Singapore - The business learning centre of Asia

Speaking and training around the world for the last decade has allowed me to compare many of the major cities from the perspective of a learning professional. In my opinion, to be a great centre of learning for business, a city needs well-resourced facilities, efficient infrastructure and a culture of excellence. It also needs confidence, certainty, community harmony and access to the best. For all these reasons – and more – I believe Singapore is the business learning centre of Asia.

Confidence
Without question, this is the main distinguishing factor of Singaporeans. This is reflected in the city’s ever-changing skyline, innovative infrastructure and world-leading facilities; but, most of all, in the smiles of the young people. It’s almost as if they know that, no matter what great achievements have been made in the last 47 years, greater opportunities lie ahead – with Singapore perfectly positioned to benefit from the might of an emerging Asia.

Certainty
In Singapore, everything works…well. In fact, I often notice the way some things are done in Singapore and think, “Why don’t they do it like that everywhere?” Training Edge International has a huge range of multi-national clients – many of whom are based in Europe. They have chosen Singapore as their regional base with branches in India, China and Indonesia. When I was speaking recently to the regional head of a large German company who started a serious push into Asia five years ago about why they chose Singapore, he said, “The choice was easy. Singapore is positioned perfectly; but, most of all, it gives us the efficiency and reliability that we are used to in Europe.” Business loves certainty, it gives them the confidence to invest in their systems and their staff.

Community
In a training session in Singapore, you are likely to have a number of different nationalities and cultures. I find this makes for a richer learning experience because of so many different perspectives. With such great diversity in a small space, Singapore is certainly a model of tolerance and harmony that much of the rest of the world could learn from.

Access to the Best
Singapore has a great reputation in the speaking and training professions worldwide as a place that respects and values learning and is keen to tap into overseas expertise. This is why in all the professions – from architecture to zoology – Singapore is able to attract the world’s best.

In addition to these criteria, I have developed my own informal measures that I have found to be useful:

Hotel Staff Index
The bane of the business traveller is surly hotel staff – especially at the end of a long flight. Hotel staff in Singapore are not only unfailingly professional, they seem genuinely pleased to see you.

Venue Staff Index
As a speaker and trainer I have to deal with a lot of staff in convention centres, hotels and similar venues. In my experience, venue staff in Singapore achieve the magic double of being both willing and able. This is disappointingly rare. In many other places, those who are willing don’t have the capability – and those who are capable aren’t willing! As with the hotel staff index, this is a good sign that Singapore is a place to do business.

Taxi Driver Index
Taxi drivers in Singapore are, in general, happy. This is a good measure of the liveability of a city. If those in lowly-paid, stressful jobs can be happy, there must be something going right. Unlike many cities, they actually know where they are going and give the correct change! 

Kevin Ryan, International Speaker , Training Edge International