Our People

Mr Seah Kian Peng

Co-chair, Social Enterprise Association

• Chief Executive Officer (Singapore), NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd;
• Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC

• Chairman, Government Parliamentary Committee for Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports

Mr Seah Kian Peng is the Chief Executive Officer (Singapore) of NTUC Fairprice Co-operative.   When he first join NTUC Fairprice in January 2001, it was a single format retailer but since then, the group has transformed into a multi format and leading retailer in Singapore, with a chain of over 250 stores covering hypermarkets, supermarkets, premium markets, petrol marts, and convenience stores.  The group employs over 8,500 staff and has an annual turnover of over S$2.6 billion. 

Mr Seah was a Colombo Plan scholar who did his undergraduate studies in Sydney, Australia. He has worked in both the public and private sectors. He has also attended the Advanced management Programme at Harvard Business School and is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.     

Mr Seah is also the Deputy Speaker of Parliament and a Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC.  He was first elected in May 2006 and re-elected in May 2011.  Since 2009, Mr Seah has been the Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.

Mr Seah is active on the community front.  He is presently the Vice Chairman of the South East Community Development Council, and sits on the board of the Marine Parade Leadership Foundation, Health Promotion Board and National Parks Board. He is also the Vice-President of The Singapore Compact for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the co-chair of the Social Enterprise Association of Singapore.  He is also a director on two Statutory Boards – Health Promotion Board and National Parks Board.  He also sits on two public listed companies.

Mr Seah has also been closely associated with the co-operative movement, being the  Chairman of Singapore National Co-operatives Federation (SNCF) from 2002 - 2008.  In Sept 2005, he was elected as a member of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) Board of Directors, making him the first and only Singaporean to be on this global board in the 112-year history of ICA. He was re-elected in 2009 for another 4 year term. In 2011, he was appointed by the United Nations to be a member of the 14 member Advisory Group for the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives 2012.

Ms Penny Low

Co-chair, Social Enterprise Association

• President and Founder, Social Innovation Park;
• MP, Pasir Ris - Punggol GRC;
• Founding Member, Young Global Leaders
  (World Economic Forum); and
• Yale World Fellow, Yale University.

"People work for a living, but live for a cause"

Miss Penny Low has traversed more than 60 countries and is one of the 32 founding members of the New Asian Leaders by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF). WEF has honoured Penny as one of the founding members of the prestigious The Forum of Global Young Leaders (YGL). She has also been appointed by Prof Klaus Schwab; Chairman & Founder of the WEF at a Davos meeting, as the official link between the YGL and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs.

In 2001, Penny was the youngest elected female Member of Parliament in Singapore. She is active on several national committees, in particular those promoting enterprises and social entrepreneurship, town and community development, and inter-nation parliamentary friendship groups.

In 2006, she founded the Social Innovation Park Ltd, a non-profit organisation promoting thought leadership and social entrepreneurship. It is recognised as a leading social enterprise in Singapore. She is a founding advocate of the global Earth Love Movement. She serves on the Board of Jet Li's One Foundation, US-based Operation Hope's founding Board of Global Advisors and the Larta Global Advisory Council - a US-based leading "innovation hub" whose network and influence is seen across the world.

Mr Alfie Othman

Board Member, Social Enterprise Association

• Director, Ikhlas Holdings Pte Ltd; and
• Member, Policy Study Workgroup on Education and Human Capital Excellence, REACH.

Mr Othman has had a successful banking career of over twelve years in J.P. Morgan and Citibank. Alongside his private sector work, he has devoted significant amount of time to the public sector and civil society. He was an executive member in PERTAPIS, a voluntary welfare organisation that has been providing social, educational and welfare services to the local Malay community since the 1970s.

Mr Othman is also recognised as a Social Enterprise practitioner within Singapore. With the aid of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and PERTAPIS, he set up an industrial catering kitchen (Ikhlas Catering) which provides jobs to workers from the marginalised sectors, such as ex-offenders, single mothers, and the disabled.

Mr Othman's involvement in the social enterprise community in Singapore also includes work with a number of government ministries.  He has been appointed for a two-year tenure on MCYS Social Enterprise Committee chaired by Phillip Yeo Chairman of SPRING Singapore. He was assigned to the Strategic Planning and Finance Sub-Committees.

Subsequently, he was also part of a four-member pro tem committee to set up a Social Enterprise Association and Social Enterprise Development Centre in Singapore.

Dr Gillian Koh

Board Member, Social Enterprise Association

• Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore; and
• Secretary, Social Venture Partners (Singapore).

"Social entrepreneurship is about putting all the creativity we have in making consumers choose to do good with the spending dollars they have. We have to make it a way of life here."

As part of a research project on social enterprises in urban settings in Asia, namely Singapore, Hong Kong and Taipei, Dr Koh conducted five case studies of social enterprises here. 

She presented the findings at the World Bank-International Monetary Fund Civil Society Forum held in Singapore in 2006.  She contributes to the Institute's continued research on social enterprise and entrepreneurship.

Amy Lim

Assistant Manager, Social Enterprise Association

Profile

Amy graduated from the University of Queensland with Bachelors in Psychology (Honours) in 2008. Prior to joining the SE Association, she was part of a research team at the Ministry of Education.

Motivations

Through SE Association, Amy has met many inspiring individuals; these people all seem to share one thing in common - the same underlying drive and passion to create a better place in this world. She has the belief that when people start working together towards a common vision, great results can be achieved.

Aspirations

Amy joined the SE Association in hope that she would contribute in a meaningful and useful way. She aspires to start her own social enterprise one day. If that fails, Amy would not mind being a rock star.

Quotes

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Marianne Williamson

Manager, Social Enterprise Development Centre

 Profile

With close to 20 years of professional experience, in social enterprises, small & medium size enterprises and multinational companies.  Martin has developed a unique track record in business development, new venture creation and change management.

Martin started his career as a Regional Events Specialist in a listed multinational company, which required regular travel within Asia Pacific to create, develop, market and execute projects.  He then started his own company, and made his first million at the age of 25.  Subsequently, he went on to start several businesses in the region which included garment and shoes manufacturing, education, matchmaking & marriage, and entertainment.  Before returning to Singapore, he started a Microfinance fund which helps uplift the livelihood and earning power of the poor farming families in rural China. 

His current portfolio includes the planning and execution of capacity building & enterprise development projects for members of the Social Enterprise Association, a national-level association funded by the Ministry of Social and Family Development.

His broad based experience covers industries that are as diversified as social enterprises, consulting services, human resource management, microfinance, and play pivotal roles in new venture creation, sales & marketing, business development and cross-border business replication.  He credits the inborn entrepreneur spirit and attitude as the key driver for his current achievements.

Martin is a key grassroots leader in Thomson-Toa Payoh Constituency.  Apart from volunteering at the weekly Meet the People Sessions, Martin is also involved in a community outreach yellow-ribbon project.  He is also an accredited Associate Mediator with the Singapore Mediation Centre, and has resolved many conflicts in the Small Claims Tribunals within the Subordinate Court.

Martin holds an MBA from the University of Strathclyde Graduate Business School, with a first degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science.  In addition, he was awarded a commendation from the University for an outstanding MBA Master’s project, being the first and only award recipient in Singapore.   He is currently doing his doctorate degree with the Southern Cross University.