Ada Wong founded the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture (HKICC), a unique non-profit organization whose mission is education innovation and a creative civil society. Among other projects, HKICC founded Hong Kong’s only “art high school”, the HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity and Ada is the School’s supervisor. She also founded the Make A Difference (MaD) initiative, a continuing platform to groom the next generation of creative leaders and innovative changemakers in Asia. Ada’s latest social venture is The Good Lab, an inspiring co-working space and a collaborative community for social innovation and entrepreneurship development in Hong Kong. Ada was an elected member of the Urban Council and Wan Chai District Council between 1995 and 2008 with the last four years as Chairperson of the Wan Chai District Council. Ada received her BA (Hons) from Pomona College, California, USA and M Ed from the University of Hong Kong.
Edward Rubesch has a mixture of practical and academic entrepreneurial experience. In Thailand, he has founded four companies which he still heads as president. He runs an accelerator and innovation development program with MIT’s Enterprise Forum, runs the Global Social Venture Competition with UC Berkeley, and is the Program Director of the Innovation Driven Entrepreneurship Center at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce. Ed uses his 30 years of innovation experience to build innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems in developing regions. He partners with MIT to develop the technology entrepreneurship ecosystem with the Ministry of Science and Technology in Thailand. He is interested in technology development in the developing world and informal distribution channels in developing countries, which are always led by entrepreneurs who by necessity create innovative and impact solutions in a challenging environment.
Louise Pulford is the Executive Director of SIX, a social innovation exchange built on mutual value, relationships and knowledge. SIX works globally to facilitate purposeful cross-sector conversations that challenge and inspire people to advance the field of social innovation. Louise has been responsible for building SIX over the last 6 years. Under her leadership, SIX spun out of the Young Foundation in 2013. Louise leads a team of 9 spread across London and Canada to advance the field of social innovation through major programmes of work with foundations, universities, corporates and governments. Louise is also building SIX’s work to advance culture change within organisations. Louise is a seasoned speaker on building networks, the value of exchange and social innovation globally, and regularly designs and facilitates social innovation training programmes for governments, foundations and universities around the world. Louise has worked on social innovation with the European Commission since 2010 and she sits on the Mayor of Seoul’s Advisory group for social innovation.
Ken Aoo has a mixed background in banking, international development, philanthropy, and research. After working for an NGO and UNDP in Vietnam, Uganda, and New York, he worked for 6 years as a program officer / director in the Toyota Foundation and Nippon Foundation, in charge of their international programs. Currently, he oversees Okayama University’s networking and collaboration projects both within Japan and abroad, especially for the SDGs and social innovation related initiatives, while teaching social innovation and international development. He is now working on comparative analysis of social innovation scaling processes in selected Asian countries (China, South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia), and other research interests are social innovation for well-being, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and social issues including aging and local revitalization in Asia. He has BA in International Relations (University of Tokyo) and MPhil in International Development (Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex).
Mark Majewsky Anderson is Director of Research and Innovation at Glasgow Caledonian University and has helped to embed social innovation as a core part of the University’s mission. As well as overseeing the University’s academics in the development of proposals and management of projects, he currently coordinates several EU funded international projects, specifically aimed at establishing Social Innovation Support Units in Universities. In addition to the SEASIN project, he coordinates LASIN, the Latin American Social Innovation Network and SIKE, Social Innovation through Knowledge Exchange (in UK, Spain, Portugal, Croatia and Germany). He is non-executive director of the Edinburgh social innovation incubator, the Melting Pot, and also a partner of the Social Innovation Exchange Global Council. In his “second life” he is also an avid writer. He has written and directed over twenty plays and completed four as yet unpublished novels. He recently completed a Masters in TV Scriptwriting with a distinction.
Simon Teasdale PhD is Professor of Public Policy and Organisations at Glasgow Caledonian University’s Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, and Editor in Chief of Social Enterprise Journal. He is currently editing A Research Agenda for Social Entrepreneurship with Professor Anne de Bruin. His own research focuses on how social enterprises navigate, shape, and are shaped by, public policies. Simon has been awarded over $5 million of competitive research funding by bodies such as the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council. His research has been published in field- leading journals such as Economy and Society, Journal of Social Policy and Policy and Politics. He has advised UK and Scottish governments on strategy related to social enterprise, most recently helping with the creation of a Social Innovation Fund in Scotland for which he now sits on the award panel. He has played a major role in the development of the social enterprise research community in the UK, through his involvement in the editorial team for Social Enterprise Journal and the Organising Committee for the annual International Social Innovation Research Conference.
