Stories from modern towkays: Financing SMEs
“If you think doing business is just waltzing into the restaurant [to make easy money], you’re wrong.”
Take it from Selva Gunapathy, owner of Royal Prata & Curries Corner, a popular prata joint along Killiney Road.
An entrepreneur with over eight years of experience running his own businesses, Selva considers manpower management his biggest hurdle.
“Sometimes they don't come. Sometimes they don’t want to work weekends, which is when the business is at its best. They come in with a long list of what they want, and when they’re hired, go on MC (medical leave).” Selva said.
To circumvent the issue of manpower, Selva proposed two solutions.
“We shortlist the hardworking ones, increasing their salary in order to retain them and reward them for overtime work.”
Another solution is to automate restaurant services.
“Customers can order their food using a self-service system. The requests will go straight to the kitchen to be prepared and that’ll cut down a lot of manpower in terms of floor staff.”
These solutions not only reduced the issue of manpower shortage but allowed Selva to refocus his energy in developing other areas within the business - including being a GrabFood merchant partner. Yet, these changes resulted in high overhead costs, and were part of the reason why he decided to take up a business loan from GrabFinance.
“It’s good when [people] can see how our business is doing on the Grab merchant app. That’s very helpful [where Grab] creates an ecosystem where they know what business owners need, whether it’s increased financial input or visibility for the brand.” He added.
There are around 220,000 Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore since the last government census in April 2019. Financial movements from SMEs make up a significant part of Singapore’s GDP, but these enterprises are much more susceptible to liquidation and closure.
For Shilpa, owner of Shivshil Cuisine Private Limited, having started Siam Sensation which primarily serves authentic Thai cuisine, closure almost became a reality.
“After the successful first outlet, I started a second, and subsequently a third. But last year, we encountered cash flow issues,” Shilpa shared.
Source: Siamsensation.com
“As a GrabFood partner, I was already using Grab merchant app to ease the payment process. My husband saw that GrabFinance is financing loans, and encouraged me to try to get our cash flow in check.”
Over the past five years, and with her expanding business, Shilpa turned to GrabFinance, which provided her with the cash-flow stability that she needed to get through this rocky period.
“Especially for SMEs like us, GrabFinance business loans are efficient and fast ways to help businesses when we need a quick cash flow fix.”
Whether you’re looking to increase your working capital, manage daily operating costs, purchase inventory or meet other short-term business needs, GrabFinance business loans can provide the cash flow solutions your business needs. Find out more here.
This content was produced in partnership with GrabFinance.
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