Dear Subscriber,
With Chinese New Year just around the corner, we would like to wish our extended business community a prosperous Year of the Rabbit. In his New Year message on 31 December, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reflected on the hardship of the past three years due to the pandemic, but also on how Singapore has emerged stronger from this hardship and now is gearing up to become an even more attractive place for businesses and individuals: "It is time to seize the moment." Despite a troubled world, we hope that you, in your role and mission, will also see this year as an opportunity to seize the moment in Singapore and Southeast Asia, likely the most dynamic region in the world right now. And with a network of independent organisations in almost every country in the region, SwedCham is here to support your mission.
Please find below the latest news from our business community.
Your dedicated SwedCham team,
Lisa & Anna |
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We are proud to announce that ABB has become a new Partner Member from 2023. The Singapore ABB team has been an active member of our organisation for many years, and we are looking forward to seeing the company continue its inspiring work, now as a SwedCham Partner. |
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SwedCham welcomes the following new member to its business community:
Waltero: Waltero is a Swedish start-up which turns mechanical water or gas meters into smart meters by seamlessly adding a W-Sense to existing mechanical meter. The smart meter allows for frequent readings during the day and provides real-time data enabled automatic billing.
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| New SwedCham Silver Sponsor |
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Canadian International School in Singapore (CIS) is joining SwedCham's business community as a new Silver Sponsor. Founded in 1990, it is a leading international school in Singapore with over 3000 students from more than 70 nationalities. CIS is one of the few international schools in Singapore to offer all three IB programmes, from Primary Years through to the Diploma Programme. It has welcomed many Swedish students over the years.
Key contact: Michelle Sharpe, Head of Marketing & Communications, |
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| New immigration framework in Singapore |
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Is your company compliant with Singapore's new immigration frame-work which will be rolled out during 2023? On Wednesday 18 January, Paul Barrett and Jesper Albrekt from SwedCham's Silver Sponsor K2 Corporate Mobility will join our Zoom room to explain the new point-based immigration framework, COMPASS, and offer guidance on how businesses can identify and prepare for the potential impact the framework will have on the workforce.
Register for this event HERE. |
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| SwedCham Connect in February |
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At last - it is time for a new SwedCham Connect, this time hosted by GAC, one of the world's largest providers of ship agency and a long-time SwedCham Partner. Join us on Thursday, 2 February, at GAC's offices for some serious networking with the Swedish business community in Singapore.
Register for this event HERE. Exclusively for SwedCham Members. Limited to 40 pax. |
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SwedCham's Young Professionals network has got a new President! We hereby would like to thank Simon Måtar for excellent leadership over the last few years, and welcome Sanna Britsman as new YP President. Sanna works as a communications strategist at TikTok/ Bytedance. She has previously held senior strategy roles across media and creative agencies in Paris, Shanghai and Singapore and was part of the team involved with the Swedcham SESG campaign in 2020. Sanna joined the YP Board in 2022, and as President, she aims to continue the mission to connect Swedish companies in Singapore with the YP network and grow this vibrant organisation further. |
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| Heads up Swedish students in Singapore! |
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Are you a Swedish business student who will study in Singapore during Q1-2 2023? Would you be interested in working part time with Team Sweden on two distinctive projects during your semester here?
Team Sweden is looking for support to produce the Sweden in Singapore Business Directory and Business Climate Survey for 2023 and would like to find a self-driven and hands-on student to be part of the team. During this project, you will have the opportunity to interact closely with the Swedish business community in Singapore and learn about the market and its business climate.
Check HERE if you are eligible to work on your student visa whilst in Singapore. If you are, welcome to contact us at info@swedcham.sg to find out more about this job opportunity. |
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| 12 GIC sponsors confirmed |
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We are happy to announce that Axis Communications has become the 12th company to join SwedCham's new local outreach initiative The Green Innovation Centre (GIC) as sponsor! This project has now kicked off with a bang, and we are looking forward to a busy Q1-2 to get all work streams up and running. In January, we will start building a therapeutic garden and an outdoor living room, launch our GIC Champions groups and continue to prepare for the smart solutions our SwedCham companies will implement in this HDB garden.
