Speech by Mr Lim Hng Kiang, Minister for Trade and Industry at the Local Enterprise and Association Development (LEAD) Programme Forum: Learning Journey for Associations, at 9.30am on Friday 22 August 2008, at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel

The Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC) is another good example of how the industry leveraged on LEAD to reposition the furniture industry as an export- and service-oriented sector. In March 2008, SFIC, with the support of IE Singapore and SPRING, spearheaded a new B2B brand identity for Singapore furniture companies. Called Singapore Mozaic, the brand aims to enhance global recognition of the quality, design and reliability, and value offered by Singapore’s furniture companies. It also launched its export showcase, International Furniture Centre in December 2007 which has already attained 100% occupancy. In addition, its design incubator launch pad, named PLATFORM, has successfully showcased 77 local designers’ works thus far. Through their participation at the IMM Cologne 2008 in Germany in January 2008 and the Salone Internationale de Mobile in Italy in April 2008, SFIC has helped the Singapore furniture companies to book sales of S$2.1 million on the spot and another S$20.9 million expected sales in the next few months.

Through LEAD, three like-minded logistics associations banded together to form a consortium to boost the logistics industry’s performance.Led by Container Depot Association (Singapore) and supported by Singapore Transport Association and Singapore Logistics Association, the three parties have successfully launched and operationalised the $3 million Containerised Traffic System (CTS) since January 2008. To-date, 36 local logistics enterprises have subscribed to the CTS system, exceeding the original target of 25. Based on the strong take-up rate, there is an estimated $8.9 million worth of productivity gains that can be reaped from the CTS system once it is fully operationalised across the 36 players.

Banding together to form a consortium is an effective way which companies can use to combine resources to pursue bigger projects abroad and, as a result, raise awareness of our Singapore companies’ capabilities overseas. IE Singapore’s International Partners (iPartners) Programme is one such initiative which promotes win-win collaborations among Singapore companies by facilitating and supporting the formation, development and go-to-market phases of the alliances. By banding together to pursue overseas projects, companies are able to complement one another’s product offerings, sharpen companies’ competitiveness and maximise their chances of overseas success.

To date, IE Singapore has supported 31 iPartners consortia, comprising a total of 157 companies, spanning industries such as automotive, airport services, building and infrastructure, healthcare, homeland security, e-Government, supply chain and logistics.

LEAD Journey: Continued and Affirmed Government Support

I am glad to note that these and more industry associations have achieved good progress in their LEAD projects.With their success, they have expressed strong interest to initiate follow-on and new industry projects under LEAD. Inspired by these successes, I am pleased to welcome three more associations that will be joining LEAD to spearhead impactful projects that are crucial to their respective industries. They are: the Association of Aerospace Industries Singapore (AAIS), Association of Private Schools & Colleges (APSC) and Singapore National Shippers’ Council (SNSC).

To reaffirm the government’s commitment to existing and new participating industry associations, the Government will inject another $20 million into LEAD for the next 3 years. The additional funding will support new industry associations, follow-on projects from associations already on LEAD, and capability development for the associations’ secretariat staff. In addition, the new tranche will enable existing associations to embark on new initiatives such as feasibility studies of new markets, market entrance strategies for new sectors and strategic planning for the industry.

LEAD Journey: The Challenges

The LEAD journey has not been without its challenges. This being their first attempt to play a lead role in rallying their members to embark on industry-wide initiatives, some associations had to overcome hurdles with their projects while balancing their regular association activities. Some associations also faced teething problems such as identifying champions and the lack of internal technical expertise to drive specific initiatives of LEAD projects.

LEAD Forum – a learning platform for all associations

LEAD is entering its third year – we have heard about some successes of associations and how their industries and enterprises have benefited.Today’s forum will hence feature the best practices of the more successful associations, particularly the learning points in their project implementation. Topics to be shared are very close to the associations’ hearts - they range from industry association executive council succession management, seeking association members’ buy-in for new programmes to internationalisation initiatives spearheaded by the associations.

I hope that through today’s session, associations which are facing similar issues will be encouraged to persevere and adopt new approaches in overcoming their implementation challenges. Likewise, enterprises and government agencies can also explore means of collaborating with or supporting the LEAD associations in helping them along their LEAD journeys. This is also an effective platform for the industry associations awarded LEAD recently to pick up learning points from existing players.

Conclusion

With rising operating costs and the current slowing down of the global economy, I urge local enterprises to leverage on the resources, programmes and facilities made available within their industry association, through LEAD, to enhance their competitiveness.

I would like to thank the 16 industry associations particularly SFIC, SLA and SPETA for their willingness to share with other players. In addition, I wish to commend the AAIS, APSC and SNSC for stepping forward to embark on the LEAD journey to help strengthen their respective industries.

On this note, I wish all of you a pleasant and fruitful morning. Thank you.