Grant Awardees Over the Years

India

Disrupt value chain of agri-produce with Farm-to-Fork technology

Ecozen enables Climate Smart Farm-To-Fork value chain and clean technology to support farmers and reduce agri-produce loss.

The DBSF Grant will support the development and implementation of Ecofrost in new geographies in India.

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Taiwan

Connect farm to table with data-driven supply chain

Tsaitung Agriculture connects farmers to consumers by leveraging data, IoT and dynamic algorithms to make supply chains transparent, efficient and to reduce food waste and carbon emissions.

The DBSF Grant will support technology upgrades to further optimise the food supply chain and logistics.

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Singapore

Rebuilding Lives and Reconciling Families

Agape Connecting People (Agape) is a venture-backed Contact Centre providing sustainable empowerment to the disadvantaged through employment. Staff at Agape include inmates serving time in prison, physically challenged persons, single mothers and ex-offenders. Agape offers a suite of services such as inbound and outbound telemarketing, live and FB chat, email management and leads generation, database maintenance etc supporting clients to enhance their customer experience. By leveraging technology, this social enterprise aims to impact single mothers and the visually impaired via homebased assignments.

The DBS Foundation grant will help Agape establish a training facility and develop WSQ-certified the curriculum as well as subsidise course fees for marginalised groups.

Singapore

Delivering Healthcare, Everywhere

reach52 (previously Allied World Healthcare) uses offline-first Android apps to connect underserved, rural communities to essential healthcare.

The social enterprise trains women become Access Managers who help collect data to understand health needs of communities. Armed with this information, reach52 runs events and outreach programs and extends primary care to disconnected communities. They fill the gaps with partner organisation’s services and enabling access to products and services creating an affordable marketplace of private sector medicines and financial services products. Their public-private-patient partnership model helps address critical gaps in public sector health delivery where traditional facilities cannot reach.

The DBS Foundation grant will help build reach52’s partner management team and scale up social impact in one new market in Asia.

Taiwan

Stemming our thirst for one-time plastics

Taiwan consumes over 1.5 billion disposable cups every year which works out to 44 cups per person per year, and plastic cups is the major source of sea debris!

Chingpiao is a social enterprise start-up that aims to provide a lasting solution to reduce disposable drink and food containers. They rent and deliver reusable cups and dishes to events, helping event organisers and the public reduce the disposable waste. After every event Chingpiao collects, cleans and stores the containers to be ready for the next usage.

The DBS Foundation grant will enable Chingpiao to conduct trials in Xiaoliuqiu – an offshore island south of Taiwan.

Indonesia

Sustainable building materials from agricultural waste

Burning harvested crops causes major environmental pollution in Indonesia. Mycotech helps upcycling agricultural waste materials and generates extra income for farmers.

Mycotech uses mushroom technology to produce a natural adhesive that pulls organic fibres together, creating eco-friendly, sturdy and lightweight products. The products can be used as elegant looking panels and tiles for furniture, cabinets and other interiors. Small farmers recruited as partners of Mycotech also earn additional income by selling agricultural waste to them.

Mycotech was awarded an initial grant in 2015 to operationalise their pilot plant as well as obtain necessary certifications to commence work. The DBS Foundation grant this year will be used towards increasing Mycotech’s production line capacity as well as establish a sound IP management strategy.

Taiwan

Realise a better world

Agriforward helps upcycle agricultural waste and organic waste from biogas power generators and water treatment plants into organic fertilizer. They create a win-win situation for agri community and the government in reducing carbon emissions and promote sustainable green development. Their goal is to establish "electricity-generating composting areas" and in the future through Internet of Things (IoT) develop non-pesticide cultivation management techniques for clean, good-value food and comprehensively add value to agriculture. The grant will be used for team expansion, research & development on IoT based smart farming management.

Taiwan

Fresh milk made possible

Pure Milk is enriching the Taiwan dairy industry by selling safe milk bought at fair trade prices, from small scale farms. Each bottle is of milk is processed under excellent conditions and labeled with the source information so consumers know which farm, the milk came from. Pure Milk also supports the training for vets to become knowledgeable cattle vets thereby boosting the industry further. They cooperate with other social enterprises in Taiwan on logistics fulfilment and delivery services. The grant will help in strengthening their branding, establishing SOPs, data management systems and market intelligence on dairy products and logistics as well as building equipment in cold chain logistics.

China

Helping deaf children be heard

Ci Shi Shi Ji Beijing has developed a scientifically proven speech rehabilitation training for young deaf children leveraging technology and education. By intervening at a young age, their rehabilitation therapy helps deaf children learn language expression abilities that are crucial to return to school and integrate into society. The social enterprise has partnered with rehabilitation institutions in China to reach more children in need. The DBS Foundation Grant will be used for their platform upgrade and strengthening curriculum design.

India

Sheltering small homes with quality recycled panels

The ModRoof from Re-Materials is a modular roofing system manufactured from recycled packaging and agricultural waste. This neat looking, light weight roofing solution provides houses in the slum areas with better insulation and is safer with no risk of collapse. Offered at half the price of a concrete roof, the Mod roof can also be accessed through micro finance by low income families. The DBS Foundation grant will be used to further reduce the price of the ModRoof through purchase of critical machinery for production, thereby making it more accessible in the market.

Taiwan

As the sea level rises with global warming, excessive underground water has been collecting in the interior areas causing large areas of land subsidence. Floods and droughts due to erratic climatic changes bring in further stress while land turns salty making it uncultivable.

All these factors affect fish farmers and their produce. Asher International eco-Health proposes a solution to alleviate land subsidence and offer safer food in Taiwan. By promoting natural eco-health aquaculture method (NEAM) they produce safe fish products. NEAM helps cultivate certain fish species in moderated ratios in order to create a healthy ecosystem. The ecosystem can generate water of best quality with nutritious elements and with lower need for water replacement. With no hormones, antibiotics and chemicals used in the entire processes, the fish produced are healthy, safe and great for consumption.

By adopting NEAM, fish farmers save water/electricity costs as well as get a higher selling price for their healthy fish. With no current business solution to land subsidence, local residents benefit if NEAM is adopted as floods are prevented by this method of aquaculture. The DBS Foundation grant will be used towards marketing Asher's method to fishing farmers and getting them to upgrade to aquaculture. The grant will aid product development and provide more job opportunities for local disadvantaged residents in Taiwan.

Singapore

E&I Food Concepts is a food and beverage business in Singapore specializing in gourmet style European cuisine. This social enterprise was started by youth who went through challenging times during their teen years. Chance cooking at hawker stall and learning new cuisines from trained chefs captured and fine-tuned their interests while opening new doors of possibilities. Having learnt the hard way, the social entrepreneurs went on to encourage youngsters who need that extra nudge in finding their way. Youngsters at their restaurant are taught the intricacies of French cooking techniques, vastly different from working at a fast food chain or food production factory. Small restaurant environment allows staff to experience the entire process providing them with unique skills. Since the social enterprise opened doors, at-risk youth and young adults have been employed and trained, who have later moved on to become chefs at reputable restaurants. Taking a cue from the current economic scenario where breaking even has to happen early in the business life cycle, E&I Food Concepts is keen to promote the expansion of their business through smaller stall concepts within modern hawker bars while downsizing the expensive restaurant business. The SE has also forayed into private dining and food consultancy.

The DBS Foundation grant will be used towards professional courses for E&I staff getting necessary certifications to maintain quality as well as increase headcount to grow business.