The GIC in brief: Through this unique collaborative initiative, sponsored by 12 SwedCham companies, we have linked arms with a garden community in Bukit Batok as well as with South West CDC and the People's Association in Bukit Batok. Based on a collaborative bottom-up process, the project aims to support the community in exploring a sustainable urban lifestyle with knowledge, solutions and services around the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle) and green living (gardening and connecting with nature). SwedCham's team is partnering with schools, sustainability-focused local SMEs and resident volunteers to create an agora at this garden, which local volunteers have lovingly built over the past decade, where people of all ages can meet and learn about sustainable urban living. The project includes, for example, building a therapeutic corner in the garden for the elderly and physically impaired and creating an activity area for knowledge development workshops for people of all ages. For SwedCham’s Sponsors, there are opportunities to get involved in 3R activity workshops (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle), staff volunteering, improving the garden concept with smart tech solutions, mentoring/engaging with local SMEs - or just sponsor a good cause.
We hope this program will replicate and encourage more people and companies to engage in this important work in Singapore. Through partnership and collaboration between businesses and communities, we have no doubt that the SG Green Plan can be successful.
If you are a SwedCham Member interested in finding out more about this initiative, please do not hesitate to reach out to us on info@swedcham.sg. |
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Our emerging GIC partner network: |
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| What we achieved with the #candid initiative |
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As we have now wrapped up year 2022, we just want to take a step back and reflect on the achievements of our largest and potentially most impactful initiative during the past year: #candid: 100 Perspectives on Gender Equality in Singapore. The project, which was conceptualised and designed by Dilucidar and made possible by the sponsorship of 19 SwedCham member companies and affiliated organisations, has continued to make a buzz throughout the year. Here are a few achievements: - PR Awards Asia: Gold medal for best corporate publication
- Davos Communications Awards: Gold medal for best engage for change campaign
- Luum Awards: Two gold medals for 1) Essence of the message and 2) Institutional communication
- 27 newspaper articles covered the initiative and also inspired opinion pieces in The Straits Times and CNA. Read them HERE
- To date, 28 companies have joined the pledge to double up on paternity leave in Singapore from 2 to 4 weeks. The pledge was launched by nine SwedCham Members alongside the launch of the #candid book
- Online version of the book has almost 10,000 views
- Over 11,000 views of #candid release video on LinkedIn
- Average reach of 900 impressions for #DoublingUp social media posts.
Over eight months in 2021, we had a project team of 10 people working on collecting stories from around Singapore, most of those volunteers. As we started to put the book together, we had collected over 100 testimonies, mainly from men, on why gender equality should no longer be seen as a "women's issue", but something that the whole society would benefit from. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this project and helped start a conversation that spread through so many channels in Singapore and beyond during 2022. It has indeed inspired real change, contributed to shifting mindsets in the workplace and broadened the conversation around the topic of gender equality. |
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NORDIC NIGHT
SAVE THE DATE: On 23 March 2023, the four Nordic Embassies, in collaboration with Iceland, will host a NORDIC NIGHT event in Singapore. More information to follow.
NORDIC INNOVATION HOUSE
There will be an online info session on Wednesday, 18 January at 4:00-4:45 pm to learn more about the seven challenge statements, grant prizes, eligibility criteria, and application details. Register for this session HERE. |
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| Singapore going ping pong crazy |
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Table tennis fans, sports fans, Sweden fans: We need your help to paint the OCBC Arena yellow and blue in March!
The world's top players will be in town to compete in this prestigious event, organised by World Table Tennis (WTT). It will be consolidated into nine action-packed main draw days between 11 and 19 March 2023, featuring 64 of the world's top male and female players. A singles qualifying competition featuring a further 64 men and 64 women will be held from 7-9 March.
For some inspiration, watch this video from last year's Singapore Smash.
Are you interested in helping us mobilise our Swedish forces in Singapore to create a serious fan base to cheer on our Swedish national team during Singapore Smash? Contact us at info@swedcham.sg and we will get the ball rolling. |
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Thursday 2 February: SwedCham Connect @ GAC. Join us at GAC's offices for a glass of wine (or two) - a great way to connect with old and new friends after the CNY holidays.
Thursday 16 February: Sustainability simulation workshop with Celemi.
Tuesday 21 February. Market Outlook: The Philippines with Business Sweden.
Wednesday 8 March: SwedCham's Annual General Meeting 2023. NB: NEW DATE!
Tuesday 14 March: SwedCham APAC CEO Talks with Jesper Brodin, CEO, INGKA Group/IKEA.
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|  | | SwedCham AGM 2023 | | SAVE THE DATE: 8 MARCH | 
| Mar 8, 2023
(6:30 PM - 9:00 PM) (GMT+8) |
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| 1880 Members Club
Singapore |
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