Initiative to tackle eldercare, mental health issues through social entrepreneurship
SINGAPORE — A new initiative by the Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise (raiSE) is looking for social entrepreneurs to come up with solutions and sustainable social enterprise ventures to address eldercare and mental health issues here.
The LeapForGood initiative is focusing on eldercare and mental health issues following findings from an independent ethnographic study of the elderly and those with mental health issues earlier this year, as well as a series of in-depth expert interviews commissioned by raiSE.
The initiative will take place in four stages over the next year, during which aspiring social entrepreneurs or existing social enterprises and organisations will attend various workshops and consultation clinics.
After the discovery and ideation stages, interested participants have until July 17 to submit their proposals.
Up to 20 applications will be shortlisted and given a S$1,000 Idea Fund before they take their ideas to the next stage for prototyping.
Five to six enterprises will eventually be selected, where each of them will receive up to S$100,000 — the total grant amount is capped at S$500,000 — to pilot their new ventures at the last stage.
During this final stage, they will also attend an incubation programme to train and receive mentoring, among other things, to help them implement their ventures.
The grant committee will be formed in the following months and applicants will be judged on how well their ideas can address the needs they have identified and the viability of their business propositions, among other things.
Launched in collaboration with the National Council of Social Service and DesignSingapore Council (Dsg) yesterday, head of programmes and partnership at raiSE Seow Hui Hong noted that the LeapForGood initiative will try to address emerging social needs through social entrepreneurship. “We hope that by putting who matters most and what matters most to them at the heart of our journey, we can inspire solutions tailored to their needs as well as business models that support them,” she added.
Silver Ribbon (Singapore) executive director Porsche Poh, one of the community partners, said that unlike other collaborations where the organisation is simply given funding, or collaborations take place on an ad-hoc basis, LeapForGood will help support a cause over a longer term.
Lions Befrienders executive director Chey Chor Khoon, another community partner, said one of the things he hoped applicants can look into is to improve communication methods with the elderly so that the latter will be more open to sharing their concerns. This includes tapping into technology such that volunteers and the elderly can interact at an earlier stage and build their bonds sooner, he added.
Dsg executive director Jeffrey Ho said design tends to be associated with styling and the aesthetics, but another dimension is the design methodology.
“If you begin to put a person’s experience at the centre of a solution, it’s radically different,” he said.
President of RSVP Singapore – the Organisation of Senior Volunteers Koh Juay Meng said they would look into the scope of the initiative before deciding if they would participate.
The organisation already has a social enterprise that provides consultancy and training projects for active ageing, and has in place community projects that befriend rehabilitating mental patients and a home-visit programme for the elderly.
Mr Isaiah Chng, director of ProAge, a social enterprise that promotes geriatric wellness, said he would also look into the details of the initiative.
His firm could explore enhancing a new technology or develop a new idea that it has, he added. SIAU MING EN
