The Mayor’s Imagine Social Entrepreneurship (MISE) Challenge is a huge step towards revolutionizing the charitable organizations in Singapore as we know them. Social enterprises are sustainable businesses with social missions, merging the entrepreneurial and business skills typical of the business sector with the philanthropic or social mission characteristic of the people sector. These include Voluntary Welfare Organizations (VWOs), Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs), Charities seeking self-reliance and viability as well as private organizations or companies whose surpluses have social utility.

Wealth concentration in the private sector is promoting calls for proactive responses to complex social problems, while governments grapple with multiple public-fund demands. This makes social enterprise crucial as society cannot always rely on charity dollars for social services. The role of social enterprise in society is pertinent because of its socio-economic contributions and its ability to proffer innovative solutions to social problems.

The (MISE) Challenge is an exceptional opportunity for young persons with strong passion for the community to serve by actively engaging their entrepreneurial talents to benefit society as a whole and lay the foundations for a new generation of social change-makers.