Nine firms get social enterprise grants worth S$1.3m from DBS

Singapore

YUMMY noodles that also ease small-scale farmers' woes: That is the goal of one food science startup in Singapore. That firm, NamZ, is now getting a boost - to take its high-protein, lower-fat NoodleZ from pilot to product.

NamZ was among nine regional businesses that clinched social enterprise grants from lender DBS Bank's DBS Foundation, it was announced on Monday.

These do-gooder firms are taking home a combined S$1.3 million, under this year's DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant Programme, which gives each recipient up to S$250,000 to scale up its business operations. The funds can go towards market expansion, a production ramp-up, or other ways to grow the company's impact on society. The DBS Foundation scheme, which was launched in 2015, is open to social enterprises from Singapore, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.

Three of this year's winners hailed from the Lion City: NamZ; reach52, which uses apps to collect health data from under-served rural communities and hook them up with care providers; and Agape Connecting People, which finds work for people with disabilities, single mothers, prisoners and other disadvantaged job seekers.

"We believe the grant is a great step in helping us get the product and word out to more consumers, accelerating the benefits to farmers and consumers alike," NamZ co-founder Christoph Langwallner told The Business Times.

The Singapore-based company, which was registered in 2013, is working to wean agri-business off commodity crops such as oil palm by supporting smallholder cultivation of what it dubs "future-fit crops", such as Bambara groundnut and moringa.

As it aims to drive up demand for these high-yield, drought-resistant crops through its food products, the DBS Foundation grant will be used to raise noodle production capacity.

The other recipients of this year's grants include a mainland Chinese organisation that is turning waste cooking oil into bio-fuel; a Taiwanese firm tackling the treatment of toxic electronic waste; and an Indonesian peer-to-peer lender hoping to meet smallholder farmers' financial needs.

The nine grant winners, which were picked from a pool of 600 applicants, are eligible for banking services that DBS billed as "virtually free". They can also access resources meant for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Karen Ngui, head of group strategic marketing and communication at DBS, said in a statement: "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."

Applications for the next tranche of DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grants are due by March 31, 2020.