Entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to enhance efficiency in the workplace. Teamwork, increased marketing and use of technology are some of the strategies entrepreneurs employ in order to boost productivity. But what if there was a grant that not only helped boost your business productivity but also helped simplify your workflow and put you in control of your workload! Well, the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) is one such grant as it offers 80% funding support to SMEs to improve their technology equipment and solutions. 

What’s the PSG Grant? 

The Productivity Solutions Grant is an incentive by the Singaporean government to boost and support small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) to help them embrace information technology and digital solutions to improve their business processes.  

It covers sector-specific solutions touching on different areas such as logistics, landscaping, construction, precision engineering, retail and food industries just to mention a few. Moreover, the PSG also supports solutions that transcend industries in areas of data analytics, inventory tracking and financial management.  

What’s new? 

The government, through the supplementary budget 2020 increased the Productivity Solutions Grant from 70% funding to 80%. This increase in funding is geared towards motivating businesses to continue with their productivity and digitalization improvement efforts. The range of generic solutions was also extended to enable businesses to implement COVID-19 preventive measures such as; queue management systems, temperature screening solutions, online collaboration tools and virtual telephone and meeting tools among others. 

Who is Eligible? 

The Productivity Solutions Grant is accessible to all SMEs operating and registered in Singapore with at least 30 per cent local shareholders. For you to access this grant, your company or business must demonstrate that the IT equipment or solutions are going to be used in Singapore.

How to Apply 

Application for the PSG is done through the Business Grants Portal. 

To access this portal, you will need to have a CorpPass account, which is a platform that allows for corporate transactions on the government’s digital services. 

After you have created your account, the next step is to identify a solution that best fits your business plans.  

The next step after selecting your preferred solution is to contact the vendor for a quotation. For Information technology solutions, you will need to seek quotations from authorized vendors, while for the equipment, you’ll have to find a source for it and get a quote from the vendor. 

After you have received the quotations from the vendors, the next thing is filling the PSG application form. The form is available on the business portal and is accessible through login.  Once you’ve filled out the form, you can then submit it together with the quote through the portal. 

It takes roughly 6 weeks for the application to be evaluated. Once it is approved, you will receive a notification through email. You are required to accept the application within 31 days. 

Disbursement is made once you’ve submitted all claims, purchased the solution and paid the expenses.  Also, remember that the Productivity Solutions Grant is applicable only to IT solutions that your business or company doesn’t currently have. 

PSG Authorized Vendors 

With numerous pre-approved vendors for the PSG, it can be quite challenging to settle on one.  The most effective way of choosing the ideal vendor is by first identifying your business needs. For instance, do you need assistance in human resources, cyber-security or accounting? Once you have decided on what exactly you want, it becomes very easy to go through the list and select a suitable vendor

Conclusion 

You no longer have to worry about insufficient business funds or lack of expertise. With productivity grants, the government has made it possible for you to access IT solutions and equipment that can significantly strengthen your processes and boost your business productivity. The grants have less stringent requirements which make them accessible to almost every small and medium-sized business enterprises and the application process is rather straightforward. 

Always remember that an ‘adequately advanced technology is inseparable from magic’ embrace it today and see your business grow.