She has since done that and much more. She brings many others like her on board with her travel agency, Love Travel Co. Ms Zheng who shares her vision, challenges and experiences running the Taiwanese social enterprise with SEforum.

1. Could you share with us on how Love Travel Co came to existence?

In 1998, as the President of Taipei Young Female Chamber, I organized a group tour to Singapore for physically challenged citizens. We managed to gather enough donations from the public for 40 participants as well as 46 volunteers as funding for the tour. Still, we were selective on our participants. They must be below the age of 40, never been overseas before, belong to the low-income group, and are physically disabled. However, there were over 200 people who wished to register for the programme.

With so many people interested, especially the elder ones, I promised them that I would start a tour agency to realize their dreams to go on a trip despite their physical difficulties. This is done in the hope that, the trips would give the people motivation to be self-dependent, contribute to the society and even take initiatives to help others. As such, Love Travel Co was born in 2000. My vision is to create a team of giving and amicable travel companions, including tour guides and team leaders, to be part of our special customers’ great memories.

Since then, Love Travel Co has been in operation for 10 years and we are proud to receive many recognition from the industry and our customers. The greatest one is upon receiving the Honorary Travel Agency Distinction Award in 2008.

2. When and what inspired you to set up Love Travel Co against all odds?

I entered the travel industry as a small assistant. And after two years of hard work, I brought my first group of customers to Korea. I was worried that my disability would make the trip inconvenient for me. To my gratification, they insisted on me being their tour guide, and they have helped me to go around places. Not only had they realized my dream, their encouragements also inspired me to make the wishes of others like me come true. Therefore, I started Love Travel Co as the first travel agency in Taiwan that caters to customers with physical difficulties. Also, I envisioned that some of its profits would go to helping the physically and financially challenged.

3. What are some of the interesting stories and/or challenges you met in the course of running andpromoting Love Travel Co?

Our most accomplished moments are bringing out the people

who did not get to go to the outdoors for a long period of time. For example, a young man, whose both legs were amputated, had been on the bed for 8 years. His biggest wish was to bathe in the sun and breathe the fresh air outside. As he was unable to use the normal wheelchair, we brought him out by an ambulance and a stretcher. After the trip, he became much happier and motivated, and started learning to use automated wheelchair. Now, he is actively involved in choir practices and performances, going around the city on his own.

As for our greatest challenge, it would be the limited numbers of wheel-chair friendly buses and hotels in the market. It is hence more expensive and difficult to go on a trip logistically.

4. Which are the most popular countries or areas in Taiwan that you have brought your clients to? Where are some of the areas you hope to bring them to in the future?

Japan is our most popular location as the country offers a very wheel-chair friendly environment. It is also considerably near to Taiwan. Singapore is a frequent location as well, though it is more difficult to rent a wheel-chair friendly bus there.

In Taiwan, there are still lots of potential for improvement on wheel-chair friendly facilities. I wish that Taiwan could become a great place to travel for the physically-challenged and I have been actively spreading the idea to the related industries.

5. Where do you hope to see Travel Love Co in five years time?

I hope that in 5 years’ time, Love Travel Co will be able to fund, purely using its profits, more people with physical difficulties to step outside of their house and see the world. We would like to be both a charity and a social enterprise.

Everyone has a dream. And I believe that by seizing each opportunity you are given, your dream could be realised.

Related posts:

1. My Dog, My Companion, My Guide
2. Food For Thought @8Q
3. Seeing Me for Who I Am

1. Tell me about Green Drinks Singapore.

Green Drinks Singapore is a non-profit group, which tries to involve everybody, and every environmental interest through our documentary screenings, free talks by industry experts, discussions, workshops and networking sessions. Since we started out, we have evolved from just networking sessions to having a diverse range of programmes. In addition, we have grown a following of more than 700 members on Facebook, and have been featured several times in the media, such as Channel NewsAsia, The Straits Times, Time Out, Her World and Female, among others.

