#FridayFive from the Executive Director: 25 April 2025

Its been a long week, but another belter. Here's my #FridayFive ...

1.  Singapore/Indonesia ties: The British Chamber of Commerce Singapore (BritCham) and the British Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia co-hosted a Indonesia Investment Summit. With nearly 100 attendees thank you to Patrick Lee, CEO Singapore and ASEAN for Standard Chartered and his team (particularly David Sharratt and Eleanor Great), who we warmly thank for their hospitality and support for this initiative.

BritCham Indonesia Chairman Rino Donosepoetro and BritCham Singapore President Haslam Preeston and welcomed guests, which included a large delegation travelling from Indonesia to Singapore. We heard from H.E. Suryo Pratomo, Ambassador of Indonesia to Singapore, Rhiannon Harries, Deputy Trade Commissioner to Southeast Asia, and andria buchara, Director of the Indonesia Investment Promotion Center (IIPC) Singapore, an arm of the Ministry of Investment. The half-day conference moved on to two panel sessions with those on-the-ground sharing their experience and insights on the market opportunities. We thank Ian Leonard Betts, Jeffrey Chatellier, Edwina Chin, Meiti Kramadibrata, Ainsley Mann, Safiah Moore, Hazim Rosli, Shaanti Shamdasani, and Tom West for delving deeper into doing business in Indonesia.

2.  Hosting a podcast – one of the pleasures of the job is meeting inspiring business leaders. This week I had the pleasure of recording a podcast with Imane Jamal Eddine, the awesome General Manager for Digital Natives and Startups Pursuit at Microsoft Asia. It’s a brilliant podcast and one to look out for, some amazing tips about utilising AI, and regional expansion too. Thank you Imane and look forward to seeing you soon!

3.  On Tariffs – We have set up a “Tariff Taskforce” for members of the Chamber with complex supply chains to keep the conversation moving about opportunities and challenges. It’s a small group to start with, with inevitable sharing as we engage with stakeholders moving forward. We also sit on a SBF Taskforce too which we will share with members.

4.  Welcome back to Eden Hall – I was honoured to have been invited to the re-opening of Eden Hall. Thank you to Nikesh Mehta and the UK in Singapore team. A magical evening of meeting current and new connections, plus a wonderful history lesson of the historic building.

5.  Yes to meeting awesome leaders – thank so much to Andy Marr, connecting us with Gary Cooper and Shailen Talsania from Currie & Brown, great to catch up with Steve O'Connor, I enjoyed our Sustainability & Responsibility committee meeting, and also watch this space re a Rugby event that is taking shape…!

That’s it for this show-stopping week. Have a well deserved weekend ahead and see you soon.