Brunei - Social entrepreneurship in spotlight during business session

ABOUT 100 local entrepreneurs and tertiary education students were yesterday given insight into Singapore's experience in social entrepreneurship, in which individuals use business solutions to address community problems.

Organised by the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) at The Rizqun International Hotel in Gadong, the one-day, experience-sharing session saw entrepreneurs from four Singaporean social enterprises speak about how they managed to develop successful businesses and re-invest the profits into projects that benefit the community.

"Social enterprises are businesses that utilise market-based strategies to advance a social cause," BEDB said in press statement yesterday.

"Like any other business, it aims to create surpluses but seeks to re-invest those surpluses to achieve its diverse social objectives and needs, ranging from environment and education to social issues and healthcare."

"But the very notion of a profit-generating business that does good is quite new in Singapore, although things are moving fast. Today, the social enterprise movement is gaining increasing support, including among students from higher learning institutions," the BEDB said.

The invited speakers were led by Elim Chew, president of the leading Singaporean streetwear chain, 77th Street (S) Pte Ltd. Chew helped establish the Social Innovation Park, a not-for-profit organisation (NPO) promoting social entrepreneurship and innovation, and was the precursor to the city-state's Social Enterprise (SE) Association.

"Social entrepreneurs are people who see the need to change and they go all the way up to see how they could create the change for better community and better world. So it's very tough because a lot of things are not there in the first place," she told The Brunei Times yesterday.

However, Chew explained that social entrepreneurs were just as focused on running a successful business as their conventional counterparts.

"Being a social entrepreneur we must also think of profit. The more profit we make, the more projects we can get started. Because the minute we run out of cash, we run out of business and we run out of the ability to help people," she said.

Among the speakers yesterday were sisters Wendy and Tammy Lim of CityCare Ltd, a NPO focused on building up the culture of volunteerism in Singapore, through the social enterprises' strategy of "3 Es Educate, Encourage and Empower". The NPO helps the city-state's corporate sector and individuals come up with customised community programmes, based on their strengths.

The session also saw Sim Sin Sin, chief executive officer (CEO) of Laksania (Spice Connect Pte Ltd), share her experience in hiring marginalised individuals, such as those with mental health problems, to help prepare the cafe's laksa dishes.

Kenny Low, the founder of complementing social enterprises City College and O School, shared how the former has helped to provide another pathway for school drop-outs to pursue their O-Levels, while the latter was established to give jobs to talented young dancers and generate bursary funds for "deserving, lower-income" students of the City College.

"To date, City College has helped more than 600 youths qualify for tertiary education and O School has also become the leading street dance school in Singapore, engaging more than 1,000 youths on a weekly basis," the BEDB statement said.

A Bruneian participant yesterday shared how the workshop has helped to "open (his) mind" of the business sector's responsibility to the community, and the role businesses can play in addressing social issues.

"We need to change the mindset of entrepreneurs in Brunei (so) that we can accept ex-offenders and people with special needs to work with (companies) (and) to give them a chance," CEO of M&G Sustainable Aquaculture Mukhriz Mangsor said in a brief interview after the session ended.

Mukhriz believed that adopting social entrepreneurship in Brunei would not be difficult, while pointing out that there were a lot of unemployed locals that enterprises could help by giving them a chance and making them more employable.

"So I think it's not that difficult. It's only that we just need to know what our local people want to do (in terms of jobs)," he said.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Datin Paduka Hajah Adina Othman, along with senior BEDB official were also present to attend the event.

UBAIDILLAH MASLI

The Brunei Times

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