Heartland business owners can look forward to receiving regular support from youths to set up and manage their shops so as to conduct e-commerce. Under the initiative iShop@heartlands mooted and funded by the SIM People Development Fund (SIMPDF), youths are trained and provided with an internship stipend to carry out e-commerce tasks on behalf of heartland shop owners.
The pilot project, which kick-started in Boon Lay, was officially launched on Sunday, 9 January, by Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for National Development who is also Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration and Member of Parliament for West Coast GRC. This initiative was organised in partnership with the Boon Lay Merchants Association, youth community organisation Belanja Singapore, and Heartland Enterprise Centre Singapore (HECS).
(From left to right) Mr Seah Chin Siong, Vice-Chairman, SIMPDF Board of Directors; Mr Yeo Hiang Meng, President, Federation of Merchants’ Associations of Singapore; Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for National Development; Mr Kuek Chiew Peng, Chairperson, Boon Lay Merchants Association and Board Member, HECS; and Mr Tay Sar Thor, Vice-Chairperson, Boon Lay Merchants Association, at the launch of iShop@heartlands.
As a pilot, the iShop@heartlands project targets to bring onboard ten businesses out of the 107 shops located at the Boon Lay Shopping Centre. Five youths who are mainly Boon Lay residents with relevant work experience have been onboarded through Belanja Singapore. They have been trained in e-commerce competencies as well as communications and interpersonal skills. The youths are assigned to shops to carry out the full suite of tasks from setting up the e-commerce account to marketing, managing orders, inventories and finances, as well as coordinating deliveries.
Mr Desmond Lee handing out an iShop@heartlands wobbler to a participating shop owner.
While they are not expected to perform the tasks themselves, the business owners can look forward to picking up basic e-commerce competencies from working alongside the youths. Likewise, the youths can expect to learn firsthand from the shop owners how to run a business. The youths would also appreciate that while going digital is critical in today’s context, there are other success factors such as life skills and soft skills which are better acquired through age and experience instead of the classroom.
Mr Desmond Lee said: “This pilot project will connect heartland business owners with youth interns, so that they can work together and learn from each other – the business owners can get support in building their digital capabilities to grow their businesses, while the youths can learn more about how to run a business and improve their interpersonal skills. This initiative is a good example of how heartland shops can play a role in forging stronger bonds between Singaporeans of different generations and backgrounds, while serving the needs of residents. The Ministry of National Development and Housing & Development Board will soon embark on a public engagement exercise to study how we can revitalise our heartland shops to help them stay vibrant and relevant to meet their community’s evolving needs. We hope many Singaporeans will participate in this exercise and we look forward to hearing their views and ideas.”
Mr Desmond Lee speaking with a participating shop owner and a youth intern.
Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Chairman of the SIMPDF Board of Directors, said: “Mom-and-pop shops are an endearing part of our way of life in Singapore. But to survive, the shop owners need to understand and participate in e-commerce. The youths who are usually more digitally savvy can therefore lend support to these shop owners, especially those who may feel uncomfortable with digitalisation. We hope that the residents of Boon Lay would also support their very own neighbourhood retailers who may not be able to compete with the established retailers on price points but can more than make up with their friendly and faster-to-deliver services.”
(From left to right) Mr Desmond Lee pictured here with a participating shop owner as well as youth interns.
Ms Cheryl Tan, one of the interns and also a resident of Boon Lay, said: “The launch of this project will open many doors not only for business owners but also residents. With the aim to enhance the landscape of the heartland businesses by including the element of digitalisation, these businesses will greatly benefit as they will be able to reach a wider audience outside of Boon Lay.”