In Conversation with our Past President, Shanker Iyer, FCA, OBE

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of our Annual Business Awards, we sat down with past president, Shanker Iyer, FCA, OBE, as he shared his experience with the Chamber during 1998 to 2004 and how the British Business Association became the British Chamber of Commerce, Singapore.

Rebranding & Realigning

I took on the President role in 1998 at an interesting time, when it was still the British Business Association. My business was around five years old with a small accountancy and tax practice and I had time to devote to the association. The BBA was still primarily social and at the time I took over, we were one month from bankruptcy. We formalised processes, agreed a new Constitution, cut costs, and focused on revenue. The High Commissioner at the time, Alan Hunt, was very supportive and helped us to encourage British companies in Singapore to participate, with the introduction of a 2 year Sustaining Membership. A total of 25 British companies provided their support in this capacity and helped to pave the way for the future.

We rebranded to a Chamber of Commerce following some best practice discussions with the already well established British Chamber in Hong Kong, and this helped to take us to the next level. When the Singapore Business Federation launched in 2002, their Constitution allocated five seats for foreign Chambers. The German Chamber and us took two of those spaces. We later worked with other European National Chambers and Associations to re-energise the European Chamber and take one seat to represent us all. I volunteered in my capacity as the British President to Chair the European Chamber for the initial term. I was invited to join the Board of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce and eventually became President of that organisation after my term with the British Chamber.

When I suggested launching a business awards, people told me it would not work and would not be sustainable. The British Chamber SME Award was launched and initially there was little interest. We approached the Singaporean Government for support and the very first Guest of Honour was Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, then a Junior Minister. I am delighted to see the awards thriving 20 years later and continuing to recognise small businesses alongside their larger peers.

New Chapter

We positioned our firm with an inbound strategy and as a family of Chartered Accountants. My two children joined the firm after studying in the UK, gaining first class degrees and spending some time with MNCs in the industry. They earned the respect of the team and we expanded into Hong Kong, repositioning the business to a consulting and advisory firm and disposing of our auditing business around the same time. This removed some competitive barriers and we began to collaborate with other accountancy firms. Our client dynamic changed to a younger clientele and we received a Singaporean Government grant to rebrand the firm.

Over the years, we have received many offers to buy the firm but I was keen to hold on to the family business and pass it down. However, my younger son - with a passion in technology - recognised that this was a good time to sell with the future in mind. My caveat was to retain the family participation in the firm and we have staff and clients who have been with us more for than 20 years. Fortunately, we found a buyer in Luxembourg that recognised our contribution and was only interested to buy if we stayed in the business. Our business now is considerably bigger as other companies the group owned in Singapore have been combined and the same in Hong Kong.

For my business and me, becoming involved in these various Chamber roles has had a significant outcome, connecting me throughout Singapore in the business and Government communities, as well as establishing my profile with a degree of trust and seniority. Without this level of profile, have no doubt that the path would have been different.

Important Moments

The highlight of my term was our 50th Anniversary celebrations. I ambitiously suggested that we invite former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew to be our Guest of Honor and was delighted that he accepted, it was an amazing event. I was also shocked and delighted to receive an OBE midway through my term as President of the British Chamber and look forward to continuing to participate as a member in the future.