Chloe Tee is the founder of The Good Tavern, a platform that connects students to social entrepreneurs and their beneficiaries on a grass-root level. Through the simple concept of running social market, she believes that physical interaction is an effective way for students to truly learn about the idea of social entrepreneurship and inspire their creativity to pursue in this area. Recently graduated from bachelor’s degree, Chloe is ready to explore the greater potential in her career journey.
Rachel Yong Xin Yin is a final year student from Sunway University. The idea of social entrepreneurship was an eye opening thing for her when she first joined The Good Tavern. Rachel continues running the social market because she believes it can inspire more students like her to explore this area and get connected to the social entrepreneurs.
Dr. Sangmi Cho is Professor at Department of Social Welfare/Social Economy at Ewha Womans University, where she teaches Understanding Social Economy, Cultural Diversity, Understanding Social Enterprise and Corporate Social Responsibility, and Leadership & Management in Human Service Organizations. Her area of research is Social Enterprise, Social Economy, Corporate Social Responsibility, industrial and multicultural social work with a focus on workforce diversity and inclusion, social enterprise & corporate social responsibility and organizational effectiveness. Dr. Cho’s work has resulted in many publications, and numerous presentations at national and international conferences on topics related to multicultural education and program, social enterprise and organizational effectiveness. She has been a consultant to a variety of organizations for diversity management, strategic management and organizational change.
Teh Yong Yuan is currently a PhD scholar in Monash University. His thesis research relates to social entrepreneurship. He is also involved in Monash, RADIUS Initiatives, Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary, and Capturns in various capacities, such as teaching, research, training, and consultancy. He sees his work as primarily to encourage more people to create additional positive social impact through practical initiatives (e.g. volunteerism and social entrepreneurship). He has contributed research relating to social entrepreneurship through presentations at academic conferences and recently co-authored a book chapter in Social Enterprise in Asia (forthcoming).
Margie Ong works across sectors to achieve systemic social impact. She works with corporations to incorporate social innovation and sustainability into core business; and with non-profits to setup good governance and to build capacity and sustainability. Her goal is to translate good social ideas and innovations into clear strategic frameworks, roadmaps and executable action plans. Her team also works closely on monitoring and evaluation to ensure that impact is well defined, tracked and reported upon. Graduated an electrical engineer, Margie has focused on strategy, marketing and operations. She has worked in the corporate sector with The Boston Consulting Group, Intel and HCL; in the non-profit sector with CIMB Foundation; and is now the founder/CEO of Thoughts In Gear, a social impact consulting firm.
Samira Khan has worked on social impact and innovation across corporations, governments, and the social sector for over a decade. Her work spans the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia. She is a former strategy / management consultant; and while at A.T. Kearney in Southeast Asia, she played a lead role in starting and building its social impact organization. Currently, she works on global impact engagement at Salesforce.org, which focuses on technology for social change. She is also passionate about youth empowerment toward the SDGs.
Ángel Nájera is passionate about project management and throughout his professional career has applied the most internationally recognized models and methodologies, both predictive or waterfall and agile. He directs a consultancy called Wolf Project which focuses on training and the implementation of processes in companies, and where they apply innovation for their clients. Angel is an expert in portfolio management and in the design and implementation of project management offices following the most efficient and value delivering practices. He has experience of more than 20 years in the field of project management and directing both local and international teams and as a speaker.
Shaun Adam is a postgraduate scholar in MSc International Business and Emerging Markets from The University of Edinburgh, UK and is currently working with the National Innovation Agency of Malaysia. Here he manages public-private partnership projects based on a German model of technology and knowledge transfer to support national economic growth. Prior to this, Shaun worked with Bloomberg L.P. and a US-based training provider company. During his Masters, he assisted UK businesses to go abroad while leading a campaign to raise funds for a children’s charity in Scotland, earning him the prestigious Edinburgh Award. Taking an interest in global progress, he then co-founded the ASEAN Youth Consultative Council, to promote regional economic and social cohesion through a bottom-up approach among ASEAN youths. In 2017, his ideas about integrating scalable technology solutions into socio-economic development in line with UN’s SDGs earned him an invitation to represent Malaysia to attend the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo. Here, he got to work with the Nobel Peace Institute and Telenor Group to roll out digital initiatives to address online bullying and mental health. Shaun can also be seen trekking through the jungles of Asia in his free time.
