What grants are you eligible for?

Let's get straight to the point - there are a number of grants available that's able to subsidize your business spending up to 90%. The main issue with lots of companies is the lack of knowledge regarding such grants and whether they qualify for them. The information available online might not be easily understandable, and the process of application seems to be lengthy and complicated.

Well, you've come to the right place!

Let us summarize all the important points for you and point you in the right direction!

So the first question will obviously be...

What kind of grants are there?

Your attention should be on 4 main schemes, namely the Productivity Solutions Grant, Enterprise Development Grant, Digital Resilience Bonus and SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit. All of these could be of great help to your company.

Let us talk about the first one!

Productivity Solutions Grant

The PSG encourages companies to take their first steps to adopting technology into their daily practices by automating certain processes. It hopes to shift traditional businesses who have gotten accustomed to manual bookkeeping and payroll practices to take the leap and move the handling of such tasks onto a digital platform where there's zero possibility of human error.

PSG supports adoption of solutions that are used across ALL industries:

1. Customer Management

2. Data Analytics

3. Financial Management

4. Inventory Tracking

Due to the pandemic, PSG has also recently been revised to support measures that enforce COVID-19 safe distancing policies.

1. Online Collaboration Tools

2. Queue Management Systems

3. Temperature Screening Solutions

CRITERIA FOR QUALIFICATION

1. Your company has to be registered and operating in Singapore

2. Purchase/lease/subscription of the IT Solutions or Equipment must be used in SIngapore

3. Have a minimum of 30% local shareholding

The funding for the PSG currently goes up to a whopping 80% and will remain like this until 31st December 2020, after which the level of funding will decrease.

You can source for vendors and equipment here through the drop-down list for your respective industry: https://bit.ly/2EvNgzq

Enterprise Development Grant

Secondly, we have the EDG. This grant focuses on transforming and innovating businesses. The three pillars the EDG supports are:

1. Core Capabilities - Targeted at a business' foundations to solidify and pave the way for future growth.

2. Innovation & Productivity - Refers to new areas of growth or innovative methods to improve efficiency or efficacy.

3. Market Access - Financial support can be given to assist local companies that are looking to venture overseas.

The EDG mainly covers third-party consultancy fees, software & equipment along with internal manpower cost to achieve the above pillars.

CRITERIA FOR QUALIFICATION

1. Business Entity registered and operating in Singapore

2. Have a minimum of 30% local shareholding

3. Be in a financially viable position to start and COMPLETE the project (Market Access)

The funding for the EDG goes up to 80% till 31st December 2020. Businesses severely affected by COVID-19 can get up to 90% subsidies on a case-by-case basis.

Digital Resilience Bonus

With the emphasis the Singapore government is putting on digitalization, the DRB is here to give businesses that final push to adapt to post-COVID norms. Unfortunately, DRB is currently targeted at the Food Services and Retail sectors that were hit harder by the pandemic. You can take a look at the SMEs Go Digital programme if your business does not fall under the aforementioned two categories.

The DRB grant is applicable for these 3 solutions below:

1. Accounting, HR payroll & other digital solutions

2. E-procurement, Online platforms (delivery & e-commerce)

3. Data Mining & Analytics

CRITERIA FOR QUALIFICATION

1. Business is under the Food or Retail sectors as of 26 May 2020

2. Business UEN has to have an active PayNow Corporate Account

3. Business UEN has to be using InvoiceNow

As long as your business is fulfills the 3 criteria above, you can then assess the three listed categories above to apply for. The scheme covers quite a fair bit under digital solutions, so you can read more here. The recommended way to go about doing this is search for a solution provider under DRB's official vendors and they will help you to submit your UEN to IMDA.

You are eligible to claim up to $10,000 depending on the category from 1 June 2020 to 30 June 2021. It will be credited into your Corporate PayNow account.

SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit

The SFEC is looking to spur employers to invest in development of their employees and improve their skills. This is in addition to the existing schemes like PSG and EDG and covers further expenses for supportable initiatives. That means, you can be supported by EDG for one of your current initiatives but you're still eligible to apply for SFEC to be subsidized further. It currently supports these 2 initiatives:

1. Enterprise Transformation - initiatives to expand your business

2. Workforce Transformation - improving skill levels of employees

CRITERIA FOR QUALIFICATION

1. Eligible for the individual SFEC-supportable programmes (PSG, EDG etc.)

As mentioned previously, the SFEC is an additional grant to further alleviate any financial burden to engage in the supported schemes.

You are eligible to claim up to $10,000 to cover up to 90% of expenses on qualifying costs for the supportable initiatives. This subsidy will stack with the support provided from the other existing schemes.

I hope that this simplified and summarized explanation of some of the more relevant grants and schemes available have helped you understand what your company could potentially be eligible for.

It's not easy to gather information on all the schemes available right now due to the sheer number and complexity. We'll be glad to assist you with any of your questions so you can always contact us with any of your queries!