Beyond attracting MNCs, Singapore to grow next generation of global business champions

EDB executive vice-president Choo Heng Tong said it is working with venture capital and private equity firms to back high-growth companies.

SINGAPORE – Looking beyond its longstanding strategy of attracting multinational corporations, Singapore is ramping up efforts to nurture more companies into global industry leaders.

Speaking at a business conference organised by NUS Business School on July 16, Economic Development Board (EDB) executive vice-president Choo Heng Tong said the globally leading companies of tomorrow “are not just currently established multinationals”.

“Founders like you who are here today will also build them,” he said in his keynote address at the event, which brought together 400 business founders, global investors and NUS alumni.

EDB is working closely with venture capital and private equity firms to identify, anchor and support high-growth companies with the potential to lead their industries globally, taking what Choo described as a long-term approach because “building a world-class company takes time”.

This stems from recommendations by the Economic Strategy Review committees, whose final report in June, following a year-long review of Singapore’s economic strategy, concluded that Singapore must move faster to adapt to a fundamentally changed global environment.

Choo noted that the review identified two interlinked pillars for Singapore’s next phase of growth: nurturing a new generation of globally leading companies, particularly in technology and innovation sectors such as artificial intelligence, and sustaining a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Held at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, the half-day global entrepreneurship conference presented ideas on how business leaders can start cross-border ventures and go global, as well as the state of the macroeconomic environment.

Singapore is not immune to the geopolitical and regulatory uncertainty reshaping the global business landscape, Choo said.

But it offers three things that matter most to founders as they build their businesses globally: a reliable, trusted track record; connectivity to Asia’s fast-growing market; and a Government that invests in the innovation ecosystem as a partner.

“The world is more uncertain than it has been in decades. But for founders who are prepared, that uncertainty also presents new opportunities.”

Choo noted that Singapore has diplomatic relationships with 150 countries and has one of the most extensive free trade networks, with 29 free trade agreements.