Social enterprise Jaga-Me was born when two of its co-founders met at a hackathon event and brainstormed an Uber-like model for healthcare services. It is an online platform that links independent healthcare professionals to those receiving care at home.
The idea for Dignity Kitchen, a hawker training school for people with disabilities, was born when its founder met a polio sufferer who wanted to be a chef.
Both these companies have social impact at the core of their business model, and are part of a growing movement towards more responsible business practices, said Chief Executive of Singapore-based Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) Naina Subberwal Batra.
This is encouraging as a study released earlier in the week by AVPN, found Asian investors lagging behind their global counterparts in the adoption of socially responsible investment practices.
“In the past two years, many millennial investors have asked their financial managers to deploy funding in companies that create social impact. Unless we try to change how business is done, or capital markets get involved, the kind of money needed to create social impact isn’t going to happen,” Ms Naina said.
Social enterprises are becoming the norm, rather than just a fad, said Mr Aaron Lee, the third co-founder of Jaga-Me. “Social enterprises are here to stay because this generation seeks purpose that extends beyond ourselves. We do not look at profit as the sole raison d’etre even though we are a for-profit company. We invest that profit in a manner that improves the lives of others,” Mr Lee, 30, said.
Jaga-Me matches more than 300 nurses and doctors in Singapore to patients who need home-based care. It is now exploring overseas opportunities, co-founder and Chief Executive Julian Koo, 30, said.
What keeps Dignity Kitchen executive director Koh Seng Choon going is “seeing the people we train have a job or a life. That’s what money cannot buy”.
Founded eight years ago, Dignity Kitchen trains and employs people with disabilities, former inmates, single mothers, battered wives and school dropouts in running hawker stalls. It wasn’t easy. Mr Koh recalled how hard it was to get funding to start a food court. At one point, he was losing $1,000 a day.
But it broke even in the fourth year and, today, it employs 62 people, 40 of whom have physical or intellectual disabilities. He has trained up to 3,000 people with culinary skills, and trained and placed over 560 people with disabilities.
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Source: The Straits Times, 7 June 2018