NUSS Members' Blogs

Developing a Vibrant SME Sector and Globally Competitive Local Companies

nussociety — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:48:47 +0000

Some ideas: 1)Landlords (e.g. JTC, URA) are converting their estates to REITs and charging higher and higher rentals to improve the yields on their REITs. The real economy firms like SMEs suffer from high overheads. 2)Bring SMEs along when big local firms like the GLCs venture abroad to source for business. See SMEs as partners not rivals. 3)Come up with a list of venture capitalists who may be interested in investing in SMEs so that financing is less troublesome. 4) When times are bad, banks don’t entertain SMEs or make it difficult to obtain bridging loans. When good times return, they come calling. Time to set up a bank that caters to SMEs.

Andrew Low Kee Hock

LA660N

Growing Capital Knowledge

nussociety — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:47:51 +0000

Create a platform to share intelligence about economy and industry specific information. Make sources of funding businesses as transparent as possible, in view of liquidity crunch amongst financial institutions who lend only to top tier firms. Explore incentives to create better economic and fundamentals for MNCs to reposition themselves in Singapore

Ng Teck Wee

NA582J

Building upon Singapore’s status as Financial Hub and Wealth Management Centre. Establishing a fund to provide seed funding to future “Warren Buffets” which may likely develop in Singapore. Adopt a more entrepreneurial risk taking approach to seeding compared to current attitude of looking for sure winners. Gap left open as GIC is now more return-focussed than heling develop the sector. Happy to discuss further.

Seow Han Yong, Justin

SA321N

Singapore fund managers are trying to attract funds to be managed in Singapore from the global financial centres. The government could help to introduce these fund managers to institutional investors overseas. So far ACRA only provides a certificate of understanding. MAS has organised a road show at the Middle East, invited fund managers to participate. Perhaps the EDB could also render similar support and IRAS can help by providing inventives e.g. allowing expenses to be tax deductible, allowing management fees to be deductible for fresh funds from overseas in the first year, allowing expenses for setting up oversea branches to be tax deductable.

Yeo Kiew Kim Katherine

YA512V

Making Singapore a Leading Global City

nussociety — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:44:53 +0000

Though Singapore has many new condominium projects, the prices of these condominiums have sky-rocketed. Foreigners are the ones who purchase these condos. They invest and speculate and in turn sell them at a higher price. Singaporeans are finding it difficult to buy these condo units. Large and lifetime loans are taken up. It is about time the Government steps in to assist her own citizens.

Patsy Lim

LB086001

The scarcity of land in Singapore is obvious. Therefore maximisation the value of land in terms of its optimal usage must be given top priority. A couple of years back, the government had initiated a move to relocated as many of our existing surface roads and possibly carparks as possible to the underground. We have not heard of this initiative in recent times. We hope the government has not given up on the idea. If it is being scrap because of cost factor, it would be worthwhile to rethink. In the long term, the freeing up of land by relocating most if not all roads underground is the most suitable solution to maximise the value of our land use. It is probable that whatever cost incurred in the relocating process could ultimately be recovered from the sale of the land that had been freed up for better economic value generating activities. Allowing roads and carparks to go underground will yield us many benefits. Amongst others, it will help to reduce noise and dust pollution. And with modern day technologies, all polluting gases released from the vehicles underground can be easily collected and cleansed before being released into the atmosphere. We would then truly have not only a green city, but also a clean and quieter one, like no other place on this earth. A Paradise on earth, maybe?

Ong Chon Tui

OA223L

Ensuring Energy Resilience and Sustainable Growth

nussociety — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:40:00 +0000

The government should have incentives for people to switch to alternative energy, like solar. The government can also reduce the cost of ownership of electric cars which in turn can create a new industry.

