Singaporean SMEs Move Past COVID-19

Singapore, 30 December – 2020 has proven to be a ‘make or break’ year for SMEs across Singapore. With businesses ordered to close as the Circuit Breaker was implemented, the pressure was on for SMEs to adapt and change according to the economic climate.

What happens when a rock is being forced upon with pressures from all sides? It turns into a diamond. This metaphor can perfectly represent the twenty-seven (27) fast moving companies who were announced as winners of the SME100 Awards 2020 Singapore.

These 27 “diamonds” were among the 225 Singaporean companies that were nominated for what is the highest accolade for SMEs across Southeast Asia. The SME100 is organised by SME Magazine, with the support of AMCHAM, ORBA and LSCMA. Crowe Singapore served as official auditors.

Among recipients were Deelish Brands Pte Ltd, Inter Island Manpower Pte Ltd, T One Capital Pte Ltd and Valency International Pte Ltd; all receiving the awards for the first time.

Despite the challenging economy, SME100 continued to adopt one of the most stringent evaluation criteria for all nominees. The 5-step process included both qualitative and quantitative analysis, as well as a 100 percent interview requirement.

“2020 is an extraordinary year for SMEs. Most SMEs, however, are already looking past Covid-19. Many have now repositioned their companies for recovery post-pandemic”, said William Ng, group publisher and editor-in-chief of Business Media International, the owners of SME Magazine.

SMEs in Services Continue to Shine

For every year since the introduction of the SME100 in Singapore, the Professional and Business Services sector has been consistently the top performers among SMEs in Singapore. It remains the top industry in 2020, accounting for a whopping 37% of the SME100 winners. This is followed by the ICT and Telecommunication sector, account for 11% of this year’s winners.

“SMEs in Singapore have proven once again that they are a resilient lot. The Government would do well to continue investing in and facilitating the growth of our SMEs, as this pandemic has again shown how our SMEs have kept the economy above water, in a year when larger companies took a beating”, Ng added.

Table 1: SME100 in Brief

WINNERS LIST – SME100 AWARDS 2020 SINGAPORE