Encouraging Social Entrepreneurship in Singapore

In March 2008, DBS Bank launched a banking package specially tailored to the banking needs of social enterprises, in support of the growth of social entrepreneurship in Singapore. DBS Social Enterprise Package, an industry first, offers social enterprises fee waivers and other benefits for a slew of transactional banking facilities.

"With our experience in supporting commercial enterprises, we hope to contribute to the growth of social entrepreneurship in Singapore. To succeed in an increasingly competitive, global economy, social enterprises will need to equip themselves with business capabilities to stay commercially viable. At DBS, we are committed to value add to the social enterprises through knowledge-sharing in the area of banking and finance. The motivation behind this is to facilitate the growth and commercial viability of social enterprises so that they can, in turn, pursue their social causes on a self-sustaining basis," said Edwin Khoo, Managing Director and Head of Enterprise Banking.

Through its Enterprise Banking unit, DBS has been actively supporting social entrepreneurship as part of its community outreach programme. DBS sponsored the Global Social Innovators Forum and the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award organised by the Social Innovation Park from 2007 to 2009. In collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers, DBS developed a Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs in 2008 which aims to help them understand the principles of starting, managing and financing a social enterprise in Singapore. The toolkit was further enhanced in 2009.

Click here for more information on DBS' Social Enterprise Package.