SINGAPORE (May 19): After having entered the workforce in a time of subdued economic conditions, Singapore’s millennials now face the responsibility of financially supporting an increasing number of older, non-working generations over the remainder of their working life.

Such a combination makes up the perfect storm for what HSBC calls the “worst retirement prospects of any generation”, according to a news release issued by the bank on Thursday.

HSBC’s latest report for the Future of Retirement series, Shifting sands, finds that only 8% of those surveyed in Singapore think millennials are in the best position to have a comfortable retirement, while 45% see baby boomers as most well-placed.

Over 18,000 people across 16 countries participated in HSBC’s global survey, while the country report represents the views of 1,007 people in Singapore.

For this report, millennials are defined as those born between 1980-1997; baby boomers refer to those born between the years of 1945-1965; and generation X is defined as those born between 1966-1979. 

Half of all respondents in the country report believe Singapore millennials have experienced weaker economic growth than previous generations, while 44% agree that the demographic cohort are paying for the economic consequences of older generations – such as the global financial crisis (GFC) and rising national debt.

The bank is also convinced that the burden of supporting the economy will “inevitably fall on [Singapore’s] millennials” given its rapidly aging population and projections that the nation will join 33 others as a “super-aged country”, where one in five people are aged 65 or older, by 2024.

Yet, the survey finds that a majority of local millennials expect to retire at the age of 60, less than two years less than the overall average of those surveyed.

Only 16% expect to continue working after the age of 65.

This comes despite 64% acknowledging that they will live longer, and hence will need to support themselves longer than previous generations – and reflects an apparent “reality gap” in retirement expectations among Singapore millennials.

Notwithstanding this, the majority (75%) of Singapore millennials say they have already started saving for retirement at an average age of 27, where 29% have yet to begin.  

The survey also finds that Singapore’s millennials are more likely than other generations to take investment risks in order to boost their retirement savings – with 31% being “very willing” to make risky investments for the sake of ensuring their financial stability, compared to 26% of generation X and 27% baby boomers polled in Singapore.

However, the risk appetite of Singaporean millennials still falls behind their global peers (39%) when it comes to investing.   

“In the past, it may have been enough for Singaporeans to depend on cash savings and property to generate retirement income. Now, with the prolonged low interest rate environment and the introduction of property cooling measures, it is important to take a more active and diversified approach when it comes to investing,” comments Anurag Mathur, head of retail banking and wealth management, HSBC Singapore.

“With improved retail investors’ access to quality bonds and global blue-chip stocks as well as new technology such as online platforms for research and trading, Singapore millennials should make full use of these tools to research, build and actively manage a diversified investment portfolio to save for their retirement.”

SINGAPORE (May 23): Google, Facebook and Apple topped the three companies Singaporeans want to work for, believing they will obtain a happier work life, according to a JobStreet.com survey.

Microsoft came in 5th place while Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport Group came in 4th and 7th positions respectively. The list also included oil companies Shell and ExxonMobil which came in 6th and 8th, with Procter & Gamble and DBS which were tied at 9th.

Two newcomers to the list were IBM and DBS.

JobStreet.com conducted a survey to find out the Top 10 companies which Singaporeans want to work for and believe they will obtain a happier work life, after 52% or slightly more than half of Singaporean employees surveyed said they were unhappy at work.

Participating in the survey were over 1,200 Singaporeans who came from various industries and hold at least a Junior Executive position.

When candidates were asked about what they looked for in a company, they placed career development and salary as top priority, followed by the management’s leadership then work environment.

According to Chew Siew Mee, Country Sales Manager of JobStreet.com, more than 50% of Singaporeans did not receive a decent bonus in the past year, thus, placing more priority on a higher income which would help maintain their lifestyle.

JobStreet.com also released the Top 5 enterprises, with SIA coming in first place, followed by Changi Airport Group, DBS, CapitaLand and ST Engineering.

Chew says the awards were meant to recognise the efforts these companies put into creating a happy workplace for employees, and to encourage other companies to do the same.

SINGAPORE (May 24): What matters most to the average employee?

According to the Randstad Employer Brand Research 2017, good work-life balance tops the list for those surveyed in Singapore, followed by job security and a pleasant work atmosphere.

Yet, these preferences appear to be far from being met by the city state’s employers, with all three factors ending up near the bottom of the ranking of what these employers are offering: Job security comes in at fifth place, while a pleasant work atmosphere and good work-life balance are ranked at 7 and 8 respectively.

Instead, Singapore’s employers scored the highest in the field of financial health – a factor which ranks only fifth in the list of what the city state’s employees prefer in a job – followed by good reputation and the latest technologies, both of which don't even cut the top five.

Work-life balance has notably risen to become one of the most important attractive factors among jobseekers and employees in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, says Randstad.

Despite this, all three markets have performed so poorly in the aspect of meeting this priority that the factor has ended close to the bottom of employer rankings across the board, such as in Singapore.

Michael Smith, managing director of Randstad Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, finds the gap in expectations between employees and employers far from encouraging.

“Whether organisations are resting their laurels on being financially healthy and having a strong reputation, or whether their current work-life balance initiatives are not strong enough, it’s clear that employer branding efforts need to be very carefully re-examined,” says Smith.

“The stakes are high for these organisations. By not addressing the evolving wants and needs of employees, they risk losing the very talent that helped them build their strong reputations and financial health,” he adds.

Over 9,500 employees and job seekers across Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia between the ages of 18-65 were surveyed over the course of the study. 

SINGAPORE (May 29): More Singaporeans outside of the IT and marketing industries are now adopting digital skillsets, according to the Talents Blueprints 2017 report by LinkedIn and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).

The annual report aims to provide insights into the fast-changing labour market, including job trends, talent movements, and training and skills acquisition to better understand the changes in the labour market.

The latest report revealed that digital skillsets have proliferated across different industries such as banking, financial services, and restaurants.

The most popular digital skillsets being picked up include Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator.

In addition, more individuals, especially those at senior management level and above, were found to be making efforts to acquire these skills through online courses.

“It’s clear that the future economy will be dramatically different, and this has significant implications for the workforce in Singapore,” says Olivier Legrand, LinkedIn’s Managing Director for Asia Pacific.

“While we are encouraged to see bright spots in the talent and skills marketplace here, the accelerating pace of digital disruption is a forcing function for all of us to adopt a mindset of continuous learning to re-skill and up-skill so that we can secure our future,” he adds.

In a joint press release on Monday, NTUC added that the labour movement has engaged multinational corporations – including LinkedIn – and formed a community, dubbed the Labour Movement’s U Circle of Friends (U Circle), to strategise ways to help groom globally competitive Singaporean talents.

According to NTUC, many Singaporeans are not chosen to head MNCs’ regional or global offices because they lack overseas exposure.

Thus, the Labour Movement is collaborating with U Circle and the government to equip our working people with more regional and international exposure through the U Future Leaders Global Programme (UFLGP).

“Through creating these new opportunities with leading MNCs, we want our Singaporean talents to be in the succession pipeline for these leadership roles,” says Vivek Kumar, NTUC Assistant Director-General and Director of U Future Leaders.

“As such roles are highly visible, not only will it help to raise the profile of Singapore’s economy, it will also signal to the rest of the world, the quality of talent we have here in Singapore,” he says.

