AS ECONOMIC influence shifts east, association leaders in Asia Pacific are seeking a stronger voice of their own.
The launch of the Asia Pacific Society of Association Executives (APSAE) is seen as reflecting a growing confidence that the region’s trade bodies and professional societies should no longer rely solely on representative bodies geared towards association organisers in the United States and Europe.
This is where APSAE comes in, say the association’s founders.
The newly formed association held its inaugural conference in Singapore this year, with a mission to bring together leaders of trade associations, professional societies and non-profit organisations across Asia Pacific.
Its founders say the region has traditionally been under-represented in the global association community.
Leading the initiative is Prasant Saha, president of APSAE, who argues that associations, while central to the business events ecosystem, have lacked a collective regional home.
According to APSAE, the organisation was created to provide an APAC-focused forum for leadership development, research, collaboration and advocacy, reflecting the realities of a region that has often relied on frameworks developed elsewhere.
“We realised that Asia Pacific does not have a united house where association leaders can meet together across the industry, across professional societies, and we all know associations are the big supporter for meetings industry,” Saha, who is also CEO of conference organiser CIM Global, told MIX.
“Every association organises conferences and exhibitions, but all these associations never had a place where they can all be together.”
The move comes as Asia-Pacific’s influence in the global economy continues to expand. APSAE’s website describes the region as one of the world’s fastest-growing centres for associations and professional communities, while acknowledging that it remains highly fragmented.
We realised that Asia Pacific does not have a united house where association leaders can meet together across the industry.”
Existing leadership models and benchmarks, the organisation says, have largely been developed outside the region and often fail to reflect local cultural, regulatory and economic realities.
Saha believes the global association narrative has historically been shaped by Western organisations and that Asia-Pacific needs frameworks and leadership models rooted in its own experiences and regional priorities.
APSAE says its mission is not to replace existing organisations, but to create a regionally focused platform where association executives can address challenges specific to Asia-Pacific.
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The new organisation already has a significant regional footprint spanning a range of sectors. “APSAE has 300-plus members from 16 counties and regions across Asia Pacific,” says Saha, who was speaking to MIX in Kuching following an anniversary gala hosted by Business Events Sarawak.
“If we divide our membership into three categories, the largest one is the sectoral industry associations, which is around 50 per cent; then we have professional societies like lawyers, chartered accountants, medical – they are around 30 per cent and the test are not-for-profit, NHOs and others. So, we’re covering all of them.”
For Saha, the rationale extends beyond professional development. He sees associations as institutions that contribute to economic and social development across the region.
Associations are a nation builder. They represent a certain community of business. At the end of the day, they build a country and region. And with global disruption going on, we see that the next couple of decades are for Asia Pacific.”
He argues that a region accounting for roughly half of the world’s population should have a stronger collective voice.
“Half of humanity lives in this region, but it never had a unified force to bring in all the associations, industry and professional societies together. This is the decade of Asia Pacific, and that’s why these associations were built to bring all of them to discuss networking, best practices, and collaboration.”
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The organisation’s activities are already under way, with plans that include research programmes, training, certification, webinars, events and industry networking. APSAE says its focus will be on strengthening leadership capabilities and creating APAC-specific standards and benchmarks for the sector.
“There are whole lot of activations going on, including monthly podcast, monthly webinar, our workshop certification program, annual conference, regional events – the whole calendar is full.”
