Speech by Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling on motion on “An Economy Of The Future That Works For All”

A. Introduction

1. Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank Mr Kenneth Tiong and Mr Jamus Lim for bringing this motion before the House, as well as Mr Edward Chia for the amendments that he made to propose to the motion, as well as all Members who have spoke before us, for contributing to what has been a rigorous and substantive debate.

2. At the heart of this debate is a fundamental question: How do we ensure that Singapore enterprises can continue to thrive in a rapidly changing world?

3. The answer matters because our enterprises are central to Singapore’s success. SMEs make up 99% of all enterprises and employ more than 70% of our workforce. SMEs create good jobs, strengthen our communities and bolster Singapore's economic competitiveness.

4. But members who spoke before us also shared that the environment SMEs operate in is becoming more challenging. Technology is reshaping industries. Competition is intensifying. And global disruptions have become a recurring feature in the global economy. The recent Middle East crisis is the latest reminder of how quickly external events can affect our businesses.

5. Our response is not just to help the enterprises weather the new storm. It is to help our enterprises become stronger, more competitive and more resilient over the long-term. Our economic strategy has always been centred on improving the lives of Singaporeans. Strong local enterprises are indispensable to that goal. And this is why we will continue to stand alongside our businesses – help them build stronger capabilities, expand with confidence, and innovate and grow beyond Singapore.

6. Let me share more about how we do so.

B. Helping Enterprises Build Stronger Capabilities

7. Let me start with capability building.

8. Businesses today compete not just on cost, but on innovation, productivity, quality and speed. Yesterday’s strengths are no guarantee of tomorrow’s success. Enterprises that continue to build new capabilities will be better placed to stay ahead. Those that do not risk falling behind.

9. During the Economic Strategy Review, we engaged widely with Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) representing SMEs and various businesses. Most SMEs recognised that transformation is no longer optional. The question is not whether to transform, but how to do so in a practical, accessible and sustainable manner.

10. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Every enterprise starts from a different position, serves different markets, customers, and face different opportunities. And that is why we tailor our approach to support the company's needs — whether it is adopting AI, improving productivity, developing new products, services or expanding into new markets.

11. Through EnterpriseSG, businesses can access a wide range of government support to build capabilities and transform their operations.

a. For example, Sin Chwee Mini Mart started as a wet market seafood store by Mr Goh Thiam Chwee in Bukit Gombak in 1990. Faced with changing consumer preferences, the second-generation owner, Mr Jimmy Goh, made the decision to reinvent the business. He launched Tankfully Fresh, transforming what had been a traditional wet market seafood stall into an omnichannel retailer.

b. With government support, the company accelerated its transformation by implementing an integrated inventory management system to support its growing omnichannel business. The system enabled a 50% improvement in manpower efficiency. What used to be a mini-mart then grew into new retail, B2B and online sales channels through contract manufacturing. Today, 60% of the business revenue comes from online sales.

12. This example reminds us that every successful transformation begins with a decision by the business itself. The aim of our efforts is to help enterprises build the capabilities that matter most to their business, so that they can become more productive, more competitive and more resilient.

Support for the Food & Beverage Sector

13. Members have spoken about the challenges facing our F&B businesses. We Singaporeans love our food, and we treasure our distinctive food culture. But the industry is changing rapidly. Operators face higher manpower, rental and operating costs, while consumer expectations continue to rise.

14. This is not unique to Singapore. Around the world, diners are demanding greater convenience, better value and more differentiated experiences. Digital platforms, food delivery and social media have transformed how customers discover and consume food.

15. These trends present challenges, but also new opportunities. In fact, many of our F&B businesses are responding with determination. They are redesigning operations, embracing technology, centralising food preparation and adopting AI and digital solutions to improve productivity and to serve their customers better.

16. Our role is to support these transformation efforts with practical assistance that helps businesses become more productive, competitive and resilient.

17. Our objective is not simply to help F&B businesses cope with higher costs. It is to help them operate differently and compete more effectively. That means improving productivity, redesigning processes, embracing technology and finding new ways to deliver better value to their customers.

18. That is why EnterpriseSG has put in place a range of initiatives to support this transformation:

a. Businesses can improve productivity and redesign their operations through the F&B Process Optimisation Programme

b. Smaller businesses can lower their costs and achieve greater scale through FoodX, by sharing manufacturing and food preparation facilities.

c. We also offer help for businesses to adopt digital and AI solutions.

d. Coffee chain Kopi & Tarts, operates close to 20 outlets across Singapore. They have benefited from this initiative that we talked about. Across their outlets in Singapore, it has reduced more than 40 hours of food preparation time each day by outsourcing part of their ingredient preparation through FoodX. 40 hours is almost equivalent to allowing them to avail four full-time staff to focus on greater value-add services.

