First batch of 15 businesses under EnterpriseSG programme opens in AMK

Mr Louis Lim wants people to print their photographs and present them as a series of memories set in picture frames.

- Lee Nian Tjoe Senior Correspondent

The 35-year-old has been working in his family’s traditional picture frame business in Clementi for 15 years. Each frame takes days to make from scratch.

To reduce waiting time and costs while preserving the craft, he founded The Memory Frame.sg, which stocks a variety of partially completed frames that Mr Lim prepares in advance.

This enables waiting time to be cut to between 30 and 45 minutes. Depending on the number of images in a frame, cost savings to customers can be up to $60 or so.

The Memory Frame.sg is a spin-off from Parklane Art Framer, which is Mr Lim’s family business. It is one of 15 businesses at Sprout@AMK, which was officially opened by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sept 21.

Sprout@AMK houses the first cohort of businesses to undergo the 12-month Heartland Innovation and Transformation Programme by trade agency Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG).

The businesses run the gamut from shops selling interesting food items to a hardware shop that is also a workspace for customers’ do-it-yourself projects.