By Francis Chan

ENTREPRENEURS extraordinaire like Richard Branson, Jerry Yang and Michael Dell have one thing in common: They started their first companies before they turned 30.

And if the response to Spring Singapore's Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (YES!) for Start-ups is anything to go by, there might be a rising star here who could turn his or her business idea into another Virgin, Yahoo! or Dell.

New figures show that 59 people aged under 26 have tapped the $12.5 million government initiative to kick-start their entrepreneurial dreams since the scheme was launched last November.

Spring's group director for entrepreneurship and innovation Chew Mok Lee says YES! for Start-ups is aimed at developing young entrepreneurs through a 'learning by doing' model.

'This is akin to a scholarship for aspiring entrepreneurs, except that instead of being sent to college to be trained, they learn entrepreneurship by implementing their innovative business ideas,' she says.

She adds that nurturing young entrepreneurs is a long-term strategy to groom the next generation of business owners.

'The payoff may not be evident until many years later, but in terms of near-term success measurements, we hope that the youths with innovative business ideas get a chance to implement their

ideas and stick with them to build successful companies.'

YES! for Start-ups, which will run until 2013, provides up to $50,000 in funding for each application at a ratio of four to one. This means applicants must raise a dollar themselves for every $4 they receive in funding support.

The programme is a spin-off of the Entrepreneurship Talent Development Fund (ETDF), which was introduced in 2004 to provide seed money to help students commercialise their innovations.

About 20 per cent of the ETDF's kitty of $25 million has been committed by Spring to help young people in their business ventures. But ETDF took time to take off, with only 48 start-ups benefiting in the first four years.

Now, that has almost doubled to 86 with YES! for Start-ups in just one year, as the latest scheme expands the scope of support to all Singaporeans and permanent residents up to the age of 26 who are no longer students.

Ms Chew points out that it is not the quantity that counts but the value-add such as job creation and new business ideas and innovations, which can contribute to the economy.

'It is not about having more entrepreneurs per se, but having quality start-ups with competitive products and services that have the wherewithal to compete globally from day one. Only then will these start-ups generate higher-paying jobs for Singaporeans,' she says.

Spring has also been working with schools through the modified YES! Schools programme to reach out to a wider range of youths. About 6,000 students from 31 schools have been involved in the scheme's activities.

Next week, NUS Enterprise and the Action Community for Entrepreneurship will host the second annual Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) at the HDB Hub in Toa Payoh.

GEW is a global initiative that aims to inspire young people to turn their ideas into reality and Ms Chew expects about 8,000 people to turn up.

'By starting young, it is hoped that youths would learn early about this career option, in addition to the more common professions,' she says.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.