2. What led you to take a stand on the environment?

I never thought I’d be the one saying this but doing absolutely nothing or being indifferent would certainly keep me awake at night. I suppose it’s because I have always hated injustice as a child, and it’s like watching a movie where the bad guy gets away with a heinous crime and is never prosecuted in the end. Except it’s in real life: The bad guy comes in the form of corporations that operate not illegally but immorally, and sell us a product that has either abused animals or people, or are loaded with pesticides or chemicals. We live in a world where every product is unethical unless otherwise implied when it should be the other way around!

The short answer to this question is that I’d only realised my passion for the environment a few years ago when I felt irked by the lack of accessible recycling facilities. Also, I started reading up more about the environment and becoming more aware of how everything and everybody around us is interconnected. I knew then that I had to do something. Something and not nothing.

3. Why Green Drinks?

We are called Green Drinks because we have adopted the Singapore franchise of the global movement, which started in London. It is termed as such because it has everything to do with the environment, and in an informal setting, preferably over drinks. I first got to know about it when I read a 2007 issue of the American edition of Women’s Health, and thought to myself, “I got to start that in Singapore!”

4. What are you doing on a daily basis to get others involved in green issues?

First of all I make sure that I walk the talk, because one has to set an example in order to convince and encourage others to adopt a change in mindset. As often as I can, I submit articles to environmental-centric portals like eco-business.com and Green Kampong to get the message out. Also, I’m always thinking of ways to engage people through Green Drinks, to keep things current and fun, while being educational at the same time.

Recently, I also started a public relations practice called Sustainable PR, targetting only SMEs in the environmental sector. I hope to use this as a vehicle to push the green economy along by increasing awareness and driving demand for green products and services.

5. Do you think green products can be visually desirable as well?

Certainly! Let’s start with ethical shoe company Terra Plana, which uses discarded leather sourced from NGOs and minimises the use of heavy metals and toxic adhesives in their range of gorgeous shoes. They also use recycled materials to make their shoes, such as recycled rubber, PET bottles, and rice husks.

Another company that successfully marries form and function would be Bloomerang that manufactures bloomerHang hangers made out of recycled cardboard. Using the surface area as advertising space, the product is as eco-friendly and ethical as can be using only soy-based ink in the printing process, and of course, being recyclable.

Others include CHOOSE the eco store and Qi Global’s stocks which includes Nahui Ollin’s candy wrapper bags, Escama Studio’s ringpull bags and several other ethical products, such as Ethletic shoes and soccer balls. CHOOSE also carries the Wattson electricity monitor, which looks very stylish. Also worth checking out are Echo’s beautiful range of Gulguvenc products made using PET bottles.

6. How would green utopia look to you?

It would be a world devoid of all forms of chemicals such as cigarettes, disposable ware and advertisements. Every product would have as minimal packaging as possible, and people would reduce consumption and not just think of recycling. Homes and building would feature sustainable design and have little use for air conditioning. Careful town planning will also be done to ensure easy use of bicycles and there will be plenty of green spaces to act as the lungs of the city-state. It would be nice to see only electric cars on the road!

Also, I would like to see the government invest more in alternative energy like solar energy and vertical-axis wind turbines so as to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. In addition, the government could encourage composting in town councils, as well as communal vegetable plots to encourage community bonding.

7. What advice do you have for a layman to begin going green?

I would encourage people to start by being more mindful about where everything comes from and where everything goes. If it is not immediately obvious, I would suggest doing some research on the Internet, which holds a wealth of information. For example, one could go to www.cosmeticdatabase.com to find out exactly what toxins lurk in their trusted skincare product. Reading labels is another kind of behaviour I would encourage. It is always good to know what you are really buying, especially if you are buying this for a loved one. This applies to food as well.

Does your chocolate bar or ice cream contain palm oil? Was it sustainably sourced, or are you one of the demand drivers for the orangutans losing their habitat, or worse, their lives? When you shop for furniture, are you buying wood? If so, is it sustainably sourced, or are you contributing to deforestation? When cleaning your clothes, would you take them to the dry cleaners, which uses the toxic chemical perchloroethylene, that poses not only an eco risk, but a health risk to staff, and is only effective on oil-based stains, which exempts sweat and wine? Why not try the wet cleaners instead?

