DBS Foundation announces 23 new awardees of grant programme across Asia, SukkhaCitta named Indonesian recipient | Bahasa
Indonesia.18 Jan 2023.3 min read
In addition to social enterprises, DBS Foundation Grant Programme 2022 also provides grants for eight SMEs
SukkhaCitta receives grant from DBS Foundation to develop the “Mama Cotton” regenerative cotton project
SEs and SMEs play a key role in driving sustainability in Indonesia, taking initiatives to present innovative solutions that can have a positive impact on society
Indonesia, 18 Jan 2023 - DBS Foundation has announced this year’s awardees of its flagship grant programme. A total of SGD three million will be disbursed through DBS Foundation Grant Programme 2022 (DBSF Grant) to 23 recipients across Asia consisting of 15 social enterprises (SEs) and eight small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The grants were awarded to recipients from five countries, namely Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan and Indonesia, to accelerate their positive impact. SukkhaCitta was selected as an awardee from Indonesia, the second time the SE received a grant from DBS Foundation. SukkhaCitta first received a grant in 2018 to provide training for local craftsmen and obtain certification for villages.
Karen Ngui, Group Head, DBS Strategic Marketing and Communications and Board Member of DBS Foundation, said, "Since 2014, we have provided more than SGD13 million in grants with the main objective of supporting SEs and SMEs to grow their businesses. In the midst of growing economic uncertainty and increasing socio-economic challenges, we believe they are playing an increasingly important role in creating new solutions to improve lives and livelihoods, and in enabling change. We are honoured to accompany and help them build and grow their business so that we can fight together to improve the condition of our planet and support local communities. Through collaboration and collective effort, we hope to create a bigger impact.”
In addition to social enterprises, for the first time since its inception the DBSF Grant programme awarded grants to SMEs that are embracing sustainable transformation. Grant recipients will join DBS Foundation's global community of more than 100 businesses to make an impact in key markets where DBS operates.
Grant recipients were selected after a rigorous review of more than 900 applicants, the highest number so far. They stand out for their potential and focus on accelerating innovation, scalability and the positive impact of unique and innovative solutions in addressing social and environmental challenges. DBS Foundation’s support will accelerate grantees' growth into the next phase, which could include expanding into new communities, improving their products and services through research and development/new prototyping, and increasing operational capacity. This allows them to create a bigger impact through their business. Altogether, the 23 awardees have the potential to positively impact more than two million people and livelihoods, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 319 metric tonnes, reducing more than 132,000 tonnes of food waste, and providing 1,000 million litres of clean water.
SukkhaCitta shares success story of becoming DBSF Grant 2022 awardee
The announcement of the 2022 DBSF Grant recipients in Indonesia coincided with the “DBSF SE & SME Meet Up”, a regular quarterly meeting of SEs and SMEs that was held offline for the first time after the pandemic to share knowledge and experience, as well as build relationships.
At the event, SukkhaCitta, a SE that is engaged in the slow fashion industry to increase the income of women artisans and farmers in rural areas while preserving tradition and regenerating the earth, shared their experience as an Indonesian SE selected for the 2022 DBSF Grant. The DBS SE & SME Meet Up also presented Dewi Meisari, the chief editor of UKM Indonesia, and Niko Aji Nugroho, co-founder of Octopus, a social enterprise engaged in waste management.
SukkhaCitta Founder Denica Riadini-Flesch said, “We are very pleased because this year we were selected as recipient of the DBSF Grant. We will use the grant for research and development, especially for the 'Mama Kapas' regenerative cotton project that covers training and field visits in several areas in Eastern Indonesia, as well as processing cotton fabric into various marketable products.”
Women empowerment and the handling of the impact of pollution on the environment are among the many challenges faced by Indonesia. SukkhaCitta aims to empower rural women by ensuring that workers get decent wages while preventing environmental pollution. During its seven years of existence, SukkhaCitta has succeeded in improving the welfare of women in villages, most of them mothers, by increasing their income by 60 percent and helping more than 1,400 family members to lead a decent life. In addition to its social impact, SukkhaCitta also contributes to efforts to limit carbon footprint by reducing its greenhouse gas emission by 25 metric tonnes and saving more than one million litres of water from being polluted by using 100% natural dyes for each garment. Going forward, SukkhaCitta plans to expand its business by establishing a stronger and more reliable supply chain, not only to cover 100% of their own needs but also to prepare raw materials to sell to other businesses in 2025.
"As a purpose-driven bank, DBS Foundation together with Bank DBS Indonesia provide grants to realize our third pillar of sustainability, namely Create Impact Beyond Banking, which seeks to create impact on society through support and collaboration with SEs. We hope that the grant received by SukkhaCitta can accelerate the growth of their business that seeks to empower women and protect the environment. Using the momentum of the SE & SME Meet Up, we want to embrace SEs and SMEs that are passionate about building their business and embracing sustainable transformation to share ideas and learn together so that they can grow and contribute further to effort to tackle social issues that are close to their heart," said Executive Director, Head of Marketing Communications PT Bank DBS Indonesia Mona Monika.
