How Sleek helps more than 5,000 SMEs solve back-office problems – Wired PR Lifestyle Story

The Internet economy in Southeast Asia (SEA) will reach $ 1 trillion by 2030, with Singapore at the forefront of that growth.

It may not be surprising that the country has been a vibrant trading and financial center since the 1800s since its colonial era. Singapore is currently a financial center that manages assets worth $ 4.7 trillion ($ 3.5 trillion).

The prosperous tiger economy in Southeast Asia is also rapidly emerging as an Asian financial hub, replacing Hong Kong, almost. 40 percent Among the SEA fintech companies based here.

This flowery gem of the SEA and its long history as a leading financial center also have its drawbacks. Due to basic issues, many business processes, such as business registration and tax and compliance files, are often manual.

The pandemic has shown that it is also a more tedious task for entrepreneurs to process administrative documents and manage their accounts manually.

Nowadays, you may appear in a bank or accounting firm and not even have a dedicated employee in charge of managing your documents from the office. The frustrations of physically meeting and arranging to sign documents make it difficult for business owners to direct their show effectively.

Like many other SME owners before them, entrepreneurs Julien Labruyere and Adrien Barthel experienced the pains of business administration work when they arrived in Singapore a few years ago.

They wanted to create and register their own startup, but while they were undergoing this process, they were frustrated by the fact that some regular corporate secretaries and accounting firms dealt with their paperwork almost at the speed of a snail.

They realized that there was a need for a better workflow for companies that want to establish and operate paper mines here. This was an opportunity to fix and potentially serve Every year 60,000 new companies set up shop in Singapore.

“Starting a business doesn’t have to be frustrating and complex. So we started developing a digital solution to solve this problem, ”said Julien, CEO and founder of the SME Services Platform. .

How Sleek helps companies solve mines

In 2017, entrepreneurs launched Sleek, Singapore’s first digital and paperless service provider.

Sleek aims to address the problems facing companies: administrative tasks, accounting tasks, and lack of transparency or oversight of expenditure in preparing monthly budgets.

Thus, a sudden platform was created where entrepreneurs and investors can conveniently manage their business registration, their governance, accounting and even tax compliance on a single roof; all this can be done digitally without having to download it to a physical office.

In four years, Sleek has helped more than 5,000 startups in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

Its client is made up of small business owners, creators, entrepreneurs and investors. Last year, its customers generated revenue of S $ 700 million, for a total of 1.4 million accounting transactions processed by Sleek.

To find out why companies are moving to Sleek for their digital solutions, Julien said: “Regular corporate secretaries and accounting firms have moved at pedestrian speed and are outdated in their offerings, creating many barriers to a business trip. When entrepreneurs come to Sleek, everything they can digitize it: from the start of your business, to business accounts, as well as accounting. ”

“We are the only company in Singapore that provides a complete ecosystem of a company’s administrative needs,” he added.

From an idea to the first sale of a day

Sleek’s services are available to companies from the first day the store is set up (company formation) until the day-to-day business operations (accounting, bookkeeping and taxation) are completed.

Business owners can digitally register their business by filling out the online form and uploading the necessary documentation to the Sleek website.

For example, if you have a new company that you want to set up in Singapore, you need to register with Sleek and let them take you as their “personal assistant”. It will do the following: check and book the company name, prepare documents like registration forms, ACRA files and filling out forms.

It will also help you plan your decision to open a bank account for your new business.

Sleek also has a business account that provides a service for receiving and sending payments to customers.

Once your business is set up, Sleek will continue to support the company’s operational needs, including auditing financial statements, accounting, expense claims, Central Provident Funds (CPF) and managing all of your annual filing requirements.

Sleek offers services in flexible and transparent pricing plans. Checks on his website revealed that it was easy to find rates. For example, to apply for a business start-up service, new companies have to pay only S $ 35 (minus government fees).

The plans are also tailored to meet the different needs of companies regardless of their industry, size and number of stakeholders, according to Julien.

“We take a customer-based approach and tailor-made to meet the needs of our customers. There is no hidden fee or cost for our services. Everything is explained in advance and in detail to make their business trip as smooth as possible, ”he said.

Sleek also offers book storage services for business owners to easily collect their receipts. Users need to take a photo of the receipt via WhatsApp channel and their bot will digitally record your expenses through artificial intelligence capabilities.

Beyond the day-to-day, the digital solutions platform provides secretarial services and corporate governance, such as the preparation and submission of annual declarations, as well as visa packages.

Sleek also offers business insurance advice and solutions to cover the inherent risks that any business will face, such as product liability, professional compensation, cyber compensation, and more.

The entire business service provider goes a step further by leaving business owners with no problems when it comes to signing documents.

Sleek touches on its legally binding electronic signature tool, SleekSign, a technology developed and released for free by the company to allow business owners to sign documents such as consumer agreements, human resources agreements as well as IP license documents.

Customers don’t have to search for documents from top to bottom to process their apps, because all of their important documents are in the cloud and can be accessed anytime, anywhere.

A new Free Sleek Business account has been launched

To meet the needs of customers in the post-pandemic world, Sleek has launched its latest solution, the Sleek Business Account.

With a Sleek Business Account, companies can now open a free business account with no initial deposit and minimum balance. Moreover, they do not have to leave the comfort of their homes, or the workplace, as they do not have to physically go to the bank.

The service is provided free of charge to all Sleek customers who are using one of the current services.

In a typical scenario, Singapore customers need to visit a bank branch to set up a business account and this process usually takes a few weeks before it is approved and customers know your customer service (KYC) process and duplicate documents. Ordinary banks typically charge up to S $ 1,000 or S $ 5,000 for the initial deposit as well.

For new businesses that want to join Sleek and get a business account at the same time, this free account will be part of the integration and business registration process.

Sleek will open your business account as soon as you register your business. This can reduce the time it takes to set up a business for many weeks, as well as months.

Save the earth by going undocumented

Going digital is a major component of the business sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach.

Companies that embark on a journey of digital transformation with Sleek can be confident that they are doing their part to “save the earth” and focus together on a paperless and greener future.

“It has long been known that our industry is traditional and based on paper. The resources needed for these services — for example, accounting and financial services (from document printing to signing) —produce more than 469 tons of carbon dioxide, ”shared Julien.

“That’s the equivalent of the carbon emissions generated by nearly 23 fully loaded garbage trucks. There is a serious need for companies to focus on a paperless and greener future, as seen by rising sea levels and global warming. ”

Sleek is the first company in the professional services technology landscape to have a carbon-neutral sustainability initiative and is on track to become carbon neutral by 2030. As of this month, it has planted more than 9,000 trees in Java, Indonesia, to offset its carbon footprint.

Want to start your own business or transfer your back office needs? Get a $ 350 discount today and browse Sleek’s services .

This article was written in collaboration with Sleek.

Notable Image Credit: Sleek