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If “SE” refers to social enterprise, then what does "WISE" mean? In the landscape of social entrepreneurship, it refers to “Work Integration Social Enterprise”. According to the Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy, it is arguably the most recognised framework in which social enterprises adopt today. In an attempt to integrate and reintegrate groups of beneficiaries back into the workforce, the WISE model helps them overcome structural unemployment by providing training and educational opportunities. The root of its rationale likens itself to the well-known mantra: “give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you’ll feed him for life.” Through WISE, communities of ex-offenders, persons with disabilities, elderly, youths-at-risk and single mothers get a chance to re-equip themselves with skills for the future workplace. In Singapore, many of us (social enterprises) are WISE, and they fall into this category of enacting change. They include Adrenalin Events and Education, Dignity Kitchen and Crossings Cafe. Some argue that wisdom walks hand in hand with maturity, while others couple it with the accumulation of knowledge. Not only does the appropriately-termed W.I.S.E model foster a sustainable platform of opportunity, it is also a weighty tool of empowerment that allows dignified baby steps to be taken by individuals themselves. References Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy. Landscape Of Social Enterprises In Singapore. Singapore: National University of Singapore, 2017. Print. Social Entrepreneurship In Asia: Working Paper No. 1

Can you trade what you can’t touch? It is certainly more meaningful to invest for impact than to play life monopoly. Just last month, founder of Singapore-based Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) and IIX foundation, Durreen Shahnaz, has been awarded with the 2017 Oslo Business for Peace Award. Spearheading the world’s first stock exchange dedicated to social enterprises, Impact Exchange (IE) evaluates sustainable value beyond coins and notes.To date, they generated more than $20 million in social value and have positively impacted nearly 12 million lives. Perhaps this weighing scale is more appropriate for the world today, even as one might argue about the ethics of equating a tangible value on human life. Something needs to start for the focus to shift right? If there is no clear aim for impact enterprises to justify why they do what they do, wouldn’t it be harder for our priorities to include social and environmental concerns in the longer run? Can you trade what you can’t touch? Perhaps you will only be able to see what you invested in at the end of the race, for what you eventually touch is life itself. This is where education and training programs receive their rightful portion of significance. This is where we can actually invest to empower. This is where innovation and design put on a whole new coat of purpose. How can the technology of driverless cars help to generate social impact? Can we use AI for good? How can virtual reality help the elderly to exercise and spend their time in a safe environment? How do e-kiosks improve user interfaces and help PwDs in their daily lives? Innovation is great but costly at the same time. There is a need to gather a stronger will, and it makes it necessary for us to draft out a clearer blueprint, for a convincing and attractive project pitched to investors out there. When we attune to the needs of a specific community and invest in their quality of living, what we eventually touch will be life itself. http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/banking-finance/founder-of-impact-investing-platform-in-singapore-bags-award

