SINGAPORE - With a challenging business environment marked by higher costs, some MPs called for greater support to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) up their game in worker training and talent retention.
While they welcomed the additional funding that Budget 2023 provided for businesses – such as the additional $150 million to be set aside for the SME Co-Investment Fund and a $1 billion injection into the Singapore Global Enterprises initiative – MPs like Mr Derrick Goh (Nee Soon GRC) felt more can be done to help SMEs access these grants.
Mr Goh said he had received feedback from some local businesses that they felt the Budget had shifted away from pro-business growth to being pro-redistribution, and had wondered if this means they can expect less help going forward.
He said: “If indeed Budget 2023 is being rated by many as an A grade for families and individuals, I suppose SMEs would score this Budget as a B or even a C!”
Both he and Mr Don Wee (Chua Chu Kang GRC) asked the Government to reduce red tape during the application process for grants and subsidies.
Mr Goh suggested cutting down on administrative steps, such as reducing documentation, so that SMEs can get the benefits quickly and depend less on intermediaries – a view he said was shared by others such as the Association of Trade and Commerce (Singapore).
Pointing out that some SMEs struggle to find what works best for their business needs, Mr Wee appealed for more help to link SMEs with the right schemes. He noted that some chambers of commerce and business associations already assist SMEs with their applications and asked if they could themselves receive a boost in support.
Mr Wee also proposed that government agencies and government-linked companies divide their larger projects into smaller contracts so that more SMEs will get a bite of the pie and by doing so, build their competence, achieve growth and expand to one day be able to compete with foreign firms for larger projects.
Other MPs touched on the staffing situation at SMEs, citing the need for small companies to identify gaps in talent management and retention.
Labour MP Patrick Tay (Pioneer) said SMEs should get help improving their human resource (HR) standards so that their policies foster a fair, inclusive and safe workplace with a level playing field between local and foreign workers.
Recognising that SMEs may face challenges finding certified professionals, he suggested the introduction of shared HR services.
Noting that Singapore has some way to go in improving its service culture, Mr Edward Chia (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) called for support for employers to send their workers for training in soft skills such as identifying customer needs.
Meanwhile, Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim (Sengkang GRC) called on the Government to keep the greater share of corporate tax burden on multinational corporations (MNCs) instead of SMEs in the transition to the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting initiative, or BEPS 2.0, a global framework for the reform of international tax rules.
This will provide a better business climate for the Republic’s SMEs to eventually grow and become international companies in their own right, he said.
On the perception among some in the business community that the Government was shifting from being pro-business to becoming more pro-redistribution, Mr Chia said he did not believe this is the case, as supporting society and businesses goes hand in hand. But he hoped that Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong can allay such concerns.
“We need SMEs to feel that they are being supported in their growth journey so that we have more large local enterprises (LLEs),” he said. “LLEs and SMEs are rooted to Singapore and can provide longer-term jobs for Singaporeans.”
