Social Innovation

In the news article “Social Innovation Park launches book; reveals plans for a lifestyle area” by Alexis Ong on The Straits Times, the article explained about the Social Innovation Park (SIP) which is a non-profit organisation which aims to help develop and nurture social entrepreneurs and SIP's plan to open a farm which was mentioned during the launch of a book: Top 50 Social Innovations Changing Our World. The book elaborated on what social innovation is which refers to an idea or approach that will help create a positive impact for society where examples of social innovation includes the concept of void decks and the Yellow Ribbon Project. Social Innovations are hence an interesting idea that helps social entrepreneurs create a bigger impact on the local community.

Social innovation as defined by Lim & Yeap (2009) refers to innovative practices that are done to help meet a social need. Social innovation practices are usually done by organisations whose primary purpose is to meet a certain social need instead of having its main focus on profit-making. Social innovations are also mostly present in social enterprises which have a double bottom line of addressing its social issue as well as in making profits. Social innovations are often open and collaborative where targeted beneficiaries and the community are able to give their perspective on the problems they face which might not been seen from the perspectives of the social entrepreneurs. Hence, social innovations are made with the beneficiaries and by the beneficiaries which would help to increases the positive impact that the social innovation will bring about (Davies & Simon, 2013). Social innovations also helps to develop a more inclusive society as the disadvantaged groups in Singapore are able to share their problems through social innovations. Social innovation also promotes collaboration practices with other sectors as the combined efforts will help to bring about a more impactful and positive change for the community (Tucker, 2014).

In Singapore, there are initiatives and organisations that helps to promote social innovation. One of the organisations would be the Social Innovation Park (SIP) which is a non-profit organisations that helps to develop social entrepreneurs and innovators to bring about positive change to lives and the community through social innovation. SIP also aims to develop a self-reliant model for developing social entrepreneurs to adopt to aid these social entrepreneurs to bring about a positive impact to the society. SIP has conducted programmes such as The Global Social Innovators Forum which was launched to serve as a platform for social entrepreneurs from the different sectors to share their innovations and to explore how these innovations can help to create a positive impact for the community. SIP also aims to build a network of people to support the collaborative innovations which would help to build a more sustainable and inclusive society (Social Innovation Park, n.d.). Another initiatives to promote social innovation is the ‘Social InnovatorsHack!’. In the hackathon, the participants are exposed to the challenges present in the social sector where they had to find new and innovative solutions through collaborations with other stakeholders to help bring about a positive impact (Social Innovators Hack!, n.d.). The Lien Centre for Social Innovation also helps to promote social innovation in Singapore. The centre aims to start innovative responses to address social needs by building and developing social sector organisations so that they can become more impactful to society through social innovations (Lien Centre for Social Innovation, n.d.).

Some examples of social innovation include the World Toilet Organisation (WTO). WTO aims to empower individuals through education and the building of local marketplace opportunities to help promote the need for safe and clean sanitation facilities present in the communities in the world. WTO shows an example of social innovation as WTO uses a different approach in bringing sanitation facilities to the communities that lack them by providing an international platform where toilet associations, governments and other important stakeholders are able to come together to bring about a collaborative support to bring sanitation facilities to the communities without these facilities (Jacobs, 2013; World Toilet, n.d.). Another example of a social innovation are void decks. Void decks are the spaces found under the Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats as a common space for people of all ages, regardless of race or religion to use to build a more inclusive society. For example, bird corners can be found at some void decks where the elderly residents can come and hang the bird cages up there to listen to the birds chirping while catching up with friends (SG50 Home, 2015).

In conclusion, social innovations are new ideas and approaches that help to address social concerns through collaboration with the targeted beneficiaries and other stakeholders to create a more positive impact to address the social needs of the community. Social innovations are also promoted in Singapore through organisations and initiatives such as the SIP where social innovations ideas are brought to and carried out to help create a more positive change to our society.

References

Davies, A. & Simon, J. (2013). People powered Social Innovation: The Need for Citizen

Engagement. Social Space, 38-43.