“If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than who you are.” – Master Shifu, Kungfu Panda Just as Po’s has his wise Master Shifu, MTC is home to two outstanding lecturers with big hearts to teach, share and impart skills. Following Wendy, our next lecturer-interviewee is Andy Xu. Teaching our classes in Digital Marketing, Andy has been a walking inspiration to both students and the MTC crew. Let’s hear what Andy has to say! Q1: Hi Andy! Thank you for taking time out for this interview! How do you feel, now that your classes are coming to an end? It felt like a new beginning! I reviewed works that inspired me, made friends, understood and learnt more about the differences. Q2: What were your thoughts and considerations when you first decided to take on this class? It definitely not what I was expecting. Unlike MAD school and MDAS, the students here (SG Enable) come from various backgrounds. So it is more about adapting and changing the way I share my design knowledge with them. Similarly, this would draft out a different set of expectations and goals. It was a challenge to both the students and I. I told the students to set a common goal for all of us, and that is to learn and be open to suggestions. Any feedback from peers and lecturers is a channel for improvement. Nothing negative there, especially when we judge works and give constructive feedback. This way, it eliminates negative energy in class. This helps students to understand in class it is a safe and positive zone where they can use their creativity to create things that they didn't know they are actually good at. Q3: Are there any differences between teaching this class of PwDs and your previous ones? If yes, what are they? Definitely. The various backgrounds and conditions require relevant adjustments and familiarisation. Q4: Has this class changed or inspired you in any way? Yes. As a brand designer, you need to know the insights of both companies and consumers. Each time you engage with a company CEO or a diehard fan of a product, you are living in their world, understanding their uniqueness. The same applies to the classroom. During our lunch time and break time, I found out that one of my student is a math genius. Give him figures and he can sum it up for you. Give him particular dates, he can calculate and tells you what day is it. Q5: I am sure your classes have been engaging and interesting. Tell us about some of the funny incidents that happened! A student came to me and said, "All my tools in photoshop is gone. Gone!" So I went to his computer and realised that it was one of the settings that he accidentally clicked on..I guess that shows how much he want to get his hands on? :) Q6: In your opinion, what are the main challenges that our graduates will face when they venture out into the workplace? How can we help to bridge that gap? In my opinion, these fundamental courses prepare them with a good foundation. They will probably face difficulties in going deeper with design ideation and conceptualisation. I would suggest for them to continue exploring design. In this era, more appreciate design-thinking than before. Hence, it is important to continue learning everyday. Q7: Lastly, what would you like to say to your graduating batch of students? Good is the enemy of great. Be divine discontent. And continue to improve yourself, I wish you all the best!

“If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than who you are.” – Master Shifu, Kungfu Panda Just as Po has his wise Master Shifu, MTC is home to two outstanding lecturers with big hearts to teach, share and impart skills. Teaching our classes in Essential Communication, Wendy has been a walking inspiration to both her students and the MTC crew. So, what is it like being a lecturer for our PwDs? Let’s hear what Wendy has to say. Q1: Hi Wendy! Thank you for taking time out for this interview! How do you feel, now that your classes are coming to an end? I had mixed feelings. On one hand, part of me was happy for them. After months of learning different softwares, practicing and going through lots of assignments, they were finally ready to “face” the design world. On the other hand, part of me was worried for them. Were they ready? Would they be able to handle the work? Would they still remember what they have learnt? Q2: What were your thoughts and considerations when you first decided to take on this class? I wondered: "Are they here to learn? Are they serious?" Q3: Are there any differences between teaching this class of PwDs and your previous ones? If yes, what are they? I was more prepared for the first batch of students. As they were all from the Muscular Dystrophy Association (Singapore), I could anticipate their needs and craft the class syllabus for the entire group. However, the current batch compromises of PwDs with different needs. Some are deaf while others have autism. The first class was more challenging as I had to explain the content first and then write or type out for those who can’t hear me. Q4: Has this class changed or inspired you in any way? Definitely yes. As we get to know more about each other, I found out that some of them only met with an accident a few years back. They may be disabled in some ways, but they are still very positive in life. This inspired me to be more positive as well, and it spurred me to look beyond their disability and treat them equally as my students. Q5: I am sure your classes have been engaging and interesting. Tell us about some of the funny incidents that happened! After a few lessons, the class warmed up to one another and slowly built up their own class culture. They would joke around and at the same time, encourage and help each other out with their assignments. There are no boundaries between them as they treated each other equally. Regardless of the disability, they find ways to communicate with one another. The funny incidents usually occur when they are teasing each other lightheartedly. For example, there is one particular student who gets anxious easily. As he couldn't really hear well, he double checks with his classmates whenever an assignment dateline was given. As mischievous as they are, his classmates will joke with him and tell him that the assignment is due the next day. Of course, they wouldn't let the joke go so far until he really went home thinking that. Everyone laughed in the end, including the student as he knows that they didn't mean any harm. Another incident happened on the day a minister of state visited the class at the Enabling Village. The class was very excited and joked amongst themselves that they would get to receive big red packets just by being present in class. That day, they were also tasked to design a CNY card and the best one would be presented to the minister. Just like other students, they started to brainstorm for funny and interesting ideas, and one of them was to include the minister's face in their card design. All in all, they tried to create something different and witty to get chosen. Q6: In your opinion, what are the main challenges that our graduates will face when they venture out into the workplace? How can we help to bridge that gap? The main challenge is probably getting the acceptance from society or their future workplace. I do hope that people will look beyond their disability and treat them as normal people like you and I. To bridge that gap, they(the graduates) themselves also need to have the confidence and prepare themselves whatever that comes along. Q7: Lastly, what would you like to say to your graduating batch of students? To keep having the passion in what you are doing and at the same time patience too. Not all clients are from heaven- there are some who are nasty and hard to manage, so you need to have the patience to deal with them. Believe in yourself and always strive to do the best.

