SINGAPORE — When 30-year-old Huang Jing Jie tried to expand his startup, Novocall, into the Thai market in early 2021, he ran into several obstacles and eventually failed in his expansion plan. 

The call automation software company had some help from government funds at the time, but ultimately the dip in demand due to the pandemic proved to be the Achilles heel in Mr Huang's plans. 

"It was not successful because we did it during Covid, where a majority of businesses shut down or had work from home policies, which made it difficult to sell our product that had a physical element to it," he said. 

With Covid-19 largely out of the way now, things are looking up for Novocall, which is in the process of being acquired by a larger company, with internationalisation plans again on the cards. 

"We are open to try (internationalising) again if given the opportunity and maybe with more structured help especially on the hiring front," he said. 

Mr Huang was thus particularly attracted by the Budget announcement on Tuesday (Feb 14) relating to the Singapore Global Enterprises initiative. 

Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said on Tuesday that the Government will be pumping S$1 billion into the initiative, which was set up last year to help promising Singapore companies grow into globally leading enterprises. 

Promising companies will be offered specialised programmes tailored to their needs, including working with experts to strengthen the companies’ core leadership teams and building a strong talent pipeline.

"By providing customised help, we can enter new markets more easily with partners, hiring and soft landing," he said. 

WHAT ARE THE MEASURES ANNOUNCED FOR ENTERPRISES? 

Other than the added funds pledged to the Singapore Global Enterprises initiative, Mr Wong on Tuesday announced several other measures to help homegrown companies.

A new Enterprise Innovation Scheme will allow businesses to qualify for greater tax deductions of 400 per cent for spending on activities related to innovation that include:

• Research and development
• Registration of intellectual property
• Acquiring and licensing intellectual property
• Innovation carried out with polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education
• SkillsFuture-approved training courses that are aligned to the skills framework for education, career development and skills upgrading

For now, businesses have tax deductions of up to 250 per cent on some of these activities.

Under the new scheme, even those that have yet to turn profitable and so are not able to maximise the benefits of tax deductions may convert 20 per cent of their total qualifying expenditure into a cash payout of up to S$20,000.

Mr Huang said that this initiative will be helpful in allowing Novocall to "experiment with new projects that can value-add to our product or come up with a new product line". 

For example, he may partner with institutes of higher learning to work on new projects together. However, he hopes that the initiative can also be expanded to universities. 

Mr Wong also announced that the Government will add S$150 million to the SME Co-Investment Fund to invest in promising small- and medium-sized enterprises. 

The current enhancements to the Enterprise Financing Scheme, which allows local enterprises to access financing more readily, will also be extended to March 31, 2024, to facilitate businesses' access to credit. 

Mr Huang said that the SME Co-Investment Fund and Enterprise Financing Scheme is not applicable to his firm, since it is already in the process of being acquired and is not as dependent on funding and loans as it used to be. 

However, Mr Huang said that his experience with Novocall, having once been a fledgling startup dependent on funding and loans, helps him appreciate the assistance given to other entrepreneurs.  

"For other startups looking for funding, these measures might be very helpful."