SINGAPORE (June 5): Soft skills are more important than hard skills, says Pulitzer prize-winning author and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. And helping our children master technology isn’t the most important thing when preparing them for jobs of the future.

This was what Friedman told Caitlin Fitzsimmons, money editor at The Sydney Morning Herald, at a recent interview. Friedman was at the Sydney Writers' Festival to promote his new book on the age of acceleration, Thank You For Being Late.

The emphasis on technical skills is overdone, says Friedman. Technology is changing so rapidly that you can't possibly equip school kids with the hard skills of the future, because they'll be obsolete before they reach the workforce.

Friedman also cites his recent trip to Appalachia, where employers favour farm kids and veterans because they know how to show up and work hard.

Friedman believes five mindsets will be needed this century, especially in the world of work, says Fitzsimmons. They are:

1. Think like an immigrant
We all are essentially immigrants of the age of acceleration. Be a paranoid optimist. Always believe that there are opportunities. But remember to never take anything for granted.

2. Think like an artisan
Take pride in your work, such that you want to carve your initials into it. Don’t settle for being a cog in a machine.

3. Think like an innovator
If you think of yourself as a “finished product”, there’s nothing more to it after that. Think of yourself in “permanent beta” instead, somewhat like a software release. Have a thirst for knowledge and be ready to reinvent, re-engineer or reimagine your job before someone does it to you.

4. Think like an entrepreneur
It doesn’t matter what your current job is – it could even be waiting tables – there is something you can control to make a difference. Friedman gives an example of a waitress who told his friend she gave him extra fruit on his dish and ended up getting a 50% tip for her trouble. The waitress didn’t control much, but she could control the fruit ladle, and she used it to do something extra that would make a difference.

5. PQ + CQ = > IQ
Friedman uses this equation to explain the fifth and final mindset: passion quotient + curiosity quotient beats intelligent quotient. According to Friedman, this will apply equally even to those who have been in the workforce for decades.

However, he understands that the passion and openness people would have when they’re young would fade in time when they start settling into life. This means your comfort zone is a trap, says Fitzsimmons.

"There's a whole group of men and women aged 45 to 60 who are really caught in that vortex, their jobs have been disrupted and disintermediated but they don't have the predisposition to go out and learn something else. It's a real challenge for all developed societies,” says Friedman.

(June 6): San Francisco has issued subpoenas to Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc for a broad scope of records on driving and business practices as part of an investigation to determine whether the ride-services companies have become a public nuisance.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera said on Monday he was seeking records to investigate whether Uber and Lyft fail to adequately serve poor neighborhoods and the disabled and whether their drivers create hazards on the road.

Herrera said the subpoenas sought four years of records from the companies, which are based in San Francisco and have an estimated 45,000 total drivers in the city. The sweeping request includes hours and miles logged by drivers, driver incentives, traffic infractions and city zip codes visited by drivers.

"No one disputes the convenience of the ride-hailing industry, but that convenience evaporates when you're stuck in traffic behind a double-parked Uber or Lyft, or when you can't get a ride because the vehicle isn't accessible to someone with a disability or because the algorithm disfavors the neighborhood where you live," Herrera said.

The subpoena sets up San Francisco and Uber for yet another legal battle, as the two are already locked in a fight over the city's demands for drivers' names and addresses. Herrera sued Uber last month to compel the company to comply with the data request, which Uber has said is an invasion of driver privacy.

Investigating whether Uber and Lyft are a public nuisance in the city is an unusual approach for San Francisco. An influx of cars driving for the two companies often clog city streets and block bicycle lanes and double-park while they wait for passengers, according to the city.

Such concerns reflect how large the two companies have grown in their hometown.

A Lyft spokeswoman said that 30% of rides in San Francisco take place in underserved neighborhoods, and 20% begin or end at a public transit station, underscoring its collaboration with public transit agencies.

"Lyft has always been focused on improving transportation access for people across all cities in which we operate," said spokeswoman Chelsea Harrison.

Uber pointed to a report by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency which says it has the goal of making ride-sharing one of the "preferred means of travel" by 2018. Spokeswoman Eva Behrend said Uber is "more than happy to work with the city to address congestion," but that the city needs to also look at contributing factors such as construction and population growth.

Herrera added that the "long-distance" Uber and Lyft drivers who travel hours from the Central Valley and small communities elsewhere to find rides in San Francisco are a potential "threat" to public safety. They are on the road for such long shifts that they become drowsy, making the streets unsafe.

Herrera also requested four years' of documents and data submitted by Uber and Lyft to the California Public Utilities Commission, the state agency that regulates ride-services companies and collects much of the data the city is looking for.

The commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This article appeared in Issue 782 (June 5) of The Edge Singapore

SINGAPORE (June 5): Grey-haired and sun-scorched, William Ho is running out of time. Before his lease ends in two years, the quail egg farmer will have to secure funding and find suitable technology to bid for a new plot of agricultural land, as the country makes an unequivocal push for high-tech farming.

Ho is no stranger to agricultural technology. Lian Wah Hang, the farm his father built, had some of the most advanced farming machinery in the 1960s. At the peak of its profitability in 1997, the farm was earning $5,000 a day. But a series of unfortunate events — two relocations in 10 years, bird flu and SARS — as well as competition from cheaper Malaysian imports have made it a shadow of its former self.

Now, Ho is preparing to adopt technologies that are being used in major chicken egg farms in Singapore — from auto-feeders to shed-cleaning robots. “I’ll fight as long as I can,” he says.

His story is a reflection of the shifting agricultural industry, which until recently was considered of limited national importance. Farmland makes up less than 1% of the total land area in Singapore and accounted for 0.04% of GDP in 2015, down from 0.5% in 2010.

Yet, developments in agtech stand to alter those statistics in time. Last month, the government said it would release 60ha of land in Lim Chu Kang and Sungei Tengah to boost local supply. The new land parcels will have 20-year leases, instead of the 10-year leases that were offered in previous exercises, and will be up for tender starting in August this year. Importantly, winning bidders will be farming with new methods. The government has placed emphasis on productivity gains and business viability.

“We envision that farms of the future will be highly productive, and operate on minimal manpower by making use of better technology, including automation and robotics. Some of our farms may even move indoors or go high rise,” says Melvin Chow, group director of the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore’s food supply resilience group. “We will continue to support farmers’ efforts through capability building and technical support, R&D collaborations and technology transfer. We urge farmers to tap into AVA’s $63 million agriculture productivity fund to modernise and invest in innovative technologies and advanced farming systems.”

Not everyone is pleased with this new direction. Sixty-two farm leases will expire by 2021, and some farmers intend to exit the industry when their time is up. They say the new plots are sitting on reclaimed land, which is not ideal for soil-based agriculture. Others say the new model lacks flexibility. “The government needs to understand farms are not only about productivity. They are integral for education, tourism and community,” says Ivy Singh, owner of Bollywood Veggies.

Chow of AVA says: “As farmland is limited, it must be predominantly used for agricultural production. However, to provide some flexibility, farmers in new farmlands are allowed to develop visitor amenities such as cafés and farm education centres if they are kept within 10% of the land area and are subject to planning approval.”

