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ENTERPRISING SINGAPORE
The second thrust of our new economic strategy is enterprise.
In the past, we bought and sold other people's products.
Later, we added value to these goods. Then we attracted MNCs
to manufacture here.
In the next phase of our development, Singaporeans have to
be more entrepreneurial. We need to grow a group of local
companies that can go international, to become international
Singapore companies or ISCs. They will base their core capabilities
in Singapore and expand outside. They will be another engine
of growth for our economy, supplementing our foreign MNC strategy.
I know we will not have many companies like Singapore Airlines,
but we can have a few more like Creative Technology or PSA.
DEVELOPING SINGAPORE ENTERPRISES
We have some local companies with the potential to become
ISCs, but we will need more.
Kwek Leng Beng
Kwek Leng Beng of the Hong Leong Group has turned his family-run
company into a successful, professionally managed ISC. His
hotel subsidiary owns or operates a portfolio of 110 hotels
with a total of 30,000 rooms, spanning Asia, Australia, New
Zealand, Europe and the US.
Leng Beng is enterprising. When I was in London recently,
he invited me to lunch at his about-to-be-opened restaurant
in one of his hotels. He recounted the great trouble he had
taken to persuade a Japanese-Australian chef from Sydney to
set up this restaurant. Apparently, the chef's Sydney restaurant
is very popular. You have to book a table two to three months
ahead. Leng Beng spent two years wooing the chef before succeeding.
Many other suitors had failed.
The chef is very particular. Everything must be exactly right.
He delayed the opening of Leng Beng's restaurant by more than
a month because he was not happy with the décor and
service. He even checked the toilets and found them not up
to his standard. Leng Beng had to redo the décor and
the toilets.
The chef serves French-Japanese fusion cuisine. We had eight
courses. Each dish was exquisite, beautifully presented and
uniquely flavoured. After the eight courses though, I did
not feel full like I would after a Chinese meal. When I described
my experience to my Principal Private Secretary, he said,
"Ah, the French call it, 'Menu Dégustation'."
He had studied in France. He explained that a 'Menu Dégustation'
was to allow you to enjoy different flavours and styles of
preparation of many small dishes, and not to stuff you.
Sam Goi
Sam Goi of Tee Yih Jia is another enterprising Singaporean.
Tee Yih Jia is the world's leading producer of popiah skins,
and has the potential to become an ISC. Popiah skins may not
seem a glamorous line of business to some of you, but I am
proud of the inroads Sam has made in the international market.
It could be the start of something much bigger.
From popiah skins, Sam went on to produce roti prata. I was
surprised to learn that his roti prata sold better in the
west than in the east. Somehow, he has managed to persuade
Americans and Europeans to eat them, not with curry, but with
chicken and salad like Mexican tortillas. Tortillas are like
Chinese spring rolls. Sam did not stop there. He went on to
identify a suitable frying pan for the roti prata. Now he
sells both roti prata and roti prata frying pans.
Sam was in my delegation to the Czech Republic. I teased
him whether he had sold any popiah skins and roti prata to
the Czechs. He laughed. He was not trying to sell them any.
Instead, he was there to recruit a master beer brewer. I did
not know that he had gone into the beer business and that
he owned a brewery in China. Sam explained that the Czechs
were famous for their beers, particularly Pilsner beer. They
have very good brewers. Sam did find a master brewer and was
able to persuade the brewer to go to China to run his brewery.
We need more Sam Gois and Kwek Leng Bengs.
Government's Role in Enterprising Singapore
MTI is re-engineering TDB to widen its focus, from promoting
trade to helping Singapore-based companies internationalise
and grow in the global market. In short, TDB will focus on
growing Singapore's external wing.
That said, let's make this clear. The Government can help,
and can create an environment that is conducive to business
and enterprise. But it cannot create successful businesses
by decree. Indeed, to promote enterprise, the Government should
intervene less, not more, in the market. A business which
depends on the Government to protect its market or subsidise
its operations, cannot be viable in the long run. A successful
business has to flourish in a free market. It must make a
genuine profit by being more efficient and innovative than
its competitors, and by producing something which its customers
need, better and cheaper than others.
A RISK-TAKING CULTURE
Ultimately, how successful we are in creating an enterprising
Singapore will depend on the risk-taking profile of Singaporeans.
Rewards for Success
The willingness to take risks depends on the economic and
social environment. We should strengthen the incentives for
people to venture forth in the hope of spectacular success,
rather than to choose a safe path and minimise the risk of
failure. Singaporeans have to discard the mindset of seeking
secure jobs. Instead, we should also celebrate those who have
the gumption to try their hands at business.
We need to increase the rewards for success. A key requirement
is to keep our tax rates as low as possible. One reason the
US has a more entrepreneurial culture than Europe is that
its tax rates are lower, so its people who build companies
have more hope to become billionaires. In Europe, if your
business prospers, 40% or more of the wealth that you create
goes to the state in taxes. So the incentive to take risks
and slog hard to build a company is weaker.
Celebrating Success
Social attitudes too, affect how willing Singaporeans are
to take risks. We should not resent businessmen who make it
big. This is another difference between the US and Europe.
In some European countries with strong egalitarian values,
a person who becomes very rich is frowned upon by society,
even if he has made his money honestly. But in the US, Steve
Jobs and Bill Gates are folk heroes. Singapore is a more egalitarian
society than the US. But we too should cheer on our entrepreneurs,
so that they will create more wealth for themselves and for
Singapore.
Accepting Failure
We have to change another attitude. We find it hard to accept
failure. We do not give enough credit to those who try, fail
and get up to try again. We should not look at this in terms
of forgiveness and tolerance, but in terms of admiration and
respect for risk and enterprise, and resilience and tenacity
in the face of adversity and failure. Perhaps because of our
dogged pursuit of excellence, or because we are such a small
society that everyone knows everyone else, somebody who has
failed finds it difficult to start afresh. But whatever the
reason, we must give a second, a third and further chance
to those who have failed, provided it was an honest failure.
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