Honorable Mention

Singapore has put a 30 by 30 vision, whereby 30% of Singapore’s nutritional needs will be produced locally by 2030. It is an ambitious goal that Singapore has been working towards since 2019. Are we even close to that number today? Singapore currently imports over 90% of its food supply from over 170 countries, making it especially sensitive to any changes in the global agricultural landscape. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a wake-up call for Singapore on how fragile food security can be.

Initiatives have been established to promote the development of agriculture locally, such as converting more spaces for urban farming and setting up certified courses in the related field. Despite the current solutions, does it directly translate to the actual consumption of local produce? We might be producing 30% of local food items, but it does not mean that Singaporeans will be actively sourcing for them. While 94% of respondents in a survey were willing to buy local produce, only 65% could identify local produce when shopping for their groceries, suggesting that consumers do not focus mainly on the title of buying local but other factors like price points and quality.

Ultimately, the research has concluded that Singaporeans have yet to support local produce because it is either not easily accessible or that they are unaware of the current initiatives. This project aims to target Singaporean Working Adults to take awareness of the 30 by 30 goal and provide them an opportunity to support Singapore’s local farms through this one-stop solution. SGDIRECT’s advanced technology only requires consumers to download the app that contains a unique QR code to enter and leave the store. After registering a credit card or linking it to DBS PayNow or PayLah, consumers can now grab, bag, and go without the need to checkout. The store can track every customer’s purchases by detecting what they take out from the racks until they scan out of the store. We house all sorts of groceries, from snacks to raw food primarily made in Singapore, assuring our promise of no imports.

With the growing influence of technology, we believe that we can showcase the future of convenience retail and stand out as a reliable and humble brand for Singaporeans to source their daily fresh groceries.