Helping HDB businesses get crowds and go digital

HEARTLAND businesses need to innovate, go digital, and keep providing the personal touch – and the annual Heartlands Festival hopes to encourage this while bringing in the crowds, said Lai Cheng Yi, executive director of The Federation of Merchants’ Associations, Singapore (FMAS).

Running till Feb 24, the three-month-long festival is organised by the Heartland Enterprise Centre Singapore (HECS), a subsidiary of FMAS. It is supported by FMAS, Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) and the Housing and Development Board (HDB).

The first edition was held in November 2021 to bring customers back to the heartlands during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as encourage digitalisation, said Lai in an interview with The Business Times (BT).