It is the farmers investing in technology who are most enthusiastic. Among them is vertical fish farm Apollo Aquaculture Group. CEO Eric Ng intends to invest $40 million into his business and may even bid for more than one plot of land. “We plan to grow by 10 times our current capacity to reach 5,000 tonnes of fish annually within five years. We will build a six-storey vertical fish farm, from our present three-storey [farm],” he tells The Edge Singapore. He believes that the additional capacity will allow the company to compete effectively on price with imported fish.

Metro Farm, which runs remotely- controlled aquaponics systems, plans to double its current capacity with less than $1 million in investment. Hay Dairies, which produces goat’s milk, is setting aside $8 million to build a multi-storey goat farm that will raise its capacity by 40%.

A portable future
Around the world, farmers are being forced rapidly into modernisation in order to feed soaring populations while combating the effects of less climate change and pollution. As the right agtech becomes available, opportunities are being created for the entrepreneurial farmer here.

“This is the start of a farming revolution led by second- and third-generation farmers,” says Matthew Tan, associate professor at the school of chemical and bioengineering at Nanyang Technological University. He estimates that the yields of modern farms can be five to six times those of traditional farms. “Singapore’s farmers should team up with civil engineers and universities to create high-productivity modern farms. Once we have some model farms, others will follow and the industry will grow.”

It will, however, be important for farmers to invest in the right technology. “They should invest in production- centric technology and not infrastructure-centric technology. Production-centric tech is portable, reusable and can be reassembled,” says Tan. This means farmers will not have to deal with very high expenditures if [the farms] have to be relocated. Portable technologies also require less labour and allow farms to scale up faster.

Apollo’s multi-storey fish farm is one example of such a system. It is modular and produces 200kg of fish per tonne of water — more than twice that of traditional farms. Apollo’s key piece of technology is the Aquadeck, a recirculation aquaculture system that Ng built from scratch. It maintains the water quality in high-density fish tanks. Ng also uses real-time data to calculate the changing biomass of his livestock. “As the biomass changes almost every day, the data is crucial to help us adjust the feeding ratio,” he says. The system is so precise that Apollo currently supplies its technology to German aquaculture companies.

Another local player tinkering with portable technology is Sky Greens, which has developed a carousel-like structure for vertical farms. Plants sit in boxes that are placed in a stucture that resembles a Ferris Wheel and are rotated upwards so they get adequate water and sunlight. Sky Greens’ technology is powered by a hydraulic system to save on electricity costs. Sky Greens founder, Jack Ng, says his system can help traditional farmers cut labour costs by 75%, input materials by 75% and water use by 95%. Yields are also five to 10 times more than traditional farms.

So far, Jack says, some local farmers are not keen on buying his technology. And as an engineer and inventor, he is not interested to bid for land himself. Instead, he hopes to find farmers he can partner with. “They do not have assets. So the technology [they buy from us] becomes an asset to them,” he says. “We may help them with investment costs in exchange for a small amount of equity.” He estimates that the technology should pay for itself after four years.

Improving food security
As Singapore farms modernise, could the country eventually produce substantially more of its own food? At present, local farms supply less than 10% of food consumed here. The government has diversified import sources from 160 countries in 2007 to 170 countries now, but food security remains an issue. “We’re not robust in terms of food security; we’re very vulnerable,” says Paul Teng, an adjunct senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

With the push for high-tech farms and a $63 million agriculture productivity fund, AVA clearly hopes this will change. The authorities aim for local farms to produce 30% of Singapore’s supply of eggs, 15% of fish and 10% of leafy vegetables. Currently, only the target for leafy vegetables has been met.

“With high-tech farms, we can reach basic sustainability, maybe up to a month [without external supply],” says NTU’s Tan, who is also the chief technology officer of Oceanus Group. But Singapore also needs to think about how it can better utilise its land, Tan says. For instance, he estimates that utilising 10% of the total HDB flats’ rooftop area would yield 1.2 million kilograms of vegetables a year.

Already, a company called Citizen Farm is growing an assortment of vegetables, mushrooms and herbs in an urban farm in the middle of Queenstown. Its plants are grown in anything from containers to makeshift set-ups of pipes and sticks. The 5,000 sq ft space can yield up to 100kg of produce a day, which is supplied to 30 local restaurants. Founder Darren Ho says the farm has begun converting food waste into nutrients by using earthworms and black soldier flies. “Inputs are very expensive in Singapore, and this is one way we can be sustainable,” he says. Citizen Farm is also building a farming space under the West Coast Viaduct.

Rocky road ahead
While high-tech farms seem attractive, weighing heavily on some farmers’ minds is the fear that they may never recoup their investments if technology fails them. According to NTU’s Tan, teething issues with new technology can last up to six years. Maintenance costs can also be high, and there is always a risk of obsolescence.

Government grants can only go so far to help these farmers. And the agtech venture capital and private investment scene is severely underdeveloped in this region as investors are not yet familiar with the industry, says ID Capital CEO Isabelle Decitre. ID Capital recently hosted the Future Food Asia Award to showcase Asia-Pacific start-ups in agtech and foodtech.

Hugh Tan, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s department of biological sciences, suggests farmers try to develop the right technology locally. “It would be best for farms and tertiary institutions [and local businesses] to collaborate to develop the technology. Some research projects have already been done this way,” he says. Metro Farm, for instance, developed its aquaponics system in collaboration with local small and medium-sized enterprises. Each system costs $60,000.

To improve their margins, farms also need to consider adopting technologies that allow them to move down the value chain easily. Hay Dairies is eyeing machines that produce yoghurt and ice cream. “After the cost is spread out, margins can widen by 10% to 15%,” says founder John Hay. Apollo wants to start producing fish fillets and marinated fish, which fetch a better price than ordinary fish.

Ho, meanwhile, is raising up to $4 million to bid for new land. On his new farm, he hopes to combine traditional farming techniques and modern technologies. He also wants to set up facilities to make salted eggs and century eggs, which sell for twice the price of regular eggs.

He knows he has a long way to go from his current semi-manual farm. “I am very late to the game”, he says, “but I have the know-how as a farmer.”

SINGAPORE (June 11): Murad Al-Katib, President and CEO of Saskatchewan-based AGT Food and Ingredients Inc., has been named EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 at an awards ceremony held in Monaco’s Salle des Etoiles.

Murad was picked from among the 59 country winners from 49 countries vying for the title.

Murad started AGT Food and Ingredients in 2003 and it has since grown into the world’s largest vertically integrated supply chain for lentils, chickpeas and peas. The business went public in 2007 and has revenues of US$1.49 billion ($2.1 billion), with more than 2,000 employees on five continents.

AGT Food and Ingredients has been growing revenue sustainably by an average of more than US$100 million each year for the past five years. The company exports approximately 23% of the world trade in lentils to more than 120 countries around the globe.

Murad feels strongly about food security, famine food aid and emergency refugee food response which are his lifetime causes. He has delivered over four million family ration cartons to international agencies for Syrian refugees under food aid tenders.

Jim Nixon, Chairman and CEO of Nixon Energy Investments and Chair of the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year judging panel, says: “Murad is an incredible entrepreneur who has demonstrated outstanding value creation, organisational reach and expansion. Through sustainable agricultural practices, he is making a positive impact on the global environment.”

In response, Murad says: “I am deeply moved and honoured by the recognition of this award. AGT is committed to building a successful and sustainable business. By taking risks and rethinking the approach to my industry, we have grown the business responsibly and transformed Canada’s agricultural industry. I thank EY for the recognition on behalf of all of my colleagues who day in and day out are committed to our values and purpose.”

