SME Bosses Reacts To Singapore Budget 2026 #Budget2026

 What happens when rising costs, foreign worker quotas, AI disruption, and global expansion all collide in one national budget?

We unpack the real conversations happening behind closed doors: the tensions, the trade-offs, and the tough questions business owners are quietly asking.

Here’s what you’ll hear:

• Why “adapt or be left behind” isn’t just a slogan, and what it really means for SMEs
• The hidden pressure of quotas, levies, and wage mandates, are three tools too many?
• When your best talent becomes your biggest compliance headache
• AI: national strategy or survival strategy for small businesses?
• Why not every job can, or should, be replaced by automation
• The uncomfortable truth about grants, sustainability, and over-dependence
• International expansion: growth opportunity… or expensive distraction?
• Why going overseas without fixing your home ground could cost you more than you think

🎙️ And joining us is a service-based entrepreneur who has piloted regional projects, navigated capability development firsthand, and is actively preparing for international expansion, sharing candid insights on what founders really need beyond just financial capital: social capital, ecosystem support, and even “dream capital.”

This isn’t a highlight reel.
It’s the unfiltered reality of running a business in a fast-changing economy.

If you’re an SME owner, policymaker, founder, or just curious about where the economy is heading, you’ll want to tune in. Because the real question isn’t whether change is coming. It’s whether we’re ready for it.

What We Discuss:

• 03:24 What are your thoughts on the Budget this year?
• 18:03 Is the government pushing businesses to adopt AI and automation?
• 24:05 What are your thoughts on the rise in levies and taxes?
• 27:18 How do you view the role of grants and capital in business development?
• 44:44 What do you think about the pressure to internationalize businesses? 

Episode Resources:

• Spotify
• YouTube
• Apple podcast