Speech by Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling at the SME Centre Conference 2026

A.   Introduction

1. Good morning. Thank you for inviting me to be with you today at the 13^th SME Centre Conference. A big thank you to Mr. Ang Yuit and his team at the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) for organising today’s conference. It is good to see so many familiar faces, and many new ones too. 

2. This year’s theme, “Vision to Action: AI Adoption for SMEs,” is apt and timely. For many SMEs, it is no longer about whether AI works. Many of you are already using AI in your day-to-day operations.

3. It is encouraging to hear from SCCCI’s recent annual business survey that 77% of our SMEs have adopted AI. 45% have started with practical, off-the-shelf tools. However, the survey also highlighted two challenges: how businesses can apply AI more comprehensively across their operations, and the need for in-house expertise to do so effectively.

4. We are determined to help you harness AI meaningfully. We want our enterprises to become stronger, more productive, and positioned to capture new opportunities. Using AI, SMEs can move faster, do more with less, and punch above their weight.

5. Skylace Language School is an SME that is seeing tangible results from its use of AI. With the support of its Business Advisor from SME Centre@SCCCI, the school adopted generative AI to accelerate content creation and increased marketing efficiency and staff productivity by 50%. 

6. To help SMEs harness this AI advantage, our SME Centres have ramped up their outreach to boost the awareness and adoption of AI among small businesses.

B.   More Tailored Help from SME Centres 

7. Over the past year, SME Centres organised more than 40 AI capability workshops, reaching nearly 2,000 SMEs. The enterprises learnt practical skills such as digital marketing, prompt engineering, cybersecurity, and workforce transformation. These will allow our SMEs, no matter how small they are, to really punch above their weight.

8. As AI continues to evolve, so will our support for you in this area. These workshops are being refreshed to cover emerging areas such as AI agents and agentic workflows. We aim to help SMEs like you understand how these technologies can be applied more effectively in your business.  

9. As I shared at this Conference last year, we will be enhancing the advisory support offered by SME Centres. Their Business Advisors will soon use a new Business Health Toolkit to help SMEs take stock of their overall business health. Using the kit, the Business Advisors are able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each business. With this better understanding, the advisors can pinpoint areas needing the company’s attention and offer tailored recommendations. 

10. If you have yet to visit an SME Centre, I strongly encourage you to do so. The SME Centres not only link you to an extended network, but they can also connect you with experts in areas such as regulations, trade and financing. Take part in the many networking and peer-learning activities to find partnerships and new opportunities.

C.   Helping SMEs Turn Capabilities into Growth 

11. We are committed to the growth and future of our SMEs. In addition to boosting our business advisory services, we are refreshing the Enterprise Leadership for Transformation programme, widely known as ELT. 

12. ELT helps SME leaders identify new growth opportunities and develop a clear plan to pursue them. Since 2020, the programme has supported over 750 business leaders from more than 500 companies. Close to 90% of these businesses have gone on to implement new initiatives. 

13. Homegrown bakery Mdm Ling is one example. 

14. Through ELT, its founders identified more opportunities to diversify the business beyond festive and seasonal demand. A Business Advisor from SME Centre@SMF connected the company with the right expertise to strengthen its inventory management and fulfilment capabilities.

15. With that support, Mdm Ling was able to turn its growth plans into reality. Monthly revenue has increased by 30%, and the company has since expanded into tourism and destination retail, with a flagship store at Jewel. It expects revenue to grow by another 50% over the next year.

16. Mdm Ling's experience shows that a good growth strategy must be accompanied by successful execution. Our refreshed ELT programme will pair each participating business with a dedicated SME Centre Business Advisor. The Advisor will support the company at each stage of its growth journey. It will also connect them with the right expertise and resources to implement their plans.

D.   BusinessSG: One Connected Government for Businesses 

17. As we strengthen our support for SMEs, we will also make it easier for businesses to engage the Government. 

18. We understand the pressure to move fast in a rapidly-changing world. Yet businesses still have to navigate multiple websites and agencies for details and to apply for licenses and grants.

19. We can do better. I am therefore pleased to announce the new BusinessSG initiative, or BizSG for short.

20. This whole-of-government initiative powered by AI aims to transform how the Government supports businesses. Biz SG will make it simpler and faster for businesses to get the support they need by offering relevant recommendations and guiding them to suitable government services and grants.

21. Over time, it aims to make everyday transactions such as licence applications and business filings easier to complete with the help of AI. This will be tested and rolled out progressively.  

22. We hope that BizSG will one day become a digital concierge for SMEs on their growth journey.

E.    BizSG Portal

23. Businesses will first experience BizSG through the BizSG portal, which is set to go live on 30 September. 

24. So, what will this look like in practice? Let me show you through this video.  

25. What you have just watched is the first step towards our goal of providing tailored and better support for Singapore businesses. Instead of navigating multiple websites, businesses just have to describe what they want to achieve. And very quickly, they can receive a selection of recommendations tailored to their goals and needs.  

26. BizSG is the result of many, many hours of consultation with trade associations, SMEC advisors and nearly 200 companies, some of whom are here with us today. We could not have done this alone. Thank you for generously sharing your insights, experiences and feedback to shape this new platform. We will continue to work with other agencies to provide support for our SMEs.

27. Do try the BizSG portal for yourself at the booth later. Not only will you get an exclusive preview ahead of the official live date on 30 September, you will also get a peek into the EDGE grant.

F.    EDGE: Simplifying Grant Support 

28. The EDGE grant is the combination of three existing grants – the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG), Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) grant and Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) – under a single scheme. 

29. Just like how we are streamlining our services and information online, we are consolidating the 3 popular grants under one scheme.

30. EDGE covers over 150 supportable activities across eight business areas, including improving business efficiencies, expansion into new markets and building digitalisation capabilities. 

31. So whether you are planning to raise productivity or build new capabilities, just describe your business needs and goals, and the BizSG grant recommender will point you to the most relevant grants and activities from EnterpriseSG and the Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA). What you saw in the video is a start. From now till 2027, we will be including other government support schemes to be recommended.

G.   Conclusion 

32. Taken together, these efforts reflect the Government’s goal: To enhance our support for businesses, make it simpler for them to find the right support, and to build their capabilities so they can put their growth plans into action.

33. Each initiative and improvement, whether is more support, better advice, or a simpler way to engage and transact with the Government, was designed with these aims in mind. 

34. But Government support forms only one part of this foundation of growth. Our Trade Associations and SME Centres will continue to be important partners in helping businesses navigate challenges, seize opportunities and transform for the future. I would like to thank our TACs, SME Centres and business advisors for your continued partnership and commitment.  

35. To all our SMEs here today: Thank you for your contributions in making Singapore a dynamic, inclusive and vibrant economy. Let’s all continue to stay curious, embrace new technologies, turn our goals into action, and action into growth. 

36. Thank you.