Speech by Minister S Iswaran at the Association of Muslim Professionals Community in Review Seminar 2016

​SPEECH BY MR S ISWARAN, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY (INDUSTRY), MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY, AT THE ASSOCIATION OF MUSLIM PROFESSIONALS COMMUNITY IN REVIEW SEMINAR 2016 AT SUNTEC SINGAPORE CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE ON SATURDAY, 19 MARCH 2016, 9.30 AM

Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim

Vice-Chairman, Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP) Group

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Introduction

1. A very good morning to you. I am pleased to join you at this seminar to explore current issues, challenges and aspirations pertaining to entrepreneurship in the Malay/Muslim community.  It is a subject with great potential and much to be discussed, which will be covered by the speakers later this morning.  I will focus my comments on a few key issues – the impetus for entrepreneurship, areas of opportunity for business growth, including internationalisation, and skills upgrading.

Adapting to the future economy

2. We are a small, open and highly globalised economy.  These are attributes that present both advantages that we can seize, and challenges that we must overcome.  The latter point is salient, especially against a backdrop of moderating global growth, an aging domestic population, and rapidly changing technologies that can and will disrupt the way we do business.  To compete in the face of an uncertain future, businesses will need to be nimble and adaptable.  We will have to explore new ideas, new models, and new partnerships, in order to uncover new opportunities.

3. The Committee on the Future Economy is a national effort that aims to scope out these new possibilities and set out strategies that will strengthen and sustain Singapore’s competitiveness. (Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat chairs this committee, with me as his deputy.)  To position Singapore well for the future, the Committee is looking into four areas, which we call the 4”I”s – first, how to encourage pervasive innovation, so that we can build a value-creating economy; second, how to integrate our different strengths, to provide comprehensive solutions to the world; third, how to internationalise Singaporean products and services; and finally, how to invest in people and knowledge, so that we have the knowledge base, skills, attitudes and values to be able to ride this wave of change. 

Entrepreneurship among the Malay/Muslim community

4. One of the ways we can encourage innovation and integration is to support entrepreneurs in Singapore.  Entrepreneurs sow the seeds of change and reap its rewards within our ecosystem – by creating new products, services and business models.  Often, these are not entirely new, but rather the creative re-interpretation or integration of several existing ideas. 

5. Entrepreneurs are important catalysts for our future economic growth; they also create opportunities for other Singaporeans to succeed.  Over the years, the Government has committed resources to supporting entrepreneurship and much progress has been made.  The number of active start-ups has increased from 24,000 in 2005, to 55,000 in 2014.  Total early-stage entrepreneurial activity in Singapore, which represents the percentage of working-age population about to start or who have recently started a new business, has grown from 4.9% in 2006 to 11% in 2014.  We must continue to build on this foundation to ensure that our entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to thrive.

6. Of course, not every entrepreneur succeeds at the first try.  In fact, many successful entrepreneurs learnt valuable lessons from early failures.  Fostering this entrepreneurial spirit, which includes the ability to accept failure, learn from it and rebound, starts early, and I am pleased to note that educational institutions such as our schools and polytechnics are doing their part in promoting and advancing entrepreneurship in Singapore.  I am especially heartened that young Singaporeans are actively involved in the rising number of start-ups in Singapore.  Programmes such as AMP’s Micro Business Programme also enable low-income Singaporeans to earn a living by equipping them with the skills to set up their own businesses. One of the things we should look at is how we can imbue young Singaporeans with the confidence and zeal to strike out on their own.

7. Beyond support that we provide at the individual and enterprise level, there are also a number of institutional support systems that Malay/Muslim businesses can access.  This includes a whole range of programmes from agencies such as SPRING Singapore, IE Singapore, the National Research Foundation (NRF), and the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA).  These agencies provide capital and connections, and perform an integrative function, to facilitate ideation and knowledge sharing across businesses.  AMP and the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SMCCI) also provide similar services. 

