In more than three decades of running a traditional bun-making business, Mr Ang He Siong, 62, never imagined that he would one day sell bao, or steamed buns, stuffed with plant-based meat.
But that's what his company, Lim Kee Food Manufacturing, will soon market as part of its new vegan product range for health-conscious customers.
"We must refine our products," said Mr Ang's son, Khim Wee, 34, Lim Kee's head of business development, "instead of just sticking to past successful products, as people's tastes and preferences change."
Lim Kee worked with Enterprise Singapore (ESG), which helped the firm build its vegan processing line and apply for vegan certification.
Its vegan offerings, launched in January last year, already make up about 5 per cent of revenue.
At a press conference last month, Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing stressed that Singapore needed to "chart a new path by building a new economy". The Government, he added, would help firms in industries permanently changed by the pandemic to reinvent themselves and pivot into new markets and products.
Like Lim Kee, bathroom supplier SaniQUO is tapping government support measures to grow amid challenging times. In May, it opened a store on Shopee with the help of ESG's E-Commerce Booster Package.
Total revenue has since gone up by about 30 per cent.
The package helps small and medium-sized enterprise retailers to take their businesses online.
Firms under the Scale-Up SG programme, which aims to groom high-growth companies into global leaders, have also made steady progress in transforming their businesses to suit the new normal.
Local robotics technology firm PBA Robotics, for instance, rolled out its autonomous mobile robots at two hospitals under healthcare provider HMI Group in Malaysia. The robots use ultraviolet light for disinfection.
Both groups were in the inaugural run of the Scale-Up SG programme, in which companies get to learn from one another to accelerate their plans.
In the first half of the year, companies in Singapore embarked on more than 10,000 projects to upgrade and transform their business with support from ESG.
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5%
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Contribution to the revenue of Lim Kee Food Manufacturing from its vegan offerings, which were launched in January last year.
Even so, efforts to help them survive and thrive must continue, as the global pandemic thrusts the economy onto a new trajectory, said ESG deputy chief executive officer Ted Tan.
"Our priority is to help businesses build greater resilience to withstand future shocks and more intense competition as it is no longer business as usual."
