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Tag: #sme

  • OCBC Commits to Empower 10,000 Women Entrepreneurs with Social Loans by 2030

    OCBC Commits to Empower 10,000 Women Entrepreneurs with Social Loans by 2030

    In a bold move to empower female entrepreneurship across Southeast Asia, OCBC Bank has set its sights on a big goal: to provide social loans to 10,000 women entrepreneurs by 2030. This initiative, aimed at small and medium enterprises (SMEs), spans Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Indonesia, marking a significant commitment to fostering economic growth among women-owned businesses.

    Achievements So Far

    As of June 2025, OCBC has made impressive strides, supporting over 2,000 women-owned SMEs with social loan commitments nearing $600 million. This support is part of a larger vision to increase financial accessibility for women entrepreneurs, who often face unique challenges in securing funding.

    Tailored Programs for Women Entrepreneurs

    OCBC’s initiatives include the OCBC Women Unlimited Programme, which was launched in Singapore in April 2024 and introduced in Malaysia in August 2025. In Indonesia, the initiative takes the form of the Women Warriors Programme, which has been operational since 2020. These programs don’t just provide capital; they aim to cultivate an ecosystem where women entrepreneurs can thrive.

    Understanding the Challenges

    The data paints a compelling picture: one in three of OCBC’s SME customers across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Hong Kong are women. However, it also highlights a stark reality — women-owned SMEs in Singapore report approximately 30% lower sales turnover growth in their first three years compared to their male counterparts. Fortunately, those who secure financing through OCBC’s initiatives have shown the capacity to close this gap, demonstrating the transformative power of financial support.

    The Road Ahead

    With ambitious plans to extend its reach and enhance the financial landscape for women entrepreneurs, OCBC is not just banking on numbers; it’s betting on the untapped potential of women-led businesses in Asia. In a future where every woman entrepreneur can dream big, OCBC aspires to be the catalyst that turns those dreams into reality.

    Questions & Answers

    How many women-owned SMEs has OCBC supported so far?
    OCBC has supported over 2,000 women-owned SMEs across Southeast Asia as of June 2025.

    What kind of financial assistance does OCBC offer to women entrepreneurs?
    OCBC provides social loans of up to S$100,000 for women-owned SMEs within their first two years of incorporation, with waived processing fees for these loans.

    How do sales turnovers compare for women-owned SMEs versus male-owned ones?
    Women-owned SMEs in Singapore typically experience about 30% lower sales turnover growth in their first three years compared to male-owned SMEs, however, those that secure financing can bridge this gap.

  • HSBC Rolls Out Digital Wallet for SMEs in Singapore

    HSBC Rolls Out Digital Wallet for SMEs in Singapore

    The bank has launched a digital wallet for businesses in Singapore, which enables them to send, receive and hold cash in multiple currencies.

    HSBC’s Digital Wallet, which aims to significantly reduce the time it takes for SMEs to make business payments, is also being launched in the U.K. and the U.S., with a pipeline of further markets as well as new currencies and enhancements, the bank said in an announcement.

    The multi-currency wallet is integrated into its business banking platform HSBCnet, and removes the need for businesses to use third-party providers for international transactions, HSBC said. For example, businesses in Singapore can pay their Malaysia counterparts directly in ringgit.

    Li Lian Ng, HSBC’s head of business banking, Singapore, said the bank is committed to scaling up its SME banking capabilities in Singapore. The bank previously announced its strategy to scale-up its SME business and increase its share in the market to 15 percent by 2021.

    Since then, it has launched a number of products and initiatives for SMEs, including the online banking platform HSBCnet, Green Loans, the «Pioneer» programme for fast growing businesses, international business banking, and a not-for-profit proposition.

    HSBC said that Singapore’s SMEs are doubling down on their international connectivity and prioritizing resilience in their supply chains, with 87 percent planning to expand their international business, citing a survey conducted among local businesses with annual revenue between S$5 million and S$100 million.

    Drawing on HSBC’s deep digital expertise and wide global network, we are helping SMEs to build resilience and trust within their global supply chains whilst making everyday banking easier, Ng said.

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  • Huawei launches SME Support Program to support economic recovery in APAC

    Huawei launches SME Support Program to support economic recovery in APAC

    Global leading ICT provider Huawei launched its SME Support Program with trusted ecosystem partners in Asia Pacific, aiming to deliver further technical support for economic recovery amid the fight against the pandemic in the region.

    Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the engines of growth and innovation in the APEC region. They account for over 97 percent of all businesses and employ over half of the workforce across APEC economies. They contribute significantly to economic growth, with their share of GDP ranging from 40 percent to 60 percent in most APEC economies, according to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

    The pandemic has forced businesses to accelerate their digital transformation and move to the cloud one to three years ahead of schedule. HUAWEI CLOUD is currently working with over 19,000 partners and 1.6 million developers and is committed to strengthening the digital economy to support a sustainable economic recovery.

    For the SME Support Program, which will be available until December 31, 2021, each eligible SME applicant could receive coupons worth up to $3,000 USD and free professional consulting service including cutting-edge cloud solutions for a variety of industry scenarios including Financial Service, Education, E-commerce, Gaming, IoT, Application Development, and Enterprise Applications.

    SMEs that have an account on the HUAWEI CLOUD official website but have never used any paid service could apply on the SME Support Program page and receive consultation from cloud experts. Applications will be reviewed based on the company’s cloud needs and the readiness of workloads for cloud deployment.

    “We are still very small, but we have the ambition to grow into a big business. Therefore, choosing a reliable partner is our priority, this translates into reliable technology and reliable service and support. HUAWEI did a great job. I believe we get the same prompt responses any big client of yours,” Yongyan Liu, Co-Founder and VP of Strategy and Development at SYMBIONAT HEALTH, expressed confidence in the cooperation with HUAWEI CLOUD.

    Currently, HUAWEI CLOUD offers over 220 services in categories such as compute, storage, network, security, big data, AI, and IoT, plus over 210 solutions for full coverage of industries. Enterprises can rely on Huawei’s robust ecosystem to accelerate innovation by joining efforts with other eco-partners.

  • Alibaba.com initiative helps Vietnamese SMEs venture abroad

    Alibaba.com initiative helps Vietnamese SMEs venture abroad

    Alibaba.com, the global B2B e-commerce platform of Alibaba Group, launched a landmark initiative Monday to help companies in Vietnam go online and reach an enormous pool of qualified global buyers.

    As an international extension of the 2020 Spring Thunder program initiated by Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com’s ‘Project Sprout Up’ is a timely and tailored digital solution aimed at helping local SMEs compete through digitization amid the re-surfacing Covid-19 epidemic in Vietnam.

    The initiative will support Vietnamese SMEs in three key areas – faster onboarding onto the Alibaba.com platform for establishing a global reach, access to solutions designed to accelerate business growth, and tailored services to help SMEs deepen their online trade capabilities. These tailor-made services and a specially developed local program are bespoke to Vietnamese sellers on the Alibaba.com platform.

    “Vietnam has been gaining a strong reputation amongst global buyers with its manufacturing capabilities, high-quality products, competitive pricing and focus on exports. While the B2C segment has adopted e-commerce more instinctively, some entrepreneurs have also established global B2B trading using digital channels,” said Zhang Kuo, general manager of Alibaba.com.

    “This year even more businesses have felt the need for sustainable business models. We believe that global trade through B2B e-commerce can provide that opportunity and enable more SMEs to recover and even generate sustained growth,” Kuo added.

    A survey by Alibaba.com shows 65 percent of global buyers are now using online platforms to source products in place of on-site visits. There are now more than 20 million active buyers from over 190 countries and regions and an average of 300,000 inquiries made daily for goods ranging from raw materials to finished products on the platform. Over 600,000 products from Vietnamese sellers are currently listed on the Alibaba.com platform, including items from key local industries like food & beverage, furniture, home & garden, agriculture, and apparel.

    Alibaba Group’s 2020 Spring Thunder initiative was launched in April 2020 by Daniel Zhang, Chairman, and CEO of Alibaba Group. The program deploys the power of commerce and technology Alibaba Group has harnessed over the past two decades to create new supply chains, stimulate new demand, and promote new trade through a series of key measures.

    As an extension to this initiative, Alibaba.com’s ‘Project Sprout Up’ aims to help SME suppliers in Vietnam create sustainable business models through customized solutions.

    As part of the ‘Project Sprout Up’ initiative, Alibaba.com will offer its suppliers a complete 90-day onboarding service covering a range of features including online store set-up, support on product postings, understanding of keyword advertising, and support on traffic management and inquiries.

