Singapore’s small and medium enterprises to value add S$4.8 bln in two years

SINGAPORE (Bernama) - Singapore’s small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) are expected to generate an additional S$4.8 billion in value-added to
the republic’s economy after they have completed upgrading their capabilities
and productivity in the next two years.

SPRING Singapore, the agency responsible for helping local enterprises grow,
is currently supporting over 3,500 local SMEs to undergo an upgrading exercise
in 3,300 project areas to deepen their capabilities to enable them to face the
stiff international market.

These upgrading projects covered a wide range of areas such as productivity
improvements, automation, product, process and technology innovations, service
quality, branding, intellectual property management, management systems,
business leaders training and design.

In a statement, SPRING said when these upgrading projects were fully
completed in the next one to two years, they would generate an additional S$4.8
billion in value-added to the economy and create close to 16,000 new jobs.

“This continual deepening of their capabilities would prepare them well to
meet increased competition and seize new opportunities in the global market,”
SPRING said.

For 2011, SPRING said it would continue to support SMEs in their upgrading
efforts and help them grow, specifically in the area of productivity
improvements, innovation, service excellence, business leadership development
and business capabilities upgrading.

SPRING also said it would continue to strengthen the environment for
enterprise development, and work with trade associations and chambers to
develop, upgrade and grow key industry clusters.