AWARDS FOR BUSINESS CHAMPIONS
Inaugural PEP Awards honour business people who help shape
1. Mr Lee Khim Joo of the Singapore Chinese Physicians’ Association was aware that doctors who practise Western medicine could not provide acupuncture service, a form of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), within the same consultation room. He hoped to see the rules changed to make it easier for physicians to practise both TCM and Western medicine.
2. Mr Vincent Yeo of Tyco Fire, Security & Services Pte Ltd found that the government’s e-procurement system, GeBIZ, did not publish the schedules showing all bidders and their bids after an Invitation-to-Quote was awarded, although these were shown for Invitation-to-Tender. He thought such information would be useful for businesses to assess their position and decide how to bid for future quotations.
3. As a manager at clinical diagnostics company Dade Behring Asia Pte Ltd, Ms Pauline Law found it a hassle to apply for a permit for every consignment of diagnostic kit that is imported or exported. She felt that a one-year permit would save time as well as manpower costs.
4. In all three instances, Mr Lee Khim Joo, Mr Vincent Yeo, and Ms Pauline Law took the initiative to submit their suggestions to the Pro-Enterprise Panel (PEP). In addition to seeing their suggestions accepted, they were presented with the inaugural PEP Awards for Best Pro-Enterprise Suggestions. This year’s awards recognise the best ideas to cut business red tape accepted by the PEP between 1 June 2007 and 30 June 2008.
5. The winners were announced by Mr Alvin Tay, Editor of The Business Times and a member of the PEP, who said, “We have worthy winners who made use of their business understanding to raise suggestions that benefit many other businesses as well as the general public”. Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Minister-in-charge of Entrepreneurship, Mr Lee Yi Shyan, presented each of the three winners with a $1,000 award at the BlueSky Gala Dinner at the
6. Chairman, PEP, and Head of Civil Service, Mr Peter Ho, applauded the efforts of businessmen and their contributions to PEP. “The PEP has managed to improve our business environment since 2000 only because businesses have continued to give us good suggestions on how rules can be improved. I call upon all businesses to continue to promote changes that will make
7. The inaugural PEP Awards for the Best Pro-Enterprise Suggestions were launched in February 2008. To date, PEP has received more than 1,700 suggestions, of which more than half have been accepted. The PEP welcomes all businesses to submit their suggestions via the PEP website at http://www.pep.gov.sg/.
Ministry of Trade and Industry
18 July 2008
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Further Information
More details about the PEP can be found in the Annex.
For media queries, please contact:
Madeline Pereira
Corporate Communications
Ministry of Trade and Industry
Tel: 6332 7223 / 9815 0362
E-mail: madeline_pereira@mti.gov.sg
ANNEX
ABOUT THE PRO-ENTERPRISE PANEL
The PEP, chaired by Mr Peter Ho who is also Head of Civil Service, is a public-private partnership that has orchestrated a Whole-of-Government (WOG) transformation in
The PEP is now an integral part of the public service and the default feedback channel for businesses that have problems with red tape. Since its inception, the PEP has received more than 1,700 suggestions and accepted over half of them for implementation.