Singapore’s Ministry of Social and Family Development will begin a mentoring program for social enterprises this December.
The premise of the program is to increase the organizational capabilities of social enterprises – marketing, planning, and business development – by engaging corporate professionals and individual entrepreneurs as mentors. The project will begin as a pilot with five social enterprises for an 8-month period.
If the scheme sounds familiar it probably is. Previously, there was a television show that aired in Singapore which paired rising social entrepreneurs with prominent entrepreneurs to address business issues. If not for dramatic purposes, the show revealed legitimate obstacles that the social entrepreneurs had to overcome to move their ventures forward.
The program will be administered by Empact and supported by the Social Enterprise Association, a national body that champions social entrepreneurship in Singapore.
Chan Chun Sing, Minister of Social and Family Development, says that corporations and private businesses can very well contribute to positive social outcomes. Currently, many social enterprises – both inside and outside Singapore – struggle to become financially sustainable businesses.
“With mentoring and coaching support, social enterprises can strengthen their business management and organizational capabilities,” Chan said. “We also hope this will generate greater interest and understanding of social enterprises, and encourage more professionals with corporate or entrepreneurial experiences to contribute their expertise in such areas.”
Photo by papaija2008 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
