Practice with purpose: Trainees at Foreword Coffee’s new academy gain hands-on experience that prepares them for work beyond the classroom.
The smell hits first when you walk down the second-floor corridor of Vista at Enabling Village – the sharp, bitter tang of roasting coffee beans.
Across the short corridor, a group of six trainee baristas work through the drills: measure, tamp, brew, wipe down, repeat.
But there is more than just coffee brewing at the newly opened Foreword Academy at Lengkok Bahru. This is Singapore’s first dedicated barista training academy for persons with disabilities, made possible with the support of Temasek’s T-Ignite Fund.
Over six weeks, the trainees of the Holistic Café Skills Training programme learn not just the art of coffee‑making, but how to greet customers, make recommendations, and take orders, building the skills and confidence needed for long-term employment.
The academy may be new, but its story of inclusion began long before the first cup was poured.
T-Ignite is funded out of Temasek’s community gifts.
It offers “patient capital” of up to S$500,000, repayable over three to five years, giving impact enterprises time to improve their operations and business models, and achieve greater financial sustainability. Recovered capital is recycled to support other impact enterprises, amplifying the effectiveness of the same philanthropic dollar.
Foreword Coffee didn’t begin with a grand vision, just a series of nudges that pointed at the intersection of coffee, community and inclusion.
As a psychology student at the National University of Singapore, founder Lim Wei Jie was active in social entrepreneurship, which led him to co-founder and economics student, Nadi Chan. They soon found themselves asking the same question: which communities were being left behind, and how could businesses create space for them?
The idea of mainstreaming disability and normalising inclusion solidified during a semester in Amsterdam in 2017. Immersed in the city’s vibrant cafe culture and training as a barista, Wei Jie saw how coffee connected people.
I thought increasing everyday interactions with persons with disabilities would help reduce social stigma… and we decided to match coffee with that cause
Lim Wei Jie
Co-Founder, Foreword Coffee
Upon graduating, he opened a single coffee kiosk at NUS. Having studied sign language, Wei Jie hired and trained a barista who was deaf. The next trainee was a person with autism. A year in, Nadi joined, bringing crucial business perspectives.
“If people don’t like the coffee, and if our staff cannot work under pressure, then there’s no business model,” Nadi says. That first experiment at NUS proved there was one.
Soon, they began opening more outlets. By 2019, their approach had caught the eye of the team at Temasek Shophouse, who scouted the brand for its commitment to inclusive hiring and its potential to benefit from greater visibility.
Today, Foreword Coffee operates nine outlets and employs over 30 staff. More than two-thirds live with mild disabilities, including cerebral palsy, autism, and deafness. Roles are matched to strengths, and equipment is customised for ease of use.
As its impact grew, so did awareness and awards.
With more outlets and more staff, the question of how people were trained became increasingly central.
Until recently, Foreword Coffee trained new hires on the job – a practice that slowed service, lowered sales and put undue strain on existing staff.
“It was quite disruptive, especially when we were busy,” says Wei Jie. Yet it was necessary – a lack of training led to frustration all around. While mainstream barista courses existed, most moved quickly, prioritising efficiency over adaptation.
Brewing Knowledge: At Foreword Coffee’s new training facility at Vista at Enabling Village, Wei Jie introduces trainees to the forms and flavours of espresso-based beverages
Foreword Coffee needed a dedicated space where training could move at a pace that matched its staff’s learning needs, and where trainers could offer hands-on support, he says.
Temasek’s T-Ignite fund made that possible.
Administered by The Majurity Trust, the fund offers up to $500,000 in grants, repayable over three to five years. It is designed to help promising impact enterprises navigate the “valley of death” – a critical inflection point where they have outgrown grants, but may not yet be able to access commercial funding.
“Watching Foreword Coffee at work gave Temasek a chance to witness up close its ability to deliver both financial success and social impact,” says Stepfanie Cheong, Vice President of Temasek's Community Stewardship team.
However, the team also recognised the hurdles standing in the way of expansion.
“Traditional funding models often demand quick returns, which would have forced Foreword Coffee to compromise its mission. T-Ignite gave it the breathing space to execute a bold, forward-looking plan without sacrificing impact.”
Traditional funding models often demand quick returns, which would have forced Foreword Coffee to compromise its mission. T-Ignite gave it the breathing space to execute a bold, forward-looking plan without sacrificing impact.
Stepfanie Cheong
Vice President, Temasek Community Stewardship
The fund’s second beneficiary, Foreword Coffee, can now deliver training in smaller groups, at a slower pace, over a longer period of time.
Learning in motion: Foreword Coffee co-founder Nadi Chan teaches trainees the fundamentals of pouring the perfect cuppa
"Training with us takes three times longer – it goes slower, with more repetition, and much more one-to-one interaction. We emphasise safety because if someone gets hurt even once, it can make them hesitant to try again,” Wei Jie explains.
The first batch of Foreword Academy trainees graduated at the end of last year. Over the next five years, the academy plans to train at least 60 more persons with disabilities through the programme, partner with more employers, and promote inclusive hiring practices across the F&B sector. For T‑Ignite, a key marker of success will be Foreword Coffee’s ability to scale its model – proving it can train, place and retain its trainees in meaningful roles, says Stepfanie.
The space will also be used to upskill existing employees and produce bottled coffees.
Part of the funding has gone into establishing Foreword Coffee’s roastery, enabling it to supply beans to other establishments and unlock higher-margin revenue streams.
Crucially, the grant comes with guidance. The Majurity Trust is helping the team refine its business model, strengthen in-house capabilities and align financial planning with long-term growth. Meanwhile, Temasek opens connections within its wider ecosystem that can help it broaden or deepen its reach.
With T-Ignite’s support, the team can now dream bigger.
The grant allows Foreword Coffee to overcome practical barriers to growth and pursue ambitions previously out of reach, says Wei Jie, who spent a year charting a concrete expansion plan before applying.
Unlike tech startups, an inclusive F&B company grows incrementally, not exponentially, he says. “We appreciate that Temasek recognises that we’re trying new things and pushing boundaries to benefit the people we want to serve.”
Ultimately, the goal is to demonstrate that an inclusive system unlocks a “shadow” workforce that is full of potential.
“If major chains like Starbucks ‘steal’ our baristas, I’ll be very happy,” Nadi laughs. “Someone just needs to give them a foot in the door. Our job is to teach them the ropes and let them show off their skills.”
Temasek’s journey in building social capital started over 20 years ago, when it adopted a deliberate and structured approach, anchored on the twin pillars of governance and sustainability, to give back to communities.
Since 2003, Temasek has been setting aside a portion of its net positive returns above its risk-adjusted cost of capital for community gifts.
These are approved by the Temasek Board and then donated to partners to achieve Temasek’s community objectives of Connecting People, Uplifting Communities, Protecting the Planet, and Advancing Capabilities.
Temasek Trust (TT) has been the primary beneficiary of Temasek’s gifts. TT disburses grants for programmes to be developed and delivered by Temasek’s non-profit ecosystem, including Temasek Foundation, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, Stewardship Asia Centre, and Mandai Nature.
In addition to Temasek Trust and our non-profit ecosystem, Temasek also works directly with partners from the Public, Private, and People sectors to advance our community objectives, where our philanthropic capital, network, and industry insights can make the most impact.