Lastly, it is worth remembering that we are all interconnected and part of an ecosystem. Whenever we disrupt the process of nature, whether it is to do with the oceans, animals, or environment, we will inevitably be affected.

Related posts:

1. Cafe with a Green Heart
2. Green School Bali: An ode to bamboo, the world’s future
3. Sustainability: Changing the way we change the world

Cassandra finds her way around with the aid of a collapsible walking stick.

You may have heard the expression “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, but is that really true? What comes to mind when you see a blind person walking down the street? According to most people I ask, they tell me they either feel pity or admiration.

It totally shocked me once when I heard a few aunties behind me in the MRT whispering: “Poor thing, they have to live in a home… People have to bath and feed them.”

On the other side of the spectrum, there are also those that look upon people like me as demi-gods for they think our ability to do the simple things in life as extraordinary. The daily little things I enjoy doing for my family and myself like surf the net, cook, bake, and even make-up seem so wondrous to them.

But to me, it’s just doing things a little different from others to get the same end result. Having passion for the things I do drives me in life.

I love to surf the net; technology is such an amusement for me. With the aid of my speech-software, I am able to use a regular computer. My speed-reading of audio messages on my Mobile phone or laptop often amazes sighted friends. But really, all of us can do the same. The sighted speed read with their eyes; I just do it with my ears. It’s not like I have supernatural hearing abilities, it’s just that I depend on my hearing more than the sighted folks and got better at it over time.

Blinded from the age of eight from a degenerative eye condition called Stargardts. People often think I face many more life challenges than the usual man on the street.

Dinner time - Cassandra makes it a point to feed her daughter, Kady, personally.

But the reality is that I am just an ordinary girl with bigger dreams and a lot of resilience. I am not only a mom to my beautiful angel and a street busker, I am also studying to be a counsellor.

Always look on the bright side. Keep on the sunny side.

Lyrics like these hold more than a grain of truth for me. For the last eight years, I have been singing on the streets of Singapore.

For me, busking is a fun job with flexible hours. One of the most memorable things that happened during one of my busking sessions was when a foreign sounding guy followed me to the taxi stand after I ended the session and talked to me all the way. The flipper was when he asked: “May I have your hand in marriage?” Up to today I thank my lucky stars that just at that moment a taxi pulled up and I jumped in without answering!

However, not everyday is filled with such colorful events. On another occasion, tourists requesting song after song of which titles I never heard of before surrounded me. Good thing was that at about the 10th foreign-sounding song requests, I hear “Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin.” A busker’s staple.

I don’t find any additional challenge being a visually impaired busker. My job scope is the same as others in my line of work. I perform, brighten up the day of passer-bys, and put a smile on their faces. Sight is not a requisite to do my job well. Moreover, I am thankful to have many blind ambassadors in the music industry that lead the way for people like me to be acceptable.

One of my beliefs is to never give up; tiny successes always lead to bigger ones.

When I was a teenager I always had dreams to do something in the helping profession, but what was a blind girl to do? Not a doctor, not a nurse or a vet as I would have liked, so I put aside my dreams in my 20s and chose to have fun and do the things that swept me off my feet such as getting married, showing dogs and singing.

In recent years, however, the dreams started haunting my nights again. The little voice inside my head kept asking: “Where’s the girl that wanted to do good?”

“Oh, but I have been out of school for over 10 years by now and have so much on my plate, having a little girl of my own, doing the nine to five. Where was I to begin?,” I thought.

But on my 30th birthday, I spent the entire day ransacking my storeroom looking for the coveted box containing all my papers and report cards from my school days.

When I finally found the result slip I so casually put away 10 years ago I nearly fainted, what or rather where was I to go looking for a second career with such poor results?

Returning to school after a decade, Cassandra hopes to touch lives with her acquired skills.

