SwedCham Newsletter | March 2024
Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Singapore
SwedCham Singapore advises companies, facilitates business opportunities and empower and supports Swedish interests
Dear reader,
The month of March marks the celebration of International Women's Day, a time when we celebrate achievements and advocate for gender equality. However, amidst the positivity, sobering statistics remind us of the work yet to be done.
Equipleap's 2024 Gender Equality Report & Ranking reveals stark figures: Only 7% of CEOs and 17% of CFOs are women across the 4,000 companies in 27 markets included in the study. Even Sweden, once a frontrunner, now only ranks #8 across the 19 gender equality indicators applied. Despite women's majority in tertiary education in Sweden, their representation in board rooms and among start-up founders remains disproportionately low. As a matter of fact - the percentage of female CEOs among listed companies in Sweden is decreasing. This prompts reflection and raises concerns: What is happening here? We perceive progress, yet the data suggests regression. How can we dismantle the barriers that exist to make true gender parity a reality?
On 28 February, SwedChams across APAC had the pleasure of listening to one of Sweden's few female Group CEOs: Helena Hedblom, President & CEO of Epiroc, as she shared her visionary insights into the mining industry for our 6th SwedCham APAC CEO Talk, inspiring everyone with her leadership journey and empowering call for greater female representation in leadership roles. Just last week, Helena was designated Sweden's most powerful women in business 2024 by Dagens Industri.
On 7 March, member representatives at SwedCham Singapore's Annual General Meeting elected its first female President: Sofie Bager, Managing Director, GAC Singapore.
As we celebrate IWD 2024 and its theme #InspireInclusion during the month of March, let's not forget that we still have a long way to go to achieve SDG #5: "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls."
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Your dedicated SwedCham team,
Lisa & Anna
SwedCham's AGM 2024
On 7 March, SwedCham held its Annual General Meeting at Goodwood Park Hotel. Apart from electing a new Board of Directors, we had the honour of listening to and discussing with Nicholas Fang, our guest of honour and key note speaker for the evening.
A brand new team of Office Bearers, poised to steer our Board towards continued success in governance, was elected during the AGM:
We would also like to take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to brand new Board Members Chun-Chaw Chew, Jerrica Chooi, Thorbjörn Fors, Anna Håkansson, Daniel Ode, as well as a Thank You! and På återseende! to Horst Wasel, Magnus Gustavsson, Marie Hélène Mansard, Magnus Fredriksson and Petra Schirren, who have now left our Board after many years of service.
SwedCham proudly presents its Board of Directors for 2024-25:
Discover Ericsson's 5G Garage
As the development of Singapore's 5G network gains momentum, join us on 21 March for an exclusive visit to the 5G Garage and AIoT Centre, a collaborative initiative by Ericsson, Singtel, and Singapore Polytechnic, shaping Singapore's digital transformation journey. During our visit, you will explore cutting-edge 5G-powered use cases and witness live demonstrations by industry leaders like Axis Communications to better understand how companies are using 5G to drive innovation across industries.
Find out more and register for this event here.
CEO-dialogue on mental health
Did you know that Singapore's local economy loses an estimated S$15.7 billion annually to lost productivity due to stress and anxiety? Despite this, businesses are slow to prioritise wellbeing in the workplace. In a recent parliamentary address, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong recognised mental health and wellbeing as a key priority on the national agenda.
Together with WorkWell Leaders, a prominent non-profit in Singapore dedicated to championing workplace wellbeing, SwedCham is organising a cross-chamber session for our member CEOs on 30 April to explore the topic of mental health and why it makes business sense to make it a strategic priority, beyond an HR responsibility. With this CEO-dialogue, we aim to create a platform for CEOs to engage in meaningful discussions among peers and explore how they can lead the change within their organisations to foster positive transformations surrounding mental health.
Speakers include Li-San Tan, CEO, National Council of Social Service (NCSS), Suyeon Kim, Country President, AstraZeneca Singapore and Boudewijn Pesch, Vice President APAC, Axis Communications. The dialogue will be moderated by Anthea Ong, Founder & Chairperson of WorkWell Leaders.
Do you want to know more about this CEO-dialogue? Contact Lisa Ferraton at lisa.ferraton@swedcham.sg
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Save the Date: Midwinter Ball 2024
For this year's Midwinter Ball, we have invited some special guests... Book your diaries for Saturday 9 November 2024 at Sofitel Sentosa. Not to be missed.
#ABBA50years #Eurovision1974
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