Tang Shin Yong travels from his home in Bishan to Geylang every morning. But unlike regular patrons of the infamous red-light district, he does not come for pleasure but strictly for work.

He spends most of his day serving its residents, many of whom form the vibrant migrant population there.

For seven days a week, Bridget Lew arrives promptly at the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (H.O.M.E.) at ten am every morning. There, for the whole day, she is kept busy overseeing her brainchild, H.O.M.E., as the organisation’s president.

Her responsibilities include management, balancing finances and handling discipline problems as well as duties down to the smaller tasks such as ensuring that everyone has enough food, manning one of the help-desks, and even buy groceries.

Internet cafes and computer gaming centers line every major street in Bangkok. With that, Thailand’s new generation of innovators are no strangers to Information & Communication Technology (ICT). But what’s more, they are not satisfied in using these important ICT skills for just pursuing monetary returns.

Thailand is fast becoming a breeding ground for young social entrepreneurs who are harnessing the power of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D).

Social enterprises like Thoth Media and Chivalry silk are examples of innovative social enterprises that are leveraging new online medias in support of sustainable development.

Dialogue in the Dark Singapore

Terence YueYuen Terence Yiu Kain is a lecturer at the Community College of City University in Hong Kong, and an avid observer of the Social Entrepreneurship movement in Hong Kong. In 2007, Terence’s research culminated in a comparative study of three cities – Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei that was presented at the SEforum 2007. We catch up with Terence in Hong Kong as he shares with us his thoughts on Hong Kong’s SE development.