By BRITTANY KHOO

Topic: What's needed to create more innovative and competitive start-ups?

Inderjit Singh
MP and chief executive
Infiniti Solutions

'As we seek to find ways to strengthen and find the future growth model for our economy, entrepreneurship must become one of the key areas Singapore must focus on. We need to create companies that can become our local anchors and Singapore MNCs of the future. I believe entrepreneurship is really a state of the mind, and each time you think out of the box and do things differently from the conventional, you would have behaved as an entrepreneur would.

'With this mindset, you must then believe that you can do it - have a 'never say die' attitude which will help you persevere and make it despite the adversities you might face. And next, to win, you have to 'aim very high but be prepared for the worst'. In other words, if you don't think of big goals, you won't get far and at the same time if you are not prepared for failures, you have a more difficult time if you do fail and this fear in itself will inhibit you from trying newer things.

'While some people believe we cannot teach entrepreneurship, I believe we can definitely do something about making people better entrepreneurs and to operate with an entrepreneurial mindset - whether to teach them tricks of the trade, helping them understand better ways of running companies, or in helping them learn from others who have succeeded before. In the last few years, we have made significant progress in promoting entrepreneurship in Singapore and this is mainly because of the effort ACE has put in. For instance, today, we are seeing both the young and the older Singaporeans willing to take the risk of starting companies.

'Moving forward, we need to expose our children to entrepreneurship as early as possible. If our young can start thinking differently early on, we will develop future entrepreneurs who can help create our future innovative and competitive start-ups. ACE has gone to schools and tertiary institutions, exposing them to entrepreneurship through talks and interactions with successful people in the field.

'It is my opinion that in an environment like this, Singaporeans who might have employment worries should also think of the possibility of starting up companies - not as a matter of last resort or just for the sake of it, but only if they have ideas worth exploring yet were not willing to leave their comfort zones to try. But be prepared to take that first step - convert your idea to a business plan and then to an operating business.'

Rosemary Tan
Chief executive officer
Veredus Laboratories

'Entrepreneurship enables one to follow his own vision of why the world needs your product or service.

'However, before this happens, you will need perseverance, the ability to go against the consensus and be able take calculated risks and live with the uncertainty.

'For me, the experience has been exhilarating! The ability to get a like-minded group of colleagues to pursue a single-minded dream and to turn it into reality is worth the journey itself.

'I think that the spirit of entrepreneurship in the life sciences is very strong as it is on the cutting edge of technology, where a lot of research goes on and new discoveries are being found. This usually results in spin-off companies that will commercialise these discoveries and try to turn them into the next big thing.

'Our government has been encouraging growth of this sector, so funding for such ventures are in place to give the budding entrepreneur a leg up with regard to financing, technology as well as manpower through the TEC-UP programmes. In my view, the government has done a world-class job in providing as much assistance as possible - I cannot think of any single country that is so active in promoting this sector.

'Ironically, before Singapore can get more innovative and competitive start-ups, its society must accept the tenet that the entrepreneur has the 'right to fail', as failure often teaches more than success. There is no single model, nor should there be, that can ensure success for the entrepreneur. All it will promise is that you get the opportunity to try.

'With low barriers of entry, creations of opportunities through research institutes and the ease to set up businesses here, we have very fertile grounds for entrepreneurship. Universities and learning institutes are already creating entrepreneurial programmes to encourage, mentor and teach basic skills - so I think youths need to seize these opportunities and break out of their comfort zone, constantly assessing where they are now and where they want to be.'

Darius Cheung
Chief executive officer
TenCube

'Starting a company has been the most intense and greatest experience thus far. The most important thing I've gained is the knowledge that anything is possible if you try.

'Looking back, it has surprised us how many challenges we have overcome that we never knew we could - that if we go back four years in time and asked ourselves, we would have said that we couldn't do it. It is with that knowledge and confidence that we drive forward to take our business to the global stage.

'I think the spirit of entrepreneurship in Singapore youths at present is very commendable, with a lot of energy and action in innovation. However, this is not enough to achieve success - Singapore is still quite young in terms of the entrepreneurship culture; there are many factors that have to be woven together for us to succeed as a nation of entrepreneurs and innovators.

'Perhaps one way to see more competitive start-ups is, ironically, a worse economy - the recession has actually shaken a lot of people's beliefs in the so-called 'stability in large companies', and retrenchments have pushed hardworking, well-trained talent into the workforce that is available to start-ups, thereby countering some of the biggest challenges faced by entrepreneurs in recruiting talent.

'Some, including myself, reckon that the government has done enough for start-ups. In my experience, the barrier to growing a start-up firm's small talent base often isn't the risk-aversion of the person whom we are trying to hire - he or she may be willing to take the risk of trying something new and building something from scratch, but is discouraged by the reactions of family and friends.

