Introduction

1.            I am happy to join you here this morning for the 5^th BlueSky Conference, organised by the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (or ACE).  Let me extend a warm welcome to all of you, especially our overseas guests.  This annual event brings together entrepreneurs from around the world, to share their experience on the opportunities, challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship.  It also allows entrepreneurs to collaborate and discuss new business ideas.  I hope you will take full advantage of the networking opportunities over the next few days.

Importance of Entrepreneurship

2.            Singapore has succeeded because we have worked hard at continuously upgrading and restructuring our economy.  We have stayed open and outward looking.  We have maintained stable and prudent macro-economic policies.  We have taken a pro-market, pro-competition approach, depending on the private sector to create wealth.  Thus we have created the overall conditions for firms to operate smoothly, efficiently and profitably.  But the vital ingredient which drives new business activity is the entrepreneurial spirit – the desire to seek and seize opportunities, to make a difference.  This cannot simply be planned and ordered into being.  Nevertheless, the Government can facilitate the nurturing of the entrepreneurial spirit, by creating the right overall environment for businesses to sprout and grow.  This has indeed been our approach in Singapore.

3.            We have done many things to trim our administration and cut down on red tape.  Transacting online with the government has become the norm.  This has enabled us to simplify licensing processes and reduce business costs significantly. 

4.            We have also improved access to financing, while still subjecting the companies to the discipline of the marketplace.  Difficulty in accessing funds used to be the top complaint of SMEs.  The situation has improved considerably over the last few years.  The Government has put in place equity and loan schemes targeted at start-ups and SMEs.  A wide range of financing instruments is also available, from banks, venture capitalists and capital markets such as Catalist.  A recent study by the US Milken Institute ranked Singapore 4^th out of 122 countries, and second in Asia, for providing capital access to entrepreneurs.

5.            We are also doing more to inculcate an entrepreneurial culture, especially among our young.  Our schools are encouraging students to think for themselves, to question things as they learn, to experiment and take the initiative.  Our post-secondary institutions are equipping them with practical tools for entrepreneurship.  They have introduced courses which combine classroom sessions with opportunities for practical exposure, like business incubators with venture funding to commercialise ideas, thus giving students a taste for the markets.  The overall environment in Singapore has grown more supportive of individuals who take risks to start a new venture.  These are healthy developments that we should continue to nurture. 

A More Vibrant Enterprise Scene

6.            As a result of these efforts, we are seeing a more vibrant enterprise scene in Singapore.  More new businesses are being formed.  More young people are starting their own businesses.  If they see a market opportunity, they will do something to exploit it.  Not all will succeed; what is important is that they have the sense of dare, unafraid of trying something new, and never tiring of working to achieve their dreams.

7.            Indeed, many of our home-grown companies are carving out successful niches for themselves, both locally and abroad.  In retail, “Charles and Keith” started with a single neighbourhood shop in Ang Mo Kio, but has since expanded all over Asia.  In food, restaurant chains like Thai Express and Dian Xiao Er have branches all over Singapore and franchises in the region.  Singapore companies are also all over China, and making significant inroads into the market.  Local brands like Bee Cheng Hiang, Breadtalk and Food Republic are growing in popularity in the major Chinese cities.  Elim Chew’s “77^th Street” store in Beijing has become so established and popular that it is marked on all good tourist maps and guidebooks.

8.            For their overseas ventures to thrive, our local enterprises should strengthen their networking, and collaborate with one another to gain critical mass and enhance their value proposition.  It is sometimes said that the Taiwanese and South Korean companies form alliances among themselves to take on the Chinese market in larger groups, whereas Singaporean enterprises tend to go it alone.  The government cannot compel companies to form partnerships with one another, but we hope that companies will see that everyone has more to gain by taking on new markets collectively rather than separately.  The world is certainly big enough for everyone.

Establishing Singapore as an Entrepreneurial Hub

9.            One of the constraints that entrepreneurs face in Singa­pore is the small size of Singa­pore’s domestic market.  This makes it more necessary for companies to expand abroad, but also means that we must keep our own business environment open, so that we have innovative, competitive companies in Singa­pore.  A businessman who has operated in both Australia and New Zealand once explained to me the differences between the two business environments.  Australia has a larger population, with a larger number of companies and entrepreneurs.  As a result, business competition in Australia is keener and more bracing, and Australian companies are leaner and stronger.

10.        Singapore and New Zealand have similar population sizes.  Therefore, as we nurture our indigenous talent, we must also attract international talent to enlarge our pool.  To establish Singapore as an entrepreneurial hub, people with the talent, passion and commitment to build their own businesses must be attracted to come here, start businesses here, and grow big while remaining rooted here.  We need a critical mass for innovation and enterprise.   Local entrepreneurs will also benefit, because they will be exposed to global competition early, and so will be more prepared to take on the world. 

Entrepreneurial Culture in the Public Sector

11.        The public sector in Singapore must also embrace the entrepreneurial culture.  It must innovate constantly and experiment with new ways of delivering public services.  Public sector entrepreneurship requires officers to take risks, since new methods and technologies may fail to work.  But when they do, they bring significant benefits to Singapore.  Therefore, it is imperative that the public sector create an environment where officers feel safe to experiment and to fail, just like the private sector.  Only then can the public and private sectors work together to maximum effect in Singapore’s entrepreneurship drive.

12.        The Bizfile project developed by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (or ACRA) is a good example of public sector innovation.  Bizfile has cut the time taken to register a new business from 24 hours to 15 minutes, and the time taken to incorporate a company from 5 days to 15 minutes.  Costs are down too – incorporation used to cost more than $1,200 but now costs just $315.  This ACRA initiative has even caught the attention of the World Bank, who has included the Bizfile project in its publication “Celebrating Reform 2008”, in order to share ACRA’s experience with other countries.  We should celebrate such successes and encourage more public sector agencies to do likewise.

Conclusion

13.        As ACE celebrates its 5^th anniversary, it can take pride in its achievements.  Over the past few years we have created a budding enterprise culture and community.  But ACE will have much more to do in the years ahead.   It needs to nurture and grow our entrepreneurial talent pool as well as help more of our entrepreneurs to expand into global markets.

14.        ACE must continue to draw on the close partnership between the public and private sectors for this next stage.  Our pioneering ACE members, Inderjit Singh, Kwek Leng Beng, Ong Peng Tsin and Wong Ngit Liong, have actively contributed to entrepreneurship development in Singapore. They have also brought in others like Elim Chew, Richard Eu, and Antony Ng to expand the movement. I thank you all for your contributions to Singapore.  I hope more entrepreneurs will follow in your footsteps, join in the ACE movement, and help a younger generation of entrepreneurs fulfil their dreams.