Few entrepreneurs will continue sticking it out after losing $30,000 every month for four years of operations. But giving up was never an option for Koh Seng Choon, who founded Project Dignity. To keep afloat the social enterprise, which trains and hires disabled and disadvantaged people for hawker work, he chose to juggle five jobs on the side.
Clarity on his motivations kept him going when times got tough. “My parents used to say to me, ‘From zero to 20 years old, go and learn. From 20 to 50, go and earn, be it money or reputation. After 50, give back’,” he recounts. “So, I started Project Dignity at the age of 49 in 2009.”
He opened a branch in Hong Kong in 2014. Today, Project Dignity has 178 staff, the majority of whom are based in Singapore. Eighty percent have disabilities and 50 percent are older than 50.
Dignity Kitchen Singapore at 69 Boon Keng Road is one of the organisation’s key initiatives. Its food stalls are run by the differently abled and disadvantaged. Each employee has attended a 22-day training programme covering food hygiene, moist and dry heat cooking, and customer service. “It takes them an average of three months to settle down and we’ve had a 100 percent success rate so far,” Koh says, likening Dignity Kitchen to an integration centre. “It’s a place where they can integrate into society.”
Another outfit, Dignity Mama, provides young adults with special needs and their caregivers with the resources to start small businesses by providing zero-cost products, such as second-hand books. It currently has outlets in five hospitals, including Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, and National University Hospital.
Project Dignity’s revenue streams also include training, food delivery, and renting out spaces for events. It is essential that it diversifies its portfolio as the labour costs are high; the social enterprise spends $160,000 on staff salaries in Singapore alone every month.
“We have three people doing one person’s job even when it comes to things like cleaning. Many can’t work alone. Also, every Dignity Mama bookshop employs at least two people, like mother and child.”
Koh Seng Choon on Project Dignity’s high labour costs
Koh’s hope is that the public will show support not only by patronising the businesses, but also by enrolling in Dignity Learn, which conducts cooking workshops. “Sometimes, the government gives us money, right? People can help us by coming for our classes.”
As it stands, Project Dignity’s endeavours are barely scratching the surface. The social enterprise has hundreds of people seeking employment on a wait list, Koh says, because these people are unable to secure a job anywhere else.
In some instances, joblessness also affects an entire family, he lets on. “This can happen when, say, the father has depression while the son has special needs. So, we help by creating jobs.”
In Koh’s experience, a common misconception about disability is that it is always visible. It doesn’t help that, unlike in the UK or Hong Kong, mental illnesses, disorders, and conditions aren’t defined as disabilities in Singapore, he notes.
His advice for aspiring social entrepreneurs: “Don’t do it,” he jests.
“No, it’s to not back down if you believe in your cause. People may say ‘no’ to you, but if you strongly believe in it, it will work.”
Photography Mun Kong
Art direction Ed Harland
Hair Yue Qi using GHD
Makeup Sarah Tan using Shu Uemura
Photography assistant Melvin Leong
