Brewing up a Bettr future

Singapore

SOCIAL enterprises are more often likened to charities or corporate social responsibility (CSR), mostly distant from a hard-nosed business world view.

But Pamela Chng, founder of Bettr Barista, does not subscribe to that. "To be sustainable and profitable as a social business, you actually have to be an even better business, because there is a social cost," she said.

The founder said social enterprises like hers are challenged to be more productive, because they have to be sustainable in how they operate entirely, which incurs higher costs.

For instance, when it comes to hiring of workers, she said they hire individuals who tend to be less productive, meaning they could end up having two or three workers doing the job of one member of staff.

"But that doesn't mean that they can't do the job. They just need more time and training, and somebody needs to bear that cost - which is the organisation."

Bettr Barista, which runs a social programme training marginalised women and youth at risk, earns its keep mainly from conducting coffee-related workshops, imparting brewing, barista and sensorial skills.

The social business also operates at four different retail locations serving up coffee, including one at DBS Plaza Singapura and another at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. Moreover, the company also provides mobile brew bar and event services, as well as a roastery for the processing and roasting of coffee beans.

Surprisingly, coffee was not a natural calling for the founder. Ms Chng previously ran a Web consultancy for eight years, advising mostly government organisations on e-services.

But while the tech and coffee industries may seem very different, she said it was the experience working at the consultancy that spurred her towards education of people.

"I saw that business is very powerful and people are at the core. If we are able to help our people grow and develop their potential, then the business will also grow."

At the same time, she saw that there was a lack of skilled talent in serving up coffee at cafes, as speciality coffee gained traction.

"There was a need for us to scale up in the (coffee) industry, to provide more education opportunities so that we could get highly skilled baristas into the industry and therefore be able to create a better end-product."

She said she could create long-term impact along the value chain in this industry, from direct and sustainable sourcing to providing job opportunities for the marginalised women and youth at risk.

Bettr Barista's beneficiaries undergo a four-month training programme, where they are taught using a holistic approach, including "emotional", coffee and physical training.

"It is not enough to just train somebody on something. We need to give them a much broader set of skills to cope with their life and work challenges, so that they don't give up," she said.

Since Bettr Barista was founded in 2011, it has trained over 80 beneficiaries, with 90 per cent still currently in gainful employment. Graduates from the programme also make up the majority of workers at Bettr Barista's retail locations.

Business-wise, the company has also taught 4,000 members of the public from 30 countries. It broke even in 2015 and its annual revenue crossed the seven-figure mark a year later in 2016, Ms Chng said.

Last year, Bettr Barista was named Social Enterprise of the Year, the highest honour of the President's Challenge Social Enterprise Award.

She plans to take the business to other regional countries, while opening two or three more retail locations here by the end of the year.

When asked about what keeps her going, she said: "It is seeing the transformations of all the individuals that we work with. We really can change somebody's life in this work that we do.

"We are not helping millions of people right now; but that one person can go on to change their family's life, the community's life."

She acknowledged that a social enterprise is not a business that will make her rich. "To me, my life means more than just money.

"You need enough to have a comfortable life, you need enough not to have to worry about the day-to-day, and that is important. But once it's enough, then what's next?"