“Supporting local enterprise transformation and growth”
Mr Chairman,
Introduction
1. Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong shared that the next chapter of our economic journey will bring new challenges and opportunities. We have what it takes to stay anchored amid the waves. Over the years, our enterprises have acquired the skills to adapt, to innovate and to change to emerge stronger.
2. Together, we can transform to achieve growth and stay ahead of the game. The Government is strongly committed to supporting our enterprises every step of the way. To enable their business transformation and growth, we will:
a. Support the overseas expansion of our enterprises;
b. Empower our enterprises to transform and benefit from Artificial Intelligence; and
c. Enhance Singapore’s pro-enterprise business environment and reduce/eliminate red tape.
3. We will also boost our heartlands and support our heartland enterprises.
A. Supporting Enterprises To Internationalise
4. Singapore’s economic success is built on our ability to connect with the world, as NMP Mark Lee has noted. For Singapore enterprises to grow, they must expand beyond our hinterland to overseas markets for fresh revenue streams.
5. I want to reassure MP Jessica Tan, MP Edward Chia, NMP Mark Lee, and NMP Keith Chua that EnterpriseSG is committed to providing comprehensive and holistic support for Singapore enterprises. In 2024, EnterpriseSG supported more than 2,300 companies, helping them boost their projected annual revenue by S$14.5 billion through transformative projects in productivity (S$8.2 billion), internationalisation (S$5.5 billion), and innovation (S$0.8 billion). Companies that undertook internationalisation projects saw a projected increase in annual revenue of S$8.8 million per company compared to S$7.7 million in 2023. I am glad to announce that, moving forward, we will further enhance our support in this area:
a. First, we will permanently double the maximum loan quantum for the Enterprise Financing Scheme—Trade Loans (EFS-TL) from S$5 million to $10 million. We have considered feedback from the business community, including the Singapore Business Federation and PwC, and would like to meet this need for financing.
b. Second, we will extend the Double Tax Deduction for Internationalisation (DTDi) for the next 5 years. Enterprises with expansion plans can continue to benefit from a 200% tax deduction on eligible expenses for overseas market expansion and investment development activities.
c. Third, we will extend the $100,000 Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) Grant cap by one more year to 31 March 2026. This is in response to industry feedback that many companies and many businesses have spent the last two to three years getting back on their feet after COVID-19. They are restarting their expansion plans and need more time to execute their global market outreach.
6. Besides our grant, tax and financing schemes, Enterprise Singapore and its partners operate a wide network of Overseas Centres where Singapore SMEs can receive support to enter regional markets. Besides helping enterprises grow their overseas markets, I want to reassure NMP Mark Lee that the Government will enhance support for enterprises pursuing inorganic growth via M&A. We will expand the scope of the Enterprise Financing Scheme – Mergers & Acquisitions (EFS-M&A) to also cover targeted asset acquisitions, such as intellectual properties and contracts, without a corresponding equity purchase. This will help unlock loan financing for enterprises to acquire specific and complementary assets of a target’s business that can enhance their growth prospects without having to buy out the target business and, therefore, take on its liabilities. The pilot will last 5 years, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2030.
B. Driving AI transformation
7. Chairman, in addition to providing access to financing, we will continue to support enterprises in adopting new technologies, such as artificial intelligence. AI can spur enterprise and workforce transformation. It enables firms to automate manual business processes and augment workers' skills, raising productivity, driving innovation, and further growing business revenue.
8. MDDI will share the broad progress of our National AI Strategy 2.0, while I will focus on MTI’s key industry development efforts.
9. First, we will support more enterprises in setting up AI Centres of Excellence to accelerate the development and deployment of AI solutions across our economy.
We recognise that enterprises need access to compute infrastructure, software, and consultancy services to grow their AI R&D and productisation capabilities. And so, as PM mentioned in his Budget Statement, we are introducing a new Enterprise Compute Initiative (ECI) for Singapore-based enterprises with the ambition to anchor AI mandates and grow AI teams here. Enterprises which are digitally mature, have a compelling AI use case, as well as implementation roadmap can tap on the ECI. NMP Mark Lee will be pleased to know that under the ECI, participants will have access to cloud compute credits and training programmes from cloud service providers such as Google, Microsoft and AWS. The Government will also provide a grant for ECI participants to access consultancy services offered by system integrators to help them develop and scale their AI solutions.
