Singtel was recently named Social Enterprise Champion of the Year at the biennial President’s Challenge Social Enterprise Awards 2021 for its significant contributions that they have made in building the capacity of social enterprises in Singapore. The awards were presented by President Halimah Yacob at a ceremony held at the Istana on the evening of 2nd December 2021.
Ms Aileen Tan, Group Chief People and Sustainability Officer, said, “Singtel is honoured to be recognised for our support of the social enterprise sector in Singapore through Singtel Group Future Makers. Since our founding, we’ve strongly believed in harnessing the power of technology to empower generations of Singaporeans. Our efforts to nurture digital innovators through funding and access to our network and resources, is part of our approach to address the challenges they face in building capacity and partnerships, and scaling their businesses. We have seen how essential technology is in helping those most in need in our community during these challenging times, and we are proud of social enterprises who are driving technology innovation for social good. We look forward to continue growing the programme with the help of our partners such as raiSE to support more social enterprises that share in our vision.”
Singtel Group Future Makers, Singtel’s regional social innovation and capacity building programme, supports promising social impact start-ups with innovative technology solutions that help address social and healthcare challenges faced by the vulnerable in society.
This programmed was launched in 2016, Singtel has invested S$5 million to support 72 local and regional start-ups through grants and capacity building, mentoring and access to networking opportunities. Singtel also have subject matter experts from various business units such as digital marketing, HR, legal and strategy that are involved as mentors, coaches and evaluators as part of skilled volunteering efforts to empower the start-ups.
Singtel Group Future Makers has also help start-ups expand and scale up their solutions. Singtel works closely with business, government agencies, academia and community partners to create go-to-market opportunities and help build up a social innovation ecosystem to accelerate the start-ups’ growth. Those start-ups stand a chance to form collaborations and pilots across Singtel Group’s footprint including Australia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand.
In 2020, with the global pandemic COVID-19 taking place, Singtel launched a support track and committed an additional S$70,000 in grant funding to incubate start-ups with digital solutions that could address social and healthcare issues created by the pandemic.
The President’s Challenge Social Enterprise Awards are conferred by the President’s Office to honour outstanding businesses and their partners within the social enterprise sector in Singapore for contributions made to the local community.
* Information courtesy of Singtel *