From The Desk of The Executive Director

The most anticipated event is over!

The 2018 APCAC Business Summit took place from April 4 to 5, 2018 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. It was a challenging first quarter for everyone here at AMCHAM as not only we were we organizing this regional Summit for the first time but we had the added pressure of it being the 50th Anniversary event; we wanted to ensure we delivered a quality event that would allow participants to walk away with some concrete information. But, we did it! APCAC 2018 was a huge success and I am very proud of our staff for giving it their all, coming together as a small but formidable team and for all the support our members and their regional offices, without whose support we could not have pulled it off!

For many years now, AMCHAM had been contemplating whether or not we’re ready to host such a big event and AMCHAM being a non-profit, it was an event that could either make us or break us. Some were excited while others were skeptical but we finally decided to take the risk simply because it just was the right time to have this conversation. Although we had nine months to start planning, we also had to juggle on-going programs right up until the end of March! Basically, we had four months to get things together with Christmas and New Year in December, then Chinese New Year and other public holidays in between. This event took a lot out of my staff, I do feel guilty at times but I know it was the right time to host this event and believed in the combined team effort of the Board and staff that would see us through.

We had more than 330 delegates over the three days (AMCHAM Presidents/ED’s held a Chamber workshop on Tuesday) from across the region and some of our speakers flew from as far as the U.S. to be at this event. We also had Ambassadors made time to be with us throughout the two days providing the necessary gravitas.

We were also fortunate to be able to lure Dato Seri Mustapa, our MITI Minister,  away from a very busy time to deliver a short keynote and for him to launch our Economic Impact Report with the initial sector focus of the E&E industry.  It was touch and go on the timing but achieved, nonetheless.

I am happy to note that the feedback we received was that the networking was of superior quality and the whole program very well received.  From sourcing for the best venue to identifying quality speakers and sponsors and details of ‘readable’ name tags to the selection of the menu, we took pride in ensuring our guests were going to be satisfied at the end of our Summit.

A special thank you to those who participated in the Summit especially to our major sponsors: Johnson & Johnson, ExxonMobil, Visa, MIDA, DLA Piper, Motorola, MSD and CFLD, and to all the smaller and in-kind contributors (see list below) without whom we would not have been as successful.  Every dollar counted. Thank you to all the delegates from near and far for making it to this event and I hope you found the Summit to be beneficial to you.

I would also like to thank the team at Ruder Finn Asia for the communication and PR support and ensuring we’ve got sufficient coverage throughout the event. Cliff link, the event management company who took care of their entire operations of the event did a tremendous job throughout the two days. It was a pleasure working with both companies and we truly enjoyed the journey and we learned a lot.

In this edition, we have selected some highlights of the conference to share with you. We apologize for the delay in getting this to you but there was a tremendous amount of items to collate.