<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Entrepreneurial spirit 'alive' in S'pore
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Michelle Tay
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE entrepreneurial spirit in Singapore is alive and well.
A recent survey of eight Asia-Pacific markets found that, despite the global economic downturn, people here are the most willing to swop a stable job for a stab at setting up shop.
Leaders of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) also have a pretty large appetite for taking risks to grow their businesses.
These trends are especially true of those aged between 20 and 40 years.
Swiss Re, one of world's largest reinsurance companies, surveyed almost 5,000 consumers and business leaders earlier this year to measure their risk appetites in the current recession. The eight countries and territories are Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, India and Australia.
The first-of-its-kind study, conducted mostly online between January and March, found that workers here are most willing to take the entrepreneurial leap to set up their own business.
More than 20 per cent of 400 Singapore respondents said they preferred the challenge and opportunity of running their own business over sticking with a stable income.
'This is evidence of a strong entrepreneurial spirit,' said Ms Sharon Ooi, director of client markets at Swiss Re, as job security should logically be most important for young adults in view of the current deterioration of the job market.
Out of 100 SME leaders surveyed here, 48 said they saw business opportunities in the financial crisis, and were willing to take risks to achieve business growth.
This made Singapore the second most growth-hungry country after China.
Singapore came in joint second place with Hong Kong - just behind Australia - in another area: career risk-taking.
A total of 43 per cent of respondents here said they would give up the security of working for an established firm to join a smaller one if it meant better pay or faster growth prospects.
But when it comes to personal risk appetite, people here remain more cautious, ranking fourth after Australia, Hong Kong and Japan in terms of attitudes to taking consumer risks, which were broken down into four categories: health, lifestyle, finance and career.
Singapore came in second last, just above India, when it came to taking financial risks.
Said Ms Ooi: 'The results show there is a very good correlation between gross domestic product per capita and the ability to take more risks. 'One of the theories is that there's a better social security system and network in developed countries, so there's a fallback plan.'
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Michelle Tay
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE entrepreneurial spirit in Singapore is alive and well.
A recent survey of eight Asia-Pacific markets found that, despite the global economic downturn, people here are the most willing to swop a stable job for a stab at setting up shop.
Leaders of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) also have a pretty large appetite for taking risks to grow their businesses.
These trends are especially true of those aged between 20 and 40 years.
Swiss Re, one of world's largest reinsurance companies, surveyed almost 5,000 consumers and business leaders earlier this year to measure their risk appetites in the current recession. The eight countries and territories are Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, India and Australia.
The first-of-its-kind study, conducted mostly online between January and March, found that workers here are most willing to take the entrepreneurial leap to set up their own business.
More than 20 per cent of 400 Singapore respondents said they preferred the challenge and opportunity of running their own business over sticking with a stable income.
'This is evidence of a strong entrepreneurial spirit,' said Ms Sharon Ooi, director of client markets at Swiss Re, as job security should logically be most important for young adults in view of the current deterioration of the job market.
Out of 100 SME leaders surveyed here, 48 said they saw business opportunities in the financial crisis, and were willing to take risks to achieve business growth.
This made Singapore the second most growth-hungry country after China.
Singapore came in joint second place with Hong Kong - just behind Australia - in another area: career risk-taking.
A total of 43 per cent of respondents here said they would give up the security of working for an established firm to join a smaller one if it meant better pay or faster growth prospects.
But when it comes to personal risk appetite, people here remain more cautious, ranking fourth after Australia, Hong Kong and Japan in terms of attitudes to taking consumer risks, which were broken down into four categories: health, lifestyle, finance and career.
Singapore came in second last, just above India, when it came to taking financial risks.
Said Ms Ooi: 'The results show there is a very good correlation between gross domestic product per capita and the ability to take more risks. 'One of the theories is that there's a better social security system and network in developed countries, so there's a fallback plan.'
