LOS BAÑOS, Laguna — Social enterprises are emerging as business models that can help make Southeast Asia’s agrifood systems more resilient while expanding opportunities for farmers and buyers.
This is what an entrepreneurship expert said during a regional webinar hosted by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).
Jeffrey Cheah, Senior Lecturer and Online MBA Program Manager at the Graduate School of Business, Universiti Sains Malaysia, said during the 56th SEARCA Online Learning and Virtual Engagement (SOLVE) webinar on July 22, 2026 that these enterprises address gaps in the market by linking producers to buyers and sustaining operations through sales, not just grants.
In his talk, “From Purpose to Practice: Social Enterprise Business Models for Resilient Agri-Food Systems,” Cheah pointed to persistent problems facing smallholder farmers: exposure to climate shocks, fragmented supply chains, limited market access, and weak bargaining power.
He said social enterprises tackle these by building structures that coordinate supply and demand while keeping a social or environmental goal at the core.
“Social entrepreneurship allows us to redesign who creates value, who pays, and who shares the gains,” Cheah said, noting that the approach can lead to more balanced outcomes across the value chain.
Unlike firms focused only on profit or charities dependent on donations, he explained that social enterprises run commercial operations and reinvest a significant portion of earnings to support their mission. That mix, he said, allows them to stay financially stable while working on social and environmental issues.
To illustrate how the model works in agribusiness, Cheah cited examples from across the region.
In Malaysia, Langit Collective links Indigenous farmers to urban consumers to market native rice varieties and raise farm incomes.
In the Philippines, Mayani operates as a digital marketplace that connects smallholders directly with consumers and institutional buyers, cutting out layers of middlemen.
In Mindanao, Coffee for Peace works with coffee-growing communities affected by conflict, providing training, improving quality, and opening new market channels. He also referenced initiatives in Lao PDR, Thailand, and Singapore.
Despite different products and locations, Cheah said the enterprises use similar business strategies. They pool demand, build the capacity of producers, widen market access, and spread risk more evenly through the chain.
“The enterprise earns its place by solving coordination failures, not by adding a mission statement to ordinary trade,” he said.
The discussion also turned to the role of higher education in expanding agribusiness through social entrepreneurship.
During the open forum, Cheah encouraged students and young professionals to begin with small projects, test ideas, and treat entrepreneurship as a career path that can deliver both income and impact in agriculture.
The webinar is part of SEARCAs Solve series, an online platform that brings together experts, practitioners, researchers, policymakers and development partners to discuss new approaches for transforming agrifood systems in Southeast Asia.
By combining commercial activity with development objective, social enterprises offer one pathway to do that, participants noted.
With demand for traceable, sustainably produced food rising in urban centers, the panelists said ventures that aggregate smallholder produce and connect it to institutional buyers could help scale agribusiness without leaving small farms behind.
SEARCA said it will continue the SOLVE series to document practices that can be replicated and to link them with research, policy support, and investment opportunities across the region.