SINGAPORE is the most conducive place in the world for entrepreneurs to start a business.
Indeed, the World Bank has ranked Singapore as No 1 in terms of 'Ease of Doing Business' for the past four years. In the latest Global Competitiveness Report, Singapore was ranked first in 'Intellectual Property Protection' and second in 'Quality of Overall Infrastructure'.
In terms of access to financing, Singapore was ranked third in 'Venture Capital Availability', which assesses how easy it is for entrepreneurs with innovative but risky projects to find venture capital, and fourth in 'Ease of Access to Loans'.
Pro-business environment
Beyond the rankings, Singapore has one of the lowest corporate and income tax rates, compared with most countries. Start-ups are exempted from taxes for up to three years.
Singapore's network of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) enables businesses to have easier access to markets while IE Singapore helps to facilitate their expansion overseas.
Over the years, the government has worked to improve the regulatory environment to help businesses operate more efficiently. In many countries, it may take several months to obtain a business licence. In Singapore, it takes only one day to do so and at a fraction of the cost.
A Pro-Enterprise Panel (PEP) was set up in 2000 to get feedback from the public to enhance business regulations. The PEP has since implemented over 950 of the 1,700 suggestions received, making Singapore even more pro-business.
While the foundation has been laid with a pro-business environment, more needs to be done for entrepreneurial growth in Singapore. We need more people with good business ideas to take up the challenge to become an entrepreneur.
Over the past few years, there has been a positive trend towards entrepreneurship. Some 50,000 start-ups have been incorporated in Singapore annually.
According to the annual DP Information - ACE Start-up Enterprise Survey (STEPS), many founders of start-ups are now younger and more educated. This reflects a shift towards entrepreneurship as a career of choice and opportunity.
As the saying goes, starting a business is tough; growing a business is even tougher. For start-ups, having a good business idea is only the start; the real challenge is in turning it into a viable business. This involves money, management and markets.
Access to money, resources and markets
Recognising that innovative start-ups are the next growth enterprises, one of Spring Singapore's thrusts is to work alongside innovative start-ups to facilitate growth and market development.
For instance, for youths who desire to turn their business ideas into reality, the Young Entrepreneurs Scheme for Startups (YES! Startups) can support with a matching grant for youths to start their first innovative business.
The Technology Enterprise Commercialisation Scheme (TECS) also supports conversion of intellectual property into tangible products and services for commercial ventures. Spring's Startup Enterprise Development Scheme (Spring SEEDS) and the Business Angel Scheme (BAS) provide equity funding for innovative start-ups to grow.
Besides financing, start-ups face many other challenges including management capability and market access.
Given our small domestic market, start-ups have to look beyond Singapore to the global market if they want to succeed. In the highly competitive global environment, time to market is critical and companies cannot afford the luxury of gaining local accolades before venturing overseas. They have to start with the global market in mind.
Another challenge facing start-ups is attracting and keeping talent. Besides skilled manpower, start-ups need competent management to bring the company to the next level. Successful start-ups often have experienced advisers who act as mentors. Some could be investors who not only give advice but also 'open doors' for start-ups.
To address the needs of start-ups for resources beyond money, Spring launched the Incubation Development Programme (IDP) in 2009.
Among the supported full-suite incubators and venture accelerators are NUS Enterprise Incubator, iAxil, PARCO Fashion Incubator, SMU Business Innovations Generator, NTU NanoFrontier, Business Angel Network of South-east Asia (BANSEA), Microsoft Innovation Centre, ODM Innovations, Mercatus Capital, Entrepreneur's Resource Centre. These partners help innovative start-ups to grow by providing business mentorship, and helping them to raise funds and gain access to markets.
HVS Engineering is one example of a start-up that Spring SEEDS Capital Pte Ltd co-invested in, with ambitions to grow its customer base locally and overseas simultaneously. Leveraging on iAxil's Global Market Access Programme, the company ventured into the United States and Japan.
BANSEA launched a similar mentoring programme which matches promising start-ups with their members who will guide them in their business development.
Collectively, these efforts aim to make the environment more conducive for business creation and support the growth of innovative start- ups.
This article was contributed by Spring Singapore