that Britain is experiencing ‘industrial espionage on an industrial scale.’ Corporate finance transactions are potentially attractive sources of information to a range of parties: commercial data, IP information and sensitive client data may all be involved.

All businesses involved in corporate finance need therefore to be aware of these cyberrisks, and of what they can do to help protect their data, their clients and their reputation.

David Willetts Minister of State for Universities and Science January 2014

A

recent publication from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales is designed to help the corporate finance community take proportionate steps to manage cyber-risk. It signposts where you can get help on technical measures, but is focused on how you can manage cyber-risk as a business risk; the questions to ask those involved and the steps that you should think about taking yourself. The report is available at www.icaew.com.

For anyone involved in corporate finance transactions, cyber-security needs to be treated as a high priority. The large volumes of information shared in the process of completing a transaction and the number of people involved in every stage of a transaction are greater than in the course of ‘normal’, business-as-usual operations.

These factors heighten the risk of cyberattack, the compromise of a firm’s networks, systems and data. At the

Case study: Following a period during which multiple acquisitions were made by a FTSE350 services company, a sophisticated intrusion was discovered that impacted the confidentiality of email communications and customers’ data. Due to the hurried way in which business and ICT systems were integrated during the acquisitions, it was extremely difficult for the company to respond to the intrusion effectively as a result of the lack of information available to the response team. Further to this, the acquired systems provided additional routes for the attacker to gain access to the network without raising the alarm.

Many programmes across the world are now being initiated to raise awareness of the risks of cyber-attack.

The UK Government has a cyber-security strategy that includes measures to improve cyber-awareness among UK citizens and businesses. They have assembled a list of 10 Steps to Cyber Security that all organisations need to consider at board level.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

42

British High Commission

These include: 1. Home and mobile working Develop a mobile working policy and train staff to adhere to it. Apply the secure baseline build to all devices. Protect data both in transit and at rest.

2. Monitoring Establish a monitoring strategy and produce supporting policies.

Continuously monitor all ICT systems and networks. Analyse logs for unusual activity that could indicate an attack.

3. Managing user privileges Establish account management processes and limit the number of privileged accounts. Limit user privileges and monitor user activity. Control access to activity and audit logs.

4. Removable media controls Produce a policy to control all access to removable media. Limit media types & use. Scan all media for malware before importing on to corporate system.

5. Have an information risk management regime Establish an effective governance structure and determine your risk appetite - just like you would for any other risk. Maintain the board’s engagement with the cyber risk. Produce supporting information risk management policies.

6. User education and awareness Produce user security policies covering acceptable and secure use of the organisation’s systems. Establish a staff training programme. Maintain user awareness of the cyber risks.

7. Network security Protect your networks against external and internal attack. Manage the network perimeter. Filter out unauthorised access and malicious content.

Monitor and test security controls.

8. Secure configuration Apply security patches and ensure that the secure configuration of all ICT systems is maintained. Create a system inventory and define a baseline build for all ICT devices.

9. Malware protection Produce relevant policy and establish anti-malware defences that are applicable and relevant to all business areas. Scan for malware across the organisation.

10. Incident management Establish an incident response and disaster recovery capability. Produce and test incident management plans. Provide specialist training to the incident management team. Report crimes to the police.

Read more at http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-sectors/docs/09/12-1120-10-steps-to-cyber-security-executive

same time, corporate finance transactions can involve types of information that are potentially very attractive to cyber criminals, competitors or counterparties in a transaction. Examples might be: • the intellectual property (IP) data held by a car designer about to be acquired by a competitor; • the law firm that holds the financial data of a FTSE100 company seeking to refinance a loan; or • the contract details of a consumer goods company, seeking finance to enter a new market.

The threats come from a continuously changing range of sources, including, but not limited to: • Individuals who understand the value of sensitive data that they can sell on to interested parties in a transaction

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

• Organised crime networks that see cybercrime as a low-risk, high-return activity seeking, for example, stock exchange gains after obtaining information before transactions are officially announced.

• Competitors looking to gain advantage in deal negotiations or spotting an opportunity to access confidential information or pricing data, given the information exchange that occurs during a transaction, or providing a potential client with a better proposition.

• Nation states by way of state-backed or state-sponsored attacks on international

Read more about managing cybersecurity in the business environment at http://www.icaew. com/~/media/Files/ Technical/Corporatefinance/Corporate-financefaculty/tecpln12526-cyberweb.pdf

For more information Tom Crawley Senior Science & Innovation Officer British High Commission, Singapore tom.crawley@fco.gov.uk

transactions. They pose a threat because national governments may seek to sabotage deals and protect and enhance the interests of local companies or to give their own industries an advantage. This is particularly prevalent in deals involving assets or industries considered to be of national strategic importance, although all sectors are at risk.

• Hacktivists driven by political/moral opposition to a particular company, deal or transaction, who might then make an attempt at sabotage.

• Employees or contractors who act with a lack of care or whose errors increase the risk of compromise. In addition, some employees or contractors may be either disgruntled for some reason or specifically planted by an organisation looking to gain access to sensitive information.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

44

Business Services News

Business Services Update 2014

By Jennifer Hainsworth 2014 is set to be a particularly interesting year for the Chamber as we celebrate our 60th anniversary.

B

usiness Services are now fully operational and work has begun with several UK companies to help them access opportunities in the Singapore market. Our first Business Services client from the UK has visited Singapore and met with some of the Chambers members along with other companies, charities and Singaporean organisations. The plans to open an office here are well underway and we look forward to welcoming them to Singapore in the next few months. I’m looking forward to welcome some of my other Business Services clients in February and

March as they come out to Singapore to explore the market.

budgeting tool and an execution checklist and flow chart.

This month, I attended the launch of the Singapore Manufacturers Federation Expansion Programme portal on Iskandar Malaysia and Riau Islands Indonesia.

