Singapore is fast becoming a hub for co-working spaces, judging by how they pop up like mushrooms in the city.

Now, there’s a new flavor in town, and it is aptly called Hub Singapore.

Located just a stone’s throw away from Orchard Road, Singapore’s prime shopping district, the Hub bills itself as a co-working space for world-changers, offering them access not just to one workspace but also a global network of 32 other Hubs.

It appears to be industry-agnostic too, unlike, say, HackerspaceSG, which appeals to geeks. It is more similar to Kennel, a haven for “creative entrepreneurs”.

The Hub targets people that enjoy working at the intersection of fields, are collaborative, and work for a purpose. They include anyone from web developers to social entrepreneurs to impact investors.

Facilities on-site include a café, hot desking environments, quiet areas for focused concentration, and places where members work the phones to get things done. The Hub also features meeting and workshop rooms, as well as an event space that can accommodate over 120 people.

The community has so far included a good mix of technology, social, and green entrepreneurs. The video below introduces them:

Members have the flexibility to define the space the way they like. It will curate events, workshops, and member-driven initiatives.

One of its most attractive features is the member’s passport that connects them with over 32 Hubs around the world and its 4,000 plus members.

They will be able to network with change makers in other countries online, and receive priority access to events, workshops, and more. Hub Singapore members can also access Hubs around the world, in places like San Francisco, Vienna, or Johannesburg.

This week, the company will be having a soft launch in conjunction with WalkaboutSG, an all-day open house for tech startups where participants can embark on trails to visit their offices. They are part of a suggested itinerary.

The co-working space has also announced partnerships with Unreasonable at Sea, a cutting edge tech startup accelerator program where teams work on a ship and sail around the world, as well as Up Singapore, an initiative to improve the urban environment through data and technology.

Check out the details and pricing on membership plans and event space booking.

Even though demand is picking up in the Western world, riding a bamboo bike is virtually unheard of in Asia.

As much as bamboo is commonly associated with this region, it is Western companies like FlavioDeslandes, Calfee Design and Biomega that have taken the concept and run with it.

But two startups – KawayanTech from the Philippines and Bamboobee from Singapore — are finally emerging and entering the market.

KawayanTech, recently featured in the Wall Street Journal, is founded in 2009 by members of the University of the Philippines Moutaineers Club. Their main products are individualized, handcrafted bamboo bikes that allow customers to pick their own components. 

While costing more than normal metal bikes and probably less durable, a bamboo bikes does have several advantages: It offers a smoother ride by absorbing shocks with its bamboo frame. It has a lesser carbon footprint too, a boon for environmentalists.

They have sold over 80 different bikes of all kinds — from kid’s bikes to high-performance ones and even mountain bikes. They range from US$199 to US$476. Recently, they’ve moved into electric bikes, and bamboo skateboards and wheelchairs are being planned too.

Their products have not cracked the mainstream market so far, but they’ve imported them to many developed countries in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Hailing from Singapore is Bamboobee, founded by Singaporean Sun Soon Chuah, an engineering student who once embarked on a solo 12,000km motorbike ride across 14 countries in eight weeks.

While KawayanTech is producing premium-quality bikes, Bamboobee has a different social mission: Providing low-cost bikes in rural areas. He hopes to create an initiative in Central Asia based on similar programs in Africa, which has proven to be successful.

An example is the Bamboo Bike Project, an initiative by scientists and engineers at The Earth Institute, Columbia University.

The Project has led to a factory that creates affordable bamboo bikes in Ghana, which will generate income for locals through the creation of micro-businesses that will produce and distribute these bikes.

Bamboobee was a finalist for the Ideas.Inc Business Challenge last year, an annual business plan competition in Singapore.

While its bikes are still in the prototype stage, he plans develop a range that includes lifestyle bikes, hardcore enthusiasts bikes, and modular ones.

If these two startups succeed, bamboo bicycles could become a common sight in Asia.

Photo: KawayanTech

The best place for social entrepreneurship?

“Where’s the best place in the world for a social entrepreneur to live and build a social enterprise?”

That’s a tough question. It appears there are two schools of thought when it comes to attempting an answer: Get close or go big.