SINGAPORE (June 13): The labour market outlook remains uneven across sectors, according to the latest labour market data released by the Manpower Research and Statistics Department, Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

In a Tuesday press release, MOM highlights that redundancies and the unemployment rate may remain elevated as a result of continued cyclical weakness in some sectors and ongoing business restructuring.

It also observes that while hiring expectations remain cautious in sectors such as construction and marine, sectors such as finance & insurance, information & communications, healthcare and certain segments of manufacturing “should continue to support job growth”.

Based on information from the Labour Market Report, First Quarter 2017, Singapore’s seasonally adjusted resident unemployment rate remained flat at 3.2% in March 2017, unchanged from the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, resident long-term unemployment edged up slightly to 0.8% in March from 0.7% in the previous year.

Redundancies fell to 4,000 in 1Q17 from 5,440 in 4Q16 and 4,710 a year ago.

Notably, manufacturing redundancies fell to their lowest in the past six quarters. The six-month re-entry rate among residents made redundant at 64% in 1Q17, which was comparable to the previous quarter. Younger workers below the age of 30, especially, as well as clerical, sales & service workers, had the highest rates of re-entry at both 78%.  

Following modest growth of 2,300 in the previous quarter, total employment decline by 6,800 in 1Q to reflect a reduction in foreign workforce headcount – which MOM says was mainly due to a decrease in Work Permit Holders in the manufacturing and construction sectors due to low oil prices and continued weakness in the private sector construction activity, respectively.

Sectors that continued to see employment growth include community, social & personal services, and financial & insurance services.

“Displaced workers and jobseekers are encouraged to make full use of the available Adapt and Grow programmes offered by WSG and NTUC-e2i to find jobs or reskill for new careers. Individuals who need assistance can also visit any of the five career centres for career guidance and coaching, at http://www.wsg.gov.sg/career-services.html,” says the ministry. 

SINGAPORE (June 13): A major proportion of Singapore CEOs (73%) remain optimistic about the world’s economic prospects amid growing global economic uncertainty and ongoing geopolitical changes, according to the KPMG International’s 2017 Global CEO Outlook, which features interviews with nearly 1,300 CEOs of the world’s largest companies.

In a media release on Tuesday, the professional service company says globally, such optimism has dipped to 65% as compared to 80% in the previous year. Asean CEOs reported similar optimism at 65%.

While 65% of CEOs surveyed globally say they see disruptive forces as an opportunity rather than a threat to their business, this figure was even higher among Singapore and Asean CEOs at 96% and 92% respectively.

The report also found that Singapore and Asean’s CEOs tend to express more confidence in terms of their company’s growth prospects over the next three years, at 96% and 98% respectively, compared to the global average of 83%.

Notably, Asean CEOs generally had higher global average intentions to invest in new technologies and using digital technologies to connect to customers, notes KPMG, while intentions to invest in robotic processes over the next three years averaged about 45% higher than among CEOs outside of the region.

While cyber security was ranked as the top risk by CEOs globally in 2016, this has fallen to fifth position globally, which the firm believes may reflect CEO views of progress made in cyber risk management as 42% of those surveyed globally say they feel adequately prepared for a cyber event, up from just 25% a year ago.

“Disruption has become a fact of life for CEOs and their businesses as they respond to heightened uncertainty. But importantly, most see disruption as an opportunity to transform their business model, develop new products and services, and reshape their business so it is more successful than ever before. In the face of new challenges and uncertainties, CEOs are feeling urgency to ‘disrupt and grow’,” says John Veihmeyer, global chairman of KPMG.

Ong Pang Thye, managing partner, KPMG in Singapore, believes the greater confidence among Asean business leaders should translate into an “economically positive year” for the region.

“Speed to market and innovation are strategic priorities for companies growing in uncertain conditions,” comments Ong.

“Both are the outcomes of a clearly-articulated digitalisation strategy whose benefits go beyond cost savings and greater efficiencies to supporting faster decision- making and strengthening customer relationships. These efforts can be transformational; helping organisations respond swiftly to market conditions and new opportunities.” 

SINGAPORE (June 15): Nearly four out of 10 or 38% of disgruntled workers in Singapore and Hong Kong have plans to leave their companies in the next six months, says the latest Randstad survey.

In Malaysia, the figure is slightly lower at 35%.

The 2017 Randstad Employer Brand Research report also revealed that young male employees across the three markets were most likely to leave. 

The two main reasons that are driving the employees away are poor salary and benefits along with the lack of career progression. The third largest factor in Singapore and Malaysia was a lack of appreciation from management, while Hong Kongers complained about a poor workplace atmosphere.

The report also revealed that sentiments were consistently represented across all demographics and markets, but younger employees were more concerned about their salary and benefits.

Michael Smith, Managing Director, Randstad Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, says, “While organisations look at improving their employer brands to attract the best new talent into their ranks, management needs to be wary of the high risk of losing their staff."

“Our latest research highlights the unsettling number of employees planning to leave their jobs in the near future. This reinforces the need for organisations to not only look out at new talent, but also inwards to ensure the retention of their best staff. Research has shown that the cost replacing a lost employee can be very high in terms of time and money."

“While bringing in talent with great salaries and promises of career progression opportunities, organisations must not rest once those individuals have settled in. These companies must consistently monitor the advancement of these factors as the individuals grow within the organisation,” adds Smith.

SINGAPORE (June 16): It might not feel like it but the future is bright. And, rather than seek the safety of bonds or dividend-yielding blue chips, investors ought to reach for stocks on the vanguard of change and progress.

It seems clear that we’re on the cusp of a massive wave of innovation and invention that is reshaping many industries in unexpected ways. Some people are calling it a new industrial revolution, and saying that it will change the world the way the steam engine did back in the 1700s. In reality, the global economy been steadily changing with new technological trends. After the steam engine came the smokestacks and factories that drove mass production of goods during the late 1800s and early 1900s, which is sometimes called the Second Industrial Revolution. Then, came the rise of computers in the late 1960s, which some people refer to as the beginnings of the Third Industrial Revolution.

Now, with the Internet, 3D printing and even artificial intelligence, it seems that a Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us. Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB, sees this new wave of technological advancements bringing more efficient manufacturing and workflow processes that will allow companies to do more with fewer resources. A digital revolution also “creates extra business opportunities enabled by technology that was not there before”, he adds.

Bob Allen, an economic historian, says that advancing technology also typically bring better labour productivity and higher incomes. In his study of the First Industrial Revolution, Allen found a self-reinforcing spiral of higher wages leading to more investment in labour-saving technology, which in turn leads to even higher wages.

However, that relationship between productivity and higher wages appears to have crumbled in recent times. In fact, global real wage growth has decelerated from 2.5% in 2012 to 1.7% in 2015, the lowest pace of growth in four years, the International Labour Organisation said in its latest Global Wage Report 2016/17. Excluding China, where wage growth was faster than elsewhere, wage growth fell from 1.6% in 2012 to 0.9% in 2015.

