Who We Are
2009: DBS pioneered the Social Enterprise Banking Package to support the growth of small businesses committed to solving social and environmental issues.
2014: DBS Foundation was established with SGD 50 million funds set aside, in conjunction with Singapore’s jubilee year (SG50). This move signalled the bank’s commitment to be a catalyst of change by championing social entrepreneurship in Asia.
2014-2018: DBS Foundation launched the DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia, in partnership with the National University of Singapore. This was a five-year collaboration that eventually became the largest regional platform to recognise social enterprises. In 2018, it received 870 entries from across 42 countries, the highest number of participating countries for this competition – a reflection of the growing interest in social entrepreneurship.
2015-Present: Since its launch in 2015, the annual DBS Foundation SE Grant Programme has grown in scale and quality of applicants and continues to receive increasing interest across the region. DBS Foundation has paved the way for and continues to journey with many early recipients of the grant who have grown their business and impact over the years and are today prime examples of sustainable businesses with positive impact on people and the planet. Learn more about our 2021 grantees here.
2016-2018: 2016 marked the inaugural DBS Foundation Annual Social Enterprise Summit, which was centred on the theme “Hard Truths and Honest Conversations”. Over 200 social enterprises across Asia and 35 expert speakers from 13 countries participated in this regional platform to kickstart important conversations, connections, and necessary strategic thinking to chart the growth of Asia’s social entrepreneurship landscape.
2018: A week-long Social Enterprise Week was held, in conjunction with DBS’s golden jubilee. This included the Social Enterprise Summit themed “Social Impact + Profit: Can boundaries be blurred?”, and the “Festival for Good” in partnership with raiSE, which attracted a record 9000 attendees.
2019: DBS was named the inaugural winner of the “Social Enterprise Champion of the Year (Corporation)” award at the President’s Challenge Social Enterprise Awards (PCSEA).
2019-2020: The inaugural DBS Foundation Social Impact Prize, worth SGD 150,000, was launched as part of Singapore Management University’s 2019 Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition, to identify and encourage up-and-coming sustainable businesses that are addressing social and environmental problems globally. Read more about the winner, Singapore-based StratifiCare, which is working on severe dengue prediction diagnostics.ndees.
2020: In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, DBS Foundation announced an additional SGD 550,000 in funding via the Business Transformation and Improvement (BTI) Grant. This supported 13 social enterprises across Asia and enabled them to protect and create jobs, as well as pivot digitally in search of new income streams to transform their business operations.
2022: DBS committed an additional SGD 100 million to deepen its ability to create impact beyond banking in Asia. The increased funding will support DBS Foundation’s work in growing social enterprises, as well as the creation of a new ‘Community Impact’ chapter focused on various community giving and volunteerism efforts.
DBS Group
Useful Links
Awards
Asia’s Safest Bank, 2009 – 2023, Global Finance
Best Bank in the World 2022, Global Finance
World's Best Bank 2021, Euromoney
Best Bank in the World 2020, Global Finance
World's Best Bank 2019, Euromoney
Global Bank of the Year 2018, The Banker