But I did not give up then. I decided then to start from taking the TOEFL and lucky for me, I did rather well. Next up was to look for a university to study counseling, for I have decided that my life journey was incomplete until I entered the helping profession and what better way than becoming a counsellor?

Starry-eyed with my TOEFL results, I approached all the top universities offering counselling programmes, but the first few slammed their doors on me. One even told me: “Sorry but if you have a visual problem, we don’t want you even if we don’t have to do anything extra to help. Go somewhere else!”

Still, I refused to give up – the same resilience, or some might say stubbornness, egged me on.

Finally, I chanced upon an obscure website offering a Masters in professional counseling with a university in Australia and I called them. Although the school is not very well known and I have to travel from west to east to get to school, I jumped in without a moment’s hesitation. And now I’m doing my Graduate Diploma in Counselling.

When I complete my Masters, I intend to make my dream of helping others come true. I would advise all to get employed doing the thing they love best, for I believe when one’s work is her passion, it is no longer work.

My vision is to be able to help people who have lost the ability to see in the height of their life. I would love to hold their hand and walk with them, helping them find the resilience to come back and join the rest of us. I would like them to feel  “What a wonderful world we live in!” and help them see the pretty colors of the rainbow in the night. There is still so much to live for even when ability is taken away from us. I wish to rub off if only a little of the resilience inside of me to touch these people in limbo land.

To end off, I wish to share a verse of my favorite song by Dianna Ross, in times when I feel beaten, singing this beautiful song renews my strength.

“Live believing
Dreams are for weaving
Wonders are waiting to start
Live your story
Faith hope and glory
Hold to the truth
In your heart…”

Related posts:

1. Travel with Love
2. Food For Thought @8Q
3. My Dog, My Companion, My Guide

1. What inspired you to work on the Hospital OS?

As a medical doctor, I think of how I can care for more patients-not only to treat but also to prevent and give good care systemically.

In the year 2000, the economic crisis hit Thailand hard and hospitals in the rural area suffered from the new policy of “1USD to treat all disease”. This means that health care here changed from fee paid for service rendered to capitation.

While it is a good thing that everyone now have access to care, how can hospital use that limited capitation wisely? Here, I found an opportunity to develop hospital informatics system to provide crucial information for hospital to better manage, care and plan for their patients.

As my target hospitals are small rural hospitals which lack resources, I provide Hospital OS for free-as an open source software-so that they have the freedom to learn and use it to better serve their patients.

2. What does social entrepreneurship mean to you?

At that time, I did not know a thing about SE. I simply used my gut feeling to set up a business in which I can sustain my product, my team and my business, and at the same time, fulfill my passion without grants-or pressure-to distract me from my ultimate outcome.

It is only now that I realize to be a social entrepreneur is not different in terms of doing business but rather, in terms of the outcome. Even if there were no profit but to work with passion is great returns for me.

3. With the changes in the market today, do you think it has become harder or easier to succeed as a social enterprise or social entrepreneur?

It is easier in the sense that all the more people understand our business objectives now. On the other hand, it can be harder as big players can cannibalize the market by making their services cheaper for a short term before eventually increasing their prices to profit and hence, causes the death of some social enterprises.

4. What advice do you have for aspiring social entrepreneurs?

To be a social entrepreneur, you must recognise that the only reward you will get in return is the happiness that derives from working for your passion and not for money or for recognition. I am happy when I am working. I think we should not wait until we are rich before contributing to society. People can do many beautiful things for society without waiting until they are rich. I do it because I wish to do it, and not because of the money.

Related posts:

1. Health Services for Migrant workers and more
2. A look at Thailand’s young fleet of “ICT4D” social entrepreneurs
3. Bearing Gifts

SEforum: What was the inspiration behind Food For Thought (FFT) @8Q?

We–the three directors of School of Thought–had already ventured into the first FFT in 2007. We wanted to create an opportunity to reach out more to members of the public who were not teachers or students (the group which is most exposed and interested in our work). We thought a cafe would be an interesting way to model our beliefs about the point of good education–a certain way of life, making certain type of choices.

