Speakers
ALBERT TEO (keynote)
Albert is Associate Professor in the Department of Management & Organization, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore. His current research areas include social entrepreneurship, organizational ecology and social networks. He is one of the researchers involved in the Tri-City research on the social enterprise sector in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taipei.“Unless prejudice and discrimination against various marginalized communities are eradicated, social enterprises will continue to struggle for survival in the competitive business landscape in Singapore.”
GILLIAN KOH
Gillian is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies and is part of the Politics and Governance research cluster. Gillian’s on-going research interests lie in the areas of state-society relations, public consultation, and the development of civil society in Singapore. Her involvement in the Social Entrepreneurship agenda is a result of her involvement in Consortium of Asian Foundations and Organizations (CAFO), a network grant making and operating foundations, implementing and intermediary organizations, research institutions and individuals from 11 Asian countries.“What is exciting about it is that we are looking at social innovation, fresh ideas for making the world we live in a better place. This freshness comes from a hybridization of systems to meet needs.”
KEN ITO (keynote)
Ken holds a MBA in International Management degree in Finance from Thunderbird, AGSIM. Ken has a good understanding of dynamics of the private sector, public sector and civil society through his involvement in various non-profit activities including Japanese NPOs and a United Nations organization. He works as Director of Tokyo Social Ventures, a Japanese affiliate of Social Venture Partners in United States to support Japanese social entrepreneurs both in funding and capacity building and is a Fellow at Social Venture Center / Entrepreneurial Training for Innovative Communities (ETIC).“The social entrepreneur is the one who brings a new business model, a new value or a new challenge to solve the social problems in a creative and sustainable way.”
CLAIRE CHIANG (keynote)
Claire is Senior Vice President of Retail Operations, Banyan Tree Holdings Pte Ltd. She started the Banyan Tree Gallery in 1996 and has since been at the helm overseeing the opening of 62 galleries and shops around the world, with 30 more in the pipeline. From the conceptualization of the first gallery to the latest launch of the Museum Shop by Banyan Tree, her aim has been to cultivate a spirit of doing business, to encourage sustainability and community harmony across all groupings through the appreciation of history, the arts and the environment.“Creating a profitable business at the same time as targeting the social objective is the greatest challenge in sustaining a social enterprise. If that can be achieved, the world is the better for it.”
ALFIE OTHMAN
Alfie is the Finance Secretary at Pertapis Welfare and Educational Centre. He worked in the corporate banking sector for more than 10 years. An active member in many community projects and agencies since young, he currently heads the enterprise arm of Pertapis with several businesses ranging from educational centres to food and print media design and production. He is also a member of the Social Enterprise Steering Committee set up by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS). Alfie brings a wealth of experience in involving marginalized communities in social enterprises.“In our each book of life, try to fill is as many worthy chapters. For sure in mine SE will be one of it.”
CHRIS CUSANO (keynote)
Chris joined Ashoka in 2000, after working for seven years with grassroots human rights organizations in Southeast Asia. Chris specializes in the selection of new Fellows – increasing the volume of new elections that Ashoka handles, documenting Ashoka’s unique selection criteria, and training staff in identifying cases of social entrepreneurship worldwide. In 2004, Chris led Ashoka in applying its core expertise to a new staff recruitment program. Today, based in Chiangmai, Thailand, Chris works with Ashoka’s programs throughout Asia in a major institutional effort to expand and reorganize.“An ideal society should be mobile, should be full of channels for conveying a change, taking place in one part to other parts…many interests consciously communicated and shared…
MARIE LISA DACANAY (keynote)
Lisa is director of the Social and Development Entrepreneurship programme of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM). She has over 20 years of experience in development management, social entrepreneurship, and international development co-operation. Prof Dacanay is editor and project director of “Creating a Space in the Market: Social Enterprise stories in Asia”, a casebook on social enterprises in Asia. Prof. Dacanay also belongs to LET’S GO (Leading Entrepreneurs Towards Sensing Global Opportunities) Foundation that fosters entrepreneurial spirit among high school and college students. She is also an EXCO member of CAFO.“Social Entrepreneurship carries with it an agenda of developing the capacity of the poor to own and manage enterprises… It’s a strategy to increase or broaden the participation of the poor and the marginalized in the market in two ways: as owners of social enterprises and as beneficiaries of the market”
JOSEPHINE LEE (keynote)
Josephine is Senior Manager (Partnership & Alliance) at St. James’ Settlement, a Hong Kong based organization roviding services for children, youth services and elderly services and rehabilitation services to the needy. She is currently responsible for new project development, marketing and corporate relations. In this few years, Josephine has started the synergy of partnerships with different corporations, such as Siemens Ltd, Swire Properties Ltd, Wing Hang Bank, IBM, Integrated Device Technology, Marks and Spencer, Café de Coral and Sun Hung Kei Properties Ltd, etc.“We are targeting vulnerable elders with a weak social network, particularly those without children and living alone..”