Daniel Loy is the Director of the Centre of Learning & Innovation, Petrosains which looks at innovative approaches to science education. As a strategist, educator, and communicator, he views innovation as a powerful tool to inspire and enable change for the better. In Petrosains, his key projects include positioning the Company as a corporate champion for inclusivity with UNICEF, a Google for Education local partner, social enterprise enabler with MaGIC, and setting up Digi’s science centre exhibition on cyber safety. Daniel is also a mentor for the MaGIC Global Accelerator Programme, General Councillor of the Asia Pacific Network of Science and Technology Centres, and founding member of the Malaysia Collective Impact Initiative.
Clarissa AL Lee is an art-science transdisciplinary scholar and practitioner working in the area of science, technology and innovation. She presently co-leads a project called ImaginAging that uses speculative design to tackle the problems of healthy ageing in place in Malaysia, which is part of an umbrella project she works on under Emergent Arts and Science in STEM where she is interested in the use of science fiction as platform and ideas-based methodology for techno local innovation and social change. She also works on how policy and intellectual history has a role in designing science and technological practices in Southeaat Asia, as well as the role of platform design in digital communities. Some of her wins could be found here
Sarah Atkinson is an Urban Strategist with a background in Development and Innovation management. Her MSc in Urban Design for Development from the Bartlett, UCL, focused on socio-spatial strategies for more equitable city-making. Multi-stakeholder collaboration, urban innovation, knowledge and learning practices underpin her research and experience. She has worked in social innovation with the UN, INGOs and local networks around the world – particularly to leverage technology and design, most recently with UNICEF in the Asia Pacific to transform girls’ access to digital health services, and researching housing re-design in response to Urbanisation. She enjoys facilitating multi-disciplinary processes for changing the status quo using participatory approaches and user centred design. Sarah has a background in human rights advocacy and previously set up and managed Amnesty International’s global youth engagement programme.
Dr. David Tan is a postdoctoral fellow at the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health. He uses systems thinking to explore the complex connections and contexts that shape health, healthcare, and implementation of interventions for health. This takes the forms of systems dynamics modelling for scenario exploration, transdisciplinary workshops using systems approaches to facilitate cross-sector conversation for holistic problem-mapping, and using systems diagrams to capture and communicate complex issues in case studies. David uses these tools to draw links to health in issues including urban green spaces and infrastructure, active transit, food systems, and campus sustainability.
Indrila Varma is a faculty at Pearl Academy, Mumbai, India – a premier design school. She holds a Masters in Fashion Technology from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and is currently pursuing her PhD in ‘Green manufacturing and its impact on Brand equity’. Her combined corporate and academic experience is of more than 15 years. She has worked in the corporate sector as an Export Merchandiser and Retail Buyer. Her teaching expertise is in the fields of Retail Buying and Merchandising, Marketing, and Textiles . She has also published two research papers based on online buying behavior of consumers. Indrila’s hobbies include painting and music.
Erwin Lizarondo actively works as a social innovation consultant and mentor for SMEs in Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, and Philippines. He has been travelling around Asia as a speaker and facilitator for various youth programs on Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship such as Hanyang University’s Social Venture Bootcamp and 17 Hearts Festival, Impact Hub Taipei’s Sustainable Entrepreneurship Program, and Asia Pacific Youth Exchange Program in Thailand and South Korea. He has Master’s Degree in Public Policy in International Development from Yeungnam University in South Korea and was Social Entrepreneurship Fellow for University of Pennsylvania’s Global Social Impact House. He was a former Associate Professor teaching courses on Organization Development and Economics.
Ian Jones is inspired by the intersection of design, disability, enterprise and innovation and has worked with social enterprise development within different ecosystems and markets. He was instrumental in designing the first Social Enterprise program in Melbourne at RMIT University, before moving to Cambodia where he focused on HCD and social enterprise approaches in development. A firm believer in (eco)-systemic change, his portfolio includes designing and delivering co-creation workshops for youth employment, accessible WASH/housing in Sri Lanka, HCD for rural farmers with disabilities and designing and delivering universal design, accessible housing design challenges for university students. He is currently delivering Cambodia’s first disability focused social venture accelerator.
Khim Bun is passionate about the role of design and enterprise thinking to overcome poverty, having firsthand experience of government and charitable interventions. She has worked with Agile for over 4 years designing and delivering human centred design (HCD) workshops and training with her social inclusion portfolio including workshops for rural farmers living with disabilities, people with disabilities and WASH, women’s health, OCSE and accelerator for disability social ventures. Khim is an in demand facilitator and is regularly approached to work for other design agencies due to her skill and deep understanding of context in design facilitation.
