Debated in Parliament on 7 Oct 2019.
Mr Kwek Hian Chuan Henry asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what are the key criteria for SMEs to be selected for the Scale-up SG initiative; and (b) what is the likely number of companies that will benefit from this programme over the next 24 months.
Scale-up SG supports local companies with high growth potential to develop into global or regional leaders in their respective sectors. Participating companies go through a 2.5-year programme together with Enterprise Singapore and other programme partners. We support the companies in management development, business innovation, market penetration and other areas that will help to accelerate their growth.
As the process is resource-intensive, we choose the participating companies carefully. Besides a high level of commitment from the founders and CEOs to embark on an ambitious growth plan, ESG also looks at the company's track record; the commitment to grow its presence in Singapore, especially headquarters and management control functions; and the potential to create economic spin-offs for Singapore and create good jobs for Singaporeans.
Scale-up SG was launched in July 2019 with 25 companies from various industries in the first two cohorts. Examples of companies include JUMBO Group from the food and beverage sector, AEM Holdings from the advanced manufacturing sector, Chye Thiam Maintenance from the cleaning and waste management sector, and Health Management International from the healthcare sector. Enterprise Singapore plans for another four to six cohorts to embark on the Scale-up SG programme over the next two years, with each cohort comprising 10 to 15 companies.
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