DBS Foundation, the first foundation in Singapore dedicated to championing social entrepreneurship, today announced that it has awarded SGD 1.3 million to nine social enterprises (SEs) as part of its 2019 DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant Programme. The grant funding will support this year’s awardees from India, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Taiwan to deploy social innovations in areas such as healthcare, nutrition, employability and income generation, education, energy, environment protection and waste management.
This year, the DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant Programme received a record 600 applications from SEs across Asia. The final nine SEs were selected based on rigorous criteria including the ability to address social needs, innovation, as well as the sustainability and scalability of their business models. They were also required to demonstrate a path to achieving key business and social impact milestones.
The 2019 DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant Programme (please see appendix for full list of awardees) awardees include S4S Technologies from India, a food tech company serving the global dehydrated food market with its patented UN-award winning solar dehydration technology. S4S aggregates farm produce, performs necessary quality checks, undertakes secondary processing at its ISO grade factory making the products available to a wide range of B2B and B2C consumers. The enterprise empowers women farmers to earn enhanced incomes through an assured market, by reducing farm level losses and creating value added products. S4S will use the grant to conduct a self-financing pilot with a farmer group in a new geography of India which can be later replicated several times, scaling up impact. Last year, two Indian social enterprises Phool (formerly HelpUsGreen) and Haqdarshak were the recipients of this grant.
Said Karen Ngui, Board Member of DBS Foundation and DBS’ Head of Group Strategic Marketing & Communications, “The DBS Foundation was formed five years ago and since then, we have witnessed a fast growing realisation of how businesses of all shapes and sizes can be a force for good. The record number of grant applications received this year is testament to the fact that more people, especially millennials, are passionate about creating innovative solutions to address a myriad of pressing social and environmental issues. From empowering the disadvantaged and marginalised, to creating nutritious food that benefits both the environment and smallholder farmers, we are delighted to support these inspiring social entrepreneurs as they strive to build a better future for all.”
Wide-ranging support for social enterprises
Over the last five years, DBS has been ramping up efforts to integrate SEs into the bank’s ecosystem by providing SEs with business and learning opportunities, and giving DBS’ customers and staff the opportunity to contribute towards a better world. While the bank has been supporting SEs for many years, it stepped up its commitment to the growth of social entrepreneurship with the establishment of the SGD 50 million DBS Foundation in 2014, to commemorate Singapore’s 50th year of independence.
This year in India, DBS Bank entered into a strategic partnership with Social Alpha, a technology business incubator supported by Tata Trusts. The DBS-Social Alpha Social Entrepreneurship program focuses on providing holistic support to social innovators for the growth of their enterprises through business mentoring and seed capital.
Under the DBS Social Enterprise Support Programme, the grant awardees stand to receive mentorship by DBS’ SME bankers, as well as banking and finance training courses at the DBS SME Academy. They will also be provided access to virtually free banking services through the bank’s decade-old DBS Social Enterprise Package, which comes with zero-minimum balance for account opening and unsecured loans at preferential rates. In line with its commitment to advancing the sustainability agenda as a purpose-driven bank, the second season of DBS’ award-winning mini-series sparks is also inspired by true stories of social enterprises across Asia. The five episodes to date aim to address some of the most pressing social and environmental issues of the day, while shedding light on the challenges faced by social enterprises.
2020 DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant Call
The DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant is now open to social enterprises across Asia that have a business product or solution that has been validated by the market, with demonstrated commitment to a social mission, and a clear roadmap towards scaling social impact. Applications received before 31 March 2020, 2359hrs (Singapore time, GMT +8) will be evaluated and awarded in the first half of 2020. Application forms received on 1 April 2020 and thereafter will be evaluated and awarded in the second half of 2020. To find out more about the grant programme, visit go.dbs.com/Grants.