Boston Consulting Group and SkillsFuture Singapore extend successful Rapid & Immersive Skill Enhancement (RISE) initiative with two new programmes to accelerate Small and Medium Enterprises’ digitalisation and workforce transformation

As a newly appointed SkillsFuture Queen Bee, BCG’s new RISE for Business programme will enable SMEs to capture digital opportunities, while RISE2.0 will offer greater flexibility for working professionals to reskill or upskill

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) launched two new programmes today as part of its highly successful Rapid & Immersive Skill Enhancement (RISE) programme, a unique digital skilling and capabilities-building initiative.  The launch also marked BCG’s appointment as a SkillsFuture Queen Bee.

The new programmes, RISE for Business and RISE2.0, were launched at BCG Singapore by Minister for Education, Mr Chan Chun Sing, and Chairman of BCG Asia-Pacific, Mr Neeraj Aggarwal.

RISE for Business: Accelerating SME digitalisation by building home grown digital talent

RISE for Business is a unique programme that enables businesses to identify and act upon new digital opportunities by equipping their home-grown talent with high-demand business and digital skills. As a SkillsFuture Queen Bee, BCG is taking a leading role to champion skills development in local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by helping them access quality and industry-relevant skilling programmes.

Participating SMEs will work directly with BCG to identify their digital business challenges and related skills gaps. Their employees will then be placed in one of three tracks, where they will learn digital skills and apply these skills to overcome their company’s digital business challenges and drive impact in the business, leveraging the guidance, support, and mentorship from BCG’s industry experts and practitioners. Up to 90% course fee funding support will be available to eligible participating SMEs under the Enhanced Training Support for SMEs (ETSS).

“As SSG’s partner in SG United, BCG has helped to train and place Singaporeans through the COVID pandemic. We are now growing this partnership to help more companies and workers, learning from our experiences over the past two years. The expanded RISE programme will focus on supporting SMEs in their digitalisation journey, and on preparing mid-careerists for opportunities in the growing digital economy,” said Tan Kok Yam, SSG Chief Executive.

“As BCG, we are committed to bringing our global experience and expertise in digital transformation and talent development through our innovative and locally contextualized RISE programme,” said Neeraj Aggarwal, Chairman of BCG Asia-Pacific. “We are excited to have the support of the Ministry of Education, SSG, the Economic Development Board and other partners including the Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs), as we unlock this next bound of growth for homegrown Singaporean companies.”

RISE for Business has already seen strong interest from SMEs. The first batch of 120 participants will start the programme this year, with the programme potentially scaling up over the next two years.

From BCG’s partnership with Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to assess the digital maturity of Singapore companies using the Digital Acceleration Index (DAI), it is shown that while multi-national companies (MNCs) and limited liability companies (LLCs) have made significant progress between 2019-2021, SMEs have remained relatively stagnant.  Over 60% of SMEs in Singapore are still digital starters, vs. <20% for large companies. The sourcing of digital talent has emerged as the top issue for large corporations and is also a growing concern for SMEs. In a talent constrained environment, many SMEs find themselves losing out in the race for tech talent.  Upskilling their existing workforce is a critical unlock for SMEs, which employ 72% of the workforce, but training programmes must be tailored to meet their needs.

“What really stood out for me about the RISE for Business programme was the heavy emphasis on application-based learning and the rare opportunity to receive guidance on my own digital business problems from a top consulting firm,” said Jason Lee, Founder & CEO of La Parfumerie, a local retail fragrance brand at the launch.

RISE 2.0: Extending successful digital reskilling programme to accelerate workforce transformation

Since February 2021, RISE1.0 has successfully reskilled 1,700 PMETs in this unique Train-And-Place programme, with up to 70% of these participants securing job placements upon completion of the programme, 25% of which were secured even prior to course completion. RISE2.0 will extend this proven approach with a refined curriculum.

RISE 2.0 also offers greater flexibility with a part-time track for working professionals looking either to reskill to pivot out of vulnerable sectors or roles, or to upskill to pursue more attractive opportunities within their current or other organizations. Phase 1 of the programme, which will commence in September, plans to reach an initial intake of 700 learners.

Similar to RISE 1.0, RISE2.0 learners will benefit from best-in-class content from proprietary research, perspectives, and project experience directly from BCG practitioners and industry experts. Up to 90% of course fees will be supported under BCG’s SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme (SCTP) framework.

“Now, more than ever, there is a need for us to shape the next generation of talent in Singapore. We look forward to working with our clients and partners to curate unique and impactful skilling programmes and opportunities for hands-on exposure, in order to play our part in growing and diversifying the local talent pool in emerging areas such as digital and climate & sustainability,” said Jeffrey Chua, Chairman of BCG Singapore.

Registrations for both RISE2.0 and RISE for Business open in September 2022. To find out more about RISE, please visit https://rise.bcg.com/.

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