Following the keynote address by Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Frost and Sullivan presented the portal. The portal is aimed at helping companies to assess whether or not the two regions would be an appropriate investment location for their business and includes features such as case studies,

In January we successfully conducted a webinar on “Doing Business in Singapore” with Liverpool Chamber of Commerce (An MOU Partner). This will be the first of a series of webinars to be held with Chambers of Commerce in the UK to help inform their members about business opportunities in Singapore and the ease of doing business here. We hope to enhance this webinar series by adding a series of panel discussions in which our members can volunteer

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

to participate. We envisage that these seminars will cover a range of topics that UK businesses will need to be aware of when exporting to or investing in Singapore and the wider ASEAN region. If you would like to volunteer as a member expert to sit on one of these panels over the next 12 months, please contact me via email: Jennifer@britcham.org.sg February was an exciting month as we welcomed two UK delegations, one from South Yorkshire (one of our MOU partners) and one from London.

In March, we welcome a group of incoming delegates from Hull and Humber. Once again there will be opportunities for our members to engage with the group, particularly those interested in exploring the opportunities in the Hull and Humber region as promoting inward investment into the UK will be a feature of this groups visit program. I will also be helping them to identify potential partners in market, including agents and distributors. Hull has also been selected as City of Culture 2017 and is one of our MOU partners. As

such, we hope to work with them on a number of projects over the next 12 months.

I am also planning an incoming UK mission around the “Cards Payments Asia” trade show, which will take place in April. This will be an opportunity for UK companies in this sector to explore the Singapore market and participate in a UK pavilion at the show.

So, all in all, a very busy but exciting start to 2014!

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

46

Britain in South East Asia News

i

BiSEA News Britain Brunei Business Forum

The BBBF’s AGM was held on January 22 at the Residence of the British High Commissioner and was followed by a networking reception. Standard Chartered Bank’s CEO, Pei-Si Lai, handed over the reins of Chairperson to Lyndsay Rajah, Head of Retail Banking at HSBC in Brunei, who was elected unopposed. The new committee will develop a series of business-oriented and social networking meetings for its members, and is considering facilitating a fact-finding mission for interested members to Cambodia and/or Burma/Myanmar. During the year, there will also be a focus on developing the next generation of business leaders.

British Business Group Vietnam

In 2014, Vietnam will witness a steady economic recovery, with an expected GDP growth between 5.5% and 6%. Many observers also believe that FDI and export sectors will continue to be the main growth driver. This is coupled with a strong control on inflation and stable currency exchange conditions. At BBGV, we too are expecting a steady growth as we aim to launch our new Business Centre in early 2014. With the stable political and economic outlook outlined above, we look forward to helping more British SMEs to seek commercial opportunities in this fascinating market of over 90 million people. For more information, please visit www.bbgv.org or email wai.ho@bbgv.org.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

British Chamber of Commerce Philippines

The British Chamber of Commerce Philippines (BCCP) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Chris Boughton as the new General Manager of the Chamber.

“I am excited and honoured to be helping the Board of the Chamber to expand the scope of the Chamber’s operations,” said Chris. “Helping British companies to set up and invest in the Philippines, my adopted home, is a very satisfying and challenging role.”

Together with the British Embassy Manila, BCCP is celebrating British Food Month from January to February, in part of the This is GREAT Britain campaign culminating on March 2014.

For more information, visit our website at www.britchamphil.org

British Chamber of Commerce Thailand

British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) is one of the leading overseas British Chambers working with UK Trade and Investment on the Overseas Business Networks project. The main objective of the project in Thailand is to provide direct B2B assistance to companies to achieve successful market entry. In order to better facilitate this the British Business Centre was officially opened by Mark Kent, British Ambassador to Thailand and Greg Watkins, BCCT Executive Director on Tuesday February 11. It marks a step-change in the support available to SMEs exploring the Thai market. In addition to providing a base for visiting companies to host meetings and deliver presentations, the BBC will also offer companies access to support and advice from BCCT staff and 500+ Chamber members.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

48

At the Chamber: Business Group News

Creative Industries Biz Group Chairperson: Frazer Macdonald Hay —Programme Director, Glasgow School of Art Singapore

T

he Year of the Horse and the new creative industries group begins in earnest. The business group was established in late-2013 and its committee membership comprises of twelve thoroughbreds (one and only pun – sorry), representing a diverse and considered cross-section of the group’s 129 members and 38 companies. The committee members represent architecture, design, event management, performance, publication, marketing and media.

The year 2014 will have a core number of events and talks from which to explore opportunities to collaborate and develop business characteristics, skill and diversity.

The year will have a key ethos of curiosity and the group hopes to take every opportunity to develop cross-disciplinary and knowledge exchange, an ethos which has underpin the British creative industry and its success for years.

The Business Group hopes to stage three core cross-business group events this year based on the themes: Light, Taste and Curiosity. The Group invites professionals from the other business groups in the British Chamber of Commerce to join the events and help shape the content to deliver. Events which promote skills and knowledge that overlap or complement each other throughout the professional business groups, thus informing and inspiring an audience representing a true variety of disciplines. I believe that all business is based on its creative problem solving capacities and its agility and articulation of ideas. I wish to explore the potential of linking these taken-for-granted skills and characteristics to promote and develop current and dynamic business talent in Southeast Asia.

The beginning of the year has been very busy in the Singapore arts scene

with international events such as the Singapore International Foundation & British Council’s launch of Angles of Incidence, Art Stage Singapore and the Prudential Eye Awards: Supporting Emerging Asian Art. The coming months are also peppered by interesting events, such as the Design Film Festival, Maison & Object Asia and World Architecture

Festival, which will underline Singapore’s increasing appetite for design and creative expression. An appetite encouraged by government and business globally realising the potential of sharing creative problem-solving and their processes exploring application in a wider variety of disciplines from banking to economics.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

IT and Communications Technology Group Chairperson: Henry Farahar —Sales Director, CloudFX

A

Digitised Industrial Economy, according to Gartner, is something that “exposes every part of your business and its operations to a confluence and integration of cloud, social collaboration, mobile and information.

