DBS Foundation Grants SGD 4.5M to 22 Impact Businesses, 4 from India

NEW DELHI (India CSR): DBS Foundation (DBSF) has selected 22 Businesses for Impact (BFIs) from across its key markets, including four enterprises from India, to receive funding under its Annual Grant Award programme. Chosen from over 1,500 applicants, the cohort of final grantees will receivetotal funding of SGD 4.5 million, to help scale their businesses and hence help communities in need. The impact from these 22 ventures is projected to collectively benefit over 800,000 beneficiaries over the next two years.

Focus Areas & Inclusion

The BFIs are aligned with the DBS Foundation’s focus areas – providing essential needs (e.g., basic education, nutrition, healthcare) and fostering inclusion through upskilling, increasing employability and other opportunities. Tackling the challenges of ageing societies is an issue that affects many parts of Asia and is a growing concern in India as well. It is a key priority for the DBSF and a quarter of this year’s grantees are dedicated to this cause. The grant programme builds on DBSF’s broader efforts to scale longevity businesses that meet the needs of ageing societies. This includes the Impact Beyond Award, launched in 2024, which aims to identify and support visionary businesses developing solutions that help individuals age with dignity, purpose, and joy.

Empowering Social Enterprises

The DBSF grant programme empowers innovative social enterprises and small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) that drive positive impact by providing them with both capital and expertise to scale. Beyond the funding, grantees benefit from comprehensive support from the bank, including targeted guidance, mentorship, capacity-building, networking opportunities, and more.Since 2015, DBS Foundation has provided more than SGD 21.5 million in grant funding to over 160 Businesses For Impactand the programme’s alumni have gone on to raise 10x in further funding for themselves.

DBS India’s Commitment

Azmat Habibulla, Managing Director and Head – Group Strategic Marketing and Communications, DBS Bank India, said, “As a purpose driven bank, we are committed to empowering the communities that we live and work in. The DBS Foundation’s annual grant program is a core pillar of this commitment and goes beyond banking to support innovative organisationsthat are trying to address some of the most challenging issues withinclusive solutions.We are incredibly proud of this year’s grantees, comprisingthe four outstanding Businesses For Impact from India, whose work aligns with our vision of uplifting the lives and livelihoods ofthe most vulnerable. By providing them with mentorship, expertise and the resources needed to scale their solutions sustainably, we aim to create a better, more equitable future for all.

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The four Grant Awardees from India are:

• HasiruDala Innovations is a social enterprise on the mission to build a world with no waste and no waste pickers through its unique ethos of Inclusive Circularity^(R). They empower waste pickers to become green-collar professionals and entrepreneurs; and help create predictable livelihoods for them. The DBSF grant will be used to upgrade HasiruDala Innovations’ existing plastic waste processing capacity in Bengaluru and to enable them to expand to new markets. 
• Atypical Advantage is India’s largest livelihood platform for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) that bridges the inefficiencies on both the supply and demand sides to ensure that PWDs can earn a dignified income. They will use the DBSF grant to run skills-training centers and develop inclusive training material.
• Neurosynaptic Communications brings healthcare to rural areas with telemedicine to make sure no one is left behind. They have a vision to make quality healthcare affordable and accessible for 100 million Indians by 2027. The DBSF grant will be deployed towards establishing two new centres to provide medical/consultation services.
• Last Mile Care – offers comprehensive, affordable healthcare services for workers and their families in workplace settings which include periodic health checkups, teleconsultation and allied healthcare services from a single roof. They intend to use the DBSF Grant to further scale their model by setting up a large phygital healthcare unit in Odisha which will serve the industrial workforce in the state.  

Broader Impact Initiatives

Beyond supporting Businesses for Impact, the DBS Foundation also works with like-minded partners across the private, public and people sectors to drive various support programmes for vulnerable communities. In November last year, DBS Foundation deployed SGD 88 million to launch 15 new programmes in its key markets, aimed at helping those in need to build towards better circumstances over time. In 2023, DBS announced that over the next ten years, it would commit up to SGD 1 billion, along with 1.5 million employee volunteering hours across its markets to improve lives and livelihoods.

(India CSR)