Support for our Heartlands

19. Another group of businesses close to our heart are the heartland enterprises.

20. They are more than places to shop. They help define the character of our neighbourhoods, bring communities together, and contribute to our social fabric.

21. But like all businesses, they must adapt to changing consumer preferences and new technologies.

22. Ms Mariam Jaafar would be glad to know that we have been supporting heartland enterprises through the years with many initiatives such as the Heartland Enterprise Placemaking Grant and the Enhanced Visual Merchandising Programme. Earlier this year, we enhanced both schemes by increasing the support level from 50% to 70%, helping our heartland enterprises refresh their concepts, improve their storefronts and attract more footfall.

23. Whether young or established, traditional or modern, every enterprise must continue building new capabilities to remain competitive. We will continue to support our businesses on this journey.

C. Helping Enterprises Scale Globally

24. And this journey includes going beyond Singapore. Because our domestic market is limited, enterprises must venture beyond our shores to grow. Our small economy also needs strong external demand in addition to healthy domestic demand.

25. And to help enterprises go global, we have established support for enterprises across their different stages of internationalisation. From grants like the recently enhanced Market Readiness Assistance (MRA), which helps businesses springboard overseas, to programmes like Scale-Up. Let me elaborate.

26. EnterpriseSG's Scale-Up programme helps high-potential Singapore companies build the capabilities they need to scale effectively and compete internationally.

a. To date, Scale-Up has supported more than 100 companies from diverse sectors. 80 of these companies have generated a combined S$2.5 billion in additional revenue within three years of joining the programme. International expansion accounted for S$1 billion of this growth.

b. One of these companies is Mlion Corporation, a steel foundation solutions company specialising in waterfront and underground construction. It sharpened its market entry strategies through Scale-Up in 2022. Since then, the company was able to, in the last four years, secure large-scale infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia markets, the Middle East & Africa. And as a result, Mlion saw a fourfold increase in their revenue in 2024.

c. Another example is Space Matrix, a workplace design and build firm. The company accelerated its international growth by sharpening its strategy and strengthening its supply chain and procurement capabilities. Within two years, it has expanded into India, Philippines and Dubai, and moved into the life sciences and data centre sectors. The company’s revenue has grown by 25%, and profitability more than 200%.

27. As enterprises venture overseas, we know they will navigate unfamiliar regulations, higher operating costs, new competitors and geopolitical forces.

28. We have a network of over 35 Overseas Centres around the world, providing market intelligence, introductions to in-market partners and on-the-ground support for Singapore companies wanting to capture growth opportunities overseas.

29. While the decision to internationalise is one that enterprises must make for themselves, our goal is to create the conditions and provide the support that will spur them to compete and succeed on the global stage. We will continue to monitor the global economic landscape, and refine our globalisation schemes and support for Singapore enterprises to become global champions.

D. Strengthening the Ecosystem to our SMEs

30. Every successful enterprise operates within a wider ecosystem of partners, networks and institutions.

31. Over the years, the Government has invested in building a strong and vibrant enterprise ecosystem. Our goal is to create an environment in which enterprises can succeed – one that enables them to innovate, build deeper capabilities, to gain access to talent, technology and market, and be able to seize opportunities to enter new markets overseas.

32. And Ms Mariam Jaafar shared very eloquently earlier. A key element of the vibrant enterprise ecosystem is really that mutually-beneficial, mutually-reinforcing partnership between our SMEs and larger companies, including MNCs. As Mr Edward Chia and Ms Mariam Jaafar mentioned earlier, local and global enterprises in Singapore can work together to strengthen their capabilities, accelerate innovation and, in doing so, create better jobs and opportunities for Singaporeans.

33. Look around at the MNCs, C-suite executives over the years. You know the positions are also taken up by Singaporeans. That is an important point.

34. Mr Deputy Speaker, if I may share my previous working experience which attests to the symbiotic working relationship between the smaller companies and larger companies. I recall, as an EDB officer some 26 years ago, I had worked on the Local Industry Upgrading Programme (LIUP) that matched SMEs and MNCs, company by company, sector by sector, matching them based on their work plan, their vision, their ambition, and their values, in win-win partnerships. The programme allows MNCs to gain a strong base of suppliers, while allowing SMEs to learn from the larger industry players and upgrade their capabilities.

