COVID-19 has caused a global pandemic over the past couple of years, severely impacting the global economy. As we transition out of the pandemic phase and international borders opening up, there are opportunities for local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to expand their businesses overseas. While expanding into a new market involves risk and can be costly, Singapore SMEs can tap on to the Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) Grant, to support the expansion financially.

What is the Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) Grant?

The MRA grant Singapore businesses are eligible for is supported by Enterprise Singapore (ESG). It is for local SMEs that are looking to expand their business beyond Singapore. The MRA grant helps local businesses with the market entry of their business overseas, providing funding support for several overseas market entry activities, such as market assessment, business matching activities, in-market business development activities, as well as marketing and public relations activities.

Currently, the grant supports up to 70% of eligible costs, and will be available till 31 March 2023. It is important to note that the MRA grant is only eligible for businesses that fulfill the following criteria.

Eligibility criteria for the MRA Grant

The MRA Grant Singapore companies can apply for have to fulfill the following requirements:

– The business entity is registered/incorporated in Singapore

– The business has to meet the new market entry criteria of the targeted overseas country – applicant must not have exceeded S$100,000 in overseas sales annually in each of the past 3 preceding years

– The business must comprise of at least 30% local shareholding

– Group Annual Sales Turnover should not exceed beyond S$100 million; OR Company’s Group Employment Size has to be less than or equal to 200 employees

To find out more about the full list of activities supported by the MRA grant, please refer to this link here.

Benefits of applying for the MRA Grant

With up to 70% funding of eligible costs for eligible activities, the MRA grant allows local SMEs to explore more business opportunities overseas without the need to incur hefty start-up costs. The substantial subsidies provide local businesses with a great opportunity to test foreign markets at significantly lower costs. Local businesses can also leverage on the grant to work directly with Enterprise Singapore’s recognised vendors like Innovative Hub, which specialise in supporting businesses entering foreign markets via activities such as business matching events.

Funding support is capped at a total of S$100,000 per company per new market, with individual caps for the following activities:

– Overseas Market Promotion – capped at S$20,000

– Overseas Business Development – capped at S50,000

– Overseas Market Set-up – capped at S$30,000

How to Apply for Grant?

Application for the MRA grant can be done on Singapore’s Business Grant Portal. The applicant will have to first log in with their Singpass account to apply for the grant. Please take note that the applicant is a registered Corppass Administrator for the company.

While the applicant is able to submit an application multiple times, each application should only consist of a single activity within one new overseas market.

If you are facing difficulty in applying for the grant, you can refer to their step-by-step application process for grants here.

Conclusion

As the world continues to better cope with COVID-19, foreign markets are gradually opening up, creating opportunities for local SMEs to expand overseas. With the availability of the MRA grant, local SMEs can now receive up to 70% funding support from ESG for eligible activities relating to overseas expansions, significantly reducing capital costs that are typically associated with overseas ventures.

It is highly recommended to engage a service provider like Innovative Hub to help identify a suitable market(s) for your overseas expansion(s), and to guide and assist in the step-by-step application process for the MRA grant.

If you have any queries about the grant or would like to apply for it contact us here, or WhatsApp directly to speak with our team of expert consultants today!