Some people believe that a social entrepreneur should be physically near to her target market. If she is working on poverty alleviation, then perhaps she should be in a city like Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Or if she is fighting air or water pollution then perhaps Dhaka, Bangladesh. That certainly makes sense for a number of social entrepreneurs.

But then there are those of us who think that a social enterprise with the greatest potential for global impact requires a very specific type of climate to flourish. In my research, I’ve identified a few factors that deeply matter: Access to talent, access to funding, access to markets, a good business climate, and a supportive culture. From that perspective, highly developed cities rise to the top.

When I asked my social entrepreneur friends to attempt an answer they threw out the following: Boston, Cambridge, Copenhagen, Delhi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, London, Manila, Mumbai, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Stockholm, Vancouver, and many others.

Most said there is no single ‘best’ place, which makes sense. But the same people also identified Silicon Valley as the best place for entrepreneurs, at least in general. So perhaps there is an answer?

The best place to be will certainly vary for any particular social entrepreneur. It will depend on what industry they’re in, what stage of growth they’re in, how they reach their customers or beneficiaries, whether they’re suitable for social investment or not, and a whole host of other factors.

But for a general answer, my search led me to three top choices: London, Silicon Valley, and Singapore.

London is home to some of the world’s most prominent social powerhouses: The Young Foundation, Social Innovation Exchange, School for Social Entrepreneurs, UnLtd, among others. It is certainly a contender.

Silicon Valley is the world’s poster child for entrepreneurship. It has an extraordinary amount of talent, money, and energy.

But Asia is the future. I place a lot of weight on this claim. If you’re a social entrepreneur thinking ten or more years out, Asia cannot easily be ignored.

So let’s talk about Singapore.

Two years ago, I was on a trip around the world with one of my mentors. He was consulting; I was trying to determine where I should base myself as a young social entrepreneur. At the tail end of our trip we landed in Singapore, ostensibly only for a very brief visit. I ended up staying for two weeks to research the social innovation and entrepreneurship sector. It was nascent, but extremely impressive.

In fact, within two months I had moved to Singapore to do capacity building in the sector. This is after one of Singapore’s most prominent social entrepreneurs telling me point blank to stay in the United States where there were “more opportunities to do good”.

Perspective is a funny thing.

All that said, let’s try to answer the question.

I’d wager the best place to be today is Silicon Valley. It’s just too much of a juggernaut to beat–the ecosystem to build (social) enterprises is very well developed.

But that’s only my answer for the short-term.

Long-term, I’ve placed my bets on Singapore. I have hope the climate will continue to improve for several reasons, but for one the government is set on building Singapore’s entrepreneurial and philanthropic sectors. That’s encouraging.

And I believe it’s already a fantastic place for social entrepreneurs. Here’s why:

Access to talent

• Very high standard of living which draws talent in (and keeps it)
• Liberal immigration laws for foreign talent

Access to funding

• Asia’s first social stock exchange
• Tech-focused social enterprise incubator being built with S$1.25M initially available
• S$1M (US$0.8M) social innovation challenge
• S$588k (US$466k) social enterprise competition
• Growing venture philanthropy and impact investing community
• S$300k (US$238k) grants for social entrepreneurs focusing on employing disadvantaged Singaporeans
• S$200k (US$159k) grants for enterprises focused on volunteerism or philanthropy
• S$50K (US$40k) grants for brand-new startups
• #1 in Asia for philanthropy and #1 in world for concentration of millionaires

Access to markets

• Geographically situated between three of the largest markets in the world: China, India, and Indonesia
• Airport rated #2 in world with multiple discount airlines flying the region

Good business climate

• #1 place in world to do business
• 80% of population is English-literate and much of the other 20% can speak at least the basics
• Very low corporate income taxes and zero tax on first S$100,000 for first three years
• No capital gains taxes
• Tied for #1 for lack of corruption
• Government bodies work very actively to support enterprise: EDB, SPRING, MTI
• #1 at protection of intellectual property

Supportive culture

• Approximately 150 existing social enterprises
• Dedicated social enterprise association
• Multiple dedicated social entrepreneur co-working spaces
• Multiple dedicated academic institutions: Lien Centre, LKY School of Public Policy, Grameen Creative Lab
• Online community-edited directory for the social sector (“a Wikipedia for people who care”)
• Established degree program in social entrepreneurship at polytechnic level
• Widely circulated sector-focused publication Goodpaper.sg that is read in over 650 cities
• Five million residents and 9.7 million annual international travelers concentrated in a very densely populated space (with an amazing transportation system) creates a unique melting pot of ideas

