January 27, 2013

Business and Social Enterprise

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

The social enterprise market in Singapore is still quite young and may not have establish a fix definition of what social enterprise is actually about. But we being the future generation of this society can construct a definition of what social enterprise is all about through the study of BZSE!

This is my mission and vision for BZSE:
Mission: To inculcate the importance of contributing to our society and helping those who are in need. To construct a fix definition of what Business and Social Enterprise (BZSE) is all about.

Vision: To improve the life of people and encourage more individual to plough back their resource to the society, improving the overall standard of living.

These are the various reflections of the various individuals about what BZSE is and how has it affects them:

“Social enterprise, this term was misunderstood by me at first. I thought it was the social part as in socializing, with our clients to clinch deal or contract. I never thought it would be to help people who are in need. Only after this course, I learnt what a social enterprise is.” -Boon Ching

“A course which allow us to do business and help people at the same time” -Ong Bao Dong

“BZSE let me see another method of helping people and allow me to have a chance to help more people in different countries.” -Valarie

“I think that BZSE is really a special course and from this course, I learned to share and to help the needy. It is a course with heart and passion to help . I never regret choosing this course.” -Meng Yan

"BZSE allows me to learn things from another perspective, teaching me approaches which I would not have ever thought of, hence enhancing the experience" -Bi Xuan

“It is a very meaningful course as we not only learn how to do business but also how to contribute back to the society. One thing I love about BZSE is that it changes me and makes me want to change other people too” -Ashlyn

“This is a course where you make good friends, for life” -Hwee Chiat

“BZSE is a great course with meaningful purpose; Business with a heart. BZSE expose me to various aspects of life and changed me into a better person.” -Huai Shen

Being Solution-Oriented

Nowadays,Singaporeans are more participative in expressing their thoughts on various issues. More Singaporeans are conversing their thought through social media. Below is an article posted on Mr Tan Kin Lian's blog:

Living in a competitive country like Singapore, every citizens are striving for a high payout, better living standard and everyone is competing to move themselves to a higher social class.

In the recent years, as more Singaporeans are participative in option- sharing programmes, more issues surfaced. Singaporeans feared the increase in the rate of inflation, the widened of income gaps and the questioned if our education system is effective in educating our students in the moral and ethnic aspect. However, after reading through some of these article, I questioned myself "Are we being solution-oriented or problem-oriented?".

Personally, I felt that instead of focusing on problems, we should focus more on the execution of solutions. Government have offered many enrichment course to promote the increase of standard in the workforce. Citizens have to reciprocate to the solution given by our government. By taking on these enrichment programme, it increases the personal value of employees and thus,lead to career security.

We got to understand that government does not holds the key to the solution to all these social issues, we are the solution to all these issues. In order to keep up with the ever changing society, we got to increase our personal value by acquiring more knowledge and working experience. We should not wait for our government or school to address to all these social issues. Parents should also take up the responsibility of understanding and educating their children with moral values and lead by examples.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

― Albert Einstein

Think out of the box, be solution oriented. As a citizens of Singapore, we holds the key to the future of our Nation. Everyone have a part to play. The establishment of social enterprise will be an effective way to address to these social issues on an individual level.

References

Shaun (2011). Social problem in Singapore. Retreived on January 27, 2013 from http://tankinlian.blogspot.sg/2011/08/social-problems-in-singapore.html

Assisting domestic helpers to integrate to the local culture in Singapore

Statistic have shown that one in every six houses have a domestic helper.

This article reflects the working experience of a domestic helper in Singapore. Many Singaporeans mentioned about the overcrowding of domestic helpers every Sunday in Orchard. Many complained about the noise pollution and stated that these group of people are the cause of congestion in the town area. However, we failed to see the picture from the viewpoint of these migrant workers.

Davy works as a domestic help in Singapore, working from 7a.m. to 10 p.m. However, her 'real work' only starts from 10p.m. to 1 a.m. She served as a facto counsellor to domestic helper from any nationality. She would educate her fellow comrades to use contraceptive measures and make their time fulfilling by providing them with computer lessons. This form of emotional support is important to these migrant workers.

