Grants are useful in short term but transformation is necessary for long haul: business leaders

WHILE government grants help to ease cash flow concerns in the short term, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to digitalise, innovate, and improve productivity to thrive in the long term, said panellists at a Budget 2022 Webinar jointly organised by accounting software firm Xero and the Singapore Business Federation.

Said Ferdy Nandes, head of sales in Asia at Xero: "Government support is very helpful, (but) also SMEs now need to up their game and raise the bar. So they need to improve their productivity, and be more innovative and creative as well."

When adopting technology, firms must be clear about the concrete benefits, added panellist Julien Labruyere, chief executive officer and co-founder of Sleek, a startup that assists SMEs: "Make sure that the software and digital projects that companies are embarking on are really useful for the business, for the core functions, and not basically a distraction."