Jeffrey Cheah PhD is a lecturer and corporate consultant of Graduate School of Business at University Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia. His research focuses on the social entrepreneurship development in Malaysia, as well as the Southeast Asia region. He is currently studying the corporate social innovation (CSI) practised by the public listed companies in Malaysia. Previously, he used to be the Head of Department (HOD) of a regional leading social business for over 10 years. He looks forward to expanding his social network within the local and international social entrepreneurship scenes.
Grace Gan is Senior Job Coach and Trainer for Project Differently-Abled and Enabling Academy at Gamuda Berhad. Upon obtaining Master of Human Services (Rehabilitation Counselling) from Griffith University, she further pursued her career as a job coach in Malaysian Care (NGOs) to support people with learning disabilities (PWLDs) into open employment and to train companies to support PWLDs. In 2013, she was appointed as a Senior Trainer of Job Coach Network Malaysia, an initiative of Department of Social Welfare Malaysia to train Job Coaches and Job Coach Trainers in Malaysia and abroad to promote sustainable employment for people with disabilities.
Wong Su Ann is a Job Coach and Trainer for Project Differently-Abled and Enabling Academy at Gamuda Berhad. She graduated with an honours degree in Psychological Science from Sunway and Lancaster University. As a job coach at Enabling Academy, she promotes sustainable employment for adults with Autism. She prepares each trainee from the time of getting through the interview, to understanding workplace cultures, to working in a team and cultivating good social skills and finally securing a job placement. She also conducts Autism awareness sessions at partner companies to create a good support system for employees with autism at work.
Clare Walker is currently Director Partnerships leading on the strategic direction of British Council Malaysia’s collaborations with UK, regional and Malaysian organisations. With extensive experience working in the international education sector, 19 years of this in Malaysia. she has been a teacher, trainer and manager designing and delivering English language initiatives. In more recent years Clare has led the British Council’s Education and Society work which includes bilateral programmes in basic and higher education, and social enterprise projects, developing programmes that aim to build capacity for social entrepreneurs as well as broader initiatives aimed at ecosystem development.
Wan Dazriq leads Malaysia’s Social Inclusion & Vibrant Entrepreneurship (MasSIVE), a strategic unit under the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) that aims to create social impact through entrepreneurship related initiatives. He currently manages programs and strategic engagements, and helps forge collaborations that focus on impact driven enterprise development and ecosystem building efforts for the impact entrepreneurship sector in Malaysia. Dazriq has served several portfolios under MaGIC. He was the MaGIC Social Entrepreneurship Program Manager and went on to head the strategic initiatives portfolio with the ASEAN Centre of Entrepreneurship prior to MasSIVE. Dazriq also specialises in areas of change and transformation with many years of experience in strategy, execution and implementation for large scale nation building initiatives and transformation projects with various multinational companies.
Matthew O’Lemmon is an anthropologist and associate professor with the School of Global Studies at Thammasat University, Thailand. Dr. O’Lemmon has extensive experience in Southeast Asia and has conducted fieldwork throughout the region. His research interests include religious nationalism, social and political development in Theravada Buddhist countries, and social innovation. He is currently conducting research on the impact of artificial intelligence on cognition and cultural change.
Meeghan Zahorsky has an eclectic background in business, technology and development, specialising in measuring social impact. Currently a consultant with Thoughts In Gear, Meeghan has focused on developing metrics and systems for foundations, collective impact initiatives, NGOs, and corporations. She was previously the CEO of Foundation from Mother & Child Health in Mumbai, India. She also worked in the tech startup space to create platforms for NGOs and social enterprises. She has over 9 years of experience in the field of development and social impact measurement. Meeghan has an MA from Georgetown University and BA from Brown University.
Cristabel Tan holds a Master’s in Education with a Specialty in Teaching from Stanford University. As Education Lead at Tandemic, she spearheads the development of Tandemic’s education products and services. She has designed and delivered workshops on design thinking, youth innovation, agile project management for organisations for universities, GLCs, and UN agencies. She has led and participated in several innovation labs at Tandemic focused on improving quality of education. She is also currently engaged in research on the social enterprise landscape in Malaysia, and is interested in understanding how the ecosystem can better support budding social entrepreneurs.
Thu Kywe Khant Soe is a Medical Doctor by profession however he decided to pursue career in Management. He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management and Administration and a Post Graduate Diploma in Law. He is a currently a candidate for Executive MBA Program at the Yangon University of Economics. Khant has extensive experience in management and business operations in the Media and Advertising industry. He participates as a volunteer medical doctor in many humanitarian works with local and international organizations. He is master trainer at HP LIFE e-Learning for entrepreneurs of ADEPT Project and P.A.C.E community program by GAP Inc. He is a social enterprise consultant cum E4E Trainer of Society Programs of British Council and also a Vice President of Social Enterprise Development Association Myanmar (SeDAM).