35. Today, the programme has evolved to become what we we call the Partnerships for Capability Transformation or PACT programme. While LIUP focuses primarily on strengthening supplier relationships between MNCs and SMEs, PACT brings the companies together to scale up, innovate and capture new opportunities together.

36. Since 2010, PACT has supported 137 partnerships and benefitted more than 2,500 Singapore-based companies. PACT has progressively expanded to support a broader range of partnerships. In 2024, we expanded the programme to include internationalisation, corporate ventures and capability training. This has enabled SMEs to gain entry into regional and global value chains.

37. In addition, SMEs get access to new customers and the valuable chance to build stronger capabilities. They also co-create solutions and grow with their larger partners in their overseas operations.

a. Take the partnership between ForeFront AM, a local additive manufacturing firm, and GlobalFoundries for instance. Due to their collaboration, Forefront AM was able to enhance their capabilities in additive manufacturing to create critical, highly customised parts for GlobalFoundries’ high-value semiconductor manufacturing tools. On the part of GlobalFoundries, the company qualified nine local SMEs to produce over 200 critical tool parts as a result of two PACT projects.

38. We also partner industry leaders to help companies with AI adoption. For example, Mr Edward Chia called for greater support for AI adoption and acknowledged that the Enterprise Compute Initiative (ECI) was announced last year. This is a scheme where we work with leading cloud service providers like Google and Amazon, as well as consultant partners to give enterprises access to cutting-edge AI tools, cloud finance, training and certification. The ECI is meant to kickstart adoption and to build momentum. So we will continue to monitor the take-up closely and refine the support where needed.

39. Partnerships like these have enabled our local companies to capture fresh opportunities, build stronger and deeper capabilities, and compete in higher-value segments of the economy.

40. As shared by Mr Saktiandi Supaat, attracting MNC investments and the support we provide to local enterprises are complementary strategies. A robust economy needs the contributions of both MNCs and SMEs.

41. On that note, let me turn to another important pillar in our vibrant enterprise ecosystem – our close partnerships with TACs.

42. As Mr Mark Lee noted earlier, TACs play an important role as trusted intermediaries. The TACs not only represent the enterprises and their respective sectors, they also help businesses cope with shifts, like moving towards sustainability, digitalisation and workforce transformation. They are also instrumental in developing shared solutions as well as aggregating industry needs.

43. So we will continue to work closely with all our TACs as they lead initiatives that bring businesses together to address common challenges and to seize new opportunities.

44. Furthermore, the TACs have contributed their insights and industry perspectives on the needs of their sectors as part of our ESR process. The ESR recommendations and the directions we are taking reflect our TACs’ input and feedback. We value our close partnership and dialogue with our TACs because we do not work in silos. The door is always open for discussion. And as Mr Mark Lee pointed out, 24 of the 27 recommendations by the Alliance for Action on Business Competitiveness have been accepted.

45. In fact, in April 2024, we set up the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) for Pro-Enterprise Rules Review chaired by DPM Gan Kim Yong, as well as various ministers to oversee the agency’s efforts to improve regulatory efficiency and to reduce compliance burden, especially for SMEs.

a. The IMC has achieved progress in these few areas within two years. For example, 93% of all business regulatory applications have published service standards, with 80% of them committing to processing the applications within 30 working days.

b. Agencies have also reviewed their license validity period. Today, 45% of the licenses have validity period of at least three years. This will increase to 80% of licenses by year 2029.

46. In parallel, we also started the SME Pro-Enterprise Office (SME PEO) last year to cut red tape and help our businesses address regulatory challenges, especially where it involves multiple agencies or an emerging, nascent sector.

47. This approach keeps our enterprise ecosystem vibrant as government and regulations stay responsive to the needs of our businesses, to the needs of our SMEs.

a. And recently, just three months ago in May this year, JTC streamlined lease transfers for smaller industrial sites with remaining tenures, reducing the processing time from two months to one month, to help our businesses acquire space and respond more quickly to changing needs.

48. So Mr Deputy Speaker Sir, The close consultation and support provided to our SMEs can also be found in the network of 10 SME Centres across Singapore. We recognise that many SMEs do not have dedicated teams for strategy, technology or business development.

