Access to funding, talent key to businesses’ transformation efforts: panellists
But finding the right people is not easy, and remains a top concern for businesses, says DBS group executive and group head of institutional banking Han Kwee Juan
[SINGAPORE] To transform and innovate, businesses need access to funding and must have the right talent, said panellists at a post-Budget dialogue organised by The Business Times on Tuesday (Mar 18).
Beyond identifying key trends such as artificial intelligence (AI), the government must ensure “businesses have enough access to finance so that they can do the innovation and the transformation”, said Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah.
DBS group executive and group head of institutional banking Han Kwee Juan flagged that manpower remains companies’ “top concern”.
Future-proofing businesses for resiliency was the theme of The Business Times Singapore Budget 2025 Dialogue, presented by DBS and moderated by BT deputy news editor Anita Gabriel.
Han said this was also a key theme of Budget 2025, which moved away from Covid-related and inflation support to focus on “growth and resilience for the country, for businesses as well as for people”.
With geopolitical uncertainty and intensifying trade tensions, rising business costs remain a key concern – and have made companies less keen to embark on transformation, noted BT editor Chen Huifen in her welcome remarks.
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For instance, Singapore companies launched 2,300 transformative projects in 2024, down from 3,000 in 2023, according to Enterprise Singapore.
“It is possible that companies are paying more attention to immediate issues such as tech disruptions, instead of longer-term, transformative projects,” Chen said. “Yet, our companies play a key role in strengthening our economy.”
Talent key to transformation
Businesses need the right talent to transform, innovate and seize opportunities, said the panellists.
“You can’t do all this transformation, and you can’t get ready for the future unless your people are equipped and (can) build capability,” said Indranee.
That is why finding the right talent is the top concern among DBS’ clients, noted Han. “There is a cry for the talent that they need to help them manage their business.”
Beyond recruitment, companies must reskill workers for transformation, he added.
For instance, in AI, businesses should not just take up grants and adopt “technology for technology’s sake”, he said. Rather, they should integrate AI into business processes and train workers.
DBS itself trained 3,000 employees to develop AI programmes during Covid, and more recently trained 13,000 employees to work with generative AI (GenAI) to see how it could reinvent work processes.
The bank has also partnered government agencies to launch Spark GenAI, a programme to help small and medium-sized enterprises leverage the technology.
What is key is the willingness to try AI, said Han. Asking the audience to raise their hands if they had tried AI for themselves or their companies, he noted that most in the room had used it personally, but just over half had considered it for their businesses.
“You have to try it as a consumer to see how it feels. Then you will start to say: ‘Maybe this is useful for my businesses’,” he said.
Drawing a parallel to how sustainability efforts take place at both the industrial and consumer levels, Indranee said the aim should be for AI to be explored both in deep research and by ordinary citizens.
“You want even your auntie and uncle in the neighbourhood to be aware of sustainability, to be aware of AI,” she said. Budget 2025 sought to nudge AI adoption at all three levels, she added: in deep research, the corporate space and the mainstream.
A resilient workforce
To build a resilient workforce, the government has also introduced a host of policies to support training, said Indranee.
These include moves in recent Budgets such as the ITE Progression Award, which grants up to S$10,000 in Central Provident Fund top-ups to graduates aged 30 or younger who get a diploma.
There is also the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme, which supports mid-career workers aged 40 and above to go for training. Under Budget 2025, a monthly training allowance was extended to part-time courses, too.
For women who left the workforce for caregiving reasons, such schemes can also help them gain the skills to return to work, she added.
Another group of workers to support are seniors, she said. The government has facilitated this by raising the retirement age and extending Senior Employment Credit wage offsets to 2026.
“But I think the real game changer will be for those employers who are able to redesign work, taking into account employees who have become older,” said Indranee.
This will enable senior workers to still contribute, while also having the choice to slow down in their older years, she added.
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