DBS Foundation ramps up support for social enterprises in Asia

Singapore

SOCIAL enterprises in Asia can look forward to receiving more capital to grow and scale, thanks to a generous injection of funding from DBS Foundation.

The foundation - the first in Singapore dedicated to championing social entrepreneurship - has increased its funding pool for its 2021 social enterprise grant programme to S$3 milllion. This is more than double the amount committed last year.

Now in its seventh year, the grant programme aims to grow and scale early-stage social enterprises. Successful applicants from the bank's key markets - Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, India and Indonesia - can receive grants of up to S$250,000 each this year.

Those who make the cut can benefit from measures from DBS Bank and DBS Foundation such as capacity-building programmes, networking and publicity opportunities.

Successful applicants can also gain access to the foundation's social enterprise community to tap on potential synergies with the broader ecosystem.

This year's programme also has a "Towards Zero Food Waste" category for social enterprises working towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping to stem climate change by addressing the issue of food waste.

This category was first launched in 2020 to support businesses that are tackling issues such as food loss and gaps in the food value chain.

Karen Ngui, group head of DBS strategic marketing and communications and a board member of DBS Foundation, said: "Having journeyed alongside many social enterprises since the early stages of their growth, it is heartening to see how far they have come and the increasing need for these purpose-driven businesses to be able to deliver impact at scale."

Singapore-based Treedots, a wholesale distributor of surplus and imperfect food supplies in South-east Asia, was awarded the grant in 2018.

With the foundation's support, the company has grown from an early start-up to a business with over 90 employees today, and is on track to tripling their annual revenue in 2021.

Navigating business through Covid-19's uncertainties

TreeDots co-founder Nicholas Lim said: "In addition to grant programme funding, which helped with our expenses when we first embarked on this journey, we also received last year's DBS Foundation BTI Grant which assisted our efforts to navigate the business through Covid-19's uncertainties."

All applications received before June 15 will be evaluated until September, with applications received thereafter to be evaluated in the next grant cycle.

The announcement and awarding of successful grantees will take place towards the end of this year.

Details of the grant programme and the application process can be found at ww.dbs.com/foundation/featured/grant-programme