Mapping entrepreneurship

Connectivity among Singapore tech entrepreneurs has increased, averaging an annual growth of 24 per cent over the last five years, placing Singapore in a comparable position vis-à-vis New York, another entrepreneurial hotspot.

The joint research project by NUS Enterprise and Endeavor Insight, the research arm of Endeavor, which mentors selected high-impact entrepreneurs globally, found that the connections such as investments, mentorship, inspiration, employee spinouts and serial entrepreneurship, helped to sustain the development of the local start-up ecosystem.

The study also found that more than half of the start-up founders who were locally educated had leveraged a local university accelerator programme, with a quarter of them hailing from the NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) programme. Professor Wong Poh Kam, Director of NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, who co-led the research, said, “Almost one out of three of the NUS alumni-founded companies were founded by those who went on the NUS Overseas Colleges programme. This is significantly higher than the proportion of NUS Overseas Colleges graduates from the NUS pool.”

NOC alumni also demonstrated higher connectivity on all dimensions than other founders. Interestingly, much of the growth seen in the country’s tech scene can be traced back to a number of influential entrepreneurs, including NOC alumni Darius Cheung and Royston Tay, who have inspired a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Building upon the TechSG information platform (www.techsg.io), managed by NUS Enterprise, the “Singapore Tech Entrepreneurs’ Network Map” study included views from more than 200 entrepreneurs who among them, have founded some 335 Singapore start-ups.

One of the panellists is NUS alumna Ms Lim Qing Ru, co-founder of Zopim, who spoke of the challenges which female entrepreneurs faced and urged attendees to consider ventures which sought to reduce income inequality. Wrapping up the discussion, Prof Wong gave his take on some of the current gaps in the system, such as lack of connections with emerging markets, as well as a shortage of partnerships between large companies and start-ups.

Ms Lim (third from right) speaking at the panel discussion, with (from left) Prof Wong; Ms Shirley Wong, Managing Partner, TNF Ventures; Ms Lim Seow Hui, Deputy Director, Partnership Office, Innovation Internationalisation & Entrepreneurship, SPRING Singapore; Ms Lili Török, Associate, Endeavor Insight; and Ms Beth Robertson, Manager, Endeavor Global