"We are all dealing with things that we cannot see." No one waltzes straight down this off-beat journey we endearingly call life. We all go through challenges – some you can see, most you can't, says Michele L. Sullivan. It is amazingly heartening to hear how she looks beyond her own life to feel and listen, uncovering challenges dear and painfully personal to them. The usual rhetoric would prod you to walk in the shoes of another. But in this story, perhaps the only shoes you can ever truly walk in are your own. Only then will you be able to help others fit in theirs, celebrate their walk and design for good with them.

What have we been designing for good these days? Students of MTC’s Essential Communication programme recently had a visiting guest lecture conducted by M.A.D. School guru Mr Kenji. Spanning for four hours, the guest lecture brought an alternative designing perspective to the class, giving students a platform to connect new ideas with what they have learnt so far. Mr Kenji also touched on a macro perspective of design by elaborating on layouts. The arrangement of elements and awareness of space are keys to presenting a strong, communicative piece of artwork. In order for the artwork to be coherent and harmonious, the designer also has to take note of the relationships between these elements. Ultimately, an artwork has to fulfill these 3 points to be functional: it must first (1) serve its purpose, (2) be easy to read and (3) is practical enough to be executed. These valuable takeaways help to further enhance the MTC Essential Communications programme, giving students a holistic introduction into the world of design.

