A helping hand for SMEs ? Enterprise Development Centres ...

SPRING Singapore?s Enterprise Development Centres?are stepping up their efforts to help SMEs stay?competitive and productive in uncertain economic times.

While businesses are dealing with the challenges of rising?business costs and a tighter labour market, there are bright?spots on the horizon. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can?look forward to more help from Enterprise Development Centres?(EDCs), as the government steps up its engagement efforts to?boost productivity in smaller firms.

By partnering trade associations and chambers (TACs), SPRING?Singapore aims to reach out to 20,000 enterprises annually and?help them capitalise on grant schemes to raise productivity. This?marks an increase from the 14,200 firms that received productivity?and business advice from the EDCs last year.

?We recognise that SMEs need help to make this transition to?create innovative products and services, upgrade skills, design?better jobs, leverage technology and find new markets overseas,??says Mr Teo Ser Luck, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, at?the fourth EDC Conference on 28 March this year.

SMEs can approach any of the EDCs, which are located at the?premises of five TACs, for one-to-one advisory services on areas?such as financial and human resource management, branding,?and overseas expansion.

?Companies today need to enhance their competitiveness in the?marketplace and keep pace with rapid changes in technological?innovation, market upheavals and changing consumer needs so?as to ensure their survival and growth,? says Mr Hernaikh Singh,?director of the EDC at the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce?& Industry.

?The EDCs play an important role in helping companies identify?and implement relevant assistance programmes to address their?needs,? he adds.

Helping companies to work smarter

Orchid Laundry is one of the approximately 60,000?SMEs that has benefited from collaborating with?an EDC over the past six years. Orchid Laundry?s?Director, Mr Harry Toh, explains, ?In 2011, our?company reached a roadblock when we faced
a manpower shortage. We knew the only way we could increase?our capacity was with existing or fewer headcount. One option?was to automate our laundry processes but we didn?t know?how.? Acting on the advice provided by business advisors at the?Singapore Manufacturers Federation, the company embarked?on the Productivity Management Programme. Following an?in-depth diagnosis of the company?s productivity issues, Orchid?Laundry was able to streamline and automate its processes to?improve its performance.

For family-owned food manufacturer Hock Lian Huat Foodstuff,?process automation helped it improve its productivity. The company,?which approached the EDC at the Singapore Manufacturers??Federation for productivity advice, invested in a new machine?to make prawn crackers, an ingredient in ?ngoh hiang?, the?traditional meat rolls that are one of its main products. Now?only two workers are needed for this process, down from four.

EDCs provide one-to-one advisory services on?areas such as financial and human resource?management, branding, and overseas expansion.

The EDC also helped the company to tap $120,000 of tax rebates?under the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) scheme. To?help more SMEs understand how they can benefit from the PIC?programme, the EDCs will conduct a new series of clinics from?May to October this year. About 500 SMEs are expected to benefit?from these sessions. The clinics, which are run in collaboration?with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), benefited?some 300 SMEs last year.

Reaching out with an iPhone app

Besides approaching the EDCs, companies can?also access information on various assistance?schemes through the EnterpriseOne web?portal. The site provides businesses with?government information and e-services. It?received six million page views from more than 560,000?unique visitors last year.?To reach out to more users, a new EnterpriseOne iPhone?application has been launched. Jointly developed by SPRING?and Nanyang Polytechnic, the app brings together commonly?used features on the web portal and offers increased?accessibility to information on government assistance?schemes as well as SME-related news in Singapore.

Developing SME capabilities

In addition to plans to expand the reach of the?EDCs, SPRING has also increased funding support?to $200 million for SME capability development?programmes from April this year. This top-up?will benefit an additional 1,800 projects aimed at?building up capabilities and restructuring businesses for sustained?growth and competitiveness for SMEs. The enhanced support will?last for three years and will cover areas such as human capital?development, technology adoption, innovation and productivity.

?The Government is committed to supporting SMEs in their?upgrading efforts. SPRING Singapore will intensify its outreach?to SMEs to help them understand how they can tap government?assistance programmes to raise productivity,? says Mr Teo.

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To remain competitive in a rapidly changing global economy, it?is critical for businesses to create value through ?innovation and?productivity improvements. Find out how you can get expert advice?to raise your company?s productivity at www.enterpriseone.gov.sg.

Reproduced from SPRINGnews May 2012 Issue. Published by SPRING Singapore.

Tagged as: Business, Entrepreneurship, Small Medium Enterprises

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