EMBARGOED UNTIL AFTER DELIVERY PLEASE CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY SPEECH BY MS LOW YEN LING, MINISTER OF STATE, MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY & MINISTRY OF CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND YOUTH, DURING MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY (MTI)’S COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY DEBATE, ON TUESDAY, 2 MARCH 2021 “Partnering the Industry for Local Enterprises to Emerge Stronger from COVID-19” Introduction 1. Mr Chairman, as Singapore settles into Phase 3 and vaccinations are underway, we seek to sustain the momentum for recovery and emerge stronger post-COVID-19. 2. Minister Chan, 2M Tan and MOS Tan spoke about our forward-looking agenda and reiterated the Ministry’s commitment to help our enterprises emerge stronger from this crisis. Let me elaborate on our near-term priorities ahead. 3. SMEs will continue to play a pivotal role in the recovery of our economy. They make up 99% of our companies and contribute 72% of employment. 4. To support the SMEs’ recovery and growth, we will strengthen our business eco-system in partnership with companies and trade associations and chambers, or TACs. 5. Let me share how the government will co-create the future roadmap with SMEs and boost our support for digitalisation, as urged by Mr Shawn Huang and Ms Jessica Tan. Helping heartland enterprises go digital 6. In my recent visits to the heartlands, several shopkeepers indicated their interest to go digital, and those who were online, were keen to do more. They asked for more resources and support to innovate. 7. This positive attitude and readiness to transform is laudable and we will pull out all stops to rally behind our SMEs. The flagship Heartlands Go Digital Programme provides specific support to help heartland shops adopt e-payment solutions and get started on digital commerce. 8. To rev up the speed of adoption, close to 200 digital ambassadors and business advisors have been on the ground, reaching out to some 20,000 heartland enterprises. They tell shopkeepers about the benefits of digitalisation and provide step-by-step guidance on how to go digital. As of February 2021, we have engaged more than 85% of these heartland shops and are on track to meet our target this month. EMBARGOED UNTIL AFTER DELIVERY PLEASE CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY 9. This programme is led by the Heartland Digitalisation and Revitalisation Committee (HDRC) co-chaired by me and SMS Sim Ann. Reflecting a collaborative approach, the Committee comprises the Federation of Merchants’ Associations Singapore (FMAS), Heartland Enterprise Centre Singapore, and government agencies like ESG, STB, GovTech, HDB and IMDA. The Committee aims to revitalise heartland shops with solutions ranging from visual merchandising in stores, to local placemaking activities and digital marketing. 10. Interestingly, we are seeing more second and third generation family heartland businesses leveraging on available government programmes to transform their business by going digital. 11. Petite Blooms, a florist business in Teck Whye, run by a mother and son pair, recently made the leap to e-payments by leveraging the Heartlands Go Digital programme. They wanted to capture the growing number of e-savvy customers. Today, up to 25% of their sales use e-payments, and revenue has gone up 10% in the first 3 months of adopting e-payment. Petite Blooms is also now on Shopee. Thanks to the Heartlands Go Digital Programme, the shop has started to diversify its revenue streams and enhance its online visibility. Precinct Schemes 12. In addition, the Government is also encouraging shops in precincts like Little India to get onboard the digital marketplace. We are seeing early fruits of this effort. 13. For example, the Little India Digitalisation Project has helped Jothi’s Traditional Charm, a beauty and wellness salon, expand its customer reach by at least 10%. With a loyalty programme and e-payment options in place, Jothi’s is now able to better engage younger clients. 14. The salon also received help from SME Centre@Little India to adopt a solution that provides real-time sales data, saving it much time and manpower. This allowed them to focus on product development, and Jothi’s will launch its first skin care products next month. 15. At this point, I wish to assure Mr Desmond Choo that the Government has been taking pains to ensure our micro and small businesses are not left behind in the digital push. We have rolled out targeted schemes for this group. Let me share two examples. 16. The Food Delivery Booster Package has supported more than 10,000 F&B outlets to diversify their operations by pivoting online and offering food delivery, especially during the circuit breaker. 