28/01/2021
DesignSingapore Council And SkillsFuture Singapore Partner Tribal Worldwide To Launch Transformational Skills Development Programme For SMEs In The Design Sector
Local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the design sector
will get more support to build the skills and capabilities of their
workforce, and be part of a learning ecosystem that will enable them to
grow their businesses by investing in their talent. Led by Tribal
Worldwide, SMEs will be able to identify capability gaps, co-design
training plans and access government funding solutions to address their
skills training needs. This first-of-its-kind industry-led skills
development programme is made possible with the support from
DesignSingapore Council (Dsg) and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), through
the SkillsFuture Queen Bee initiative.
Against the backdrop of rapid digitalisation of customer experiences and
business models, further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, there
has been a surge in demand from all areas of the economy for
customer-centric services and solutions. This has led to a critical need
for the design, marketing and technology industry to evolve their
capabilities to keep pace with these developments. The introduction of
this new programme for the design sector is timely during such economic
uncertainty as it aims to help local design SMEs strategise and invest
in the development of their own talents. This would make it more
sustainable for their businesses in the longer term, rather than
focusing on short-term business goals such as sales revenue increment.
Tribal Worldwide – a subsidiary of DDB Group Singapore – is the first SkillsFuture Queen Bee company1
appointed in the design sector to drive this initiative. As an industry
leader, Tribal Worldwide will reach out to design SMEs to understand
their skills needs and develop a holistic plan to deepen design
excellence within the industry, with the aim of responding to rising
demand for quality experience design and innovation.
Through the SkillsFuture Queen Bee partnership, Tribal Worldwide aims to
transform the current context of the design sector by fostering a
community of learning and encouraging a culture of collectivism.
Smaller firms are encouraged to come together or partner other firms
that can complement each other’s capabilities, so as to grow their
business collectively and share knowledge, as well as gain a competitive
edge when competing with larger design companies. Design SMEs that
participate in the programme will also have access to a conducive
support network that shares a common goal to grow through skills.
Tribal Worldwide will impart their expertise gained from their own
transformation journey with participating SMEs, having developed the
Total Experience consulting offering and Equator training programmes
over the last few years. These SMEs will be supported by a Skills
Manager who will assess their current capabilities and identify future
capabilities required to drive business goals. SMEs will be guided by a
robust skills development framework that draws the best of public
resources from SSG and Dsg, such as through the Skills Framework for
Design, as well as funding support from the government and private
resources from Tribal Worldwide.
Design talents will receive training in transdisciplinary skillsets
across the diverse spectrum of specialist disciplines. This includes
technical design, strategy and research skills as well as non-technical
innovation and management skills required for today’s holistic
experience design solutions. Design leaders will be coached to develop
their talent attraction, retention and management strategy to foster a
culture of growth.
Tribal Worldwide’s goal is to support at least 30 SMEs on their learning
journey over the next 12 months. The initial phase of recruitment for
the programme has begun with five companies and Tribal Worldwide will
share more at a later stage.
Mr Jeff Cheong, Deputy CEO of DDB Group Singapore: “Tribal Worldwide has
been through its own journey of digital transformation by evolving our
skills and services that focus on the experience economy. As a network,
we arrived at Total Experience™️2 where each of our practice
leads for business consulting, customer experience, technology, data and
creative deliver innovative solution for our clients. Our in-campus
operation Equator2 has expanded from Temasek Polytechnic to
other Polytechnics. We are committed to impart and train up the next
generation of tech-creative thinkers and doers for a post-pandemic
world. Now with the SkillsFuture Queen Bee partnership with SSG and Dsg,
we are ready to share our experience and expertise with our peers in
the industry, and grow a stronger ecosystem, to take on the
opportunities and challenges ahead together.”
Mr Mark Wee, Executive Director of Dsg said, “The SkillsFuture Queen Bee
initiative is timely in this climate where digitalisation and consumer
trends are evolving, and design talents will require transdisciplinary
skillsets to respond with agility to keep pace with these developments.
We are heartened that Tribal, a leading firm in the design industry, has
stepped forward to share its experience with other design SMEs, on how
investing in their people through skills development and training could
help businesses boost internal design and innovation capabilities and
strengthen their competitiveness. Over time, we hope to see an ecosystem
of design SMEs who see the value in, and are committed to prioritising
training as a business and people development strategy.”
Mr Ong Tze-Ch’in, Chief Executive of SSG said: “Partnerships with
SkillsFuture Queen Bee companies, such as Tribal Worldwide, will help to
extend the reach and impact of the SkillsFuture movement to more
companies and in particular, SMEs. We are thankful to Tribal Worldwide
for coming on board the initiative. We will continue to bring more
partners onboard the SkillsFuture Queen Bee programme to further build
up our SMEs’ business capabilities and sharpen their competitive edge.”
More details on the SkillsFuture Queen Bee partnership is on Annex A.
1 SkillsFuture Queen Bee companies are market leaders who
are recognised for their industry expertise, have extensive business
networks and deep sectoral knowledge, and can influence and support
other enterprises particularly SMEs, to scale up skills development
efforts and extend the reach of the SkillsFuture movement.
2 Total Experience (TX) offers specialised and integrated
solutions led by practitioners and partners across the network in Asia
and Europe six core practices – business consulting, data science,
customer experience, technology engineering, creative & social and
Equator. Equator is a global centre of excellence for creative
technology and innovation that taps experts from the DDB global network
and the diverse talents from Temasek Polytechnic to create prototype
concepts for commercial and community needs.