The Next Billion Jobs Will Come from Entrepreneurs, Not Algorithms Alone

By Dato’ Sri Vijay Eswaran

Across Southeast Asia, a quiet anxiety is taking root beneath the surface of global optimism about artificial intelligence (AI).

By 2030, an estimated 164 million workers in ASEAN could see their roles come under risks of disruption by generative AI, through automation of routine tasks and the augmentation of complex roles. Surveys have shown that 58% of workers in Singapore fear AI-driven automation could replace their jobs within the next two years, while nearly 40% worry about being laid off in the near future. 

While the anxiety is real, the narrative that machines alone will determine the future of work is incomplete.

The future of work is not something that happens to us. It is something we create. Technology may change the tools in our hands, but it does not remove the responsibility from our shoulders. At its core, job creation is not driven solely by technology. 

If Singapore is to navigate this next phase of economic transformation, the national conversation must evolve beyond simply preparing workers to adapt to AI. The more important question is how we empower more Singaporeans to become creators of opportunity themselves.

Entrepreneurs Are the Heart of Job Creation

Work is more than survival. It is dignity, identity, and contribution. 

Across Southeast Asia, entrepreneurship has long been a lifeline for families and communities, from informal microenterprises and family-run shops to fast-growing digital startups. 

Today, SMEs remain the backbone of Singapore’s economy, with more than 356,000 SMEs in Singapore in 2024, with nearly 95% employing fewer than 25 workers.

While large corporations often dominate headlines, smaller businesses collectively employ a significant share of Singapore’s workforce and play an essential role in sustaining economic dynamics, with SMEs continuing to lead employment growth across the economy.

Reskilling programs, especially in digital and AI-related skills, are critical, but they only prepare workers for jobs that may or may not exist. Entrepreneurship creates the possibility of new work altogether.

The real challenge isn’t whether jobs will vanish—history shows they will. The more important question is whether societies can equip people to become creators of new opportunities instead of passive participants in disruption.

The Next Billion Jobs Will Come from Distributed Opportunity 

Broad-based SME growth is one of the strongest drivers of employment in developing economies. However, across ASEAN, access to finance, networks, and markets remains uneven. 

Startup ecosystems are often concentrated in major urban centres such as Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Singapore, and Bangkok, even as the region continues to attract significant capital, with foreign direct investment reaching US$226 billion in 2024 despite global uncertainty. 

This concentration limits inclusion and scale. When opportunity is confined to a few urban hubs, the potential of millions across the region remains untapped. Only when access to education, mentorship, and capital is more evenly distributed can entrepreneurship generate jobs at the scale the region requires.

The next billion jobs will not come from a handful of tech hubs alone. They will come from distributed opportunity, from villages, small towns, second-tier cities and overlooked communities where ambition already exists, but access does not.

Talent is universal. Opportunity is not. That is the gap ASEAN must close.

Leveraging Technology for Inclusive Growth

Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool, but its benefits risk amplifying inequality if access remains concentrated. 

Technology should not be framed as a competitor to human creativity. It is a collaborator. AI will only create real prosperity when its power is placed in the hands of many, not guarded by the few.  

When entrepreneurs across Southeast Asia harness AI to scale their businesses, they not only create jobs but also democratize access to innovation. The future of work is not a contest between humans and machines, but a collaboration where technology accelerates what human creativity initiates. 

Critically, ASEAN’s diversity, spanning different levels of digital infrastructure, language ecosystems, and economic development across eleven nations, means that AI adoption cannot follow a single template.

Localised solutions, built by entrepreneurs who understand their own communities, will be far more effective than imported models designed elsewhere. The answers to ASEAN’s challenges will not always come from Silicon Valley, Shenzhen or Singapore. Many will come from the people closest to the problems themselves.

A Future Shaped by Human Resolve

Singapore has an important structural advantage: a highly connected population, strong digital infrastructure and a workforce that remains adaptable and globally competitive. But no amount of investment in technology alone can guarantee inclusive prosperity.

Jobs at scale will not be generated by algorithms alone. They will come from people who choose to build businesses, solve problems, and create value in ways that technology alone cannot dictate.

The role of policy, institutions and businesses is therefore not only to prepare workers for disruption, but to widen the pathways for entrepreneurship and innovation so that more Singaporeans can participate in shaping the economy of tomorrow.

The role of policy and institutions is clear: to widen the doorway so that more people can enter the economy not as spectators, but as creators.

In the end, tomorrow’s work will not be shaped by lines of code alone, but by the courage, imagination and resolve of people who choose to build.