How to set up a new business in Singapore?

Setting up a new business in Singapore

Recently, I advised a group of people who have been working for the past 5-7 years in an office. Their job range from back end to middle office and they told me that they are really sick of their job. They can't wait to break free and they would like to try running their own business. However, they have no idea how to do that.

I ran through with them their raw ideas and I realised that they do not have a clear structure on how to set up a business. The key thing is, you should not jump into setting up a business simply because you are bored of your job. You will need to think through and plan.

The following steps are what I got them to do before deciding on kicking off their business and I thought it will be interesting to share here:

1. Think through your key competencies (your KSA - knowledge, skills and abilities)

2. Decide on your competitive advantage based on your core competencies

3. Envision where your business will be in the future

4. Decide on your business's identity (What will the business represent? what will be the value add to the society and the consumer?)

5. Research on current market situation (both micro --> your strength and weaknesses and macro --> the economic situation, changing trends etc)

6. Strategize to achieve your vision and mission (You can follow the 4Ps strategies to have a clearer idea -->

-- product / service: what are you selling? Why would people buy from you? What is the core advantage that you are offering to your consumer? How are you going to package? Why? Are you providing any ancillary services?

-- price: how much are you going to sell your product or service at? Why? 

-- place: where are you going to sell product? How much is the rental? Is the fixed cost too high? How long can you hold out with your capital? Have you explored digital space?  

-- promotion: how are you going to promote? Through which channel? would it reach your target audience? How much budget do you have?

7. Come out with ways to measure and quantify your business (Are you going to only focus on financial perspectives or are you taking into account other KPIs such as customer perspectives (like retention rate, satisfaction rate etc))

You should also assess your business and know if you are going to start a sole proprietor, partnership, company or?

Done with brain storming all those mentioned above? Eager to start your business?

The first step is always to register your business with ACRA

ACRA has an informative page on how to start a business -- https://www.acra.gov.sg/components/wireframes/howToGuidesChapters.aspx?pageid=1755