By April Chong

SPRING Singapore unveiled a $12.5 million fund yesterday that will give young entrepreneurs up to $50,000 in seed money to start their own business.

The Young Entrepreneurs Scheme for Startups, or YES! Startups, is designed to stimulate innovations among Singaporean youths, said Mr Lee Yi Shyan, the Minister of State for Trade and Industry.

He said he hoped the new programme will 'discover the future Googles, Yahoos and Facebooks of Singapore'.

The fund was announced at the opening of the inaugural Global Entrepreneurship Week yesterday, an event designed to celebrate and promote innovation and creativity.

Administered by the enterprise development agency, the new fund will be drawn from the $25 million Entrepreneurial Talent Development Fund launched four years ago.

YES! Startups extends existing schemes for students and alumni of tertiary institutions to all Singaporeans or permanent residents aged 26 or under.

Each youth venture may get $4 for every $1 the company raises itself, up to $50,000.

The programme is hoping to support another 250 new ventures over the next five years. To date, 48 ventures involving 120 youths from polytechnics and universities have already tapped into existing financing schemes.

Mr Lee, who is also the minister in charge of entrepreneurship, noted that the number of start-ups increased to 6,700 in 2006 from 5,400 in 2002.

He said those numbers are an indication that the spirit of entrepreneurship is flourishing in Singapore.

That is especially important as some of the country's biggest employers feel the pinch of the global economic downturn, which has seen the Republic enter recession territory.

'Entrepreneurial qualities, such as resilience, a can-do attitude and relentless efforts to get it right, will not only see us through the crisis, but also help us emerge stronger than before,' Mr Lee said.

The inaugural Global Entrepreneurship Week will run till Sunday.

It will feature 40 events organised by a National University of Singapore entrepreneurship association, NUS Enterprise, and Action Community for Entrepreneurship, in partnership with 30 schools, business associations and private companies.

The new fund complements a programme, YES! Schools, which was launched last month. It provides funding for secondary schools, junior colleges, ITEs, centralised institutes and polytechnics to put in place structured entrepreneurship programmes for their students.

Interested applicants for YES! Startups grants may refer to the website, www.spring.gov.sg

Hopefuls must meet the following criteria:

• Singaporean or permanent resident;
• 26 years old or younger at the time of application;
• First-time entrepreneur;
• They must incorporate a Singapore- registered private limited company; and
• Parental consent must be sought for those under 18 years.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on November 19, 2008.