FFT was always a tricky act to balance because it was always meant to be more than a cafe. It had to balance out a lot of higher ideals and social values that the School of Thought advocated.

Firstly, we always meant to be a welcoming, people-friendly space where you could see the workers were well treated and happy to be in community with each other and thus pass on that hopeful, other-person centred vibe to the customers. We deliberately created a bar counter and open kitchen concept because it opened up interaction between the staff and the customers. Secondly, we wanted the food to be fairly priced and generous in portion but not overwhelming so that it promoted greed and wastage.

Thirdly, FFT was also conceived to be a place which would promote exceptional merchandise created by good people for good causes. It would also run events that gathered people to discuss issues and contribute meaningfully to local and regional needs. Unfortunately, very early on we realised the first FFT was way too small and faced many physical constraints to allow this to happen well. Thus this third goal was kept on the back burner.

Though it is far from perfect, the first FFT managed to accomplish these two goals to a degree we are fairly happy with. Much of this is because we lucked upon our executive chef, David Heng, from the start. He is a rare breed of young chef, classically trained at Le Cordon Bleu and experienced in fine dining restaurants but not in the business to cook his way to the top. He is in it out of a love of cooking for people and serving them personally. People go to FFT not just because of what they know about School of Thought but also because of the personable culture and good food David has created with his team.

So FFT @8Q was a natural offshoot of unfulfilled ambitions from FFT North Bridge. Since 2008, we, including David, had always been on the lookout for a larger restaurant space enough to run events and showcase merchandise as well as allow David to fully explore his cooking talent. We were specifically looking for public spaces which were meaningful to building communities like libraries, universities or parks. When the staff of 8Q dropped by for lunch at FFT North Bridge and mentioned they were looking for tenants, we put in our pitch. We secured it around the October – November 2009 period and work began full swing in December 2009 to January 2010.

SEforum: What is your favourite part about the latest 8Q?

The fact that it is so much more spaced out, well-lit and better ventilated than the North Bridge outlet, allowing people more space to comfortably relax and take a breather!

The dramatic merchandise shelf that arches out to meet our glass jar installation puts our desire to do more good events and good products for good causes front and centre. It is a personal challenge and good reminder to me every time I enter the restaurant! It is both an exciting and intimidating thing to look at because retail and events planning is a completely new addition to our portfolio of works.

SEforum: What is your favourite product (or one you would recommend to customers) and why?

Hmm I like everything on the shelf! I love our updated Chinese Chess set and Pre-loved books because I love the idea of mashing-up old and new. Sao Mao’s organically grown Kampot pepper is a great example of a high quality product with a moving story of Cambodia’s push to develop itself. Little Drom Store’s cards made by local independent graphic designers are very beautifully made and meaningful to send out to encourage others. Lovely Taiwan’s wooden cat has got a superb feel though it looks deceivingly simple. And I have to say Homespun’s Good Morning Towel interpretations–bibs, oven mitts and tissue box covers–make great gifts and instant talking points.

SEforum:. What is unique about FFT (both branches) as a social enterprise?

I think FFT is unique because it is not a standalone social enterprise hoping to solve a social need from one angle.

FFT is unique because the Thought Collective is unique: we work at a social problem from many angles through our different businesses. The problem we focus on is personal and public apathy. Our mission is to align our pursuit of education away from self-centredness to centre on what’s happening all around us and how we can be part of the solution. Every time we see another angle to approach our mission and we see that it aligns with a need in the market, we start a business it seems! So I think our approach is unique.

SEforum: What advice do you have for aspiring social entrepreneurs?

Don’t copy others. God has sown in you particular dreams, inclinations and whims that just might be the solution to someone else’s dreams. If you have done some number crunching, market watching and your gut instinct says it is good and it will work, it is worth giving a shot.