    This is backed by the use of AI to match buyers and sellers rapidly and more accurately on the Alibaba.com platform, coupled with the sheer number of inquiries each day from buyers around the world.

    With the aim of facilitating digital transformation awareness across the country, enabling local SMEs, and helping them to recover, the Alibaba.com platform has identified several changes in global consumer trends. The changes include increasing acceptance of e-commerce and the emergence of new e-commerce models, growing focus on health awareness led consumption, the popularity of products suited for in-home consumption while oriented towards value and purpose-driven consumption.

    Understanding these trends can create significant opportunities for Vietnamese sellers in the global arena. To give SMEs more confidence when participating in global trade, Alibaba.com will make it’s Smart Marketing Solution, an intelligent keyword advertising tool, available to suppliers in Vietnam.

    The tool draws on insights from the platform and AI algorithms to help suppliers market their products with intelligent pricing without additional labor or investment required. This solution will also enable businesses to understand the demand for a product category, offer pricing suggestions for their keyword bids to acquire new customer traffic and fine-tune their business strategies via a simple and basic interface, even for businesses new to the Alibaba.com platform.

    Vietnam has weathered the Covid-19 pandemic relatively well recently, however, one of the biggest challenges facing Vietnamese SMEs today is the lack of online trading skills.

    To address the issue, Alibaba.com will offer tailor-made training programs, which will highlight adaptable practices for all kinds of enterprise structures. Through systematic customer training sessions and service support programs, the ‘Project Sprout Up’ initiative will aim to create a successful roadmap for its members.

    Alibaba.com has been enabling the growth of SMEs since 1999 with tools designed specifically for B2B trade. Supplier members on the Alibaba.com platform are entitled to a suite of tools and services including a customized digital storefront, buyer analytics, targeted advertising, and support in the form of online courses as well as live customer support, among others.

    SMEs interested in learning more about ‘Project Sprout Up’ can click here to fill in a survey, after which a representative of Alibaba.com will reach out with further details.

    The first business of Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com was China’s largest integrated international online wholesale marketplace in 2019 by revenue, according to Analysys.

    It connects Chinese and overseas suppliers to international wholesale buyers, who are typically trading agents, wholesalers, retailers, manufacturers, and SMEs engaged in the import and export business. It provides them sourcing, online transaction, digital marketing, digital supply chain fulfillment, and financial services.

    In the 12 months ending March 31, 2020, over 20 million buyers from approximately 190 countries had sourced business opportunities or completed transactions on Alibaba.com.

  • SMEs struggling with late payments

    SMEs struggling with late payments

    Kiwi small businesses are struggling as they wait for an estimated $7.4 billion in overdue payments, Xero has revealed.

    The Wellington-based tech company, which provides software for small businesses, based the estimate on anonymous data drawn from a sample of its more than 350,000 users in New Zealand.

    Data from the April-June quarter revealed that on any given day, more than 50 percent of small businesses on its platform are owed at least $7000.

    Half the overdue invoices were on average at least 16 days past due, and still pending payment.

    What’s worse, the average amount of overdue invoices per firm increased from 12 to 13 year on year in Q1, and the number of small businesses reporting late payments rose from 77 percent in March to 79 percent in June.

    “Small business needs this money to pay suppliers, staff, rent and other bills – and over time that can take a toll,” Craig Hudson, Xero’s MD for New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

    “Weak cash flow doesn’t just impact the financial stability of a business, there’s the human impact too, with financial stresses affecting employment, families and mental wellbeing.”

    Accommodation and food service businesses were the most affected by late payments, with overdue invoices comprising 32.5 percent of all their invoices – compared to 28.5 percent for all industries.

    “They each had an average $9,586 overdue in Q1, which is smaller than other industries but significant when you consider they’re usually very small, often family-run, and typically making little profit,” Hudson said.

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  • HSBC Offers Fee Cuts, Rebates to Support Hong Kong SMEs

    HSBC Offers Fee Cuts, Rebates to Support Hong Kong SMEs

    HSBC has announced a range of measures intended to help struggling businesses cope with challenges from the China-U.S. trade war and the anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

    As the Hong Kong economy is facing its worst crisis in a decade, HSBC has become the first bank to take action to help its small and medium enterprise customers by offering fee cuts and rebates.

