Webinars and Business Meetings

The SMF’s Lifestyle Industry Group (LIG) created a webinar series titled “LIG Fireside Chats!”, with the first episode broadcasted in April 2020 on the SMF Youtube channel. Garnering more than 400 views, this three-episode series had experts from SKALE, Singapore Institute of Retail Studies-Nanyang Polytechnic (SIRS-NYP), and LABHaus shared insights to grow businesses through digital transformation. The series was facilitated by LIG Chairman Mr Kimming Yap. To watch the series, click on the link here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPm-afeLbtLWF92_Y0eZS25YVHykVNMOE or scan the QR code.

Continuing from the LIG Fireside Chats! Webinar series, the SMF’s LIG, in partnership with RHB Singapore, held a panel discussion on 27 November 2020 to discuss the topic, “How to grow your business in this current time of crisis”. LIG Chairman Mr Kimming Yap and panel experts from LABHaus, SKALE, and SIRS-NYP came together to give insights on the play between digital and brick-and-mortar retail for a more effective business setting, available grants and schemes for businesses to tap on, and also answer questions from the participants. Through this webinar, participants gained insights on identifying low hanging fruits by refocusing on customer relationship and experiences, thus unlocking value and efficiencies that translate to immediate sales for survival.

The SMF’s Packaging Council of Singapore (PCS) held its annual conference on 27 July 2020. Held online for the first time, the two-part conference titled “Continuing the Journey Towards Zero Packaging Waste” had speakers from various packaging companies and experts from Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL) share the importance of reducing packaging waste in Singapore and how companies may use sustainable packaging alternatives for their packaging needs. The panel discussion convened during the second part of the conference, which was held on 26 October 2020.

The panel discussion had experts from Nanyang Polytechnic, Sealed Air, and Magna International discuss various ways to adopt sustainable packaging. The panel also answered questions from attendees on achieving zero packaging waste and 3R goals.

The SMF’s Building Products and Construction Materials (BPCM) Industry Group (IG) supported the inaugural Fire Safety webinar by the National Fire and Civil Emergency Preparedness Council (NFEC) on 19 October 2020. Themed “Fire Safety in the New Normal”, the webinar provided a platform for subject matter experts to present and discuss fire safety related issues, including the latest technological development and gadgets.

BPCM IG’s First Deputy Chairman Mr Alan Lee was one of the panellists during the Q&A session, where participants had the opportunity to address their concerns on fire safety issues in Singapore. Some 2000 practitioners from the local fire safety fraternity such as Fire Safety Managers, Registered Inspectors (RI) and Fire Safety Engineers signed up for the webinar. Due to overwhelming response, a second session was held on 30 October 2020, which was also oversubscribed, having to turn away participants when it hits the limit of 2000 participants.

The SMF’s Human Resource Project Manager (HRPM) held a webinar that was jointly-organised with the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) on 13 January 2021. Titled “Hiring in the Midst of the Pandemic”, companies got to learn about the hiring challenges in 2021 and solutions to resolve these challenges. Besides that, both ITE and SIM shared some internship programmes that companies could tap on to solve their manpower issues.

The SMF’s Medical Technology Industry Group (MTIG) held its annual dialogue session with Health Sciences Authority (HSA) CEO Dr Mimi Choong and the Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed) on 18 January 2021.

During the session, Chairman for the Regulatory Sub-committee of MTIG, Mr James Chan gave a short introduction on MTIG, its mission, goals and upcoming initiatives. MTIG members also gave feedback on various issues such as allowing relief and extend deadlines for importers for stockholding and running down of stocks for masks and thermometers. They also shared the Mandatory Packaging Reporting (MPR) requirements to all Medical Technology stakeholders.

A post-budget insights Webinar was held on 12 March 2021 with Mr Shekhar Jaiswal, Head of Equity Research at RHB Singapore and Mr Rohan Solapurkar, Tax Partner in Singapore at Deloitte & Touche Financial Advisory Services. The post-budget webinar followed after Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and then Minister for Finance, Mr Heng Swee Keat, delivered the Budget Statement in Parliament on 16 February 2021.

This webinar provided participants with insights such as Singapore’s market outlook in 2021 for different industries, budget changes and the impact it would have on corporate tax, and available government grants that businesses could tap on to help them overcome the challenges in the new normal.

The SMF’s Electrical, Electronics and Allied Industries (EEAI) IG organised a webinar titled “Business Transformation Made Easy for Operations & Supply Chain Professionals” on 18 March 2021, together with SAP Asia and Delaware.

This webinar had industry leaders shared the advent of technologies in this fourth Industrial Revolution. Technological advancements such as Internet of Things, 3D printing and mobile devices, have kept operations running during the pandemic and is critical for their crisis respondents.