The downsides

• Capable local talent is in high demand
• Very small domestic market of 5 million
• Financing for small to mid-sized social enterprises may currently be difficult past pre-seed stage, especially until the Impact Investment Exchange opens and the venture philanthropy community grows
• Very risk-averse society
• Singaporeans are effectively indifferent to social entrepreneurs (only 2% can correctly identify a single social enterprise)

But none of that should hold a talented social entrepreneur back.

Things would really start to get interesting if 100 additional foreign social entrepreneurs built their companies here. Or a 100 additional locals decided to do the same.

Further, the Singaporean government and/or social investors could massively accelerate the development of Singapore’s social enterprise ecosystem by:

• Creating a Startup-Chile type visa and funding support program
• Investing in a privately run Unreasonable Institute type incubator
• Investing in a privately run The Hub Singapore
• Bringing B Corp or similar legal structure to Singapore

All in all, I think Singapore is a great place for social entrepreneurs now and will likely get much better. It even has a shot at becoming Asia’s “Social Silicon Valley”. Perhaps one of several around the world. Time will tell.

What do you think? Where would you like to live and build your social enterprise?

This article is republished with permission from his blog.

Photo: AIM Neutron

About the author

James Norris has founded, co-founded, or established 3 social enterprises, 8 organizations, and 5 clubs which have collectively ran for 60+ years (first at 15). He has helped with developing a venture-backed 100,000 sq ft for-profit museum meets theme park startup, and is assisting the Polymath Foundation in building a physical university for 10,000 young Leonardo da Vinci’s.

The program is being run by LGT Venture Philanthropy, an impact investor spanning five continents that supports organizations with outstanding social and environmental impact.

IVAP is run in partnership with local partners around the region.

They are: GEPI in Indonesia, ChangeFusion in Thailand, CSIP in Vietnam, and xchange in Philippines.

Organizations that are registered legal entities, for or non-profit, in the respective countries are eligible to apply (full criteria). The deadline is 5th March, 2012, and only the top two to three entries from each country will be selected.

The accelerator program promises to provide business consultancy, funding of up to US$50,000 from equity, convertible loan or convertible grant, and access to mentors from Southeast Asia as well as LGT Venture Philanthropy’s global network of entrepreneurs, investment managers, and cooperation partners.

Quarterly workshops on topics like business modeling, market assessment and more will also be held, and participants may even potentially receive follow-on investments other institutions and individuals.

Zakayo (left) and Mwangi on a climb. Photo: Nicholas Leong

Very few Asian entrepreneurs have the audacity to do crazy things. While more entrepreneurs and do-gooders have arisen in the continent over the past decade — and that is a good sign, don’t get me wrong — many of them are found hopping onto the latest fads, daily deals one moment, SoLoMo the next.

Nicholas Leong, on the other hand, is truly one-of-a-kind.

A Singaporean commercial photographer in his previous life, Nicholas gave it all up to pursue a different path: Training the next Lance Armstrong. In Kenya.

He’s not doing this on the side, he told me while he was in Singapore a few weeks ago. Committing his life savings to this endeavor,  he’s on full throttle, charging full speed ahead with his wacky idea. By the time you’re reading this, he’ll be in Africa, preparing his cyclists for their next race.

Everything started with a spinter in his feet.

“I couldn’t walk for weeks, and spent a lot of time at home, just thinking about stuff,” he said.

As an avid fan of the Tour De France, a thought came to him: In an era where athletes of African descent dominate almost every sport, why is the world of pro cycling still a white man’s game?

He also noticed that Africans, and Kenyans in particular, have been dominating the marathon world. Last year, for the first time, Kenyans have swept all six World Marathon Majors — in Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York, and Daegu.

Meshing the two thoughts together, he had an idea: What if they can transplant their natural aptitude for long-distance running to another endurance sport — cycling?

He acted on it. After the Standard Chartered marathon in 2006, in which the men’s race was dominated by Kenyans, Nick packed his bags, and bought a ticket to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. He approached the Kenyan team and told them he was following them to their hometown.

