15 May 2013
Media Release: NR/07/2013
More Support for Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) to Drive Industry Transformation
1. In today’s economic climate, Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) have a heightened role to play in building sustainable industry growth through co-creating innovative solutions with the government. This was iterated at today’s Local Enterprise and Association Development (LEAD) Forum by Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr Lim Hng Kiang. The annual Forum saw five TACs receive their certificates of award for LEAD funding.
2. At the event, Minister Lim also gave further details on initiatives to support SMEs, namely, the Collaborative Industry Projects (CIP), SME Talent Programme (STP) and Market Readiness Assistance (MRA). Both CIP and STP were announced at Budget 2013 as part of the recent SME Review.
Local Enterprise and Association Development (LEAD)
3. Under the LEAD programme, first time awardee, Singapore Association for Private Education (SAPE), will undertake initiatives to develop education innovation resources and a programme to train and certify specialists. These specialists will then help private education institutions better prepare for their EduTrust requirements.
4. The other four TACs are undertaking new projects after achieving good success in previous LEAD projects. These are the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS), Singapore Business Federation (SBF), Singapore Food Manufacturers’ Association (SFMA) and Singapore Logistics Association (SLA).
5. Following the Singapore Business Federation’s (SBF) success with implementing the Sustainable Development Business Group (SDBG), it will deepen its drive with the first cross-sectoral LEAD project in the sustainable solutions space. SDBG will conduct business trips to explore high potential overseas markets and strategic development projects such as eco-city or industry park projects.
6. Launched in 2005, LEAD is jointly managed by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore and SPRING Singapore to enhance industry and enterprise competitiveness through TACs. Including this year’s new projects, the initiative would have supported 29 TACs on 43 industry-upgrading projects totalling S$140 million, benefitting about 38,000 local enterprises.
Collaborative Industry Projects (CIP)
7. The CIP initiative seeks to help address key productivity challenges in various industries by facilitating partnerships between SMEs and solution providers to develop and test scalable productivity solutions. Under the CIP initiative, the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS), in partnership with Singapore Food Manufacturers’ Association (SFMA) and Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF), is issuing a Call for Collaboration to encourage food services companies to work with food manufacturers or suppliers to outsource preparation and production of food items which are not core offering in the menu.
8. Through such collaboration, restaurants could focus on producing speciality dishes and minimise food preparation at the outlets. This partnership will also bring about new business opportunities for food manufacturers and improve their scale of production.
9. In addition, other TACs – including Packaging Council of Singapore (PCS), Print and Media Association Singapore (PMAS), Singapore Logistics Association (SLA), Singapore Transport Association (STA) and Singapore Association for Private Education (SAPE) will also be working with SPRING to issue Calls-for-Collaboration to address specific productivity challenges in their industries.
SME Talent Programme
10. The SME Talent Programme (STP) helps local SMEs attract good students from the polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education (ITEs), by offering a study award covering tuition fees, allowance, a sign-on bonus and job opportunities upon graduation.SPRING will work together with TACs to build a strong talent pipeline for SMEs. Six TACs have already stepped forward to partner SPRING in managing the STP for SMEs in their industries. They are the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME), Print and Media Association Singapore (PMAS), Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS), Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI), Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) and Textile and Fashion Federation Singapore (TaFf).
11. Appointed TACs will be the key managing agents for this talent programme. TACs, who have strong understanding of their respective industry, will match good candidates to good SMEs. They will also work closely with the Polytechnics and ITEs to profile SME careers and to choose the right talent. TACs will also select SMEs with good HR practices who will provide good jobs and meaningful careers for the students.
12. STP enables SMEs to sponsor a student’s tuition fees, allowance and sign-on bonus with grant support of up to 70% from SPRING. STP targets to support 3,000 students over the next five years.
13. “TACs play an important role in the growth of their industries as they understand the needs of SMEs in their industries. I am pleased that TACs are taking greater effort to help their SMEs in the areas of capability upgrading, productivity and talent attraction. Such efforts will help their industries cope with the challenges in today’s environment, compete and grow,” said Mr Tan Kai Hoe, Chief Executive, SPRING Singapore.
Market Readiness Assistance (MRA)
14. For sustained growth, Singapore companies should also plan for internationalisation as a means to grow and restructure. Since 2005, LEAD TACs have led more than 4,600 enterprises on 179 overseas missions and 81 trade exhibitions securing over S$467 million in projected sales.