8. One company that has benefitted from the SME Centre@SMCCI is WeddingKu Gallery.  WeddingKu Gallery was founded in 2009 by Ms Lynn Siregar and her husband as a home-based business offering bridal make-up and bridal wear services.  As the company gained popularity, they expanded their operations.  With guidance from SME Centre@SMCCI and support from SPRING, WeddingKu took steps to upgrade their capabilities and was able to deploy technology such as a point-of-sales system integrated with accounting software to automate their processes.  Since its engagement with the SME Centre@SMCCI, WeddingKu Gallery’s sales have increased by more than 25%, and the company is now looking to expand the business further through e-commerce. This is an important area because the digital economy offers many of our businesses the opportunity to scale up not just in Singapore but beyond our borders.

9. There is much value in Malay/Muslim organisations engaging in a collective and coordinated effort to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit in the community, and to create a supportive business environment for businesses to capture growth opportunities. 

Opportunities in the Halal food/certification industry

10. I mentioned earlier that internationalising Singaporean products and services is an important aspect of our future economy.  Given our domestic market size, internationalisation is not a choice, but rather a necessity for growth.  

11. One area where we have already made inroads in other countries is Halal certification for products and services, which Singapore is well-positioned to cater to.  This is timely, given the growing global demand for Halal-certified products and services, even in regional, non-Muslim markets like Japan and Korea, where the infrastructure for Halal certification is relatively nascent.  This provides good growth opportunities for Malay/Muslim enterprises in Singapore.

12. According to the MasterCard-Crescent Rating Global Muslim Travel Index, Singapore has been named as the top non-Islamic destination for Muslim travellers for four consecutive years since 2012.  Part of this strong showing is due to our stringent food safety regulations and widely-recognised halal certification standards, which provide our companies with a unique competitive advantage to cater to the growing demand for halal products and services. 

13. The government is supportive of efforts to export Halal food products and services to overseas markets.  To this end, IE Singapore is working with MUIS to promote mutual recognition of our Halal standards with other countries’.  SPRING Singapore and IE Singapore are also working with companies on support schemes to raise productivity, strengthen core capabilities such as adoption of automation technologies and shared central kitchen facilities, to enable companies to achieve scale and eventually undertake export activities to overseas markets.

14. Internationalisation efforts are therefore important in helping companies tap these opportunities in overseas markets, and export innovative products and solutions regionally and globally.  IE Singapore has existing schemes such as the Market Readiness Assistance and Global Company Partnership schemes to help our companies internationalise.

SkillsFuture 

15. All our plans to identify new growth sectors and markets will come to nought, if our people cannot access these opportunities.  The extent to which Singapore’s economy succeeds is to a large extent determined by how ready our people are to meet the demands of tomorrow.  We need a skilled workforce with industry-relevant and versatile skillsets.  SkillsFuture aims to support this effort by equipping Singaporeans with the relevant skills to operate in the future economic environment, and maximise their potential through lifelong learning.

16. Besides workforce upgrading, SkillsFuture also supports companies in their efforts to provide good workplace training environments that support the development of their workforce.  Last December, I launched the SkillsFuture Mentors programme, which specifically aims to support SMEs in developing their training and development infrastructure to embark on business growth through SkillsFuture talent initiatives such as the Earn and Learn Programme.  As experienced industry professionals, SkillsFuture Mentors will leverage their knowledge and experience to help SMEs develop their training capabilities, so that employees can continue to learn, improve and be valued contributors. We need deep skills in certain core areas and the flexibility to learn new skills to address new opportunities. 

Conclusion

17. I have briefly set out the ways in which we can grasp new business opportunities in the economic reality that we find ourselves in.  Entrepreneurship is an important source of value creation and growth in Singapore.  Equally important is the entrepreneurial mind-set that will drive us to internationalise and reach into new markets, and enable us to operate nimbly in a variety of environments.  Finally, it is essential that we constantly adapt, learn, and re-learn, all through our lives.  I encourage the Malay/Muslim community and business leaders to think about how you can leverage the various government programmes to do more in each of these three areas - entrepreneurship, internationalisation, and skills mastery.  By doing so, you will actively contribute to Singapore’s economic and societal progress, and the continued growth and success of our Malay/Muslim community.

18. I wish you all a fruitful discussion this morning. Thank you.​