Why isn’t improving labour productivity translating to higher wages? One reason is globalization. Pulitzer prize-winning columnist Thomas Friedman, in his book The Lexus and the Olive Tree, notes that an increasingly interconnected global economy makes it hard for wages in wealthy countries to stay up. “Globalisation is not a choice. Basically, 80% of it is driven by technology. And, the technology exists to blow away walls and to tie you together, and to get access to the best technology and the cheapest wages of Taiwan, Mexico, or Mississippi.”

So, what should investors do in the face of all this? Firstly, it’s important to recognise when change is about to happen. For instance, in the public transport sector, it seems clear that ride-hailing companies like Uber and Grab are in the process of changing everything, perhaps at the expense of the traditional players.

Secondly, it’s important to act early. For instance, it was clear for years that the telecoms companies would suffer lower call volumes as mobile broadband services improved. It was also only a matter of time before lots of alternatives to the traditional pay-TV services would emerge. Yet, the high dividend yields offered by companies like StarHub kept investors from selling. In February, StarHub shocked the market when it said it would pay a quarterly dividend of four cents per share in 2017. That is 20% lower than the five cents per share it paid as a final dividend for 2016.

Abandoning safe haven blue chips like StarHub might seem foolhardy, especially in the face of looming uncertainty. But it is better to look for stocks that are set to benefit from the change that’s unfolding than hope that things will stop changing.

The latest issue of The Edge Singapore looks at traditional defensive stocks that are being disrupted, and offers some views on where the new crop of winners might be.

Click on this week's cover page to subscribe to The Edge Singapore

(June 17): For Amazon.com Inc., the blockbuster deal to buy Whole Foods Market Inc. is a giant step toward dominating every part of a consumer’s shopping experience. Amazon is already in your mailbox, with all of the items you’re purchasing with your Prime membership; your living room, with its Echo device and Prime television services; your library, with its Kindle; and your closet, with Zappos. Now it wants to fill your fridge.

“This is an earthquake rattling through the grocery sector as well as the retail world,” Mark Hamrick, analyst at Bankrate.com, said in an email.

The US$13.7 billion ($18.9 billion) acquisition ties in with The Edge Singapore’s cover story this week on how new technologies and shifting consumer behaviour are destroying the reliable returns once offered by some widely owned heavyweight stocks.

But these same trends of new technologies and shifting consumer behaviour are creating a new crop of winners.

Against this backdrop, narrow groups of global technology and internet companies seen to be at the forefront of new disruptive trends have seen their shares outperform, partly on the back of expectations of fast growth but also because of their scarcity value.

(See also: Heavyweight stocks disrupted by new technologies, shifting consumer behaviour)

Amazon agreed to pay US$42 a share in cash for the organic-food chain, including debt, a roughly 27% premium to the stock price at Thursday’s close. John Mackey, Whole Foods’ outspoken co-founder, will continue to run the business -- a victory after a fight with activist investor Jana Partners that threatened to drive him from power.

With the Whole Foods deal, Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is acknowledging that, after a decade-long foray marked by scattershot experimentation, he couldn’t go it alone in the US$800 billion grocery business. The company tried to compete with several offerings: Amazon Fresh, available in 20 cities; Amazon Pantry, which lets consumers buy crackers, paper towels, and other non perishables; and Prime Now, which delivers groceries from local stores in some cities. Its Dash buttons allow easy ordering of household items, and Subscribe & Save gives discounts to customers who commit to regular deliveries of products like tampons, toothpaste or dish soap.

But the many options confused customers, and a major gauntlet remained: Fresh food. Selling produce online is hard. Waste is inherent, and shoppers have long been reluctant to buy a cantaloupe they can’t squeeze.

Big Footprint
The Whole Foods purchase gives Amazon hundreds of physical stores, the footprint the company knows it needs. More than that, Whole Foods has mastered fresh food: The company gets two-thirds of its sales from perishables like fruits, vegetables and meats, while most supermarkets get only about 25% of sales from those categories, according to Kurt Jetta, CEO of consumer products research firm TABS Analytics. And the Whole Foods deal gives Amazon strong industry knowledge, something it knows it’s lacking, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

“Amazon clearly wants to be in grocery, clearly believes a physical presence gives them an advantage,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc. “I assume the physical presence gives them the ability to distribute other products more locally. So theoretically you could get 5-minute delivery.”

What Amazon brings is engineering prowess. The company will look for ways to use automation and other technologies to streamline checkout at Whole Foods and sell groceries at lower prices, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public plans. To do that, it’s considering selling fewer items and integrating tools from the cashierless store Amazon Go into checkout stations across Whole Foods. Amazon also wants fewer employees in each store, with those who remain providing product expertise, rather than performing mundane tasks. The idea is to gravitate away from the "Whole Paycheck" perception for high prices that has dogged Whole Foods, the person said.

Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said the company has “no plans” to deploy no-checkout technology in Whole Foods locations.

“This will be a good deal for consumers, including those who might not have been doing business with Whole Foods in the past, either because of its positioning in the organic branding space or because prices have been seen as high," Hamrick said. “Amazon can be expected to work to deliver better value to grocery customers, both online and within the brick-and-mortar space.”

Long Consideration
Amazon’s talks with Whole Foods began three years ago, when Amazon was developing fast delivery service Prime Now, according to a person familiar with the talks who declined to be identified disclosing private information. Whole Foods was receptive, the person said, but went dark and then announced a deal with Instacart Inc.

The Whole Foods idea resurfaced again in 2016, Bloomberg reported earlier this year, and it took a lot of convincing for the notoriously frugal Bezos to be persuaded to cut a deal this size -- more than ten times bigger than his largest acquisition so far, according to a different person familiar with the matter.

Even so, the announcement sent shockwaves across industries, from payments to retailing. Grocery chains plunged on Friday -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. fell 4.7%, while Kroger Co. tumbled 9.2 percent -- as investors worried that woes will mount in the increasingly cutthroat industry. Payments companies Square Inc., Vantiv Inc., Blackhawk Network Holdings and Verifone Systems Inc. also took hits Friday on concern that the deal will lessen demand for traditional methods of paying for goods at checkout.

Another Offer?
Some of Whole Food’s largest investors think it’s possible that another retailer will come back with a higher bid. Wal-Mart, Target Corp. and Kroger may make offers to push Amazon to spend more, according to Karen Short, an analyst for Barclays.

Amazon and Whole Foods weren’t always seen as obvious partners, but Mackey has been under pressure to find an acquirer after Jana disclosed a more than 8% stake and began pushing for a buyout. That prodding irked Mackey, who has referred to Whole Foods as his “baby” and to Jana as “greedy bastards.” By enlisting Amazon, he gets to keep his job as chief executive officer of the grocery chain while giving the stock price a jolt.

Whole Foods shares surged 29% to US$42.68 in New York, above the agreed-on price, a sign that some investors are indeed speculating that a rival may try to outbid Amazon. Shares of Amazon gained 2.4% to US$987.71.

S&P said it may cut Amazon’s AA- rating, since Amazon’s leverage will increase as a result of the Whole Foods purchase. If S&P does, it would be the first time Amazon’s rating has been changed by the agency since 2012.

The transaction will have big implications for Instacart, a startup that has delivered grocery orders from Whole Foods stores in more than 20 states and Washington, D.C. Last year, the San Francisco-based company signed a five-year delivery partnership with Whole Foods, according to a person familiar with Instacart’s business who was not authorised to talk publicly about it. The contract remains in place, this person said.