It is how you reach customers and constituents, how you run your physical real estate and how you generate revenue or deliver services.”

This economy is the one that we are living in today here in Singapore. In 2014, this translates to a US$767 billion industry in APAC alone. ICT will grow, not just in dollar value, but will, if it hasn’t already, completely permeate our personal and professional lives. Today, every budget is an IT budget and every project or initiative we embark on is an IT one.

Cloud, Big Data and the Internet of Things, these concepts are now reality.

We as business leaders need to embrace and profit from the opportunities they offer or we risk falling behind our technology-enabled competition. If you are not making the most of technology to drive your business, your competition is! This year, the ICT Business Group will lead you through the issues that will allow you to gain real advantage from the opportunities available through technology enablement in 2014.

Having recently had an eye-opening account from the Chief Security Office of Microsoft APAC on the threats to us and our businesses of cybercrime, other megatrend topics like the Internet of Things (IOT) will cover fascinating issues

that will change the world as we know if. To contextualise IOT: of the 7+ billion human beings on planet earth, only 39% have access to the internet. If that rises to 50% by 2020, then for every one person with access to the internet, there will be 8.5 unique connections per person. Today, I figure I am connected via phone, tablet, laptop, TV and exercise band. Soon, that will be clothes, kitchen appliances, smoke alarms. However, where does it stop?

The answer really is: who knows?

However, the ICT group is committed to highlight these exciting developments and how we can make the most of them and have a technology optimised 2014 – that or immigrate to a desert island.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

50

At the Chamber: Business Group News

Property & Construction Group Chairperson: Richard Warburton —EC Harris Singapore Pte Ltd

A

t the start of the year, it’s customary to make resolutions and commitments around things we’re going to stop or start doing in both our personal and professional lives. One of the things I’d like to see the wider industry commit to in 2014 is an even greater focus on promoting the health and safety agenda in everything we do.

Whilst some people may perceive construction to be a dangerous environment, the sector is typically well regulated, particularly in mature markets like Singapore. If we compare 2013 incident statistics with previous years, we can see that progress is being made.

However, as ever, there’s still room for improvement.

In the first six months of last year, there were 11 fatalities reported within Singapore’s construction industry, 63 major injuries and 989 minor injuries. These figures represent a decrease in the number of fatalities and major injuries. However, there has been a 5% rise in the number of minor injuries compared with 2012.

In January, the Ministry of Manpower published revised requirements for Workplace Safety & Health Incident reporting which is applicable across all sectors. I encourage all members to take note of the new amendments and get behind the drive to reduce injuries and to maintain Singapore on a par with other global leaders in promoting a safe working and living environment.

Last year’s figures suggest that we are getting better at addressing big risks.

However, who can honestly say they’ve never looked at their smartphone whilst going down a set of stairs? Are we fully aware of our stress levels on a daily basis and taking steps to manage this? These may seem like simple things but they can have a big impact in helping us to reduce our incident rate to zero.

We all have a role to play in making our workplace and our homes a safer place for us and our families. If we can all commit to adopting an “If not me, then who?” mindset over the coming year, I’ve no doubt we’ll see further improvements made throughout 2014.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Women in Business Diversity Committee Chairperson: Sian Brown —Regional Head of Programme Execution Group, Barclays Bank PLC

T

he newly formed ‘Women in Business’ group (WiB), a subset of the British Chamber of Commerce Diversity Committee, got off to a great start with a launch event in November 2013 entitled “Return on Inclusion – The Business Imperative of Diversity”.

The guest speakers, Penny Burtt, McKinsey’s Head of Public Affairs Southeast Asia, and Hayden Majajas, BP’s Diversity & Inclusion Director Asia Pacific, made a compelling case for why having women at all levels of an organisation has a positive impact on the bottom line. They were later joined by the Chair of WiB, Sian Brown from Barclays, for a panel discussion moderated by journalist Ali Moore.

Penny highlighted facts on how Singapore is significantly lagging behind global peers in the number of females on the boards of

its publicly listed companies despite having a high workforce participation rate for women and one of the highest literary rates for women in the region. Hayden gave great insight into how an organisation can best support gender diversity followed by an insightful Q&A session led by Ali with high participation from the attendees.

The WiB forum’s aims are: • Assisting women in expanding their networks, finding opportunities and developing their skills • Promoting positive attitudes and behaviour towards females within organisations in Singapore • Making recommendations on equal employment best practice • Ensuring that gender diversity and inclusion in the workplace is valued, embraced and furthered at all levels and across all profiles in the organisation – for

both genders • Sharing experiences and acting as a learning platform for individuals involved in the network 2014 looks set to be a busy year with talks planned every two-to-three months on topics as varied as: • Exploiting Gender-biased Leadership Traits • The Importance of Sponsorship • Women, Small Business & Entrepreneurship • The Psychology of Women and Money We look forward to seeing you there – men and women welcome!

For further details, visit the WiB page on the British Chamber of Commerce website: www.britcham.org.sg/womeninbusiness

This group is proudly sponsored by:

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

52

At the Chamber: Business Group News

Young British Chamber Chairperson: Miles Gooseman —Consultant, The Fry Group

T

he Young British Chamber committee is looking forward to an exciting year ahead where we intend to continue the strides made during 2013 with both the number of members and attendance at our events. Our job as the committee is two-fold. Firstly, we aim to build a network of young people within both British businesses and International organisations and to promote those businesses within Singapore. Secondly, it is a platform for young professionals to meet like-minded individuals from different industries and backgrounds.

At the forefront of our plans for 2014 is the continuation of our Mentoring Series.

The aim of these evenings is to bring young professionals together to learn from the

experienced. It is a great opportunity to draw from a wealth of knowledge that is not normally related to our day-to-day jobs but hopefully giving attendees a different viewpoint on both careers and life. We aim to get leading personalities from both the lifestyle and corporate sectors to host these events. More details to follow shortly.

