NUS pro-chancellor calls on govt to invest S$100m in student start-ups

Former senior civil servant Ngiam Tong Dow urged the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to provide S$100 million to the Economic Development Board (EDB) for investing in student-initiated start-up companies.

Speaking at a National University of Singapore (NUS) U@live forum on Wednesday evening, Ngiam, the university’s pro-chancellor, said the country needs to take a stake in local start-ups to capitalise on what he sees are among Singapore’s strategic assets — universities and polytechnics.

During his 10-minute address to a 200-strong audience made up of NUS alumni, undergraduates and members of the public, he suggested that final year students from tertiary institutions combine their skill sets across industries to come up with solid entrepreneurial ideas.

These ideas could then be equitably funded by the government and from there turn into the Singapore Airlines, Keppel Group and ST Engineerings of the future, the former EDB and DBS chairman said.

“The S$100 million could go to 100 (student-led start-up) companies. Even if 90 per cent of them fail, at least 10 per cent may succeed, and they’ll be our future,” Ngiam told reporters on the sidelines of the event. “They may not be the future SIA, but they will at least be companies of value... we should all help entrepreneurship.”

Further, the former permanent secretary of the finance ministry feels that the government is wasting its money when it provides grants and loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, arguing that it should instead be providing funds in the form of equity.

“Money isn’t the solution to the problem... (when I chaired the) EDB, I never gave any grants. If you’re asking me for a grant, it means your company is not commercially viable,” he explained. "Every time I see boards giving grants, I think it's just abdication of their responsibilities. Nothing happens, productivity doesn't increase despite the grants given by everybody."

“To seed the growth of new industries and enterprises, the State has to play an entrepreneurial role, taking risks alongside the private sector,” he continued. “For a small state like Singapore, this to me is a viable strategy to compete with the giant BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies with their abundance of natural resources and manpower.”

Leave well alone, don't over-regulate

Aside from his focus on investing in student entrepreneurship, Ngiam called on the government to avoid regulating the civil service too excessively.

"The Singapore government should also learn to leave well alone... it doesn't grow the economy, (in fact over-regulation) becomes a cost," he said. "We should learn to be a bit carefree, a bit untidy, and we shouldn't be too kaypoh."

Ngiam added that civil servants can be more creative within the rules if the government does not regulate and structure them too much -- and their ability to do so gives them greater confidence and self-assurance of the work they do.

"We need to start having greater confidence in ourselves," he said, adding that talent from overseas should not dwarf the achievements that Singaporeans have attained.

"Singaporeans have to drive the car ourselves. We have to raise our own competence and be in the driving seat. If you just outsource, subcontract, you know how to order takeout but you can't cook an omelette -- I think we are dead... there is no future for Singapore.

"We have done it (turned Singapore's economy from a labour-intensive to a knowledge-intensive one) ourselves. Why have we lost our confidence? This is the question we must ask ourselves," he said.