โWhatโs a social enterprise?โ
I remember asking this question when some Social Enterprises (SEs) visited my school, and I gradually became curious about their work. Are they start ups? Non-governmental organisations? Non-profits? What do they do?
As my summer break approached, I decided to try applying for an internship at Skillseed, a local social enterprise that has been in the scene for almost ten years. Not really knowing what to expect and bubbling with curiosity about the sector, I delved into my 14-week long internship with fresh eyes.
My internship at Skillseed has been nothing short of eye-opening, as aptly described in this gif below from Adventure Time.
Indeed, my short stint here could be described as an adventure, as I traversed across my portfolio, dipping my toes into various projects. One day, I might be focused on supporting our flagship programme โResilience Trailsโ and preparing the logistics needed for our trails. The next day, I might be scanning and analysing data from our survey responses, trying to make sense of it in its entirety. The breadth of tasks that I took on made my learning especially fruitful, as I had the chance to do and learn things that I had never done before. Being in a small team proved to be an advantage, as we were tightly-knit and I was exposed to different roles in the team.
Whatโs a Social Enterprise?
Before joining Skillseed, I had little prior knowledge about the workings of a social enterprise. I was unaware that social enterprises were for-profit, yet focused on doing work that benefits the community and society. Social impact and profits are viewed as equally important, and the profits are often re-injected to fund social projects. I have always thought the two to be mutually exclusive; yet social enterprises are placed in the sweet spot in between, allowing an organisation to flourish financially and make the world a better place.
My internship at Skillseed exposed me to the social enterprise sector within Singapore, as I learnt about the various forms of support offered by the government to develop social enterprises, such as funding and capacity building support through raiSE SG, the Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise. One of my greatest takeaways from this internship would be gaining a better understanding of the ecosystem of social enterprises in Singapore, having been exposed to the many causes that our local social enterprises support.
My takeaways: HAIR
Besides learning about the business model of a social enterprise, some of my greatest intangible takeaways would be the values that Skillseed inculcates through its work processes. They can coincidentally be summarised into the acronym, HAIR:
H for Humility. A significant portion of my internship was focused on supporting our flagship programme, Resilience Trails. Hearing the stories of our community guides has ignited a spark in me and taught me to be more empathetic. I am truly inspired by the resilience that these guides exude despite their challenging life circumstances and experiences. I am honoured to have been able to journey along some guides over the course of my internship, and am humbled by their stories and openness in being vulnerable with us.
A for Authenticity. I appreciate the authenticity of the people I have met during my internship, whether it is my colleagues, Community Guides or our partners. Before my internship, I was apprehensive about the working culture of the team and wondered whether interactions would be superficial or contrived. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the working environment here in this team and glad to have met people who were welcoming and open from the very first day. For instance, whenever we share about our major tasks for the week at our weekly Scrum (or team meeting), others who had slightly more bandwidth would offer to help those who had a lot on their plate. The spirit of having one anotherโs backs, especially through tough times, is what stood out to me about Skillseedโs workplace culture.
I is for Intentionality. Behind the programmes and projects that Skillseed runs, there is always a clear purpose and end point of our desired outcomes. For example, there may be certain messages that we want to get across or new ways of thinking that we want to introduce to our team or to partners. Having a crystallised vision of our reasons and rationales drives our projects forward, providing us with the fuel needed to push through the journey. This is a value that can be applied to my personal life, as I aim to be more intentional about the actions I take, instead of just doing things for the sake of it.
R is for Relationality. Relational trust, which is built on relationships, is so valuable yet it is often overlooked or taken for granted. Over the course of my internship, I have witnessed the impact that being relational has on forming long-term connections and handling tricky situations. As a small company, this has helped us strengthen collaborations with our partners over the years and ground our actions. Witnessing this in Skillseed has influenced the way that I communicate with others, and reminded me of how a small action can often go a long way.
These are values that I have observed to be exemplified through the actions and words of the people here at Skillseed, and I am fortunate to have been able to witness them even if it is in the most minute of ways.
Words of thanks and affirmation;
Lastly, I would like to end this internship article by thanking my colleagues, fellow interns, and especially my supervisor for guiding me along the way and teaching me both hard and soft skills. It has been a fulfilling journey and I am eager to take the things I have learnt here and apply them to the other adventures in my personal and academic life!
