SINGAPORE – 84.3 per cent of the 30,292 school candidates who sat for the 2016 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O-Level) examination attained 5 or more passes, setting a new record in three decades.

This year’s results is also the fifth consecutive year where the record has been broken, with 2015’s cohort of 29,723 students attaining an 83.8 per cent mark.

“(The results of the 2016 GCE O-Level examination) are comparable to that of 2015,” the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board said in a joint statement on Wednesday (Jan 11).

96.5 per cent of 2016’s cohort managed to attain at least three passes, MOE and SEAB added.

The results for the 1,865 private candidates with at least one pass dipped slightly to 90.2 per cent, down from 90.5 per cent.

This year’s cohort includes 44 student-inmates who studied for their ‘O’ levels while serving their sentences.

Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs Mr Amrin Amin highlighted these 44 inmates in a Facebook post: “I was at Tanah Merah Prison (TMP) last week and met our Prison School teachers and students.

“Some (of the 44 inmates) are in their early 40s, never too old to learn,” the Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC added.

“They have worked hard, value-added in many ways. I am happy to see there are good education opportunities in our prisons – every school is a good school, this school too!”

In an earlier Facebook post, Minister for Education (Schools) Ng Chee Meng urged students to be continually challenging their limits and remain curious throughout their learning journey.

grongloh@sph.com.sg

IN A world of increasing uncertainty and protectionism, changes in the digital space and the rise of the Millennials will be key challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) here, said economists from United Overseas Bank at their 2017 outlook briefing.

These two areas are bigger concerns for Singapore to tackle even as the spotlight lately tends to be on the global economic slowdown and policy changes in the West, according to UOB chief economist Jimmy Koh.

This comes on the back of changes in the digital space altering the physical world, and as Millennials become the consumer and labour force of the country.

While UOB economists expect the slowdown in Asia to be protracted, it will be less severe than initially feared. Mr Koh described it as a “Goldilocks” situation – neither extremely hot nor cold – for the next few years.

But they say that there are still silver linings to be found in Asia, or more specifically ASEAN.

Mr Koh said Asia is less dependent on what happens in the US and Europe. In fact, more activity is emerging out of South-east Asia, such as the ASEAN Economic Community, which he believes is the start of regional integration.

He also pointed out that ASEAN countries still have fiscal leverage when compared to developed countries, due to lower government debt.

Mr Koh said: “It’s very easy to become overly negative, especially in a long ‘Goldilocks’ environment like this. But I think in the global arena, we can see banking models changing from the West to the East, the rise in the middle income, the rise in intra-regional trade – all these bode well for Asia.”

On the Committee on the Future Economy (CFE) report expected later this month, Mr Koh expects two main fronts to be addressed, namely the structural slowdown and innovation.

He said that the key issue SMEs face in Singapore is cost. But this, in turn, forces traditional businesses to see how they can do things differently.

Mr Koh gave the example of a pest control company he encountered which decided to bring in drones to overcome safety and cost issues.

“It’s relooking the same product, the same business, but re-engineered and re-delivered to customers in a different way…

“We need more SMEs to think through these issues and to bring new value. It’s how we bring the business closer to the customer instead of the customer coming to you.”

Mr Alvin Liew, senior economist at UOB, added that cost is a concern not just for Singapore businesses, but for all developed economies.

“There is no cheap first world country. It’s how we try to manage it: transform, change the way we do things, and move up the value chain.”

This article was first published on Jan 11, 2017.
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Funding for startups is off to a strong start in the new year.

On Tuesday, three new funds were unveiled – Marvelstone Ventures, East Ventures and InseadAlum Ventures.

Marvelstone Ventures, the venture capital (VC) arm of Singapore-based private-investment group Marvelstone, has S$20 million in funds, The Business Times has learnt.

An “innovation enabler” and venture-building firm, Marvelstone Ventures will invest in Smart City technologies such as blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and fintech (financial technology).

Joel Ko, chief of Marvelstone Ventures, said: “We are open to all kinds of opportunities to work with investors, related partners and institutions in public and private sectors across Asia. I am looking forward to seeing the adoption of high-end innovation in emerging markets before spreading to the developed market.”

East Ventures, a Singapore-based VC firm, on Tuesday said that it has raised a US$27.5 million fund for tech startups in South-east Asia. This is the fifth fund by the 2010-founded VC firm, and will target more seed and Series A investment rounds.

East Ventures added that it expects to back about 20 startups this year, as with other years. Its investment philosophy has been to identify tech verticals that are poised to expand in their respective markets, and to back people whom it believes will be “future leaders of the space”.

To date, it has made early-stage bets on companies such as Indonesia’s online marketplace Tokopedia and travel site Traveloka, Singapore’s e-commerce platform Shopback and real estate portal 99.co, and Thailand-based payments startup Omise.

The third funding vehicle launched on Tuesday, InseadAlum Ventures, was founded by two Insead alumni.

The Singapore-based investment firm has raised S$1 million to invest in global, seed-stage startups co-founded by at least one former student of Insead.

InseadAlum Ventures will provide each startup with seed funding of between S$50,000 and S$200,000, mentorship, as well as access to Insead alumni and faculty networks.

Its first investment is in UK-based smart thermostat startup Switchee, where it participated in a £480,000 (S$838,906) seed round.

Switchee’s product is a smart, connected thermostat that learns a household’s energy routine, and turns the heating off when no one is home. It can also help homeowners detect mould growth and improve boiler servicing.

Meanwhile, Legalese, a homegrown startup aimed at automating legal services, has snagged S$600,000 in angel funding.

The round was led by VC firm Walden International, and joined by multiple angel investors.

Legalese said the capital will go into developing its first web application, which will enable users (startups or small and medium-sized enterprises) to generate, manage and execute fund-raising paperwork, including the main contract and all other ancillary and corporate documentation such as resolutions, waivers and notices.

“Instead of paying S$600 per hour for a lawyer to draft a contract, imagine getting the drafting for free. Instead, you might pay S$1 per signature, no matter what the contract was about. That’s the kind of business-model disruption that software promises the legal industry.”

Besides fund-raising contracts, Legalese plans to develop software for employment contracts, ESOP (employee stock options plan) agreements, shareholders’ agreements, NDAs (non-disclosure agreements), and IP rights assignments.

On Tuesday, local e-commerce supply-chain management firm iCommerce Asia reported that it has bagged S$2 million in pre-Series A funding.

It provides businesses with end-to-end e-commerce solutions ranging from logistics and warehouse management to store creation and digital content production, and counts Cotton On Group and Charles & Keith as its clients.

This article was first published on Jan 11, 2017.
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