Our second objective is the off-site activities that we hope will strengthen networks by driving footfall to our events. The most exciting programme is being hosted by committee member Ian Horsborogh who will take Sailing Tours through the year. The aim of these days are certainly more lighthearted than the Mentoring Series. Still, we hope they will offer an opportunity to meet new people and to act as a form of team-

building with strangers – a useful skill set (we believe). We just hope Ian’s skills are as proficient as he claims!

Lastly, it would be foolish of me not to mention the networking evenings we will be hosting throughout the year.

We hope to see as many of you there as possible. The main objective of these nights is to create an environment for everybody to enjoy themselves and, hopefully, meet interesting like-minded characters who will bring different experiences to the table!

By: Hugo Thompson Fine Wine Sales Consultant

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

53

At the Chamber: Sterling News

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Cognita held the second of its annual Awards for Excellence, a celebration of outstanding teaching, across the Group’s 64 schools worldwide. This year, nominees came from far and wide with teachers from Chile, Vietnam, Brazil, Spain, Thailand, Singapore and the United Kingdom, all vying for the accolade of Teacher of the Year in one of four teaching categories.

This year, Cognita also chose to celebrate the non-teaching professionals within its schools with a new award of Support Person of the Year.

Category Winners • Early Years Practitioner of the Year • Primary Years Teacher of the Year • Secondary Years Teacher of the Year • Special Education Needs Teacher of the Year • Support Person of the Year Adam Torrens of Stamford American International School (Singapore) was the Primary Years Teacher of the Year. Adam has worked as KG2 Teacher at Stamford for three years and has implemented a new curriculum and always demonstrates a high level of pastoral care.

Building on its successful story of academic excellence, LSBF in Singapore has been awarded with the Platinum Approved Learning Partner Status by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) for its 2014 tuition. The award is the highest status granted to training providers by the ACCA and comes only two years after the inauguration of LSBF’s institute in Singapore.

The Platinum Status is the highest and most prestigious form of recognition of a tuition provider’s quality and success in teaching and supporting students throughout their ACCA qualification.

Having taught nearly 6,000 students since its opening, LSBF in Singapore prides itself for its relatively short but already very successful operations, with plenty of achievements along the way.

RathaKrishnan Govind, Managing Director of LSBF in Singapore, said “Our success is down to the focus on giving students the best study experience that we possibly can – and always looking to make it even better. Receiving the Platinum Status is an achievement we are all extremely proud of and an affirmation that we are in the right direction.”

Law firm GLORIA JAMES-CIVETTA & CO, with affiliations with international law firms of DE LA FUENTE & MARTIN ALONSO (with offices in Malaga, Madrid and Rotterdam), London’s 33 BEDFORD ROW BARRISTERS’ CHAMBERS and ASTREA LEGAL ASSOCIATES LLP (with offices in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Amravati), welcomes Ms Yvonne SchelkisSweeney, Ms Cheryl Cheong and Mr Javern Sim on board as legal counsels.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

54

At the Chamber: Sterling News As the breadwinner of your family, you take on the responsibility to provide for your loved ones at all times. Have you planned to protect them and your home from financial risk in lifethreatening circumstances? Now you can, with Zurich Life Insurance’s latest protection plan – Z Protect-Home.

Officially launched in January 2014, Z Protect-Home is a competitively-priced decreasing term assurance plan, which offers financial protection for your family in the event of death or terminal illness. With the pay out of your sum assured in one lump sum, it may help to pay off a portion of your outstanding home loan or other occurring expenses. In addition, the newly introduced rider, the Decreasing Disability Benefit, is able to enhance your overall protection and relief financial stress should you suffer from total or permanent disability.

The information contained in this publication are provided solely for general informational purposes and do not constitute any financial advice. To get more information on the product summary, speak with a Zurich Adviser today. Call +65 6327 0340 or e-mail answers@zurich. com.sg. www.zurich.com.sg Savio Kwan will join the Board of British American Tobacco as a Non-Executive Director with effect from January 06 2014.

During his extensive career he has worked broadly in technology for General Electric, BTR plc and Alibaba Group, China’s largest internet business, where he was Chief Operating Officer and later, a Non-Executive Director. He is a founding partner and CEO of A&K Consulting Co Ltd, advising entrepreneurs about start-up businesses in China.

Mr Kwan’s international career has seen him live in China, the US, Singapore and the UK. He is a visiting Professor at Henley Business School and a regular lecturer on Chinese business strategy and leadership.

Commenting on the move, Chairman, Richard Burrows said, “I warmly welcome Savio to the Board of British American Tobacco. I have no doubt he will bring his profound commercial approach, international orientation and deep knowledge of China and Asia to bear, further strengthening British American Tobacco and the Board.”

Thales has created a new Business Line called Critical Information Systems and Cybersecurity to maximise synergies between its market-leading information systems security and critical information systems specialists and capabilities.

With annual revenues of €500 million and close to 5,000 employees, the new business line has the critical mass required to consolidate Thales’s leadership in the fast-growing cybersecurity market.

With growing interconnection between players and information systems and the anticipated emergence of the Internet of Things, a completely new digital landscape is taking shape, driven by rapid progress in IT technologies and the unrelenting evolution of the cyberthreat environment. Today, Thales is combining its strengths to step up to these new challenges and drive future business growth.

With a strong focus on services, the new business line will draw on cutting-edge expertise in R&D and systems architectures, and a broad range of hardware and software products to assure effective threat prevention, detection and security supervision.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Addleshaw Goddard has, for the first time, been appointed to a position on the core legal panel of Nationwide Building Society, one of the UK’s leading financial services providers.

The appointment follows a rigorous tender process and comprehensive review by Nationwide of its legal panel arrangements, with the core panel designed to provide full support across the range of Nationwide’s current and future legal and compliance requirements. Addleshaw Goddard is one of only four firms to be appointed to the new panel.

The Addleshaw Goddard team is being led by corporate partner and lead Nationwide relationship partner Ben Koehne, supported by financial regulation partner Nikki Worden and finance partner Paul Salsbury.

