GKP Forum on Social Entrepreneurship - 21 May 2008, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[Anthony David]

Hi everyone, just to keep you posted, if anyone is able to join us here in KL, please email me!!



GKP FORUM on Social Entrepreneurship
Empowering Youth through Entrepreneurship
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


Attend the GKP FORUM on Social Entrepreneurship to learn how Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) is championing social innovation and entrepreneurship as powerful means achieve equitable and sustainable socio-economic development through its Youth Social Enterprise Initiative (YSEI). YSEI, a GKP Global Partnership Programme, helps combat youth unemployment and poverty by inspiring them to be realise their entrepreneurial initiatives while simultaneously benefiting their communities.

This GKP Forum features The Tigers’ Lair which will see some of these young go-getters pitch to seasoned entrepreneurs and professionals for funding to support their business ideas, and the specially designed Talk Show: “Social Entrepreneurs Spearheading a Better Future!” offering great tips on the nurturing of a successful social enterprise.

The Forum is held in conjunction with the World Congress on Information Technologies 2008 (WCIT 2008) in Kuala Lumpur, 18-22 May 2008.

Don’t forget to meet the latest batch of YSEI Finalists during the Launch of the YSEI Fellowships 2008 at the GKP Pavilion in the KL Convention Centre, immediately after the Forum!

Role Players

•Rinalia Abdul Rahim, Executive Director, Global Knowledge Partnership
•Aida Opoku-Mensah, Director, ICT and Science & Technology Division (ISTD), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Africa
•Roslan Bakri Zakaria, Head of Technopreneur Development Division, Multimedia Development Corporation Malaysia (MDeC), Malaysia
•William Du, Chief Executive Officer, Ingenious Haus Group, Malaysia
•Anwar Ali Mustafa Bin Jumabhoy, Senior VP, Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd (MAVCAP)
•Sunit Shrestha, Co-founder of Youth Social Enterprise Initiative (YSEI) & Director of TRN Institute, Thailand
•Darren Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of Intrivent Global & Founder of VCsAndAngels.com, Malaysia
•Brad R. Kane, Director of International Development, TechSoup, Global
•Christoph Roessner, Project Development Head, Chasquinet Foundation, Ecuador

Contact : Anthony David, GKP at [e-mail].

Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) is the world's first multi-stakeholder network in the area of ICT for development. Established in 1997 with a mission to share knowledge and build partnerships, GKP connects organisations across sectors and regions to promote knowledge and innovation in the use of ICT for development. GKP is governed by its members and supported by a global Secretariat based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Join us @ www.globalknowledge.org/join.

BACKGROUND

“How can youth be empowered to help alleviate poverty, unemployment and lack of education?”

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that around 88 million young women and men throughout the world are unemployed, accounting for 47 percent of the 186 million unemployed persons globally. The empowerment of these youth has been of great concern all over the world.

Developing and implementing strategies for creating sustainable employment opportunities for youth presents persistently as a top agenda for governments, employers, labour organisations and international institutions. At the forefront is the United Nations which Millennium Development Goals calls for global partnerships that develop worthwhile and productive jobs for youths and that also address environmental sustainability.

Social innovation and entrepreneurship are powerful means for increasing youth employment, which in turn helps they break free from the vicious cycle of poverty and social exclusion. Entrepreneurship drives innovation and economic growth by enabling new ideas, novel approaches, and innovative technologies to reach the marketplace. Entrepreneurship creates jobs and by integrating youth participation into emerging labour markets, marginalised youth can be connected to the economic mainstream and given a rightful place in shaping their own future. Youth-driven entrepreneurship helps to address some of the socio-psychological problems arising from joblessness by encouraging youth to gain new skills and experiences that can be applied to overcome life’s tribulations, while challenging them to test innovative, new ideas which offer the opportunity for economic independence.

GKP FORUM on Social Entrepreneurship

“Enter the Tigers’ Lair: Social Entrepreneurs Pitch for Scale-up Funding”
9:00 am, Mandarin Oriental

The Tiger’s Lair pits 4 entrepreneurs in a high-profiled contest to bid for funding to expand their social enterprises. The contestants are young social entrepreneurs based in developing countries, who believe in the viability of their enterprises, offering high potential for returns. Each will be a one-time opportunity to pitch their business plans to the ‘Tigers’ – a panel of 5 successful entrepreneurs and funders. The winner must pass the Tigers’ probe in order to be considered for funding, business advice, mentorship, and global networking opportunities.

