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Introduction
In the recent decade, we have witnessed the mushrooming of new enterprises powered by technological innovation and venture capitalists. However, many segments of our human population still cannot meet their basic needs. Access to health care, sanitation, education, knowledge, water and other basic services remain challenging to most of the world’s population. Social exclusion of the disadvantaged groups (such as underprivileged children, ex-offenders and youth at risk) are still real issues that both developed and developing societies have to grapple with. In many societies, the government is expected to manage these societal challenges. However, in recent years, the concepts of social innovation and entrepreneurship driven, in part, by greater awareness through social media are increasing in importance in our society. Many individuals who have been deeply impassioned to foster a more inclusive society attempted to build organizations with a noble social mission. While some of these social activists have relied on charitable and government organizations to fund their social institutions, others have chosen to generate revenue from the provision of commercial services to sustain their social objectives.
This book aims to highlight the underserved needs of disadvantaged and socially excluded groups in the society, ranging from the vulnerable and disadvantaged members of society to ex-offenders and youth at risk. Using a case-based method, we flesh out the approaches taken by the social activists to develop innovative solutions to address their needs.
Defending vulnerable members of society
“I had always felt that the worst thing that could happen to a girl was to be raped … I wanted to overcome this greatest fear of mine. That’s why I decided to learn self-defense.” These are the words of social activist Qin Yunquan, who took over the reins as the chief executive officer of Kapap Academy in 2015 from the founder, Teo Yew Chye. The statistics suggested Qin’s fears were not unfounded. In an annual report by the Association of Women for Action and Research in 2016, violence against women was trending up from 2014 to 2016. A steady number of helpline calls (of which 13 percent received in 2016 were from women facing abuse and violence, not including sexual violence which on its own accounted for 11 percent of the calls) and emails levelling about 4,000 received each year. Another alarming statistic released by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) in January 2017 stated that there were consistently around 3,000 applications for Personal Protection Orders, Expedited Orders and Domestic Exclusion Orders in any given year since 2012.
With a clear focus on its social mission of equipping ordinary people with self-defense skills, Kapap Academy trained more than 140 companies and 90 schools, totaling more than 50,000 individuals by 2018. Since then, the duo set their sights on India with the aim of reaching out to 100,000 disadvantaged women with self-defense lessons in five years. How should they choose to proceed? One option would be to fund the venture entirely on their own by taking on debt secured against their assets. Another option would be to raise capital through an equity investment from external investors. The first case takes the readers through the business dilemma and presents the various options available to the Kapap Academy co-founders for decision-making.
Re-integrating ex-offenders
“Once a criminal, always a criminal” is a common public attitude towards ex-offenders. The social stigma associated with being ex-offenders is so devastating that it can lead to further social exclusion, increasing their financial problems and aggravating their mental and physical health deterioration. The probability of ex-offenders being re-convicted within two years of being released from prisons was found to range from 20 percent to 59 percent, according to a study on criminal re-conviction across 21 countries. To reduce the risk of re-offending, the ability to find employment is important as having a job can provide the social support and financial stability that the ex-offenders badly need to re-integrate into the society. In his earnest desire to inspire delinquents turn over a new leaf, ex-offender Benny Se Teo started a restaurant that hires ex-offenders. As a reminder and source of encouragement, Se Teo named the restaurant Eighteen Chefs after the gang his late father used to belong to. Today, the company provides employment opportunities to marginalized groups of ex-convicts and youth at risk, equipping them with culinary and operation skills in the process. These employment opportunities have not only helped ex-offenders discover their own talent but have also enabled them to carve out their own space in the working community. The ability to lead a normal life has kept them from falling through the cracks and returning to crime. With half his staff hired from the target beneficiary group, Se Teo has expanded his restaurant into a chain across the island of Singapore, with a few franchise outlets.
