Kampung Spirit

Inspiration

The treatment of elderlies in Singapore remains a cause for concern, where corporate culture is generally resistant towards senior citizens, and there is a dearth of age-sensitive programs that offer senior-safe and senior-friendly workplaces. For many seniors, work is not only a source of financial independence, but also a way to stay active and find fulfilment. More initiatives that celebrate the uniqueness of the elderly and appreciate their unique skill sets to their society are needed.

What it does

We aim to promote a sense of community in the neighbourhood, and imbue in the elderly a sense of purpose, by giving them a centralised kitchen to serve healthy, home-cooked meals to their neighbourhood.

How we built it

We sought to understand the pressing issues that the elderly population face, and ways to help them lead more active, independent and fulfilling lives. At the same time, we ensured that our proposed solutions does not replace, but is complementary to existing initiatives to help the elderly population.

Challenges we ran into

• Finding a suitable and feasible kitchen venue where the elderly workers can cook. We considered various factors such as proximity, costs, safety and comfort
• Oscillating between running a social enterprise or a non profit

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Coming up with a solid and cost-effective business model
• Validating our ideas with mentors, our own parents and friends

What we learned

• Running a social enterprise is more economically sustainable and viable than running a non-profit.

What's next for Kampung Spirit

We find it economically feasible to rent out pre-existing centralized kitchens, shared kitchen spaces or coffee-shop spaces (especially stores that are only open at night). PA has a large Senior Citizen network that we can tap on. From there, we can sieve out seniors who have an interest in cooking.

We plan to scale to cater to a larger audience by increasing the workforce or opening up more kitchens. We can explore in-house catering for small PA, CC or even primary school events. We can even open up for lunch services.

However, while we recognise growth is important - we are also concerned about over-commercialization and the ensuing workload for seniors. As we grow, our core mission is still to provide homely, fun and collaborative spaces for seniors to work in.