Toshikazu Muramatsu
Chief Strategy Officer
Chief Strategy Officer, TheNewGate Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
Singapore resident
Role & scope
Toshikazu Muramatsu leads TNGAP’s strategic operations from Singapore. He is responsible for the certified IOR provider network, the Preferred Carrier program, and the company’s five-country ASEAN expansion roadmap. As TNGAP’s first executive on the ground in Singapore, he has established the entity’s operational infrastructure and built the partner relationships that underpin the service offering.
Areas of expertise
Connect
For partnership inquiries, IOR network questions, or market entry consultations, reach out via the contact form.
Background
From Japanese commerce to Southeast Asia.
Toshikazu Muramatsu grew up in Japan with a formative interest in how goods move across borders — the systems, the rules, and the people who make international trade function. He studied commerce and international business, developing early fluency in the regulatory language that governs cross-border transactions. His academic foundation gave him not just technical knowledge, but a framework for understanding why trade structures either succeed or quietly collapse under regulatory pressure.
Before joining TheNewGate, Muramatsu built his career at the intersection of Japanese manufacturing clients and ASEAN market entry. He has worked with import-export operations spanning food and beverage, cosmetics, consumer electronics, and industrial equipment — categories where Japanese brands hold genuine global competitive advantage but frequently stumble on regional compliance complexity. This category depth, combined with hands-on experience navigating customs authorities across multiple Southeast Asian jurisdictions, defines his operational perspective.
ASEAN Experience
Eight years in the Japan-ASEAN trade corridor.
Muramatsu's ASEAN experience spans over eight years of active involvement in Japan-to-ASEAN trade operations. Working within Japanese trading companies and their ASEAN subsidiaries, he observed first-hand the structural inefficiencies that repeatedly delayed or defeated market entry: the cost of maintaining dormant subsidiaries in multiple jurisdictions, the friction of managing local legal entities without genuine local knowledge, and the compounding compliance overhead that turned what should have been profitable expansion into a drag on parent-company finances.
This background shaped a clear conviction: the structural model matters more than the product itself. A Japanese brand with a globally competitive product will fail in ASEAN if the infrastructure beneath it is wrong. Conversely, the right infrastructure — IOR certification, properly structured local partnerships, compliant channel relationships — can take a brand from zero to operational across four markets in twelve weeks. That conviction is the foundation of TNGAP's service architecture.
His specific expertise covers IOR (Importer of Record) structuring across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam; marketplace compliance for Shopee, Lazada, Amazon MY, and cross-border channels; customs classification and HS code strategy for Japanese product categories; and the logistics network relationships that compress clearance timelines. These are not theoretical frameworks — they are operational capabilities built through repeated execution.
“Japanese brands have the products Southeast Asia wants. What they lack is a partner who speaks their language — literally and commercially. That’s what we built.”
— Toshikazu Muramatsu, Chief Strategy Officer, TheNewGate Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.Joining TNGAP
Why TNGAP. Why now.
Muramatsu joined TheNewGate Inc. during the company's founding period, drawn by a shared belief that Japanese professional services had a structural role to play in ASEAN expansion — not as a consultancy, but as operational infrastructure. When the decision was made to form TheNewGate Asia Pacific and establish a Singapore hub entity, he was the logical choice for Chief Strategy Officer: Singapore-resident, operationally tested, and equipped with the network relationships needed to stand up the IOR provider program from scratch.
His appointment as CSO was formally confirmed on 25 May 2026, coinciding with his establishment of Singapore residency. From that date, TNGAP became a genuinely Singapore-based operation — not a paper entity with absentee directors, but a company with a senior executive on the ground, present at regulatory consultations, partner meetings, and carrier negotiations in the Asia/Singapore timezone.
Singapore Residency
What Singapore residency means operationally.
For a trade infrastructure company, executive presence is not a branding decision — it is a compliance and credibility requirement. Singapore's regulatory framework, its relationship with JCCI and Japanese commercial associations, and its IOR ecosystem all function through direct, in-person professional relationships. Muramatsu's Singapore residency means TNGAP can attend ACRA consultations, maintain in-person contact with Nippon Express SG, Dimerco, Kerry Logistics, Yusen, and Kintetsu, and represent clients at Customs Authority engagements without relying on correspondence.
