Lee Yi Shyan to lead SkillsFuture outreach to businesses

SENIOR Minister of State Lee Yi Shyan will drive the SkillsFuture outreach to industry associations and businesses to ensure tie-ups with education and training providers, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Thursday.

This is to address SkillFuture's biggest challenge - reaching out to businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), said Mr Tharman.

SkillsFuture is a nationwide initiative to upgrade the skills of Singaporeans for career progression.

Mr Lee has engaged with over a thousand companies over the years. He was previously with the Economic Development Board, or EDB, as well as Spring Singapore and IE Singapore, where he worked with both multinational corporations and SMEs.

Mr Tharman was speaking at the EDB Society's 25th Anniversary Gala Dinner, where he spoke of Singapore's economic development, from value-adding to value creation, the mastery of vocational skills, as well as the importance of innovation.

Since the launch of SkillsFuture at this year's Budget in February, several initiatives have been rolled out, including the SkillsFuture Mid-career Enhanced Subsidy, a 90 per cent subsidy on course fees for Singaporeans aged 40 years and above, as well as the SkillsFuture Study Awards, which helps individuals develop deep skills in areas of demand.

"This is good early momentum, but the journey is long and we have much to do," Mr Tharman said.