About Us

Hainan Business Club (HBC) is a not-for-profit organization that was registered as a society under the Societies Act on the 8 April 2010. The organization was founded by a group of successful Singaporean Hainanese entrepreneurs and professionals led by Mr Anthony Lim.

Hainan Business Club was formed to provide the Hainanese community in Singapore with a platform for social and business networking.

On 8 April 2010, Hainan Business Club was registered as a society under the Societies Act. The Club’s founding President is Mr Anthony Lim Keen Ban, the Chairman of a public-listed company that deals with luxury timepieces.

On 9 March 2013, Hainan Business Club was officially declared open by Mr Lawrence Wong, a fellow Hainanese who was then the Acting Minister in the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and is now a full Minister in the same Ministry.

Our Management Committee

The day-to-day affairs of the Club are managed by a Management Committee comprising an Immediate Past President, a President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, an Assistant Secretary, an Assistant Treasurer and 15 Committee Members who shall appoint from among themselves 3 Vice-Presidents, 6 Chairs and 6 Vice-Chairs to spearhead 6 specific task groups.

Our Honorary Advisors

Hainan Business Club is supported by a panel of distinguished Honorary Advisors, namely, Mr Mah Bow Tan (a former Minister of National Development and formerly a Member of Parliament); Dr Foo Yee Shoon (a former Minister of State, Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports); Mrs Fang Ai Lian (Chairwoman of Far East Organization’s Australian Division) and Ms Claire Chiang (Senior Vice President of Banyan Tree Holdings, and co-founder of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts).

For legal matters, Hainan Business Club enjoys the pro bono services of her Honorary Legal Advisor, Senior Counsel Mr Tan Tee Jim. Mr Tan SC is an eminent practising lawyer and a senior partner of M/s Lee & Lee.
If the Management Committee needs advice on day-to-day matters, it has ready access to its MC

Our members

Our members are entrepreneurs and professionals, some of whom are key people behind household brands in the food and beverage industry.

The Club’s Rules provide for two categories of members: one with voting rights and one without. Life Members and Ordinary Members have voting rights, while Associate Members do not.

Life Members pay a one-time entrance fee of S$1,000 to join the Club. Life Members who contributed S$5,000 or more to support the Club at her formative stage were conferred Founder Member status.
At present, we have 102 Life Members, 23 of whom have been conferred Founder Member status. For the record, to date, our Founder Members have contributed a total of S$260,000 to the Club.

Our Objectives

Hainan Business Club’s main objective is to provide her members with an effective business networking
platform.

The Hainanese community in Singapore is not big, and with the growing prevalence of inter-dialect marriages, it is foreseeable that the Hainanese business community will become smaller.

To be an effective platform for business networking, therefore, Hainan Business Club must connect her members not only with Hainanese entrepreneurs but also with non-Hainanese ones. With this strategy in mind:

– Hainan Business Club joined the Singapore Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry in April 2010 to plug her members into the vast network of SCCCI members.

– Hainan Business Club takes part in the various World Summits of Hainanese Entrepreneurs, which are attended by Hainanese entrepreneurs from different parts of the world, to enable her members to network with Hainanese entrepreneurs outside Singapore.