Message from our new President, Mr. Marcus Tan

Dear Valued Members,

A very Good day to all of you! I trust that all of you are keeping well and healthy.

My Name is Marcus and I’m the Executive Director from Cyclect Singapore for those whom I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting. My company has been established since 1943 by my grandfather.

Thank You for bestowing this honour upon me. It is a most challenging time to be entrusted with this task and I will certainly do my best. We live in a very different world as we did a year ago in Greece, where our worries were mostly about business and how shipping was and how we could improve our business.

On a more sombre note, I am certain all of you are updated on the current state of the world amidst covid-19 and I am certain everyone is impacted in some way or the other. A new ‘normal’ as we keep hearing, is expected. In just the past 5 to 6 months, we have lost jobs, finance, opportunities and a fair bit of freedom. Some of us are luckier and have some support from their governments and some have had to rely on their own to survive.

However, I wish to encourage all members that all is not lost. Albert Einstein said that in every crisis, lies great opportunities. This crisis will probably be the greatest crisis we will face in our lifetime, but I’m confident to say that this no different from all other major crisis faced in the last centuries. We always overcome and if we work hard at the problem, we will survive and become stronger.

Anthony Robbins said “Every problem is a gift—without problems we would not grow.”

I’ve chosen this quote to share as it helped me face the challenges my company is going through. Cyclect decided to take this whole pandemic, with some positivity and took comfort that when we overcome this situation, we will emerge victorious and stronger. Singapore has just recently restarted its economy and we are pleased to be in the forefront as we worked hard to comply with authorities on restarting the economy.

Until today, I still remember my first ISES meeting I attended was in Cape Town and hosted by SMD. Arend and Lynn de Boer were excellent hosts and it was very memorable. I remembered that we had invited a superintendent doing a presentation and asked if ISES knew of a reputable electrical company in Singapore. I got the job! That was nice, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Over the years, through ISES, we have experienced:

Sincere Friendships all over the world
Sharing business ideas/practices
Assistance in other countries where there are members
Like minded business leaders
Business Opportunities

These benefits do not come automatically but must be developed. ISES provides a platform for us to do this as we are all in similar trades. Thus, I would like to encourage new members to invest into the association by joining in our AGMs and our communication channels.

ISES has come a long way and it had its ups and downs. However, I am confident to say that my predecessors, together with all the directors and with the support of all the members, have done an excellent job stabilising and bringing ISES to what it is today. I am extremely optimistic about its future and what it brings to all members. This past year alone, we have had 15 new associate and full members. For that, I wish to applaud our Secretary General, Pepe Bris, who has delivered this stellar result.

I would now like to briefly touch on the future of ISES Post Covid-19. To move ISES forward and bring even greater value to all members, my personal vision and mission for ISES is this:-

Vision:-

“A quality service Company as a member in every major port of the world”.

Mission:-

“To provide all members with all the resources ISES has to offer”.

In order to do this, we plan to build and enhance the following structure in ISES in the coming year and more:-

Update and increase our Customer Database
A communication channel to keep all members or their representative connected.
A personal call from the Secretary General to reach out to all members regularly.
A new service we bring to associate members to Ask ISES! Whom members can ask the association for any advice related to Marine and Shipping in our expert fields.
A new service to enable full members to request for an introduction to clients via ISES.

With these enhancements, we will be able to bring even greater value to all members.

Thank you once again and I wish all of you in your respective countries good health to you, your families and teams. Till we meet again!

Yours Sincerely,

Marcus Tan EY

Letter from our new President – Marcus Tan