Why Entrepreneurs Like Singapore
Singapore is one of the most popular choices for setting up a business when entrepreneurs are deciding to venture overseas. The strong social, economic and legislative foundations supported Singapore’s position as a leading world class business hub. Many accolades and key statistics corroborated with the position of Singapore as a leading global player in the business environment.
Report and Studies | Indicator | Ranking |
---|---|---|
World Bank Report – Doing Business 2018 | Measures the ease of conducting business | # 2 in the world # 1 in Asia |
WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2017-2018 | Measures the competitiveness of the economy | # 3 in the world # 1 in Asia |
WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2017-2018 – Labour Market Efficiency | Measures the efficiency and flexibility of the labour market | # 2 in the world |
WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2017-2018 – Goods Market Efficiency | Measures how well positioned the goods market can produce the right product & service mix to facilitate effective trading in the economy. | # 1 in the world |
IMD World Digital Competitiveness Report 2017 | Measuring an economy’s ability to adopt and explore digital technologies leading to transformation in government practices, business models and society in general | # 1 in the world |
WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2017-2018 – Higher Education and Training | Measures the level of higher education and training | # 1 in the world |
Transparency International – Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2016 | Transparency International – Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2016 | # 7 least corrupted in the world # 1 least corrupted in Asia |
From the results of the above indicators and studies, Singapore has excelled in most of the major macro factors entrepreneurs will most likely take into consideration when deciding on the choice of location to start a business.
In the last decade, the Singapore government has introduced a slew of incentives and pro-business policies to encourage business growth. New companies are granted a 3 year tax incentive period under the Tax Exemption Scheme for New Start Up Companies whereby qualifying companies are granted full tax exemption on the first $100,000 of chargeable income earned in each of the first 3 tax years of the Company.
Various innovation and productivity schemes and grants are widely available to local Companies and businesses, These schemes and grants, administered by Spring Singapore, aim to encourage innovation via government subsidies. The scheme generally offers up to 70% cost subsidies or a fixed sum for low to moderate productivity investments.
Such pro-business measures, together with the increasingly positive entrepreneurial sentiments in the country, has resulted in a surge in company and business formation over the last 3 years.
Statistics on Companies and Business Formation in Singapore
YEAR | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Company Formation | 24,037 | 23,713 | 24,386 | 27,642 | 29,987 | 31,741 | 34,976 | 38,484 | 34,243 | 35,227 |
LLP Formation | 1,866 | 1,614 | 2,028 | 2,156 | 2,321 | 2,211 | 2,312 | 3,104 | 2,100 | 2,431 |
Business & Partnership Formation | 23,813 | 24,535 | 26,801 | 23,901 | 23,447 | 22,780 | 22,891 | 35,774 | 28,546 | 27,262 |
Total Formation | 49,716 | 49,862 | 53,215 | 53,699 | 55,755 | 56,732 | 60,179 | 77,362 | 64,889 | 64,920 |
Source: Department of Statistics Singapore |