And that was the start of his African Cyclist project.

Nick is now based in Eldoret, a town 2,100 meters above sea level and the engine room of Kenya’s running prowess. Many of Kenyan’s top marathoners have emerged from there.

“My landlady was a 10,000m world champion. Throw a stone there and you’ll likely hit a champion runner,” he said.

He has set up an academy with 14 cyclists, many recruited from a local cycling club. With him is a team of support staff and coaches.

While his long term goal is to train an African cyclist to win the Tour De France, his immediate priority is to get them to dominate the mass-start amateur races.

Initial signs have been encouraging. Last year, their top cyclist, John Njoroge, came in at 13th position in the L’Étape du Tour, an amateur race that takes the same route as a stage of the Tour De France. They will be participating again this year, and they’re definitely looking to top last year’s results.

Their current achievements are the result of two factors. They’ve managed to secure funding from a private investor. They’ve also decided to adopt African solutions to train African cyclists, instead of relying on old paradigms.

Getting an investment wasn’t easy. But Nicholas had faith it would happen.

“Somewhere out there in the world, someone would identify with what you’re doing and would want to put money into it,” he said.

It turned out that he didn’t have to look too far.

Matthieu, a Singapore-based French hedge fund manager and his wife, Mary-Anne, were flipping through the Straits Times in 2007. Immediately, they were attracted by a story about Nick and his cyclist, who was training in Singapore. Coincidentally, Nicholas had taken some pictures for Matthieu once.

“He found Nick’s phone number and just called. We met the guy, and then we loved the story and the man. We first were fans and followers. Then we became partners after a few months,” said Mary-Anne.

The hedge fund manager is passionate about the Tour de France. For Mary-Anne, she had been looking to invest in Africa for some time. While she wanted to fund a charity initially, she later decided they should invest in an African company.

“Charity is killing Africa. We met a lot of African people, mainly in France actually, and they all seemed so upset  to see the way non-African people think about them and react to them. African people can definitely take care of themselves, especially if they use their own thinking and their own resources,” she said.

Nick’s initiative was a perfect fit.

“What we loved about his project was the obviousness of it. Kenyans are great athletes, and cycling is a new challenge for them. And around this project, we can build so many things about ethics, sustainability, education, and entrepreneurship.”

Besides providing money, the couple has also helped with accommodation in France and obtaining visas. They also assisted with research about setting up youth programs, and making the project sustainable in the long-run. Nick had been living on his savings prior to that.

“We are very picky, because we want to find partners in mind, as well as partners in money,” she said.

Zakayo when he was still living in a slum near Eldoret. He used to train alone before going to his shoeshine stand to put in a full day of work. Photo and caption: Nicholas Leong

The next year, Nick was able to take two promising cyclists, Zakayo Ndbri and Samwel Mwangi, to the Alpe d’Huez, a famed mountain in the French Alps that is part of the Tour De France route. Their goal is to climb the mountain with their bikes, hoping to get as close to Lance Armstrong’s timing (37 minutes 36 seconds) as possible.

They were close. Zakayo achieved 42 minutes, enough to finish in the top 20 at the Tour De France in 2004. Mwangi came in a minute later. Nick had hoped to bring these results to corporate sponsors and professional cycling teams.

Kenyans, by and large, are unfamiliar with professional cycling. The sport is expensive to participate in, putting it out of reach of ordinary Kenyans. To prepare them for the sport, traditional training methods were not the answer.

Nick involved trainers who had a background in marathon running. The idea was to transition these cyclists from the world of running, which is very well-established in the country, and get them used to peddling on the bike.

“We got them to do exercises where they lie down on the floor and moved their legs in a cyclical motion. It gets them accustomized to the sport,” he said.

Right now, Nick is focused on building public support for their social enterprise. They’re also seeking corporate partners to sponsor their team and advertise on their jerseys.

“Cycling is a lucrative sport. Big brands like HTC have sponsored one of the top professional cycling teams in the world,” he said.

More importantly, they are looking to win. Another revenue stream for his project will come from the prize money whenever their cyclists win competitions. He’s aiming first for the Asian, African, and minor European races. Next, the bigger European and American races. And finally, they want to contend for one of the Grand Tours — Giro, Vuelta, and the Tour De France.

