Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Spring upbeat
about SMEs’
business growth
Offshore & marine, tal, and even traditional in- today’s world, companies
dustries such as furniture need to be technology-sav-
process engineering, and textiles production are vy – both in terms of using
logistics sectors reporting healthy sales,” he technologies, particularly
see opportunities noted. infocomm technology, to
This came as more for- run their business, and also
By OH BOON PING eign companies are looking to leverage on technologies
for strategic outsourcing to develop new products
PRO-ENTERPRISE agency
partners and not just low- and services for their cus-
Spring Singapore has not
est cost production loca- tomers.
seen serious slowdown in
tions. Singapore’s SMEs Many of these are
business among Singa-
were in demand, he said – long-term initiatives and
pore’s medium-sized enter-
prises. especially among MNCs the results are likely to be
with IP-intensive products seen only 7-10 years later,
“In fact, the complaint FRANCIS ONG/THE STRAITS TIMES
and services. according to him.
among several SMEs is that
they can’t find enough man- Spring will continue to Another area is to pore, Spring adopts a “One of the biggest hin- they are professional in
power to fulfil those or- help these players become groom promising SMEs in- “many helping hands” ap- drance to SMEs’ growth is their management and ‘There is also growth
ders,” Spring’s new chief more innovative and com- to innovative global enter- proach. For example, the lack of quality manpow- there are significant
executive Png Cheong Boon petitive. It will try to cut red prises with sales in excess Spring and International er,” Mr Png said. “Hence, growth opportunities for potential in new sectors
tape while increasing the of $50 million in the likes of Enterprise Singapore joint-
told reporters.
He explained that many ease of doing business. Charles and Keith, Yang ly facilitate SMEs’ access to
we not only target the entre-
preneurs themselves, but al-
the company.
Spring has also set its
such as medical and
SMEs will also be offered Kee Logistics and Alcotec markets and business op-
SMEs, particularly those
with overseas operations, more business advice and Precision Engineering. Al- portunities.
so their senior managers
and younger executives
sights on technology innova-
tion and is funding various
environmental, and even
“We also tap on EDB’s
are still seeing healthy support services.
Spring will also work
ready, Spring is providing
some 600 or so such prom- relationships with MNCs to
who could be groomed to applied research/technolo traditional industries such
growth in their order books be future leaders in their gy centres. It is also pump-
open doors for SMEs,”
– and pockets of opportuni- with lead industry associa- ising firms with focused as-
Mr Png said. Meanwhile,
companies.” ing money into some inno- as furniture and textiles
ties remain in certain sec- tions to address the chal- sistance in financing, mar- By sending their senior vation projects in SMEs and
tors such as offshore and lenges faced by their indus- kets, management and tech-
Spring’s Business Leaders
Initiative helps firms cope managers and executives helping them access production are reporting
marine, process enginee- tries. nical know-how and the for training, he said, SMEs research scientists and
ring and logistics. Thirdly, Mr Png said plan is to raise that to 1,000
with the shortage of quality
manpower by working with send a strong signal to their engineers and technology healthy sales.’
“There is also growth po- that the government seeks within three years. tertiary institutions to devel- employees that they are se- specialists in the research – Png Cheong Boon, Spring S’pore chief executive
tential in new sectors such to nurture innovative, tech- To reach out to the op customised courses to rious about training and de- institutes and tertiary insti-
as medical and environmen- nology-savvy start-ups. In 160,000 SMEs in Singa- train SME leaders. veloping their staff – that tutions.
HEAD
TURNER
FACELESS in the crowd,
this person was part of a
group of similar looking
people who caused some
stir and raised some
goosebumps of
passers-by around the
Far East Plaza area near
Orchard Road. BT learnt
that it was a creative
promotional teaser for a
lifestyle product aimed
at executives which will
be revealed on Oct 10.
That’s as much as the
organisers would
disclose. If you’d like to
sidle up to one of them,
they will be around
Lucky Plaza from 4pm to
8pm daily until Oct 9.
Don’t be spooked, they
are friendly beneath the
facelessness.
By YEN MENG JIIN YEN MENG JIIN