Vibrant Heartlands Programme for Merchants' Associations

The Vibrant Heartlands Programme for Merchants’ Associations (VHMA) supports merchants’ associations (MAs) in organising activities that improve vibrancy and draw footfall to heartland enterprises in HDB estates. Enterprise Singapore describes both funding support for qualifying project costs and administrative support from the Federation of Merchants’ Associations, Singapore (FMAS) for planning and coordination (Enterprise Singapore, VHMA, accessed 12 September 2026).

Two tiers of support

The Standard tier supports bite-sized activities with 90% grant support on qualifying costs of S$3,000 per application. Applicants can select from pre-scoped activities such as children’s craft workshops and thematic games stations. The Upsized tier supports larger-scale, customisable events with 90% grant support on qualifying costs of up to S$200,000 per application, including expenses such as event organisers and marketing, subject to EnterpriseSG’s assessment (Enterprise Singapore, VHMA, accessed 12 September 2026).

Projects may take place in public spaces or common areas within HDB estates, subject to the necessary approvals. The programme runs from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2027, and supported activities must be implemented by 31 March 2027. The stated figures are qualifying-cost and grant-support limits, not automatic payments to an MA or its individual merchants (Enterprise Singapore, VHMA, accessed 12 September 2026).

Who can apply and how VHMA differs from HEPG

MAs are eligible applicants. EnterpriseSG describes them as non-profit organisations registered with the Registry of Societies that represent the collective interests of heartland enterprises operating in a specific HDB estate. Heartland enterprises interested in VHMA can partner with their local MA, while FMAS can connect enterprises with MAs in their estate (Enterprise Singapore, VHMA, accessed 12 September 2026).

Applicant and delivery roles

The association structure matters when interpreting the programme. The MA is the eligible grant applicant and leads the estate activity; an individual shop or merchant can help curate an initiative with its local MA but is not thereby the direct VHMA applicant. FMAS provides planning and coordination support and can connect a heartland enterprise with the relevant MA. The Standard tier uses a menu of pre-scoped activities, while an Upsized applicant can propose a more customised event and source its own vendors. In both tiers, the event remains subject to necessary public-space or HDB-estate approvals, and support is tied to the approved activity rather than being a general operating subsidy (Enterprise Singapore, VHMA).

VHMA is therefore an association-led route for estate-wide activities. VHMA is not HEPG: the Heartland Enterprise Placemaking Grant is an enterprise-level route for a qualifying heartland business’s selected placemaking project, while the Enhanced Visual Merchandising Programme focuses on an individual shop’s layout and merchandising capability (Enterprise Singapore, VHMA; Enterprise Singapore, HEPG, accessed 29 August 2026).