Starting business in Singapore – September 30th, 2014
Rangarajan Narayanamohan
Senior Partner & Business Advisor ( Natarajan & Swaminathan)
starting a business – Formalities
1. Constitution Of The Business
2. Home Entrepreneur Scheme
3. Naming The Business
4. CR Registration Number
5. GST Registration
6. Licensing Requirements www.business.gov.sg
7. Intellectual Property
8. Trademark & Logos
9. The web based guide for starting a business www.ecitizen.gov.sg/business
10. Insurance
11. Professional Consultants
Constitution of the Business
Sole proprietor
Partnership
Private Limited Company
Limited Liability partnership
Home Entrepreneur Scheme : Singapore
11,400 homes are used as office
90% – 13,000 applications approved HDB apartment www.hdb.gov.sg
10% of 1,000 application approved Private Apartment www.ura.gov.sg
3 year permit is granted
Not involving more than 2 people, who don’t live at the registered office address
Who will be my customer?
Why will they want to use my service?
How often will they use my service?
Who will be my competitors and what are they charging?
What can I charge to make profit?
10 Ways to Grow Home Based Business
1. Focus on a single product or service, and then market it, sell it, promote it—do everything you can to increase sales of that one product or service.
2. Expand your product line to offer complementary products or services
3. Find ways to increase sales to your existing customers
4. Hire someone to help you out—an employee, a freelancer, an intern, an independent contractor, even your kids
5. Create a Web site to advertise your company or sell products online
6. Join forces with another business to promote your company
7. Target other markets
8. Find new and different ways to market your business through e-mail newsletters or by doing guest-speaking gigs or by teaching a class
9. Expand to another location
10. Think about turning your business into a franchise or business opportunity
Name as you like it
CR Registration Number
www.traderegister.gov.sg/crnum.html
GST Registration
www.iras.gov.sg
Licensing Requirements
www.business.gov.sg
Intellectual Property
Patent
Copyright
Trademark
Service mark
Registered Design
Geographical Indications
Trade Secret or Information that has commercial value
Layout Designs
Formulas
LOGO
E-Commerce
Website, web store & web order
Starting a business online offers many attractions
It is relatively cheap, fast & fuss free
It saves you from Singapore’s expensive rental rates
The world is your market
Your online shop is open for 24 hours
You can keep your full time job until you are ready to start your own business.
Online Business
You can have a successful online business. Just make sure you follow the same rules as a brick-and-mortar company
Insurance
Insurance coverage for small business
Business property insurance
Liability insurance
Workers compensation insurance
Other insurance coverage
Life insurance
Financing Your Business
1. Self financing/ Boot strapping
2. Friends & Relatives
3. Angel Investors
4. Venture Capital
5. Banks & Financial Institutions
6. Going For Listing- Public Subscription of Shares
SME Funding – Govt Funding & Grants
Angel Investors
Angel investors are typically high net worth individuals who invest their own money in new business.
They expect high returns – often more than 100% – for bearing the risk of losing all their money should the early stage of business venture fails to take off.
Venture Capital
Venture capital is an important source of equity to start up companies
Venture capitalist will help companies to grow but they eventually seek to exit the investment in 3 to 7 years
Venture capital is the money provided by professionals who invest alongside management in young, rapidly growing companies that have the potential to develop into significant economic contributors.
Venture capitalist specialize in their investment by sectors like PHARMA, ELECTRONICS, LIFE SCIENCES, SOFTWARE, HARDWARE industries.
Venture capitalist also specialize in investing in early stages of start up, mezzanine stage, third round or final.
Exit Route : Merger or acquisitions, IPO or settling their interest to the management.
Start Up’s Financing Option
BUSINESS ANGELS SCHEME
GROWTH FINANCING PROGRAMME
MICRO LOAN SCHEME
START-UP ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT SCHEME (SEEDS)
SME’s Financing Option
LOAN INSURANCE SCHEME
LOCAL ENTERPRISE FINANCE SCHEME
MICRO LOAN PROGRAMME
Home Office Scheme
1. Home Office Scheme was introduced during the year 2003 and since its introduction its introduction about 21000 applications have been approved (95% are for public housing and 5% are for private housing)
2. Applications are approved subject to certain conditions such as having low rise levels and not involving selling physical goods
3. Companies primarily engaged in IT consultation, web design, advertising and real estate services are going for home office scheme
4. For more information on the scheme call
1. HDB service hotline 1800-2255432
2. URA customer hotline 62234811
5. Private residential apartments are now constructed as SOHO – Small Office Home Office concept
Running Your Business Successfully
HINTS TO RUN A BUSINESS
HINTS TO STRENGTHEN YOUR BUSINESS
10 WAYS TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS
10 GOLDEN RULES TO RUN A BUSINESS
7 STEPS FOR GENERATING NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
MANAGER OR LEADER
Hints to run a business
How to make use of FTA’s
E-Commerce
Value Adding v Value Creation
Hints to Strengthen your business
Corporate branding/Image
Customers
Cash-flow and credit
Competency (core competency)
Control
Communication
Staff
Share holders
Other stakeholders
Courage and conviction
10 ways to build your business
Get testimonials
Use articles instead of ads
Give something away
Get referrals
Exchange endorsements
Give examples
Personalize your marketing
Reduce perceived risk
Make contact easy
Stay in touch
A cautionary Tale
• Keep your business afloat by being alert at all times.
• Being alert and knowing when to act can avert disaster.
• When things appear to be going smoothly, people can become complacent or compromise on important issues. Managers must always anticipate crisis and have a plan in place.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING:
If the lookout on Titanic’s crow nest, Mr Frederick Fleet, had seen the iceberg 10 seconds earlier, the ship would have been able to avoid hitting it.
The Golden Rule
1. Commitment to quality service
2. Know your products
3. Know your customers
4. Treat people with courtesy and respect
5. Never argue with customer
6. Don’t leave customers hanging
7. Always fulfill your promise
8. Assume that customers are telling truth
9. Focus on making customers and not making sales
10. Make it easy to buy