Jacobs, M. (2013, May 14). Social innovations: lessons from Singapore, South Korea and

Taiwan. theguardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/social-enterprise-network/2013/may/14/social-innovation-singapore-south-korea-taiwan

Lien Centre for Social Innovation. (n.d.). About us. Retrieved from

https://centres.smu.edu.sg/lien/about-us/

Lim, J. & Yeap, D. (2009, January). Social Innovation. Civil Service College. Retrieved from

https://www.cscollege.gov.sg/Knowledge/Pages/Social-Innovation.aspx

Ong, A. (2016, April 21). Social Innovation Park launches book; reveals plans for a lifestyle

area. The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/social-innovation-park-launches-book-reveals-plans-for-a-lifestyle-area

SG50 Home. (2015). Uniquely Singapore: Void Decks. Retrieved from

http://www.sg50home.sg/uniquely-singapore-void-decks.html

Social Innovation Park. (n.d.). Home. Retrieved from

http://www.socialinnovationpark.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=135&Itemid=82

Social Innovators Hack!. (n.d.). Events. Retrieved from

http://www.upsingapore.com/events/social-innovators-hack/

Tucker, S. (2014). Social Innovation for Public Service Excellence. Global Centre for Public

Service Excellence.

World Toilet. (n.d.). Our Story. Retrieved from http://worldtoilet.org/who-we-are/our-story/

Co-operatives: A different kind of Social Enterprise

In the news article “Social enterprises, cooperatives ‘help to make for a better Singapore’” by Ramesh on Channel NewsAsia, the news article explained how social enterprises and co-operatives help to make Singapore a better society. The article focused on the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Foodfare Co-operative where Mr Seah explained how Foodfare aimed to help keep prices of food for all Singaporeans affordable despite growing tax rates. Mr Seah also explained that NTUC did not only benefit union members but all Singaporeans as well. Co-operatives are very similar to social enterprises as seen in the article where NTUC Foodfare’s social mission was to keep food prices affordable for all Singaporeans. This leads to the question of how different are co-operatives from social enterprises. The answer is that co-operatives are very similar to social enterprises with the difference being their working model.

A co-operative is defined as an association of people who share similar beliefs or common end goals who have voluntarily joined together to form a joint or democratically-controlled business. The members of co-operatives also provide assistance to one another to help everyone achieve their goals (Ministry of Social and Family Development, 2014). In Singapore, co-operatives are registered with the Singapore National Co-operatives Federation (SNCF), SNCF aims to make a difference in society through the co-operative movement. SNCF helps members of the co-operative strengthen their own enterprises with mutual help from the members themselves. Thus, this would give enterprises owned by the members of the co-operative the ability to serve the society better by addressing social and economic needs (Singapore National Co-operative Federation, 2016). One of the first social enterprise that was established in Singapore dating back to 1925 was a co-operative which was the Singapore Government Servants’ Co-operative Thrift and Loan Society. The co-operative was established to cater to the needs of civil servants, teachers, custom officers and those working in the private sector during that time as the people then were unable to receive financial assistance due to the lack of banks (Prakash & Tan, 2014).

In Singapore, co-operatives form the majority of the more established social enterprises in Singapore with some common examples being NTUC Co-operative Private Ltd (Prakash & Tan, 2014). In Singapore, the definition of a social enterprise is not very specific which helps to encourage new social enterprise start-ups to promote the growth of the social enterprise sector in Singapore. Normal social enterprises that are established are also self-defined. In comparison, co-operatives have regulations to follow. For example, co-operatives have to follow regulations that are set such as distributing surplus gained in proportion to the effort put in by members of the co-operative. Co-operatives are also required to meet certain criteria such as promoting the economic interest of its members in accordance to the co-operative principles. However, despite the difference in the model the business takes on, a co-operative is a social enterprise as it fulfils the criteria of meeting the needs of its members by providing goods and services as its social cause (Mak, 2012; Prakash & Tan, 2014).

