Speech by SMS Lee Yi Shyan at the 15th Start-Up@Singapore Awards Ceremony at NUS University Town

Dr Lily Chan, CEO, NUS Enterprise

Distinguished Guests,

15th Start-Up@Singapore Finalists,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon,

It gives me great pleasure to be here at the 15th Start-Up@Singapore Awards Ceremony. I am glad to note how this event has grown over the years and would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the organisers for putting together another successful installment.

Entrepreneurial landscape

Wenyao had earlier mentioned the examples of KAI Square and Sorgen which prove that our young innovators have what it takes to make a name for themselves in Singapore and beyond.  It is this spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation that holds the key to Singapore's continued success in a globalised economy.

I am happy to note that the entrepreneurship scene in Singapore has blossomed over the years with support from private sector partners and various government agencies. The landscape has become significantly more vibrant, with the number of active start-ups growing from 24,000 in 2005 to 39,000 in 2012, an increase of 58%. In 2012, start-ups employed 293,000 people which was almost double the 167,000 employed in 2005. In addition, the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that more than 20% of respondents in Singapore had the intention to start a business within three years, a figure which was second only to that in Taiwan.

Entrepreneurship in a broad sense can be a defining quality of an innovative and inventive society. Sometimes we come across visitors who describe Singapore as a nation always on the go, able to renew and transform itself as it grows. Others describe Singapore as having an entrepreneurial government or administration, constantly updating its policies to adapt to the external environment. My own belief is that whether you are in the public or private sector, in research or as an academia, you can be entrepreneurial in your work and undertaking, applying new ideas and solving problems with creativity.

Applying the idea of entrepreneurship to our economy, I would say that it is a more decisive driver for our economy, especially now that we are competing in the advanced league. The days when we could make a living out of doing things cheaper than others are over. Instead, we will need to create value by originating ideas and knowledge, and applying them in ways that serve real market needs.  If you consider the examples of Facebook, Whatsapp, Amazon, Alibaba, Ebay, iTunes etc. they are all relatively new innovations and examples of applied entrepreneurship. They created for themselves new market segments that didn’t quite exist before. They become so huge in such a short time, that traditional brick and mortar businesses are questioning themselves if they are missing out on something.

The U.S is a well known example of an economy driven by entrepreneurship. So much so that the Economist magazine has termed the country as the “United States of Entrepreneurs”. Thanks to entrepreneurs, many of today’s key industry trends, from social networking to iPhones, from aerospace to big data analytics, had their origins or were first commercialised in the U.S. This confluence of innovation and entrepreneurship has enabled the U.S to build a diversified and resilient economy.

Another example is Taiwan, which was ranked 7th on the 2014 Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI), the highest in Asia¹.  Many of Taiwan’s best-known international brands such as Asus and Foxconn, grew from small enterprises. These strong brands emerged because of willingness to take calculated risks, internationalise and leverage the entire ecosystem to drive innovation².

If Singapore wants to aspire towards continued growth, we will have to have a fair share of the world’s entrepreneurial successes. That’s why it is important to invest in our youth, in the creative capacity of the population, and in the entrepreneurial spirit of the society. Hence, the importance of platforms such as Startup@Singapore.

Innovate, collaborate and persevere

I am happy to see that the participation in this year’s Startup@ Singapore remains as enthusiastic as ever. Many new ideas are presented. As you work through the ideas, you would have challenged yourselves in defining the “true value propositions” of your idea. You would have thought about ways to overcome the resource constraints facing a startup by being resourceful.

To help you and many other startup aspirants, the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (or ACE) has created a platform linking you up with all the resources you need in bringing your ideas further: experienced mentors, seed funding, incubators and accelerators which in turn introduce other value-adding partners and physical spaces.

Speaking of incubators, one long-standing and committed is the NUS Enterprise Incubator. The NUS Enterprise Incubator provides start-ups with physical facilities and access to ancillary support services such as legal advice. Through their mentorship programme, start-ups also regularly meet with a pool of experienced local and international mentors. There are tailored programmes for overseas market expansion for more mature startups. To date, the incubator has helped more than 300 start-ups through its networks and resources.

Conclusion

In conclusion, let me just make the observation that entrepreneurial success requires perseverance. In the journeys of many successful entrepreneurs, almost without exception there were times so tough that they felt like quitting. But this it is that extra bit of perseverance that see them through the loneliest times.

Consider the example of Mr Tan Min-Liang, the CEO and Founder of Razer.  He graduated with a law degree from NUS but was not satisfied with practicing law. So in 1998, Min-Liang followed his passion for gaming to develop a line of hardware that is truly for gamers, by gamers. At that time, many industry experts did not think there was a peripherals market for gamers. Min-Liang recalled facing lots of negativity when he first started, such as being told that “99% of companies fail – Razer will probably disappear in a few years”. He has weathered such remarks and today Razer is recognised as a leader in high-performance gaming hardware. It employs more than 100 people worldwide, with offices in San Francisco, Hamburg, Seoul and Shanghai.

I would like to encourage our finalists to emulate Min-Liang and “dream with their eyes open” as they take their first steps in entrepreneurship, and I wish you all the best in your endeavours.

Thank you.

¹ Singapore ranked 11th, the second highest in Asia and just below the UK. The US was ranked 1st.

² 2013 White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Oct 2013.