17. The E-Commerce Booster Package has helped more than 3,500 brick-and- mortar retailers, including heartland shops, go online. They can reach both the domestic and overseas markets, and are able to run digital campaigns to improve sales and awareness of their brands. EMBARGOED UNTIL AFTER DELIVERY PLEASE CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY 18. While we reposition our SMEs for growth through digitalisation and innovation, it is equally important to extend our support for capability building and cashflow management. Mr Derrick Goh and Mr Gerald Giam can be assured that we have many schemes and programmes that boost the productivity of SMEs and make them more competitive and attractive to Singaporeans. 19. In particular, the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) that was introduced in 2018, continues to assist businesses in their transformation journey and provide them with support for IT solutions and equipment, as well as consultancy services. 20. Since then, more than 19,000 SMEs have adopted IT solutions and equipment to get ahead. The top sectors for PSG adoption include Retail, Building and Construction, Wholesale Trade, Food Services, and Services. 21. One of the SMEs I wish to highlight is Bee Sim Foods, 美心, an established company making pau and dim sum for nearly 50 years. Bee Sim Foods had sought advice from SME Centre@Little India to grow its market. 22. As a result, it expanded to cater to individual consumers, which was a blessing when its B2B sales were affected by Covid-19. To handle the surge of B2C sales, Bee Sim adopted the use of an automated tray sealer and vacuum packaging. The premium spill-proof take-out food packaging assured customers of the food quality and freshness, leading to twice the monthly B2C sales. 23. To help more enterprises like Bee Sim and Petite Blooms transform, we are extending PSG’s enhanced maximum support level of up to 80% till 31 March 2022. We hope this will encourage more SMEs to transform and gear up for economic recovery. Assistance Through Enhanced SME Centres 24. The journey to transformation though exciting, can be tough too. This is why we have 11 dedicated SME Centres providing assistance for SMEs islandwide. The centres’ onsite business advisors partner SMEs to guide their capability development and growth. 25. Companies that have benefitted from the SME Centres include MHI Training Master, a first aid course provider. During Covid-19, the SME Centre@SMCCI advised MHI to go digital and also linked it to solution providers. The firm now deploys IT solutions and a customised Enterprise Resource Planning system. 26. With that, data entry is automated. So instead of spending 5 minutes to extract just one trainee’s data, the information of an entire class can be retrieved in the same amount of time. Digitalisation has also enabled MHI to pivot to blended learning during the pandemic. So far, MHI has seen a 150% increase in sign-ups. 27. Mr Shawn Huang, Mr Derrick Goh and Mr Desmond Choo will be delighted to know that SME Centres will begin piloting specialised advisory services to support enterprises in specific areas such as digitalisation and financing. EMBARGOED UNTIL AFTER DELIVERY PLEASE CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY a) For example, when an SME wishes to expand but lacks the funds, the SME Centre’s Specialist Advisor will help to assess the company’s financial health, and recommend the appropriate financing model and available financing instruments. The Advisor then guides the business owner on how to strengthen his or her loan applications and links the SME up with relevant banks for the application. 28. Last year, our SME Centres assisted over 32,000 SMEs, and more are expected to benefit from the new services. 29. We urge SMEs to tap the advice and resources available at the SME Centres. We want to help them build up their capabilities and workforce, so they can raise their productivity and scale up their business. 30. I would like to assure Mr Gerald Giam that the Government is constantly looking at how we can assist SMEs to attract more local talents. The Global Ready Talent Programme (GRT) helps enterprises build their talent pipeline by exposing more Singaporeans to internships and overseas work opportunities. This lets SMEs discover potential employees, and also provide students with a better appreciation of our SMEs. 31. In addition, we have the P-Max, a Place-and-Train programme that matches PMETs to suitable SMEs, and also assist local companies in adopting progressive HR practices. Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo will elaborate more about this in her speech. Improvements to GoBusiness Platform 32. We share Ms Jessica Tan’s view that Government schemes should be streamlined and made more accessible to businesses. With easier and smoother government transactions, we hope business costs will be reduced. This is why we have rolled out GoBusiness Gov Assist, a portal that consolidates all available government assistance onto one platform. Since its launch last August, it has received over 230,000 unique visits. 33. This year, we will be introducing an online guided journey on the GoBusiness platform to help businesses start faster and start right.