One of the more well-known co-operative would be the NTUC Co-operative Private Ltd. The NTUC Co-operative Private Ltd aims to help the people of Singapore remain employable throughout their life. NTUC also aims to help increase the social status as well as the well-being of its members (National Trades Union Congress, n.d.). Under the co-operative, NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd was also founded in 1973 with the aim to help keep the cost of living in Singapore affordable by setting up supermarkets such as Fairprice Finest, Fairprice Xpress and Cheers that keep prices of everyday necessities affordable for all Singaporeans (FairPrice, n.d.; Sim, 2015). Next, there is also the NTUC Social Enterprise which is the shareholder of the co-operative that does the most to address social issues in Singapore. NTUC Social Enterprise aims to address social needs and empower the people in Singapore to live better lives by meeting needs in areas such as providing daily necessities and healthcare NTUC Social Enterprises, 2016). Thus, NTUC shows how co-operatives can help address social issues in Singapore.

In conclusion, co-operatives are social enterprises as well because they help to meet the needs of its members through the provision of goods and services. Furthermore, co-operatives may also address social and environmental issues in Singapore. However, co-operatives have a different working model as they are required to follow certain regulations and meet certain criteria unlike normal social enterprises that can be self-defined. Co-operatives are also different as they operate with mutual assistance and help from its members whereas normal social enterprises are more likely to receive help from organisations such as the Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise which is also known more commonly as raiSE (Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise, 2016).

References

FairPrice. (n.d.). About us. Retrieved from https://www.fairprice.com.sg/wps/portal/fp/aboutus

Mak, Y. T. (2012, February). Primer on Governance for Social Enterprises in Singapore. Social

Enterprise Association Ltd.

Ministry of Social and Family Development. (2014, July 30). General Information on Co-

operatives in Singapore. Retrieved from https://app.msf.gov.sg/Policies/Archived-Topics/Caring-and-Active-Community/Promoting-Community-Involvement/Co-operative-Societies/General-Information-on-Co-operatives-in-Singapore

National Trades Union Congress. (n.d.). About NTUC. Retrieved from

https://www.ntuc.org.sg/wps/portal/up2/home/aboutntuc

NTUC Social Enterprises. (2016). Overview. Retrieved from

http://ntucsocialenterprises.sg/about-us/overview/

Prakash, R. & Tan, P. (2014). Landscape of Social Enterprises in Singapore. Social

Entrepreneurship in Asia: Working Paper No.1.

Ramesh, S. (2013, March 6). Social enterprises, cooperatives “help to make for a better

Singapore”. Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/social-enterprises-coope/596880.html

Sim, C. (2015). National Trades Union Congress. National Library Board. Retrieved from

Singapore Infopedia.

Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise. (2016). What we do. Retrieved from
            https://www.raise.sg/what-we-do/

Singapore National Co-operative Federation. (2016). SNCF Profile. Retrieved from

http://www.sncf.org.sg/web/sncf/about-us/profile-mission-of-sncf 

Importance of Social Enterprises

The article “New one-stop resource centre for social enterprises to be launched” by Priscilla Goy on The Straits Times explained about the launch of the resource centre for social enterprises through a partnership between 4 key agencies. The centre was launched to help provide assistance to social enterprises in forms such as mentoring and funding. The article then went on to explain the reason why these kind of support are given to social enterprise. The reason given is that social enterprises are able to help disadvantaged groups present in Singapore society in a more sustainable way as compared to other stakeholders or sectors in Singapore. As such, social enterprises are important as they play an important role in helping disadvantaged communities present in Singapore.

In Singapore, there are 4 key sectors that aims to help the disadvantaged in Singapore. The 4 sectors are the government, voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs), corporates and the social enterprise sector. However, out of the 4 sectors that are mentioned, the social enterprise sector is the sector that is able to help disadvantaged groups in Singapore in the most sustainable way making them very important in providing constant support and assistance to the disadvantaged in Singapore’s community.

