The UK’s Institute of Directors: Osaka Ambassador

Produced and written by Sterling Content.

With a Royal Charter awarded in 1906 to promote good corporate governance and enterprise, the London-headquartered Institute of Directors (IoD) is a professional membership organisation that supports, trains and represents company directors and business leaders.

Its Japan Business Group connects SMEs and larger-scale UK enterprises interested in UK–Japan trade across a wide range of sectors, from financial services and engineering to food production and creative arts.

As an ambassador of the group, Osaka-based BCCJ member David Syrad plays a key role in supporting UK–Japan relations in the Kansai region by drawing on his 40 years of experience working with Japanese, British and international companies.

Syrad began the Japan-based part of his career at the Osaka branch of an educational and language services company before setting up an office and factory for a Dutch multinational in the city.

Now, as CEO of Osaka-based strategic business bridge AKI Limited, and in collaboration with its sister company CBI Partners, he primarily helps non-Japanese and Western corporations successfully navigate, enter and collaborate with the Japanese and broader Asian markets. Since the company was established in 2006, it has supported a diverse range of projects including the turnaround of a Japanese hair clip company and the market entry of a German restaurant.

Osaka, he says, is dynamic and entrepreneurial, home to a lot of inventiveness and refined skills—even screw-making for spaceships—not to mention residents with a renowned sense of humour.

Still, 'the potential of many companies based there is not fully realised because they don’t have the confidence to go out and sell or the international skills to do business outside Japan,' he opined, adding that he hopes to help change that situation through both his business and his role in the IoD.

'UK–Japan collaboration is accelerating very fast, and we have an opportunity at the grassroots level to facilitate and improve the way collaborations work,' he said, noting that the Japan Business Group provides seminars on topics such as the opportunities and challenges of doing business in Japan.

It also supports high-profile activities. Last year the group led a 25-member-strong delegation of senior business leaders to Japan to attend Expo 2025 and undertook a strategic business mission to Osaka and Tokyo. At the moment, members are preparing for its annual UK–Japan Defence and Technology Symposium, which will take place in November at Japan House London.

For Syrad, one of the group’s important functions is offering insight on effective approaches to co-development, a business area that is receiving major attention from businesses and policymakers in Japan.

Companies in this field typically partner with other organisations to jointly build, design or innovate products, software or technologies rather than simply working as a hired vendor. From the outset, partners align on the vision, timeline and final outcome, with both sides therefore sharing input into the creative or technical direction, as well as the business’ risks and rewards.

But although the Japanese government is pushing for foreign investment and open innovation while encouraging new startups to work together with large, traditional companies, there remain structural and regulatory friction points.

According to Syrad, Japan-based SMEs often endure a lack of funding, aggressive investors who try to take a larger share than they should, or loss of their IP to major corporations. Foreign-based companies setting up in Japan, meanwhile, can face challenges relating to visas and setting up bank accounts. Furthermore, they tend to experience cultural hurdles in being accepted as an equal co-development partner compared to Japanese-run companies, he added.

'What can support better co-development practices is improved legal frameworks. Japanese companies don’t really like detailed contracts but if you have a good, detailed contract that defines the framework and sets out what is supposed to happen, including at the end of the relationship, everything is clear, allowing people to relax and focus on co-development itself,' he said.

With this in mind, Syrad discusses the potential of UK‎–Japan collaborations with representatives of the Osaka government, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, trade associations and companies, and attends events as an IoD ambassador in both the UK and Japan.