AT THE opening of the Global Entrepreneurship Week on Tuesday, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan announced the start of the Young Entrepreneurs Scheme for Startups - YES! Startups - where a seed fund of $12.5 million has been set side for young budding entrepreneurs.

Administered by SPRING Singapore, the fund will be drawn from the $25 million Entrepreneurial Talent Development Fund launched four years ago.

The YES! Startups extends already existing schemes for students and alumni of tertiary institutions to all Singaporeans or Permanent Residents aged 26 years old or below.

Each youth ventures may get $4 for every $1 that they raise themselves to start their enterprise, up to a sum of $50,000.

To date, 120 youths from polytechnics and universties have already tapped on the talent development fund in 48 different business ventures under the existing schemes.

The new scheme targets to support another 250 new ventures over the next five years.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.