The second case traces Se Teo’s background and journey in starting Eighteen Chefs while illustrating how he had overcome numerous obstacles, leveraged setbacks and seized opportunities for growth. The case analyses how the operating model of Eighteen Chefs, which largely follows that of the work integration social enterprise (WISE) model, pursues the twin goals of financial profitability and social inclusion. It also looks at Eighteen Chefs’ continuous innovations and new initiatives. As competition heated up in the food and beverage industry with disruptions offered by new food delivery services, Eighteen Chefs had to assess its threats and opportunities, and formulate his responses options. Should the social venture subscribe to the services of external food delivery service providers or build its own in-house food dispatch services? This case introduces the concept of the WISE operating model for social enterprises. It provides insight into how an organization’s developments and activities can be hugely and effectively shaped by a founder’s past and history, which sets the tone for the journey forward.
Providing affordable, tasty and healthier meals to the community
In 2016, NTUC Foodfare, a government-affiliated social enterprise, set out to manage seven new hawker centers throughout Singapore, which would open in rapid succession within the next few years. Despite its extensive experience in managing food outlets and hawker centers, the new hawker centers it has been tasked to manage would be a challenge because of rising costs, changing demographics, an increasing awareness for healthy dining, a lack of hawkers who were willing to align with its operating model and the public’s expectations of Foodfare as a government-affiliated social enterprise. This case illustrates how a government-affiliated social enterprise was forced to innovate in response to the challenges that it encounters. It highlights the challenges faced by social enterprises, in general, in balancing between their social objectives and financial goals.
Developing underprivileged children
According to a 2016 report by the World Health Organization, children and youth aged between 5 and 17 years were advocated to participate in physical activities with moderate-to-vigorous intensity for at least 60 minutes daily to achieve healthy physical and mental growth. Propelled by the same vision of promoting the healthy development of children living in slums where youth well-being was overshadowed by economic sustenance, Nancy Charaya co-founded Anthill Creations in July 2014 to co-develop playgrounds with local communities using recycled waste materials. As a result of intensive urbanization, Indian cities have been battling shrinking play spaces for years. More than 90 percent of India’s youth never access a playground, and fewer than 1 percent under the age of 35 have participated in organized sports. To cater to their development needs, Charaya aimed to bring back play in the lives of the underprivileged children inhabiting in squalid and overcrowded urban cities.
Anthill Creation’s first project of building a low-cost playground in the slum area of Bangalore had attracted the strong support of local social activists and companies with corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. The enthusiasm of the local community and the ensuing impact on the children made the founding team realize that the problem of “lack of play in children” was more prevalent than they had thought. This realization cemented their commitment to implement their “playscape” concept beyond Bangalore. Encouraged by its initial success, the team set its sights on the rest of India and Nepal while giving itself five years to build thousands of playgrounds that would be within the reach of at least 30 percent of the children in the target cities. The destination was a constant inspiration to the team, but the journey it should chart to reach there was far from clear. While the model of engaging companies with CSR programs seemed to have worked well in Bangalore, should Anthill Creations replicate this model in its next target city of Delhi? Should she find existing Bangalore partners with operations in Delhi to forge similar forms of alliance there, or should she join a local incubator to tap on its network of sponsors and partners in exchange for some of Anthill Creation’s equity? This case discusses the challenges of scaling up a not-for-profit organization and provides insight into the issues and strategic responses for entering new markets.
Lighting up rural villages with access to electricity
In 1995, about half of India’s population did not have access to electricity for their living and livelihoods, based on data released by the World Bank. Meanwhile, those with access often had to cope with frequent disruptions in electricity and other fuel services. Households that were off-grid would have to rely on traditional fossil fuel such as kerosene for their lighting, cooking and heating needs. Research has shown that high black-carbon emissions from combustion of kerosene fuel would not only expose household users to adverse respiratory health effects but also pose hazards for the environment. Determined to address the health and environmental hazards emanating from the prevalent use of kerosene, Harish Hande founded SELCO in 1995 as a social enterprise to provide affordable solar-powered energy solutions to the rural communities of India that were still relying on kerosene lamps for lighting.
By 2018, SELCO served more than half a million household and business customers through its network of 45 energy service centers in five states of India: Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu. With a skilled workforce of only 375 employees, SELCO successfully installed more than 200,000 solar home lighting systems in its first 20 years of operation. Today, SELCO is the largest solar service provider in India. This case highlights the core philosophy of SELCO, the challenges faced by the organization and its expansion operation throughout India. Confronted with the shortage of raw materials for its products, SELCO identified two options for expansion: Should the company offer franchise ownership to other rural entrepreneurs, or should it continue to grow organically by setting up subsidiaries?
