Prime Highlights

• Lim said the AI tool turns a strategic culture assessment that normally costs thousands of dollars into an afternoon’s work for founders with no budget.
• Neo said Singapore’s SMEs make up 99% of enterprises and employ around 70% of the workforce, calling founders tomorrow’s employers.

Key Facts

• Initiative Singapore’s two-year CSR programme launched in the third week of August with Omnicom Media agency support.
• Only around 30% of Singapore’s nearly 4,000 homegrown tech startups succeed, according to Initiative.

Background

Initiative Singapore has launched a two-year corporate social responsibility programme aimed at helping local entrepreneurs, founders and small businesses use cultural insights and brand marketing expertise to grow their ventures. Called “The Growth Initiative”, the programme began in the third week of August, timed with World Entrepreneurs’ Day, and will see the Omnicom Media agency provide founders with tools and coaching to understand their brand’s place in culture and spot opportunities for growth.

The programme arrives as Singapore’s startup scene keeps expanding, with the city-state home to nearly 4,000 tech startups. Initiative noted that only about 30% of homegrown ventures succeed, since many founders lack access to the brand marketing and advertising expertise needed to turn strong products into consumer visibility.

The programme will run in two phases. In the first year, Initiative will introduce a self-serve, AI-powered tool called “The Growth Initiative Blueprint”, built to help founders assess their brand’s cultural position, audience resonance, and areas of momentum and growth potential. In the second year, the agency will act as growth coaches, working directly with participants to turn the Blueprint’s insights into practical marketing and business actions through two sessions a year.

Zachary Lim, managing director at Initiative Singapore, said the tool would let founders complete in an afternoon what would normally cost thousands of dollars through agencies or consultants, calling cultural positioning the foundation of real business growth.

Chloe Neo, CEO of Omnicom Media Singapore, said SMEs make up 99% of Singapore’s enterprises and employ around 70% of its workforce, adding that supporting founders today builds tomorrow’s employers and contributors to shared prosperity.