Asia Compact: Social Entrepreneurship in Singapore and Southeast Asia

With great interest in understanding the Singapore social entrepreneurship ecosystem, 23 HSG Master’ students from across almost all programmes joined us in Singapore for the second iteration of the Asia Compact course “Social Entrepreneurship in Singapore and Southeast Asia” in the first week of April 2024. Jointly taught by Prof. Dr. Matthias Tietz from the St.Gallen Institute of Management in Asia (SGI-HSG) and Prof. Dr. Vivianna Fang He from the Institute of Responsible Innovation (IRI-HSG), participants gained insight into how Singapore strategically builds a social entrepreneurship ecosystem with the contribution from government, institutions, companies, and the general public. Students quickly understood how it serves as a blue-print for other Southeast Asian nations. 

During an intense five days, students enjoyed workshops, lectures, and guest speaker presentations by senior executives from the Temasek Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, the Business Leaders Who Care network, and a Venture Capitalist Fund. The theoretical insights were put into practical context during visits to the Housing Development Board in Toa Payoh, the Urban Resource Authority or the Marina Barrage, high tech company PALO IT (using tech for good) and the social enterprise Flour Power (employing differently capable individuals) companies. 

Equipped with these firsthand insights, and the dedicated modules on understanding social entrepreneurship, combining profit and impact, harnessing the power of innovation for the greater good, as well as the design of hybrid business models, participants had a great base for developing their own social entrepreneurship ventures. We look forward to seeing them complementing the ecosystem of social enterprises in Singapore or elsewhere in the future