SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS AND ENTERPRISE

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SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS AND ENTERPRISE: 6.

Miss Penny Low asked the Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, givenhis Ministry's aspiration to promote social entrepreneurship in Singapore, (a) what progress has Singapore made; (b) what help is given to people who want to start up social enterprises; and (c) whatis the profile of the social entrepreneurs and enterprise in Singapore, especially those set up in the last two years.

The Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon) (for the Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports): Mr Speaker, Sir, Miss Penny Low has asked about Singapore's progress in promoting social enterprises. First of all, let me define social enterprises as ventures that use business practices to achieve a social mission. Profits earnedare re-invested in social causes, rather than to maximise the owners' gains. Some local examples would be the "Mister Clean" cleaning service that employs ex-offenders, and the airline headset recycling service offered toSIA, which employs the intellectually disabled.

Social enterprises like these are not yet widespread in Singapore, but they have slowly gained some ground.

MCYS wants to encourage the growth of more social enterprises. This is because the revenue from social

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enterprises would enable social service agencies to be more self-reliant, and less dependent on donations to fund their social causes.With this additional source of fund,social service agencies can do even more than what their donations could allow them to. As a positive spin-off, social enterprises can also create jobs for groups who would normally face difficulty in finding meaningful employment.

Those who want to start social enterprises may be able to get seed capital through my Ministry's Social Enterprise Fund (SEF), which started in March 2003. The objective of theSEF is to encourage the social service sector to look at possible business projectsas another avenue for raising funds.Over the longer term, we hope that theSEF will help the social service sector to be more self-reliant, financially sustainable and innovative.

To date, about $3.4 million has been awarded from the Social Enterprise Fund to support 33 projects. From these approved projects, 23 have started operations.

64% of the projects are started by Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs), with the remainder mostly by businessmen supporting a social cause. Many of the VWO-driven projects involve partnership or guidance from the private sector.

One example is Killiney Kopitiam, which helped Teen Challenge to set up a Killiney Kopitiam franchise, with a waiver ofits franchise fee. Profits from this venture are used to further Teen Challenge's social missionin re-integrating ex-drug addicts.

Another example is apublic sector-privatesector collaboration between

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Bizlink, a non-profit organisation providing job-matching services for the disabled, and Trusted Hub, a member of the Singapore Technologies Group. They have set up a data entry centre, which provides job opportunities for the disabled.

Besides giving funding support, MCYSassists start-up social enterprises by linking them with potential mentors, such as experienced businessmen and established social enterprises.

We also build awareness of this concept of social enterprise through public forums and the media. MCYS has promoted the Social Enterprise Fund to social service agencies under the National Council of Social Services, National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre, NUS, SMU and Singapore International Foundation, and so on.

Miss Penny Low asked about the profile of social entrepreneurs and social enterprises in Singapore . The Ministry does not have comprehensive data on this. But based on the projects that we have funded, social enterprises span across various businesses, including foodand beverage, car polishing services, cleaning services and data entry services, and so on. The beneficiaries include ex-drug addicts, ex-offenders, the disabled, the elderly, delinquent youths and those who are chronically unemployed.

Mr Speaker, Sir, while the status of social enterprises has grown, it is still in its infancy. Besides MCYS, the community can also help develop social enterprises in various ways; companies can consider social enterprises as potential business partners, while businessmen can share their expertise, resources and connections. So we hope that we will have a "many helping hands" approach to improve supportforthis socialmission in the future.

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Miss Penny Low (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Sir, I am very happy to hear the Minister of State detailing the social enterprises that started in the last two years or so. I am also aware that wehave still got a long way to go, in terms of learning the best practices of running social enterprises. Has there been any effort on the part of MCYS to come out with some guidelines or to liaise with even international social enterprises and run even MTI-like programmes, like Blue Sky, to link up the aspiring social entrepreneurs and the existing social entrepreneurs?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Miss Penny Low has given a very good suggestion. Like I just mentioned,we started last year, in March 2003, and now we have 33 projects. So we do havecompanies, especially some GLCs and voluntary groups that are tryingto work together. Lately,the grassroots organisations, likethe Pasir Ris grassroots leaders, have also started the "Aunty Clubs" tohelp some of the unemployed aunties. So I think social enterprises cover a very wide spectrum. The most important point is that, ultimately, whatever we do, we should remember these three objectives. One,the mission should be very clear,ie, whatever profits we have should be ploughed back to support the social mission.Second, the project should be commercially viable and sustainable. And,ofcourse,third,

we examine theleadership, ie, dowe have a team of people, the drivers, who are prepared to help them to make sure that these businesses aresuccessful? If these threecriteria are met, please come to the Ministry and we will look into their applications.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo: I would like to ask the Minister whether there is a difference between a VWO cooperative and a social enterprise. What are the main differences? In other words, can the business operations of a VWO cooperative

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in a way be classified as the business operations of a social enterprise?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Based on the criteria, an applicant should be a registered body in Singapore. This can include a company limited by guarantee, a society,cooperative or charitable institution. But the business partner can help the VWO to start a social enterprise.

Miss Penny Low: Would the Minister also consider publishing a list of contacts of companies or corporations in Singapore which are interested to help out in social enterprises?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: We will look into the various publicity channels.I think it is quite a good suggestion that maybe we should slowly compile a more comprehensive list of contacts to help those who are interested to do so.