TRADE associations and chambers (TACs) must transform themselves in order to better serve Singapore’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) amid a changing business landscape, said the Singapore Business Federation (SBF).
To enhance the capabilities of TACs, SBF has launched a sector transformation roadmap that will see nearly 20 new initiatives rolled out progressively over the next three years.
The new initiatives under the roadmap fall under four key strategies: strengthening the TAC sector’s value proposition; boosting human capital; improving governance standards; and enhancing operational excellence.
These range from leadership training and professional certification programmes to tailored advisory services; guides containing best practices to adopt; networking channels among TACs; and upgrades to existing programmes on digitalisation.
Annie Wang, SBF’s chief strategic partnership officer, told The Business Times: “It’s no longer business as usual post-Covid; we need to get all our TACs future-ready to help our member companies transform.”
As the apex business chamber, SBF champions the interests of more than 300 local and foreign TACs in Singapore.
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The roadmap was conceived after SBF engaged 68 TAC leaders and secretariat staff from 42 TACs in 2024 to assess the state of the TAC sector. It was developed in conjunction with more than 40 TACs, with support from Enterprise Singapore.
Speaking at the launch of the roadmap at the inaugural TAC Summit on Wednesday (Jan 22), Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling said TACs play an important role in contributing to Singapore’s “agility and coordination”.
This comes amid an increasingly complex global landscape, she noted, with geopolitical shifts, supply chain disruptions and the need for sustainability reshaping how industries operate.
Evolving regulatory requirements and emerging areas, such as cross-border digitalisation and carbon markets, have also increased business complexity, she added.
“By fostering stronger inter-TAC collaboration, TACs can build an integrated ecosystem that empowers our businesses to adapt to change and seize new opportunities.”
Key priorities
One key priority under the roadmap is enhancing operational excellence.
Wang noted that some smaller TACs lacked standard operating procedures and industry best practices, while others had misplaced historical records during team transitions.
As such, SBF saw a need to develop more shared resources to help TACs strengthen their management and governance capabilities, on top of mitigating risks.
Now, TACs can refer to a new administration guide containing guidelines on how to implement structured frameworks and processes in their organisations, in order to enhance efficiency and accountability.
SBF has also worked with the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID) to develop a new leadership programme for TAC councils.
The SBF-SID Leadership Programme for TAC Councils will equip board members and heads of the secretariat with the knowledge and skills to enhance governance and decision-making. The programme will host its first cohort in March.
Another focus area for SBF is human capital development.
On that front, the association will introduce a structured accreditation programme to improve and recognise the competencies of TAC professionals at an individual and organisational level.
Doing so will help to professionalise Singapore’s TAC sector and set standards across the workforce, said Wang, noting that similar certification programmes already exist for TAC sectors in other markets overseas.
Other human capital initiatives under the roadmap include two new leadership programmes to develop a pipeline of TAC leaders.
The first is the TAC Advanced Programme for Exceptional Leaders Programme, which will support heads of secretariat and TAC staff in progressing to more senior leadership roles. Second is the TAC Aspiring Leaders Programme, which targets high potential middle-level professionals.
Both programmes are set to be launched from Q3 2025 and aim to benefit more than 50 TAC secretariats over the next two years.
They build on the existing TAC Fellowship Programme, an executive leadership training course launched in 2022 that has groomed 53 promising TAC professionals to date.
SBF is also currently working with learning platform LinkedIn Learning to create a library of tailored online resources for TACs to aid their secretariats’ upskilling and reskilling efforts.
Beyond the roadmap, SBF hopes to work on rebranding the TAC sector’s image.
Most SMEs remain unclear how TACs can support their needs, especially in advocating their interests to the government, said Wang.
For instance, SBF conducts the National Business Survey every year to identify the needs and concerns of SMEs as well as, gather feedback on Budget measures. The survey findings are then shared with the government as inputs for the upcoming Budget.
On Wednesday, SBF also launched a step-by-step playbook to support TACs in their digital transformation efforts.
Developed in partnership with SGTech and PwC, the playbook will guide TACs in evaluating their current digital capabilities and provide them with tools to measure and track their transformation progress.