Ideas are cheap but execution is hard. You have to work at your ideas, refine them, test them, go out on a limb for them and even change them if it looks like a dead end. Whatever it is, never just sit around spinning fabulous ideas over kopi with your kakis. Ideas are meaningless without your intentionally going out to live them out and MAKE THEM WORK (as Project Runway’s Tim would say!)

Be kind to customers and give them a good or service that is worth paying for–again and again and again. That’s a guarantee for success.

Don’t bring down the name of social enterprises and charity by forcing people to buy a lousy and ugly product out of sympathy!

For more information, visit http://www.foodforthought.com.sg/Food_For_Thought.html. Food for Thought @8Q is located at 8 Queen Street Singapore 188535.

Related posts:

1. School of Thought
2. Food#03
3. Securing the Future of Asia’s Food

Mr  K K Tse, Chair of the Hong Kong Social Entrepreneurship Forum,  was in Singapore to  attend the inaugural Social iCon 2009; a one-day conference organized by the Lien Centre for Social Innovation at the Singapore Management University.

SEforum: Are there any personal observations you would like to share while you were here in Singapore?

I enjoyed the Social icon event very much and learnt a lot from the speakers as well as the organizers. Both Singapore and Hong Kong are relative newcomers to the field. It has only been 4 to 5 years since the terms social enterprise and social entrepreneurship have come into public awareness and attention.

But I couldn’t help feeling that in Singapore, you allow the government to do too much. I said ‘you allow’, because you could change this state of affairs. Nowhere in the world does the government create success in social entrepreneurship. Only social entrepreneurs will. Frankly, in Singapore the entrepreneurial spirit is very, very low. This is true for business entrepreneurship and even more so for social entrepreneurship. This is an area where Singapore needs a major breakthrough otherwise it is hard for social enterprise to flourish.

By far the most important difference is the environment for entrepreneurship. Hong Kong is often known as a city of entrepreneurs, albeit business entrepreneurs. In Singapore, by contrast, the best and brightest would not aspire to become an entrepreneur; they prefer to work for the government or the multi-national corporations. As a leading businessman has recently put it, “We need to emphasize the need for entrepreneurs in Singapore, simply because everybody is so ingrained against it. If we say to every Singaporean that you must be entrepreneurs, maybe two percent of graduates will be entrepreneurs. But, if you do not say it, there will be none.” (Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Singapore Management University, quoted in Social Space, 2009, Issue 2, p.15)

Generally speaking, setting up a social enterprise is more difficult than setting up a business enterprise. In Singapore, therefore, becoming a social entrepreneur is far more challenging than doing so in Hong Kong. Currently, most social enterprises in Singapore receive government funding support (just like the situation in Hong Kong), but Hong Kong boasts a greater number of social enterprises that can flourish without any government funding support. Examples such as Senior Citizens Home Safety Association, Fullness Social Enterprise, Ventures in Development, Dialogue in the Dark HK Ltd., to name a few.

SEforum: What do you see are the pressing challenges for SE in the region in the next 3 years?

1.  Creating a Social Capital Market

Although our two cities pride themselves as being a world-class financial centre, it is curious, almost grotesque, to observe that there is virtually no capital market for social enterprises. There are so many funding sources available to be tapped that we have only ourselves to blame if we could not devise and develop suitable mechanisms to channel the funds to productive investment in social businesses. We need a major breakthrough in this area in the near future.

2.  Making More Creative Use of Government Funding and Policy Support

Although we firmly believe that social entrepreneurship is primarily a citizen sector initiative, it does not mean that we cannot leverage public sector funding and policy support to advance our cause. Indeed, it is our duty to make good and creative use of whatever the government could do in terms of providing funding and various forms of policy support. Up to this moment, the government has provided ‘seed money’ for NGO-sponsored social enterprises but with very mixed results.  There is no doubt that citizen sector needs to take the lead in the social entrepreneurship space. For example, after the first Social Enterprise Summit organized by the HKSAR government in 2007, a number of civil society organizations felt that the Summit could achieve far better results when it is organized by the citizen’s sector. Which is why this upcoming SE summit in HK is championed by NGOs!

