SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

Project Dignity's Founder offers hawker training and jobs to the disabled and disadvantaged to facilitate their independence.

- Koh Seng Choon by Adora Wong

Few entrepreneurs can stick it out despite losing $30,000 every month during the first four years of operations.

But giving up was never an option for Koh Seng Choon, who founded Project Dignity, a social enterprise that trains and hires disabled and disadvantaged people for hawker work. He instead chose to juggle five jobs on the side to feed his family and keep the business afloat.

The clarity of 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.