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

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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

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Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise. (2016). What we do. Retrieved from
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Singapore National Co-operative Federation. (2016). SNCF Profile. Retrieved from

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