Social enterprises 'need more publicity, incentives to grow'
THEY are usually tiny business ventures, like a cafe or a shop, with a big social mission: to help the disadvantaged get jobs and stay employed.
But more publicity and more financial incentives are a must if such 'social enterprises' are to grow out of their infancy here, a government-appointed committee tasked with promoting such ventures has said in its draft report.
Public consultation on the report, put out by the Social Enterprise Committee (SEC), ends at midnight tonight.
Social enterprises have the potential to provide 'sustainable avenues of help to the needy disadvantaged', the committee, headed by Spring Singapore chairman Philip Yeo, said in its draft.
The 'disadvantaged' could range from the disabled and the mentally ill to uneducated elderly and former convicts.
The paper maps out steps needed to take to create a culture for social enterprises to thrive.
Committee member Gerard Ee, a social-service industry veteran, said public misconceptions about what a social enterprise is, need to be cleared first.
For instance, many customers associate these ventures with charities and feel they should be charged less than market rates for the product or service they buy from a social enterprise.
'We need to make it clear such ventures are businesses first, and need to be financially sustainable,' said Mr Ee.
The draft report suggests setting up more public education and promotional events, a greater outreach to schools to educate the young on what a social enterprise is and the formation of an association that can champion the cause of the entrepreneurs.
Would-be entrepreneurs should also have a viable business idea to ensure they can survive the early years.
'If you are setting up a food and beverage outlet, you need to ensure the location is convenient and you know what your customers need,' said Mr Ee.
The committee also recommends providing more incentives to investors and entrepreneurs to set up such ventures.
Currently, anyone hoping to set up social enterprises can tap the Government's ComCare Enterprise Fund (CEF) to recover part of their project cost. But all profits must be ploughed back into the enterprise. And the funding is for one year only.
The committee suggested entrepreneurs be allowed to share profits two years after they stop receiving ComCare funds.
It also wants to extend the funding period from one to two years.
This is important, said committee member and entrepreneur Elim Chew, adding that it took her four to five years to break even when she started her retail business in 1988.
'Even with better opportunities for growth today, it would take more than a year for a new business to get off the ground,' said Ms Chew.
But the biggest challenge facing the growth of such enterprises here, Mr Yeo told The Straits Times in an e-mail, is 'a lack of public awareness and recognition' for socially responsible individuals, organisations and companies that set up such businesses.
'So we have to 'sell' social enterprises,' he added.