Firstly, the first sector in Singapore that helps the disadvantaged is the government. The government provides assistance to disadvantaged communities in Singapore in many ways such as in providing funding for these communities through subsidies, aid funds and the funding of VWOs. These VWOs in turn helps to address social issues present in Singapore with the aid of the government. The government also provides services for disadvantaged communities by building facilities that cater to the needs of these people such as wheelchair-friendly pathways for the wheelchair-bound and tactile paving for the visually impaired which helps some of these disadvantaged communities (Mathis & Mohamed, 2011). A good example of what the government has done is the KidStart Scheme (Goy, 2016). In the KidStart scheme, children from lower income-families are able to receive funding of up to $20,000 for their studies to ensure that children are able to receive an education regardless of their financial background. The scheme also helps coordinate various support from different stakeholders to maximize the resources and assistance that can be given to these students from lower-income families. However, there are limitations to what the government can do to help the disadvantaged communities in Singapore. The government are limited in many areas with the key areas being that the government does not wish to create a reliant-mentality of the disadvantaged group as this would mean that beneficiaries will not do more to help themselves and thus become constantly dependent on the government for support to live (Naidu, 2014). The government is also reliant on tax for receiving money that will go to helping the disadvantaged communities. This would then cause a problem for the government as the expenditure on social issues in Singapore will only increase with time and tax cannot rise too high (Chia, 2015). The government would also be unable to help the disadvantaged community if there is an economic recession as less funds would be available and thus, set aside for social issues.

Secondly, VWOs in Singapore, which is the second sector, addresses social issues in Singapore alongside the government. VWOs are important as they are able to prioritize helping the disadvantaged community as that is the reason that the VWOs are established for. VWOs are generally able to reach out better to the disadvantaged community in Singapore as they are given more opportunities to interact with the beneficiaries to allow the VWOs to cater their services or products to benefit the disadvantaged (Miao, 2011). One example of a VWO is Food from the Heart (2015). Food from the heart aims to help reduce food wastage in Singapore and at the same time, benefit those that are unable to provide for themselves. Hence, Food from the Heart collects surplus food from bakeries before distributing it to the needy community in Singapore. The example of Food from the Heart shows how effective VWOs are in addressing social issues as they were able to benefit two communities at once. However, similarly to the government, VWOs have limitations to what they can do. VWOs are usually heavily reliant on funding and sponsorship which causes the VWOs to be unsustainable as once the funding or sponsorship given to the VWOs is removed, the VWOs will no longer be able to help its beneficiaries. VWOs are sometimes reliant on volunteers as well and with a lack of volunteer, they will not be able to reach out to their targeted beneficiaries as effectively (Miao, 2011).

Thirdly, we have the corporate sector in which social issues are tackled through the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR is usually known as giving back to the community in a business. CSR is a good way to encourage corporates and businesses in giving back to society by addressing environmental or social concerns (Cheam, 2015; Silva, 2016). With the added support of CSR, more disadvantaged people can be reached and assisted which would help Singapore become a more inclusive society. One example of a company that has done CSR is Sony Singapore. Sony has aimed to create a sustainable society by increasing the use of eco-technology to help reduce environmental damage. Sony has also participated in many activities such as contributing to Community Chest to help assist the disadvantaged in Singapore. This shows how Sony has contributed in helping the disadvantaged through CSR initiatives (Sony Singapore, 2016). However, there are many reasons that discourage corporates from doing CSR. One of the reasons is that by doing CSR, a company might have a shift in its focus from profit-making to addressing social issues which might cause the company to lose sight of what they want to do and hence, this discourages corporates from doing CSR. By doing CSR, companies might also incur more costs which the company might not find profitable and hence, the company will be discouraged from doing CSR. Companies might also start CSR only when they feel that it helps to boost the reputation of their company (My Assignmenthelp, 2014).