10. Secondly, the Government will continue to support the broad base of enterprises that are considering the adoption of AI-enabled solutions. MP Jessica Tan will be pleased to know that EnterpriseSG, in partnership with IMDA, has helped close to 3,000 SMEs adopt AI solutions through the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG). We will continue to enhance our existing digitalisation initiatives, such as the SMEs Go Digital Programme, to accelerate AI adoption – MDDI will elaborate more on this during their COS.
11. Besides powering up enterprises to use AI, we will help workers upskill and harness AI to advance their careers. MP Liang Eng Hwa will be glad to know that we are indeed deepening our partnerships with industry and IHL partners to continue delivering industry-relevant curricula and providing student internships. MOM will share more details on how we will enhance support for businesses as they redesign jobs and upskill workers.
C. Enhancing regulatory agility for a pro-enterprise business environment
12. Singapore is continuing to innovate and stay agile with AI. The constant energy to do better is part of our SG DNA. DPM Gan spoke about our business-friendly environment, a fundamental quality that has enabled Singapore to stay attractive and competitive. We are not resting on our laurels and are committed to doing more.
13. The government has stepped up our engagement with the industry and sought views on how Singapore can strengthen our competitiveness. To this end, I co-chaired the Alliance for Action on Business Competitiveness [企业竞争力行动联盟] with Singapore Business (SBF) Council Vice-Chairman Mr Mark Lee from February to November 2024. NMP Neil Parekh will also know – and in fact he shared – that the AfA engaged over 100 businesses and 13 Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) over the past year and released 27 recommendations on manpower, land, and regulatory issues. Our government agencies have considered the AfA’s recommendations seriously. Earlier on, you heard from Second Minister Dr Tan See Leng that JTC will implement the AfA’s recommendation on lease tenure and renewals for industrial land.
14. In April 2024, the Government formed the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Pro-Enterprise Rules Review to review our regulatory regime for the next bound. I thank MPs Edward Chia and Jessica Tan, and NMPs Keith Chua and Mark Lee, for their questions on the Committee. As announced by DPM Gan earlier, after extensive reviews and consultations, the Committee has set three Statements of Commitment to streamline regulatory processes and reduce the compliance burden on businesses. Our work does not stop there. Let me share more about the three-pronged commitment to enhancing our ecosystem and supporting businesses as they navigate government regulations.
15. First is the SME Pro-Enterprise Office (SME PEO). Following the AfA’s recommendation, I announced last September that this new office will be set up under Enterprise Singapore to help businesses navigate regulatory matters. I am pleased to announce that the SME PEO will be fully operational from 26 March 2025 this year, in 20 days’ time. Working with the Pro-Enterprise Panel and respective regulatory agencies, SME PEO will be the Government’s key coordination unit to aggregate business feedback and to improve regulations at the systems level. We seek continued strong support from our key partners like SBF and all TACs to be our ears on the ground and champions for SMEs. Let’s work closely with SME PEO to reduce red tape and streamline processes to support our SMEs.
16. Second, we will enhance our SME Centres to offer a wider range of business advisory services and programmes. Today, there are ten SME Centres across Singapore, helmed by trade associations and chambers (TACs). The Business Advisors at these Centres will be armed with new toolkits to provide enhanced one-to-one business advisory services, workshops and group-based upgrading projects where multiple businesses facing similar pain points can adopt a common solution. This complements the work of the SME PEO so that our businesses can receive advisory support for their growth needs, including regulatory issues. We will continue to partner closely with our TACs to enhance SME Centres’ offerings and extend our reach to more businesses.
17. Third, we will continue investing in and improving our digital platforms, such as the GoBusiness portal and EnterpriseSG’s Business Grants Portal. We will not only streamline licensing and regulatory transactions, but we will also improve in terms of grant applications to better serve businesses.
18. Enterprise Singapore continues to enhance its grant processing efficiency through automation and centralised processing. For instance, the processing time for Productivity Solutions Grant applications has been shortened by 80%, from almost 3 months previously to 2 weeks currently. These enhancements to our grant application and approval processes for local enterprises will not stop. We will continue to look at how we can improve and shorten the processing time by leveraging automation and centralised processing.
19. Taken together, the three pillars – the SME PEO, SME Centres and digitalisation – will continue to drive our efforts in supporting business transformation and growth for our enterprises.