Ben Koehne commented, “We are really delighted to be appointed by Nationwide to its new core panel. We are greatly looking forward to supporting Nationwide as one of its key business partners in achieving its strategic objectives and to strengthening our existing close and longstanding relationships within Nationwide as an extension of the in-house team.”

PT Astra International Tbk (“Astra”), Indonesia’s largest publicly listed company and Aviva plc (“Aviva”), the UK’s largest insurer have formed Astra Aviva Life, a 50-50 joint venture to sell and distribute life insurance products in Indonesia.

Astra Aviva Life will be the preferred provider of life insurance products to Astra and its subsidiaries. Subject to regulatory approvals, Astra Aviva Life will have distribution arrangements with Astra group companies, including PermataBank. The joint venture will also offer life insurance to the wider consumer market through a variety of digital, agency and partner channels.

Mark Wilson, Group CEO of Aviva plc, said, “Astra is a hugely respected household name in Indonesia and the ideal partner for Aviva in one of the world’s fastest growing insurance markets. This joint venture creates a compelling growth opportunity, underlines our commitment to Asia and supports our strategy of cash flow plus growth. This joint venture is good for Aviva, good for Astra and good for our customers.”

Data just released by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) shows that 2013 was the strongest year on record for commercial real estate markets in Asia Pacific, with direct investment reaching US$126.7 billion by year-end. Transaction volumes over the year were up 29% on 2012, surpassing the previous record of US$120.5 billion in 2007.

Stuart Crow, head of Asia Pacific capital markets at Jones Lang LaSalle said, “2013 proved to be an outstanding year for Asia Pacific commercial property markets, exceeding our revised expectations of US$120 billion. Unrelenting demand has prevailed in spite of macro concerns around China’s growth outlook, stability in the EU, and the US government’s fiscal strategy.

As the market gains further clarity on these issues, we expect a more stable growth outlook which should lead to activity in 2014 surpassing that of 2013.”

The year’s record-breaking growth was driven by the region’s core markets of Japan, China, Australia and Singapore as investor sentiment was lifted by on-going improvements in both debt and equity markets.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

56

At the Chamber: Corporate News In December 2013, Mott MacDonald had a double celebration with the official opening of the Downtown Line Stage 1 (DTL 1) on December 22, 2013, followed by the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) a week later to the public.

On DTL 1, Mott MacDonald was involved in two out of the six stations, acting as the principal consultant for the Telok Ayer Station, as well as undertaking the site supervision role at the Bayfront Station.

Mott MacDonald was equally proud to be associated with the MCE as the principal consultant to half of the entire expressway. The MCE is a game-changing project, considerably bigger and more challenging than anything that has been done here before. On both projects, Mott MacDonald reviewed the conventional construction methods and developed more efficient alternatives that enabled the tunnel to be constructed safely with substantial savings in cost and time savings.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Cambridge Consultants is demonstrating how technology can widen access to advanced sport coaching tools to aid the athletes of the future.

The product development company has created the ArcAid basketball training system to show how low-cost sensors such as cameras can be combined with smartphone apps or laptops for advanced performance monitoring and technique teaching.

By providing immediate feedback on individual technique or team performance, it can also store data to track training progression over time.

The prototype has the accuracy and results of an advanced professional training aid – but at a fraction of the cost.

Results from the 2013 International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme November examination session were issued over the holidays with over 3,360 students in Asia Pacific receiving their diplomas or course results. On average, globally for 2013, Diploma students scored 29.95, with 221 achieving the maximum score of 45 points. Pass rate for 2013 is around 80%, and have remained stable over the past 10 years. IB Asia Pacific supports over 600 schools, providing over 800 IB programmes. Over 400 schools in Asia Pacific offer the Diploma programme with 13,287 students taking their Diploma exams in 2013, a 10% increase from 2012. www.ibo.org/ibap

In its 20th year, Meyado’s turnover increased by 20% with a 16% increase in profit resulting in the fourth consecutive year of double digit growth.

“Our aim has always been to put our client’s interests first. We believe this is best achieved by maintaining a boutique operation, rather than striving for scale.

Winning the 2013 Zurich award for client persistency (by some considerable margin) reflects the success of this approach as it demonstrates that our clients not only agree with the advice proposed at the outset, but they continue to agree with it several years later,” said Mark Paine, CEO.

The Bonsey Design Partnership is delighted to announce the launch of its new digital arm, Bonsey Jaden. Bonsey Jaden will extend our traditional product offering and focus on digital campaigns and activations. Driven by our goal to increase sustainable brand impact through integrated digital campaigns that add value and engage its clients’ customers, Bonsey Jaden will deliver innovative solutions to build and promote brands in the ever more important online world.

Covering the Asian market, Bonsey Jaden will extend the holistic brand experience across the full spectrum of digital media, promoting online community engagement and driving creative solutions for brands through the understanding and analysis of relevant data. To learn more, visit www.bonseyjaden.com.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

58

At the Chamber: Corporate News Have a meeting at the most lively and invigorating location in Singapore! Located in the heart of Singapore’s entertainment precinct, Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay is an ideal venue for your next event.

Featuring newly upgraded meeting rooms, the hotel boasts modern facilities in a vibrant location, allowing you to get the most out of your meetings.

Offering tailored accommodation and meeting packages, the hotel features nine meetings rooms, included a pillar-less Grand Ballroom, which can host up to 600 delegates.

For inquiries contact us at H5993-SM3@accor.com or call +65 6338 3333

One degree and fifteen minutes north of the equator lies ONE°15 Marina Club, your gateway to a wondrous world of unrivalled luxury. As an Exclusive Members Only club since 2007, ONE°15 Marina Club offers world-class marina facilities and is furnished with a comprehensive range of luxurious private club amenities that cater to both boaters and non-boaters alike.

We invite you to indulge in the luxuries of an unprecedented waterfront lifestyle with us here at Asia’s Finest Marina.

