September 7, 2009 by Gwendolyn Regina T
GIVE.sg is a social enterprise that places itself in between individuals and charities, attempting to create a better bridge that allows individuals to contribute to charitable causes easily over the web and at the same time, making it easier for charities to reach people by receiving donations on behalf of these charities. Read more
June 30, 2009 by Bernard Leong
In the book “The Power of Unreasonable People“, a definitive guide (by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan) on the social entrepreneurship movement has mentioned a Singaporean social entrepreneur by the name of Jack Sim, who started the World Toilet Organization (WTO) and how his work provided a scaling solution for governments to set standards on sanitation. Earning two prestigous global social entrepreneurship accolades: Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur and Ashoka Global Fellow, Jack has started a global clean toilet movement that help governments to shape sanitation policies. One success story is that the World Toilet Organization assisted the Chinese government in adopting the standards for lavatories before the Beijing Olympics last year. We have managed to get Jack to come on board for an interview, to tell us about the story behind World Toilet Organization and his views on the trends of social entrepreneurship in Singapore. Read more
June 23, 2009 by Bernard Leong
We often hear about how much we can do about energy conservation and sustainable development from the activists involved in the green movement. However, there exist companies with products who are doing their small part to guide us in our household towards energy conservation and in a small part, help us towards saving the Earth. So, we found a company in Singapore, Green Koncepts, which specialized in this area, and got their founder, Kenneth Lee to tell us about their product, Wattson – their wireless electricity monitor and the challenges involved in this emerging industry of energy conservation for the household. Read more
May 19, 2009 by Start-Up@Singapore
Start-Up@Singapore put together for the first time the Social Enterprise Challenge competition and panel discussion session.
By SRUTHY KUMAR (email)
19 MAY 2009— Held in the engineering auditorium of the NUS Faculty of Engineering, this focused event was the first of its kind among the series of educational events held by Start-Up@Singapore.
Aligned as an awareness-based and fun approach to entrepreneurial thinking, participants were given the challenge of finding or taking a photograph of a social problem and submitting a one-page business proposal that would serve as a sustainable solution to the problem.
The winning entries were then discussed by our distinguished panelists Ms. Elim Chew and Mr. Alvin Lim.
Ms. Chew, better known as the founder of young people’s streetwear label 77th Street, is also part of many other youth organizations such as Singapore Street Festival and PaTH (Pop and Talent Hub), advocating social entrepreneurship through the youth community in Singapore.
Mr. Alvin Lim is CEO of Bizlink Centre, which aims to give financial independence and dignity to the disabled and needy community by providing various employment opportunities.
The panel discussion was moderated by yet another gentleman knowledgeable and active in the field of social enterprise, Associate Professor Albert Teo from the University Scholars Programme at the National University of Singapore.
After having established the three components that are at the core of most social enterprises, namely innovation, social mission and market orientation, the speakers were grilled on the challenges and problems the speakers faced when raising their respective social enterprises.
“It’s not easy to run a business while helping other people at the same time. When you step into the field of social enterprise, you need to remember that you’re stepping into new ground,” said Ms. Chew about the uncertainty that budding entrepreneurs can expect when thinking of starting a social enterprise.
Speakers also shared real life stories about people they have met and empowered, who have gone on to start various social enterprises to help people and the larger society. Examples included the winners of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award such as Jack Sim founder of the World Toilet Organisation and Kenny Low of O-School, a dance school that makes professional dancers of school dropouts, and equips them with the finances to go back and complete school.
Questions from the floor included how the social impacts of a social enterprise are measured, where entrepreneurs can look for incubation and what the panelists think about the stigma that surrounds social enterprises about being profit driven.
The discussion finally wrapped up with one interesting thought that was shared by Ms Chew about inculcating an enterprising spirit. “You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to engage in social enterprise. If you’re good at management, you can link up with another social entrepreneur to bring the organization to the next level. What’s important is that you cultivate the entrepreneurial mindset and challenge yourself in coming up with new ideas to tackle new problems.”
The day wound up with the prize presentation to the winning entries of the challenge. The first placed entry was awarded $400 and the second and third placed entries were each awarded $200 and $100 respectively.
Panelists and attendees then engaged in a dinner cum networking session during which all the speakers were able to share more of their insights on being in the industry and were able to advise the attendees on how they can involve themselves in the local social enterprise scene.
SGEntrepreneurs.com is the official blog of Start-Up@Singapore, the premier national business plan competition.
February 18, 2009 by SGE
If you’ve watched Blood Diamond, then you know the exploitation that goes on in the diamond industry. But this is hardly unique. Commodities like fresh fruit, tea, sugar, cocoa and coffee are just some of the other industries plagued by marginalization and exploitation. This is where Fair Trade comes into play. Read more
January 14, 2009 by SGE
This Challenge aims to catalyse social projects that are innovative, implementable and impactful in Singapore and Asia.
The Lien i3 Challenge will award up to $1 million to spur ideas and make possible new social models. Read more
November 10, 2008 by SGE
As part of the international movement Global Entrepreneurship Week, one of the upcoming events for the Singapore chapter will see the NUS Business School’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy and the NUS Business School Alumni Association brings us a forum on social entrepreneurship. Read more
June 29, 2008 by SGE
Want to meet like-minded people who are passionate about making a difference? Want to learn from respected and experienced community leaders and social entrepreneurs? SYINConnect is a one-day youth conference that connects participants to urgent social issues, and what people are doing about them in Singapore. Participants will get the opportunity to meet the community leaders making change in our society today, and build the skills, networks and confidence to be effective agents of change. Read more