3.  Engaging Young People as Leaders of Positive Social Change

Young people have become a ‘lost generation’. But tomorrow’s world will be shaped and owned by today’s youth. No society can afford not to invest substantially on preparing young people to take control of their destiny. Having worked with thousands of social entrepreneurs worldwide, Ashoka came to realize the importance of encouraging, supporting and empowering young people to be changemakers early in their lives. Ten years ago, Ashoka started to launch a new program known as Youth Venture. The basic idea is very simple and powerful: the society-wide redefinition of youth years as a time of leadership and positive social initiative, thus equipping them with the skills and empathy to be changemakers throughout their lives. Hong Kong needs our own version of Youth Venture and we need it fast.

SEforum: Please share with us your vision for Social Entrepreneurship

‘Every Business a Social Business’

The inspiration of this idea comes from Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank.

My personal career is a perfect example. I worked for a long time as a salaried employee for a typical profit-maximizing enterprise. Everyone in the organization from the boss downwards was schooled to think single-mindedly of profit maximization. No one was supposed to do otherwise. In the end, everyone’s energy, creativity, talents were focused exclusively on maximizing profits. If a person had any other interests or concerns, one could only pursue them outside office hours in one’s spare time. This became the case for one’s entire career and and is thought to be natural in a capitalistic economy.

Looking back, I regret having ‘wasted’ so much of my youth and prime time in doing nothing but profit maximization. If this happens to me alone, it is a personal tragedy. But when everyone working in a corporation shares the same fate, it is a human tragedy on a grand scale.

Yunus envisions a day when there will no longer be any distinctions between a business enterprise and a social enterprise, and all businesses will become social businesses. In his ‘solution’, the driving force for this new future will be a new type of entrepreneurs, what he calls social business entrepreneurs. It is a bold future and an inspiring one for all of us to join hands to bring about.

It will of course take decades to realize this vision. But things are changing and can change very fast indeed. The accelerated growth of social entrepreneurship is and will be a major force to demonstrate the viability and desirability of this ultimate goal.

Related posts:

1. Rotary Youth Social Entrepreneurship Challenge
2. In Conversation with Dr. Timothy Stanton
3. Who Wants to be a Social Entrepreneur?

The following is an interview with Mr Ali Raza Khan, a speaker at SEFFY, who shares his experiences running the Youth Engagement Services (YES) network in Pakistan. Khan is the Founder and Director of YES Network Pakistan and is also an Ashoka Fellow.

SEforum:  What does YES (Youth Engagement Services) Network Pakistan do?

Khan: “There is a Youthquake in Pakistan with 70% of the population being under 29. They are half-educated, disengaged and socially excluded. Without any hope or desire and thus falling into disaster’s way. There are enormous about of positive energy wasted as these young people are left behind. Instead of treating youths as another social problem to be rectified, we think youths can be mobilised and empowered to solve developmental needs, which is another problem in my country.

Hence, YES was set up. It pioneered the concept of youth service and youth social entrepreneurship in the country, in which youths are trained to lead service projects and micro social enterprises. YES provides an effective channel to reintegrate youths into the society as active citizenry.”

SEforum: How is this program unique?

Khan: “Let me run a quick comparison between existing institutions vs YES.

• Serves youths VS Youth serves
• Aims as problems of youths VS Aims at Fully prepared youths
• Single Domain VS Multiple domain
• High cost programs VS Low cost programs
• Donor driven (Top Down) VS Youth-driven (Bottom Up)
• Charity VS Self-reliance

SEforum: What are the tangible outcomes of this program?

Khan: “At the individual level, it provides youths with knowledge, skill sets, self-esteem, hope, a role to play.  It also changes their their negative attitudes to a positive one.

At the community level, it creates a positive image of youths in communities, reduces crime rate and gender discrimination.

At the institutional level, it creates new enabling policies and practices that effect the system change.”

SEforum: What are the lessons that you have learned and your advice for youths?

