President Tony Tan Keng Yam encouraged more organisations to collaborate with social enterprises.

Organisations can help social enterprises "in many ways", Dr Tan said. For example, they could help in the purchase of products and services, or by setting up social enterprises within their organisations.

"In this way, the social enterprise sector will be given a further dimension and can expand into other areas," he said.

He was speaking at the sidelines of a visit to the BliSSE Sustainable Social Enterprise Restaurant on Monday. The restaurant, which is housed within the People's Association (PA) headquarters, provides provides training and work opportunities with flexible working hours to single mothers, disabled people and at-risk youth. This is the first time the PA headquarters has collaborated with a social enterprise.