Local Start-Up Alchemy Foodtech Collaborates with Labour Movement to Expand Business

As part of its efforts to grow and expand, Alchemy Foodtech – a Singapore-based food science company – has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Food, Drink and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU) to form a Company Training Committee (CTC).

The CTC can help the local start-up identify skills and training needs for its workforce, as well as hasten the company’s transformation efforts.

The signing took place at Alchemy’s premises on 12 April 2022, and it was witnessed by NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Chee Hong Tat.

During the signing, Alchemy Foodtech also agreed to formally recognise FDAWU, allowing the union to come in and represent its workers.

Mr Chee said that congress is glad to partner start-ups like Alchemy Foodtech, which through the NTUC initiated CTC platform, will enable them to scale up their business and workforce by tapping on the Labour Movement’s networks and resources.

“We are investing in our future pipeline of unionised companies. When these promising SMEs succeed and expand their operations in future, we can grow our partnerships with them and achieve win-win outcomes for both businesses and workers,” he said.

FDAWU General Secretary Tan Hock Soon said that the union plans to leverage the NTUC Training and Placement Ecosystem to support Alchemy FoodTech in its business and workforce transformation efforts.

“FDAWU hopes to be an aggregator to bring together businesses, industry players and relevant agencies to create opportunities for businesses and our workers,” he shared.

Leveraging the Labour Movement Networks

As Alchemy continues to expand and grow, it will be able to tap on the Labour Movement’s resources for purposes such as strategic business planning and manpower hiring and training solutions.

“To support this growth, we need to attract talent and deepen the capabilities of our existing team,” said Alchemy Foodtech CEO and Co-Founder Alan Phua.

For starters, NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) will be supporting Alchemy with its hiring needs through job-matching and placement programmes.

Alchemy currently has plans to fill 15 of its vacant positions in business roles over the next two years.

Alchemy will also be able to benefit from NTUC LearningHub’s suite of training courses to upskill its current workforce in areas such as data science and analytics.

The NTUC Industry Training and Transformation team will also be working with the company to develop its business and workforce transformation roadmap.

This will be done through NTUC’s fully-subsidised Operation and Technology Roadmap (OTR) tool.

Companies that would like to set up a CTC may contact the unions or NTUC Industry Training & Transformation team at https://trainandtransform.ntuc.org.sg/