Since its establishment in Singapore, DBS Foundation has carried out programmes that aim to create positive impacts and improve people's lives by supporting social entrepreneurship and enhancing digital and food security skills among people. In Indonesia, DBS Foundation through the Business for Impact Chapter unit has since 2015 helped develop capacities and skills of 60 SEs through mentoring programmes and has distributed more than SGD1.5 million to 14 SEs in Indonesia to support and help them grow their business. DBS Foundation also works with grant recipients to measure the resulting impact, and with SMEs to monitor business growth. DBS Foundation also helps provide access to a wider ecosystem to build community networks through programmes such as SE & SME Meet Up and SE Bootcamp held annually.
For more information about the DBSF Grant 2022, please visit https://go.dbs.com/3Vs0dwm.
About DBS
DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia with a presence in 19 markets. Headquartered and listed in Singapore, DBS is in the three key Asian axes of growth: Greater China, Southeast Asia and South Asia. The bank's "AA-" and "Aa1" credit ratings are among the highest in the world.
Recognised for its global leadership, DBS has been named “World’s Best Bank” by Global Finance, “World’s Best Bank” by Euromoney and “Global Bank of the Year” by The Banker. The bank is at the forefront of leveraging digital technology to shape the future of banking, having been named “World’s Best Digital Bank” by Euromoney and the world’s “Most Innovative in Digital Banking” by The Banker. In addition, DBS has been accorded the “Safest Bank in Asia“ award by Global Finance for 14 consecutive years from 2009 to 2022.
DBS provides a full range of services in consumer, SME and corporate banking. As a bank born and bred in Asia, DBS understands the intricacies of doing business in the region’s most dynamic markets. DBS is committed to building lasting relationships with customers, as it banks the Asian way. Through the DBS Foundation, the bank creates impact beyond banking by supporting social enterprises: businesses with a double bottom-line of profit and social and/or environmental impact. DBS Foundation also gives back to society in various ways, including equipping communities with future-ready skills and building food resilience.
With its extensive network of operations in Asia and emphasis on engaging and empowering its staff, DBS presents exciting career opportunities. For more information, please visit www.dbs.com.
About DBS Foundation
DBS Foundation is focused on creating impact and improving lives through championing social entrepreneurship and preparing communities for the future.
Under its “Business for Impact” chapter, DBS Foundation enables and nurtures social enterprises in Asia, with the aim of scaling their innovative solutions to address growing social and environmental issues. In addition to its flagship grant programme, the Foundation also provides social enterprises with wide-ranging support in the form of advocacy, skills-training, capacity-building and business opportunities, among others.
In addition, DBS Foundation’s “Community Impact” chapter seeks to prepare communities for the future by equipping them with future-ready skills and reducing food waste.
For more information, please visit www.dbs.com/dbsfoundation.
Karen Ngui, Group Head, DBS Strategic Marketing and Communications and Board Member of DBS Foundation, said, "Since 2014, we have provided more than SGD13 million in grants with the main objective of supporting SEs and SMEs to grow their businesses. In the midst of growing economic uncertainty and increasing socio-economic challenges, we believe they are playing an increasingly important role in creating new solutions to improve lives and livelihoods, and in enabling change. We are honoured to accompany and help them build and grow their business so that we can fight together to improve the condition of our planet and support local communities. Through collaboration and collective effort, we hope to create a bigger impact.”
In addition to social enterprises, for the first time since its inception the DBSF Grant programme awarded grants to SMEs that are embracing sustainable transformation. Grant recipients will join DBS Foundation's global community of more than 100 businesses to make an impact in key markets where DBS operates.
Grant recipients were selected after a rigorous review of more than 900 applicants, the highest number so far. They stand out for their potential and focus on accelerating innovation, scalability and the positive impact of unique and innovative solutions in addressing social and environmental challenges. DBS Foundation’s support will accelerate grantees' growth into the next phase, which could include expanding into new communities, improving their products and services through research and development/new prototyping, and increasing operational capacity. This allows them to create a bigger impact through their business. Altogether, the 23 awardees have the potential to positively impact more than two million people and livelihoods, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 319 metric tonnes, reducing more than 132,000 tonnes of food waste, and providing 1,000 million litres of clean water.
SukkhaCitta shares success story of becoming DBSF Grant 2022 awardee
The announcement of the 2022 DBSF Grant recipients in Indonesia coincided with the “DBSF SE & SME Meet Up”, a regular quarterly meeting of SEs and SMEs that was held offline for the first time after the pandemic to share knowledge and experience, as well as build relationships.
