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http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20101101-245030.html
Mon, Nov 01, 2010
my paper
Why Singapore can't produce a Zuckerberg
By Joy Fang
WHILE Singapore boasts the world's highest proportion of millionaire households, experts say it is tough for the country to produce a young self-starting billionaire the likes of Facebook's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, 26.
Singapore's millionaires comprise 11.4 per cent, or 122,700, of all households, according to the Boston Consulting Group. But there is no local billionaire aged 30 and below.
Pundits cite factors such as the nation's limited pool of resources and, more importantly, its kiasu climate of being afraid to fail or lose face.
They point out that young billionaires must possess the gungho spirit, foresight and willingness to take risks - traits that the Singapore top-down culture does not always cultivate.
In the film The Social Network, Mr Zuckerberg was portrayed as a rebellious geek who stood up to authority. Mr Mohan Belani, 27, who co-founded a home-grown mobile social-gaming start-up this year, said while the education system here produces good workers to join multinational corporations, it is "very hard to find raw talent here who would be willing to take the risk, join start-ups and slug it out for a year or two".
Budding entrepreneur J. K. Teo, 24, said that while the Government has done a great job in building a world-class business infrastructure, it has not engendered the entrepreneurial spirit.
An SIM University undergraduate, he began his first start-up in the food industry in 2008 while most of his classmates are happy to graduate and work for others.
He attributes it to the many well-paid jobs available, which in turn leads to complacency among young people. Also, aspiring billionaires need to have the drive to achieve, he said.
However, "unlike Facebook's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Singaporeans are afraid of failing, which is a necessary part of succeeding", he added.
Mr Nicholas Tan, head of global wealth management at OCBC Bank, said Singapore's domestic market is small, compared to the United States', which makes it far tougher for young aspiring billionaires to establish themselves here.
Entrepreneurs have to venture beyond Singapore for business opportunities and, even then, "markets around Singapore are not homogenous enough to create scale", he said.
In comparison, US companies enjoy economies of scale to build up to a significant size before they branch out into the rest of the world. This means they get a much larger revenue pool, he explained.
Mr Mike Ang, president of the Association of Telecommunications Industry of Singapore, felt that Singapore "just does not possess the eco-system that Silicon Valley has" to nurture billionaires.
He observes that Singapore firms prefer to buy products and services from big overseas firms such as HP, Microsoft and IBM, instead of supporting small, home-grown start-ups.
Furthermore, Singaporeans are not as receptive to new technology such as Facebook when compared to Americans, he said. It means that if someone wants to launch a new product, he needs to venture into the US to gain credibility, he added.
The issue of young billionaires comes in the wake of last Thursday's news that Mr Eduardo Saverin, 28, the co-founder of Facebook, has been residing in Singapore for the past 11/2 years.
San Francisco-based technology site TechCrunch said he had set up an office here for his software-development company Anideo last year, and is said to be providing funding to Facebook game developers.
In the film The Social Network, the Brazilian-born technopreneur is portrayed by British actor Andrew Garfield.
He owns a 5 per cent share of Facebook while his Harvard schoolmate, Mr Zuckerberg, owns 24 per cent. The former is said to be a regular patron of Singapore's party hot spots, such as Butter Factory and Filter Club.
Tellingly, Mr Saverin, Mr Zuckerberg and their fellow Facebook co-founder, Mr Dustin Moskovitz, 26, are the only technopreneurs and self-starters among the eight global billionaires aged below 30. (see chart in sidebar).
The rest are in the property, energy and steel industries and had inherited their wealth from their parents.
Mr Belani said this suggests that it's tough for Singapore's nascent IT industry to produce billionaire hotshots.
However, there is still hope with the growth of regional markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines, which are starting to show promise with increased Internet and mobile use, he said.
Hence, Singapore may one day produce the next Zuckerberg if entrepreneurs here start tapping on users around the region and gain a foothold there before the US companies do, he noted.
[email protected]
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KENNY CHEE
For more my paper stories click here.
