As innovation and entrepreneurship buzz with vibrancy and diversity in Singapore’s economy, the Labour Movement has expanded its network to include U Startup.
Launched officially on 30 March 2017, U Startup will support both entrepreneurs and professionals working in startup companies or keen on joining one. The launch follows more than 12 months of work, where U Startup reached out to some 1,000 startup founders and partners to better understand the startup landscape.
Creating Winning Outcomes
“Many startups of today, as potential SMEs and unicorns, would collectively form significant employers of tomorrow. Hence, the Labour Movement is committed to support the startup ecosystem and lay the ground for our future workforce,” said NTUC Assistant Director-General and Director of NTUC’s U Startup Vivek Kumar.
To achieve that outcome, U Startup will be leveraging the Labour Movement’s network of partners and social enterprises to provide targeted help in the areas of business development, network building, talent attraction, and in connecting startups to potential funding partners.
“The startup scene is very vibrant and it is attracting a lot of new workers into new employment models and we want to make sure that all the workers in this segment are also taken care of.
“We also want to enable our startups to take off faster and we will hope to use our Labour Movement network to enable our startups to go further. This also includes our social enterprises, so we are looking for opportunities to work with them to allow them a platform to launch their products and services, not just in the Singapore market, but beyond,” said NTUC Secretary-General Chan Chun Sing.
Coinciding with the launch of U Startup, the first U Startup Day event included dialogues and workshops on network building skills which entrepreneurs can apply to their business and a startup career fair which saw 100 startups offer over 300 work positions for interested professionals.
The Startup Glossary
Confused by the jargon being bandied about? Here’s a quick glossary on what these key terms refer to:
Startup: A company in its early stage of operations and typically no older than five years old. These companies are seeking to use technology to solve a problem or fill a need.
Accelerator/Incubator: Organisations or programmes that help develop startups through fixed-term training, mentorship, networking or support. Startups in these programmes get help on developing their management teams, strategising growth and product development.
B2B: A business selling its solutions/products to other businesses.
B2C: A business selling its solutions/products to consumers.
Disruption: Also referred to as disruptive innovation. Innovations or technology are regarded as ‘disruptive’ when it challenges the way things are done.
Unicorn: A successful startup that is valued at over $1 billion.
