Grab and RSM Stone Forest IT have joined Singapore's Digital Enterprise Blueprint to deliver targeted AI and cybersecurity support to 12,000 small and medium sized enterprises, expanding a public private push to make AI practical and cyber resilience measurable.
Grab will roll out the Grab AI Programme aimed primarily at food and beverage, e commerce and retail merchants, while RSM Stone Forest IT will run a Cyber2SME programme that focuses on phishing simulations and resilience training, together aiming to reach 12,000 SMEs over two years as part of the IMDA led Digital Enterprise Blueprint expansion announced at Asia Tech x Singapore.
According to IMDA and partner statements, Grab's programme will support about 10,000 SMEs through GrabAcademy resources, free online training, webinars and masterclasses, plus a two day AI course co developed with the Singapore University of Technology and Design, designed to help merchants build practical AI roadmaps and deploy IMDA pre approved AI solutions in operations and customer engagement, payments, or inventory tasks.
RSM Stone Forest IT will run the RSM Cyber2SME programme, offering complimentary large scale phishing simulation exercises for roughly 2,000 SMEs, cybersecurity awareness workshops and tabletop exercises for up to 1,000 SMEs, and advisory follow ups and performance reports so firms can identify and fix real vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.
Why the push matters now
IMDA said the expansion brings the DEB closer to its goal of helping 50,000 SMEs by 2029, and builds on prior waves of support that have reached tens of thousands of enterprises since DEB's 2024 launch, signalling a shift from pilot projects to mass adoption and operationalisation of AI across everyday SME use cases.
Government and industry framing for the announcements stressed two gaps: AI literacy and practical deployment pathways for small businesses, and rising phishing and cyber incidents that threaten SME operations and customer trust; recent figures cited by partners point to rising phishing case volumes and a need for hands on simulation to close awareness gaps.
Practical implications for SMEs and the ecosystem
For merchants, the programmes are deliberately low friction. Grab's offering leans on a familiar platform and training pipeline, meaning merchants can learn inside an ecosystem they already use, and then test pre approved AI tools mapped to common tasks such as menu optimisation, personalised promotions and inventory forecasting.
RSM's approach emphasises measured improvement, with phishing simulations sized for small teams and follow up advisory to translate test results into concrete controls and employee practices, which can be more effective than one off awareness sessions, particularly for SMEs that lack in house security teams.
Broader context and takeaways
The new partnerships join a 15 strong DEB roster that already includes major cloud and financial players, such as Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services, DBS Bank, Microsoft and Singtel, creating a patchwork of vendor led programmes across AI, cloud readiness, cybersecurity and workforce upskilling that IMDA hopes will be easier for SMEs to navigate through a single blueprint.
That said, the real test will be conversion and outcomes. Training and simulations are useful only if SMEs adopt changes and vendors make deployment affordable and supported. IMDA's targets are ambitious, and the combined public private model gives the government scale while letting industry deliver applied tools and commercial pathways for sustained adoption.
For founders and operators the immediate action is modest: claim the free training, run a phishing exercise, and map two practical AI pilots that save time or increase revenue. That pragmatic focus will determine whether this next phase of the Digital Enterprise Blueprint moves beyond awareness into measurable productivity gains for thousands of small businesses across Singapore.
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