Winning, ultimately, is just the means to an end for Nick. He wants to change history.

Cycling is perhaps the only mono-racial sport left on the planet.

“There are many implications for this project — and they’re not just in sports,” he explained. It offers an alternative route out of poverty for black Africans. It promises to breathe new life into a sport plagued by doping scandals. It provides a platform to publicize issues dogging Africa today, helping organizations that are trying to tackle these problems.

To be clear, Nick is a long distance away from the summit of the proverbial mountain. There’s no guarantee that his group of ragtag cyclists can surmount the odds and reach the pinnacle of professional cycling.

But there’s no harm trying. “We only have one life to live,” he said.

I opined that many must have contemplated the same idea, but acting on it is extremely tough.

“Really? You think so?” he said.

For someone that’s trying to attain the impossible, he sure sounds confident.

Then again, miracles happen all the time in the world of sports.

Just ask Jeremy Lin.

In fact, females may be better than their male counterparts in certain areas. A Co.Exist article asserts that females are intuitive systems-thinkers, care more about solutions than who gets credit, are experts on collaboration, and are good at seeking balance.

There are certainly many things we can learn from them. To help you along, we’ve distilled a list of useful tips from female entrepreneurs in Singapore and around the region to guide you if you’re embarking on the road less traveled.

1. Understand why you are doing this.

Most ventures don’t succeed on the first try.

The reality is that behind every successful entrepreneur, there was a lot of learning from failed experiences. Understanding the reasons behind your decision to become an entrepreneur will help you to learn better from your mistakes and give you the confidence to keep going.

Carol hails from Taiwan(left) while Maria (right) is from Hong Kong. Photo: Shokay

Social entrepreneur Carol Chyau co-founded a lifestyle brand that promotes sustainable income in rural China called Shokay (Read: Five lessons from an experienced social entrepreneur).

Shokay designs and sells products made from soft yak down sourced by Tibetan herders.

Although Carol and her partner had zero knowledge in the fibre industry, they perservered and drowned themselves with knowledge from books, mentors and Google search results.

It took them patience and sheer grit to become experts in the field, having to tweak their business model several times before hitting the ground running.

What motivated these Harvard graduates to choose this path instead of a comfortable corporate career?

“I’m not doing this because I am more philanthropic than other people out there, nor because I’m particularly altruistic. For me, it’s about a sense of responsibility. I just believe that as lucky as we are to have so much, we should give back even more,” she answered.

Be honest with yourself. If you’re doing it to attract hot chicks like in “The Social Network”, then it’s probably not the best motivation.

2. Don’t be afraid to get out of the building and validate your business idea.

An idea for a product means nothing if your customers don’t really need it.

Testing your business idea quickly by talking to potential clients will give you a clearer idea of customers’ needs.

Elfaine Tan (far left), seen here with her team, is winner of Shell’s LiveWIRE “Most Promising Enterprise Award” in 2009 and has been named one of Her World Magazine’s 50 “Most Inspiring Women Under 40" at 23 years old. Photo: Elfaine Tan

Elfaine Tan, founder of The Sample Store, left her office job a few months after graduation. She had an idea to set up an on-line store that distributes and sells samples and wanted to validate it (read: Age and gender do not define your chance at success).

Determined, she relentlessly cold-called brand marketers at their offices and arranged for meetings. Her idea was spot on. After presenting her idea to her clients, they were convinced to try the platform.

The result? The Sample Store has to date, successfully distributed close to 500,000 branded product samples to an audience of over 78,000 people.

3. When being called stubborn, take it as a compliment.

There is no doubt that you will meet your fair share of nay-sayers on your entrepreneurial journey. How much you want to be affected by their opinions though, is up to you.

Sheryl Tay founded The Baby Specialist to help mothers save cost on baby equipment. Photo: Dr Louis-Sebastian Sonntag

Sheryl Tay of The Baby Specialist, a company that rents hospital-grade baby equipment, was eager to prove them wrong (read: Making every mum’s baby her business).

“It was especially stressful when others gave doubtful comments about whether the business would work. But looking back, I think it was those very comments that fueled me to prove that my idea would work. Always have an open mind and take criticism in your stride,” she advises.

