SE Feature: Crossings Cafe

Hello to my almost non-existent readers!

For the upcoming weeks, I will be featuring different local and international social enterprises.

This week, the focus will be on Crossings Cafe!

My group and I are working with Crossings Cafe for our Managing Social Enterprise module group assignment.

Last week, we conducted an interview with Ms Jenny Teng, the chairman of Crossing Cafe to get to know more about the social enterprise.

About Crossings Cafe

Crossing Cafe is a F&B social enterprise which employs the youths at risk and the disadvantaged. It aims to serve simple yet delectable fare while nourishing community connections.

As stated in the news article;"New work-study programme for graduates of Northlight and Assumption Pathway Schools, Crossing Cafe works with Assumption Pathway School to provide students who are interested in pursuing a career in the F&B industry employment opportunities.

Currently, Crossing Cafe has successfully employed 3 graduates from Assumption Pathway School.

With the Ministry of Education announcement of the new programme, I am sure more students are able to have the relevant F&B industry experience and lead them a more purposeful life.

Through our interview, I am able to feel Ms Jenny's driving passion and heart to help the beneficiaries and would love to be able to help more students or other disadvantaged people.

Ms Jenny also enlightened us with Crossing Cafe's unique social enterprise model.

Crossing Cafe is founded by eleven donor investors, including Ms Jenny. Unlike normal businesses where the investors would want a return of their investments, the donor investors do not expect returns. 100 per cent of their profits are plough back to the running of the social enterprise.

Also, the 10 per cent service charge is fully paid back to their employees as their additional incentives.

Ms Jenny also shared with us that she felt very proud of her staff when she knew that the employees have used the incentives for team -bonding activities and even contribute the money back to help others in need.

She do strongly believe that the business model of a social enterprise is very important and people should come to Crossing Cafe for the good food, atmosphere and to support the cafe's social cause.

Ms Jenny was very open and eager to share with us the challenges faced by Crossings Cafe such as attracting more dinner crowd and teenagers,  generate more revenue to be sustainable and have more for future growth, understaffed and managing the beneficiaries.

In terms of managing of beneficiaries, I feel that the government can provide more training like what Ms Jenny shared with us, it is challenge to motivate the beneficiaries to come to work as they have a different mentality and the staff would also need to be equipped with emotional management skills if the beneficiaries are suffering from emotional outbreaks, Most social entrepreneurs do not have the area of expertise.

Despite all these challenges , Ms Jenny and her team chose to strive on and do all they can to keep Crossings Cafe running, They are truly inspiring and I hope that my team and I will be able to come up with effective strategies and solutions to aid Crossings Cafe on their road to sustainability,

Do pay a visit to Crossing Cafe!

Address: 5 Waterloo Street, Singapore 187954

Opening Hours:

Weekdays: 8am-10pm
Weekends: 10am-10pm

More information can be found on their website: http://crossingscafe.com.sg/about-us/

References:

ABDUL KHAMID, H. (2014). New work-study programme for graduates of Northlight, Assumption Pathway schools. [online] Channel NewsAsia. Available at: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/new-work-study-programme/1454274.html [Accessed 29 Nov. 2014].

Crossingscafe.com.sg, (2014). ABOUT US |. [online] Available at: http://crossingscafe.com.sg/about-us/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2014].

Defining Social Enterprises

From my previous post, we know that Singapore is ready and supports the establishment of social enterprises (SEs). 

However, do people clearly understand what a social enterprise is?

My definition of a social enterprise is a form of business with its core mission as using the profits generated to benefit the needy and disadvantaged or/and pursue environmental sustainability. 

So how are social enterprises defined in Singapore?

In Singapore, the Social Enterprise Association (SEA) defines social enterprises are, first and foremost, businesses or any non-profit, for-profit or hybrid corporate form that utilises market-based strategies to advance a social cause.

A Social Enterprise aims to create surpluses.   

Social enterprises are not driven by a need to maximise profit for their shareholders or owners.

Social enterprises can be said to pursue double or even triple bottom lines. This implies that beyond financial outcomes, they also seek to accomplish their intended social and/or environmental cause(s).

There is no restrictive usage of the term “social enterprise’’ which may be harmful as businesses can claim themselves as social enterprises for unethical means.

The social cause is not specified in the definition.

The Different Models of Social Enterprises

In Singapore, there are four main models of social enterprises.

** The social needs addressed by social enterprises and the business models used can be very diverse (such as environmental, social issues and healthcare etc).

With reference to the article: “Just what exactly is a social enterprise, more clarity is needed, NUS researchers say”, I agree with Ms Carrie Tan we need to safeguard the reputation of social enterprises which are living up to their mission, delivering their impact.

GrabTaxi claimed to be a social enterprise as it provides extra income to the taxi drivers who have accepted the certain number of jobs.

However, it does not fit into Singapore’s definition of social enterprises. 

GrabTaxi has two social missions, to make taxi-booking more convenient for commuters and increase the taxi-drivers income by aiding them to accept more jobs.

To me, GrabTaxi are not addressing social causes. Social causes identified by Ministry of Social and Family (MSF) in Singapore are the needy disadvantaged communities such as:

• Ex-offenders/Ex-drug addicts
• Youths-at-risk
• Persons with physical disabilities
• Persons with intellectual disabilities
• Persons with sensory disabilities
• Persons recovering from psychiatric illnesses
• Individuals from low income households

Should we specify the social causes which social enterprises are addressing in Singapore?

I definitely feel that specification is needed when the industry is matured so that people can identify social enterprises as purposeful businesses.

It can also deter other companies to claim themselves as social enterprises.

With a supportive environment and being clearly defined, the social enterprises in Singapore can focus on delivering their impact and be recognized for their efforts.

Cheers,

Angel :)

References

Auyong, H. (2014). Why GrabTaxi is giving Singapore’s largest taxi operator a run for its money. Tech in Asia. Retrieved 13 November 2014, from https://www.techinasia.com/grabtaxi-eat-comforts-lunch/

Cheong, K. (2014). Just what exactly is a social enterprise? More clarity needed, NUS researchers say - Singapore More Singapore Stories News & Top Stories - The Straits Times. Straitstimes.com. Retrieved 12 November 2014, from http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/just-what-exactly-social-enterprise-more-clarity-needed-

MSF Corp Web,. (2014). Social Causes. Retrieved 13 November 2014, from http://app.msf.gov.sg/SocialEnterprise/Get-Informed/Social-Causes

Seassociation.sg,. (2014). Social Enterprise Association. Retrieved 14 November 2014, from http://www.seassociation.sg/faq.php?menu_id=14&mid=5&smid=29

Wong, S. (2014). Cabbie shares his thoughts on Grab Taxi and the driving life... - Five Stars And a Moon. Five Stars And a Moon. Retrieved 13 November 2014, from http://www.fivestarsandamoon.com/cabbie-shares-his-thoughts-on-grab-taxi-and-the-driving-life/