120 SMEs receive S$8,000 cash grant each from Salesforce, SBF

A TOTAL of 120 small businesses will receive S$8,000 in cash under the Salesforce Small Business Relief Grants Programme, set up by Salesforce and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF).

The grant aims to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) "address their immediate cash flow needs, preserve jobs, and embark on initiatives during this challenging period", SBF and Salesforce said in a joint press statement on Wednesday.

The grant recipients were judged based on financial standing, level of hardship faced as a result of Covid-19, as well as survivability and resilience, among other criteria.

A recipient, Innobrace Orthodontics, a dental and orthodontic manufacturing, design and trading business, said the grant will help to sustain its business by alleviating operational costs. The company said sales revenue fell substantially during the "circuit breaker" last year, when clinics were barred from taking on new patients.

Said Lam Yi Young, chief executive officer of SBF: "SMEs play an important role in our business ecosystem and may be vulnerable to the economic headwinds due to Covid-19. We encourage these 120 grant recipients to optimise the use of the grant to position their businesses for recovery and growth post-Covid."