Lastly, we have the social enterprise sector, the most important sector in helping the less fortunate present in Singapore’s society. The social enterprise sector is important as it provides new business ideas to address social needs in a sustainable way (Huang, 2016; Kanagasingam & Lee, 2003; National Council of Social Service, 2016). Social enterprises are also able to innovate and create new business models that will help empower the disadvantaged in our community by teaching them how to be more independent as opposed to providing continuous help for them which might cause these beneficiaries to become over-reliant on the help provided (Chua, 2015). An example of a social enterprise will be Eighteen Chefs. Eighteen Chefs is a restaurant in the food and beverage industry where its social mission is to help provide employment opportunities for ex-convicts and troubled youths as a method for these people to reintegrate back into society. Eighteen Chefs hopes that by going through the employment experience at the restaurant, ex-convicts and troubled youths will be able to find a better life in which they will be happier in (Eighteen Chefs, n.d.). As such, social enterprises are important in Singapore as they are able to help disadvantaged communities in a more sustainable way.

In conclusion, social enterprises are important as they play an important role in helping the disadvantaged in Singapore’s society through sustainable methods and by empowering the disadvantaged community by teaching them how to be more independent such that they require less assistance and aid over time. In comparison, other sectors or stakeholders have several limitations which might hinder their ability to provide assistance and support in addressing the social needs in Singapore. However, all four sectors in society still play a part in helping the disadvantaged community and should work together to maximize resources and manpower to enable them to reach out to more people in need of help.

Reference Articles

Cheam, J. (2015, September 1). The evolution of CSR in Singapore.  The Straits Times.

Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/the-evolution-of-csr-in-singapore

Chia, Y. M. (2015, September 14). Singapore Government ‘likely to spend on social policies’.

The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/singapore-government-likely-to-spend-on-social-policies

Chua, J. (2015, May 28). Raising social enterprises in Singapore. Eco-Business. Retrieved from

http://www.eco-business.com/news/raising-social-enterprises-in-singapore/

Eighteen Chefs. (n.d.). Retrieved from

 http://www.eighteenchefs.com/v2/index.php/about/eighteenchefs/ 

Food from the Heart. (2015). Mission & History. Retrieved from

https://foodheart.org/mission_history

Goy, P. (2015, January 14). New one-stop resource centre for social enterprises to be launched.

The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/new-one-stop-resource-centre-for-social-enterprises-to-be-launched

Goy, P. (2016, April 13). Disadvantaged kids to get help in $20m programme. The Straits Times.

Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/disadvantaged-kids-to-get-help-in-20m-programme

Huang, C. (2016, January 10). Growing the social enterprise sector. The Straits Times. Retrieved

from http://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/growing-the-social-enterprise-sector

Kanagasingam, F., & Lee. P. W. (2003, September). Social Enterprises: Forging the Business of

Social Change. Civil Service College. Retrieved from https://www.cscollege.gov.sg/knowledge/ethos/ethos%20september%202003/Pages/Social%20Enterprises%20Forging%20the%20Business%20of%20Social%20Change.aspx

Mathis, B., & Mohamed, S. (2011, October). Unmet Social Needs in Singapore. Lien Centre for

Social Innovation. Retrieved from https://centres.smu.edu.sg/lien/wp-content/blogs.dir/11/files/2013/10/Unmet_Social_Needs_in_Singapore.pdf

Miao. G. Y. (2011). State of the Elderly in Singapore: Falling Through the Cracks. Retrieved

from https://guanyinmiao.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/state-of-the-elderly-in-singapore-falling-through-the-cracks/

My Assignmenthelp. (2014). Advantages and Disadvantages of Corporate Social Responsibility

with Examples. My Assignmenthelp. Retrieved from https://myassignmenthelp.com/blog/corporate-social-responsibility-advantages-disadvantages/

Naidu, V. L. (2014). Rethinking the Delivery of Welfare Programmes in Singapore. National

University of Singapore. Retrieved fromhttp://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Rethinking-the-Delivery-of-Welfare-Programmes-in-Singapore-160414.pdf

