More than 3,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be equipped with digitalisation skills from webinars hosted by OCBC Bank by the year end.
More than 5,000 employees from around 2,500 SMEs have attended the OCBC Virtual SME Campus webinars since they began in April during the circuit breaker period, said the bank in a statement today.
The webinars, which equip SME owners with the digital knowledge needed to transform their businesses, were created in partnership with Enterprise Singapore, Amazon, Google and Shopee, among others.
More than 30 two-hour webinars have been conducted so far.
They addressed immediate concerns that SMEs faced during the two-month circuit breaker, such as leveraging e-commerce and digital marketing.
Some webinars were specially tailored to the hard-hit food and beverage industry.
More than 6,500 employees from SMEs are expected to benefit by the year end, said the bank.
Among those who attended was Mr Marc Ng, whose speciality coffee roasting company Awesome Coffee did not have an e-commerce presence when the circuit breaker started.
After attending four webinars, he created a website to help the business tide over the closure of his retail outlet.
He is now working on the roll-out of a revamped website before the upcoming 10.10 and 11.11 e-commerce shopping festivals.
"The circuit breaker served as a catalyst to speed up our process to create a digital shop, and now it's an additional sales channel for us," he said.
"Through the webinars, I was able to understand the differences between running a brick-and-mortar store, which I'm more familiar with, and running a digital storefront."
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>5,000
Number of employees who have attended the OCBC Virtual SME Campus webinars since they began in April during the circuit breaker period.
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>6,500
Number of SME employees expected to benefit from the webinars by the year end.
Ms Lim Geok Keng, founder of kombucha brand Chateaux, which began operations in August selling fermented tea drinks, said she picked up useful information about grants and services for SMEs from the webinars.
The 48-year-old also gained a better understanding of digital marketing issues.
OCBC had previously rolled out a number of digital initiatives, including the Start Digital Pack, which enables SMEs to implement human resource, accounting, digital marketing, digital transactions and cyber-security solutions for free for at least six months.
Ms Christie Chu, head of emerging business and commercial banking cash at OCBC, said: "A common feedback from our customers, especially the smaller businesses and start-ups, is that they know they have to adapt quickly but are unsure of how to do so.
"The pace of new developments has also been overwhelming, leaving some confused about what help is available.
"That's where OCBC Virtual SME Campus comes in to fill that knowledge gap and help SMEs bounce back stronger from this crisis."