Employers of domestic helpers should be sensitive to the emotional struggles of their employees. The fear of new environment and uncertainties, and the loneliness from being away from home. It is essential for the employers to assist their domestic helper to get familiarise with our local culture and see the need to integrate skills and expertise to their domestic helpers so as to prepare them for the working society when they return to their country.

References

Hodal (2011). Day in the life of a migrant worker in Singapore. In Davy, 41, domestic worker from the Philippines. Retrieved on January 27, 2012 from http://travel.cnn.com/singapore/life/day-life-migrant-worker-singapore-584560

Resolution to the root problem

I was browsing through my Facebook when i saw this status:

This Facebook status have highlighted a very important social issue. Most of the time, help is given in the form of monetary assistance. However, sometimes we may oversee and failed to take care of the emotional aspect of the needy.

During one of our school trip to Dignity Kitchen, I was truly impressed by the work of Mr Koh Seng Choon. Dignity Kitchen is a social enterprise that seek to provide employment for the elderly and physcial disabled. They seek for sponsorship to provides free meals for the elderly and disadvantaged. During the lunch, I witness how the staffs interacted with the elderly, providing singing system such as Karoke and games to entertain the elderly. I am amazed by the enthusiasm of Mr Koh, he is thoughtful of all the some details. Rather than just transporting the elderly to Dignity kitchen to have a meal, he strive to make the lunch a pleasant and joyful one by providing entertainment for the elderly and encourage the staffs to interact with the elderly.

Emotional aspect of the disadvantage is important. It should be highly valued. A sentence from Mr Koh:

"Every month, just devote one day to volunteer and help others. It will make a big difference and every good work starts from there. "

Students coming up with innovations to solve societal problems

More schools are adopting community projects into school context. Schools understands that voluntarism and education to social issues is important to the moral education of their students. Many school started to make voluntarism compulsory for their students and encourage students to participate in community project actively.

In the recent new, a group of students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic have innovated a priority seat system for the needy. This innovation came from a video clip where two commuters are fighting over a seat. Co-inventor of this priority seat system, Seah Xiang Long and his group hopes to seek for a solution to prevent people from hogging onto the priority seat instead of providing it to the needy. Thus, they came out with a priority seat system where the seat can only be activate by a card held by a senior citizens or the driver to unlock the folded seat which fold down automatically if vacated. Needy can request the card from the driver if required.

Education alone is no longer sufficient for our students to survive in the society. They require skills, experiences and exposure. By participating in such competition, students are expose to the real world issues and are task to contribute so as to make the nation a better one. This will build up their national identity and encourage them to volunteer more and contribute to the well being of the society.

November 22, 2012

Businesses urged to take lead in supporting social enterprises

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Social enterprises are seen to be a growing trend in the business market. Mr Chan Chun Siang made a comment on this year Social Enterprise Association conference stated that “ The Social Enterprise Association has seen its members grow over the years, and its focus evolve”.

In order to promote social enterpises, government and private sectors have been providing a lot of assistance to the social enterprises. With creative ideas and workable plans, social enterpreneurs are able to easily get funding from the government and other organisations such as YMCA, MCYS and etc. Government have also hope to raise the capability of social enterprise through internship, training and mentorship programme.

In the current society, we understand that social issues are no longer just the responsibility of the government and every individuals have a role to play. More businesses are evolving to be a social enterprise so as to address to some of these social issues and thus, contributing back to the society. We have seen social enterprise such as Eighteen chef established to promote employment for ex-offender and Soule that provides shoe for the needy in China. In addition, more companies have also started to promote corporate social responsisbility (CSR) and this trend have shown a rapid increase.

Judging from the current trend, I am expecting that in the near future there will be a chance that all businesses will be established as a social enterprises or a company that upholds corporate social responsibilities.

Spread love everywhere you go.
Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.
–Mother Thersa

References:

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~BZSE~