Six teams are awarded with seed funding of up to RM60,000 each to develop their social business ideas as part of the YSE 2016 programme
During the 2016 Young Social Entrepreneurs (YSE) programme event,, which was organized by the Singapore International Foundation (SIF), BeBonobo, a trio of Malaysia-based youths Kay Kay Ong (27, Malaysian), Jasur Hasanov (26, Azerbaijani) and Madyan Aziz Hasan Malfi (24, Yemeni) have won a spot as one of the six winning teams, receiving seed funding of up to RM60000 and granted to join the YSE alumni of 480 young changemakers representing 23 nationalities.
The YSE 2016 was an eight-month, cross-cultural learning journey that took 15 teams through mentorship, a study visit to Kuala Lumpur (KL) and the Pitching for Change finale event in Singapore on 21 October where 35 young social entrepreneurs presented their business ideas with social impact to a panel of judges. A total of 114 participants joined the workshop in March, but only 15 teams were chosen.
Kay Kay Ong said, “We are excited and honoured to be one of the winning teams at YSE 2016. Beyond the business skills and knowledge from this programme, we have learnt that we are not alone in our journey to build a better world. Through the YSE programme, we work together with like-minded individuals to carve a path towards social change.
Ong Kay Kay from BeBonobo presents the team’s idea during the Pitching for Change finale
I will never forget the network of global changemakers I have met here and I am confident that BeBonobo is able to create positive change by promoting a sharing economy and reduce the amount of waste in society.”
Ong Kay Kay shares more about BeBonobo with visitors of YSE 2016
The Malaysia trio, which host a free online network www.BeBonobo.com is an online platform that connects individuals and businesses in Klang Valley to list unwanted items and search for wanted items for the purpose of discarding, exchanging or obtaining usable but unwanted goods.
Through this purpose, their goal is to contribute a greener and sustainable environment through responsible consumption, while generating revenue. Furthermore, it also allows an option of listing more valuable items as ‘tree’ whereby interested parties would need to pay a small amount of RM6 for an item, with monies going towards the planting of trees.
BeBonobo with Christoffer Erichsen (middle), Co-Founder and CEO of Scope Group and Human Inc. during a Kuala Lumpur study visit
“Millenials of today are catalysts for global change. Many are innovative and driven by a strong sense of social purpose. When they come together, they can be dynamic agents for positive social impact. I believe that the YSE platform celebrates diversity, strengthens international connections, bridges cultural differences and further enables the robust exchange of ideas for a better world,” said Ms Karen Ngui, Lead Judge and SIF Governor.
If you or anyone else is interested to become a social entrepreneur, the YSE 2017 edition have already open their application at www.sif.org.sg/yseapply. It's open to all between the ages of 18 to 30 who have a viable business proposition to address a social issue, and the closing resgistration date is on 11 December 2016.
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