SBF’s new chief on a mission to make sure companies are future-ready
Businesses must speed up their pace of transformation to make the most of opportunities in new growth areas like digitalisation and the green economy, says Kok Ping Soon
Lee U-Wen
[HANOI] Five weeks into the job as the new chief executive of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), Kok Ping Soon said one of his top priorities is to make sure the apex business chamber stays relevant for the long haul.
“That relevance is being challenged because of the changing operating environment in Singapore and overseas,” the 52-year-old said on Friday (Jul 7), in his first interview with the Singapore media since he became chief executive at the start of June.
“We want to strengthen the value that SBF brings, in terms of shaping the policies of the government, building platforms, and forging capabilities of our companies as they go about their transformation. We are looking to scale the impact of our work, so that more of our members can benefit from the things we do.”
Kok, the former chief of the Government Technology Agency, was speaking to reporters in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on the sidelines of the Singapore Regional Business Forum, the SBF’s signature annual event, held overseas for the first time.
Since coming on board, Kok said he has spent the bulk of his time reaching out to some of SBF’s 28,000-plus members, the leaders of the trade associations and chambers, government officials and politicians, as well as his own staff.
“My sense from the conversations is that there is some level of pessimism over the immediate outlook, as things are uncertain and very fragile in the near term,” he said.
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“But there is some quiet confidence about optimism for the future. When I probe a bit deeper to find out where this optimism is coming from, they tell me that the economic fundamentals are strong, and the opportunities are tremendous.”
The advancement of technology and the fact that almost every economy in the world is committed to achieving net-zero emissions means that the greening of economies brings huge growth potential for companies. But Kok stressed too, that the pace of transformation must pick up more quickly in order to make the most of these opportunities.
“(We want) our companies to be future-ready, and that’s the space where SBF can play a role. We are the nexus between businesses and the government.”
Beyond Singapore, Kok said that South-east Asia is where the vast majority of SBF’s members have operations in, with many indicating a desire to grow further in the region.
In SBF’s latest national business survey, 82 per cent of respondents said they have an existing presence in South-east Asia, while 70 per cent have plans to expand in countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
“There are a lot of factors that give Asean an advantage – a population of 660 million, total gross domestic product of US$3.66 trillion, and its economies are growing. During the pandemic, all the economies (in the world) were hit, but Asean has rebounded quite sharply,” said Kok.
He added that the region has good prospects in new growth areas such as digitalisation and the green economy.
The region has the potential to have a complete supply chain for products such as electric vehicles, where the nickel can come from the Philippines, the smelting of the nickel is done in Indonesia, the batteries are produced in Malaysia, and the final assembly can be done in Thailand or Singapore.
“The ability to have a complete supply chain for some of these green economy products sets Asean apart from many countries in other regions,” said Kok.
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