    The bank and its subsidiary Hang Seng Bank are offering an interest rebate of up to HK$20,000 ($2,550) to SMEs that take out loans under SME Financing Guarantee Scheme and the SME Loan Guarantee Scheme for repayments made between March and August.

    At the same time, the bank is extending until June 30, 2022 its subsidy of up to HK$50,000 that is given to SMEs to pay for the fee for the government to back the loan. From September 2 until the end of the year, merchants will also enjoy lower fees for B2B transfers using HSBC’s PayMe platform as the bank has revised its fee to 0.75 percent, down from 1.5 percent.

    Protests Affecting Business

    Months of anti-government protests across Hong Kong have disrupted business and traffic, and caused a drop in tourist numbers to the special administrative territory and paralyzed shopping areas.

    According to HSBC, SMEs account for over 98 percent of local enterprises and around 45 percent of total employment. We have spent time listening to our customers and have heard their voices at this difficult time, Terence Chiu, the bank’s head of commercial banking for Hong Kong, was quoted by “SCMP” as saying.

    Countries including Singapore and the U.S. have issued advisories to defer non-essential travel to Hong Kong.

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  • UOB Taps Malay Trade Associations for SME Clients

    UOB Taps Malay Trade Associations for SME Clients

    UOB seeks to expand its banking base in Asia’s small to medium-sized enterprises with the latest targeting of trade association in Malaysia.

    The bank will collaborate with three trade associations (SME Association of Sabah, Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce (Sabah) and the Sabah-China Chambers of Commerce) in Sabah representing more than 300 SME owners.

    UOB will extend lending facilities and cross-border financial solutions to expand into new markets. In addition, the bank will also offer sharia-compliant financing solutions «at competitive rates and flexible tenures as well as extend government-guaranteed, collateral-free financing schemes administer by local authorities.

    UOB Malaysia’s team of dedicated advisers from across the region will connect SMEs in Sabah with government agencies, trade and industry associations and professional service providers to help them invest and expand across Asia,» said UOB Malaysia managing director and country head of wholesale banking Ng Wei Wei.

    According to UOB’s head of Islamic banking, Mohd Fohauzi Muridan, Islamic financial solutions could be the natural fit for businesses attempting to achieve sustainable goals or create businesses linked with related ecosystems.

    In green technology, for example, Fohauzi notes strong Islamic financing demand for renewable energy, sustainable building and township projects, waste management and transportation projects.

    Given the social and environmental focus embedded in Islamic banking, coupled with its acceptance in Malaysia, Islamic banking can play a leading role in financing SMEs that are committed to achieving sustainability goals, he said. «The ethos of Islamic banking makes it a natural ‘ethical’ financier for such projects.»

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  • Amazon targets SMEs with Launchpad

    Amazon targets SMEs with Launchpad

    Amazon has brought its small business-focused Launchpad initiative to Australia.

    Launching on Tuesday, the program aims to help startups and entrepreneurs sell in a wider market. Over 150 local and international brands are already on board.

    As part of the program, brands will be featured on customized product pages, receive marketing support and gain access to Amazon’s fulfillment services including unlimited deliveries through Amazon Prime.

    “Australian investors and entrepreneurs are responsible for some of the most innovative consumer products in the world, from the electric drill right through to Vegemite,” Amazon Australia country manager Rocco Braeuniger said.

    “We know that product creation is only one part of the equation in launching a product and that marketing, logistics and finding an audience can be just as challenging.

    “With Amazon Launchpad, we have a program that will help ease some of these challenges for startups and entrepreneurs alike, allowing them to focus on growing their business and freeing up time for future innovation.”

    Sugar-free drink business Nexba, Beach House Group’s skincare brand Marlowe and sunglasses retailer Soda Shades are some of the local brands participating in the program at launch.

    According to Josh Miller, co-founder of Soda Shades, being featured in the program allows the brand to reach a wider audience.

    The program was initially launched in the US in 2015 and has resulted in thousands of products being launched across several categories. It is now available in eight countries: the US, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India and Australia.

  • Vietnam cross-border e-commerce platform Fado eyes expansion

    Vietnam cross-border e-commerce platform Fado eyes expansion

    Fado, the first Vietnam cross-border e-commerce platform, plans to help local SMEs go global.

