Here are 3 areas UOB-SMU Asian Enterprise Institute will target

The institute is the first of its kind in Asia.

In a release, United Overseas Bank (UOB) and the Singapore Management University (SMU) launched Asia’s first institute set up specifically to serve the needs of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

UOB has donated S$3 million to the new Institute and an additional S$2 million has been pledged by UOB’s Business Banking, Commercial Banking and Corporate Banking customers. A matching grant from the Ministry of Education will bring the total donation to S$10 million.

The UOB-SMU Asian Enterprise Institute will focus on three areas:

Business Consulting for SMEs
As part of the UOB-SMU Entrepreneurship Alliance, the forerunner to the new Institute, more than 560 senior-year SMU students provided consulting services to more than 170 companies. They worked on more than 220 SME business consulting projects in retail, lifestyle, education, construction, agriculture, manufacturing and waste management. The projects focused on a range of issues from finance,
management skills, marketing and branding to business expansion.

The new Institute will provide more SMEs with access to subsidised business consulting services especially to identify and address issues which could limit their growth. The Institute’s SME Consulting Programme is endorsed by SPRING Singapore, which will subsidise consulting projects that are in the areas of (i) market research/brand audit, (ii) market feasibility studies and (iii) brand strategies.

Research and Industry Insight
The Institute will also conduct Asia’s first biannual business intelligence survey to provide SMEs with:

1. in-depth commentary and analysis of the global and Asian economic outlook of SMEs in the region;
2. expansion strategies of SMEs in Asia; and
3. insight into the reality and opportunities found when SMEs venture beyond their home countries.

Knowledge Creation
In 2013, the UOB-SMU Asian Enterprise Institute will launch an online resource centre for SMEs to exchange ideas and to equip them with the right knowledge and tools for productivity enhancement and regional expansion.