Social entrepreneur seeks to give consumers more options to lead a greener life

For over a decade, Mr Mayur Singh, 38, made good money as an investment banker, earning a six-figure annual income. But in 2016, he called it quits.

He wanted not just to do well, but to do good.

“Since my university days, I was always interested in work that had more social impact,” says Mr Singh, who has an economics degree from St. Stephen's College in Delhi, India. He also holds a master’s in finance and strategy from the Indian School of Business.

Eight years ago, he took on an ambitious new mission: To help consumers embrace sustainable living.

“When we look at why people don't switch to sustainable products, one of the biggest challenges is they don't have enough options, whereas people may blame price for it,” says Mr Singh, a permanent resident who moved to Singapore in 2013.

When we look at why people don't switch to sustainable products, one of the biggest challenges is they don't have enough options, whereas people may blame price for it.

MR MAYUR SINGH, co-founder of The Green Collective

He explains how sustainable products often come from small enterprises that lack economies of scale. Their high business costs translate into high prices for consumers.

His solution? The Green Collective (TGC) – a 243 sq m retail space in Funan that houses the sustainable products of some 76 local brands.

These are curated based on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with items ranging from home composters and cleaning supplies, to clothing and food items. The SDGs form a blueprint for addressing pressing social, economic and environmental challenges by 2030.

The aim is “to connect independent brands with consumers, and provide alternative choices”, says Mr Singh.

Most of TGC’s revenue – nearly four million since inception – comes from the physical store, run by two full-time employees and a few part-timers. Online channels account for about a 10th of sales.

Wellness and personal care products are the best sellers, with women making up 90 per cent of its customers and 92 per cent of its entrepreneurs.

“There's a joke that sustainability is a woman's problem,” says Mr Singh, who is married with a four-year-old son. He notes that women tend to be the shoppers for the household.

“But in consumer sustainability, the fact that women will be our core customers is a given wherever we go, (in) whichever market.”

Boost for small brands

Before Mr Singh co-founded the business in 2018, his search for local sustainable brands to work with led to a “startling discovery”.

“I realised there were so many amazing entrepreneurs and brands in Singapore,” says Mr Singh. “But we never see them on supermarket shelves, or going mainstream in retail.”

Mr Singh says the goal is to provide consumers with “better choices for a better life, and ultimately for a better planet”. PHOTO: THE GREEN COLLECTIVE

Most of these entrepreneurs have full-time jobs, and run their businesses in their free time, he explains. With the lack of time, capital and expertise to scale their business, their inability to access the larger market limits the choices available to consumers.

“Such businesses tend to be the most underserved and under-represented, despite SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) being the biggest proportion of enterprises in any economy in the world.”

TGC wants to bridge that gap. Beyond providing retail space, it seeks to build, grow and scale micro-SMEs, which broadly do less than a million dollars in sales annually.

Entrepreneurs first join the collective as members through a tiered subscription model. Members pay between $130 and $350 a month, plus a commission of up to 30 per cent on products sold.

In return, their products are made available at TGC’s store and website, and sold on e-commerce platforms like Shopee, Lazada and TikTok.

Members are provided with analytics on sales figures – even that of other brands under the collective – and monthly trends, and also taught how to scale up their business.

By comparison, Mr Singh estimates that working with e-commerce enablers – services that help companies establish an online presence – may cost at least $3,000 a month.

“Our fixed fee basically covers our costs and a bit of advisory. All these go into creating that muscle for businesses.”

Brands can also sign up as non-members without the subscription fee. Their products are then sold at the collective’s website with a 35 per cent commission, without access to analytics and business advisory.

“By reducing the operational complexity of their work, they can focus on core areas, such as marketing and product development.

“This, in turn, allows us to offer a wider variety of choices for consumers.”

Catalyst for change

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Success through awareness

If brands can price their products more competitively, what else hinders consumers from embracing sustainability?

“It’s (also) about behavioural changes, which is much tougher to tackle,” says Mr Singh.

“Increasing awareness is very critical to us,” he adds, on the benefits of their retail presence, where consumers can discover sustainable alternatives.

The store is also a space for workshops and pop-up events, and brands can have representatives on-site to engage with consumers.

One local brand that has benefited from the collective’s efforts is The Period Co, which specialises in reusable menstrual products like period cups and underwear. Founded in 2016, it joined the collective in 2018.

“Having a brick-and-mortar retail presence allows us to reach individuals who may not have discovered our online store or been aware of reusable menstrual products,” says its co-founder Ann Gee, 33.

She adds that the collective attracts “a high-quality crowd interested in similar themes” which has led to a 267 per cent sales growth since it joined.

And while sustainability is about working towards behavioural change in consumers, Mr Singh readily concedes the incompatibility of consumption and sustainability. “We never say buy one, get one free. That’s not how it works.

“Our responsibility is to tell consumers transparently what they are buying,” he says. “If you don’t need it, don’t buy it.”

Making dollars and sense

As a former investment banker, Mr Singh knows well that for SMEs to thrive, they need more than good intentions.

“The sad reality of life is dollars and cents,” he says. “If you're (running) a business, you need to be financially sustainable.”

His perspective is underscored by findings from UOB’s Business Outlook Study 2024, which surveyed over 4,000 business owners and executives from small to large enterprises in seven regional markets between December and January.

It found that across Asean and Greater China, less than half of the businesses have adopted sustainable practices as of last year, even as nearly 90 per cent said they believe in its importance.

What do businesses say about going green? Key insights from the study include:

What hinders

• Increase in cost of products or services to customers (31%)
• Concerns about negative impact on profits (30%)
• Lack of proper infrastructure for renewable energy (29%)

What helps

• Tax incentives and rebates (36%)
• Sustainable financing options (32%)
• Easier access to funding or grants (31%)

Ms Kavita Bedi, head of Group Business Banking, UOB, says: “Small businesses’ priorities centre around managing cash flow and operational concerns such as hiring skilled employees.”

For SMEs embarking on their decarbonisation journey, the bank offers a range of working capital solutions to support their sustainability agenda, “so they can build long-term resilience within the value chains that they operate in”.

These include a suite of digital solutions that provide more seamless access to financing, and connecting SMEs with its network and partners for collaboration. “This enhances their capabilities and accelerates their growth ambitions.”

Building a Sustainable Asean is a series sharing insights on how individuals and businesses can take action to forge a cleaner, greener tomorrow.

This is the second of a five-part series in partnership with