 For years, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) has been actively championing programs that look after the needs of businesses in Singapore. Interestingly, such programs have helped spark innovations and increase productivity of many industries, and one such program is the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit (SFEC).
The SFEC encourages businesses to invest in enterprise transformation and capabilities of their employees. Eligible employers will receive a one-off S$10,000 credit to cover up to 90% of out-of-pocket expenses on qualifying costs for supportable initiatives, over and above the support levels of existing grants and funding scheme. This financial scheme comprises of two parts: (i) enterprise transformation and (ii) workforce transformation. Each of the transformation initiatives is backed by SFEC supportable programmes. Under enterprise transformation are the supportable programmes such as enterprise development grant (EDG), enterprise leadership for transformation programme (ELT), market readiness assistance (MRA), productivity solutions grants (PSG), business improvement fund (BIF), and aviation development fund (ADF). On the contrary, workforce transformation involves the following namely: skills framework-aligned course, career conversion programme, rank-and-file place-and-train programmes, support for job redesign consultancy under productivity solutions grants (PSG-JR), job redesign initiatives, and training industry professionals in tourism (TIP-iT). To encourage employers to embark on both enterprise and workforce transformation programmes in tandem, S$3,000 of the credit can be used for workforce transformation programmes only. Hence, employers can only use up to S$7,000 of the credit for enterprise transformation. There is no cap on the amount that can be used for workforce transformation. Companies should note that: a. There is no need to apply for SFEC. Your credit will be automatically used on supportable programmes that you have applied for. b. Companies will have to meet the eligibility criteria of the individual SFEC-supportable programmes before they can draw down the credit. Through SFEC, various businesses were able to push through with their company plans and endeavors, consequently, contributing to the sustained economic growth of the country. To know more about this scheme, please visit this website. Companies can check if they are eligible by following the instructions set out here. Image: https://www.freepik.com/vectors/teamwork-people |