At the event, SukkhaCitta, a SE that is engaged in the slow fashion industry to increase the income of women artisans and farmers in rural areas while preserving tradition and regenerating the earth, shared their experience as an Indonesian SE selected for the 2022 DBSF Grant. The DBS SE & SME Meet Up also presented Dewi Meisari, the chief editor of UKM Indonesia, and Niko Aji Nugroho, co-founder of Octopus, a social enterprise engaged in waste management.
SukkhaCitta Founder Denica Riadini-Flesch said, “We are very pleased because this year we were selected as recipient of the DBSF Grant. We will use the grant for research and development, especially for the 'Mama Kapas' regenerative cotton project that covers training and field visits in several areas in Eastern Indonesia, as well as processing cotton fabric into various marketable products.”
Women empowerment and the handling of the impact of pollution on the environment are among the many challenges faced by Indonesia. SukkhaCitta aims to empower rural women by ensuring that workers get decent wages while preventing environmental pollution. During its seven years of existence, SukkhaCitta has succeeded in improving the welfare of women in villages, most of them mothers, by increasing their income by 60 percent and helping more than 1,400 family members to lead a decent life. In addition to its social impact, SukkhaCitta also contributes to efforts to limit carbon footprint by reducing its greenhouse gas emission by 25 metric tonnes and saving more than one million litres of water from being polluted by using 100% natural dyes for each garment. Going forward, SukkhaCitta plans to expand its business by establishing a stronger and more reliable supply chain, not only to cover 100% of their own needs but also to prepare raw materials to sell to other businesses in 2025.
"As a purpose-driven bank, DBS Foundation together with Bank DBS Indonesia provide grants to realize our third pillar of sustainability, namely Create Impact Beyond Banking, which seeks to create impact on society through support and collaboration with SEs. We hope that the grant received by SukkhaCitta can accelerate the growth of their business that seeks to empower women and protect the environment. Using the momentum of the SE & SME Meet Up, we want to embrace SEs and SMEs that are passionate about building their business and embracing sustainable transformation to share ideas and learn together so that they can grow and contribute further to effort to tackle social issues that are close to their heart," said Executive Director, Head of Marketing Communications PT Bank DBS Indonesia Mona Monika.
Since its establishment in Singapore, DBS Foundation has carried out programmes that aim to create positive impacts and improve people's lives by supporting social entrepreneurship and enhancing digital and food security skills among people. In Indonesia, DBS Foundation through the Business for Impact Chapter unit has since 2015 helped develop capacities and skills of 60 SEs through mentoring programmes and has distributed more than SGD1.5 million to 14 SEs in Indonesia to support and help them grow their business. DBS Foundation also works with grant recipients to measure the resulting impact, and with SMEs to monitor business growth. DBS Foundation also helps provide access to a wider ecosystem to build community networks through programmes such as SE & SME Meet Up and SE Bootcamp held annually.
For more information about the DBSF Grant 2022, please visit https://go.dbs.com/3Vs0dwm.
About DBS
DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia with a presence in 19 markets. Headquartered and listed in Singapore, DBS is in the three key Asian axes of growth: Greater China, Southeast Asia and South Asia. The bank's "AA-" and "Aa1" credit ratings are among the highest in the world.
Recognised for its global leadership, DBS has been named “World’s Best Bank” by Global Finance, “World’s Best Bank” by Euromoney and “Global Bank of the Year” by The Banker. The bank is at the forefront of leveraging digital technology to shape the future of banking, having been named “World’s Best Digital Bank” by Euromoney and the world’s “Most Innovative in Digital Banking” by The Banker. In addition, DBS has been accorded the “Safest Bank in Asia“ award by Global Finance for 14 consecutive years from 2009 to 2022.
DBS provides a full range of services in consumer, SME and corporate banking. As a bank born and bred in Asia, DBS understands the intricacies of doing business in the region’s most dynamic markets. DBS is committed to building lasting relationships with customers, as it banks the Asian way. Through the DBS Foundation, the bank creates impact beyond banking by supporting social enterprises: businesses with a double bottom-line of profit and social and/or environmental impact. DBS Foundation also gives back to society in various ways, including equipping communities with future-ready skills and building food resilience.
With its extensive network of operations in Asia and emphasis on engaging and empowering its staff, DBS presents exciting career opportunities. For more information, please visit www.dbs.com.
About DBS Foundation
DBS Foundation is focused on creating impact and improving lives through championing social entrepreneurship and preparing communities for the future.
Under its “Business for Impact” chapter, DBS Foundation enables and nurtures social enterprises in Asia, with the aim of scaling their innovative solutions to address growing social and environmental issues. In addition to its flagship grant programme, the Foundation also provides social enterprises with wide-ranging support in the form of advocacy, skills-training, capacity-building and business opportunities, among others.
In addition, DBS Foundation’s “Community Impact” chapter seeks to prepare communities for the future by equipping them with future-ready skills and reducing food waste.
For more information, please visit www.dbs.com/dbsfoundation.
