By Michelle Tay

AND the entrepreneurial spirit of Singaporeans lives on. A recent survey has shown that despite the global economic downturn, Singaporeans are still relatively willing to take career risks compared with other markets.

Singaporean SME (small and medium enterprise) leaders also have a pretty high appetite for taking risks to grow their business. These trends are especially true of those aged between 20 and 40 years old.

Swiss Re, one of world's largest reinsurance companies, surveyed almost 5,000 consumers and business leaders across eight Asia Pacific countries earlier this year, to measure their risk appetites in the current recession. The countries include Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Cjina, Malaysia, India and Australia.

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