Google offers 15,000 scholarships to 300 local SMEs for training in digitalisation

GOOGLE Singapore is offering 15,000 scholarships to 300 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for digitalisation-related courses, it announced on Monday (May 22), at its first “Grow with Google for SMEs” event in Singapore.

Offered in partnership with Enterprise Singapore (Enterprise SG) and SGTech, the scholarships are for three- to six-month Google Career Certificate courses. These part-time online programmes are in areas such as digital marketing, e-commerce, data analytics, IT support and UX (user experience) design.

No prior experience is required. Applications for the scholarships are now open to SMEs in sectors such as retail, tech and travel.

Google Singapore country managing director Ben King noted that a majority of SMEs rely on government awareness programmes as their primary source of information. Public-private initiatives can cultivate greater awareness and provide more learning opportunities for SMEs, he added.

Since 2022, Google has also been helping SMEs develop their digital marketing capabilities through its Digital Practitioner Programme (DPP).

At Monday’s event, Minister of State for Ministry of Trade and Industry Alvin Tan, congratulated the first cohort of such graduates.

As at April 2023, 51 companies in the retail, food and beverage and services sectors had taken part in the DPP, he noted. Of these, 33 had completed the programme; the remaining 18 will do so by July.

“We have seen some encouraging initial outcomes from this programme,” Tan said. He cited the example of Fun Learners’ School, which pulled in an estimated 15 per cent more in revenue and plans to hire more staff to sustain its digital marketing efforts.

Digitalisation can help SMEs improve efficiency and productivity, provide better customer service, reach new markets and expand their business, he added: “Digitalisation is worth the effort.”

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DPP graduate Shue Ying, a marketing executive at print shop Fotohub, told The Business Times that many SMEs are unwilling to spend on things that do not reap immediate results. The programme enabled her to try out new ads, which she otherwise would not have done due to budget constraints, she added.

At Monday’s event, Google also unveiled two new advanced certificates in business intelligence and data analytics. The business intelligence course trains participants to turn data into “actionable insights”, while the data analytics one is about machine learning and experimental design on large amounts of data.

Google is also continuing its support for The Asia Foundation, with a S$5.3 million grant to help the non-profit organisation extend its “Go Digital Asean” programme, which trains selected business owners across regional grouping in advanced business and digital skills.

Under this programme, the Asia Foundation’s partner in Singapore, Hatch, will train 1,500 local businesses, of which 70 are owed by women or “underrepresented communities”. The curriculum includes digital marketing as well as responsible and sustainable business practices.