Just like human beings could use a spa treatment or a little more care from time to time, a little R&R could expand possibilities and open new opportunities for growth and learning for your SME.
In the first installment of our 4-part “SME Special” blog series, we want to bring to your attention two programs that are available for you to tap for your Singapore company.
The two programs are the 1) Innovation and Capability Voucher (ICV) Scheme and 2) the iSPRINT program i.e. Increase SME Productivity with Infocomm Adoption and Transformation.
Related Post: 2 funding programs for SMEs.
They are designed for Singapore firms that:
- Are physically present and registered in Singapore;
- Have at least 30% local shareholding; and
- Have group annual sales of not more than $100 million or group employment size not exceeding 200 employees.
Innovation and Capability Voucher (ICV)
The Innovation & Capability Voucher (ICV) is a program that is designed to enhance an SME’s capabilities. In gist, it offers S$5,000 voucher to SMEs to utilize services in four areas, namely, Productivity, Innovation, Human Resources and Financial Management.
These broad categories encompass the following activities:
- Productivity – Improvements in productivity or business excellence as well as service diagnosis;
- Innovation – Technology innovation, business design thinking, IP diagnosis;
- Human Resources – Recruitment, manpower planning, compensation & benefits and
- Financial Management – Consultancy services in planning, budgeting and cashflow management.
One of the perks of this program is that SMEs may apply for two ICV vouchers per area for services at participating vendors. However, each new ICV project application will be considered only after the completion of a prior project, which should not exceed six months.
If a firm has maximized this program, it can tap on other programs such as the iSPRINT.
Increase SME Productivity with Infocomm Adoption and Transformation (iSPRINT)
This program was designed to address a wide variety of your firm’s infocomm adoption needs and in turn, defray up to 70% of infocomm project or product costs that can result in an increase in efficiency, revenue and/or value-add.
There are two main categories of solutions – packaged and customized.
- Basic packaged solutions cover basic or off-the-shelf infocomm products such as payroll, point-of-sales and accounting. The funding for these solutions are capped at S$2,000.
- More advanced off-the-shelf products fall under the category of intermediate packaged solutions. The funding for these solutions are capped at S$20,000. Projects include integrated point-of-sales, customer relationship management, mobile sales and freight or line management.
- Customized solutions, on the other hand, grant quantums on a case-by-case basis for customized warehouse management, integrated enterprise resource planning, integrated supply chain management and customized customer relationship management projects.
For more information on the iSPRINT program, please visit https://www.rikvin.com/incorporation/isprint/.
Rikvin’s content team includes in-house and freelance writers across the globe who contribute informative and trending articles to guide aspiring entrepreneurs in taking their business to the next level in Asia.
