Networking

The New Members’ Welcome, with support from RHB Singapore, is a monthly networking session held at the SMF building where SMF’s new members are gathered to interact and socialise with fellow business owners. The first session was held in October 2020, with more than 300 company representatives participating across 10 sessions in the past 6 months.

The session starts with an introduction to the SMF and sharing of the services the SMF provides to members such as job matching, guidance in grants applications and business to business matching sessions. New members were also encouraged to participate in upcoming activities that would provide them with more value to their membership. The event also featured booths set up by partnering members and Associated Services, allowing them to introduce their services to new members.

SMF Secretariat were also on hand to understand members’ pain points during COVID-19 so that they could provide better assistance to members and help in their business resilience.

The SMF held its annual Christmas celebration during its new members’ welcome on 9 December 2020, with support from the event partner RHB Singapore. Over 50 SMF Member companies participated in the festivities across two sessions. Mr Ian Lee, SMF’s Director for Membership and Industry Groups (MEMIG) Department, gave a welcome speech, encouraging attendees to use this Christmas event as a platform to exchange ideas and explore new possibilities, as well as to build long-term relationships with one another.

During the Christmas celebration, attendees were able to take part in a Christmas quiz and a lucky draw, where a Nescafe Coffee Machine and Apple AirPods were among the prizes. At the conclusion of the celebration, attendees expressed their satisfaction with the activities that was planned for them.

The celebration concluded with light refreshments where attendees were treated to a sumptuous snack box filled with traditional Nonya Kuehs and a gingerbread cookie to cater to the festive mood.

The SMF’s Lifestyle Industry Group (LIG) organised a business insights and networking event, together with event partners i-Sprint Innovations, Singapore Institute of Retail Studies (SIRS) and SME Centre@ SMF (SMEC) on 21 January 2021.

This session had event partners sharing informative insights to members that will help them protect their businesses and see new growth in the new year. Topics such as anti-counterfeit solutions to protect brands and products, 2021 retail trends, and available grants for businesses were shared by the speakers. Towards the end of the event, members networked and updated one another on their latest business offerings.