Starting business in Singapore

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Starting business in Singapore – September 30th, 2014

Rangarajan Narayanamohan
Senior Partner & Business Advisor ( Natarajan & Swaminathan)

starting a business – Formalities

1. Constitution Of The Business
2. Home Entrepreneur Scheme
3. Naming The Business
4. CR Registration Number
5. GST Registration
6. Licensing Requirements www.business.gov.sg
7. Intellectual Property
8. Trademark & Logos
9. The web based guide for starting a business www.ecitizen.gov.sg/business
10. Insurance
11. Professional Consultants

Constitution of the Business

 Sole proprietor
 Partnership
 Private Limited Company
 Limited Liability partnership

Home Entrepreneur Scheme : Singapore

 11,400 homes are used as office
 90% – 13,000 applications approved HDB apartment www.hdb.gov.sg
 10% of 1,000 application approved Private Apartment www.ura.gov.sg
 3 year permit is granted
 Not involving more than 2 people, who don’t live at the registered office address

 Who will be my customer?
 Why will they want to use my service?
 How often will they use my service?
 Who will be my competitors and what are they charging?
 What can I charge to make profit?

10 Ways to Grow Home Based Business

1. Focus on a single product or service, and then market it, sell it, promote it—do everything you can to increase sales of that one product or service.
2. Expand your product line to offer complementary products or services
3. Find ways to increase sales to your existing customers
4. Hire someone to help you out—an employee, a freelancer, an intern, an independent contractor, even your kids
5. Create a Web site to advertise your company or sell products online
6. Join forces with another business to promote your company
7. Target other markets
8. Find new and different ways to market your business through e-mail newsletters or by doing guest-speaking gigs or by teaching a class
9. Expand to another location
10. Think about turning your business into a franchise or business opportunity

Name as you like it

CR Registration Number
www.traderegister.gov.sg/crnum.html
GST Registration
www.iras.gov.sg
Licensing Requirements
www.business.gov.sg

Intellectual Property

 Patent
 Copyright
 Trademark
 Service mark
 Registered Design
 Geographical Indications
 Trade Secret or Information that has commercial value
 Layout Designs
 Formulas

LOGO

E-Commerce

Website, web store & web order
 Starting a business online offers many attractions
 It is relatively cheap, fast & fuss free
 It saves you from Singapore’s expensive rental rates
 The world is your market
 Your online shop is open for 24 hours
 You can keep your full time job until you are ready to start your own business.

Online Business
You can have a successful online business. Just make sure you follow the same rules as a brick-and-mortar company

Insurance
Insurance coverage for small business
 Business property insurance
 Liability insurance
 Workers compensation insurance
 Other insurance coverage
 Life insurance

Financing Your Business

1. Self financing/ Boot strapping
2. Friends & Relatives
3. Angel Investors
4. Venture Capital
5. Banks & Financial Institutions
6. Going For Listing- Public Subscription of Shares

SME Funding – Govt Funding & Grants

Angel Investors
Angel investors are typically high net worth individuals who invest their own money in new business.
They expect high returns – often more than 100% – for bearing the risk of losing all their money should the early stage of business venture fails to take off.

Venture Capital
 Venture capital is an important source of equity to start up companies
 Venture capitalist will help companies to grow but they eventually seek to exit the investment in 3 to 7 years
 Venture capital is the money provided by professionals who invest alongside management in young, rapidly growing companies that have the potential to develop into significant economic contributors.
 Venture capitalist specialize in their investment by sectors like PHARMA, ELECTRONICS, LIFE SCIENCES, SOFTWARE, HARDWARE industries.
 Venture capitalist also specialize in investing in early stages of start up, mezzanine stage, third round or final.
 Exit Route : Merger or acquisitions, IPO or settling their interest to the management.

Start Up’s Financing Option
 BUSINESS ANGELS SCHEME
 GROWTH FINANCING PROGRAMME
 MICRO LOAN SCHEME
 START-UP ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT SCHEME (SEEDS)
SME’s Financing Option
 LOAN INSURANCE SCHEME
 LOCAL ENTERPRISE FINANCE SCHEME
 MICRO LOAN PROGRAMME

Home Office Scheme
1. Home Office Scheme was introduced during the year 2003 and since its introduction its introduction about 21000 applications have been approved (95% are for public housing and 5% are for private housing)
2. Applications are approved subject to certain conditions such as having low rise levels and not involving selling physical goods
3. Companies primarily engaged in IT consultation, web design, advertising and real estate services are going for home office scheme
4. For more information on the scheme call
1. HDB service hotline 1800-2255432
2. URA customer hotline 62234811
5. Private residential apartments are now constructed as SOHO – Small Office Home Office concept

Running Your Business Successfully
 HINTS TO RUN A BUSINESS
 HINTS TO STRENGTHEN YOUR BUSINESS
 10 WAYS TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS
 10 GOLDEN RULES TO RUN A BUSINESS
 7 STEPS FOR GENERATING NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
 MANAGER OR LEADER

Hints to run a business
 How to make use of FTA’s
 E-Commerce
 Value Adding v Value Creation

Hints to Strengthen your business
 Corporate branding/Image
 Customers
 Cash-flow and credit
 Competency (core competency)
 Control
 Communication
 Staff
 Share holders
 Other stakeholders
 Courage and conviction

10 ways to build your business
 Get testimonials
 Use articles instead of ads
 Give something away
 Get referrals
 Exchange endorsements
 Give examples
 Personalize your marketing
 Reduce perceived risk
 Make contact easy
 Stay in touch

A cautionary Tale
• Keep your business afloat by being alert at all times.
• Being alert and knowing when to act can avert disaster.
• When things appear to be going smoothly, people can become complacent or compromise on important issues. Managers must always anticipate crisis and have a plan in place.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING:
If the lookout on Titanic’s crow nest, Mr Frederick Fleet, had seen the iceberg 10 seconds earlier, the ship would have been able to avoid hitting it.

The Golden Rule

1. Commitment to quality service
2. Know your products
3. Know your customers
4. Treat people with courtesy and respect
5. Never argue with customer
6. Don’t leave customers hanging
7. Always fulfill your promise
8. Assume that customers are telling truth
9. Focus on making customers and not making sales
10. Make it easy to buy