#FridayFive from the Executive Director: 3 November 2026

And the winner is… well, not me as I’ve neglected my #FridayFive for the last couple of weeks, so here's an update:  

1. Annual Business Awards: We held our 27th Annual Business Awards at Chijmes this year. Delighted to welcome our GOH, Minister Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment and the Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations. An epic evening celebrating the best of business success in #Singapore and you can see all the Trophy and Highly Commended winners in the attached picture.

2.  World topics: I attended the Barclays Asia Forum (20th year, and what a superb event) and we’ve been in conference season over the last few weeks. It was a delight to host a Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade roundtable during Cyber Week.  
3.  Amazing People: We held our Student CEO Series - thank you HSBC for supporting this and to Edwin and Germaine, Lucy and Anna), and to all those who held sessions with the cohort. It was great to see such an engaged group meet C-suites across our network. We held the second annual Accelerate launch where we heard from some of the graduates talking about their experiences. All part of our People and Work theme. Thanks to our hosts Standard Chartered Singapore, Lloyd's, Barclays and Ethos BeathChapman for hosting us throughout the programme, and to Hannah and the whole LTD Committee for all of your support, commitment and engagement. Incredibly humbling few weeks.

4. Ready for the Future: The Chamber Board had a Strategy session, led by President Haslam Preeston and expertly crafted by Oliver Wilkinson – thank you Oli and PwC Singapore for hosting us all. Picture of Alexander Harrison just before his mic-drop moment! Your Chamber is in good hands. And looking to the future (2028!), it was a pleasure to see the reveal of Wycombe Abbey Asia Singapore’s new Founding Head last week - congrats to Craig.

5. Driving Trade: Louise and team supported our 3rd Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Trade Mission. We used this to strengthen our ties more formally with Scottish Development International – thank you to Neil McInnes for all of your support and engagement. Jonathan Galloway from Newcastle University also did some super-connecting, ensuring that we met with the amazing Head of inward investment for the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority, Michelle Duggan. And we signed off this week hosting Opportunity London’s CEO Jace Tyrrell, Andy Lord, Commissioner, Transport for London, Stephen Cowan, Leader, London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, & Chair, London Councils, and HE Nikesh Mehta – the plans for London’s development are absolutely incredible.

Finally, it was also great to meet Philip Wood OBE, Chair of the British Chamber in New Zealand (finally!!) – the global network of British Chambers of Commerce really is outstanding.

Phew – I think that’s it, and the real winners in this update are you in the network. Have a great weekend when you get there and see you next week!