In Singapore, 99 per cent of the companies are Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). They make up 47 per cent of the GDP.
Singapore Government recognises their important role in the economy and provides wide support for entrepreneurs and small businesses in the country. If you are just thinking about starting a business or already running a company, you can benefit from more than 30 different grant programmes.
Here’s what you need to know about applying for a grant in Singapore.
What activities can be financed with a grant?
As a startup founder, you have an opportunity to get support in the form of startup capital, or to finance your proof-of-concept (POC) and proof-of-value (POV). For example, you have a great idea of a new digital service that gives you diet advice based on live measurements of your fitness and health.
A grant can sponsor a technical viability study of this idea (POC) that will show if there is existing technology which would help your service, and what features the service can include.
Also Read: Know the purpose of Singapore startup grants before applying for them
If you already ensured the viability of the project, you can apply for a grant to finance a working prototype, to assess its commercial value (POV) by comparing the cost of production and the price people are ready to pay for it.
As a business owner, you can get grants to finance projects that help your business grow or make it more efficient. You can get support to develop a new product or to improve your work process.
For example, you can get funds to implement cloud accounting: buy the needed software, find a service provider and train a responsible employee to use it. If you are planning to expand your business abroad, you can apply for a grant to finance a market study or participation in an international Trade Fair.
Small businesses can also finance training activities and career development for their employees, for example, courses to learn new software or to improve presentation skills.
What agencies are responsible for distributing grants?
The main Singapore agency responsible for grants for small businesses and startups is Enterprise Singapore.
In addition to grants, Enterprise Singapore offers other types of support, e.g. assisting with loans and tax rebates. To help entrepreneurs, Enterprise Singapore runs the SG Startup Portal for tech startups and the SME Portal for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.
Some sectoral agencies, e. g. the Singapore Health Promotion Board and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), run their own grant programmes aimed at entrepreneurs working in their sector, so be sure to check out the website of your industry’s agency for more options.
What is the eligibility criteria?
Enterprise Singapore and other agencies always provide detailed information on eligibility for different grants, which each applicant is meant to study.
In practice, entrepreneurs are usually just too busy for that. To save you time and pain, in this post you will find direct links to the eligibility criteria for the best grants for small businesses.
Many grants are for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) only. To qualify as an SME in Singapore, your company must:
1. Be registered and operate in Singapore;
2. Have a minimum of 30 per cent local shareholding;
AND
3. Company’s Group annual sales turnover should be not more than S$100 million OR
4. Company’s Group employment size should be no more than 200 workers.
A company with local shareholding will have the most opportunities to benefit from government financial support.
If your company is foreign-owned, you can look at the ways to share ownership with a Singapore citizen or a PR. You can also establish cooperation with a Singaporean company to apply for the PACT programme. The PACT programme provides grants for collaboration between companies beyond traditional business activities, and one of the participating companies can be foreign-owned.
How to apply for a grant?
The application and all required documents can be submitted online. For some grants, like the Startup SG Tech programme, you will need to present your project for the evaluation committee personally, as a third stage of the application.
For many SME grants, the application can be submitted via Business Grants Portal. Business Grants Portal is a one-stop platform that allows you to submit and track applications for a number of government grants.
To use the portal, you will need to log in with your company’s CorpPass.
Start page of the Business Grants Portal, where you can follow the link to register for CorpPass or Log In using existing CorpPass.
How can you improve your chances for a successful application?
Don’t lie and don’t omit facts. The authorities are distributing state money, they treat this seriously.
If they learn you exaggerated your achievements or concealed important facts, you will certainly not get a grant, and it also will damage your business reputation.
You can increase your chances to get a grant if you show that your idea or company will contribute to the economic development of Singapore.
The decision on most grants is made by Enterprise Singapore, whose mission is to “grow stronger Singapore enterprises by building capabilities and accessing global opportunities, thereby creating good jobs for Singaporeans.“ Try to demonstrate that giving you a grant will help the agency to fulfil its mission.
How can you convey that you can contribute to the state’s prosperity?
If you are a startup, show that your idea is based on solid science and can make a real change in the economic sector. For instance, you have developed a new technology which efficiently tracks the origin of food items in the supermarkets.
In your application, show that by using your technology, supermarkets will improve food safety and transparency of food labelling, so that Singaporeans can make healthier and more informed choices. If you are running a business, demonstrate that your new project will help you grow, improve your financial performance, and give more people jobs.
For some grants, there are limitations on how many times you can receive it during a period of time.
For instance, you can get a maximum of 2 Market Readiness Assistance Grants per financial year.
Programmes for new entrepreneurs and startups
First-time entrepreneurs can benefit not only from financial support but also from mentorship and training.
One of the options to learn about best business practices and available startup grants is to enrol in the BACECAMP programme. BACECAMP offers intensive training for early-stage startups and first-time entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world.
The BACECAMP programme is free but you will have to qualify for it. Full-time startup co-founders and technical talent have more chances to make the cut.
To apply, you need to fill in the online form. You can get more information about the programme partners, mentorship and other forms of support on the ACE portal.
While learning is important, financial support is also crucial for startup founders. So here are the biggest grant programmes for startups in Singapore.
Startup SG Founder
What it is: mentorship and startup capital grants (S$3 for each S$1 raised by applicant)
For whom: first-time entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas (preferably, in the tech sector)
How to apply: through an Accredited Mentor Partner (AMP) from the AMP list
Useful links:
Startup SG Tech
What it is: grants for Proof-of-Concept (POC) or Proof-of-Value (POV), up to S$250,000 for POC and S$500,000 for POV
For whom: early-stage startups in selected industries (see the full list in Eligibility)
How to apply: there are 3 stages: the Registration of Interest, the Application and Evaluation & the Panel Evaluation
Useful links:
Grants for existing businesses
Singapore’s grants for existing small businesses typically cover some part (usually up to 70 per cent) of specific project costs.
The project should serve the expansion of your business or improve its efficiency, for example, using an IT solution to automate routine tasks, or hiring a consultant to assess a new market for your product.
Here is a list of grants for small businesses which cover the most common business needs. The Singapore government is introducing introduces new grant programmes every year, so we recommend you check the SME Portal for updates.
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