National Council of Social Service. (2016). Social Enterprise. Retrieved from

https://www.ncss.gov.sg/GatewayPages/Voluntary-Welfare-Organisations/Useful-Information/Social-Enterprises

Silva, T. D. (2016). CSR in Singapore. Singapore International Foundation. Retrieved from

http://singaporemagazine.sif.org.sg/csr-in-singapore

Sony Singapore. (2016). Corporate Social Responsibility. Retrieved from

http://www.sony.com.sg/section/csr

Developing future Social Entrepreneurs

The article “Two social enterprises awarded grants under Youth Social Entrepreneurship Programme” by Felicia Choo on The Straits Times shared the news about the award winners of the grant by raiSE whom are two groups of young social entrepreneurs that participated in the DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia 2015. As seen from the article, there are many young and aspiring social entrepreneurs who would want to set up a social enterprise to help solve a social issue that they are passionate about. Thus, with the growing social enterprise sector in Singapore and the increase in awareness of social enterprises, there are more programmes available and support given to help develop the future social entrepreneurs of Singapore.

A speech made during the social enterprise symposium explained that young social entrepreneurs who are keen to set up a social enterprise are able to receive support and assistance quite easily. For instance, students of the National University of Singapore (NUS) can approach the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy to receive advice regarding their social enterprise and seed funding. The students can also receive advisory support and consultancy from the Social Enterprise Development Centre when they start up their social enterprises and further receive support from the social entrepreneurship community by joining the Social Enterprise Association’s networking and pitching sessions where they can reach out to other social entrepreneurs to seek for help (Ministry of Social and Family Development, 2010). The Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy (ACSEP) also aims to develop future social entrepreneurs through education programmes available which will spread the understanding and impactful practices of social entrepreneurship (National University of Singapore, n.d.).

Singapore International Foundation’s Young Social Entrepreneur programme was also established in 2010 to groom developing social entrepreneurs through the workshop by providing mentorships to the participants and offering study trips to places such as Mumbai, India to learn more about social enterprises and what they do. The participants would also have a chance to join the network of social entrepreneurs to learn from them. During the workshops, the participants would also receive an opportunity to pitch their ideas for funding of up to $20,000 to kick-start their ideas. The programme will also provide participants an opportunity for mentorship with a successful social entrepreneur who would guide the participants through the process of running a social enterprise if they are successful in their pitch (Ministry of Social and Family Development, 2013; Singapore International Foundation, 2016; Sutanto, 2016).

Educational and other institutions are also present in Singapore to teach and develop those with a passion to start a social enterprise by exposing them to the social enterprise sector and by teaching them the skills that they will need to manage a social enterprise. Some of these institutions include the professional workshop in social entrepreneurship at M.A.D. School (M.A.D. School, 2015). Tertiary education institutions such as the business and social enterprise course in Ngee Ann Polytechnic and the diploma in social enterprise management in Republic Polytechnic also provide education about various social issues in Singapore and provide students in these courses with the knowledge of how to run a social enterprise. Furthermore, students would get many opportunities to learn from successful social entrepreneurs and even work with social enterprises during the course of their studies in these schools (Ngee Ann Polytechnic, 2016; Republic Polytechnic, n.d.).

In conclusion, there are many programmes available for future social entrepreneur to receive the relevant skills and knowledge needed to run a social enterprises and to set up one. As such, young social entrepreneurs are able to manage a social enterprise more smoothly to help resolve various social issues in Singapore which helps the social enterprise sector in Singapore to grow. Therefore, developing and aspiring social entrepreneurs should not be afraid to start up a social enterprise as they would be able to receive relevant support and even education to successfully set up a social enterprise in Singapore.

Reference Articles

Choo, F. (2015, June 12). Two social enterprises awarded grants under Youth Social

Entrepreneurship Programme. The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/two-social-enterprises-awarded-grants-under-youth-social-entrepreneurship

M.A.D. School. (2015). Professional Workshop in Social Entrepreneurship. Retrieved

from http://www.madschool.edu.sg/#!social-entrepreneurship/c1sfo

Ministry of Social and Family Development. (2010). Social Entrepreneurs Symposium.

