Raising Awareness Capability Development Grants and Investments

Capability Development

Our capability development efforts for the year were focused on ensuring that Social Enterprises could stay resilient through uncertain times. Our 28 initiatives across 3 focus areas helped 640 participants from 128 Social Enterprises to enhance leadership, review opportunities and chart directions in the new normal.

Key Focus Area

Leading with Purpose

The raiSE SE Development Fundamentals is a hybrid learning workshop to equip new and aspiring SEs with the fundamentals in creating Business and Social value sustainably. 95 attendees consisting of regional SEs, start-up SEs, SMEs turned SEs, mid-career professionals and tertiary students have learned the essentials of starting a Social Enterprise.

Social Value Toolkit (SVT) e-module provided a framework for Social Enterprises to identify impact indicators, measure and articulate the value of their social impact clearly through an accessible self-learning online platform. This was especially valuable in a time of crisis, where more stakeholders are turning their attention to how social impact is created and delivered to the community.

Pivoting New Opportunities

Masterclasses provided an accelerated learning curve on vital skills for SEs to navigate the pandemic. They were especially focused on new strategies and capabilities so that SEs could pivot their sales and operations. Content from masterclasses were also recorded and made available as an exclusive resource to all other SE members through the raiSE Membership portal.

The raiSE SE Triage is a self-assessment toolkit that was launched to help Social Enterprises review their current state, identify new opportunities and adapt quickly to the new norm in 6 key areas: Cashflow & Liquidity, Operations, Customer & Sales, Manpower Management, Supply Chain and Social Impact.

Preparing for Business Recovery

The raiSE Grow B.I.G (Business, Impact, Good) Programme is a dedicated programme to support Social Enterprises to achieve growth objectives through enhancing organisational capabilities to improve social impact and financial performance.

For the COVID-19 edition, raiSE put together a targeted consultancy programme to help Social Enterprises adapt and survive the present and emerge stronger to sustain their business and impact.

The raiSE SE Fellowship Programme connects experienced industry professionals to Social Enterprises to provide tailored advice in various business and social aspects.

raiSE SE Fellowship Programme

A key part of capability development is the raiSE Fellowship Programme. We took a targeted and flexible approach to ensure that our SEs were well supported. First, we introduced a rolling application for the programme to allow for more flexibility in catering to the needs and schedules of SEs through the year. Next, along with the introduction of a mentorship track to support SEs looking for a lighter engagement, we tripled our pool of fellows and mentors to 46 to meet an increase in demand from SEs especially in the areas of business turnaround and innovation.

We also introduced a webinar series conducted by raiSE & NCSS fellows addressing key HR and communication issues specific to SEs when COVID-19 first hit. In view of tight cashflow and economic uncertainty, we provided implementation credits for SEs undertaking Fellowship engagements to procure services from vendors to pilot their Fellow's suggestions. 20 SEs were successfully matched for a Fellowship or Mentorship Engagement in FY20.

Some of the areas of focus of the Fellowship engagements include supporting education and training-based SEs in the digitalisation of learning activities and educational products, supporting retail SEs in leveraging on e-commerce and managing cashflow, as well as supporting healthcare SEs in riding new trends and addressing emerging needs arising from COVID-19.

Raising Awareness and Support Grants and Investment