It's time to bring out the party hats! Make The Change (MTC) is four! To celebrate our birthday, let’s grab a cup of hot teh and see what our CEO has to say as we enter our year in the socio-creative landscape. Q1: Congrats Michelle! It’s MTC’s fourth year, how do you feel? Thank you. I feel awesome- I am very grateful to many organisations and great people whom we have met in the past 4 years. These people have been believing and supporting what we have been doing. I am also grateful to my team who devoted their time and energy to make this happen. Without their consistent sowing, we wouldn't be celebrating our 4th anniversary this year. Q2: What are the 4 most rewarding MTC highlights for you so far? MTC has supported 85 NGOs, VWOs and corporates in both small and big creative projects. The huge figures took me by surprise as we have a very lean team. MTC conducted trainings for youths-at-risk and persons with disabilities (PwDs). This allowed us to reach out and better understand their needs. Design For Good (DFG), our annual event, has been running for three years. It was first started to encourage secondary school students and the public to understand societal issues as we work together to solve them through empathy and design-thinking. Personally, the most rewarding part was seeing how our team responded to challenges each time. We have always been behaving like a start-up, asking ourselves: "WHY NOT?" at every turn. Carrying that spirit, our team constantly innovates with fresh ideas to Take The Chance, Make The Change. Q3: What are the challenges that MTC faced and how did you and your team overcome it? In running a sustainable social business, our challenges are very similar to SMEs. There are misconceptions of how we only hire volunteers. Just like other competitive firms, we hire talents, pay rent and incur operating costs from day to day as well. Other than that, we also encounter challenges in changing the mindsets of our clients (NGOs / VWOs / SMEs). Many still perceive that SEs should offer heavily-subsidised and almost pro-bono rates despite professional and quality services. To me, clients should appreciate SEs more than any other vendors. Not only are we offering quality services, we are also channeling the resources to make a positive social impact for the needy community though our income, resources and time. Beyond the business aspect, a social enterprise like us also have another mandate to fulfill and that is to benchmark our social impact to other charitable organisations. We prioritise transformative and sustainable impact over mass. Our focus is on the youth sector aged between 13 to 35 (youths-at-risk, persons with disabilities and ex-convicts). Designing relevant programs and activities to meet the needs of this group is a great challenge. To overcome the challenges with innovative and effective solutions, we have to send our team for training. Be it learning from inspiring leaders overseas or locally, these platforms spark off innovative thinking and solutions in the socio-creative landscape. We also have a board of advisors who are active in the marketplace to guide us. Lastly, through our various touch points such as public activations and educational programs, we are at the frontier to sense changes and as a lean team, to respond in a strategic, timely and agile manner. Q4: If you have to give an analogy to MTC’s journey since birth, what would it be? To me, it is like parenting a child. You have to nurture, educate and guide a child with patience and love while also letting go at the right time to allow your child room to make mistakes so that he / she can stand on his / her own foot. MTC is like a teenager to me now, he has his own position and identity within his circle of friends (community). From now onward, he has to continue building his capability and capacity to mature as an independent grown-up with a sharpened purpose and mission in life. Q5: What do you envision for MTC’s future, as we move on to be half a decade old in 2018? MTC will continue to strengthen its’ presence in the marketplace through excellent creative services and innovative community programs. We aim to become an excellent creative agency that scales impact globally. In the next 18 months, we will focus on building our team’s capability in acquiring talents and getting more business deals to be financially sustainable. We will actively look for the right partners to scale our community projects and leverage on technological / digital advantage to have a greater outreach and deeper impact. And that's all we have from Michelle and her thoughts on MTC's fourth birthday. We are humbled and in awe of how far we have come on our journey for sustainable social good. Rome was never built in a day and it wouldn't be possible without your support. We would like to express our gratitude to all of our fellow changemakers. Truly, we raise by lifting others up.

“The strawberry plant is a perennial. This means if you plant one now, it will come back next year and the following and the year after that. It may not bear fruit immediately, but once it does, it will remain productive for about five years.” There’s much more to a strawberry. Don’t let our easily-bruised exterior fool you, we pack a punch as a strawberry army. Around a quarter of the Singaporean population are strawberries. If you get the chance to plant one of us in your garden, you can witness a harvest year after year, after year. Five years is an honest benchmark because the frequency of job switching heightened- it will be dishonest to promise anything longer. No shame in that as well. Again, it is not because strawberries can’t take pressures. Rather than that, it is more about how an average strawberry has 200 seeds. Every seed out of that 200 is, botanically, its own separate fruit. 200 seeds of ideas, interests, passions and values move us when we should. 200 of them move us to redesign lives when and where gaps are. You will not get immediate results, of course. We need some time to warm up and pick up the right ropes. Perhaps you can think of when you first started out; I am sure you did not begin as a perfect, flawless success. Plenty of strawberry-planting has been done, for the life-long harvest of social good year after year, after year. Schools like universities and polytechnics hold their own classes, majors, student groups, competitions and even incubators to incite interest and gather like-minded strawberries to collaborate. Inspiring guest speakers have been regularly invited to share and sow seeds. It is an eco-system like never before, and we are already seeing the first-fruits of this labour. Technology fertilises an idea to grow, while the network incubates it overtime. Social businesses and the concept of social entrepreneurship has been gaining more traction, as strawberries look for meaning in their careers. The paycheck is no longer the sole determinant. This is where the idea of doing business with a heart becomes more attractive. This is where we design for good. It is now much easier to share an idea and move because of an idea. It is only a matter of time before we start to witness our perennial trait on a scale like never before.