'One of the things I would suggest Singaporeans do, is to simply let go and let people try, fail or succeed, and still celebrate the attempt - from parents and spouses to be more accepting of their loved ones who step into the unknown (and be lower-paid), to successful entrepreneurs coming out to the public and sharing how they did it, to people who have tried and failed and still acknowledge that it was a priceless experience.'

Doris Tan
Co-founder
Haruna Singapore

'Entrepreneurship is seeing the opportunity of making a different idea worth something to others and/or taking action in a different way from others towards achieving that goal.

'The experience thus far has been enjoyable. Five years into this first venture, we have learnt to take the personal risks involved in getting into business - especially as setting up Haruna meant leaving our previous jobs, taking the plunge into enterprise despite having mortgages to pay off and families to feed.

'Indeed, people are more interested in going into companies at management level than being entrepreneurs, as entrepreneurs need to take greater responsibilities than employees. Joining a company and making mistakes through your learning process involves lower risks and has no long-term detrimental effects. Add this to the fact that entrepreneurs need to take on multiple roles in their capacity.

'I think that today, people are generally more willing to take entrepreneurship as an option now than before, in the absence of job security vis-? -vis loyalty. The atmosphere in Singapore now is quite encouraging with available grants and many assistance schemes. The issue may not be about encouraging people to be entrepreneurs but rather to 'encourage' potential budding enterprises to be successful.

'One way we can grow more innovative and competitive start-ups could be to look at some form of internal 'protectionism' or incubation (via local businesses' integration), or simply certain preferential treatment by bigger local corporations to help overcome the initial start-ups' hurdles and difficulties. As it is now, many local clients are treating local start-ups as taboo or the worse choice, hence raising start-ups' hurdle towards success.

'For start-ups, resources are scarce and time is of the essence. Though we embrace free trade, it should not come as a price to nurturing our local start-ups. For Singaporeans, this could mean more awareness should be created in encouraging and promoting 'Singapore brand loyalty'.'

Carlos Fernandes
Chief executive officer
RecordTV

'Entrepreneurship and innovation is really about economic freedom. It is about the freedom to think, to be creative and to change lives.

'It is also about the ability to innovate fearlessly - it affords an individual the opportunity to define one's own destiny in a way no other job can. One of the key pillars of entrepreneurship and economic freedom is Singapore's free market system that allows entrepreneurs to set up businesses in virtually any sector.

'And indeed, Singapore has grown by leaps and bounds in its ability to nurture innovative and competitive start-ups. Our country may not be Silicon Valley today, but there is no question that we are on the right track.

'Yet, the question remains - while exciting change-the-world ventures are being born in Singapore, will they eventually live up to the promise? Will these start-ups go on to become all that they can be? The answer to that question is a little more complex.

'While the government's innovation drive will mainly benefit the small start-ups that are going to disrupt and change industries, the long-term viability of these companies depends on Singapore's recognition of one critical fact: one cannot have disruptive innovation in a vacuum.

'Disruptive innovation by its very description is 'disruptive'. This means that if the government places the right bets on the right ideas, entrepreneurs and innovations, those very start-ups that are the beneficiaries of the government's innovation thrust should end up eventually disrupting an MNC, a GLC or another large, dominant company in Singapore, en route to their path of becoming key players in the global marketplace.

'It might sound painful and perhaps it is - at least for the disrupted company that did not have the will or ability to change with an evolving market. But it is also refreshing and revitalising for the economy, energising for entrepreneurs, and certainly good for society.

'Today, the MNCs and GLCs easily coexist with tiny start-ups. They attack the big opportunities, while the smaller companies seem content to fill the gaps. At some point, that will change - start-ups will get more ambitious. That point in time is something we need to look forward to as a society, not fear. It represents the coming of age of the Singaporean start-up.

'Embracing disruptive innovation is, unfortunately, sometimes about making a choice. That is when things begin to get difficult and that is what requires a truly radical change in mindset.

'The ultimate ideological test comes when, as a result of policy, funding and painstaking effort to stimulate innovation, Singapore succeeds in triggering an innovation that is so compelling that as the start-up company begins to execute its global ambitions, it threatens to transform an industry that a large incumbent has comfortably dominated for years.

'This scenario will pit Singapore's past economic drivers such as today's industry giants against its future economic engines - the innovative, game-changing start-ups. What will Singapore choose?

'While Singapore entrepreneurs have made great strides, they certainly need to go further - they need to push the envelope, be more creative and more ambitious.

'But equally important is the other question that we need to ask ourselves more often - Is Singapore ready for entrepreneurs who truly innovate?'

This article was first published in The Business Times.