This article was first published on Technode Global on 1 April 2022.

Summary:

The Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise raiSE on Wednesday unveiled initiatives to catalyse financing, capabilities, and talent to scale up public-private synergies in Singapore’s social ecosystem.

As financing to drive social impact becomes an increasingly pressing concern, raiSE has connected stakeholders from Singapore’s public and private sectors alike to collaborate on a new pay-for-success social impact bond (SIB), raiSE said in a statement. Launched in November last year, the pilot SIB aims to improve employment retention outcomes for persons in recovery (PIR) from mental health issues. raiSE brought together social enterprises Social Ventures Partnerships and FindJobs, which harness their expertise in promoting inclusive employment and leverage on their insights on the beneficiaries’ needs and challenges to help them return and reintegrate into the workforce more seamlessly.

In addition, to establish stronger capabilities within Singapore’s social enterprise ecosystem, raiSE has partnered with venture capital firm Quest Ventures to launch Asia’s first venture capital-backed, sustainable impact accelerator programme targeted at socially impactful enterprises. Slated to run from June to August 2022, the Sustainable Impact Accelerator combines the expertise of raiSE and Quest Ventures to support socially impactful enterprises with high potential in scaling up their impact. Together, these resources build on existing seed and early-stage grants provided by raiSE and aim to further support social enterprises on their journey towards developing a sustainable and impactful business model so that they are in a good position to raise subsequent funding.

To encourage the cultivation of a new generation of socially conscious entrepreneurs, raiSE has also entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS). Through this partnership, raiSE will work together with SUSS to share knowledge and contacts across their local and regional networks and venture building programmes, as well as explore potential co-funding models for start-ups from SUSS. This would further amplify the university’s existing entrepreneurship programme and immersive venture traineeships with institutions across Asia in impact areas like education, mental health, early childhood, and gerontology.