A call to action

We Singaporeans live in bleak times.

Amidst a global landscape of successful entrepreneurship, few Singaporeans truly qualify to stand up and be counted.

Of course, critics will claim that Singapore is but a population of 4.5 million. Without a sizable local market, and with a super efficient government that fixes whatever that doesn’t work and gives the Economic and Development Board (EDB) carte blanche to reel in the MNCs of the world, how can an individual or a small team be expected to make it to the big league from within our shores?

What then of Israel, may I ask? A country of over 7 million (not that much larger than Singapore) is home to close to 20 publicly-traded companies on the NASDAQ. That’s a figure that’s even larger than all of Europe, which can only lay claim to less than 10. Sure, Israel’s surrounded by a whole bunch of hostile nations. Singapore, on the other hand, has not experienced wars since the Occupation by Japanese WW2 forces since 1945. From the looks of it, Singaporeans appears to lack the instinctive desire for self-preservation as Israelis do. Singapore is safe from dangers.

Or is that so?

In recent years, multiple neighbouring nations have chosen to nitpick with Singapore over a variety of issues – apart from perennial Malaysia, we also have Indonesia (for calling Singapore a ‘tiny red dot’) and Thailand (all that ruckus over the Shin Corp deal). Oh wait, isn’t a predominantly-ethnically Chinese Singapore surrounded by the 2 most populous Muslim countries in the region?

Come on you Singaporeans! Stop turning to taxi driving as a late-stage career move. Come on MAS and banks! Make non-collateral-based loans a possibility. We’ve missed out on enough YouTubes and Skypes to have kicked our butts off our asses since yesterday already.

The future of SMEs and entrepreneurship in Singapore needs YOU!