PM uses Creative to drive home his point

ENCOURAGE NEVER-SAY-DIE SPIRIT OF TECHNOPRENEURS

PRIME Minister Goh Chok Tong yesterday used the success story of homegrown multimedia company, Creative Technology, to explain why Singapore must try to encourage more people to be entrepreneurs despite the risks.

Speaking at the opening of the company's new corporate headquarters in Jurong East, he said chairman Sim Wong Hoo beat the odds to build a company that has become a world leading provider of multimedia products and personal computer products.

At one time, the company was on the brink of financial disaster because of an ill-timed venture into CD-ROM drive production, but Mr Sim bit the bullet and revamped the company.

Today, its stocks are considered an attractive investment.

Mr Goh said that as a tiny nation in a competitive world, Singapore must embody the never-say-die spirit of technology entrepreneurs, or technopreneurs, like Mr Sim, to survive.

He said technopreneurship is a risky enterprise and not for the faint-hearted and the easily discouraged. But it promises immense personal satisfaction and lucrative rewards.

It is not easy, he conceded, to nurture an entrepreneurial spirit and spark bright ideas and innovations.

"Some people claim that it would be impossible to do so, and that you either have it or not have it. Yet, the Government must try."

He said attitudes must change. Singaporeans are seen as not willing to take risks because society has a low threshold for failure.

As a result, few bankers want to lend money for new ventures.

"We have to change our attitude towards entrepreneurs. Our society must be more tolerant of those who tried and failed.

"We may have to review bankruptcy laws to see how they can be more forgiving to those who failed in business and to give them a second chance."

To create an environment that encourages entrepreneurship, the Government will also look into how it can remove some of the rules and obstacles that have been cited as inhibiting the blossoming of an entrepreneurial spirit.

For example, technopreneurs have trouble raising funds and it has been suggested that the authorities set up a financial institution dedicated to funding knowledge-intensive industries.

The Government has also been asked to cut rentals for office and research space and relax rules barring Housing Board flats from being used for business.

A committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan will work out the strategies to promote technopreneurship.

Mr Goh said that a pool of entrepreneurial start-ups in the knowledge-intensive industry will complement Singapore's strength in manufacturing and services.

These companies will create new businesses to serve not only the region, but also the global market.

He said that like all entrepreneurs, the Government too has "to experiment, take risks and suffer knocks".

"Everything is always impossible before it works. That is what entrepreneurs are all about -- doing what people have told them is impossible.

"This is what the Government will try to do and foster -- creating a technopreneur class."