Mr Ho Meng Kit, Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Business Federation,

Mr Lawrence Leow, Chairman, SME Committee

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning.

1.                  I am delighted to join you today for the SME Convention 2017. The annual SME Convention serves as an important platform to bring SME leaders together and discuss issues of common interest.

Changing Operating Environment

2.                  Just this morning, the latest GDP advance estimates were released. The Singapore economy grew by 4.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter of 2017, higher than the 2.9 per cent growth in the previous quarter. Performance has been uneven across sectors, but it is overall an uptick that gives us reason for cautious optimism.

3.                  To strengthen our companies’ prospects in light of the rapid changes in our external operating environment, we should press on with transformation efforts. Our companies are harnessing the benefits of technology advancements even as disruptions continue to occur in markets and industries, innovating to meet new demands from consumers, adapting to changes in the workforce, and venturing into new markets.

Government is making changes to provide better support to our companies

4.                  The Government, too, is joining in the transformation effort, in response to the needs of our companies and the changing external environment. In September, MTI announced the merger of IE and SPRING to form Enterprise Singapore. Combining the strengths and capabilities of the two agencies, Enterprise Singapore will be better positioned to help our companies in the next phase of our economic development, and to become a key engine for growth and job creation.

5.                   Enterprise Singapore is committed to serve all SMEs of various sizes, at various stages of growth and across diverse sectors. This is in line with the earlier recommendation from SBF’s SME Committee for the Government to establish a single entity empowered to champion SME development.

Government is continuously looking at ways to assist SMEs in accessing growth opportunities in the region

6.                  As we look ahead, our SMEs must be prepared to venture overseas and seize new opportunities. The conference theme, “Opportunities in 2018”, is thus an important one and aims to provide SME leaders with insights so as to better position themselves for growth as they look ahead to the coming year.

7.                  One focus area today will be on internationalisation. Two difficulties often faced by SMEs entering a new market are: finding suitable partners, and acquiring market understanding.

8.                  Over the years, the Government has broadened its internationalisation support to help more SMEs build their capabilities and find new opportunities abroad. For example, the “Plug & Play Network” by IE Singapore is a collaboration with eight regional partners to provide SMEs with dedicated support in business advisory services, business matching and market set-up via co-working spaces. SMEs can now gain easier access to over 45 major cities across six markets, including Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai and Shanghai.

9.                  To help local companies develop new overseas channels and increase their market reach, IE Singapore has also launched several initiatives under the branding of “Tasty Singapore”. 7 “Tasty Singapore” e-shops have been set up to date, including on China’s top e-commerce platforms like Alibaba’s Tmall and JD.com. 4 online marketing channels have also been established to complement these e-shops. A total of 63 companies have been listed, of which 44 are new to China, and 51 are new to e-commerce.

10.              Singapore also has a network of 22 FTAs/Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that can make your exports more competitive in over 30 markets. I am pleased to note that IE Singapore will be augmenting this with its new Tariff Finder – a search engine that will improve the utilisation of our FTAs by making it easy to search for tariff and non-tariff information. This will help facilitate their products’ access to the markets that are linked to our FTAs. With just a few clicks, companies will now be able to find Customs duties, local taxes, rules of origin, as well as import procedures and documentations required by the destination market. IE will be making a presentation on this later during the convention.

Participating in Government Procurement to build track record

11.              Another focus of today’s convention is on Government procurement. Apart from finding suitable partners and having market familiarity, having a solid track record will also facilitate SMEs to access opportunities locally and globally. In this regard, participating in Government procurement and having the Government as a reference customer can be one way our SMEs can gain credibility in the global marketplace.

12.              A survey on Government procurement was conducted jointly by SBF and NUS earlier this year. The findings will be shared later, followed by a panel discussion and the launch of a Government procurement best practice guide put together by SBF. These are aimed to give you a better understanding of Government procurement and how you can participate.

13.              SMEs and startups keen to undertake innovative lead demand projects initiated by Government agencies can tap on SPRING’s Gov-PACT programme to co-develop and test-bed innovative solutions that do not yet exist in the market. Introduced in March this year as an enhancement to the Partnerships for Capability Transformation (PACT) programme, Gov-PACT involves Government agencies identifying problem statements and seeking partners from the private sector through calls for proposals. Companies selected through these calls will then go through different stages of product development, from ideation to pilot runs, with the support of the lead demand agency. Together with SPRING, there are six other government agencies on-board the Gov-PACT programme to-date. They are: JTC, NEA, HDB, BCA, GovTech and LTA.

14.              Already, we have seen promising SMEs and startups participating in the programme. For example, JTC has launched the third Open Innovation Call and issued eight challenge statements in construction safety, excavation works, crane operations, construction productivity, security, façade cleaning, air-conditioning ducting inspection, and industrial goods delivery. To date, 70 proposals offering promising solutions have been received from participating SMEs. Through public sector procurement, JTC continues to support and catalyse the development of new technologies that can transform estate building and management. NEA has also issued a call on pollution control earlier this month. SPRING will be partnering other agencies in the next few months to issue more calls for collaboration.

15.              Over the next few months, SPRING and Intellectual Property Intermediary (IPI) will also be developing a centralised platform to streamline processes among Gov-PACT participating agencies. The platform will match SMEs with suitable industry partners that have technology and capabilities in complementary areas, for example matching software developers with hardware manufacturers, so that they can work together to develop more robust technology solutions for agencies.

16.              I strongly encourage more startups and SMEs to learn about the Government procurement opportunities available and participate actively.

Need for Strong Partners and Multipliers

17.              Finally, I would like to highlight the importance of strong partners such as trade associations and chambers in helping our Singapore enterprises, particularly our SMEs, to grow. SBF, as the apex business chamber, has a crucial role to play in rallying and collaborating with stakeholders across all industry sectors.  The SBF Council and Secretariat, too, are keen to transform to serve you better, and have recently unveiled their repositioning to deliver more value and services to their members and the wider business community.

18.              In addition, I would like to recognise SBF’s SMEC for being the voice of our SMEs and faithfully representing the views of our business community. As Advisor to SMEC, I have the opportunity to regularly hear from and exchange views with its dedicated and passionate members, and I want to thank them for expending very considerable thought and effort on today’s proceedings.

Conclusion

19.              Once again, I am grateful to be here and I look forward to the panel discussion. I wish you all a fruitful day ahead.

20.              Thank you.