Connecting businesses, consumers and charities
In the hospitality industry, many businesses do not operate at full-service capacity. The unfilled hotel guest rooms, unserved restaurant seats and the unsold travel tickets, for example, are not only a loss to the businesses but also a waste of resources. “In Thailand the spare service capacity in the hospitality industry is $29 billion $ per year,” quipped Aliza Napartivaumnuay, who felt that the businesses can do more with the “spare service capacity” to benefit the underprivileged rather than letting it go to waste.1 Sharing her views was Arch Wongchindawest, who was equally passionate about finding ways to help businesses create greater social impact. Energized by their common vision to connect businesses and charities, the duo co-founded Socialgiver in Thailand in 2015. Socialgiver aimed to be a platform allowing businesses with spare service capacity to offer services at exclusive rates to their customers, who not only enjoy these services but also direct some part of their expenditures to social projects conducted by charities of their choice. This platform would enable businesses to acquire new customers at a fraction of their usual costs and customers to explore new brands while enabling both businesses and customers to give back to the society. By 2018, the social enterprise that pioneered the concept of “social giving” attracted more than 160 leading brands and had an impact on more than 45,000 lives. With its success in Thailand, Socialgiver is keen to expand its operations overseas. Two developed economies have been shortlisted by the co-founders: Singapore and Hong Kong. While both cities have built conducive ecosystems for social entrepreneurs, they have distinct characteristics that set them apart from others. Which city should Socialgiver embark into as its next market?
This book is structured into eight chapters, with the first chapter being an introduction. The next six chapters cover one case each using a storytelling approach before ending with recommended readings on the relevant management thinking and conceptual frameworks, as well as proposed review and discussion questions for deeper analysis by the readers. In the final chapter, the book is concluded with several salient takeaways from the cases—the typology of the social entrepreneurs and their typical challenges, the merits and the limitations of the various business models adopted by social businesses, as well as the lack of standardized metrics for measuring social entrepreneurial activity and comparing the impact across social businesses.
Notes
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Kapap Academy
The “everywoman” hero
Sarah Lai-Yin Cheah and Luke Shineng Wu
It was a muggy Sunday afternoon on July 1, 2018. It was just after midday when the sun began to peek through the clouds after a morning of heavy tropical rain. Qin Yunquan, chief executive officer (CEO) of Kapap Academy, was at her desk in Kapap Academy’s Robinson Square training studio replying emails and planning for the coming month’s activities. Casually dressed in her training attire, she enjoyed her simple packed lunch as she worked without frills and fuss in the studio which was located in the heart of Singapore’s business district. When she went through her slew of correspondence, Qin occasionally glanced at the full-length windows of the studio that overlooked the street that, on weekdays, was bustling with activities and corporates hustling from one meeting to another. Sundays, however, provided the streets with much-needed respite. The street was still, with only slow-drying puddles as company. Qin, too, appreciated the solace from a busy and physically taxing week – a week like all others for the past three years since taking over the reins as CEO in 2015. Sundays were a time she had to herself to consider Kapap Academy’s new initiative – its first foray into the Indian subcontinent. How would she choose to proceed? One option would be to fund the venture entirely on their own by taking on debt secured against their assets. Another option would be to raise capital through an equity investment from external investors. The first option would leave them entirely independent but expose them to potential dangers of defaulting on their repayments should the venture not generate adequate cash flow. The second option would give them the comfort that the capital raised need not be repaid but at the expense of ceding a level of control to the investors. However, regardless of how Kapap Academy would finance the venture, Qin had to look inwards for Kapap Academy’s raison d’être being in India – to empower ordinary people with the necessary self-defense skills to keep them safe in a country where it would face resistance from some locals who did not take well to Kapap Academy’s social mission. She had much to consider as the midday sun began bearing down more intensely by the hour.
The everywoman: Qin Yunquan
Qin was a relatable figure. The proverbial everyman – perhaps, more fittingly, the “everywoman” – Qin had no airs about her and was happy to be considered an ordinary person. “I don’t see what I’m doing as very special in any sense – I’m just t...
