Overseas Business Development Staff Deployment

Briefcase Deploy a full-time employee overseas to drive business development and sales/business opportunities.

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About this scope

Support for overseas deployment of a permanent Business Development (BD) employee under company payroll to drive in-market business development and marketing efforts, including basic salary and office rental in the target market for up to 12 months.

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    Receive grants up to 50% of eligible cost for SMEs or 30% of eligible cost for non-SMEs, capped at  S$50,000
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    Application outcome in 6 weeks

Pre-requisites

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    BD staff (supported at 50% for local, 30% for foreigner) for both basic salary and office rental must be:
    • a full-time employee (i.e cannot be applicant shareholder/owner or hold concurrent roles)
    • stationed in-market, without prior BD work in the market before application
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    Minimum project qualifying period of 6 months

Deliverables

At the end of your project, you are required to submit:

  1. Proof of overseas market presence setup – rental quotation or office lease agreement signed (where applicable)
  2. Documentation of BD activities conducted by BD staff in market, which include but not limited to:
    1. Report on market research or potential to enter market, and
    2. Comprehensive report documenting the BD efforts/ work done by BD staff to increase market presence or sales channel/ networking, e.g. business meetings conducted, leads generated, milestones achieved, etc.
  3. Proof of inter-billing to be provided if activity is paid by subsidiary (where applicable)

Unsupportable areas

Unsupportable expenses include but not limited to:

  1. Statutory Charges
    • GST and government agency fees
  2. Operational Expenditure
    • Travel & accommodation costs, staff compensation beyond basic salary
    • Non full time or remote working BD staff, non office rental spaces (eg warehouse, hotel room)
  3. Digital Services
    • Generic database subscriptions
  4. Investment Activities
    • Investor /supplier sourcing, capital raising activities

How to apply

Before you apply
Step 1: Identify your target overseas market
Step 2: Identify the activity you are applying for and select a suitable vendor

Companies must identify a suitable vendor for the intended activity. There are no pre-approved vendors for Internationalisation activities.

Step 3: Prepare your documents

As part of the application, you will be required to submit the following documents:

  • Documents required for application
Step 4: Apply on Business Grants Portal (BGP)

Sign in to your Corppass account to transact on the BGP portal. Sign up if you do not have a Corppass account yet and refer to this guide for help.

Third party companies are not allowed to apply or manage the grant on behalf of applicant companies.

After you apply
Step 5: Receive your Letter of Offer

If your grant is awarded, your company will receive a Letter of Offer with the following details:

  • Conditions of support
  • Amount of grant awarded
  • Project qualifying period
  • Project deliverables

You will need to accept the Letter of Offer within the specified timeline.

Step 6: Complete your project

Please ensure that all deliverables are met as proof of project completion.

If there is a change in project after commencing, please submit a change request on BGP for evaluation. Failure to do so may cause delays during the claim process subsequently.

Change requests may be submitted for any of the following reasons:

  • Change to project start and end date (i.e., project qualifying period)
  • Change to claim due date
  • Change to project costs (including change in consultant/vendor)

The request will be subject to approval. You may refer to the step-by-step guide here.

Step 7: Complete the audit
  • Vendor proposal/methodology
  • Vendor certification/ track record

All claims for internationalisation activities are subject to audit. Once you have completed your project and achieved your project deliverables, please engage an auditor under EnterpriseSG’s Pre-Qualified Panel.

The cost of audit starts from S$200 (dependent on audit scope), and are supported up to 50%, capped at S$500. Project and audit costs are subject to the same pillar cap.

  • Documents required for audit

    For all activities:

    • Statement of Claim
    • Invoice(s)
    • Any of these:
      • Company’s bank/credit card statement
      • Payor’s bank/credit card statement (for payment(s) made on behalf of the company by its director/shareholder)
      • Bank’s advice slip (for payment(s) via bank draft, telegraphic transfer, etc.
      • Bank transactions proof reflecting both company’s and recipient’s account name and account number (for payment(s) via PayNow, GooglePay, etc.)
    • Other document(s) necessary as proof of payment e.g., photocopy of cheque, payment voucher

    Additional documents required for Overseas Marketing Presence projects:

    • Business Development staff’s employment letter/agreement and payslips/CPF statement
    • Either of these:
      • Photocopy of Business Development staff’s passport showing dates of entry and exit from the market
      • Business Development staff’s residential or long-term hotel stay lease agreement
    • Office space rental agreement (if applicable)
Step 8: Submit your claims

After the completion of audit, submit a claim on BGP with the following documents by the claim submission deadline specified in your Letter of Offer.

  • Audit report
  • Statement of Claim (endorsed by auditor)
  • Project deliverables as stated within LOF

You may refer to step-by-step guide here.

Achievement of project deliverables is assessed to determine if the project has been completed satisfactorily.

  • Documents required for claims
Step 9: Receive your disbursement

You will be notified via email when your claim has been approved. The approved claim amount will be disbursed via Corporate PayNow or GIRO to your designated bank account.

  • Set up your mode of disbursement

    PayNow Corporate (preferred)

    • You are encouraged to register for PayNow Corporate with your UEN +3 alphanumeric suffix (if applicable) through your respective banks in three simple steps:
      • Contact your bank or log in to your bank’s internet banking or mobile banking app.
      • Link your UEN to the bank account. You can add a 3-digit alpha-numeric suffix to your UEN to create multiple PayNow proxies.
      • Enter your name to complete the setup.
    • Once your PayNow Corporate account is set up, submit your details via Business Grant Portal (BGP) claim form.
    • With PayNow Corporate, grant applicants can receive their grants quicker, within 14 working days after approval of claims.

    GIRO

    • Alternatively, you may also make payments via GIRO. For payments via GIRO, kindly submit your bank account details via FormSG here. Do note that disbursement via GIRO may take up to eight weeks after approval of claims.

    In the event that no PayNow Corporate or GIRO has been set up, we are unable to disburse the claim.

Ready to apply?

Submit your application on the Business Grants Portal (BGP) now.

Apply on Business Grants Portal

Overseas Business Development Staff Deployment

Apply now