2. Speeches
Mr Teo Ser Luck at the SME Talent Programme Award Ceremony
14 February 2014
This article has been migrated from an earlier version of the site and may display formatting inconsistencies.
Welcome Address by Mr Teo Ser Luck, Minister of State for Trade and Industry at the SME Talent Programme Award Ceremony on 14 February 2014, 3.15pm at Canning Room, Raffles City Convention Centre
SME Talent Programme Award Recipients and Parents;
Industry partners;
Partners from the Institutes of Higher Learning;
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon.
1. It is a great pleasure to join all of you today at this SME Talent Programme Award Ceremony.
Attracting and Developing Local Talents
2. For Singapore to be a nation of opportunities, a place where we can build a better life for ourselves and our families, we need to ensure that Singapore continues to have a strong and vibrant economy that provides good jobs for Singaporeans.
3. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are a key pillar of our economy. They make up 99% of our enterprises, contribute half of our GDP, and employ 70% of our workforce. Therefore, the success of our SMEs clearly lies at the heart of our vision for our economy.
4. Our SMEs are constantly looking for growth opportunities, and many have established a presence overseas. However, to continue to thrive in today’s challenging environment, they need talented people to join them. Just as a ship needs a good crew to successfully navigate the seas, it is the people in our SMEs who drive them to success. Graduates from local polytechnics and ITEs are well equipped to contribute to that, and to help our SMEs win a place on the global stage.
Achievements through STP
5. To help local companies attract and build their talent pool, the SME Talent Programme (or STP), was launched by SPRING in June 2013. Through the STP, local SMEs are able to offer study awards and job opportunities to students and graduates from the polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education (ITE).
6. Since June last year, eight Trade Associations & Chambers have come forward to facilitate the matching of students and SMEs. They play an important role to ensure that SMEs coming on board the STP are good companies, with good career opportunities, attractive salaries, and effective systems for developing their employees. These SMEs are committed to sponsoring studies and offering jobs for Polytechnic and ITE students.
7. Today marks an important milestone when we gather to recognise and congratulate the inaugural batch of 90 STP award recipients. They will be embarking on exciting careers with 45 local SMEs in the F&B, retail, services, manufacturing and engineering sectors.
8. To the sponsoring SMEs, I am encouraged to see you stepping forward and proactively investing in our young Singaporean talent.
9. I would like to encourage more SMEs to come on board the programme. SMEs who are interested to find out more about STP can either contact the eight participating TACs or SPRING directly.
Career & Growth Opportunities in SMEs
10. To the award recipients, I congratulate all of you on making this decision. I hope that more students will see the promising opportunities in working in an SME. SPRING and our industry and educational partners have been actively reaching out to students at school career fairs, field trips and talks and they will continue to do even more in this year.
11. Young people often do not prioritise SMEs as desirable employers because they think there are fewer prospects for career advancement. However, the truth is that SMEs offer a wealth of opportunities for you to acquire skills and grow in your career.
12. Compared to larger enterprises, SMEs are nimble, have flatter structures and can respond to the market quickly. This means that people joining SMEs will have many opportunities to learn various aspects of running a business, and have influence on business decisions as they work closely with the boss and senior management. In larger organizations, you may only be exposed to a single specialized function and may not be able to receive such broad based development early in your career.
13. So what could young talents like yourselves expect to experience upon joining an SME? Three things - Challenge, Learning and Growth.
14. First, you will be taken out of your comfort zone and challenged. As your company enters uncharted waters and tries new ideas, you could find yourself contributing to or even leading teams on major projects. JP Pepperdine is one such company that is constantly trying new ideas. It is a home-grown food services company which runs well known restaurants such as Jack’s Place,
and
, and has ambitions to double its turnover in 5 years through acquiring and growing more brands. To-date, the company has 27 outlets across its different dining brands including 11 newly opened outlets and employs about 350 employees. JP Pepperdine has been on the lookout for talent to grow the company, and has committed to sponsor four people under the STP. These people will take on exciting and challenging roles, ranging from frontline, to operations, to business development aspects of its expansion plans.
15. Second, you will be given opportunities to learn so that you can contribute effectively to the organization. To help fresh hires, many of our forward-looking SMEs have invested time and effort in strengthening their HR practices and developing their people.
16. AMORE Fitness is one of these companies. It is a health and wellness company with more than 230 employees and 17 branches across the island. It believes in empowering its employees through structured training. Fian Fazlie, one of our STP recipients and graduate of ITE College Central, recently attended AMORE’s comprehensive orientation programme. The orientation allowed him to quickly pick up useful fitness knowledge and taught him how to handle customers, which complemented the customer service concepts he learnt in school. This in-house training equipped him well for his role as an Operations Coordinator. Now 6 months on the job, Fian enjoys engaging customers and being ever-ready to deliver a great experience to any customer who walks in.
17. Third, you will have many opportunities to grow in your career. Jaren Wong is currently in her 3rd year of Electronics, Computer and Communication Engineering course at Nanyang Polytechnic. During her internship with AVLite, a company specializing in designing and installation of stage and studio lightings, Jaren demonstrated strong technical skills and dedication to her work. This left a good impression with her supervisor. AVLite has since offered to sponsor Jaren’s final year of studies under STP and she will embark on her career with AVLite later this year. With AVLite’s numerous projects in Singapore and the region, I am sure Jaren will have lots to learn and grow in the field of project management.
Streamlining of the SME Talent Programme
18. To further promote SME careers and help SMEs attract capable talent, I am glad to announce that SPRING has streamlined and brought all of its talent attraction programmes for ITE, Poly and University students under the umbrella of the SME Talent Programme. The SME Talent Programme will now cover student internships, student projects with SMEs, study awards and matching of fresh graduates from various levels to jobs in SMEs. Through the expanded SME Talent Programme, we hope to match 4,000 students to SMEs over the next five years.
Assistance to further grow SMEs
19. In addition to talent attraction and development, it is also important for SMEs to strengthen their HR practices in order to develop and retain their existing employees. SPRING will continue to support SMEs in this so that they can be better employers. For SMEs that are keen to sponsor good performing employees who want to pursue part-time studies in local IHLs, support from SPRING is also available.
20. SMEs that are expanding overseas will also require talent to develop their operations in various markets. To prepare our local talent pool for international careers, IE Singapore has a Young Talent Programme which aims to increase the exposure of Singapore’s youths to overseas experiences. This will help to develop youths that are ready to take on jobs in emerging markets and drive the overseas business growth of Singapore companie
s.
Conclusion
21. To our IHL and TAC partners, I would like to thank you for your commitment to STP and for investing in our young talents here today. To the parents of our students, thank you for supporting your children in their first step to create an exciting future for themselves through a career in a SME.
22. To the 90 STP award recipients, I wish you all the best in your journey ahead. Be receptive to challenges, proactive in learning, and do your best to bring your company to greater heights.
23. Congratulations again and I wish everyone a fruitful afternoon.