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300 small firms get helping hand from larger businesses

Forty large organisations have signed up for a programme that aims to incentivise them to help raise the capabilities of smaller companies in a take-up rate which is expected to benefit about 300 businesses.

Forty large organisations have signed up for a programme that aims to incentivise them to help raise the capabilities of smaller companies in a take-up rate which is expected to benefit about 300 businesses.

The 40 companies have signed up for more than 50 projects under the programme, dubbed Partnerships for Capability Transformation (PACT), with another 70 projects in the works, said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck in Parliament yesterday. He was answering a question by Nominated Member of Parliament Tan Su Shan, who asked how the Government can encourage big enterprises to give local small players equal opportunities to be preferred providers.

The PACT programme, introduced in 2010, had an initial budget of S$250 million, with an additional S$60 million over three years pumped in last year. In a supplementary question, MP Zaqy Mohamed (Chua Chu Kang) asked how the Government can further facilitate larger and smaller companies to come together, especially when they have differing objectives.

“We usually try to encourage them to tap on research institutes like A*Star to come in and facilitate the whole process, so as to help not just the cashflow, but more importantly the content of the co-innovation project,”Mr Teo replied, adding that agencies like Spring and IE Singapore can also facilitate the process. He advised that when venturing into overseas markets, smaller companies should also enter as a consortium for a higher success rate. TAN WEIZHEN

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