New portal to help Singapore SMEs navigate government support schemes.

A NEW business platform scheduled to be launched on August 11 will help small and medium-sized enterprises ( SMEs) navigate the various government funding schemes available to help them explore new opportunities in the growing market climate.

Minister of State for the Ministry of Trade and Industry(MTI) Low Yen Ling announced the forthcoming launch of the SME Center Conference 2020, held almost for the first time under the theme ‘New Standard, New Opportunities.’

She noted that while the government is committed to helping small and medium-sized enterprises in weathering the Covid-19 pandemic, SMEs have struggled to navigate the suite of government support schemes to find the right ones for their needs.

Called GoBusiness Gov Assist, the site will feature an e-consultant who will recommend schemes better suited to the business needs of a client, based on their responses to a short questionnaire. Organizations can then book an appointment at one of the SME Centers through the platform with a company advisor to further review the adviser’s findings.

Furthermore, on the website, SMEs will be able to subscribe to government procurement updates, so they can keep up to date on the latest opportunities in this area.

The e-Adviser is part of the website business and is close to the business Licensing Portal. This will be available online 24/7, complementing the efforts of the 80 business advisors at the island ‘s 11 SME centers.

Ms. Low acknowledged that the pandemic has brought about drastic shifts in the business environment and seriously impacted Singapore’s micro-enterprises and SMEs. The same shifts, however, may be sources of opportunity for SMEs ready to meet them.

“Small and medium-sized businesses will definitely do well to leverage these growing opportunities by improving capacity in a few ways-upgrading their staff, digitizing operating systems, and creating new business models,” she said.

“We recognize that this may be more difficult than before, particularly with Covid-19 constraints, and we would, therefore, like to give you the assurance that the government, MTI, and our economic agencies will work hand in hand with the other ministries and agencies to increase support for SMEs, from funding to expertise, rental subsidies and practical assistance.”

Government support schemes available to SMEs include a 90% risk-sharing arrangement for loans funded by Enterprise Singapore (ESG) up to March 2021, as well as the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) to help digitalize businesses, and here one can verify any detail about companies register under singapore.

Ms. Low reported that from March to June this year, more than 10,600 companies took up around S$9.4 billion in loans through ESG’s loan programs, more than seven times as high as the loan extended in 2019 through the loan programs. Micro and small enterprises took up more than 80 percent of these loans, with annual revenue of less than S$10 million.

As of July, SMEs seeking to digitalize their business processes have submitted more than 18,000 applications from the PSG system, and at least 10,000 of the applications were for business continuity steps for Covid-19.