It’s time to take out the party hats! Make The Change (MTC) is turning 4 next month! Moving along with the celebratory spirit, let’s grab some tacos and see what our business development manager, Pedro Aguirre, have to say as MTC treads deeper into the waters of the socio-creative landscape. Q1: Congrats Pedro! MTC is 4 years old! how do you feel? It is great to see how everything just started with an idea. It has since evolved into a movement. This movement has been incited by so many people who are trying to make the change for the world to be a better place. Q2: What are the 4 most rewarding MTC highlights for you so far? The 4 most rewarding highlights are (1) winning the Commendation Award on the Start-Up category for the Singapore President’s Challenge in 2015, (2) kickstarting our creative programmes for PWDs, (3) reaching out to secondary schools to empowering the next generation of changemakers and (4) starting the Design For Good(DFG) movement. Q3: What are the challenges that MTC faced and how did you and your team overcome it? We faced many challenges along the way, and we overcame them with nothing less than hard work and the support of our team and community. When we first started out, our main challenge was to build up trust. As a fresh entrant, we had to set the tone and be true to our word. Only then can we grow to be a credible name overtime. Q4: If you have to give an analogy to MTC’s journey since birth, what would it be? It would be an adventure to make the world a better place. Q5: What do you envision for MTC’s future, now that we are inching to half-a-decade old? MTC will continue to build up her community and expand. We envision to initiate more exciting projects for good. We also strive to extend our reach and create sustainable impact to a larger community.

“Strawberry generation” or “草莓族” is a term brought forward from Taiwan. It has largely been a distasteful term describing millennials born after the Generation X (baby boomers) as a group of overly-sheltered and easily bruised youths. Does that label still apply today? How do we relate to it? Give the strawberry a chance. Perhaps there is something more it beyond first impressions. Perhaps youths should give it a chance themselves before smacking it down instinctively in ninja defensive mode. Our identity is unique — it is easy to differentiate ourselves amongst the generations. With the baby boomers, we are a tech-savvy generation suggesting to streamline processes and leverage on new platforms. It could be a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter or a refreshing itinerary with Airbnb. At the same time, our identity is embedded with the authenticity of old as well. Many of us still prefer real books to online screens, and we have our own childhood toys and tech-free outdoor games. Here are two facts showing us how we can flip the game around and turn the term “strawberry generation” for our good. Fact 1: Strawberries are the only fruit that wear their seeds on the outside. The average berry has 200 of them. So apparently a strawberry is the only fruit that sashays all her seeds on the outside. Hardly any of its peers comes close. We have so many seeds. So many ideas, thoughts and interests in the face of incessant information and immediate knowledge today. It is easy for us to express them on the outside; we share articles that speak to us on Facebook, curate our own Instagram feed and we even vlog down our lives in micro clips. For better or worse, this makes us connectable and relatable to each other. A strong community of strawberries has the power to push for change through multiple channels, all at once. Take Carousell for example. The peer-to-peer selling platform raised $35 million in a series B funding round, and the app was first founded by 3 university students. That's 3 strawberries making us proud right there, for their simple idea of meeting a need (online space to sell used textbooks) turned into an awesome start-up idea. Fact 2: Strawberries belong to the rose family. Subtly and freshly scented, strawberry bushes smell as sweet as they taste. Strawberries smell good in their natural habitat. So do we, when we make the change for good in our own spheres. The fragrance comes from acts of doing good; it could be a simple sharing of a Facebook article to help raise awareness or giving up MRT seats for older aunties. Within school, it could be the heart to share lecture notes with an absent course-mate or the $2 donation to the fund-raising activities across campus. In subtle ways, strawberries give off an aromatic culture that has been understated by many. Harvesting from years and years of education, each and every one of us have a different mix of experiences, skills and passions to be tapped on for good. Many of us have already been giving off the collective fragrance in ways more than one. For the extra miles ahead, there is a larger field for us to take what we have on our hands for changemaking. To illustrate, wateROAM is a water innovation enterprise founded in Singapore in 2014 to develop water filtration solutions that bring about the quickest access to clean drinking water at disaster-hit locations, and help to promote social change in rural development areas. Until 2016, it has already impacted 25,000 people. Founded by 3 other strawberries in our generation, this is yet another example that invites us to think about our potential and capabilities as fellow fruits. Moving forward, this DFG series shall seek to sieve out the berry good stuff that our generation has been embarking on to design and redesign society today.