15. MRA serves as a broad-based suite of assistance to help companies grow by enhancing their capabilities and competitiveness through providing Information, Learning avenues and Financial Assistance. IE Singapore will continue to actively engage TACs as effective outreach partners to SMEs to tap into MRA.
16. The Export Strategy Workshop is one of the learning tools under MRA. For the first time, IE Singapore will engage the Institute of Business under the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry to share their expertise and develop the curriculum for one of the Workshops.
17. “The challenging business environment makes it increasingly important for Singapore companies to grow and restructure through internationalisation. Companies, especially SMEs, need help understanding how to do business overseas, identifying of business leads and gaining market knowledge. TACs are key partners in reaching out to companies, advising and helping them utilise available resources.” said Mr Teo Eng Cheong, Chief Executive Officer of IE Singapore.
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About International Enterprise Singapore
International Enterprise (IE) Singapore is the government agency driving Singapore’s external economy. For the past 30 years, we have been spearheading the overseas growth of Singapore-based companies and promoting international trade. Our vision is a thriving business hub in Singapore with Globally Competitive Companies and leading international traders.
IE Singapore attracts global commodities traders to establish their global or Asian home base in Singapore. Through our Global Company Partnership and Market Readiness Assistance, we also work with Singapore-based companies in their various stages of growth towards being globally competitive.
Our global network of overseas centres in over 35 locations provides the necessary connections in many developed and emerging markets. Visit www.iesingapore.com for more information.
About SPRING Singapore
SPRING Singapore is an agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry responsible for helping Singapore enterprises grow and building trust in Singapore products and services. As the enterprise development agency, SPRING works with partners to help enterprises in financing, capability and management development, technology and innovation, and access to markets. As the national standards and accreditation body, SPRING develops and promotes an internationally-recognised standards and quality assurance infrastructure. SPRING also oversees the safety of general consumer goods in Singapore.
Please visit www.spring.gov.sg for more information and news about SPRING
For media enquiries, please contact:
Denise Nah
Manager, Corporate Communications Group
International Enterprise Singapore
Direct: 6433 4738
E-mail: denise_NAH@iesingapore.gov.sg
Marion Abraham
Head, Corporate Communications
SPRING
Direct: 6279 3617
E-mail: marion_abraham@spring.gov.sg
Fact Sheet on Collaborative Industry Projects (CIP)
SPRING Singapore will work with industry players and partners such as Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) to identify industry-specific productivity challenges, and issue calls-for-solutions that have the potential for mass adoption within the sector.
Companies will be encouraged to form consortia comprising solution providers and SMEs to develop and propose deployable and scalable productivity solutions. For a start, SPRING will be looking at launching the Collaborative Industry Projects (CIP) in six priority sectors: Food Manufacturing, Food Services, Furniture, Printing & Packaging, Retail and Textile & Fashion.
Who will qualify?
Each consortium must have at least three SMEs committed to implementing the solution and projected to have productivity improvements arising from the efforts. The projects must be carried out in Singapore. The SMEs can apply for funding support for adoption costs if they meet the following criteria:
· Are physically present and registered in Singapore
· Have at least 30% local shareholding
· Have group annual sales of not more than $100 million or group employment size not exceeding 200 employees
How will SMEs benefit?
With successful development and adoption of the bottom-up productivity solutions, SMEs will benefit from improved processes, higher output, or cost savings from reduced wastage and/or reduced usage of resources such as manpower.
Approved projects will be eligible for up to 70% funding support for qualifying development and adoption costs.
Fact Sheet on Call for Collaboration – Outsourcing of Food Preparation Process
Preparation of food dishes and its ingredients is a key process for any restaurant. From preparing sauces to marinating of meat to cutting of vegetables, such processes are usually laborious, manpower-intensive.
Food manufacturers, on the other hand, produce food items in larger quantities. They face the challenge of small domestic markets and insufficient economies of scale to reap productivity benefits.
This Call for Collaboration encourages Food Services (FS) companies to work with Food Manufacturers (FM) or suppliers to outsource preparation of food items which are not core offering in the menu. Through such collaboration, restaurants could focus on producing speciality dishes and minimize food preparation at the outlets. This partnership will also bring about new business opportunities for food manufacturers and improve their scale of production.
Public Briefing and Networking Event
Public briefing sessions will be organised by the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) for interested companies to understand this Call for Collaboration. The first session is scheduled for 13 June 2013. Interested parties can register for the session through enquiry@ras.org.sg.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Outsourcing of Food Preparation Processes? How did it come about?
