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. Read more
Government funding will be available from January next year to support promising social enterprises in their expansion plans, reported Channel NewsAsia (CNA).
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. Read more
When I spoke to French native Vincent Perrier-Trudov some weeks ago, two things stood out about him: One, he is very passionate about social entrepreneurship, and two, he comes up with bloody good analogies.
Vincent is the founder and international coordinator for Citizens for Social Business (CSB), an NGO started in July 2011 that aims to promote social entrepreneurship around the world.
Photo: Vincent (left) at the first CSB meeting in Paris. Courtesy of CSB
They have about 260 members now, and within Asia, they have representatives in Singapore, Malaysia, India, and Japan. Read more
This first post of a multi-part series touches on the definition of entrepreneurship, the different forms of entrepreneurship, how countries measure growth of entrepreneurship activity, and the first toolkit: How to identify ideas and business opportunities.
I will also provide some interesting case studies, for example, the Aravind Eye Centre for social entrepreneurship. This series is based on the “MPS 812: Entrepreneurship” course I have been teaching in the School of Physical & Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University. This post is republished from my blog.
Read more
Filed under ToolkitTags: Aravind Eye Center, entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship 101, Identifying Ideas & Business Opportunities, Intrapreneurship, Introduction, LifeSaver, Michael Pritchard, MPS 812, Social Entrepreneurship, TED Videos, Thulasiraj Ravilla
At Singapore’s National Day Rally on August 20, an equivalent of the US’s State of the Union address, BioMers and Joan Bowen Cafe were highlighted by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at different parts of his speech as examples of exemplary initiatives by Singaporeans.
While justifying why foreign students are needed in local institutions despite taking away places for local students, he brought up the example of BioMers, a startup with a mix of Singaporean and foreign co-founders.
Started by students from the National University of Singapore, the company’s flagship product is the SimpliClear braces system, a translucent, almost invisible braces system that is customized for each patient. Read more
Post Museum, a social enterprise in Singapore that provides a platform for community causes and the arts, has closed shop on August 7, after four years of existence. The venue hosted a regular soup kitchen, NGO talks, and even a beer festival. It also has studio spaces for artists in residence.
According to newspaper Today, they are not the first of such cultural spaces to disappear recently. Blackhole, a community space focusing on music, lifestyle, and the arts, was shut down last September. Evil Empire, an eclectic arts space which holds events like a drawing contest and faux auction, followed suit in April this year. Read more
Most of you reading this wouldn’t consider your family or yourself “poor”. Sure, you may be a struggling entrepreneur but your experiences are still probably very different from those of whom society terms as “low income families”. Envisage Social Education aims to bridge this knowledge gap.
Envisage was founded by a team of five in Singapore based on a Poverty Simulation Kit from the US. It is a comprehensive program where participants will role-play various characters, in which students have the opportunity to put themselves in the shoes of the less fortunate and in turn develop a greater application of their family, education and financial literacy. Read more
The Pigeonhole always has a pleasant surprise in store for you.
The Pigeonhole @ Duxton Road
Looking in through its glass panels and doors, those walking along 52 & 53 Duxton Road may be a little confused about what this place does. A creative space lovingly fitted with bookshelves, eclectic furniture and painted with a scarlet floor, the Pigeonhole is a cosy cafe that attracts visitors with more than its aromatic espressos and delectable desserts. Read more
We all hear about the inspiring and brilliant TED videos where inventors, thought leaders and social activists give a scintillating 18-20 minutes speech about their own topic of interest. While the talks about social media, politics, economics, language, design, architecture and many more gave us much food for thought, there are interesting TED demo videos which give us a glimpse of future technologies and what is going to come. For this week, we look to 3 TED videos on a Greener Future for social entrepreneurship and sustainable development from Al Gore’s update on the environment, Shai Agassi’s initiative on how we can transition to an electric car economy and finally Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s new project “Home”. Read more
Filed under Innovation & Technology, Media, Social EntrepreneurshipTags: A Greener Future, Al Gore, Electrical Cars, Environment, Home, Shai Agassi, Social Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Development, TED, TED Video, The Earth From Above, Yann Arthus-Bertrand
GIVE.sg is a social enterprise that places itself in between individuals and charities, attempting to create a better bridge that allows individuals to contribute to charitable causes easily over the web and at the same time, making it easier for charities to reach people by receiving donations on behalf of these charities. Read more