4. Learn to hold contradictory values together.

Being passionate about your work is no doubt a important component to innovation. At the same time, entrepreneurs should also be able to realistically understand the risks and actionable needs involved in their business.

Tan Siok Siok, director of Twittamentary (read: An Entrepreneur’s Journey Into The Real Time Web) and co-founder of online video network Kinetic ONE, aptly describes this process.

Singaporean filmmaker and entrepreneur Tan Siok Siok is the creator of Twittamentary and CEO of Beijing-based Kinetic ONE

“I always find that as an entrepreneur you have to hold contradictory values together. For example, you have to have a big picture and be a visionary and yet concentrate on the short term goals of the start-up. You are impatient because of the time pressure, but yet patient because you know you have to build one thing at a time. What helps me is that I’m passionate about what I do, so it’s not like I’m being forced to do it. I’m focused and narrow things down to specific targets to make sure that I always make it something I can work on,” she says.

5. Don’t quit when things are just getting started.

Sometimes when one door closes, another one opens. We just have to look harder and not let one person dictate what we can or cannot do.

Gillian Tan started her own company with $10,000, a mini video camera and an old Macbook. Photo: Gillian Tan

Gillian Tan, founder of local production company Munkysuperstar Pictures, manages clicknetwork.tv, an online video network that offers hip, fun, and edgy entertainment programming (read: Being a female director has its merits).

She started her company  working out of a room in her mother’s office, equipped with an old Mac she used for editing.

The test pilot that she produced later became popular local reality dating show “Eye For A Guy”.

While the shows gained in popularity, it wasn’t long before an obstacle appeared in her way.

“Back in 2007, we were supposed to produce season 2 of a Channel 5 show called ‘Girls Out Loud’, but it was cancelled at the last minute due to some complaints from the public,” she said.

Faced with this minor setback, Gillian and Girls Out Loud hosts Rosalyn and Wendy decided to pack up their bags and take a short road trip to Malaysia.

Recalling the events that followed, “I shot some videos of Rosalyn and Wendy and that ended up on YouTube. Somehow it caught on and people were writing in telling us to produce more videos. I then decided to put these videos onto a website instead. The road trip videos ended up being the first videos on clicknetwork.tv.”

In just four years, clicknetwork.tv has become a viral hit with audiences and garnered over 23 million video views and counting. Had Gillian felt defeated when Channel 5 told her she could not longer produce her shows, she would never have started clicknetwork.tv.

We hope these tips have been a helpful summary of our Women in Entrepreneurship series thus far. Write in to us if you know any other female entrepreneurs with an interesting story to share.

Carol hails from Taiwan(left) while Maria (right) is from Hong Kong.

Carol Chyau and Maria So started social enterprise Shokay long before the term became a buzzword in recent years.

Shokay, which is the Tibetan word for yak, is a lifestyle brand that designs stylish products made from soft yak down. By sourcing from Tibetan herders in Qinghai and employing women in rural areas, it helps promote sustainable income in rural China.

Shokay’s work allows indigenous herders to generate more direct income, preserve local culture, promote sustainable usage of the environment and promote community development work.

Carol was in Singapore the past November for TEDxKRP to share her experience.

From inspiration to execution

While doing their Masters in Public Administration at Harvard, the duo decided to put the business concepts they learnt into action. The pair went seeking for inspiration on two weeklong trips in Yunnan, China in January 2006.

While there, they saw a need for poverty alleviation and stumbled upon an opportunity. China has an abundance in yak fiber, which is highly comparable to cashmere. Yet, because of its inaccessibility and lack of visibility in the fashion industry, its great potential was left untapped.

With an idea in mind, Carol and Maria went back to Harvard and entered the Harvard Business Plan Competition with a few friends, coming in first under the Social Enterprise Track. With the money they won, they returned to China and set their hearts on following the Yaks.

Items from Shokay

Right from the start, the cofounders had little knowledge about yak fiber and the textiles industry. Undeterred, they kept going to experts for help and formally founded Shokay in November 2006. Today, the social enterprise has come a long way with over 100 stores in ten countries.

Carol shared with us a few important stories on how her team got the business going with little prior industry and product knowledge.