Chanintorn Pensute, a lecturer from School of Politics and Government, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. Chanintorn graduated from Chulalongkorn University with a BA in Political Science (Thailand), University College London (UCL), MSc in Democracy and Democratisation (UK), and University of Leeds, PhD in Politics and International Studies (UK). Chanintorn’s interests including startup culture, social innovations, citizenship, and political innovations.
Sandar Htwe, currently works as a lecturer at Department of Management Studies and pursuing a PhD, was graduated from Yangon University of Economics with B.Com and M.Com from Monywa University of Economics. In 2012, Read academic paper, “MBA Programme of Yangon University of Economic, Department of Higher Education”, at Central Institute of Civil Service. In 2014, Read academic paper, “A Study On Utiliization of Mobile Phone” at YUE. In 2017, Read academic paper, “A Study on Living Style of Youths” at Central Institute of Civil Services. Currently researching PHD paper for “Social Entrepreneurship in Myanmar”.
Dr. Sok Seang is a vice-dean of Faculty of Economics and a professor of Entrepreneurship. He holds a D.B.A. in Management (2009) from the National University of Management, a Master’s in Management (2001) from University Utara Malaysia (UUM), and a Business Professor Certificate from Born ASEAN Project, Japan. He has taught Entrepreneurship since 2001. His doctoral thesis is focused on “Success Factors of Cambodian SMEs.” He has supervised several doctoral students in the area of management. He has published four working papers in NUM Research Series in Cambodia, and one CAS Discussion paper at the Center for ASEAN Studies of Antwerp University in Belgium. He was an advisory board member of JICA Project for Strengthening of SME Support System for the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft. He is a guest speaker on entrepreneurship on TV/radio and also for NGOs/ universities. His family also owns a silver business “Thida Silver Shop.”
Dr. Sau Lay is a professor of Economics and Law. He holds a D.B.A. in Management (2013) from the National University of Management (NUM), a Master’s in Management (2001) from University Utara Malaysia (UUM). He has taught at NUM since 1998. His doctoral thesis is focused on education. He has supervised many doctoral students in the area of management. He has published four working papers in NUM Research Series in Cambodia.
Chen Fan is a PhD candidate of design, focused on design education, design strategy and social innovation. Chen was invited to give speeches by several international conferences related to design, like Cumulus Bengaluru 2017, Cumulus Wuxi 2018, 10 Peking University International PhD Forum of Design Discipline, etc. On the other hand, Chen organized and participated a series of design and research projects at home and abroad, for example, Research in Establishment of International Innovation Cities and Development Strategy of Chinese City Circles, The Innovation of Mudec in Milan, The Protection and Innovation Design of Bell in Bergamo.
Marina Peres born and grew up in Porto, Portugal. She has a PhD degree in Design from Porto University | Aveiro University. She has been working as a multidisciplinary designer, and art director since 1989. As an independent designer she also explore interactive design and motion graphics. Specialized in strategic design thinking for branding and visual identities, offer design services to businesses and organizations by crafting creative solutions through design thinking process and innovation for business problems. As an Assistant Professor, she shares her skills and market experience as a multidisciplinary designer and as a researcher, between Europeia University – IADE | Lisbon, ISMT | Coimbra, PolyU in Hong Kong and University Saint Joseph in Macau. As researcher, she is an integrated researcher at ID+ Research Institute for Design, Media and Culture | Strategic Design Lab. (SD Lab) – Aveiro University. Her research interests lie in the Brand Management and Strategic Communication, with a focus on Strategic Design thinking & Innovation for business.
Malinda Abeynayake  is working as a Program Manager for Student Innovation for Global Health Technology (SIGHT) in The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He pursued his M. Phil in Industrial Engineering and logistics management in HKUST (2013-2016). He is interested in product design, human factors, social innovation and design thinking. He loves working with students and meeting people from different cultures. He won several teaching awards at HKUST. At SIGHT he is conducting workshops, mentor students, evaluate student innovation projects and also manages the logistics/ administration of the program.
Damandeep Kaur has a passion for ‘design’, ‘creation’ and to keep the atmosphere around her a joyful and spirited place to live, as her expression of life. Damandeep believes in creativity as sensitivity to nature, art and beauty around us. She want to create and design, so that our living structures and surroundings become more compatible, habitable and happier spaces for pervading times to come.
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