D. Protecting consumers
20. While easing regulatory burdens for businesses, the Government is also mindful that for markets to function properly, consumers’ trust in merchants and markets must be upheld. I thank MPs Dennis Tan, Sylvia Lim and Melvin Yong for their questions.
a. On MP Dennis Tan’s suggestion, while ride to repair has its benefits to the environment and to consumers, there are also potential downsides, such as data security concerns. I want to assure him that we will monitor and assess the need for such legislation in Singapore.
b. I also want to assure MP Sylvia Lim that there is a whole of government approach today to deal with scams which are criminal in nature, led by MHA and coordinated by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on scams. MTI and the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) regularly review our consumer protection regime to ensure that consumers’ interests are protected. The Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA) provides general remedies for consumers who encounter unfair trade practices when transacting with businesses. In addition, sector regulators have established more specific standards relevant to the sectors they oversee.
c. An effective consumer protection regime also requires the strong support of our key partners and businesses. MTI works closely with the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) to raise consumer awareness and champion their rights. I agree with MP Melvin Yong that more can be done, especially in the e-commerce space, where unfair practices can take on new and less-obvious forms.
d. The Government welcomes and encourages businesses to take the lead in industry-led initiatives, to ensure a fair and safe marketplace for our consumers. We have commenced consulting with industry and will announce more details on our upcoming initiatives in the coming weeks.
E. Injecting Vibrancy Into Our Heartlands
21. Last but not least, let me speak on something closer to home—heartland shops. Many of us have close ties to the heartlands, where we live, grow, and share good memories. They form part of our collective identity as Singaporeans, and our heartland shops are really part and parcel of our daily lives and social fabric.
22. I reassure MP Desmond Choo, and NMP Keith Chua that we are sparing no efforts to rejuvenate our heartlands. We have made progress in the past few years and we will strive to do more.
23. To recap, in 2022, we launched the $50 million Our Heartlands 2025 programme to revitalise our heartlands and enhance the capabilities of heartland shops, helping them transform, stay relevant, and continue serving residents.
24. In fact, earlier in October 2020, we laid the foundation for transformation with The Heartlands Go Digital Programme. Since then, more than over 17,000 heartland shops have adopted e-payment solutions.
25. In 2022 and 2023, we further expanded the Heartlands Go Digital programme to cover wider areas such as service excellence, digital marketing, and human resources.
26. We have also helped our heartland shops rejuvenate their premises, with the Visual Merchandising Programme, that was launched in 2021. As a result of the programme, the heartland shops that participated shared that they have seen their footfall and their sales increase by 20%.
27. Our heartland shops have benefited from the launch of the CDC Vouchers since the scheme started slightly more than three years ago. To date, Singaporeans have spent more than $1 billion at about 23,000 heartland shops and hawker stalls. In fact, the new round of CDC Vouchers and SG60 Vouchers this year will again boost the visibility, footfall and business for heartland shops.
28. For many of our heartland shops, getting that additional visibility and awareness can make a vital difference to their business. That is why, last year, we launched the Heartland Enterprise Placemaking Grant (HEPG) to encourage heartland merchants to organise innovative placemaking activities involving community engagement, public art installations, workshops, and thematic festivals. Many heartland shops have applied successfully for the HEPG.
29. One such shop is Quan Shui Wet Market, which started in Ang Mo Kio in 1968. The fresh pork stall owned by Uncle Oh Quan Shui has grown to eight and is now an omni-channel retail operation with a flagship store at Upper Thomson. Quan Shui participated in the Digital Practitioner Programme (DPP). Under the charge of Uncle Oh’s grandson, Neo Jun He, the store refreshed its brand and pivoted online with a website, and marketing a wider product range that went beyond just pork. Within five months, Quan Shui attracted a growing pool of keen visitors and potential customers.
30. Like what MP Desmond Choo mentioned in his cut yesterday, Quan Shui tapped into the Heartland Enterprise Placemaking Grant (HEPG) to improve its product visibility. They participated in Easty Breezy, which is a seaside-inspired marketplace last September in Marine Parade, as well as a Chinese New Year Bazaar this year. Both events led to higher revenue, footfall, and brand loyalty.
31. With its refreshed brand, expanded online presence and growing product range, Quan Shui’s revenue increased by 25% from 2021 to 2024, and the company is projecting a 20% growth year on year.
