Singapore’s leading professional network

Corporate Network operates the leading professional network in Singapore where members can access critical insights while engaging in high-level networking with senior business leaders from some of the most important MNCs operating in South-east Asia. Bring the collective expertise of The Economist Group and other business leaders into your organisation to allow you to explore new ideas and create space for understanding how external factors will impact your business.

Upcoming events

EICN events are closed-door and members’ only. Membership is reserved to senior business leaders from major organisations operating in the region. If you would like to attend, please fill out the form on the bottom of this page and a member of our staff will follow-up with you to discuss membership options.

April 24 — Hot Spots: Indonesia

Indonesia is the sixth-biggest emerging market by GDP, and in the past decade has grown faster than any other $1trn-plus economy bar China and India. A source of dynamism is digital services, which are helping to create a more integrated consumer market, with over 100m people collectively spending $80bn a year on everything from e-payments to apps for on-demand trucking. Its location, size and resources make it a key theatre in the superpower contest. In this event, we will discuss the economic and political outlook for the country. What will a new administration look like for Indonesia?

May 15 — In search of forever: implications of living to 120

Living to 100 today is not unheard of, but is still rare. Life expectancies in developed and developing countries are increasing, with the UN stating that the number of centenarians will hit 573,000 in 2021. Japan has the highest rate of centenarians, with 0.06% of the population 100 or older. Should the latest efforts to prolong life reach their potential, living to see your 100th birthday could become the norm; making it to 120 could become a perfectly reasonable aspiration. What are the other implications of this potential demographic shift?

June 26 — Hot Spots: Vietnam

Geopolitical tensions and industrial policy are turning firms to Vietnam in search of diversity and resilience in their supply chains. All of which could lead to more growth, and make millions of Vietnamese people better off. Yet there is still plenty to be done if Vietnam’s factories are to move farther up the value chain. Its manufacturing base is still much shallower than China’s. Foreign firms would love to buy more parts locally, which could be faster and more convenient than sourcing them from just over the border. In this event, we will discuss the macroeconomic growth in Vietnam and explore the risks and challenges for the country.

Recent events in Singapore

Supply chain resilience in South-east Asia

Responding to the pandemic underscored the need for leaders to accelerate the adoption of agile ways of working and value chain transformation to outmanoeuvre uncertainty. This event explored the themes of agility and change management, as well as emerging trends in supply chain resilience. Panellists included executives from EY Asean, Anaplan Asia and Ipsen Pharma.

Skyline of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Malaysia’s State of Recovery: A Mid-Year Review

In this discussion, our panellists from SERC Malaysia and UOB discussed how Malaysia’s economic recovery is panning out. The discussion touched on thematic issues such as investments, technology adoption and government policy, which are instrumental in driving the longer-term growth trajectory.

C-Suite Congress: Developing the “Singapore Core”

The cost of bringing in foreign employees, and the obstacles highlighted by the pandemic, have led companies to reconsider their workforce strategy. In this CxO brainstorming session, EICN members explored ways they could reduce their reliance on expatriate employees and leaders in favour of a strong locally-based talent pool.

US-China Relations and South-east Asia

In this session our panellists from Tencent Cloud, Nanyang Technological University and Straumann Group examined how the US-China relations have changed under the Biden administration and the potential implications for governments and businesses in the region.

Meet our South-east Asia director

Sumana Rajarethnam is the South-east Asia director of the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network based in Singapore. Responsible for both the Singapore and Kuala Lumpur networks, Sumana works closely with network members to help inform their business strategies through political, economic and operational insight and to connect them with their senior leadership peers .Sumana is a senior policy professional with 17 years of business advisory experience, nine of those as an analyst, principal and director with the EIU from 2011-2020. He has most recently been working in the Chinese technology sector, including stints at Kuaishou Technology and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.

Find out more

To request to join our Singapore professional network, please fill out the form below.