The Government plans to work with trade associations and chambers (TACs) to deliver help to every small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME).
Addressing some 100 NTUC U SME members in a closed-door pre-Budget dialogue on 14 February 2017 at the NTUC Centre, Senior Minister of State (SMS) for Trade and Industry Sim Ann added that the Government cannot effectively reach every SME alone.
“There are so many SMEs in Singapore. As we know, 99 per cent of incorporated entities in Singapore are SMEs, and MNC (multi-national companies) only make up 1 per cent. So when the Government wants to uplift SMEs, it is not possible to service every single SME one-on-one.
“What we hope to do as we move into more in-depth and customised assistance is to work through the TACs ... The Government wants to be able to deliver the help to individual companies but to do so for each and every single SME is not as effective and fast as compared to if we do this through the TACs,” said SMS Sim.
She also assured that some associations are ready to take on this role. As for associations who need guidance in helping their members, the Government will help them through the Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) of the 23 industries.
“Through ITMs, we hope to put a significant amount of resources in those TACs that wish to [help their members] transform. The TACs are in a better position to know how to customise these resources for their members,” added SMS Sim.
Industry Transformation Maps
SMS Sim said that ITMs are important to SMEs because they give a more structured way for these companies to know which government agencies they can go to in order to transform.
“ITMs let companies know which government agencies handle which industries. It makes sure that for each of the 23 industries, there is a lead agency. It shouldn’t be the case where the work involved in transforming industries is spread across various government agencies as this may cause confusion,” she said.