A limited number of one-, two- and three-year memberships are now available for expatriates.

Please call 6305 6988 for more details.

International law firm Stephenson Harwood has advised new client, CSE-Global Limited (“CSE-Global”), on the sale of one of its wholly owned subsidiaries, Servelec Group plc (“Servelec”), for £122 million. Contemporaneously with the sale, which completed on December 02, 2013, Servelec was admitted to the Official List and to trading on the premium segment of the main market of the London Stock Exchange. Servelec’s market capitalisation on admission was £122 million.

Following the IPOs of Fusionex International (December 2012) and Kalibrate Technologies (November 2013), this is the third tech IPO that Stephenson Harwood has advised on in the last 12 months. The Stephenson Harwood team was led by Singapore corporate finance partner Matthew Gorman, with associate Emma Nicholls assisting.

Marken announced the appointment of John Pattullo as Chairman of the Board for the Marken group of companies. His appointment is effective February 01, 2014, and he will succeed Robert Ellis.

Mr Pattullo was CEO of CEVA, a global logistics company, from 2007 until his retirement in October 2012. His previous logistics industry experience included leading the EMEA business of Exel. Before Exel, he completed a 30-year career at Procter & Gamble in various operational roles, which included leading P&G supply chain activities in Asia and for their Global Beauty Care business. Mr Pattullo’s appointment was the result of an extensive industry search conducted by Marken’s Board.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

A new chapter in the success story of SMU and the University’s School of Law began on January 20, 2014, with the ground-breaking ceremony for the School’s own building, which is to be built at the open space between Armenian Street and Canning Rise.

The event, at which The Honourable Attorney-General Mr Steven Chong, S.C. was Guestof- Honour, was attended by some 250 distinguished guests, faculty, students, donors, and SMU’s partners in the legal fraternity. He emphasised on the importance of the school having its own building in order to foster a greater sense of belonging and identity.

The Ascott Limited (Ascott) in the Philippines and CapitaLand Hope Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Ascott’s parent company, CapitaLand, have donated a total of PHP1.87 million to World Vision for its relief and rehabilitation efforts in areas devastated by the super typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.

Mr Arthur Gindap, Ascott’s Regional General Manager for the Philippines and Thailand, said, “We are deeply grateful for the overwhelming support we’ve received from our residents, local staff and colleagues abroad for our donation drive to aid the victims of typhoon Yolanda through World Vision. Together with CapitaLand Hope Foundation, we hope that our contribution will help in rebuilding the lives of the people affected.”

A Tribute to Mr Charles Letts

The Telegraph quoted “Charles Letts became a businessman, spy and 'Mr Fixit' in South-East Asia after being interned by the Japanese during the war.

Charles Letts, who died in Singapore

aged 95, was an entrepreneur, networker and fixer in south-east Asia for three quarters of a century — with an interval as a prisoner of war, and a sideline in intelligence work.

Letts was almost certainly the last tuan besar (Malay for expatriate boss) to have begun his career before the Second World War — as an assistant in the trading house of Henry Waugh & Co in Bangkok and Singapore. By the time he retired from the Indonesian palm-oil plantation venture REA Holdings at the end of last year, he had played a boardroom role in some 90 businesses listed on Asian exchanges, and was one of the world’s oldest public-company directors.”

What readers of The Telegraph do not know is that Mr Letts was one of our longest standing members. He held a Corporate Membership with the Chamber since 2001 under ILCO Pte Ltd. His support to the Chamber and contribution to the UK-Singapore business was significant and is to be remembered.

We would like to take this opportunity to send our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

60

At the Chamber: Corporate News Swire Pacific Offshore Operations Pte Ltd (SPO) has moved to a new office space with effect from January 06, 2014. Previously, SPO activities were spread across offices on Level 12, Level 14 and Level 20 at The Concourse building. The offices of SPO have now been consolidated into adjacent floors at Level 15 and Level 16.

The new offices will improve synergies and promote efficient, close collaboration across the various divisions within the company as SPO continues to grow its fleet and expand its portfolio of marine services.

Swire Pacific Offshore Operations (Pte) Ltd 300 Beach Road #15-01 The Concourse Singapore 199555

We are a Singapore-based content and communications company offering editorial, design, digital and a range of publishing services to companies around the world.

Content

Magazines & Books

Working across platforms and with multi-lingual skills, we will develop the right solution for your specific communications and content requirements.

Talk to us.

Call Simon Cholmeley at +65 6223 7149

Digital

NOVUS Media Sales

Illustrations and info-graphics

CONTENT. DI G I TAL. PUBLI SH ING.

www.novusasia.com

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

62

At the Chamber

BritCham New Members Corporate Plus ACCA Singapore Lynn Wong Business Development Manager Bates CHI & Partners David Mayo CEO Brunswick Group Arif Shah Associate Partner Compass Group Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd Stella Ong Country Manager GEMS World Academy (Singapore) Dan E. Young Founding Head of School JCB Sales Asia Pacific Pte Ltd Tom Cornell Managing Director - S.E.Asia Lancia Consulting LLP Jeffrey Cronkshaw Partner Marken Ltd Michael Culme-Seymour Vice President Asia Pacific

Rentokil Initial Singapore Pte Ltd Agnes Chua Marketing Executive UBS A.G. Wanying Lim Client Advisor

Corporate Arkadin Singapore Pte David Grainger Sales Director Baker Tilly TFW LLP Yoke Ping Boey Tax Partner Cambridge Consultants (S) Pte Ltd Miles Upton Regional General Manager (Asia) Holdingham Group Nicholas Barnes Partner Scott Brownrigg Michael Warren Group Director

