by Nicholas Lee
Representatives from approximately 150 businesses in the Eastern part of Singapore recently came together for a networking session organised by e2i. Held on 20 March 2013 at the Singapore Post Centre, the two half-day sessions were targeted at reaching the Furniture, Print and General Manufacturing industries. Invited speakers from relevant players in the industry were present to share and present their knowledge and experiences in implementing growth, productivity and manpower up-skilling strategies.
e2i Acting CEO Gilbert Tan shared that through these networking sessions, jobs can be upgraded. “We want to upgrade the jobs, so that when we upgrade our workers, we can put them into good jobs and so that we can have better jobs for better lives,” said Mr Tan.
Mr Tan also shared that one other reason for the networking session was also for employers to find out about the funding and support that SMEs can tap on to meet their manpower and training needs, as well as to raise productivity and stay competitive .
One of the invited speakers, Mr Tan Jit Khoon, CEO of Winson Press noted that the participants were interested in tapping on the funding schemes to improve productivity. “I think that is a very positive sign... companies are coming forward and wanting to learn more and go ahead with improving productivity,” he said.
“From this session, I learnt about the programmes and schemes that were offered by e2i. Hence I will be sending my staff for these training sessions,” said KODA Limited Financial Controller, Mr Joshua Koh.
This location-based sharing session is part of e2i’s new approach in its outreach efforts to SMEs to help them in their hiring, training needs and productivity strategies. In December 2012, e2i organised the first successful outreach event at Benoi for SMEs situated in the western part of Singapore where participants found the sessions very useful.
