The DBS Foundation, the premiere foundation of Singapore whose advocacy is the advancement of social entrepreneurship in the Asia-Pacific region, has awarded a record-breaking amount of SGD 3 million to 19 social enterprises (SEs).
The funds are intended to grow their business, and scale their social and environmental impact. As the 2021 installment of the bank’s flagship DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant Programme, the grant quantum is more than double the usual amount disbursed each year.
Handpicked from nearly 700 applicants across Singapore, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, and Taiwan, these 19 businesses-for-impact will channel their funding towards enhancing and deploying their innovations.
They seek to address healthcare, nutrition, employability and income disparity, education, energy, environment protection and waste management issues – pertinent issues that have become increasingly prevalent. These SEs will collectively impact 24,000 lives across the region by giving access to quality healthcare and education, and improving the livelihoods of rural communities. The SEs will also work towards abating 160,000 tonnes in CO2 emissions, reducing 120,000 tonnes of food waste and 130,000 tonnes of plastic waste.
Two successful SEs include Tridi Oasis and Waste4Change, both from Indonesia. Both will be handling environmental issues through technology and science innovations. Tridi Oasis focuses on recycling plastic bottles from high- and medium-grade PET flakes, while Waste4Change helps facilitate waste collection (sorting, recycling, composting) to reduce the volume of waste that end up in landfills.
“Collaborating with DBS made us learn how social entrepreneurs can make bigger social changes by implementing the right entrepreneurship/business strategy,” said Dian Kurniawati, Founder and CEO of Tridi Oasis. “The DBSF Grant we received will fund an environmental study of the multi-layered packaging (MLP) recycling process and hire a team for MLP plastics collection in Tangerang.”
According to Waste4Change Founder and CEO Mohamad Bijaksana Junerosano, “We are grateful for the opportunity given by DBS for us to learn and grow together. With the grant fund we received from the DBS Foundation, we plan to partner with 300 temporary disposal sites (TPS) 3R and Waste Bank Jabodetabek to manage more waste. There will be an increase in capacity and assistance, as well as an integration of information systems for partners’ businesses. Not only does it reduce the amount of waste that ends up in the final disposal site (TPA), but the initiative also increases the income of the waste industry players.”
Mona Monika, PT Bank DBS Indonesia Head of Group Strategic Marketing & Communications said, “Since 2015, 14 social entrepreneurs from Indonesia have successfully received a DBS Foundation Grant. Along with one of our sustainability pillars, which is Creating Social Impact, in the future, we will gladly commit to growing more social entrepreneurs to help strengthen economic growth and answer various social issues in Indonesia.”
Furthermore, DBS will support SEs to reach their targets by leveraging access to diverse bank resources, such as skills training and capacity building, opening up opportunities to build networks and business opportunities, procurement, and awareness-raising through various initiatives and platforms. The DBS Foundation will also conduct a half-year review with the businesses to monitor their progress and work with them to refine and develop their growth plans.
