Good afternoon guests and participants.

 

I am happy to be here at this year’s National Youth Business Challenge organised by Ngee Ann Polytechnic and supported by Changi City Point Shopping Centre and Frasers Centrepoint Malls. Thank you for organising this youth competition.

 

We support entrepreneurship and encourage Singaporeans to set up and own their own businesses. We know that running your own business may not be an easy thing to do. We recognise that young students like yourselves may not be aware of the challenges involved in being entrepreneurs and of the Government’s support for businesses in overcoming these difficulties.

 

As the Chairman of the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE) in Singapore, let me assure you that the Government has come up with and is continuously rolling out programmes to support young budding entrepreneurs like yourselves. Let me also share with you that the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and SPRING Singapore is working towards setting up a committee to incorporate entrepreneurship education in schools.

 

One of the first ideas we have is for entrepreneurs to adopt schools, including polytechnics. Your business clubs will be given support in linking up with companies. Learning about running a real business is not merely about completing a school project. You can soon learn more real business skills like preparing financial statements, balance sheets, profit and loss projections and so on. Companies could adopt your school and students could have the opportunity to learn the ropes from the company’s CEO himself. Students could also have the chance to join the company as an intern to observe how the company works, and learn more about the business challenges and how to cope with them.

 

One of the best ways to become a successful entrepreneur is not to just learn about success but more importantly, to learn about failure as the entrepreneurship journey can be fraught with difficulties and sometimes, even failures. But you should remember the excitement and fulfillment that comes from overcoming these difficulties and failures, and from living to tell the tale. After a few failures, you could succeed and with success, you can then enjoy the fruit of your own labour. Such is the spirit of entrepreneurship and we aim to inculcate this into the value of education in Singapore.

 

There are many schemes to help entrepreneurs in Singapore. Once you are of the age to set up businesses, I encourage you to give it a try. It is easy to set up a company in Singapore once you decide on a viable product or service. With your ideas and proposal, you could apply for seed funding from ACE or SPRING which could provide up to $50,000 in funding. This would definitely go further than merely being content with a grade that you get for your school project. I urge you to see entrepreneurship beyond a subject that you study in school with grades and scores. Entrepreneurship is a real life experience and is also a career option. You do not have to confine yourself to work for a company as you can own something of your own.

 

There are many successful Singapore companies that have started small and done well. For example, the founder of Sakae Sushi could not find a good job as he had poor school results. In the end, he collaborated with his wife and started what was a small business but is now a successful restaurant chain. Another example is the former owner of Thai Express who started his venture with a very small sum of a few thousand dollars, but who eventually made a substantial profit. These two young businessmen are good examples of how entrepreneurs go through different experiences, difficulties and challenges, but who are keen to pick themselves up and succeed.

 

Entrepreneurship is an exciting journey. If you want to own your own future, entrepreneurship is a career option you should consider. As an entrepreneur, you are different, you are a risk-taker. And it is an exciting and fulfilling life option as you will be different and unique, with your own experiences in your path to success that will make you stand out from the rest.

 

With this, I declare the start of the finals for this year’s National Youth Business Challenge. I wish you every success in your journey as entrepreneurs. Thank you.