MRA Playbook

Last reviewed: April 2026

The Market Readiness Assistance grant is relevant to SMEs taking a more deliberate step into a new overseas market. As of April 2026, official sources state that the support cap is S$100,000 per company per new market, across defined activity pillars, and that enhanced support of up to 70 percent for SMEs takes effect from 1 April 2026. The live page should always be checked because support rates and conditions may change.

Who should apply and who should not

Best fit:

• SMEs entering a new market with a defined commercial rationale
• businesses with a target country, target customer or channel logic, and a practical activity plan

Poorer fit:

• companies exploring multiple markets with no prioritisation
• businesses seeking general export funding with no activity plan

Typical support scope

Official sources refer to three pillars:

• overseas market promotion
• overseas business development
• overseas market set-up

Each application is typically limited in scope, and applicants should not assume every cross-border cost belongs in the scheme.

Required supporting documents

Useful preparation items include:

• market rationale
• target segment or channel logic
• quotations or activity proposals
• internal objectives and commercial assumptions

Common rejection reasons and strong evidence

Common issues:

• market choice is weakly justified
• activities are broad and unstructured
• the company cannot show basic export readiness

Strong evidence looks like:

• reasoned market selection
• channel or partner logic
• product or service relevance to local demand

Important note

Note
MRA is strongest when the application is specific about one market, one objective, and one practical activity path.

Next step

Continue to Digitalisation Pathways Playbook.