Mr Lee Tzu Yang
Chairman of Shell Companies in Singapore

Dr Law Song Seng
Director & CEO of ITE

Mr Roger Lee
President of the ITE Alumni Association

Mr Seow Choke Meng
Executive Vice President, Chinese Newspapers Division, Singapore Press Holdings

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

I am very pleased to join you this morning for the second Shell LiveWIRE Young Business Start-up Award presentation. This Award recognises young men and women who have displayed courage, foresight and acumen in setting up their own companies. I commend the four agencies who entered the four-way partnership to create the Award, namely Shell Companies in Singapore, the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), the ITE Alumni Association and Singapore Press Holdings’ Chinese Newspapers Division, for their initiative to nurture and promote homegrown entrepreneurial talent.

We have entered a new phase in our economic development characterised by what people often call the knowledge-based economy. Our ability to compete and prosper as an economy will increasingly rest on our ability to innovate, rather than the ability to absorb and adapt advances made elsewhere and to make products more efficiently. In other words, economic growth will be innovation-driven rather than efficiency-driven. This is a fundamental change, with many implications for education, for the workplace and for how we live.

Singapore has to gear up to compete as an innovation-driven economy, so that we can continue to create and keep good jobs. To do this, we need to build up our skills, knowledge and research capabilities. Without skills and knowledge, we wil not be able to devise new products and business models, or manage complex supply chains. However, high levels of skills and knowledge alone will not assure us of economic growth. To gain economic advantage in an innovation-driven world, we need more entrepreneurs. We also need a spirit of entrepreneurship - a willingness to try out new ways of doing things and take calculated risks - that extends beyond entrepreneurs, to people in all walks of life and society. We can have an abundance of knowledge, but without entrepreneurship, we will not be able to create and capture value from knowledge.

There is no simple formula for nurturing entrepreneurship, whether in education or in the business world. The ERC as you know has been taking a thorough look at the matter, and the Subcommittee on Entrepreneurship and Internationalisation will be releasing its report later today. In education, we are seeking to encourage an innovative mindset among our young, and to provide greater opportunity for them to experiment. We are approaching this across the board, in schools and tertiary institutions, and through both the formal and informal curriculum.

Likewise, we are seeking to create an environment that is conducive for enterprises, small and big, to thrive. In this regard, we have to address a difficulty that many start-up enterprises face, which is in their access to financing. To encourage private investments in seed-stage start-ups, EDB launched the Start-Up Enterprises Development Scheme (SEEDS) in October last year. Under SEEDS, Government matches dollar for dollar the equity raised by start-ups from third-party investors, up to a maximum of $300,000. SEEDS co-invests in start-ups with innovative ideas, which have the potential for high growth and scalability for the international market. SEEDS has achieved a very positive response to date, despite a challenging economic environment. Since its inception, 50 cases have been approved, and $13.5 million injected. Most of the firms involved in the scheme are distinguished by their creative use of technology.

We intend to build on this early success. We want to support a broader range of start-up entrepreneurs under SEEDS, besides technopreneurs. Innovation exists in every sector of the economy, including for example the food and retail sectors. The Government has therefore decided to expand SEEDS to reach out to start-ups with innovative ideas in all sectors. This will broaden our entrepreneurship development effort.

Our tertiary institutions play an important role in our national drive to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in all its forms. I am pleased to note the progress of ITE’s Technopreneurship Incubation Centre (TIC). TIC nurtures budding entrepreneurial talents among ITE’s students, staff and graduates by providing an environment where expertise, knowledge and technology can be shared.

Working closely with the Shell LiveWIRE programme and SPH, and with experienced alumni who are themselves are established entrepreneurs, TIC exposes young entrepreneurs to the many practical facets of starting a business. I understand that an important area of support TIC provides is infrastructure. Incubatees housed within TIC’s premises benefit from low-cost business overheads, as well as from access to developmental resources such as training seminars and networking opportunities with mentors. TIC has also been very active in conducting diverse training workshops for students and members of the public. I am told that to date, nearly 3,000 participants have been trained over 28 workshops conducted under the Shell LiveWIRE programme.

TIC has already helped several ITE graduates to start businesses in fields as diverse as electrical installation and servicing, precision engineering and IT services.

Among them is ex-ITE student Abdillah Ali, who benefited from start-up advice from TIC and the ITE Alumni. As an enterprising young man in his 20s, Abdillah spotted the potential to bring a new technology to Singapore. He set up his own company, focusing on the European Installation Bus system, an innovative building installation technology.

Another ex-ITE student and beneficiary of TIC’s resources is Rachel Howe. Armed with know-how on starting and managing a business through enterprise workshops and seminars organised by TIC, she rolled up her sleeves and took the plunge. She is now managing I-Net café, a flourishing food and beverage outlet, with three other partners.

Yet another incubatee assisted by TIC is Soh Ban Aik, who manages an engineering design and development company supporting component repairs in the aviation industry. Having attended a seminar on enterprise organised by TIC, Ban Aik approached TIC for assistance. He now benefits by operating out of TIC’s premises.

A further recognition of promising entrepreneurial behaviour is the Shell LiveWIRE Young Business Start-up Award, given out annually to innovative Singaporeans aged 35 and below who have followed their dreams and transformed them into successful enterprises. Joshua Koh, winner of last year’s inaugural top Shell LiveWIRE Start-up Award, is progressing in leaps and bounds. I hear that his firm, Transcend eBusiness, is growing phenomenally, despite the lean performance of IT sector. Joshua and his team have shown us that with a clear vision and careful execution, business start-ups can prosper despite difficult times.

This year’s six Shell LiveWIRE winners, whom we saw a moment ago in the video presentation, are clearly from the same mould. James Lim, Miyuki Wong, Leonard Tan, Pok Vic Tor, Chrisandra Heng and Yeo Wee Kuon all share the ambition to become a market leader in their chosen fields. I commend each of them for their grit, drive and desire to make a difference. Whether they succeed or fail in their current ventures, they will provide valuable role models for other young people.

At this juncture, I would like to congratulate TIC and its partners for the timely launch of The Making of a Shell LiveWIRE Entrepreneur, a book published by the ITE Alumni Association. I understand that it was co-authored by ITE Alumni President and TIC chairman Mr Roger Lee, Prof. Milton Smith from the Curtin University of Technology and Dr Ben Tay, managing director of two new high-tech companies. Containing practical tips on starting new businesses, and insights and experiences from key Shell LiveWIRE Award winners from Singapore, Australia and the UK, it will I am sure be an excellent guide and tool in the hands of budding entrepreneurs.

In closing, may I take this opportunity to wish all of you a fruitful and enjoyable time today. I encourage you to make the most of this afternoon’s session, as you will have with you speakers who are successful entrepreneurs in their own right who will be able to share with you their insights on issues ranging from spotting opportunities to funding, marketing and the use of e-commerce.

My congratulations once again to the participants in the Shell LiveWIRE Award.

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