By Yvonne Lim, TODAY, 15 Jan 2015
A new one-stop centre to help social enterprises take off and grow by providing a ready pool of resources and continuous support through mentoring will be launched in the second quarter.
The centre, a joint initiative led by four key agencies in the social sector, will also provide other services, such as funding, networking and consultancy services, to budding social enterprises.
Post by MSF Singapore.
The main bodies working to set up the centre are the Social Enterprise Association (SEA), the Singapore Totalisator Board (Tote Board), National Council of Social Services (NCSS) and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).
The new centre will take over the function of SEA — an umbrella organisation that supports social enterprises here and currently has 279 member social enterprises under its wing.
Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing said, during a networking lunch with social entrepreneurs yesterday, that the consolidation of resources will encourage more people to set up social enterprises. “If we have more social enterprises, it means we can do more good for the disadvantaged group in a more sustainable way,” he said.
Mr Chan added that it was important for Singapore to have a vibrant social enterprise sector because “social enterprises do not just give (to the community), but look for the abilities among the disadvantaged and see how they can match those abilities with a working model.”
The minister also said building a social enterprise was, in some ways, more difficult than starting a conventional business and, therefore, the sector should be given as much support as possible.
SEA executive director Alfie Othman said many social enterprises are proving that businesses with a social mission can also be profitable. “They are pushing forward to show that their product is as important as their social mission.”
Ms Pamella Chng, 38, founded a social enterprise, called Bettr Barista Coffee Academy, three years ago. It aims to equip underprivileged women with coffee-making skills. Ms Chng said a centralised knowledge base would be useful in helping social entrepreneurs kick-start their businesses.
“If we have a database (of contacts) we can tap, it would remove the burden of sourcing. For example, if we have already identified the corporations we can partner with for support or the charities we can help ... it would save a lot of time.”
Mr Peter Yang, 34, who is an executive director at Empact — an organisation that connects individual and corporate volunteers with social enterprises and NGOs — said a consolidation of resources, such as the one-stop centre, would reduce gaps of information, making the sector more efficient.
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