New office to be set up to help cut red tape for SMEs

Office aims to help firms facing regulatory issues that cut across multiple agencies

- Colin Tan

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) facing long-drawn or complicated governmental procedures can soon approach a new office for help to streamline approval processes and cut red tape.

The SME Pro-Enterprise Office (SME PEO) will gather feedback from SMEs on pain points, especially those involving more than one government agency, and then pass the feedback to relevant agencies to look into possible solutions to alleviate regulatory bottlenecks.

It will also support SMEs in navigating rules and regulations, particularly in emerging areas or issues that cut across multiple agencies. Individual regulatory agencies will continue to handle issues that are more straightforward and pertinent to only that particular agency.

The SME PEO, which will be run by EnterpriseSG under the auspices of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, will be launched by the first quarter of 2025.