By Shukry Rashid
The mission of the Labour Movement is to take care of all workers, including those working in startups. Apart from taking care of workers, the Labour Movement can also help startups through its social enterprise network.
This was said by NTUC Secretary-General (SG) Chan Chun Sing during the second day of the Tech In Asia (TIA) Singapore 2017 conference on 18 May 2017 at Suntec City. The two-day conference attracted some 4,500 people from the tech community comprising startups, corporations, investors and developers.
SG Chan said that as Singapore aspires to be a startup capital, there are four things that Singapore must do right: rules and regulatory environment, connectivity, focus and training for workers.
Right Regulatory Environment
While most government rules and regulations were made as a defensive measure to prevent “bad and wrong things from happening,” SG Chan said that our rules should also enable innovation and promote evolution.
The Government acknowledges this issue and is working to address it. On 13 March 2017, for a start, the Monetary Authority of Singapore introduced the FinTech Regulatory Sandbox to enable financial institutions to experiment with innovative solutions within a more relaxed regulatory environment.
Right Connectivity
SG Chan said that while Singapore’s connectivity has a head start compared to other countries, it must further build on it. He added that today’s environment is rarely based in one place as most products and services in the world are made through constant innovation and collaboration – in both the physical form and the cyber realm.
“Ideas get cross-pollinated across boundaries, flow around the world, different parts are produced by different people and organisations, and they come together as a final product. Even for startups, I’m confident that none of your ideas will be able to germinate alone in a single place,” explained SG Chan.
Right Focus
Singapore must also build on its unique strengths and advantages to focus its efforts on helping startups, instead of aiming to be a copy of another startup capital such as Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv.
Two examples of Singapore’s strengths are its urban solutions to limited resources and brand of trust.
Right Training for Workers
In the fast-paced startup environment, SG Chan said that its workers need to have the right skills and training.
“In most parts of the world today, it is not the lack of capital or ideas. Very often, for a startup, beyond the idea germination stage, the greatest inadequacy is the availability of trained workers – workers that can carry the startup to the next lap.”
He added that even though the conventional education system has provided workers with a good skills foundation, Singapore must complement that with a continuing education training system that significantly shortens the “time-to-market cycle” for learning of new skills.
The Labour Movement, through the NTUC-Education and Training Fund, has already addressed this issue by working with institutes of higher learning. This will allow workers to learn and be equipped with skills that are current.
LM Partnership
SG Chan said that thanks to tripartism, the Labour Movement can help startups by being the bridge between them and the Government. Based on feedback from the Labour Movement, the Government can tweak policies quickly to adapt to the rapidly evolving startup environment.
Startups can also leverage NTUC social enterprises as partners to take their ideas forward. This way, the Labour Movement can also understand their needs, and train the next generation of workers.
U Associate
TIA, a media, events, and jobs platform for the tech and startup community, also signed a memorandum of understanding with NTUC U Associate on the same day.
NTUC Assistant Director-General (ADG) Vivek Kumar, who is also director for NTUC U Associate and U Startup, reiterated that the partnership with TIA enables the Labour Movement to pull the startup community together and serve them.
On the other hand, TIA and startups can be equipped with the right networks, have skilled talents available, be advised specifically at different stages in their startup journey, and gain access to funding. ADG Vivek added that these will help startups succeed and look after its workers.
However, he emphasised that even though the Labour Movement network is extensive and available to startups as potential business connections, the partnership should be done in a structurally relevant way, rather than on an ad-hoc basis.
Source: NTUC This Week