    “Vietnam has so many quality products but local suppliers don’t have an official platform to sell them worldwide,” Fado CEO Pham Tan Dat said.

    “Our mission is to create a channel for local SMEs to reach global customers.”

    As Alibaba’s authorised global channel partner in Vietnam, Fado plans to help 260 million SMEs access 190 countries.

    In 2017, 32 percent of Vietnam SMEs partnered with foreign online partners. Last year, the rate was 98 percent, among which two-thirds were ‘extra-small businesses’.

    Founded in 2011, as a cross-border shipping company, Fado rose to become the first cross-border e-commerce platform in Vietnam in 2014.

    Technically partnered with Amazon, Fado connects Amazon suppliers with Vietnamese shoppers on a single platform.

    “Our services are not only legal but also convenient to customers. They don’t have to worry about how their purchases are shipped cross border. Customers enjoy our return policies if the products are not as described on websites.

    Shoppers also can buy discounted products in real-time, especially during events like Amazon Prime Day, without subscribing to a membership.

    The platform has partnered with Proship to deliver products within its home market.

    Fado’s biggest challenge is how to calculate import tax for 4 billion products before customers purchase them, especially during sales.

    “Fado builds a product database using machine learning and AI including images and description so the system can recognize them and apply the right import-tax code. Our system also recognise products banned according to Vietnamese law,” Pham added.

    Vietnam’s cross-border e-commerce market is predicted to increase by 30 percent annually. According to Vu Ba Phu, head of Vietnam’s Trade Promotion Agency, the global market will reach US$3300 billion in the next two years.

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  • Jack Ma’s Online Bank Changes China’s SME Lending Space

    Jack Ma’s Online Bank Changes China’s SME Lending Space

    Unlike traditional banks which could take days to approve loan applications, Jack Ma’s online bank usually takes a few minutes. At Jack Ma’s MYbank operating in China, borrowers only need a few taps on their smartphones to receive cash almost instantly, if they are approved. The whole process takes three minutes and involves zero human bankers. Using real-time payments data and a risk-management system, Ma’s four-year-old MYbank has dished out 2 trillion yuan (S$398 billion) in loans to nearly 16 million small companies.

    Small and medium enterprises are really the boiler room of the economy, said Keith Pogson, a senior executive in charge of banking and capital markets at Ernst & Young LLP in Hong Kong. It used to be a segment that banks thought was too difficult and too risky. But now they run their model and work out what the risks are so they feel more comfortable, said Pogson.

    MYbank and its peers are getting more comfortable with smaller borrowers previously shunned by traditional banks because of their ability to analyze stacks of data from payment systems, social media, and other sources. The default rate at MYbank is only about one percent.

    One unique source of information for lenders in China – the government-administered social credit system. It is being tested in cities across the country as a way to reward good borrowers and punish misbehaving ones.

    Another big advantage that lenders have in China, is the relaxed stance towards privacy versus other jurisdictions; lenders or app developers can get data of borrowers much more easily. Hence, big payments provider such as the one operated by Ma’s Ant Financial, the biggest shareholder of MYbank, can get their hands on huge reams of personal data.

    Once authorizations from borrowers are obtained, MYbank analyses real-time transactions to gain insights into creditworthiness. For example, a drop in customer payments at a retailer’s flagship store might be an early indicator that the company’s prospects are deteriorating.

    As a result, the loan approval rate at MYbank is four times higher than at traditional lenders, which typically reject 80 percent of small-business loan requests and take at least 30 days to process applications, according to MYbank president Jin Xiaolong. The Hangzhou-based firm’s operating cost per loan is about three yuan, versus 2,000 yuan at traditional rivals.

    MYbank, which earned 670 million yuan last year, is far from the only lender using technology to boost small-business lending. Units of Tencent Holdings and Ping An Insurance Group both have similar offerings, while state-owned China Construction Bank Corp is dramatically ramping up its presence in the space.

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  • HSBC Plans To Scale Up SME Business in Singapore

    HSBC Plans To Scale Up SME Business in Singapore

    HSBC, which has been present in Singapore since 1877, said it intends to increase its share in its target small-medium-enterprise (SME) market from the current 10 percent to 15 percent by 2021. HSBC classifies SME clients as those with a turnover of $5-$100 million.

