“May I Borrow Your Tofu?”

"Hey, thanks for lending me your stinky tofu!"

My Taitung host and I were savoring a plate of stinky tofu when, out of nowhere, a lady with a big camera barged in between us!

Without a word, she snapped a photo of our food, leaving us momentarily stunned. Before we could react, she grinned and said,

“𝐖𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐬𝐨 𝐈’𝐦 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬!”

Her boldness and sheer resourcefulness of that moment got us all laughing.

It got me thinking about the 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤 that I commonly hear from from SMEs

Many business owners tell me they do not have the resources to innovate. But just like this lady "borrowing" a quick solution, there are always resources around us.

.

For SMEs, open innovation is one way to tap into external resources, whether that’s 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲, 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰-𝐡𝐨𝐰.

.

Here in Singapore, we have fantastic support through 𝐀*𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫, IPI, 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

Here are three tips for SMEs looking to innovate without going it alone:

📌 Explore 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 for fresh ideas and tech.

📌 Leverage partnerships with 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐬 to fill knowledge gaps.

📌 Access 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐬 designed to support SME growth.

What’s one unconventional way you or your team have found solutions outside your usual resources?

I first published this reflection on the "Innovation Made Simple. Growth Made Real” series on LinkedIn in Dec 2024. This is the actual dish that we were eating when the lady barged in. For anyone interested, this is the address of this highly sort after stinky tofu shop in Taiwan, Chishang Township (池上), Taitung County. According to my host, the queue is usually super long even though it's hidden in a small and remote alley!