Mr Lee Yi Shyan at the Launch of the 6th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition, 29 Oct 2010

Speech by Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade & Industry and Manpower at the Launch of the 6th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition on Friday, 29 October 2010 at Singapore Management University at 3:15pm

Professor Arnoud De Meyer, President of the Singapore Management University,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to join you today to launch the 6th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition.

The Entrepreneur’s DNA

When I looked up the dictionaries and the internet, I found several definitions of the word “entrepreneur”. Dictionary.com defines an entrepreneur as “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk”. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s defines an entrepreneur as “a person who makes money by starting or running businesses, especially when this involves taking financial risks”.

Between the two definitions, one has left out “money and “profit” altogether. Are profits and money really the key motivations for an “entrepreneur”? Is there anything deeper than that?

ACE (Action Community for Entrepreneurship) recently surveyed 700 current and would-be entrepreneurs on what motivated them to pursue an entrepreneurial venture. The survey revealed that the top five motivations for entrepreneurs are: (a) Pursue their dreams (88%) (b) Be independent (85%) (c) Identified a customer’s need (84%) (d) Inspired by successful entrepreneurs (70%) (e) Had an innovative product and process (64%). As you can see, none of the top factors has any oblique relationship with money-making or financial rewards.

When Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook, he had a vision to make the world more open and connected. When Ryan Lee, for instance, founded Xmi Pte Ltd in 2006, he set out to build X-mini speakers for the world market. Today, Ryan’s company sells well over two million units of the X-mini capsule speakers in more than 60 countries.

When I talked to entrepreneurs on how they started their ventures, their answers ranged from wanting to change the world to leaving a legacy. All of them, I would say, exuded unmistakable passion.

I also discovered other aspects of entrepreneurs. They are often extraordinary because of their resourcefulness. They think of ways to transcend immediate constraints or limitations.

By now we know, for an entrepreneur to stand any chance of success, he must be passionate, resourceful and persistent in wanting to realize his vision.

When Stanley Han of Personal E-Motion Pte Ltd started out as a young entrepreneur, he was repeatedly turned down by investors and customers alike. However, Stanley and his partners persisted. Today, Personal E-Motion’s “Koobits” digital publishing technology has won multiple awards, and Personal E-Motion has secured many investments. The company also recently partnered Tien Wah Press, one of the largest printers in the world, to develop a digital solution for publishers. This digital publishing solution will be marketed to Tien Wah’s partners and clients worldwide, and is set to put Stanley and his company on the global stage.

What ACE and our partners seek to do, is to create a supportive environment that enable our would-be entrepreneurs to be exposed to the nature of entrepreneurship earlier, by learning from others and by doing it themselves.

Today’s Business Plan Competition can be seen in that context - a key step of learning and a step close to action. When a vision is translated into a business plan, it allows itself to be studied and scrutinized by business angels, venture capitalists and experienced entrepreneurs who can collectively improve and add to the idea or the plan.

Government Support for Entrepreneurs

To help young entrepreneurs, the government has put in place several programmes.

SPRING’s Young Entrepreneurs Scheme for Start-ups (YES! Start-ups) is an example of our efforts to promote entrepreneurship in our younger generation. The scheme provides youths with a $50,000 grant to set up a business venture. Since its launch in late 2008, more than $3 million has been awarded to 63 start-ups, benefiting more than 65 youths. Six of these start-ups have also secured subsequent funding from third parties.

Conducive incubation has been shown to help raise the success rate of innovative start-ups in their formative years. That is why the government launched a $30 million Incubation Development Programme (IDP) last year. Under this programme, 10 incubators and venture accelerators to provide innovative start-ups with the critical resources such as shared business services, mentorship and market access will be developed.

To date, some 250 Innovative start-ups have been incubated, creating more than 400 jobs and generating some $40m revenue. Of these, more than 10 Innovative Start-ups (ISUs) have crossed the $1m revenue mark and 50 have also secured angel or venture capital investments. You are probably very familiar with one of them – SMU’s Business Innovations Generator (SMU BIG).

Help Others to Realize their Dreams

Successful entrepreneurs often give back to the society. Bill Gates once said, “With great wealth comes great responsibility a responsibility to give back to society, a responsibility to see that those resources are put to work in the best possible way to help those most in need.”

Here in Singapore, Mr Lawrence Kim, pledged $100,000 to set up a scholarship and Angel fund. This fund will help his fellow SMU students fulfill their entrepreneurial dreams by providing seed investments in their start-ups.

Another laudable example is agri-food giant, Wilmar International Limited which has given $5 million to support the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition. Now into its sixth year, the competition has provided a unique platform for youths to showcase their business ideas internationally, network with potential investors and attract seed funding for their projects. With Wilmar’s support, I am sure many more students will be a step closer to their vision.

Conclusion

Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese's had this to say about entrepreneurship: "The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer."
On that note, let me wish every would-be entrepreneur here a rewarding journey of doing. Thank you.