The role
of the Economic Development Board (EDB) has been largely synonymous with the
evolution of Singapore's economy. In the 1960s, low-end commerce was the
mainstay of an economy in which a handful of industries existed to serve the
needs of domestic consumption. Bringing in foreign investment, the EDB's
mandate then, helped to push Singapore out of the economic backwaters into the
rising tides of the global economy. It is a reflection of that success, and
also an indication of the scope ahead that the EDB sees its job now as creating
billion-dollar businesses in Singapore from ventures of any size - start-ups
and multinational corporations alike.
In
expanding on the organisation's latest focus at the recent EDB-Straits Times
forum on the Republic's future prospects, EDB chairman Beh Swan Gin noted the
importance of tapping the richer and maturing markets of South-east Asia.
Singapore once needed to leapfrog the region to become a global city. The need
today is to become a firmer part of an emerging regional market buoyed by
middle-class household incomes. Singapore is a nodal economy of Asean, which,
with more than 600 million people, is the world's third-largest market. If the
integrative impulses of the Asean Economic Community are managed wisely, it
could boost the region's economies by 7.1 per cent between now and 2025 and
generate 14 million more jobs.
These
developments call on Singapore businesses to move beyond being middlemen and
aggregators and become regional business enablers. Essentially, this transition
would entail moving beyond a fixation on old-style economics, the
predictability of past business cycles and the job security of yore. Instead,
Singapore needs to develop an entrepreneurial culture driven by innovation
which can be a powerful motive force for growth. The seeds of that culture must
be planted in diverse ways, as officials have noted - the expectations of
parents, the messages that a teacher sends out in a classroom, the tone that a
boss sets in a small or medium-sized enterprise, and society's general appetite
for risk.
Thankfully,
the environment is now fertile for go-getters, like the young Singaporeans
stepping up to front start-ups. That has been made possible by the greater
availability of funding and support for innovators. The fear of failure that
once stigmatised entrepreneurship is giving way to a mindset that sees
risk-taking as normal. While the safe rice bowl will always have its lure,
young Singaporeans are coming to terms with an approaching future in which even
robots will not have secure jobs. Good jobs increasingly will be those that
will be created by entrepreneurs for themselves and others. By thinking big and
and embracing a region ripe with possibilities, as the EDB believes, they can
ensure such jobs remain sustainable.
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