Prior Years Success Stories
Company Background
Despite its well-established business practices, curriculum and reputation, Skylace Language School faced persistent challenges in growing its business due to insufficient human resource capabilities and resources. Following the advice of SME Centre@SCCCI and through the support of the ICV scheme, the Chinese enrichment school, which was established in 1989, conducted an overall business diagnosis on its management processes and key business and identified several key areas of improvement.
The enterprise has since embarked on several improvement projects including HR and financial management capability upgrading and process innovation to stay ahead of competition. Skylace continued to pursue business upgrading through a rebranding exercise under the support of the Capability Development Grant to enhance its brand identity in preparation for further growth.
Read More on Skylace’s Blog.
* Capability Development Grant (CDG) is now known as Enterprise Development Grant (EDG)
Company Background
Superskill Graphics which was established in 1982 as a publishing services business was not spared of the effect brought about by the digital disruption which resulted in a drastic drop in the demand for the services provided by Superskill and their peers in the printing and publishing industry. The change in its industry landscape coupled with other challenges faced including rising costs and aging workforce drove the business owner into making a tough decision at the crossroad.
After going through some diagnostic and advisory sessions with the SME Centre@SCCCI, Mrs Tan decided to ride on the Capability Development Grant assistance for a business transformation. Superskill has since identified a new market segment and a new business model, thus transforming themselves from a publishing service provider into a one-stop marketing solutions provider that offers multi-channel communication. They also saw a 10% increase in their sales revenue and significant productivity improvement over a short span of less than a year. The enterprise also went through a branding exercise and set up a new business unit branded under Provomo that offers marketing consultancy services.
Company Background
Concorde Security Pte Ltd was established in 2005 as a provider of traditional man-guarding business. The enterprise initially engaged SME Centre@SCCCI to enquire about government assistance relevant for their business. Recognising the opportunity offered by the innovative invention by the founder, a holistic business health check was recommended and conducted for the enterprise to identify its priority business needs for growth. Concorde has since embarked on several upgrading projects to seek clarity for its strategic transformation, to enhance its HR capability and to tap productivity solutions to address manpower challenges. Through the assistance of the SME Centre@SCCCI, Concorde also identified several avenues to build its capabilities for business expansion.
SME Centre@SCCCI has undertaken a group-based upgrading project to help the food & beverage businesses enhance their productivity through technologies that enable workflow redesign and automation at the front-of-house. The solutions introduced include e-POS, wireless paging, mobile ordering and payment system and self-service kiosk. These solutions have enabled the SMEs to address their manpower challenges, improve operational efficiency and increase customer satisfaction.
Company Background
SME Centre@Central offered advice to Mr Michael Lim, founder of GoFlyKite.com Pte Ltd, to reach out to overseas markets through online and social media platforms which allow him to reduce rental costs and broaden income sources. His online business has become his major source of income with 80% of his customer base from overseas.
Company Background
SME Centre@Central helped Mr Tay Eng Choon, owner of Eng Huat Tay Kee Supermarket, with his application of the Innovation and Capability Voucher (ICV) to purchase CCTV cameras and a Point-of-Sale (POS) system which greatly improved the safety of his provision shop and made sales transactions and inventory tracking more convenient. Mr Ryan Ong, founder of Greenland Childcare, approached SME Centre@Central who introduced to him a range of government assistance schemes which improved his centre’s productivity and manpower shortage issues.
Mr Ong applied for the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) Scheme which enabled him to claim expenses for IT equipment like printers and computers. He also received co-funding for his employees’ salary increments under the Wage Credit Scheme. The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) enabled him to resolve his manpower issue by recruiting several staff members who are currently studying to become teachers via ECDA-sponsored diploma courses. From an initial intake of only two children, Mr Ong’s centre now has almost 100 children and 16 staff members.
Company Background
SME Centre@Central offered advice to Mr Winston Neo and his brother, founders of Golden Bamboo Brothers Supermart, on the available government grants that are suitable for their business. Taking up the advice from SME Centre@Central, Mr Neo and his brother applied for the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) and Innovation and Capability Voucher (ICV) schemes to support their Supermart transformation plan. Now with a Point-of-Sale (POS) and cloud system, it has helped them overcome their productivity and manpower challenges.