Initially founded as a cooperative in 1970 under the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), it was restructured as a public non-listed company limited by shares in 2022 as part of a corporatization exercise.

The idea of co-operatives, also known as social enterprises, was first conceived at NTUC's Modernisation Seminar in 1969, where delegates from NTUC-affiliated unions gathered to discuss the challenges Singaporean workers were facing.

[2] One of the founding leaders of NTUC, Devan Nair, articulated the need for the labour movement to turn into a social institution to serve Singaporean workers in various ways.

Then-Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee supported this and urged NTUC to set up social enterprises in areas such as life insurance and essential consumer goods to meet the needs of the working population.

[13] NTUC Enterprise Chairman Lim Boon Heng stated that "is a capital-intensive business and to grow, there is a need to tap the capital markets" and that the sale was necessary because the "strength of Allianz’s financial position will provide additional support to Income Insurance where required".