In response to this growing trend, the government has taken the initiative to deliver information and services to businesses online with the Business.gov.sg portal. The portal provides a wide range of information, such as Government incentive schemes, regulatory concerns, legal environment, networking, recruitment assistance, etc., which are pulled from over 30 government agencies and neatly categorised according to different stages of the business life cycle – planning, starting, managing and growing a business. This provides an intuitive way for businesses to locate the information and services that they require.

According to Mr Tee Hock Sing, who started Holler!Mobile in July this year, an online retailer of mobile phones and accessories which catered to both local and overseas customers, “Business.gov.sg had useful pointers on drafting a business plan and step-by-step guides to importing and exporting.  I was new to the mobile phone business and this portal helped me in finding out the regulations associated with the business.  I learnt that I needed Singapore Police Force’s Secondhand Dealer’s Licence to sell used handphones and Singapore Custom’s Central Registration Number to trade internationally. Through the website, I also manage to learn a great deal about import and export procedures. It greatly facilitated the starting up process!”

To entrepreneurs like Mr. Tee, Business.gov.sg serves as a good starting point to put together information on how government agencies regulate or assist businesses. It also allows businesses seeking qualitative business-related information/reports or quantitative market statistics to raise their enquiries to the National Library Board or Department of Statistics online. Officers from the 2 agencies will scour their databases in search for relevant answers for the users. 

Another notable e-services on the portal is the Online Business Licensing Service (OBLS), which was launched in Jan 04. The OBLS was developed to reduce the burden and hassle that businesses face in obtaining business licences. Businesses now no longer have to wait in line and go from agency to agency in search of the licences needed to start a business. Through OBLS, they can now apply online for 69 licences across 19 Government agencies.

For Mr Shee Tek Lic, General Manager of Udon-Bo Fast Food Restaurant Pte Ltd, the OBLS was a blessing. It was only two weeks to the official opening of Udon-Bo at Food Junction Raffles City in September this year and Mr Shee urgently needed to obtain two import licences – the Licence for Import, Export and Transhipment of Meat Products and Fish Products, and the Registration to Import Processed Food Products and Food Appliances – to bring in certain essential ingredients for his soup base. Through OBLS, Mr Shee only made one integrated application for the two licences and within the same day he had both licences approved, thus enabling him to commence business as scheduled. Said Mr Shee “The OBLS is a convenient form of application process, which enables businesses to reap huge time savings through online application”

Unlike the past, applicants now need only complete one integrated form via OBLS to apply for multiple licences. A consolidated payment mechanism also facilitates one-time payment for multiple licence fees, eliminating the need to make separate payments to various agencies. With the processing of applications done concurrently, applicants can also benefit from reduced frustrations of lengthy waits associated with sequential approvals.

For Mr Ang Chi Siang, Director of Imperial Concepts Pte Ltd, his first attempt at using OBLS to apply for his CPF Employer Registration in July 2004 was a pleasant one. He found the service convenient and intuitive and had gone on to recommend OBLS to his other business associates. “With OBLS, there are no more queues, no more stamps and no more supporting documents. There should be more of such automated procedures to save time for businesses” said Mr Ang.

Another user, Ms Heng Siok Hong, Director of Beh’s Clinic for Women Pte Ltd, who used OBLS to apply for the Employer Registration in January 2004, shortly after her company was incorporated in December 2003, was most impressed with the Business Licence Profiler. The Profiler lists down the regulatory requirements that new startups need to comply with, thus simplifying the process of dealing with multiple Government agencies. Small businesses could now interact and transact easily with the Government.

To date, more than 5,000 applications have been successfully completed through the OBLS. As a natural extension to the online application service, the OBLS would soon allow users to complete their licence renewals, updates and terminations online. Throughout the business licensing cycle, business users would only need to access a single portal to meet all their licensing needs.

For feedback or comments on Business.gov.sg or OBLS, please email to obls@spring.gov.sg