David Lee

The Association with Growing Significance
Have you noticed the “V” movement that is taking the world by surprise? It causes giants like Microsoft and Britannica to shiver and make unprecedented changes in humility. No, it’s neither the television series “V” nor Shell’s V-Power. It is the Volunteer movement that successful organisations with massive followers like Mozilla and Wikipedia are embracing. The belief that resources should be accessible to all is growing stronger each day. Against the traditional business thinking, sustainability is now achievable because the world is seeing an ever increasing number of people volunteering their time and expertise.

Are you one of the “V”s?
Whether as a member or industry partner, you have a chance to do so in APTS. We pride ourselves as a professional organisation run by volunteers.

APTS’ first Panel of Advisors for Professional Certification in Training (PCT) Programme was appointed in 2014. We sincerely express our appreciation to the Advisors from Shangri-La Hotel, Shell, Shell Eastern Petroleum, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and APTS key appointment holders.

APTS plays a significant role in contributing towards making Singapore the Global Education Hub. The key goal is to develop our own Singapore brand in Professional Training Certification with support also from government agencies such as the Ministry of Manpower and Ministry of Education. The Hub identity will be significantly strengthened when Singapore carries authority in subject matters.

The uniqueness of APTS lies in the make up of its members. We have seen an increasing pool of experienced trainers from various industries coming together to share expertise and best practices. The monthly Networking & Training Workshops ran successfully and received excellent feedback. The spirit of sharing, collaboration and friendship attracted both practising and aspiring trainers.

Through the years, APTS grew steadily both in form and in substance since its formation. It has become an entity where companies are coming to for training requests. Our advanced web portal which features the online profiles of our members has also ranked number 1 in all major search engines such as Google, Microsoft Bing and Yahoo! for relevant key words. These further enhance the business and visibility of our members, not just in Singapore but across the globe.

There are also unprecedented challenges. With greater accessibility to resources via the internet and AI, many no longer join formal groups for learning and networking. Hence associations across the world are losing membership. Tension between countries and pandemics also lead to greater uncertainties and hence a lack of commitment in both time and money. Against this backdrop, the leadership of APTS seeks to renew itself to stay relevant to the training industry.

With Singapore striving to be the Global Education Hub, the relevance and significance of APTS can grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years.

With the excitements ahead, I would like to acknowledge that it is the members who have brought the APTS thus far. My sincere appreciation goes especially to the Executive Committee whose selfless and professional contributions have been evident. Let’s continue to grow as an individual, as an association and as a nation.

Keep Transforming!

Mr David Lee
President, APTS
Principal Trainer, Luminaries Lab Pte Ltd