Our annual Design For Good (DFG) talk successfully ended on the 11th March! It has been yet another heartening and humbling year for us as we witnessed the gathering and representation of the ecosystem behind dis-ability. Our inspiring speakers took the stage to share their own slice of insight and took us on a rewarding session from designing environments to redesigning lives. Here are some of our DFG highlights from distinguished speakers: 1. Mr. Alfred Yeo Mr. Yeo started the session by offering fresh perspectives as a member of the Deaf community himself. He shared on how simple changes like including captions in movies and adding kiosks to order a Mcdonald's meal can greatly benefit the community. Inclusion goes beyond sharing the same space- it seeks to cater to the needs of everyone. 2. Mr. Phua Hong Wei Mr. Phua took the audience further to elaborate on the thought process behind the afamed Enabling Village. The blueprint of the buildings explored dynamic relationships between the user and architecture, and shouldered the responsibility to facilitate a space accessible for everyone, including nature. Interesting elements like upcycling sea containers contribute to the detail-oriented project, giving the village an unique identity and voice of her own. 3. Ms. Ruth Lee Li Sian Ms. Lee weaved in another refreshing portion as she touched on how a comprehensive, bio-psycho-social model is required to help someone #returntowork. Every journey should be individualised to cater to the potential employee. With empathetic innovation, dedicated return-to-work planners help to matchmake them to new avenues of employment. 4. Dr. Subhasis Banerji Dr. Subhasis Banerji took the stage and brought in his research and product design of SynPhNe to the DFG table. Rethinking heathcare, he explained the theories of brain and muscle function. Demonstrating the functionality of the wearable device, Dr. Subhasis also shared clips of how stroke patients made considerable improvements in just a few sessions. This case study ended with a live demonstration to facilitate better understanding. From here, we would like to express our utmost gratitude to everyone who made this happen. The speakers, our beloved MTC crew and every participant involved in creating an auditorium of joyous, sign-language clapping. You are the reason why DFG is held year after year, and we appreciate it. Thank YOU for your continued support!

The two might not have been formally introduced to each other yet- but when they do, it shall be love at first sight. The idea of social entrepreneurship naturally complements ASEAN’s economic landscape. As a bustling platform, the newly formed ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) promises immense benefits for the entire region. Through the gradual formation of ASEAN into a single market and production base, ASEAN houses the potential to become the fourth largest economy in the world by 2030. That alone is insane. Furthermore, one of the primary aims of AEC is to bring about a more equitable economic development across the region. With that in mind, ASEAN can then march forward together to greet investors and foreign interest worldwide. This aligns with the core of social entrepreneurship - firms seek to be financially sustainable while impacting the community for good. Having said that, there are still several challenges to be mitigated beforehand. Regional collaboration has its own fair share of criticism. National interests and boundaries have been slowing the pace and quality of integration. Feelings of distrust and protectionism prevent member states from fully opening up markets. These missing gaps underline the necessity of a pragmatic, bottom-up approach for the top-down political framework. This is where social entrepreneurship flows in as a gap-filler. The traditional lens of isolating the profit, nonprofit and government sector has to be merged and changed to embrace necessary grey areas as a dynamic whole. This is a shared space where business has to be done with a heart, for uneven growth to be reduced and trust to be fostered from the bottom up. In this group, Singapore has always been an avid cheerleader who is also, in relative comparison, the most developed member state. If anything, we are poised with the capability to initiate change and spearhead closer collaborations. What a better business model than one that embeds social goals into its vision, mission and daily grind? Several recommendations can be considered. For example, social enterprises venturing to other ASEAN states should consider collaborating with local NGOs or other existing social organisations so as to better comprehend and empathise with local needs and contexts. What you think they need might not be what they actually need, and it is always wise to employ a human-centric approach for this. With such a match made in Heaven, shall we not step in as matchmakers and welcome the union for sustainable social good?