32. Today, we would like to invite all members to have a taste of Quan Shui’s success. MTI has arranged for bento boxes with Quan Shui’s siew mai, har gao and chicken & mushroom dumplings to be served in the Members’ Room later during tea break. We have also made special arrangements for our Muslim members and set aside four of their very popular halal Otah buns for when you break fast later. We hope you will enjoy this at the end of the day.
33. These hand-made local dim sum are based on a 60-year-old family recipe from the founder, Uncle Oh. Companies like Quan Shui have shown how Government support and schemes helped them transform and boost their businesses. We want to encourage our enterprises to approach any of our ten SME Centres for assistance and embark on a journey of transformation and growth.
34. Given the success of these initiatives, we will continue strengthening Our Heartlands 2025 programme with fresh initiatives and energise our heartlands from “inside out”.
35. Starting from the “insides” of our heartland shops (里), we will launch the Enhanced Visual Merchandising Programme to help heartland shops refresh their stores and gain visual appeal to attract more customers. This enhanced programme will offer heartland shops support in training, consultancy as well as makeover of their shopfronts. We are increasing the total qualifying cost by 5 times, from up to $12,000 previously to $60,000 now. In addition, the project scope for the shopfront makeover can be more customised, and more training topics will be added.
36. From Inside to Outside (外). Besides revitalising the interiors of heartland shops, we will also rejuvenate what takes place in our heartland neighbourhoods. We will launch a new Vibrant Heartlands Programme for Merchants’ Associations to support their placemaking activities and events. They can conduct bite-sized and pre-scoped activities under a recommended standard option or explore holding larger-scale, customised placemaking events. Bite-sized and pre-scoped activities would receive grant support on qualifying costs of S$3,000 per application, while larger-scale customisable placemaking events would receive grant support on qualifying costs of up to S$200,000 per application.
Mr Chairman, please allow me to say a few words in Mandarin.
37. 主席，各位国会同僚：
世界和区域经济，正在面临前所未有的新局面，新加坡所有企业，都必须积极创新和转型。政府将在这几个方面，支持企业实现业务转型和增长：
a. 首先，支持企业国际化。
b. 第二，帮助企业利用人工智能转型。
c. 第三，提高监管灵活性，打造有利于企业的亲商环境。
38. 我们在过去几年里，也在持续致力于振兴邻里经济，促进邻里企业的发展。首先，政府发放了许多轮的社理会邻里购物券，鼓励我们新加坡人到23,000 家加入计划的邻里商店和小贩摊位消费，总消费额已经超过 10 亿元。借助新一轮的社理会邻里购物券，以及今年即将发放的 SG60邻里购物券，我们将继续帮助邻里商店和小贩提高他们的营业额。
39. 邻里社区是我们的情感联络站，身为新加坡人，我们熟悉的邻里商店，对于加深我们的集体记忆和国民身份认同，起着不可替代的作用。就像待一会大家能够享用到的手工点心，邻里社区有着我们熟悉的香味和人情味。
a. 因此，我们将在“2025邻里新天地”计划的基础上再次升级，让社区“从里到外绽放邻里新光彩”，为我们的邻里社区里里外外，都注入新活力。我们将推出”升级版的视觉营销计划“，并把此计划的合格费用提高了五倍，从现在的1万2000元上调到6万元。同时， 我们也计划扩大店面改造范围并增加培训项目。
b. 另外，我们也会为商联会推出“缤纷邻里计划”（Vibrant Heartlands Programme, 缩写为VHMA ）。这个计划分为两种配套，首先，预设配套下的小型活动，每次合格费用为3千元。第二，有意组织更大型活动的商联会，也将能够申请补贴，而合格费用高达20万元。
c. 我们希望更多邻里商家善用现有的计划进行创新和转型。
F. Conclusion: The Government Is Committed to Helping Businesses Succeed
40. Chairman, the Government is standing together with our SG enterprises and SMEs. We will support and empower our enterprises as they transform and grow – be it an SME hoping to expand abroad, or an SME embarking on AI, or our heartland shops seeking more customers. We will spare no effort to support them every step of the way.
41. As we forge ahead together, we invite all Singaporeans to join us in energising our heartlands. Let us show them our support during this SG60 year, by patronising our heartland shops and participating in their placemaking activities. Let us enjoy and celebrate our vibrant and beloved heartlands. As we do so, we affirm our Singaporean identity with pride and joy. Thank you.