Before the Whole Foods purchase, Amazon’s biggest announced buyout came in 2014, when it agreed to buy video-game service Twitch Interactive Inc. for US$970 million in cash, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Seattle-based company had about US$21.5 billion of cash and equivalents at the end of March, the data show.

“Millions of people love Whole Foods Market because they offer the best natural and organic foods, and they make it fun to eat healthy,” Bezos said in Friday’s statement. The takeover is slated to be completed in the second half of the year, with Whole Foods’ headquarters remaining in Austin, Texas.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised Amazon on the deal and Evercore Partners Inc., advised Whole Foods.

SINGAPORE (June 19): Singapore Exchange is teaming up with a unit of Agency for Science Technology and Research to help startups and SMEs tap R&D expertise and capital markets.

SGX and ETPL – the commercialisation arm of A*STAR – today announced that they will be signing a two-year MOU to help startups and SMEs tap on innovative technologies and capital more efficiently.

This is the regulator’s latest move to boost its profile as a market for such firms in the region. Three weeks ago, SGX said it signed a deal with the local IT regulator to help companies in that sector tap the market.

SGX and ETPL will jointly identify companies with growth potential to help them access growth capital from private or public capital markets in Singapore efficiently. The partnership is expected to drive business growth and capture greater value for Singapore’s economy.

The partnership also seeks to help startups and SMEs better translate their inventions and intellectual capital into marketable products, processes and services.

The enterprises can leverage on A*STAR’s multi-disciplinary R&D capabilities, while ETPL will provide guidance in productisation and business development.

The partnership targets companies in the technology sector. SGX and ETPL will raise awareness among these fast growing innovative companies on the technology transfer opportunities in Singapore, and SGX will organise forums on how they can raise capital and expand their business in the Asia-Pacific region.

Medtech, biotech and cleantech are among the targeted areas, SGX notes, adding, "Singapore's capital markets as a source of funding and a platform to expand their businesses globally."

To facilitate the collaboration, six market professionals – Catalist sponsors SAC Capital and UOB Kay Hian, law firms Virtus Law LLP and WongPartnership LLP, and audit firms Deloitte Singapore and PwC Singapore – have committed to come on board to provide professional support to the companies identified by ETPL and SGX.

Liquidia is one of the companies that can potentially benefit from the MOU signed between SGX and ETPL to expand its capabilities into Singapore’s specialty and biopharmaceutical space, as Liquidia’s ability to precisely engineer drug particles of nearly any composition, size and shape through its PRINT® technology bears significance in the realm of therapeutics not just in Singapore, but worldwide. 

Chew Sutat, Head of Equities and Fixed Income of SGX, said, “By marrying our capital markets expertise with ETPL’s technology commercialisation capabilities, we look forward to playing a part in nurturing competitive and future-ready companies and strengthening Singapore’s position as a technology hub.”

Philip Lim, CEO of ETPL, said, “Access to finance and in-house technological capabilities continue to be key challenges for entrepreneurs in today’s increasingly competitive business environment. The SGX-ETPL partnership will leverage each other’s complementary strengths to address these challenges, and help grow a pipeline of quality enterprises and promising intellectual properties that deliver greater economic impact for Singapore.”

SINGAPORE (June 5): Soft skills are more important than hard skills, says Pulitzer prize-winning author and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. And helping our children master technology isn’t the most important thing when preparing them for jobs of the future.

This was what Friedman told Caitlin Fitzsimmons, money editor at The Sydney Morning Herald, at a recent interview. Friedman was at the Sydney Writers' Festival to promote his new book on the age of acceleration, Thank You For Being Late.

The emphasis on technical skills is overdone, says Friedman. Technology is changing so rapidly that you can't possibly equip school kids with the hard skills of the future, because they'll be obsolete before they reach the workforce.

Friedman also cites his recent trip to Appalachia, where employers favour farm kids and veterans because they know how to show up and work hard.

Friedman believes five mindsets will be needed this century, especially in the world of work, says Fitzsimmons. They are:

1. Think like an immigrant
We all are essentially immigrants of the age of acceleration. Be a paranoid optimist. Always believe that there are opportunities. But remember to never take anything for granted.

2. Think like an artisan
Take pride in your work, such that you want to carve your initials into it. Don’t settle for being a cog in a machine.

3. Think like an innovator
If you think of yourself as a “finished product”, there’s nothing more to it after that. Think of yourself in “permanent beta” instead, somewhat like a software release. Have a thirst for knowledge and be ready to reinvent, re-engineer or reimagine your job before someone does it to you.

4. Think like an entrepreneur
It doesn’t matter what your current job is – it could even be waiting tables – there is something you can control to make a difference. Friedman gives an example of a waitress who told his friend she gave him extra fruit on his dish and ended up getting a 50% tip for her trouble. The waitress didn’t control much, but she could control the fruit ladle, and she used it to do something extra that would make a difference.

5. PQ + CQ = > IQ
Friedman uses this equation to explain the fifth and final mindset: passion quotient + curiosity quotient beats intelligent quotient. According to Friedman, this will apply equally even to those who have been in the workforce for decades.

However, he understands that the passion and openness people would have when they’re young would fade in time when they start settling into life. This means your comfort zone is a trap, says Fitzsimmons.

"There's a whole group of men and women aged 45 to 60 who are really caught in that vortex, their jobs have been disrupted and disintermediated but they don't have the predisposition to go out and learn something else. It's a real challenge for all developed societies,” says Friedman.

(June 6): San Francisco has issued subpoenas to Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc for a broad scope of records on driving and business practices as part of an investigation to determine whether the ride-services companies have become a public nuisance.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera said on Monday he was seeking records to investigate whether Uber and Lyft fail to adequately serve poor neighborhoods and the disabled and whether their drivers create hazards on the road.

Herrera said the subpoenas sought four years of records from the companies, which are based in San Francisco and have an estimated 45,000 total drivers in the city. The sweeping request includes hours and miles logged by drivers, driver incentives, traffic infractions and city zip codes visited by drivers.

"No one disputes the convenience of the ride-hailing industry, but that convenience evaporates when you're stuck in traffic behind a double-parked Uber or Lyft, or when you can't get a ride because the vehicle isn't accessible to someone with a disability or because the algorithm disfavors the neighborhood where you live," Herrera said.

The subpoena sets up San Francisco and Uber for yet another legal battle, as the two are already locked in a fight over the city's demands for drivers' names and addresses. Herrera sued Uber last month to compel the company to comply with the data request, which Uber has said is an invasion of driver privacy.

Investigating whether Uber and Lyft are a public nuisance in the city is an unusual approach for San Francisco. An influx of cars driving for the two companies often clog city streets and block bicycle lanes and double-park while they wait for passengers, according to the city.

Such concerns reflect how large the two companies have grown in their hometown.

A Lyft spokeswoman said that 30% of rides in San Francisco take place in underserved neighborhoods, and 20% begin or end at a public transit station, underscoring its collaboration with public transit agencies.

"Lyft has always been focused on improving transportation access for people across all cities in which we operate," said spokeswoman Chelsea Harrison.

Uber pointed to a report by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency which says it has the goal of making ride-sharing one of the "preferred means of travel" by 2018. Spokeswoman Eva Behrend said Uber is "more than happy to work with the city to address congestion," but that the city needs to also look at contributing factors such as construction and population growth.

