10 Things I Got Wrong Setting Up Shop In Singapore

During Singapore’s Prime Minister National Day Rally speech for 2010 a few days ago, he spoke about the need for more foreign talent. In the realm of entrepreneurship and with encouraging foreigners to come here and set up businesses, Singapore has made itself very business-friendly and continually woos incubators and successful entrepreneurs to move here.

While we have spoken to many foreign entrepreneurs who did run startups in Singapore (here and here), British entrepreneur and investor, Hugh Mason who relocated to Singapore full time with his young family back in January 2009 recently wrote a piece with certain takeaways that foreigners might want to be aware of when coming to Singapore.

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Hugh Mason writes…

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Next month marks the fourth anniversary of an invitation from Singapore’s Media Development Authority to mentor media businesses here. That invitation ultimately changed my life and led me to bring my family to this fascinating island. Three colleagues thinking of setting up businesses in Singapore have all asked me what I’d learned from my experience this week, so I made a list of what I’d do differently if I had 20-20 hindsight.

I’m a firm believer that, when things go well in life, you learn little. The tough times have provided most learning for me setting up an independent business in Singapore. So instead of making a list of ten things that have worked out, I’m going to list the things I’d do differently were I arriving again.

What follows is an incomplete work-in-progress by a newcomer to Singapore. I don’t for a minute claim that I can adequately sum up the country that I’ve chosen to make home in a few short sentences. If you’re local, please comment and correct me, accepting that I write in good faith.

1. GET A LOCAL PARTNER

My first mistake was that I didn’t seek out local people for the initial team I put together here. There is so much depth to the culture that local insight is essential on many levels. Singaporeans all know someone who was at school with a friend, or they did National Service with someone, who knows someone that you need to contact. The bonds that NS forges seem recognised as one of the strongest arguments put forward to continue it here.

Interconnection is one of Singapore’s social strengths and, lacking those connections, it’s easy to get left out from opportunities, not through active discrimination but simply because it will be assumed that you know what’s going on through one of the informal networks.

It’s natural for westerners to be drawn to other westerners when they first arrive. However, just because someone’s been in Asia for years and perhaps even married someone born here, that doesn’t mean they know how to get anything done. There’s a harsh but true colonial-era expression summed up by the acronym FILTH (Failed in London, try HongKong) which still applies. Westerners come to Asia for many reasons … one of which is that they don’t fit in back home. Beware.

2. COMMITMENT

When I started out, I imagined that by being here for, say, one week in four, we could keep costs down and still be part of what is going on. That just doesn’t work. People invite you to events with just a few days notice and, unless you turn up and do the networking, you don’t get connected.

It’s not just a matter of logistics and short notice. It’s about showing commitment and giving face to new friends. When you are asked at the start of every initial meeting:

How long have you been in Singapore?

… the question really being asked is:

How long are you staying?

… and it helps to answer that explicitly. It takes energy to build a relationship of trust anywhere. Locals and experienced expats in Singapore will put more energy into something that is likely to last, just like anywhere else.

3. JOIN THE CLUB … NO NOT THAT CLUB

I personally haven’t found it necessary to join one of the expensive clubs mostly peopled by expats, some of which are still quite stuffy. Jackets and ties are rarely worn in Singapore yet the underlying culture of business remains traditional. The sense of being part of things still matters.

As everywhere, people want to know who they are dealing with. This island has a history of people coming and going and trying to make a quick buck since 1819. Carpetbaggers are welcome to spend their money in Singapore, but the community won’t buy from them.

In particular, government agencies are acutely sensitive to the risk of foreigners taking public subsidies and then disappearing off with them. It has happened, so it helps immensely to create confidence with officials if you present your proposals as a genuine collaboration with local people who are present alongside you.

I didn’t fully internalise the message that regular face to face meetings really matter when I first arrived. Singaporeans love networking and it is relatively easy to get introduced to whoever you would like to see – at least once. Strangely, the country is such a common stopover destination that it can actually be easier to meet hard-to-reach westerners here than when they are at home.

Were I coming to Singapore again I’d make more use of the numerous trade associations where people in particular sectors congregate to explore common interests, even if they might compete in other areas of their working lives. Become a committee member of one of these organisations and you have a plausible reason to contact anyone.

I could attend several work-related events every night if I wanted to. It’s not just because Singaporeans like meeting new friends and contacts. Having business partners who feel like they are a consistent part of the same groups you know is a very traditional way of gaining confidence that they will be honest with you. It’s a small island and word gets around quickly.

On which subject … trade associations are also often the channels through which government agencies informally explore ideas and canvas informal opinion, because they are neutral and talking with them doesn’t run the risk of being accused of giving special access in the way that inviting meetings with individual companies might.

4. GOVERNMENT REALLY IS HANDS-ON

It took me a while to realise how profoundly interconnected business and government are here.

Singaporean government agencies are rightly concerned that businesses should be independent and that they do not become semi-detached organs of the public sector living from one subsidised project to another. That is a hard balance to achieve on a small, highly-interconnected island, a strength of which is its ability to direct strong policy from the centre.

The hands-on nature of government makes it easy to inadvertently run across someone’s plan, or to leave out people who could help make your own plan move forward. Were I arriving again, I would create more opportunities to informally discuss my ideas one-on-one with civil servants. I would do more of what we did to launch JFDI.asia, where we published our plans openly and invited comment, making it clear that we did not want to duplicate what was already being done and instead would prefer to partner with organisations that shared our values.

Of course, you can’t make an omelette without cracking eggs and (mixing my metaphors) you are bound to step on a few toes when you start to dance. Here, as everywhere, there are folk who seek to build private empires. They don’t want to build win-win solutions and won’t collaborate. However, a surprising number of people and organisations are very open to collaboration if you listen to their priorities first and only then politely explain how your ideas complement rather than threaten them. The best way of all to strike a deal is for such an organisation to discover what you are already doing and decide it wants to jump on your bandwagon.

…continue reading the full piece at Hugh’s blog.

This piece has been republished with the author’s permission but we have only extracted the first part as it’s a really long read!

Image Credit: SarahDepper

About The Author

After reading Physics at Bath University, Hugh became a science TV producer with BBC and later set up Invincible Films, a successful independent TV production business making primetime shows for broadcasters around the world in addition to large-format digital media content for science centres. In 2001, he co-founded Pembridge Partners to provide finance and advice to marketing, media and technology companies. Hugh moved to Singapore with his family in 2009 where he works with a wide variety of marketing, media, and technology enterprises to help their owners create, build and realise value. He also co-founded and is CEO of JFDI.asia, a digital business seed accelerator.

Hugh’s writes at his personal blog and can be found on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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