As an SME owner herself, Ms Helen Campos understands the obstacles in building a business idea and growing it into a successful company locally and abroad. There are many steps to overcome hurdles such as manpower constraints, the need to innovate, cost of expanding and networks.
At the Public Briefing seminar organised by SME Centre@SICCI on 28 May 2015, Ms Helen encouraged SMEs to work actively with the various government agencies to obtain these relevant expertise and networks.
Ms. Helen, Chairperson of SME Centre@SICCI, also gave a short overview on the various funding schemes provided by the Government for SMEs such as complimentary business advisory on government assistances, business diagnosis and capability workshops.
Currently, manpower is a major concern of SMEs here especially as the inflow of foreign workers is reduced and the Government is not planning to ease up on the foreign worker limits. The government has also been consistent in its message about the need to reduce the country’s reliance on manpower. Workforce Development Agency (WDA) at the seminar presented on how SMEs could make their companies more attractive to a shrinking labour pool and develop new PME talent.
International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore) informed the SMEs of the government assistance schemes which are available to create a global foot print. Apart from understanding government assistances, Dr. R Theyvendran, Secretary-General of MDIS and Chairman of SICCI, also shared on how MDIS developed their globalisation strategy. His talk was well received.
SME Centre@SICCI and various government agencies are available to assist SMEs to push their businesses to the next level of success.
More information can be found on https://www.smecentre-sicci.sg/
