American consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble, in partnership with Singapore Economic Development Board, has set up a digital innovation centre in the nation. The company will invest $100 million through its partnership with EDB over a period of five years. With this centre, it is keen on supporting Singapore’s vision to be a leading digital and e-commerce hub in the world.
The centre was unveiled today (18 April), with Minister for Trade and Industry S Iswaran present as the guest of honour. He stressed on the fact that the nation serves as the company’s Asia-Pacific headquarters with a team of about 2,000 working in areas such as marketing, consumer insights, brand management, among others. He added,
We will continue to partner leading companies to anchor new digital capabilities, strengthen our local ecosystem, and equip our people with the requisite skillsets for the digital economy.
P&G has committed to undertake digital innovation in three key areas with this centre – supply chain management, e-analytics and e-business. The E-Center will concentrate on the company’s end-to-end supply chain for greater accuracy, visibility, and efficient processes, while with the focus on e-analytics, it intends to optimise product distribution and marketing strategy. And, its e-business unit will work to transform digital strategies into scalable plans for the region and utilise digital channels to innovate and improve business models.
In its official release, the company states it will undertake the training of 40 employees in these three areas to take on digital roles. The company will also be seen extending collaborations with local small and medium enterprises and startups to strengthen digital capabilities and create new digital solutions.
Dr. Beh Swan Gin, chairman, EDB, commented,
We are pleased that P&G has chosen to establish its first E-Center outside of the US, in Singapore. Through digital innovation in supply chain management, e-Analytics and e-Business, the center will drive transformation of P&G’s operations in the region. This will in turn create new jobs in fields such as data analytics that are aligned with Singapore’s efforts to strengthen our digital capabilities.
In addition to the launch, P&G also organized its second edition of P&G Leadership College, a leadership programme for SMEs in collaboration with SPRING Singapore. The program works to facilitate associations of SMEs with large organisations through knowledge transfer, capability upgrading, co-innovation and test-bedding of innovative solutions.