Herrera added that the "long-distance" Uber and Lyft drivers who travel hours from the Central Valley and small communities elsewhere to find rides in San Francisco are a potential "threat" to public safety. They are on the road for such long shifts that they become drowsy, making the streets unsafe.

Herrera also requested four years' of documents and data submitted by Uber and Lyft to the California Public Utilities Commission, the state agency that regulates ride-services companies and collects much of the data the city is looking for.

The commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This article appeared in Issue 782 (June 5) of The Edge Singapore

SINGAPORE (June 5): Grey-haired and sun-scorched, William Ho is running out of time. Before his lease ends in two years, the quail egg farmer will have to secure funding and find suitable technology to bid for a new plot of agricultural land, as the country makes an unequivocal push for high-tech farming.

Ho is no stranger to agricultural technology. Lian Wah Hang, the farm his father built, had some of the most advanced farming machinery in the 1960s. At the peak of its profitability in 1997, the farm was earning $5,000 a day. But a series of unfortunate events — two relocations in 10 years, bird flu and SARS — as well as competition from cheaper Malaysian imports have made it a shadow of its former self.

Now, Ho is preparing to adopt technologies that are being used in major chicken egg farms in Singapore — from auto-feeders to shed-cleaning robots. “I’ll fight as long as I can,” he says.

His story is a reflection of the shifting agricultural industry, which until recently was considered of limited national importance. Farmland makes up less than 1% of the total land area in Singapore and accounted for 0.04% of GDP in 2015, down from 0.5% in 2010.

Yet, developments in agtech stand to alter those statistics in time. Last month, the government said it would release 60ha of land in Lim Chu Kang and Sungei Tengah to boost local supply. The new land parcels will have 20-year leases, instead of the 10-year leases that were offered in previous exercises, and will be up for tender starting in August this year. Importantly, winning bidders will be farming with new methods. The government has placed emphasis on productivity gains and business viability.

“We envision that farms of the future will be highly productive, and operate on minimal manpower by making use of better technology, including automation and robotics. Some of our farms may even move indoors or go high rise,” says Melvin Chow, group director of the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore’s food supply resilience group. “We will continue to support farmers’ efforts through capability building and technical support, R&D collaborations and technology transfer. We urge farmers to tap into AVA’s $63 million agriculture productivity fund to modernise and invest in innovative technologies and advanced farming systems.”

Not everyone is pleased with this new direction. Sixty-two farm leases will expire by 2021, and some farmers intend to exit the industry when their time is up. They say the new plots are sitting on reclaimed land, which is not ideal for soil-based agriculture. Others say the new model lacks flexibility. “The government needs to understand farms are not only about productivity. They are integral for education, tourism and community,” says Ivy Singh, owner of Bollywood Veggies.

Chow of AVA says: “As farmland is limited, it must be predominantly used for agricultural production. However, to provide some flexibility, farmers in new farmlands are allowed to develop visitor amenities such as cafés and farm education centres if they are kept within 10% of the land area and are subject to planning approval.”

It is the farmers investing in technology who are most enthusiastic. Among them is vertical fish farm Apollo Aquaculture Group. CEO Eric Ng intends to invest $40 million into his business and may even bid for more than one plot of land. “We plan to grow by 10 times our current capacity to reach 5,000 tonnes of fish annually within five years. We will build a six-storey vertical fish farm, from our present three-storey [farm],” he tells The Edge Singapore. He believes that the additional capacity will allow the company to compete effectively on price with imported fish.

Metro Farm, which runs remotely- controlled aquaponics systems, plans to double its current capacity with less than $1 million in investment. Hay Dairies, which produces goat’s milk, is setting aside $8 million to build a multi-storey goat farm that will raise its capacity by 40%.

A portable future
Around the world, farmers are being forced rapidly into modernisation in order to feed soaring populations while combating the effects of less climate change and pollution. As the right agtech becomes available, opportunities are being created for the entrepreneurial farmer here.

“This is the start of a farming revolution led by second- and third-generation farmers,” says Matthew Tan, associate professor at the school of chemical and bioengineering at Nanyang Technological University. He estimates that the yields of modern farms can be five to six times those of traditional farms. “Singapore’s farmers should team up with civil engineers and universities to create high-productivity modern farms. Once we have some model farms, others will follow and the industry will grow.”

It will, however, be important for farmers to invest in the right technology. “They should invest in production- centric technology and not infrastructure-centric technology. Production-centric tech is portable, reusable and can be reassembled,” says Tan. This means farmers will not have to deal with very high expenditures if [the farms] have to be relocated. Portable technologies also require less labour and allow farms to scale up faster.

Apollo’s multi-storey fish farm is one example of such a system. It is modular and produces 200kg of fish per tonne of water — more than twice that of traditional farms. Apollo’s key piece of technology is the Aquadeck, a recirculation aquaculture system that Ng built from scratch. It maintains the water quality in high-density fish tanks. Ng also uses real-time data to calculate the changing biomass of his livestock. “As the biomass changes almost every day, the data is crucial to help us adjust the feeding ratio,” he says. The system is so precise that Apollo currently supplies its technology to German aquaculture companies.

Another local player tinkering with portable technology is Sky Greens, which has developed a carousel-like structure for vertical farms. Plants sit in boxes that are placed in a stucture that resembles a Ferris Wheel and are rotated upwards so they get adequate water and sunlight. Sky Greens’ technology is powered by a hydraulic system to save on electricity costs. Sky Greens founder, Jack Ng, says his system can help traditional farmers cut labour costs by 75%, input materials by 75% and water use by 95%. Yields are also five to 10 times more than traditional farms.

So far, Jack says, some local farmers are not keen on buying his technology. And as an engineer and inventor, he is not interested to bid for land himself. Instead, he hopes to find farmers he can partner with. “They do not have assets. So the technology [they buy from us] becomes an asset to them,” he says. “We may help them with investment costs in exchange for a small amount of equity.” He estimates that the technology should pay for itself after four years.

Improving food security
As Singapore farms modernise, could the country eventually produce substantially more of its own food? At present, local farms supply less than 10% of food consumed here. The government has diversified import sources from 160 countries in 2007 to 170 countries now, but food security remains an issue. “We’re not robust in terms of food security; we’re very vulnerable,” says Paul Teng, an adjunct senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

With the push for high-tech farms and a $63 million agriculture productivity fund, AVA clearly hopes this will change. The authorities aim for local farms to produce 30% of Singapore’s supply of eggs, 15% of fish and 10% of leafy vegetables. Currently, only the target for leafy vegetables has been met.

“With high-tech farms, we can reach basic sustainability, maybe up to a month [without external supply],” says NTU’s Tan, who is also the chief technology officer of Oceanus Group. But Singapore also needs to think about how it can better utilise its land, Tan says. For instance, he estimates that utilising 10% of the total HDB flats’ rooftop area would yield 1.2 million kilograms of vegetables a year.

Already, a company called Citizen Farm is growing an assortment of vegetables, mushrooms and herbs in an urban farm in the middle of Queenstown. Its plants are grown in anything from containers to makeshift set-ups of pipes and sticks. The 5,000 sq ft space can yield up to 100kg of produce a day, which is supplied to 30 local restaurants. Founder Darren Ho says the farm has begun converting food waste into nutrients by using earthworms and black soldier flies. “Inputs are very expensive in Singapore, and this is one way we can be sustainable,” he says. Citizen Farm is also building a farming space under the West Coast Viaduct.