Ho Chin Whay

H7188L

Nuclear power appears to be the only viable alternative for large scale replacement of fossil fuels in Singapore. Availability of exess energy capacity also enables expansion in energy intensive industries like petrochemical. We are also excellently placed to export the technology. Singapore should look developing a nuclear industry

Wah June Huang

WA234R

New Engine of Growth for Singapore Inc

nussociety — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:09:54 +0000

Green engine of growth for Singapore Inc. In our flat world, a sustainable

environment is gaining acceptance as a necessity tool to support the global

economic growth and to feed the billions of people into the future. The subject of

sustainability is not new and is already well documented in literatures and articles

by advocates from Thomas L. Friedman to Clinton Foundation. These are

some sober messages on sustainable growth and are not mere alarmist view on

resource depletion/global warming. Emerging markets such as China have

recognized this importance in their growth model and rising energy prices have

also prodded the theme of green economy and green collar jobs in many

industrialized and first world nations. This is a timely opportunity for Singapore

to bring a global utopian dream into reality and to engineer this as another pillar

of our export oriented growth. We have many talents residing in Singapore, both

foreign and local alike in this niche. The many talented faces can be recognized

amongst the sustainable developers, planners to engineers in the fields of built

environment, infrastructure to recycling. This is the moment to seize, and to

engineer ourselves as part of this new growth trajectory in the global market.

This is an olive branch, in disguise, that can bring enormous value to the global

community, deepen our Singapore Inc brand and bring about more employments

to fellow Singaporeans. Today, there are relatively few matured models on the

green theme to create jobs and growth. This is therefore another vital reason

why Singapore Inc should take full advantage of the fractal global opinions on

sustainability, to stand out in the open societies of our flat world and to be

recognized as a forerunner and benefit from this new value chain.

The burning questions would be how and where to start? How many green jobs

are likely to be generated in the next 10-15 years in Singapore? Equally

important, how can green jobs build wealth and create new employment

opportunities for low- and middle-income Singaporeans? The common answer to

the type of green jobs is: recycling; hazardous materials clean-up; building

retrofits to improve energy efficiency and conservation and manufacturing of

green economy items such as energy efficient electronics. The list is not

exhaustive. The message behind these examples is simple. We need to

rebrand our services and to retool our educated population to carry out these

economy-stimulus activities. Such activities may appear mandane but they are

in demand in countries who need ample of them. We need to be creative with

our branding, package our service and products along the green theme, export

them alongside the marketing assurance of a reliable green workforce honed

with the right skillsets to fit the requirements. Who are our target markets? China,

who is tipped to overtake Japan in 2010 in terms of the size in economy. Other

emerging markets would include India, Vietnam and Indonesia. These countries

face constant pressure in consistent energy supply and clean water quality to

feed their economic activities and to supply to the millions of households.

Besides utility security, environment clean-up, waste management and demand

for recycled materials to feed the demand of their manufacturing industries are

other challenges which present immediate opportunities for Singapore Inc. Many

of these jobs have limited educational requirements, thus making green collar

jobs natural replacements for our population. As long as we have the

management expertise and a trained green population, we could position

ourselves in both local and abroad markets to tap the green business

opportunities. Favourable factors abroad are leading to an increase demand for

green services/products and green collar jobs. Some examples are the passage

of government and trade policies as well as the industry standards and

guidelines relating to reduced waste, energy and water conservation, their

procurement and the increased costs for non recyclable sources of energy.

Green job creation partnership need to include community-based organizations,

educational institutions, industries, and labour. The plan should target lowincome

and middle-income adults and school leavers. The plan should also

endeavour to implement various strategies that enable access to, and successful

completion of, vocational and specialist training, including ensuring that

supportive services are able to be delivered by organizations. The growing

green economy is a big business into the future and will likely to take central

stage due to the compelling necessity of providing a sustainable environment for

the continual prosperity of nations. In this vein, a few promising approaches

could emerge:

1. Creating green job apprenticeship programs.

2. Encourage green businesses to provide goods and services with tax

rebates for new green businesses.

3. Continue in our green building drive and export the expertise abroad.

4. Continue in our water resource management and export the expertise

abroad.

5. Shifting part of existing manufacturing towards high value added green

businesses abroad that geared towards hybrid vehicles, energy efficient

technologies and other green products.

This growth story is just the beginning…

Green engine of growth for Singapore Inc. In our flat world, a sustainable environment is gaining acceptance as a necessity tool to support the global economic growth and to feed the billions of people into the future. The subject of sustainability is not new and is already well documented in literatures and articles by advocates from Thomas L. Friedman to Clinton Foundation. These are some sober messages on sustainable growth and are not mere alarmist view on resource depletion/global warming. Emerging markets such as China have recognized this importance in their growth model and rising energy prices have also prodded the theme of green economy and green collar jobs in many industrialized and first world nations. This is a timely opportunity for Singapore to bring a global utopian dream into reality and to engineer this as another pillar of our export oriented growth. We have many talents residing in Singapore, both foreign and local alike in this niche. The many talented faces can be recognized amongst the sustainable developers, planners to engineers in the fields of built environment, infrastructure to recycling. This is the moment to seize, and to engineer ourselves as part of this new growth trajectory in the global market.

