DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia: Inviting Social Enterprises from Across Asia

Deadline: 15 May 2016

The DBS Foundation together with National University of Singapore (NUS) Enterprise, is currently inviting the social enterprises for the Social Venture Challenge Asia, an Asia-wide competition, aiming at identifying and supporting new social ventures that have the potential to generate positive, scalable and sustainable social impact.

The challenge aim is to raise awareness of social entrepreneurship and build a robust community of social entrepreneurs and capacity builders across Asia. The Challenge also provides multi-dimensional support for budding social entrepreneurs and builds capacity through public education in social entrepreneurship.

Through workshops across Asia, participants will be supported and mentored by some of the most experienced practitioners in this field. Furthermore, participants who qualify will also have the opportunity to travel to Singapore for mentoring & coaching with experts, before facing the semifinal and final rounds of judging. The Challenge will culminate with a prestigious awards ceremony.

Prizes

• Over SGD100,000 in seed funding will be awarded to the top teams:
  • Grand Prize: SGD 75,000
  • Best Newcomer Prize: SGD 30,000
• Additional special prizes:
  • two Syngenta Agriculture Social Enterprise Awards worth SGD10,000 each. One award will go to the best agriculture social enterprise, and the other to the social enterprise with the best use of technology & innovation for agriculture.
  • a raise VentureForGood Grant award of SGD50,000 for the top social enterprise with impact in Singapore.

Eligibility Criteria

• There is no limit on age, nationality or number of members in a team. Participants are welcome to apply whether they just have an idea, or have already started a venture, as long as it has a social impact in Asia.
• Participating or proposed ventures should be independent entities, meaning that they should not be a subsidiary of an existing corporation or have legal ties to a government body.
• Existing non-profits can participate, however, they should propose a new venturing idea or a new plan to transform their existing non-profit operation into a financially more sustainable business.
• Proposed ventures should demonstrate positive, sustainable and scalable social impact in Asia (though not exclusively).
• Submissions should be the original work of the team – teams are expected to demonstrate the originality of their ideas  whenever possible, or evidence of innovation.
• Teams that qualify in the top 12 are required to send at least one core member to the semifinals and finals in Singapore.
• Financial assistance will be provided for one representative per team for teams residing outside of Singapore.
• The organizers of the Challenge reserve to right to disqualify any teams that are found to have violated the spirit of the competition guidelines.

How to Apply

Applicants are required to submit applications through an online application portal.

For more information, please visit Social Venture Challenge Asia.