With many businesses hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic this year, DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) has stepped up its support of social enterprises (SE) with a disbursement of loans and grants totaling S$9 million (US$6.74 million) to provide much needed assistance for social enterprises, it said, adding that it is committed to promoting the development of social enterprises.
DBS also announced that 13 Asian social enterprises, including Taiwan-based Sense Innovation (森思眼動), Milk House (鮮乳坊) and Tsai Tung Agriculture (菜蟲農食), have been awarded grants and loans as part of the 2020 DBS Social Enterprise Grant Programme.
According to Karen Ngui (魏洪英), DBS Foundation board member and head of group strategic marketing at DBS Bank, “companies must not only think about delivering value to shareholders, but also consider the interests of the communities they serve.”
Photo: Lee Chin-hui, Taipei Times
“At DBS, we believe SEs represent the future of business, and DBS is committed to supporting the growth of this sector,” Ngui said. “To navigate this pandemic together, DBS is disbursing S$9 million in grants and loans to help these companies protect the livelihoods of their partners to get through the challenges we are faced with today.”
“This is the largest disbursement in a single year since the DBS Foundation was established in 2014,” she said.
The DBS Foundation announced that it has awarded S$1.4 million in grants to 13 social enterprises throughout Asia in the 2020 cycle of its DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant Programme.
Of the 13, Sense Innovation, Milk House and Tsai Tung Agriculture stood out, making Taiwan the market with the highest number of awardees among DBS’ six key markets in Asia.
The grants and loans would enable the companies to expand their businesses and upscale their operations.
DBS Bank Taiwan (星展台灣) general manager Lim Him-chuan (林鑫川) said: “In supporting SEs, DBS is not only providing financial support, it is also leveraging its core competencies to provide social enterprise partner planning courses and individual consulting and guidance.”
“Taiwan’s SE environment is very robust and its positive energy is clear for all to see,” Lim said. “We are delighted that Taiwan is the biggest winner in this year’s DBS Social Enterprise Grant Programme, and will put all our energy into helping these three awardees get a foothold in the international market.”
This year, the DBS Foundation received applications from 820 companies throughout Asia, an increase of 30 percent from last year, and the highest number of applications since the program’s inception.
For more information about the DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant Programme, visit https://www.dbs.com/foundation/our-support/grant-programme.
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