Retrieved from https://app.msf.gov.sg/Press-Room-Archives/Social-Entrepreneurs-Symposium

Ministry of Social and Family Development. (2013). At Least $250,000 Per year to Fund

and Mentor Youth Social Enterprise Startups. Retrieved from https://app.msf.gov.sg/Press-Room/At-Least-250-000-Per-Year-to-Fund-and-Mentor-Yout

National University of Singapore. (n.d.). Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship &

Philanthropy (ACSEP). Retrieved from https://bschool.nus.edu.sg/acsep

Ngee Ann Polytechnic. (2016). Diploma in Business & Social Enterprise (N79).

Retrieved from http://www.np.edu.sg/hms/courses/bzse/Pages/bzse.aspx

Republic Polytechnic. (n.d.). Diploma in Social Enterprise Management (R51). Retrieved

from http://www.rp.edu.sg/Diploma_in_Social_Enterprise_Management_(R51).aspx

Singapore International Foundation. (2016). Young Social Entrepreneurs. Retrieved from

http://www.sif.org.sg/our-work/gb/yse/about

Sutanto, S. (2012). Translate your social enterprise idea into reality with Singapore International

Foundation’s Young Social Entrepreneurs Programme. Tech in Asia. Retrieved from https://www.techinasia.com/singapore-international-foundation-is-accepting-applications-for-its-young-social-entrepreneurs-programme

E-Learning: An Age-Unfriendly World

The picture shown is an example of an age-unfriendly world as the traffic light at this pedestrian crossing does not allow people such as the elderly to increase the time the green light is shown unlike  other pedestrian crossings. This thus causes problem for the elderly as they may not be able to cross the long road within the short period of given time which might endanger their lives.

Some old lifts present in Singapore do not go to all floors which causes inconveniences for people such as the elderly and the physically disabled such as wheel-chair bound people as this would mean that they will have to take the stairs if the lift does not go to the floor they stay on. Thus, this is an example of an age-unfriendly world as the elderly and wheel-chair bound people will be disadvantaged.

The lack of ramps in some locations to HDB flats brings inconvenience for people with disabilities such as wheel-chair bound people as they have to find a longer alternative route to go back home. This is an example of an age-unfriendly world as the wheel-chair bound people will be at a disadvantage.

Overhead bridges are a form of pedestrian crossing. however, some overhead bridges do not have lifts present which results in having the elderly to take the stairs. The elderly may then face some inconvenience when climbing the stairs of the overhead bridges as they might have weaker legs and knees and the climb would cause them to become tired and bring pain to their knees. Similarly, wheel-chair bound people would have to find an alternative route to cross the road. Thus, this is age-unfriendly as people such as the elder will face difficulties when using this overhead bridge.

E-Learning: An Age-Friendly World

The addition of priority queues in NTUC supermarkets are an example of an age-friendly world as the elderly are able to buy their daily necessities faster which thus shortens the time they need to stand in queue which may cause some difficulties for the elderly who cannot stand for too long as they have weaker legs.

Many clinics are now CHAS supported which helps Singapore citizens from the low to middle income household who have applied for CHAS to receive more affordable healthcare as they are able to receive more subsidies. CHAS clinic also allows the elderly with the pioneer generation card to receive more affordable healthcare when visiting these clinics as they will receive more subsidies. This is thus age-friendly as everyone regardless of age and financial background are able to receive affordable healthcare.

NTUC Foodfare has priority seats for the elderly which brings more convenience to the elderly as they do not have to spend time waiting for a vacant seat for them when coming to NTUC Foodfare for a meal. As such, the elderly do not have to spend time standing which might be a difficulty for some elderly that have weaker legs. Similarly, places such as MRT trains have reserved seatings for people who need them more such as the physically disabled. These are all age-friendly as they help to bring more convenience to these people and help meet their needs.