49. As mentioned by Mr Azhar bin Othman very passionately earlier, SME Centres help our enterprises identify opportunities, navigate available Government support and chart practical next steps for their growth. Just last year, our 10 SME Centres with 75 business advisers supported close to 30,000 companies in one year. That is about 2,500 SMEs in a month.

50. Associate Professor Jamus Lim, earlier in his speech has called for simpler grant application processes, and we have continuously been reviewing ways to improve. For example, under the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG), EnterpriseSG has streamlined the processes and reduced processing times significantly to two weeks,

51. Together, these efforts strengthen Singapore’s enterprise ecosystem, which in turn, underpin the success of our enterprises. They ensure that the businesses are supported not only through Government programmes, but also through strong partnerships, responsive institutions and a business environment that enables growth.

E. Standing Alongside Businesses During Challenging Times

52. Mr Deputy Speaker Sir, allow me to say a few words in Mandarin.

53. 议长先生、各位国会同僚，新加坡整体经济表现强劲，2025年全年经济增长达到5%，今年虽然受到中东动荡局势、能源价格以及关税等等不利因素的影响，我们预测仍然有2%-4%左右的经济增长。这份成就，是企业、员工、政府，也就是劳资政三方面一起努力打拼得来的成果。

54. 维持长期、可持续的经济增长，确保国人有良好的工作，能够安居乐业，一直是我们的目标。强大的本地企业，特别是中小型企业，对于实现这个目标，至关重要的。

55. 纵观新加坡的经济领域，中小企业占我国所有企业的99%，雇佣了超过70%的劳动力，是我国整体经济生态系当中，非常重要的一环。中小企业为国人创造许多就业机会，增强我们社区的凝聚力，也提升了新加坡的经济竞争力。

56. 多年来，我们贸工部联合其他政府部门，持续推出许多措施和计划，帮助我们本地中小企业茁壮成长。我们主要从三方面着手，

a. 第一，打造亲商的环境、鼓励本地人创业

b. 第二，和本地商会商团紧密合作提升个别行业的能力、加强个别行业的韧性；

c. 第三，鼓励和协助本地中小企业开拓海外市场。

57. 在刚才英语的演讲当中，我也提到了许多企业受到实际帮助的成功例子。在面对特殊挑战，例如冠病疫情或者近期的中东冲突局势时，政府也会因时制宜，及时推出补助措施，帮助企业渡过眼前的难关。

58. 但是副议长先生，我们必须谨记，新加坡是一个没有天然资源的小国，市场小同时面临人口老龄化。建国61年以来，我们虽然累积了一定的经济实力，但是我们千万不能够以为可以“坐吃山空”。政府也和企业一样，本着积极进取的精神，时时在提升、改善、变通，为的就是保障我们的下一代有更美好的未来。

59. 在进行经济策略检讨期间，我们和7700家企业以及各个行业的商会和商团代表，进行了广泛的讨论和沟通，这当中包括本地传统企业，以及邻里商联会的代表，聆听大家的担忧，听取大家的意见。

60. 副议长先生，每家企业都是独一无二的，每家公司也有不同的发展阶段，起点不同，服务的客户群体不同，面临的挑战和机遇也不一样。关键是老板、合伙人和员工有没有意愿 想方设法 让企业长久经营、持续成功。

61. 我们都知道，昨天的优势，并不能保证明天的成功。持续不断努力提升能力的企业，能够走得更长远。

62. 副议长先生，新加坡的经济发展和未来成功，将取决于我们国家积极进取的企业精神，以及国人的团结一心。我们相信，只要本地企业致力于提升本身的能力、把握国内外的发展机遇，同时相互合作，就一定能够持续经营、取得良好的发展。

63. 政府一定会继续创造有利的条件，让企业精神蓬勃发展，携手企业和国人齐心协力，共创更美好的未来。

Conclusion

64. Mr Deputy Speaker, we have debated this Motion and heard a range of views and suggestions. We share the same vision – to see Singapore’s economy succeed, businesses thrive, and good jobs created for Singaporeans.

65. The Government continues to support and stand alongside our Singapore enterprises. Our goal is not just to help businesses weather the new storm, but to help them grow, improve their competitiveness and strengthen their resilience to scale and compete internationally.

66. We will continue to create the conditions of a vibrant and effervescent enterprise ecosystem to help them flourish and thrive. And while we catalyse the ideal environment, it is the enterprises that continuously innovate, adapt and strengthen capabilities that will thrive and conquer new markets.

67. Together, we can build a strong and resilient economy for the future, for better lives, for Singapore.

68. I support the motion as amended by Mr Edward Chia.