SPRING Singapore has launched a programme to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) pursue business excellence.
The new scheme - essentially a mentorship intiative - is aimed at improving their performance, from management to delivering superior results for customers and staff.
Each SME is paired with a mentor organisation, which is most likely a past winner of the Singapore Quality Award. This is one of Singapore's premier business awards which recognises organisations which have achieved world-class standards of excellence.
As mentor, the company will provide SMEs with advice on how to tackle various practical concerns they face.
These include improving service standards or the need to embrace innovation.
The enterprise development agency says the aim of the mentoring programme is to speed up the progress of businesses which are already working to lift their business standards.
'The mentor organisation will guide the SME to put in place a practical action that they can implement,' said Spring Singapore's chief executive, Mr Loh Khum Yean.
Spring will be piloting the programme with eight SMEs.
One of the mentors is Systems on Silicon Manufacturing, a chip foundry and a 2005 Singapore Quality Award winner, which has been helping Tru-marine, a general ship repairer, improve its service excellence capabilities.