This is an olive branch, in disguise, that can bring enormous value to the global community, deepen our Singapore Inc brand and bring about more employments to fellow Singaporeans. Today, there are relatively few matured models on the green theme to create jobs and growth. This is therefore another vital reason why Singapore Inc should take full advantage of the fractal global opinions on sustainability, to stand out in the open societies of our flat world and to be recognized as a forerunner and benefit from this new value chain.

The burning questions would be how and where to start? How many green jobs are likely to be generated in the next 10-15 years in Singapore? Equally important, how can green jobs build wealth and create new employment opportunities for low- and middle-income Singaporeans? The common answer to the type of green jobs is: recycling; hazardous materials clean-up; building retrofits to improve energy efficiency and conservation and manufacturing of green economy items such as energy efficient electronics. The list is not exhaustive. The message behind these examples is simple. We need to rebrand our services and to retool our educated population to carry out these economy-stimulus activities. Such activities may appear mandane but they are in demand in countries who need ample of them. We need to be creative with our branding, package our service and products along the green theme, export them alongside the marketing assurance of a reliable green workforce honed with the right skillsets to fit the requirements. Who are our target markets? China, who is tipped to overtake Japan in 2010 in terms of the size in economy. Other emerging markets would include India, Vietnam and Indonesia. These countries face constant pressure in consistent energy supply and clean water quality to feed their economic activities and to supply to the millions of households. Besides utility security, environment clean-up, waste management and demand for recycled materials to feed the demand of their manufacturing industries are other challenges which present immediate opportunities for Singapore Inc. Many of these jobs have limited educational requirements, thus making green collar jobs natural replacements for our population. As long as we have the management expertise and a trained green population, we could position ourselves in both local and abroad markets to tap the green business opportunities. Favourable factors abroad are leading to an increase demand for green services/products and green collar jobs. Some examples are the passage of government and trade policies as well as the industry standards and guidelines relating to reduced waste, energy and water conservation, their procurement and the increased costs for non recyclable sources of energy.

Green job creation partnership need to include community-based organizations, educational institutions, industries, and labour. The plan should target low income and middle-income adults and school leavers. The plan should also endeavour to implement various strategies that enable access to, and successful completion of, vocational and specialist training, including ensuring that supportive services are able to be delivered by organizations. The growing green economy is a big business into the future and will likely to take central stage due to the compelling necessity of providing a sustainable environment for the continual prosperity of nations. In this vein, a few promising approaches could emerge:

1. Creating green job apprenticeship programs.

2. Encourage green businesses to provide goods and services with tax rebates for new green businesses.

3. Continue in our green building drive and export the expertise abroad.

4. Continue in our water resource management and export the expertise abroad.

5. Shifting part of existing manufacturing towards high value added green businesses abroad that geared towards hybrid vehicles, energy efficient technologies and other green products.

This growth story is just the beginning…

Dr Freddie Tan

TC020T

Education Industry

nussociety — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:44:08 +0000

On top of what the speakers have suggested, I feel that education industry can be the next economic driver for Singapore. Can we export the well known Singapore education system?

We use to hear a lot foreign institutions setting up their campus in Singapore. I feel that in addition to growing the education industry within Singapore, local education institution such as ITE, polytechnic and university can explore setting up campus in overseas.

Choo Siew Loon

CB191H

Lifelong Learning is Critical

nussociety — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:42:34 +0000

1. Give more emphasis on lifelong learning of workers (both local and immigrants) and citizens for citizenship building.

2. Make use of Singapore’s IT ranking to impart learning to workers and citizens.

3. Help workers to know their opportunities to learn.

Understand that lifelong learning is from birth to grave; so learning has to be fun and interesting.

Thomas Kuan

Past President

Singapore Association for

Continuing Education (SACE)

Membership No.:KA335N