DBS Bank gives USD 278,000 in project grants to 4 social enterprises in Singapore

DBS Bank will give SGD 340,000 (USD 278,000) in project grants to 4 social enterprises. The money is part of SGD 1 million (USD 818,000) that will be doled out by the bank to worthy projects. DBS will also provide process improvement expertise to help the businesses expand. Read more

Singapore on the cusp of becoming an NFC-enabled nation; thousands of merchants involved

Previously, we’ve written that 2012 could be a big year for Near-field Communication Technology. Today, Singapore has taken a big step towards making it happen.

Gemalto, a global digital security company that is leading an NFC consortium in Singapore, has announced that it is finally ready to launch a slew of NFC-enabled mobile payment services.

The consortium, which consists of Citibank, DBS, EZ-Link, and all three mobile operators in Singapore — M1, SingTel, and StarHub,  is supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

If you’re hazy on what NFC is, it is essentially a technology that, among other uses, turns smartphones into mobile wallets. It essentially eliminates the need to bring out physical wallets and credit cards. Read more

High transaction fees and poor customer service from business banks frustrate entrepreneurs

What cheeses off entrepreneurs the most about business banks in Singapore? To find out, we did an informal poll on Facebook and got some answers: a huge chunk highlighted cost transaction fees as a bugbear, while poor service attitude and slow response times received a lot of enthusiastic nods.

We got a hint of these concerns from another group of entrepreneurs we surveyed a while ago. Many of them have been held back by long waiting times and queries that went buried. My own experience with UOB wasn’t ecstasy either. I attempted to contact them an entire Friday afternoon, and they virtually ignored me.

For overworked entrepreneurs who don’t have a lot of time to waste, such service standards are unacceptable. So I spoke to a few more entrepreneurs to find out what they have to say. Their responses below. Read more

OCBC bank most popular among S’pore start-ups, but it’s probably not the best

Do Singapore banks measure up in the eyes of start-up entrepreneurs?

In Singapore, it looks like OCBC is the most popular bank among start-up entrepreneurs for creating a business account. That is the result of a poll SGE did on Facebook and LinkedIn in which 127 entrepreneurs responded.

Here’s what we asked them: “As a start-up founder in Singapore, which bank do you go to and set up your local account?”

Actually, OCBC is the leading bank by a mile at 45 percent of the respondents. The others, DBS (17 percent), UOB (15 percent), and Standard Chartered (13 percent), were not even close.

With such a yawning gap, it’s easy to assume that OCBC is the best choice for every entrepreneur — but that’s not necessary the case. To find out more, we dug a little deeper, speaking to entrepreneurs and comparing the different banks ourselves. Read more

Singapore’s DBS bank offers bank accounts for startups

Called the DBS Entrepreneur’s Account for Start-ups, the bank account offers certain services at no cost as well as discounts on a business insurance plan, reported Channel NewsAsia on 13 July. Read more

51st ACE BlueSky Exchange – 26 Jul

Before July ends, Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE) and The Business Times (BT) – SME Magazine will organize the 51st ACE BlueSky Exchange. At this session, the audience can get a clearer picture of how the global economy will pan out, refine their strategies to achieve corporate objectives. Two of Singapore’s top economist, David Carbon of DBS and Song Seng Wun of CIMB Research will share their outlook on how the global economic landscape can impact local businesses in the next 12-18 months. Read more

Meet The Founders Of Butter Factory And Sample Store – 27 May

Dynamic individuals such as the founders of popular club The Butter Factory, Sample Store and Master Franchise (Singapore) of Marble Slab Creamery will gather to share their stories on entrepreneurship – discover the challenges they faced and gain insights into how they turned their business ideas into success stories. As a part of The Entrepreneur’s Challenge 2011, Ngee Ann Alumni (NAA) and DBS invite youths to come to “Be Your Own Boss: Hear The Voice of Success” seminar. Read more