    At a high level, we see Singapore as a de facto financial capital for Southeast Asia (ASEAN), as well as an attractive destination for our customers around the world,» said Alex Turner, managing director and head of commercial banking in HSBC.

    To support the growth in SME lending, the bank increased its headcount in business banking by 30 last year. As the SME lending space is highly competitive, HSBC country head of business banking Ng Li Lian said that the bank will tap on its advantages, such as having a dedicated relationship manager for each SME client.

    It also launched the Pioneer program in August last year to target fast-growing SMEs with minimum topline growth of 15 percent, especially those who wish to internationalize. Besides access to skills and capabilities, this 12-month program lets SME leaders have conversations with different teams within HSBC, such as speaking with its alternative finance team on how to raise capital other than through debt.

    For ASEAN to benefit from a wide-scale migration of supply chains into the region, the countries need to first improve on technology, capacity, and regional integration said HSBC Singapore CEO Tony Cripps.

    There has been a widespread sentiment that the supply chains of businesses are starting to shift to Southeast Asia (SEA) en masse, on the back of the trade war and the region’s vitality, but there has been little evidence of that happening, wrote Cripps in a report.

    ASEAN needs to build more visibility and credibility amongst international firms, particularly in their ability to handle and deliver production orders, he added.

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  • Ebay launches e-commerce training program in Singapore

    Ebay launches e-commerce training program in Singapore

    Ebay Singapore and the Institute of Retail Studies have partnered in an e-commerce training program.

    Called “Let’s Ebay with SIRS”, the full-day workshop aims to help aspiring entrepreneurs kickstart their e-commerce business and connect with the global marketplace of active buyers.

    The program was designed for small businesses and entrepreneurs who have little or no e-commerce experience but want to learn directly from the source.

    Singapore’s e-commerce market is expected to grow by 48 per cent to S$10.04 billion by 2022.

    “Singapore’s cross-border trade continues to grow and there is a huge opportunity for more small businesses to join the ranks of Ebay sellers,” said Wong Mei Inn, Ebay‘s head of Southeast Asia seller growth.

    “By listing their products on Ebay’s global marketplace, Singaporean businesses can reach 180 million active buyers all around the world.”

    SMEs contribute to 72 per cent of Singapore’s employment, and added a nominal value of $213.6 billion, or 48 per cent to the economy last year.

    “E-commerce has been recognised as one of the key growth opportunities under the 2020 vision of the Retail Industry Transformation Map launched by Spring Singapore (now Enterprise Singapore),” said Megan Ong, Nanyang Polytechnic’s Singapore Institute of Retail Studies director.

    “By partnering with Ebay, we will be able to encourage retailers in Singapore to adopt e-commerce and omnichannel strategies to succeed in today’s digital context.”

    Following the workshop, the two parties launched an Ebay onboarding program which further enables SMEs to optimise cross-border selling and manage operations.

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  • Singapore Fintech Firm Heading into Indonesia

    Singapore Fintech Firm Heading into Indonesia

    Following a successful Series B funding round, SME lending platform Validus Capital is launching in Indonesia. SME lending platform Validus Capital has launched in Indonesia, its first Southeast Asian market outside its home country of Singapore, the firm announced in a media release on Thursday.

    Launched in partnership with Indonesia’s Triputra Group under the name Batumbu, the financing platform connects domestic SMEs from sectors as diverse as food and beverage (F&B), services, engineering, to construction industries with accredited, institutional and high net worth investors.

    Leading the local management team is Sonny Christian Joseph, who has over 23 years in SME banking in Indonesia and was previously head of SME banking at Indonesian business bank BTPN.

    P2P lending platforms have gained popularity and have grown rapidly in Indonesia. In 2018, P2P lending platforms disbursed a total of US$1.4 billion (S$1.9 billion) in loans, representing a 681.25 per cent year-on-year growth, according to data from Indonesian financial services authority Otoritas Jasa Keuangan.

    «Our expansion into Indonesia serves as a significant milestone for us. Sharing our insights and applying key learnings from Singapore allows us to take a proven and sustainable business model and apply this to a larger market – a market where I have personally spent a few years helping SMEs to grow,» Ajit Raikar, Validus CEO and co-founder, said.

