Entrepreneurs as young as 16 years old are sharing their experiences and asking questions at TowkayZone.com . And even though he wears the “advisor” hat, Mr Foo Tiang Lim, Market Development Lead, Asia Pacific, Evernote, finds himself benefitting from these discussions too.

TowkayZone.com is a business community platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to exchange ideas and seek advice on technologies that can transform their businesses.  A collaboration between SPH Magazines and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), it was officially launched by Ms Sim Ann, Minister of State for Communications and Information, and Education, at the DP Information Group’s 27th Annual Singapore 1000 & Singapore SME 100 awards dinner on 24 January.

Mr Terence Ang, Product Manager for TowkayZone.com, said, “Some business owners or ‘towkays’ have accumulated a wealth of experience over the years but have never really shared the secrets to their success openly. Over time, we would like them to share these experiences, and pass on their wisdom to future generations of business owners.”

Mr Foo is one of the advisors who have been involved with the portal since its inception. “I’m glad that TowkayZone can provide a platform for entrepreneurs, no matter what their age is, to step forward and share or learn from each other,” he said.

According to Mr Foo, the most common questions he has received on the TowkayZone forum are related to sales or marketing. He hopes that by sharing his own experiences, he can help “de-mystify” some of the issues related to operating and expanding a business in the digital realm. At the same time, he finds that he is learning from the discussions as well. “The healthy discussion gives me ideas on how to do things better in my own work too.”

Another towkay on TowkayZone is Mr Jackie Lee, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of clickTRUE and Noisy Crayons. One good question that he gets on the portal is about what entrepreneurs need to have in order to start an online business. His advice to them would be to think hard about two things – their value proposition, and how they can make money to sustain their operations if they have no funding.

He finds interacting on the portal a learning experience for him as well. “Be it as a mentor or an entrepreneur, I find the site useful in getting a taste of what other business owners and managers are facing and talking about on a day-to-day or weekly basis,” he said. “The forum allows me to suss out conversations that may help me in understanding the current climate and how others have managed to overcome some of their own challenges. In turn, I will share what I’ve learned and hopefully, gain some new friends through the network there.”

He believes the portal has the potential to reach out and stimulate conversations beyond the traditional one-to-one mentoring to achieve a many-to-many scale. “That’s where it will become a lot more interesting and useful,” he said.

Other business owners and experts who have come on board as advisors include Mr Prakash Somosundram, Social Media Director of YOLK; Mr Eric Koh, founder of Travelogy.com; and Mr Dylan Hu Dingren, Director for Poli Medical.

TowkayZone has also partnered with more than 15 organisations to provide a rich suite of online resources. It allows SMEs to gain business insights; take part in discussions on productivity-related initiatives; seek advice on the personal data protection policy; and learn about technology that can help them raise productivity from the SME Infocomm Resource Centres. Since its soft launch in September 2013, it has generated more than 500 forum threads and averages between 4,000 and 4,500 unique visitors a month.

The portal also helps business owners to grow their networks and extend their market reach. It allows users to sign up with their Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, which will further enhance the potential for them to broaden their connections within the community, said Mr Ang. There is also a mobile edition of the website that users can access using their smartphones. This makes it even easier for business owners to interact and source for information on the site, especially when they are on the move.