Khan: “I have learned that…

• Problem free is good, but being fully prepared is much better
• Our programs must be desired and not simply capacity based
• The first essential part of success is to begin. Once started, all that is within and without will follow
• When people are not looked down upon, positive change will impact the lives of everyone

And my advice…

• The risks, problems and costs involved in starting a social enterprise are far less than the cost and outcomes of comfortable inaction
• Remember everything you need is inside you and no one can know more about your path and purpose than you do
• Passion and patience are key to success
• Our expectations from young people must be high and clear. Preventing high risk behavior is not the same as preparation for the future, family future and community future”

I would like to share with everyone a quote. I like how Mohammad Ali (world renowned, champion boxer) puts it, ‘A champion must be able to take a good punch‘. To succeed in Life, we must be able to take failures in stride.”

Check out the other SEFFY presentations under Insight:

Ms Reese Fernandez, Founder and President of Rags-2-Riches in Philippines
Rags to Riches  and What Youths Can Do?

Ms Kuik Shiao-Yin, Founder and Creative Director of School of Thought
7 Things to Consider before Embarking on Social Entrepreneurship

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1. Conversation with KK Tse, Chair of HK Social Entrepreneurship Forum
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Anil Chitrakar is an Ashoka Fellow and our invited speaker at SEforum 2005. He was trained in the United States as an engineer and energy planner. He believes that the business and social worlds can be bridged by finding a middle ground between the two.

He received an Ashoka Fellowship for launching Environmental Camps for Conservation Awareness (ECCA) in Nepal in 1987. He helped implement the National Conservation Strategy for Nepal between 1990 and 1997 and is a member of the City Planning Commission in Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

What is your personal philosophy in life?
I am driven by a simple philosophy that is based on the story of the rabbit and the turtle. As we all know the two decide to race, the rabbit decides to take a nap; the turtle wins the race. What happened the next day? Well the rabbit learnt an important lesson. They decide the run again. The rabbit wins. The third day, the turtle goes to the rabbit and says let us run again, but this time I will choose the route. The arrogant rabbit says Ok. They run, come to a river. The rabbit does not know how to swim and the turtle wins the race…

Life is like that. We have to always be ready for the next challenge and opportunity. Luck always favours the prepared mind. This is my outlook in life. Tomorrow has to be another day for everyone.

How did you get involved in social entrepreneurship?

As a young engineer and energy planner, I travelled all over Nepal. I saw the wealth of natural resources everywhere as well as the economic poverty. Nepal is not poor; it is poorly managed. There had to be some way to link resources with the people who need it the most. It was about the wise-use of resources. I knew of methods, techniques, technologies and skills that needed to be accessed by these people. And we put together a system of providing it.

For example, I saw women tying up their children (at home to prevent them from running around) before going to fetch water in west Nepal. When we installed a solar water system, imagine the delight in the faces of the mothers and children! When we worked on methane gas plants for the areas adjoining national parks, imagine the relief people felt at not having to arduously trek to take of fuel wood. With the time and “energy saved”, pieces of fuel wood are carved into a beautiful window – each fetching a good income. In as many as 10 villages, families who have been using kerosene lamps all their lives now use 2 sets of clean solar light. What’s more, they are able to listen to music on the radio. Nepal is not a poor country; only poorly managed. Social Entrepreneurs come in to “shift resources”, to create social value, to provide social needs where it is most needed.

Is there a role for Social Entrepreneurship in Singapore?

Every society has its challenges. Economic wealth may make them less visible. I am sure they are there under the surface. No matter at which stage of economic development, I know there is need for Social Entrepreneurship everywhere there are people. Money only buys you some time and space, but it does not create happiness. It can fuel the gap between the have and have-nots, it can de-capacitate, as much as it capacitates.

To move further in what we seek, we need to put young people in charge. Young people in these communities need to grow up feeling they can give themselves permission to solve social challenges. There has to be the enabling environment where they can step up, state the problem, the underlying causes, the solution and the possible ways to get there. Every society has problems and hence every society surely has Social Entrepreneurs – Singapore should be no exception.

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