The presents of ramps alongside staircases help people with disabilities such as wheelchair-bound people to have easier movement moving around places as they do not have to take a long detour to find a way that they can take to get around. This is an example of an age-friendly world as it helps wheelchair-bound people to be given the same opportunity as everyone to move around easily.

Support given to Social Enterprises

In the news article “Social enterprises to get more help” in The Straits Times by Priscilla Goy, the article explained about the early-stage funding scheme under the VentureforGood initiative by the Singapore centre for Social Enterprise (raiSE) which gives start-up social enterprises start-up funding of up to $20,000 to try out their ideas. With this news article, the topic of challenges that social enterprises face surfaces, with one of the early challenges that a social enterprise face being the lack of funding during its start-up.  However, with the social enterprise sector growing bigger each year, more help and support such as the early-stage finding scheme mentioned above has been given to social enterprises in Singapore to help social enterprises overcome the challenges they face.

In a speech by Mr Tony Tan, the president of Singapore, Mr Tony Tan explained that the social enterprise is a young but growing sector in Singapore and hence faces many challenges such as the lack of funding and knowledge in business. As such, there are many key initiatives taken to help the social enterprise sector including the forming of raiSE. Mr Tony Tan then shared about the President’s Challenge Social Enterprise Award which rewards successful social enterprises that has created a social impact in society with money. The award also serves to help more social enterprises receive help from other partners including mentorship which would help the social enterprise to develop and grow further (The Istana, 2015).

The Tote Board and Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) are also supporting the social enterprise sector by providing $30 million worth of funding in investment and grants for social enterprises to help grow and expand the sector (toteboard, 2016). raiSE was also formed to raise awareness about the social enterprise sector in Singapore and to help increase the support given to social enterprises to encourage the growth of this sector in Singapore. raiSE provides many kinds of support for social enterprises to help them overcome challenges such as the lack of funding which is a common challenge a social enterprise face when starting up, mentorship and training for social enterprises to gain relevant expertise such as knowledge in business management and by also providing relevant resources to social enterprises (raiSE, 2016).

Other corporates such as DBS are also providing support for social enterprises with DBS providing $340,000 worth of project funds for social enterprise and creating loan schemes that are catered for social enterprises which allows social enterprises to focus more on building their business. DBS also shares process improvement expertise with social enterprises that has further expansion plans in the hopes that social enterprises can provide more job opportunities for others when they develop in the future (DBS, 2014).

In conclusion, with the growing social enterprise sector in Singapore, more support has been provided to social enterprises in various ways to help social enterprises become sustainable and to help create a social impact in our society. With more support provided to social enterprises in Singapore, passionate people with a social cause they want to improve on and other social enterprises should go to the various stakeholders that support social enterprises to seek assistance and advice for these social enterprises to have a more successful start-up thus helping our society as the growing social enterprise sector helps to improve on the various social issues in our society. 

Reference Articles

Development Bank of Singapore. (2014). DBS commits to developing social entrepreneurship in Singapore and Asia with  

Social enterprise project grants. Retrieved from https://www.dbs.com/newsroom/DBS_commits_to_developing_social_entrepreneurship_in_Singapore_and_Asia_with_social_enterprise_project_grants_MIGRT

Goy, P. (2015, August 1). Social enterprises to get more help. The Straits Times. Retrieved from

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/social-enterprises-to-get-more-help

Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise. (2016). What we do. Retrieved from
            https://www.raise.sg/what-we-do/

The Istana. (2015). Speech by President Tony Tan Keng Yam at the launch of Singapore Centre

for Social Enterprise (raiSE) and the President’s challenge social enterprise award 2015 on 27 May 2015. Retrieved from http://www.istana.gov.sg/news/speeches/2015/speech-president-tony-tan-keng-yam-the-launch-singapore-centre-social-enterprise

toteboard. (2016). Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise. Retrieved from

http://www.toteboard.gov.sg/grants/application/apply-through-our-partners/strategic-initiatives/singapore-centre-for-social-enterprise