Mon, Nov 01, 2010
my paper
Why Singapore can't produce a Zuckerberg
By Joy Fang
WHILE Singapore boasts the world's highest proportion of millionaire households, experts say it is tough for the country to produce a young self-starting billionaire the likes of Facebook's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, 26.
Singapore's millionaires comprise 11.4 per cent, or 122,700, of all households, according to the Boston Consulting Group. But there is no local billionaire aged 30 and below.
Pundits cite factors such as the nation's limited pool of resources and, more importantly, its kiasu climate of being afraid to fail or lose face.
They point out that young billionaires must possess the gungho spirit, foresight and willingness to take risks - traits that the Singapore top-down culture does not always cultivate.
In the film The Social Network, Mr Zuckerberg was portrayed as a rebellious geek who stood up to authority. Mr Mohan Belani, 27, who co-founded a home-grown mobile social-gaming start-up this year, said while the education system here produces good workers to join multinational corporations, it is "very hard to find raw talent here who would be willing to take the risk, join start-ups and slug it out for a year or two".
Budding entrepreneur J. K. Teo, 24, said that while the Government has done a great job in building a world-class business infrastructure, it has not engendered the entrepreneurial spirit.
An SIM University undergraduate, he began his first start-up in the food industry in 2008 while most of his classmates are happy to graduate and work for others.
He attributes it to the many well-paid jobs available, which in turn leads to complacency among young people. Also, aspiring billionaires need to have the drive to achieve, he said.
However, "unlike Facebook's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Singaporeans are afraid of failing, which is a necessary part of succeeding", he added.
Mr Nicholas Tan, head of global wealth management at OCBC Bank, said Singapore's domestic market is small, compared to the United States', which makes it far tougher for young aspiring billionaires to establish themselves here.
Entrepreneurs have to venture beyond Singapore for business opportunities and, even then, "markets around Singapore are not homogenous enough to create scale", he said.
In comparison, US companies enjoy economies of scale to build up to a significant size before they branch out into the rest of the world. This means they get a much larger revenue pool, he explained.
Mr Mike Ang, president of the Association of Telecommunications Industry of Singapore, felt that Singapore "just does not possess the eco-system that Silicon Valley has" to nurture billionaires.
He observes that Singapore firms prefer to buy products and services from big overseas firms such as HP, Microsoft and IBM, instead of supporting small, home-grown start-ups.
Furthermore, Singaporeans are not as receptive to new technology such as Facebook when compared to Americans, he said. It means that if someone wants to launch a new product, he needs to venture into the US to gain credibility, he added.
The issue of young billionaires comes in the wake of last Thursday's news that Mr Eduardo Saverin, 28, the co-founder of Facebook, has been residing in Singapore for the past 11/2 years.
San Francisco-based technology site TechCrunch said he had set up an office here for his software-development company Anideo last year, and is said to be providing funding to Facebook game developers.
In the film The Social Network, the Brazilian-born technopreneur is portrayed by British actor Andrew Garfield.
He owns a 5 per cent share of Facebook while his Harvard schoolmate, Mr Zuckerberg, owns 24 per cent. The former is said to be a regular patron of Singapore's party hot spots, such as Butter Factory and Filter Club.
Tellingly, Mr Saverin, Mr Zuckerberg and their fellow Facebook co-founder, Mr Dustin Moskovitz, 26, are the only technopreneurs and self-starters among the eight global billionaires aged below 30. (see chart in sidebar).
The rest are in the property, energy and steel industries and had inherited their wealth from their parents.
Mr Belani said this suggests that it's tough for Singapore's nascent IT industry to produce billionaire hotshots.
However, there is still hope with the growth of regional markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines, which are starting to show promise with increased Internet and mobile use, he said.
Hence, Singapore may one day produce the next Zuckerberg if entrepreneurs here start tapping on users around the region and gain a foothold there before the US companies do, he noted.
[email protected]
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KENNY CHEE
For more my paper stories click here.