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Overseas Corporate

T. Rowe Price Singapore Private Ltd Nick Trueman Head of Consultant Relations, Asia

Beckett MIM Ltd. William Beckett Managing Director

Taylor & Francis (S) Pte. Ltd. Barry Clarke Managing Director

Black Sun Plc Chris Hill CEO, SE Asia

Corporate SME

Business Monitor International Jennie Beebee Marketing Manager

Castlewood Group Eilidh Callum Group Economist Meeting Magic John Ogier

ECDIS Ltd Rachel Puckett Project Manager

Praesta Mark Powell Director

Kanda Residences Samui Isara Pangchan Resort Manager

Sonru Asia Pacific Pte Ltd It’s About Time Saundra Wade Marketing & Communications Director WAK Consultants Pte Ltd Willie Kay Managing Director

.com

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

64

At the Chamber

>

Celebrating the splendour of the east, the 2013 Oriental Ball was an evening to remember! Attendees were treated to a special dinner created by celebrity chef Ryan Clift, while emcees Anita Kapoor and Jason de la Peña, as well as auctioneer Justin Sampson entertained a lively audience. Exciting raffle prizes were given away to lucky winners, and guests danced to their favourite tunes until the wee hours of the morning. We thank all our sponsors, partners, members and guests for your continued support in making this one of the best events of the year! Mark your diaries for our 2014 Ball on 6 December 2013 which commemorates the Chamber’s 60th Anniversay!

Chamber President Hugo Walkinshaw addressing the audience.

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

66

At the Chamber: BritCham Oriental Ball 2013

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

68

At the Chamber: BritCham Oriental Ball 2013

We thank our sponsors: TITLE SPONSOR

GOLD SPONSOR

PHOTOGRAPHY

SILVER SPONSOR

BRONZE SPONSOR

WINE

SPIRITS

AUCTION

BEER

GIFTBAG

THEMED TABLE SPONSORS

EVENT MANAGEMENT

BAND

EMCEES

Anita Kapoor TV Host, Writer

SUPPORTED CHARITY

AUCTIONEER

Jason de la Peña Television News Presenter and Journalist

Justin Sampson

GOURMET DINNER BY RYAN CLIFT

Ryan Clift Chef/Owner

The Shangri-La Culinary Team

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

69

At the Chamber: Economic Briefing

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Economic Briefing with Roman Scott November 21, 2014

>

BritCham’s Economic Spokesperson Roman Scott began his presentation with a quirky “Viewer Discretion” warning and got down to serious business with topics ranging from the problems with emerging markets to the economy and investment forecasts.

Roman Scott - Chairman, The Calamander Group & Economist on Asia, Sri Lanka and Financial Services

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

70

At the Chamber: Economic Briefing

The Economic Briefing is proudly sponsored by:

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

71

At the Chamber: Breakfast Clubs

Using Big Data and Cloud to Get Ahead in Your Business November 12, 2013 PA Consulting and Google cut through the hype surrounding Cloud and Big Data demonstrating, with practical solutions, how quickly and easily unlocking insight and value from the data available to you can be –– both in your organisation as well as via publicly available data sources.

>

Simon Dring - Managing Consultant,PA Consulting Group & Cory Franzmeier - Head of Cloud Platform APAC, Google

The Role of Standards to Drive Innovation for Business and Industry January 16, 2014 Attendees learnt about the relevancy of standards in the context of today’s highly globalised business landscape, as well as how to leverage on the adoption and certification of standards for their unique organisations to reap strategic and competitive advantages.

>

David Horlock - Managing Director, BSI Asia Pacific

The BritCham Breakfast Club is proudly sponsored by:

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

72

At the Chamber: Leaders in Business Lunch

Leaders in Business Lunch with Gavin Patterson - Group CEO, BT Plc November 25, 2013

>

Gavin Patterson firmly believes that innovation and culture are intrinsically linked, and that without the right culture, sustained innovation won’t thrive, certainly not in large complex companies. He shared his experiences and initiatives that organisations should be driving to ensure they have the right people and environment to foster sustainable innovation.

Gavin Patterson - Group CEO, BT Plc

The BritCham Business Lunch is proudly sponsored by:

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

73

An Introduction and Overview of the Intellectual Property Landscape in ASEAN December 03, 2013

>

This presentation promoted the importance of intellectual property rights protection in the Singaporean and ASEAN market, as well as raised awareness among British entrepreneurs and SMEs on the value of intellectual property in today’s economy. Ravindran also addressed attendees with IP related queries.

M. Ravindran - ASEAN IPR SME Helpdesk Expert

At the Chamber: Round Table Briefing

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

74

At the Chamber: Networking Evening

This inaugural event by the newly formed Women in Business group had Penny Burtt and Hayden Majajas share thoughts and ideas on diversity and its importance for business growth. The two were later joined by Sian Brown from Barclays on a interactive panel which was moderated by Ali Moore.

>

Return on Inclusion The Business Imperative of Diversity November 19, 2013

Left to right: Sian Brown - Barclays, Penny Burtt - McKinsey and Company & Hayden Majajas - BP

Diversity Sponsored by: >

Ali Moore - Journalist, Moore Media

‘New Member Engagement’ Evening November 26, 2013 New Chamber members relaxed with glasses of wine at HOST@ClarkeQuay, where they were introduced to fellow members, board members and the Chamber Management team. The sommelier at HOST was on hand to give excellent guidance on the wines available.

>

Miles Gooseman, Chairperson of the Young British Chamber

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Property and Construction Business Group - Back to Work Networking Evening January 16, 2014 The first networking event of 2014 was held at Bartini Kitchen with attendees engaging and networking with industry peers and fellow chamber members to create and develop new business opportunities. This was an ideal platform for building relationships and expanding networks over free flow drinks and finger food.

IT Security and Your Business: How to Stay Safe, Stay Secure - and Sleep Soundly - in 2014.

January 22, 2014 Pierre Noel shared the root causes of cybersecurity threats, case studies from Asia that illustrate the risk and consequences of not taking IT security seriously, and the practical and pragmatic advice on the simple steps they could take to protect and secure their organisations’ digital assets.

