SINGAPORE: A refreshed five-year blueprint to transform the professional services industry will aim to create 3,800 additional jobs for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) each year until 2025.
The new industry transformation map (ITM) also hopes to grow the industry by 3 to 4 per cent each year and reach a value-add of S$27 billion by 2025.
Announcing the launch in Parliament on Tuesday (Feb 28), Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong said the updated plan will help to strengthen Singapore’s role as a leading business hub.
“Our professional services sector is well-positioned to seize opportunities for business growth driven by digitalisation, sustainability, emerging markets and new customer segments in Southeast Asia,” he said at his ministry’s Committee of Supply debate.
The professional services industry is made up of company headquarters and a diverse range of firms that provide services ranging from accountancy, advertising, consulting to design.
As part of initiatives under the new ITM, the Economic Development Board (EDB) will continue to work on attracting new companies to set up their global or regional headquarters here, as well as support those that are already based here to transform their corporate functions.
For those with “a clear mandate for new business creation”, EDB will partner these firms to create new ventures that can generate “new revenue pathways outside the parent company’s existing core business”, the government agency said in a separate press release.
To do so, EDB said it will press on with its Corporate Venture Launchpad Programme, which was given an additional S$20 million boost last July to help more companies with innovating new products and services.
The updated ITM will also focus on enhancing the competencies of professional services firms here.
These include helping smaller firms to adopt technology through grants and customised support, developing talent with expertise in growing areas such as sustainability, as well as supporting workers in reskilling and redeployment through schemes like the Career Conversion Programme.