Talk-Show: “Social Entrepreneurs Spearheading a Better Future!”
10:30 am, Mandarin Oriental

This talk show will unravel the key to nurturing social entrepreneurs and enterprises: what is needed to be a social entrepreneur, what do social entrepreneurs need, where and how they can access funding and other types of support. An esteemed panel of experts, innovators and thought leaders, will share their wisdom, experience and creative insights - valuable advice to ‘young guns wanting to make it in life’. It will also explore how agile and innovative social entrepreneurs can benefit from such relationships, looking at opportunities and challenges from all sides and exploring issues such as innovation, finance, scale-up and mutual benefit. Don’t miss out on free advice!

YSEI Fellowships 2008 Launch
12:30 pm, GKP Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre

This Forum will culminate with the Launch of the YSEI Fellowships 2008 at the GKP Pavilion at the WCIT 2008 Exhibition Area in the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) at 12:30pm. The YSEI Fellowships (www.ysei.org) recognises the potential of young social entrepreneurs in contributing to socio-economic growth. The Fellowships provide start-up support for young social entrepreneurs from developing countries to hone and nurture their innovative ideas. YSEI Fellowships 2008 will provide support for 10 Fellows with a seed & start up funding totalling USD 125,000, on-site mentorship, essential development knowledge and tools on social entrepreneurship as well as access to diverse networks. Twenty candidates have been shortlisted through an online competition for the Fellowships this year. Visit the GKP Pavilion to vote for your favourite YSEI Fellow and witness the official launch of YSEI Fellowship 2008!

ROLE PLAYERS

Rinalia Abdul Rahim
Executive Director, Global Knowledge Partnership

Rinalia Abdul Rahim is Executive Director of the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), the world’s first global multi-stakeholder network of government, business and civil society organisations active in using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for development. She established the GKP Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur in 2001, and currently heads its operations and provides leadership and strategic guidance. She is currently an ex-officio member of the GKP Executive Committee and served Chair of the committee which delivered GKP’s Event on the Future, Third Global Knowledge Conference in 2007. She was also a member of the International Advisory Panel for the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society’s ICT4D Platform.

Rinalia began her career as a policy technologist in 1997 with the National Information Technology Council (NITC) of Malaysia, the primary advisor and consultant to the Malaysian Government on matters pertaining to ICT for national development. At NITC she was entrusted with managing the Council’s Governance Agenda portfolio and has represented the nation at many international meetings and conferences. She has a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Princeton University.

Aida Opoku-Mensah,
Director, ICT and Science & Technology Division (ISTD), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Africa

Based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Aida Opoku-Mensah is Director of the ICT, Science and Technology Division of the UN Economic Commision for Africa (ECA). She has held previous positions working on ICT4D initiatives throughout Africa, including serving as Team Leader for the Development Information Services Division of ECA as well as having worked for the Ford Foundation’s West Africa office in Lagos, Nigeria.

Aida established the Panos Southern Africa regional based in Lusaka, Zambia, serving as the first director of this regional office. Prior to this she lectured at London’s City University on Communication Policy and for many years covered African political, economic and social issues reporting for the BBC World Service for Africa and Radio Nederlands International, the Dutch World Service. She is currently spearheading the work of ECA in the area of knowledge economy in Africa and serves on the Executive Committee of GKP.

Brad R. Kane,
Director of International Development, TechSoup, Global

Bradford Kane is the Director of International Development for TechSoup, which is extending the TechSoup Global network to serve the civil society sector worldwide (www.techsoup-global.org). TechSoup Global provides NGOs with technology resources and knowledge for capacity building to improve their mission effectiveness. Brad is also the CEO of the International Commission on Workforce Development (www.icwfd.org), which provides job skills training in developing countries (and disadvantaged sectors of all countries) via e-learning to help bridge the digital divide.

Brad began his career working in Congress, serving as Legislative Counsel to Congresswoman Cardiss Collins (D-IL), and as Counsel to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Competitiveness. During this time, he also served on the President's Health Care Task Force. When he returned to California, Brad served the State of California as Deputy Controller, Legislation, and subsequently as Deputy Secretary for Information Technology at the Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency. Additionally, Brad has been a member of the Nielsen Media Research Corp.’s Independent Task Force on Television Measurement, the Vice President of a consulting firm, the Executive Director of the Coalition on Media Concerns, and a consultant on technology, economic development, and empowerment advocacy initiatives. Brad received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis, and his law degree from U.C. Hastings College of Law.