>

Pierre Noel - Chief Security Officer, Microsoft Asia

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

76

2014 BritCham Events: Mark Your Diary

At the Chamber: Events Calendar

BritCham Breakfast Club Friday March 14, 2014 Powerful Communication in the Global Market Thursday March 20, 2014 The LNG Market Tuesday March 25, 2014 Private Investments in Property in Asia and Tax Impacts Wednesday April 09, 2014 China: Can Growth Continue?

Thursday April 10, 2014 Tax Update

Networking Thursday April 03, 2014 Financial Services: Network After Work

Economic Briefing Wednesday March 26, 2014 Ballroom – Raffles Hotel Singapore

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

BritCham 60th Anniversary Wednesday April 23, 2014 Eden Hall

Annual General Meeting Thursday May 08, 2014 Eden Hall

F1 Networking Thursday September 18, 2014 Tower Club, Republic Plaza

BritCham Annual Business Awards 2014 Wednesday October 01, 2014 Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore

BritCham Ball 2014 Saturday December 06, 2014 Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

78

Culture & Lifestyle

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

Commemorating the Life of Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)

By Barry Clarke Who Was the First British Scientist to Set Foot in Singapore?

Arrival

In 1854, a tall young man from Britain stepped off the paddlewheel steamer and started on a journey that would take him all over the Malay Archipelago and into the history books. Alfred Russel Wallace came to Singapore as a collector of rare and exotic animals (especially birds, butterflies and beetles). As he was already a published author of several scientific papers, he is my candidate as the first British scientist to work in Singapore, although there is no doubt that Wallace was the most important early naturalist to visit and document the biodiversity of Singapore.

Wallace will be remembered forever as the co-originator of the theory of evolution by natural selection. He and Charles Darwin came up with this idea in order to explain how species change and adapt over time.

They observed that organisms generally produce far more offspring than can

possibly survive, that these vary and that this variation is heritable. They postulated that when environmental conditions change, those individuals that, by chance, happen to be better suited to the new conditions will be the ones that survive, and that their superior characteristics will be passed on to their offspring.

Wallace should be much better known globally, particularly in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. It was here in Singapore that Wallace started his exploration of the region. The intellectual pursuit of the origin of species gathered pace during visits to the Singapore Library (at that time located at Raffles Institution where Raffles City Shopping Centre now stands) and the forests and plantations around Bukit Timah. Within two months of his arrival, Wallace had collected 700 species of beetles. He later wrote of his first visit to Singapore:

Wallace will be remembered forever as the co-originator of the theory of evolution by natural selection. He and Charles Darwin came up with this idea in order to explain how species change and adapt over time.

80

Culture & Lifestyle: If the World Changed

… I was quite satisfied with these my first attempts to gain a knowledge of the Natural History of the Malay Archipelago.

Wallace went on to chalk up 14,000 miles of travel in Southeast Asia, collecting more than 110,000 insects, 8,000 bird skins, 7,500 shells and 400 mammals and reptile specimens. At least 5,000 species were new to science.

While in Santubong in Sarawak as a guest of James Brooke (the so-called White Rajah), Wallace wrote an important scientific paper that began to tease out some key aspects of evolutionary theory when he stated: “Every species has come into existence coincident both in space and time with pre-existing closely allied species.” This is now known as the ‘Sarawak Law’. This paper was published in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History (now called the Journal of Natural History and published by Taylor & Francis) Upon reading it, Darwin wrote to Wallace, initially asking him to send specimens from the Malay Archipelago, but later they exchanged important insights. In 1858, Darwin received an essay from Wallace, who was by then in the Spice Islands (or Maluku Islands) and realised that Wallace had independently worked out the mechanism of evolution by natural selection. Wallace’s essay, together with previously unpublished notes and letters

by Darwin, were hurriedly presented to a meeting of the Linnean Society in London –– this being the first publication of the theory of natural selection. The very next

>

Building Networks Connecting Business Creating Opportunities

Statue of Wallace in London

W W W. B R I T C H A M . O R G . S G

year, while Wallace was still in Southeast Asia, Darwin published one of the most important books ever written, On the Origin of Species, which provided much evidence to support the theory that he and Wallace had proposed.

Legacy

Singapore clearly played an important role

in the formation of Wallace’s ideas about evolution, and therefore many people feel that there should be a permanent memorial to the great man. What better way to remember him than with a statue?

sector and members of the public. The statue will be a full-sized replica of the Wallace statue recently unveiled by Sir David Attenborough at the Natural History Museum in London.

The design of the statue has already been decided and the funds needed will be raised through appeals to the private

The Campaign More than 2.2m-tall, a statue will be crafted in bronze by Anthony Smith. The obvious place for the statue is the new Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, which is under construction on the campus of the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Professor Peter Ng, Director of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, which is transitioning to the new Museum next year, fully supports the campaign. As a result, NUS will be collecting the funds once pledges have been obtained.

This is also a chance for British expatriates and businessmen/women to leave their mark in Singapore. British corporations and private individuals who want to be forever remembered as admirers of Wallace and supporters of the preservation of Singapore’s rich biodiversity should seize this opportunity to make a pledge and help sponsor the statue. The statue of Wallace will also serve as a memorial to the first scientific ties between Britain and Singapore. Generous donours will be recognised on a plaque at the Museum. Those interested in making a pledge can contact Barry and YT Clarke at this e-mail address: ARWallace101@yahoo.com.sg.

Full details of the campaign can be found on the Raffles Museum website: http://rafflesmuseum.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/commemorative-statue-of-alfred-russel-wallace/ About the Author Barry Clarke—Managing Director, Taylor & Francis Asia Pacific Taylor & Francis was founded in London in 1798 and is the oldest commercial publisher in the world with a portfolio of nearly 1,900 academic journals and over 3,800 new books per year. Journals now published by Taylor & Francis have many papers by Wallace, and an imprint now owned by the company was the publisher of My Life, Wallace’s 1905 autobiography.

British Chamber of Commerce Singapore, 138 Cecil Street, #13-03 Cecil Court, Singapore 069538, Phone: +65 6222-3552 | Fax: +65 6222-3556 | Email: katie@britcham.org.sg