    Unlike traditional financing options and P2P lenders, Butumbu uses proprietary technology and credit scoring systems adapted and tailored to cater to the needs of SMEs in Indonesia. The firm said that  it will develop strategic partnerships with large corporations to ensure an extremely robust and scalable financing ecosystem.

    In February 2019 Validus recently raised US$15.2 million (S$20.5 million) in an oversubscribed Series B funding round led by Dutch public-private development bank FMO.

    Validus was founded in 2015 and is backed by the likes of Netherlands development bank FMO and Temasek Holdings’ Vertex Ventures. According to the company, it is Singapore’s largest peer-to-business lending platform, facilitating over US$147 million (S$200 million) in business financing to local SMEs in less than 18 months.

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  • Korea SME pessimistic about future of economy

    Korea SME pessimistic about future of economy

    Lee Jung-min, who runs a small business in Seoul, has been trying to figure out how to cope with the rise in labor costs expected for next year.

    “We take home whatever we have left after paying all the expenses,” said the businessman in his 30s. “Every penny counts for people like us and it looks like things will get difficult next year.”

    Lee isn’t the only self-employed person in Korea with serious concerns about making ends meet in the future.

    According to data from the Bank of Korea, the consumer sentiment index in terms of expectations on domestic economic conditions stood at 79 for self-employed people for the month of July, whereas the index for people who earn a regular salary was 91.

    The disparity between the two groups is the worst the central bank has seen since records began in 2008.

    The index shows how positively or negatively people forecast the economic situation in Korea will be in six months time.

    A figure below 100 indicates a pessimistic outlook that the economic situation will deteriorate.

    The index plummeted for both groups – self-employed people from 90 and salaried employees from 100 in June.

    Such figures show that while both self-employed people and wage earners are becoming more pessimistic about the economy, the former feels much less hopeful than the latter.

    One reason why the self-employed have a gloomier outlook about their future is because of the rise in the minimum wage they must pay if they want to hire workers.

    On July 14, the Minimum Wage Commission determined that next year’s base salary will go up by 10.9 percent to 8,350 won ($7.49).

    A recent study by the Korea Federation of SMEs, which represents the country’s self-employed and small business owners, showed that 43 percent of the 300 small business owners surveyed responded that conditions will get very difficult when the minimum wage goes up, while 14 percent said they will be able to handle the hike.

    “53.1 percent of the respondents said they will decrease their hiring,” the federation said in the study.nbb

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  • Visa, Validus to provide virtual card solutions for SMEs

    Visa, Validus to provide virtual card solutions for SMEs

    Visa has teamed up with FinTech platform Validus to provide SMEs with virtual card solutions designed to help scale their businesses. The partnership seeks to unlock capital for SMEs to reinvest in their products and services.

    The solution has already been adopted by GroXers Inc Pte Ltd, a food and beverage distributor in Singapore.

    Under this partnership, Validus is working with Visa to facilitate immediate cash flow to SMEs with unpaid invoices in their payment cycles. By clearing invoices for SMEs using a Visa virtual commercial card, Validus helps SMEs expand faster and have a faster turnover for their products and services.

    The food & beverage (F&B) businesses, have to deal with a large number of buyers ranging from “Small businesses often face challenges such as access to capital to fund their business growth and this makes them vulnerable. Similarly, suppliers for these businesses may be challenged to provide adequate credit, as they do not have the skills to underwrite higher credit lines,” commented Vikram Kshettry, head of B2B Partnerships and Small Business Asia Pacific at Visa.
    “It is essential that businesses are able to access credit from specialist lenders to invest in their businesses, and for suppliers to be paid on time. The presence of such lenders, who can respond faster to business needs, is key to Singapore’s continued SME growth.”

    GroXers Inc, a leading enterprise run by well-known Singaporean entrepreneur, Nichol Ng, stated that the solution has freed up their cash flows considerably.

    “We have been looking for a solution that bridges the gap between our cash flow and account receivables and this is our biggest untapped asset. It is interesting to see how this solution has enabled us to receive our money faster and more seamlessl,” Ng aid.

    “At GroXers Inc, 100% of our receivables from B2B retailers are now on credit card payment. We genuinely feel that in today’s economy, we should free our time and cash flow to focus on growing our business.”

    Validus and Visa will look to increase their commitment to supporting SMEs in Singapore across a range of industries. This includes businesses that specialize in the distribution, services and manufacturing sectors.