Social enterprise in Malaysia is a challenge, but the Global Social Business Summit 2013 shows it has a promising future says Clare Walker, Deputy Director of Programmes at the British Council
In November, the Global Social Business Summit 2013 took place in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia. Now in its fifth year and one of the world's leading forums for social business, the summit was founded in 2009 by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, and this is the first time it has been held outside of Europe.
As part of the pre-meeting agenda, the YY (Yunus + You) Foundation held the Young Challengers meeting, a gathering for social entrepreneurs under the age of 25 to network and develop their social business ideas. In support of this, the British Council also ran a competition to sponsor four young entrepreneurs to attend the event, through its social entrepreneurship programmes in Malaysia and Indonesia. Two of the winners were Faiz Arshad, founder of the Recovr Initiative, and Nazirul Amin, founder of the You Got It project.
Recovr is a waste management initiative that aims to empower the disabled and underprivileged through high quality employment in the recycling industry, while You Got It is a youth unemployment enterprise, designed to help Malaysian young people gain work experience, and a better understanding of their preferred career, by way of an internship.
Faiz says he chose to focus on the issue of waste management because it allowed him to try and address several other problems at the same time.
"Firstly, I wanted to help the environment. In Malaysia the primary method of waste disposal is landfill, with an average national recycling rate estimated to be in the range of 5 percent. Secondly, I wanted to address employment discrimination, by offering work to disadvantaged groups such as the disabled or those in severe poverty. And thirdly, I wanted to address urban poverty. My social business caters specifically to the community it is based in, and aims to only operate exclusively within a 15km radius."
For Nazirul, the You Got It project arose out of a nationwide case study he led called Youth Defined: Shape Our Future. During this he learned that each year about half of all Malaysian graduates have severe difficulty in securing employment, and when they do, within three years almost two thirds of them will end up "job hopping".
"This is a problem for Malaysian youth", says Nazirul. "I wanted to change it for the sake of the next generation, to expose young people to the reality of working life, so they are able to make a better informed decision and follow their passion in order to be more productive and efficient. It was Steve Jobs who said "to do great things is to do what you love."
Clare Walker is Deputy Director of Programmes at British Council Malaysia. She says networking events such as the Young Challengers meeting are hugely important to fledgling entrepreneurs like Faiz, some of whom are coping with a variety of challenges.
"The people we work with are quite passionate about social business, but the environment is quite challenging for them for several reasons. In Malaysia and Indonesia, academic success is as important as is getting a 'proper career'. So, parental pressure makes it difficult for some to go into social enterprise. The other struggle they face is the public perception of social enterprise. People are a little bit skeptical. They're often seen as NGOs and unprofessional. A support network is therefore quite important, and a core group of social entrepreneurs has now emerged that is embracing the idea of open source knowledge. That has been one of the successes of this programme - that core network of mutual support."
Faiz and Nazirul both echo this sentiment, and say that the Young Challengers meeting provided a great opportunity to access such a support network internationally.
"It was an excellent forum that brought together youth from all over the world with the aim of cross-learning and networking…[and I enjoyed] getting to know the various different people that shared common ideals about the future", says Faiz.
Walker says that while the environment can be challenging, it is a good time to become a social entrepreneur in Malaysia and believes the sector has a promising future.
"We and our partner the Arthur Guinness Fund, are going to expand the Entrepreneurs for Good programme later this year, part of which will involve work shadowing. The Global Social Business Summit has also raised awareness hugely, while the Malaysian government recently voiced its support for social enterprise by investing RM20 million (£3.8 million) in the newly created Malaysian Global Innovation and Creative Centre."
Faiz agrees, and says that social enterprise has a lot to offer Malaysia, including "unique opportunities for people to operate profitability while making a significant social impact." Nazirul is of the same view, and says he believes it can "solve every problem that we have in the world. The question is how?"
*Content on this page is produced and controlled by British Council.* Reported by guardian.co.uk 8 hours ago.
In November, the Global Social Business Summit 2013 took place in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia. Now in its fifth year and one of the world's leading forums for social business, the summit was founded in 2009 by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, and this is the first time it has been held outside of Europe.
As part of the pre-meeting agenda, the YY (Yunus + You) Foundation held the Young Challengers meeting, a gathering for social entrepreneurs under the age of 25 to network and develop their social business ideas. In support of this, the British Council also ran a competition to sponsor four young entrepreneurs to attend the event, through its social entrepreneurship programmes in Malaysia and Indonesia. Two of the winners were Faiz Arshad, founder of the Recovr Initiative, and Nazirul Amin, founder of the You Got It project.
Recovr is a waste management initiative that aims to empower the disabled and underprivileged through high quality employment in the recycling industry, while You Got It is a youth unemployment enterprise, designed to help Malaysian young people gain work experience, and a better understanding of their preferred career, by way of an internship.
Faiz says he chose to focus on the issue of waste management because it allowed him to try and address several other problems at the same time.
"Firstly, I wanted to help the environment. In Malaysia the primary method of waste disposal is landfill, with an average national recycling rate estimated to be in the range of 5 percent. Secondly, I wanted to address employment discrimination, by offering work to disadvantaged groups such as the disabled or those in severe poverty. And thirdly, I wanted to address urban poverty. My social business caters specifically to the community it is based in, and aims to only operate exclusively within a 15km radius."
For Nazirul, the You Got It project arose out of a nationwide case study he led called Youth Defined: Shape Our Future. During this he learned that each year about half of all Malaysian graduates have severe difficulty in securing employment, and when they do, within three years almost two thirds of them will end up "job hopping".
"This is a problem for Malaysian youth", says Nazirul. "I wanted to change it for the sake of the next generation, to expose young people to the reality of working life, so they are able to make a better informed decision and follow their passion in order to be more productive and efficient. It was Steve Jobs who said "to do great things is to do what you love."
Clare Walker is Deputy Director of Programmes at British Council Malaysia. She says networking events such as the Young Challengers meeting are hugely important to fledgling entrepreneurs like Faiz, some of whom are coping with a variety of challenges.
"The people we work with are quite passionate about social business, but the environment is quite challenging for them for several reasons. In Malaysia and Indonesia, academic success is as important as is getting a 'proper career'. So, parental pressure makes it difficult for some to go into social enterprise. The other struggle they face is the public perception of social enterprise. People are a little bit skeptical. They're often seen as NGOs and unprofessional. A support network is therefore quite important, and a core group of social entrepreneurs has now emerged that is embracing the idea of open source knowledge. That has been one of the successes of this programme - that core network of mutual support."
Faiz and Nazirul both echo this sentiment, and say that the Young Challengers meeting provided a great opportunity to access such a support network internationally.
"It was an excellent forum that brought together youth from all over the world with the aim of cross-learning and networking…[and I enjoyed] getting to know the various different people that shared common ideals about the future", says Faiz.
Walker says that while the environment can be challenging, it is a good time to become a social entrepreneur in Malaysia and believes the sector has a promising future.
"We and our partner the Arthur Guinness Fund, are going to expand the Entrepreneurs for Good programme later this year, part of which will involve work shadowing. The Global Social Business Summit has also raised awareness hugely, while the Malaysian government recently voiced its support for social enterprise by investing RM20 million (£3.8 million) in the newly created Malaysian Global Innovation and Creative Centre."
Faiz agrees, and says that social enterprise has a lot to offer Malaysia, including "unique opportunities for people to operate profitability while making a significant social impact." Nazirul is of the same view, and says he believes it can "solve every problem that we have in the world. The question is how?"
*Content on this page is produced and controlled by British Council.* Reported by guardian.co.uk 8 hours ago.