raiSE offers support to social enterprises through grants, investment, mentorship, an accelerator and internship opportunities
Scratch any cynic and you will find a disappointed idealist.
Or so the saying goes.
And for young entrepreneurs with the dream of building a social enterprise, that cynicism can be a legitimate hurdle as obstacle after obstacle get thrown in front of their path towards helping society.
The reality of the situation is, simply be the nature of their business, social enterprises are not going to attract major investment from VC firms. Profit margins will be low (or non-existent) and they do not have the growth trajectory of sectors like fintech or e-commerce.
Simply, the industry operates in a world in which money is not a primary motivation.
SocialEnterpriseUK aptly defines the business strategy:
“Social enterprise is about changing the world through business. Social enterprise exist and trade not to maximise private profit, but to further their social and environmental aims. In short, social enterprise is about business where everyone profits.”
But that does not mean the sector does not contribute to the economy.
In Singapore, the awareness of social enterprises among locals has been rising in recent years, but ambiguity continues to plague its public perception, according to a report titled ‘Landscape of Social Enterprises in Singapore‘ by the National University of Singapore from 2014.
It is in this environment that a one-year-old company called Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise (raiSE) is hoping to make a difference.
The company that has taken over the work of the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) to provide a support system for entrepreneurs building social enterprise startups.
“Ultimately, we want to promote social enterprise as a model that is appealing to the next generation [of entrepreneurs],” said Alfie Othman, the Executive Director at raISE, at a media event.
Also Read: Social Project.PH aims to raise crowdfunding for social enterprises
According to raiSE, a whopping 92 per cent of social enterprises have been operating for less than a year. This stat highlights a double-edged sword of two realities. First, social enterprises are a new phenomenon in Singapore. And second, they do not last long.
To help, raISE wants to act as something of a community builder by offering grants, investment, mentorship, an accelerator programme and internship opportunities. It even has a co-working space called The baSE and a shared office space called The premiSE.
When the programme was launched in May 2015, it was announced the company has S$30 million (US$21.6 million) available to develop social enterprises. So far, it has committed S$8.6 million (US$6.2 million); split between grants and investment.
S$3.3 million (US$2.4 million) worth of grants was given to 35 companies since inception — the average grant was worth about S$70,000 (US$50,000) and the highest was S$220,000 (US$160,000).
raISE invested S$5.3 million (US$3.8 million) into 9 companies — with the maximum amount invested topping out at around S$1 million (US$720,000).
One notable investment for raISE was a S$1 million investment into Bliss Group Pte Ltd., an F&B company that trains and employs marginalised people in society — including those with mental health concerns, physical disabilities, at-risk youth and women in need.
“The growing support for the social enterprise ecosystem in Singapore has been encouraging, and this allows even the more established social enterprises like ours to keep seeking ou new opportunities and deepening our impact further,” said Bliss Founder Christine Low in a statement.
Also Read: For social enterprise, how to balance social good with the realities of business?
The Singapore startup community might recognise the brain-training company Neeuro, whom raiSE is helping because of its mission to help curb brain-related illnesses common in the elderly.
raiSE said that while it certainly keeps an eye on financial metrics — mostly to keep track of sustainability — social impact is the most important factor it investigates when making an investment. An example of a social tracking metric might be “created four jobs in FY 2016″.
raiSE has 303 members from social enterprises (not necessarily from investees — they can be seeking mentorship and guidance) and 143 associate members (people who work in other sectors that are interested in participating).
One factor that might be driving a boost in social enterprise awareness is demographics — 37 per cent social enterprises in Singapore were founded by people under the age of 35 years old.
“The younger generation is coming through [university], and they just don’t want another job, they want to make a change,” said Gautam Banerjee, who is the Executive Chairman raISE as well as being the Senior Managing Director and Chairman of Blackstone Singapore.
In many respects, raiSE is a social enterprise startup itself. While it was officially launched in May 2015, it has only been in serious operations for about a year. But, it has made a nice impact in that time.
The company estimates it has helped create about 200 jobs for disadvantaged members of society and indirectly impacted about 3,000 people in Singapore.
For year two, the company hopes to see more diversity in the types of social enterprises that use the programme. Banerjee also said he hopes to see more corporates come on board and engage more with the social enterprises.
Also Read: DBS Foundation launches portal for Asian social enterprises
Anyone in Singapore interested in the company can attend the Singapore Social Enterprise Conference 2016, which will be held on October 25-26 at The Star Gallery at The Star Performing Arts Centre.
The event will be opened by Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and the keynote speech will be given by R Venkataramanan, the Managing Trustee of Tata Trusts.
Much like startups everywhere, what social enterprise entrepreneurs often need is a support network to help them overcome challenges. For startups, it is fairly easy to find help in Singapore — but it is far more difficult in the social enterprise sector.
raiSE hopes it can spin this web of support and be a go-to organisation for social enterprise companies in the Lion City — and hopefully prevent the idealists from becoming cynics.
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