When Mr Steven Low was retrenched two years ago from his sous chef job at Meritus Mandarin hotel, he received calls from hotels in Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines with job offers the very next day.
But the man credited for helping to create the famous Chatterbox chicken rice had already made up his mind to be his own boss.
He took the pink slip, the $20,000 payout for his 31 years of service and his winning recipe to start a stall selling - what else - chicken rice.
'It was a blessing in disguise. It came at the right time,' said Mr Low, 53, who was already harbouring thoughts of venturing out on his own when the axe fell.
With only the hard-earned experience of running a kitchen but not a business, the early days were, he admitted, 'a struggle'.
'There were so many things to worry about: whether customers would come, doing the sums, inventory issues,' he said.
On that first count, at least, he didn't have to worry. Loyal patrons followed him to his humble stall in a foodcourt at Downtown East in Pasir Ris.
Last April, he expanded his business, Mr Chicken Rice, into a 1,260 sq ft restaurant, also at Downtown East.
Retrenchment may be the biggest fear among employees in this gloomy climate, but it could also be a driver for entrepreneurship, said industry pundits.
While there are no statistics, Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (Asme) president Lawrence Leow said that anecdotally, those made redundant in the current downturn are more open to starting their own business.
'There does seem to be this trend. Maybe it is because of the pro-business environment the Government has been putting in place. In earlier downturns, the amount of incentives and pro-enterprise policies were not there yet,' he said.
Unemployment is just below 4 per cent now, with latest figures showing 2,346 workers retrenched in the third quarter of last year.
Last week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he expects more retrenchments in the next few months.
He promised that the upcoming Budget on Jan 22 will focus on protecting jobs and helping companies stay afloat, while encouraging new businesses to grow.
MP Inderjit Singh is confident that many business opportunities will surface during this downturn and urged those retrenched or self-starters to look for them in the region too.
'The basis of starting a business should not be out of desperation, but rather, because you see opportunities. If you say, 'I'll try my luck', then that's risky,' he said.
A recession can be a good time to start a business since costs are low. Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson and Cisco Systems are some companies that were founded in downturns.
And there are various public funding schemes available to start-ups from government agencies like Spring Singapore, International Enterprise Singapore and the Economic Development Board, said Mr Singh, who is deputy chairman of the Action Community for Entrepreneurship, a public-private partnership movement which champions entrepreneurship.
Spring Singapore's Start-up Enterprise Development Scheme (Seeds), for instance, matches dollar- for-dollar investments by start-ups up to $1 million.
New businesses may also not have such a hard time getting a bank loan since they do not have issues with historical losses, said Asme's Mr Leow.
'Those facing problems with loans are companies whose accounts are not healthy. For start-ups, you are starting afresh and banks will likely be looking at your personal record instead,' he said.
A severance package, which typically ranges from two weeks' to one month's salary for every year of service, will also come in handy.
Human resource consultancy Right Management, which runs entrepreneurship workshops for those retrenched in its outplacement programme, said those who had attended were most concerned about the viability of their business and the financial risks.
Mr Low's advice to those thinking about starting their own business: 'Don't think that much. The more you think, the more fear you'll have.'
But, he added: 'You will need skills, perseverance and determination.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times on January 04, 2009.
