US Market Access Center, Kauffman FastTrac® and IDA Singapore Help Singaporean Entrepreneurs Take on the World

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--The US Market Access Center (US MAC), a Silicon Valley based incubator and leader in global market entry programs, today announced a new partnership with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), to assist Singaporean entrepreneurs in expanding their businesses into the global market place.

“the US Market Access Center's commitment to advancing the global economy is in direct alignment with Kauffman FastTrac's focus on providing a portal to the entrepreneurial ecosystem for aspiring and existing business owners. We are proud to include US Market Access Center among our worldwide network of affiliates.”

Building off the launch of the US Market Access Center and IDA’s iStart@Silicon Valley (iStart@SV) program in 2010, and following a rigorous selection process, the US MAC will spend a total of four weeks in Singapore training emerging Singapore technology companies in the Kauffman FastTrac® entrepreneurial education program. A hands-on program that gives entrepreneurs the tools they need to plan, manage and run their companies, a typical Kauffman FastTrac® session includes facilitated discussions and activities, networking, small peer groups, a guest speaker and coaching sessions. Participants work on their own business ventures throughout the program.

Finalists will receive an established, comprehensive educational program in a highly professional classroom environment that has been taught to over 300,000 students. There is no faster or better way to accelerate the process of starting a company and taking that company global.

“This partnership is an innovative step forward in addressing a critical challenge for emerging technology companies,” said Omar Mencin, CEO of the US Market Access Center. “It also signifies a major step in expanding the global footprint of the US Market Access Center as well as the growing internationalization of the technology industry as a whole. IDA is one of our most valued partners and we are very excited to be working with them in Singapore, as well as in the United States.”

Alana Muller, President of Kauffman FastTrac, added that, "the US Market Access Center's commitment to advancing the global economy is in direct alignment with Kauffman FastTrac's focus on providing a portal to the entrepreneurial ecosystem for aspiring and existing business owners. We are proud to include US Market Access Center among our worldwide network of affiliates.”

For over fifteen years, the U.S. Market Access Center has worked with more than eight hundred companies from fifty countries. Its mission is to help overseas technology companies successfully do business in Silicon Valley. In the last eighteen months, they’ve begun to broaden and expand the mission beyond Silicon Valley to provide in-country training, mentoring and consulting to emerging technology companies around the world.

This is also one of the first times that the Kauffman FastTrac® entrepreneurial education program has been conducted outside of the US. Singapore is an ideal early platform to extend the reach of the Kauffman FastTrac® programme for its young and growing startup community, supported by the country’s excellent infocomm infrastructure, talented manpower and strong government support. Singapore has been ranked the “World’s Easiest Place to Do Business” according to the World Bank, 1^st in the Waseda University World e-Government Ranking , and 2^nd in the World Economic Forum Global Information Technology Report Ranking in 2011.

For more information please visit the US Market Access Center’s homepage at www.usmarketaccess.com.

About Kauffman FastTrac®:

Kauffman FastTrac is the leading provider of learning curricula that equip aspiring and existing entrepreneurs with the business skills and insights, tools, resources, and network to start and grow successful businesses.

Kauffman FastTrac was created by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the largest foundation in the United States devoted to entrepreneurship. For more information about Kauffman FastTrac®, visit www.fasttrac.org.