Rocky road ahead
While high-tech farms seem attractive, weighing heavily on some farmers’ minds is the fear that they may never recoup their investments if technology fails them. According to NTU’s Tan, teething issues with new technology can last up to six years. Maintenance costs can also be high, and there is always a risk of obsolescence.

Government grants can only go so far to help these farmers. And the agtech venture capital and private investment scene is severely underdeveloped in this region as investors are not yet familiar with the industry, says ID Capital CEO Isabelle Decitre. ID Capital recently hosted the Future Food Asia Award to showcase Asia-Pacific start-ups in agtech and foodtech.

Hugh Tan, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s department of biological sciences, suggests farmers try to develop the right technology locally. “It would be best for farms and tertiary institutions [and local businesses] to collaborate to develop the technology. Some research projects have already been done this way,” he says. Metro Farm, for instance, developed its aquaponics system in collaboration with local small and medium-sized enterprises. Each system costs $60,000.

To improve their margins, farms also need to consider adopting technologies that allow them to move down the value chain easily. Hay Dairies is eyeing machines that produce yoghurt and ice cream. “After the cost is spread out, margins can widen by 10% to 15%,” says founder John Hay. Apollo wants to start producing fish fillets and marinated fish, which fetch a better price than ordinary fish.

Ho, meanwhile, is raising up to $4 million to bid for new land. On his new farm, he hopes to combine traditional farming techniques and modern technologies. He also wants to set up facilities to make salted eggs and century eggs, which sell for twice the price of regular eggs.

He knows he has a long way to go from his current semi-manual farm. “I am very late to the game”, he says, “but I have the know-how as a farmer.”

SINGAPORE (June 11): Murad Al-Katib, President and CEO of Saskatchewan-based AGT Food and Ingredients Inc., has been named EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 at an awards ceremony held in Monaco’s Salle des Etoiles.

Murad was picked from among the 59 country winners from 49 countries vying for the title.

Murad started AGT Food and Ingredients in 2003 and it has since grown into the world’s largest vertically integrated supply chain for lentils, chickpeas and peas. The business went public in 2007 and has revenues of US$1.49 billion ($2.1 billion), with more than 2,000 employees on five continents.

AGT Food and Ingredients has been growing revenue sustainably by an average of more than US$100 million each year for the past five years. The company exports approximately 23% of the world trade in lentils to more than 120 countries around the globe.

Murad feels strongly about food security, famine food aid and emergency refugee food response which are his lifetime causes. He has delivered over four million family ration cartons to international agencies for Syrian refugees under food aid tenders.

Jim Nixon, Chairman and CEO of Nixon Energy Investments and Chair of the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year judging panel, says: “Murad is an incredible entrepreneur who has demonstrated outstanding value creation, organisational reach and expansion. Through sustainable agricultural practices, he is making a positive impact on the global environment.”

In response, Murad says: “I am deeply moved and honoured by the recognition of this award. AGT is committed to building a successful and sustainable business. By taking risks and rethinking the approach to my industry, we have grown the business responsibly and transformed Canada’s agricultural industry. I thank EY for the recognition on behalf of all of my colleagues who day in and day out are committed to our values and purpose.”

SINGAPORE (June 13): The labour market outlook remains uneven across sectors, according to the latest labour market data released by the Manpower Research and Statistics Department, Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

In a Tuesday press release, MOM highlights that redundancies and the unemployment rate may remain elevated as a result of continued cyclical weakness in some sectors and ongoing business restructuring.

It also observes that while hiring expectations remain cautious in sectors such as construction and marine, sectors such as finance & insurance, information & communications, healthcare and certain segments of manufacturing “should continue to support job growth”.

Based on information from the Labour Market Report, First Quarter 2017, Singapore’s seasonally adjusted resident unemployment rate remained flat at 3.2% in March 2017, unchanged from the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, resident long-term unemployment edged up slightly to 0.8% in March from 0.7% in the previous year.

Redundancies fell to 4,000 in 1Q17 from 5,440 in 4Q16 and 4,710 a year ago.

Notably, manufacturing redundancies fell to their lowest in the past six quarters. The six-month re-entry rate among residents made redundant at 64% in 1Q17, which was comparable to the previous quarter. Younger workers below the age of 30, especially, as well as clerical, sales & service workers, had the highest rates of re-entry at both 78%.  

Following modest growth of 2,300 in the previous quarter, total employment decline by 6,800 in 1Q to reflect a reduction in foreign workforce headcount – which MOM says was mainly due to a decrease in Work Permit Holders in the manufacturing and construction sectors due to low oil prices and continued weakness in the private sector construction activity, respectively.

Sectors that continued to see employment growth include community, social & personal services, and financial & insurance services.

“Displaced workers and jobseekers are encouraged to make full use of the available Adapt and Grow programmes offered by WSG and NTUC-e2i to find jobs or reskill for new careers. Individuals who need assistance can also visit any of the five career centres for career guidance and coaching, at http://www.wsg.gov.sg/career-services.html,” says the ministry. 

SINGAPORE (June 13): A major proportion of Singapore CEOs (73%) remain optimistic about the world’s economic prospects amid growing global economic uncertainty and ongoing geopolitical changes, according to the KPMG International’s 2017 Global CEO Outlook, which features interviews with nearly 1,300 CEOs of the world’s largest companies.

In a media release on Tuesday, the professional service company says globally, such optimism has dipped to 65% as compared to 80% in the previous year. Asean CEOs reported similar optimism at 65%.

While 65% of CEOs surveyed globally say they see disruptive forces as an opportunity rather than a threat to their business, this figure was even higher among Singapore and Asean CEOs at 96% and 92% respectively.

The report also found that Singapore and Asean’s CEOs tend to express more confidence in terms of their company’s growth prospects over the next three years, at 96% and 98% respectively, compared to the global average of 83%.

Notably, Asean CEOs generally had higher global average intentions to invest in new technologies and using digital technologies to connect to customers, notes KPMG, while intentions to invest in robotic processes over the next three years averaged about 45% higher than among CEOs outside of the region.

While cyber security was ranked as the top risk by CEOs globally in 2016, this has fallen to fifth position globally, which the firm believes may reflect CEO views of progress made in cyber risk management as 42% of those surveyed globally say they feel adequately prepared for a cyber event, up from just 25% a year ago.

“Disruption has become a fact of life for CEOs and their businesses as they respond to heightened uncertainty. But importantly, most see disruption as an opportunity to transform their business model, develop new products and services, and reshape their business so it is more successful than ever before. In the face of new challenges and uncertainties, CEOs are feeling urgency to ‘disrupt and grow’,” says John Veihmeyer, global chairman of KPMG.

Ong Pang Thye, managing partner, KPMG in Singapore, believes the greater confidence among Asean business leaders should translate into an “economically positive year” for the region.

“Speed to market and innovation are strategic priorities for companies growing in uncertain conditions,” comments Ong.

“Both are the outcomes of a clearly-articulated digitalisation strategy whose benefits go beyond cost savings and greater efficiencies to supporting faster decision- making and strengthening customer relationships. These efforts can be transformational; helping organisations respond swiftly to market conditions and new opportunities.”