Preparation of food dishes and its ingredients is a key process in the Food services (FS) sector. Several of these processes are manpower-intensive and make up only a small portion of a restaurant’s menu offerings. Exacerbated by the manpower challenges, some companies are looking for different ways to improve the food preparation processes or leverage on suppliers who could produce food items more efficiently.
The food manufacturing (FM) sector, on the other hand, faces the challenge of insufficient scale of production, thereby making investment in automation costly; and under-utilised production capacity.
To boost productivity for both sectors, FS companies could explore working with food manufacturers to outsource preparation of food items which are not core offering in the menu. Through such collaboration, restaurants could focus on producing speciality dishes and minimize food preparation at the outlets. This partnership will also bring about new business opportunities for food manufacturers and improve their scale of production.
2. Who should participate in this call?
FS companies who are keen to enhance their productivity through outsourcing part of their food preparation processes must meet the following criteria:
· Have been in operation for at least one year;
· Are physically present and registered in Singapore; and
· Have at least 30% local shareholding;
3. What are the potential benefits to participating companies?
Both FS and FM companies will stand to benefit - FS companies can redeploy manpower to better focus on its specialty dishes and minimise food preparation at the outlets, while FM companies can better make use of their production capacity to increase revenue.
4. How do companies apply?
Companies are encouraged to attend the first briefing session by RAS on 13 June 2013 to understand this Call for Collaboration and submission process.
Fact Sheet on SME Talent Programme (STP)
The SME Talent Programme (STP) helps local SMEs attract local talents from the Polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education (ITEs) by sponsoring students study awards and job opportunities upon graduation.
SPRING will partner appointed Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) to assist their participating SMEs across industries, in recruiting good local Polytechnic and ITE students. The appointed TACs will be the key managing agents for this talent programme.
Key Information for Students
Student’s Eligibility Criteria:
· Singaporean students who have completed at least the first year of study in the Polytechnics and ITEs
(Those who have just graduated this year are also welcome to apply.)
· Have keen interest to start careers in local SMEs immediately after graduation
· Have good academic results and a positive attitude
Study Award Coverage:
The study award covers a:
· Sponsorship of school fees and study allowance for the recipient’s remaining year(s) of study*
· Sign-on bonus upon graduation and joining the SME
· Career with the sponsoring SME over a two-year period as part of the bond obligation^
* The sponsorship of school fees and study allowance is not included for students who have already completed their study period and graduated.
^ The duration of the obligatory bond period for students who have just graduated this year is one year, instead of two years.
Value of Study Award to Student-Recipient:
· ITE final year recipients can get a total study award of up to $12,000
· Polytechnic recipients (from year two onwards) can get a total study award of up to $26,000
Recipients of the STP will be bound by the employment terms of the sponsoring SME and will also receive training and development opportunities.
Key Information for SMEs
SME’s Eligibility Criteria:
· Meet the SME criteria of:
ü Minimum of 30% local shareholding
ü Group annual turnover of not more than S$100 million OR group employment size of not more than 200 workers
· Have good HR practices and are able to provide good career opportunities
· Are committed to provide a one-year training plan for recipients upon employment
· Are able to pay recipients at least the prevailing market median salary upon employment
Programme Coverage:
Participating SMEs offer study awards to good local students from ITEs and/or Polytechnics by:
· Sponsoring selected students’ remaining year(s) of study (which covers school fees, study allowance and sign-on bonus);
· Bundling employment as part of a two-year bond requirement; and
· Providing on-the-job and/or other relevant training opportunities to recipients once they join the SME upon graduation
Funding Support:
· Participating SMEs are eligible for up to 70% funding support covering the study award value (school fees, study allowance and signed-on bonus), for every successful talent matched
· Participating SMEs will also be supported for the required training deliverable(s) and related costs to train and guide new hire(s) during the first year of employment.
Important Points to Note:
· Trade Chambers & Associations (TACs) representing various industry sectors will be the key programme partners and managing agents for this SME Talent Programme. The TACs will assess and qualify SMEs who are keen to participate in STP. As SPRING’s key partners, they also play an active role in talent selection interviews and in matching suitable applicants to SMEs.
· Selected students will sign a study award agreement with the sponsoring SMEs.
· As of 15 May 2013, the following TACs are partnering SPRING to offer this programme to SMEs in their respective industries:
For more information on the SME Talent Programme, visit www.spring.gov.sg/stp.