DBS Extends Support for Social Enterprises

DBS said it is extending support for social enterprises via its Social Enterprise(SE) Support Programme on Tuesday specifically addressing their top three priorities. These include: improving their business model to achieve financial sustainability; sourcing for funding and; customer acquisition.

«Social enterprises have big ambitions to make a positive impact in their community, and very often they struggle with limited resources. We want to support these social enterprises in their journey to create greater social impact,» said Joyce Tee, DBS’ group head of SME banking.

Started A Decade Ago

DBS pioneered the social enterprise banking package 10 years ago, but more than half of the social enterprises surveyed by the Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise said they lacked access to financial support.

As such, DBS will continue to provide SEs access to virtually free banking services through its DBS Social Enterprise Package. With this package, SEs can open an account with a zero-minimum balance and enjoy unsecured loans at preferential rates.

Three pillars

The DBS Social Enterprise Support Programme has three pillars – mentoring, training and financing. Under the program, SEs will also receive a relationship managed account traditionally reserved for larger corporate customers. The programme will jointly be administered by the DBS SME Banking team and the DBS Foundation.

To start, DBS will mentor the 12 social enterprises DBS Foundation awarded in its 2018 Social Enterprise Grant Programme. Over 28 senior SME relationship managers have committed at least of 8 hours a month to mentor social enterprises in their specialised industries. These industries include retail, F&B and healthcare.