Roslan Bakri Zakaria
Head of Technopreneur Development Division, Multimedia Development Corporation Malaysia (MDeC), Malaysia

Roslan Bakri Zakaria studied in Indiana State University, USA. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Economics and his objective in life is to play a role in the development of human capital through entrepreneurship and to contribute back to the society and country. During his early years, Roslan has set up network solution in an oil & gas trading company, strategized an online ticketing system for a sports stadium and strategized/ implemented Malaysia’s first online KL Stock Exchange.

Among his achievements are securing RM 4 million of seed fund from an Angel Investor to start-up an online stock market exchange in year 2000 and securing RM 1.69 million seed fund from a bank backed Venture Capitalist in year 2002.

Roslan is the co-founder of the New Entrepreneurs Forum, technical committee member for the development of the 9th Malaysia Plan, collaborated with the Technopreneur Association of Malaysia (TeAM) in the strategizing development and implementation of the CRADLE Investment Program (CIP) and currently head the Technopreneur Development Division in MDeC


Christoph Roessner
Project Development Head, Chasquinet Foundation, Ecuador

Christoph Roessner studied in Hamburg, Germany and Siena, Italy. He holds a diploma degree in Informatics and Political Science of the University of Hamburg. During his studies he worked for more than five years in the field of electronic data interchange (EDI) for international logistics. Since October 2004, he works for the ChasquiNet Foundation in Quito, Ecuador. His working fields are project development and process management. Since mid 2005 Christoph is the responsible of ChasquiNet for the development and implementation of the iMalls project.


William Du
Chief Executive Officer, Malaysia Ingenious Haus, Malaysia

William graduated from the University of Hertfordshire with Masters of Business Administration and a first class honours in BA (Hons) Accounting. William started his career as a trainee accountant in London. Later, he joined PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), specializing in transfer pricing and tax investigation. He left PwC to join Star Cruises Ltd as senior corporate planning executive before setting up his own consultant firm in 2003. William has extensive experience in debt and equity fund rising, corporate restructuring, corporate development and competitive strategy.

William serves as Management Committee of Malaysia Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and Executive Council member of Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia.


Sunit Shrestha
Co-founder of Youth Social Enterprise Initiative (YSEI) & Director of TRN Institute, Thailand

Sunit is co-founder and program lead of YSEI (www.ysei.org ). In addition to YSEI, he runs his own social venture called TRN. TRN specializes in developing solutions and strategies to catalyze social innovation. To date, its innovations consist of a grassroots technologies program to alleviate poverty in the Northeast of Thailand, social investment funds for young social entrepreneurs, a volunteer brokerage that matches volunteers with opportunities and a platform to encourage open society participation within Thailand. Visit TRN at www.trnlab.org.

Anwar Ali Mustafa Bin Jumabhoy
Senior Vice President, Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd (MAVCAP)

Anwar holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK and Masters in Business Administration (Hons) from International Management Development Institute, Switzerland. His career began in 1980 as Naval Architect with Sunderland Shipbuilders Ltd. He moved to Singapore in 1982 and joined Keppel-FELS Limited as an Engineer and later promoted to Corporate Development Executive before he left in 1987 in pursuit of his Masters in Business Administration. Following on, he has held management positions in a number of companies. From 2001 and 2004, he was engaged as a consultant by New Technology & Innovation Sdn Bhd and Efficient E-Solutions Berhad, to assist in the listing of these companies on the Singapore Exchange Ltd and MESDAQ Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad (“Bursa Securities”), respectively. He joined MAVCAP in 2004, where he is currently the Senior Vice President, responsible for investments in technology companies.

Darren Lee
CEO and Co-Founder of Intrivent Global & Founder of VCsAndAngels.com, Malaysia

Darren Lee spearheads Intrivent Global - an Internet R&D company that won many awards in 2007 that brought his team to half way across the world from Geneva to Philippines. Some of his prominent involvement in ICT includes representing Malaysia at the 2007 UNGAID Youth and ICT Forum in Switzerland and other projects such as collaboration with UNICEF Malaysia to launch a web portal for urban youth or even leading the content development team for Xfresh – the online teen community brand when he was in ASTRO. He is also currently pursuing other promising Web 2.0 projects such as VCsAndAngels.com, ShareFlyer.com and AdExcel.com.

Darren Lee holds a BSc (Hons) Degree in Computing majoring in Internet Technology from University of Staffordshire. Also, his work experiences span from the marketing line to being a professional trainer; and finally spent about four years in Malaysia’s biggest media broadcasting company at ASTRO.

[Gladys]

Hi Anthony! It there a scholarship or sponsorship for the GKP forum. :)

[Anthony David]

sorry no funding this time around....:(