Beyond the operational dimension, Singapore residency establishes a time-zone alignment that is genuinely significant for Japanese clients. The SGT/JST overlap — Singapore is only one hour behind Japan Standard Time — means that operational issues, customs queries, and channel escalations can be addressed within the same business day without the 8–12 hour offset that hobbles ASEAN operations managed from European or American bases.
The Raffles Quay address is a Class A CBD office address in Singapore's financial district, not a virtual mailbox. Muramatsu works from that address, attends meetings at that address, and hosts partner sessions there. This physical presence is the anchor of TNGAP's credibility as a Singapore-domiciled trade infrastructure company.
Background
From Japan to Singapore.
Toshikazu Muramatsu brings deep experience in Japan-ASEAN trade to his role at TNGAP. His career spans trade compliance, cross-border logistics, and market entry — with a focus on helping Japanese brands navigate the regulatory and operational complexity of Southeast Asia.
Areas of expertise
Built for the region.
IOR provider network management, ASEAN trade compliance, Singapore operations, Japanese brand market entry strategy. As TNGAP’s first executive in Singapore, he built the certified IOR network and partner relationships from the ground up.
Decision Philosophy
Infrastructure over improvisation.
Muramatsu operates from a single strategic principle: infrastructure before expansion. In the Japan-ASEAN trade context, improvisation — building channel relationships before IOR certification, entering a new market before logistics infrastructure is verified, scaling GMV before compliance frameworks are established — is not agility. It is liability creation. The consequences are not theoretical. Customs holds, platform account suspensions, regulatory fines, and forced market exit are the documented outcomes of improvised ASEAN expansion.
This philosophy is not cautious — it is structural. The goal is not to slow expansion; it is to build the foundation that makes expansion permanent. A Japanese brand that enters Malaysia through TNGAP's IOR structure is not just operational in Malaysia: it is legally protected, channel-compliant, and positioned to scale to Thailand and Vietnam without rebuilding the compliance layer from zero each time. Infrastructure is the accelerator, not the brake.
For TNGAP specifically, this translates into a sequenced service architecture. IOR certification precedes channel activation. Logistics partnerships precede client onboarding. Legal structure review precedes market entry recommendation. Each stage is a foundation for the next, not a checkbox on the path to revenue. This is why TNGAP can consistently deliver operational market entry — first trade in six weeks — while competitors who improvise either fail silently or create compliance problems their clients discover later.
Responsibility Scope
What the CSO owns.
As Chief Strategy Officer, Toshikazu Muramatsu carries accountability for three core domains: TNGAP's certified IOR provider network (selection, qualification, and ongoing performance management of all Singapore-based carriers); the ASEAN expansion roadmap (Phase 1 through Phase 3 market activation criteria and partner network development); and strategic account relationships with Pro Plan clients. He is the executive who represents TNGAP in external regulatory engagements, carrier partnership negotiations, and JCCI-facing activities.
- →Certified IOR provider network: qualification and performance management of 5 Singapore carriers
- →Preferred Carrier Program: Nippon Express SG, Dimerco, Kerry, Yusen, Kintetsu World Express
- →ASEAN expansion roadmap: Phase 1 (SG/MY/TH/VN) through Phase 3 (Korea) activation sequencing
- →Pro Plan client strategic reviews: quarterly leadership sessions with Pro-tier clients
- →ACRA and regulatory engagement: Singapore-side compliance representation
- →JCCI relationship management: serving member companies across Southeast Asia
Singapore presence
On the ground, since 2025.
Toshikazu Muramatsu confirmed Singapore residency on 25 May 2026, making TNGAP a truly Singapore-based operation. As the company’s first executive on the ground, he established the IOR provider network, fulfillment partnerships, and regulatory relationships that underpin the service offering.
Operating from Singapore means TNGAP can attend regulatory consultations, meet carrier partners in person, and respond to client operational needs in the Asia/Singapore timezone.
Reach Toshikazu Muramatsu
How to connect.
For partnership inquiries, IOR network questions, Pro Plan strategic consultations, or regulatory frameworks, the most direct path is via TNGAP's contact form — which is monitored within 4 business hours. For Pro Plan clients, direct CSO engagement is standard from the second quarter of the engagement. Calendar availability for initial strategic consultations can be arranged through the contact form.
Contact TNGAP →