Mr Joel Leong, Board Chairman of TomoWork,
Mr Rusell Chan, Principal & CEO of Nanyang Polytechnic,
Distinguished Guests, Colleagues
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1 A very good afternoon to everyone. This is my third time attending Tomo Day to witness the innovativeness of the Talent Accelerator programme (TAP)’s participants. I was very impressed by the previous cohorts of participants, and this year is no exception.
2 I am sure you will agree with me that all 19 participants did a wonderful job in sharing their innovative solutions to the challenges put forth by the different corporate sponsors.
3 Despite being differently abled, the participants have displayed outstanding capabilities that will allow them to contribute positively and create impact in the workforce.
Impact of the Talent Accelerator Programme (TAP)
4 Through TAP, hiring managers can better understand the abilities of persons with disabilities and correct some misconceptions they may have. This programme builds confidence in the hiring managers to open up more employment opportunities.
5 One such example is last year’s project sponsor from Micron, Mr Cheok Wei Leng. He was very impressed by the abilities of the participants through the weekly interactions with them. He also discovered a talent who was from another project and had very strong interest in working for Micron. Eventually, Mr Cheok personally championed hiring of these graduates.
6 With his support, four of the graduates from last year’s TAP were hired by Micron. These four graduates are present today. Could I get you to wave your hands and say hello, Arif, Ethan, Yi Xing and Wei Ling?
7 A big round of applause for Micron Singapore for your strong and exemplary support for persons with disabilities in the workforce. I hope there can be more of such success stories from this year’s cohort too. Based on the earlier presentations, I am confident this year’s TAP participants can value-add in your organisations.
Building a more inclusive workplace
8 The Government has accepted the final recommendations by the Tripartite Committee on Workplace Fairness to introduce a new Workplace Fairness Legislation. This will help to create a more inclusive work environment not just for persons with disabilities, but for all employees in Singapore.
9 Enabling Academy, SG Enable’s disability learning hub, supports inclusive employers by conducting High Impact Retention & Employment (HIRE) Workshops that equip organisations with relevant knowledge and skills to hire, integrate and retain employees with disabilities. Employers can receive up to 90% course fees subsidies when they send their employees without disabilities for HIRE workshops. In addition, a recent study commissioned by SG Enable found that companies who adopt disability-inclusive practices have more purpose-driven employees, an innovative and learning culture, simpler and digitally-enabled processes and customer-centric thinking. I encourage employers present to consider building up your capabilities to develop and further scale up efforts to hire persons with disabilities and reap the benefits of doing so.
Conclusion
10 The recent Forward Singapore exercise shows that Singaporeans want to build a caring and inclusive society, where persons with disabilities can also participate fully as integral and contributing members of society. Programmes such as today’s TAP show the way forward in making this vision a reality.
11 Congratulations to participants of TAP 2024 for completing your 12-week long programme. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours and encourage you to continue to pursue lifelong learning opportunities beyond this programme and even after you graduate. Congratulations also to TomoWork on your 5th Anniversary! I hope you have a great afternoon ahead.
Thank you.