From Awareness to Action: Helping Businesses Harness the Power of AI
UOB FinLab officially launched the AI Ready Programme on 8 July 2025, bringing together over 80 SME leaders, ecosystem partners, and government agencies. In collaboration with AI Singapore, IMDA, and Microsoft, the programme is designed to help SMEs move from AI curiosity to confident adoption by offering solutions, expert advisory, and tailored clinics. The kick-off event showcased how adopting AI is an achievable reality for businesses of all sizes.
Welcome Address by UOB FinLab
Shannon Lung, Head, UOB FinLab & Ecosystem, opened the session by sharing UOB FinLab’s mission. He emphasised that since its establishment in 2015, UOB FinLab has served as the strategic community enabler of UOB, dedicated to driving SME growth across ASEAN through Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digitalisation, and Sustainability.
This mission relects the organisation’s commitment to empowering small and medium-sized enterprises to thrive in an increasingly digital and environmentally conscious economy.
Opening Address by IMDA
Johnson Poh, Assistant Chief Executive, Sectoral Transformation Group, IMDA, addressed the digitalisation imperative for Singapore’s SMEs. He highlighted IMDA’s GenAI x Digital Leaders initiative, businesses to partner with tech vendors to design, develop, and deploy GenAI Solutions, while receiving guidance on technology and AI governance best practices.
Eligible enterprises, those with in-house tech capabilities and meeting specific criteria, may also benefit from funding support to implement impactful GenAI use cases, ultimately driving digital transformation and business growth across sectors.
Getting Future-Ready with UOB
Paul Kan, Head, Business Banking Singapore, UOB, emphasised the bank’s commitment to supporting SMEs through financial tools and partnerships that enable innovation. He shared UOB’s perspective on preparing businesses for a digital-first economy.
UOB FinLab AI Ready Programme Overview
Eelen Lim, Programme Director, UOB FinLab & Ecosystem introduced the AI Ready Programme structure and support model, including masterclasses, 1-1 tech advisory and proof-of-concept development pathways for SMEs.
AI Ready for SME Leaders
Laurence Liew, Director, AI Innovation, AI Singapore, introduced SMEs to structured pathways for adopting AI and the proof-of-concept (POC) sprints brought together by UOB and AISG. He explained how the programme can help businesses solve real-world challenges by matching them with trained AI engineers and providing support for testing and validating deployable solutions.
He also highlighted the AI Readiness Index (AIRI), a practical tool to assess organisational, data, and infrastructure readiness. By leveraging AIRI and AI Singapore’s ecosystem support, SMEs can better understand their AI maturity and take targeted steps toward implementation.
Leading your industry with AI Transformation
Boon Sing, ASEAN Senior Partner, Solution Sales – Data & AI, Microsoft, shared transformative use cases across industries. His session spotlighted how Microsoft AI tools can improve operational efficiency, drive customer engagement, and uncover new revenue streams.
Getting AI-Ready: What It Really Takes For SMEs to Succeed?
Moderated by UOB’s Alvin Eng, this dynamic panel brought together voices from IMDA, SMEs, and AI Solution partners including Lumens, Nanyang Inc, and iNextLabs. Speakers discussed practical steps SMEs can take to embark on their AI journey, key pitfalls to avoid, and how to align internal teams for success. The panel also touched on the importance of education, data readiness, and trusted tech partnerships.
Moderated by UOB’s Alvin Eng, this dynamic panel brought together voices from IMDA, SMEs, and AI Solution partners including Lumens, Nanyang Inc, and iNextLabs.
Speakers discussed practical steps SMEs can take to embark on their AI journey, key pitfalls to avoid, and how to align internal teams for success. The panel also touched on the importance of education, data readiness, and trusted tech partnerships.
iNextLabs spotlighted high-impact GenAI use cases such as chatbots and AI agents, which drive productivity and customer experience. IMDA underscored the importance of people, processes, and partnerships, sharing how government-led initiatives like Digital Leaders Programme support capability building.
SMEs like Lumens and Nanyang Inc shared their AI transformation journeys, from in-house tech development to refining use cases through whiteboarding with tech partners. Lumens’ GenAI car rental assistant is set to triple efficiency and save over S$300K annually. On the other hand, Nanyang Inc is automating order processing with GenAI which was inline with their intention to have a fifth Project Manager. With these first steps, both Lumens and Nanyang Inc continued to seek for more areas in their business where AI can be implemented to maximise efficiency.
The panel concluded that SMEs could start small with focused use cases and scale through the right partnerships, internal readiness, and continuous experimentation.
Janet Young, Managing Director and Group Head, Channels & Digitalisation, Strategic Communications & Brand, UOB, delivered the closing keynote. She spoke on the role of leadership in driving change, the bank’s broader innovation strategy, and the need for resilience and agility in a rapidly transforming business landscape.
Networking Lunch & 1:1 Advisory Clinics
The programme concluded with an engaging networking lunch and 1:1 advisory clinic where SMEs had the opportunity to connect directly with AI solution providers, UOB specialists, and ecosystem partners for tailored advice. A concurrent booth showcase allowed participants to explore AI use cases and tools in greater depth.
Together, this ecosystem-led model ensures that AI adoption is not only possible, but sustainable and impactful for every SME.
It has been almost a year since the team at UOB FinLab culminated its GreenTech Accelerator 2024 (GTA). We decided to check in with one of the GreenTech participants and see the progress that is being made.
Nearly a year has passed since UOB FinLab concluded its GreenTech Accelerator 2024 (GTA), and we’ve followed up with one of the participating GreenTech companies to see how things have progressed.
As a newly appointed SkillsFuture Queen Bee (SFQB), UOB is supporting SMEs with the UOB SME Elevate Programme — offering training courses with up to 90% subsidies, mentorships, tools and solutions for future-ready growth.
Senior Lecturer, Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Melvin Gan is a senior lecturer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Business and Accountancy, where he specialises in sustainability in business management, ESG reporting, digital marketing, consumer insights, and human-centered design thinking. A founding member of the Sustainability Module Team, he has been instrumental in developing specialised curricula such as Corporate Governance and Reporting for Sustainable Business and has contributed to the growth of the Business Sustainability and Digitalisation specialisation.
Consultant & Trainer, CSO Centre
Joyce was former Commercial Director at Climate Impact Exchange (CIX), a global carbon solutions provider established by Temasek Holdings, Singapore Exchange, DBS Bank & Standard Chartered in Singapore. She was hired as part of the founding team and represented CIX in multiple public forums on decarbonisation, market development and green finance.
Joyce has close to 20 years of experience in the financial industry. She has helmed leadership roles at Singapore Exchange, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse across various business and operation units. At CIX, she worked with C-Suites, NGOs and financiers on decarbonisation solutions, global carbon market development, as well as alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for long term impact and business resilience.
Consultant & Trainer, CSO Centre
Lance is an FSA Credential Holder and GRI Certified Sustainability Professional. Throughout his corporate career, he has worked at JPMorgan, Citibank and Singapore Exchange. As a marketing and corporate communications consultant, his clients have included DBS, Singtel, UOB, Bank of Singapore as well as many other government organisations, SMEs and startups.
He currently specializes in helping corporates with ESG and sustainability reporting as a trainer and consultant. His courses have been taken by individuals and companies from all over the world and accredited by the Institute of Banking & Finance (Singapore). He is also an associate lecturer with Ngee Ann Polytechnic for various sustainability-related courses.
Designed for business owners to enhance their digital capabilities through practical learning, this programme takes businesses to the next level.
Designed for business owners to enhance their digital capabilities through practical learning, this programme takes businesses to the next level.
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