Ground-ups in Singapore (Part 1): Emergence and impact, activator journeys, and funding

Through this platform, in the past year, we’ve heard from ground-up initiatives, community movements, as well as aggregators and intermediaries. In this two-part series, with Jen Goh and Dr. Adrian Chan, we go further by taking a deeper dive into ground-ups and their contributions in Singapore, focusing in particular on a recent research report published by philanthropic organisation The Majurity Trust. Today, we discuss definitions and value of start-ups, the emergence of new activators in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and finally the challenges of funding, time, and contacts.

In the next episode, we will explore recommendations and the building of synchronicity among ground-ups and communities of ground-up communities.

Jen is part of the philanthropy and community building team at The Majurity Trust and is also co-founder of the ground-up Hopefull. Dr. Chan is an independent scientist-practitioner and the director of Acerpacer Consulting. He was part of the team for the research report.

My conversation with Jen and Adrian is part of our joint 2021 focus on researchers as well as on civil society groups, efforts, and issues in Singapore (https://socialservice.sg/podcast/). The feature photo is by Rayson Tan on Unsplash.