1) Be a sponge and absorb as much as possible

While they knew that they were risking it with zero industry experience and had no background in fashion or textiles, Carol and Maria never gave up. Instead, they went out of their way to visit a lot to factories and gathered feedback from professionals. They weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty doing research and talked to as many industry experts as possible.

2) Be a detective

Carol likens this process to solving a mystery. “Sometimes all you have are clues. When you don’t understand something you have to ask why. For us, we managed to gather useful information about yak fiber by reading up on Google. For example, while yak fiber is comparable to cashmere, few people know about it.” This market gap was their opportunity.

3) Be an inventor

Carol and Maria spent the last five years experimenting with several business models, figuring out the best way to create their product and bring value to the market. They initially sold only knitting yarns, but decided to move on to the bigger market of scarfs and shawls. They’re continuing to innovate and re-invent their model. “We’re shifting from being a fashion label to ultimately being an ingredient brand. Kind of how the Intel chip is an integral part to a Lenovo laptop,” she explained.

4) Have a perspective of an eagle

Social entrepreneurs have to think about two bottom lines. Sometimes you might get lost along the way, but it’s important for an entrepreneur to have the perspective of an eagle. “When you find yourself misaligned with your original goal, it’s important to recollect your thoughts,” she says.

5) Be yourself

After all the hard work, you have to figure out how to pull everything together and make it work. You have to believe and love what you do.

As Carol puts it, “I’m not doing this because I am more philanthropic than other people out there, nor because I’m particularly altruistic. For me, it’s about a sense of responsibility. I just believe that as lucky as we are to have so much, we should give back even more.”

Closing thoughts

Carol and Maria’s philosophy and sheer determination have paid off in Shokay’s progress. Now, sourcing yak fiber from more than 800 families and having used approximately 2,000 tonnes of yak fiber, it’s plain to see how privileged ones like us can give back so much more if we just took the first step to try.

By creating a market for luxury yak, they hope to generate income for nomadic herders.

This is in addition to the existing ComCare Enterprise Fund (CEF), which has been providing seed funding for startup social enterprises that provide employment and training for poor Singaporeans.

According to Halimah Yacob, Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), about S$10M (US$7.7M) has been granted to support 80 social enterprises so far. About 1,600 Singaporeans have benefited from the work of these social enterprises.

MCYS will also introduce a new category of CEF funding next year for schools to educate students on social entrepreneurship. The money, which will target 70 schools in three years, would be used to fund youth-initiated social entrepreneurship projects.

A study of Singapore youths in 2009 has found that they are increasingly more willing to contribute to society.

This year’s winner of the Social Entrepreneur Award is William Drayton, founder of Ashoka, who was the person to coin the term ‘social entrepreneurship’.

Ashoka was founded in 1980 as a non-profit organization that supports over 2,000 Ashoka Fellows and their social enterprises by helping them scale globally.

Reese Fernandez, co-founder of Rags2Riches in the Philippines, won the Young Entrepreneur Award for her venture which recycles scrap material and transforms them into fashionable handbags, eyeglasses, or wine-bottle holders.

The other winners include: Anneli Hulthen, mayor of Göteborg, Sweden, for the Politician Award, and FOSUN International, for the Entrepreneur for the World Award. FOSUN is a Shanghai-based conglomerate with a wide array of activities such as pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

This is the first time the Forum is held in Asia. It is the first global think tank dedicated to entrepreneurs, wealth creators, and social justice. The founding members are Emlyon Business School in France, KPMG, Singapore’s Action Community for Entrepreneurship, and Nanyang Technological University.

The startup accelerator for social enterprises, located in Boulder, Colorado, is open to applications from around the world.

During the six week program, selected entrepreneurs will receive training and build relationships with 50 mentors, which include the former Managing Director of Investments at Google.org, the CTO of HP, and an entrepreneur who has lifted 19 million farmers out of poverty.

They will also get to meet 20 investment funds, pitch to hundreds of potential investors and partners, and receive legal and design consulting.

Only full-time entrepreneurs running for-profit social ventures are eligible for the program. More on eligibility criteria can be found here. To apply, check out this page.

Also watch this video about the Unreasonable Institute below:

The World’s Most Unreasonable Trailer from Unreasonable Institute on Vimeo.