Iconomy Conducts First Cantonese Webinar for Hong Kong Business Community

27 June 2020

Iconomy Corporate Consultancy conducted its first professional engagement delivered in a Chinese dialect on 27 June 2020, with Founder and Managing Director Ms Chan Mei Lee (Clarie Chan) presenting in her native Cantonese to an audience in Hong Kong on establishing and operating businesses in Singapore.

Conducted virtually through Zoom, the webinar was jointly organised by Iconomy Corporate Consultancy and Peter Ong Law Corporation, bringing together corporate, financial and legal perspectives for Hong Kong entrepreneurs and business owners interested in Singapore.

The online session attracted more than 150 attendees.

Establishing and Operating a Business in Singapore

The webinar provided participants with a practical introduction to the considerations involved in establishing a Singapore company and the regulatory obligations that follow incorporation.

Ms Chan covered the taxation, corporate compliance, accounting and financial reporting requirements applicable to Singapore companies, providing participants with an overview of the responsibilities associated with operating through a Singapore corporate structure.

Drawing upon her professional experience in corporate finance, accounting and corporate services, as well as her familiarity with both the Hong Kong and Singapore business environments, Ms Chan addressed the subject in Cantonese for the Hong Kong audience.

The legal component of the programme was presented by Mr Peter Ong, Managing Director of Peter Ong Law Corporation, who introduced participants to the legal environment for conducting business in Singapore and fundamental areas of Singapore business law.

The complementary presentations enabled participants to consider company establishment not merely as an incorporation exercise, but as the beginning of an ongoing framework of legal, taxation, accounting, financial reporting and corporate compliance obligations.

Connecting Singapore and Hong Kong

The webinar represented an early cross-border public engagement by Iconomy directed specifically towards the Hong Kong business community.

Conducting the programme in Cantonese allowed technical subjects ordinarily presented in English or Mandarin to be discussed in a language familiar to many members of the intended audience, while retaining the terminology necessary to explain Singapore’s corporate and regulatory framework.

For Iconomy, the event was also a modest but meaningful first: it was the first professional event conducted by the firm in a Chinese dialect.

The programme reflected Iconomy’s broader approach to professional engagement, combining multidisciplinary expertise with an appreciation of the commercial and cultural contexts of the business owners it serves.

Held during a period in which the COVID-19 pandemic had significantly curtailed conventional cross-border travel and physical seminars, the online format also provided a means for professional communities in Singapore and Hong Kong to continue exchanging knowledge despite the physical distance between them.