Breaking Through The Hype of Social Entrepreneurship

A great learning experience tonight on the various spectrum of social entrepreneurship and social innovation. Thank you Laina Greene for Organising this with NUS ACSEP. It was an eye opener to hear from each of the professors who shared their own personal story and discovery journeys of their own purpose, how one's purpose can contribute to impact in the world through social businesses or simply learning by doing or by serving in small ways in a community. Despite doing all, it was also so humbling to hear how the professors are on their journey in still discovering their purpose.. The one last thing Prof Wong Poh Kam said with regards to social entrepreneurs, can we social entrepreneurs let go of the work we do, and leave, pass on the foundations they have built to achieve greater social impact. Good food for thought!

Abstract
There has been a lot of hype in Singapore about social entrepreneurship, and many are still confused about definitions and which organization qualifies as what. Meanwhile, NUS professors have diligently been offering classes about social entrepreneurship and there is growing interest to learn more about social entrepreneurship on campus. This talk seeks to bring students interested in this field together with these various professors to gain valuable insights into why they are passionate about social entrepreneurship, why and what they teach in their courses and a few lessons they feel students wanting to explore this field must truly understand. This talk is a good continuation to last week’s talk about empathy and human centric design by Acumen+Singapore and Ashoka.
These series of talks are the initiative of Laina Greene, Associate Director (Community Development) at the Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy (ACSEP). This is a platform for learning and to gather students into a community interested in social impact and social entrepreneurship. It is also a platform to gather interest in the student body for the upcoming “Crossing the Chasm” Challenge organized as a “consulting style” competition, where students get to assist existing social enterprise in the region and win attractive prizes. Students who help organize this competition, and who participate in this competition will be considered favourably for the NUSBSA Social Impact Prize Award (open to all business school undergrads).
About The Speakers
Prof Albert Teo is Deputy Director (Student Life) at the University Scholars Programme (USP) and Director of the Chuan Thian Poh Community Leadership Programme. He is also an associate professor in the Department of Management & Organisation at NUS Business School. He served as the founding director of the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy in the NUS Business School from July 2008 to June 2011. In November 2011, he set up the Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Programme (CTPCLP) –an undergraduate leadership programme in NUS that focuses on community building and development – where he serves as its director. CTPCLP is based in and supported by the USP.

Prof Wong Poh Kam is concurrently a Professor at the School of Business, as well as Director for NUS Entrepreneurship Centre. He has published in numerous international refereed journals on innovation policy, industrial and competitiveness policy and technology entrepreneurship, and has also consulted widely for international agencies such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, various government agencies in Singapore such as A*STAR, EDB and IDA, and many high tech firms in Asia. His passion is social enterprise development and he is the founder of the DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia.

Dr Tan Lai Yong is a Fellow at the College of Peter and Alice Tan. In 1996, Dr Tan as a medical doctor and his wife, and one year old daughter moved to Yunnan, China, and joined a community development team, working with the poverty affected in remote villages, caring for orphans, disabled children and leprosy affected. in 2004, he was given the Friendship Award for Foreign Experts in Beijing, in 2005 the SIF Award and in 2005 the MILK Award. In 2007, the Yunnan Provincial TV viewers voted him as one of the “Good Citizens of Kunming and he has written several books.
Ms Laina Greene is Associate Director (Community Development) at ACSEP and Senior Adjunct Lecturer at Policy and Strategy Department of NUS Business School. She is also founder of GetIT, Inc in California which incubates tech for good startups and invests into social enterprises. She has worked and travelled to more than 30 countries around the world, has worked as Senior Advisor to Ashoka Indonesia, and is currently Global Ambassador of Unltd Indonesia and Advisor to Acumen+Singapore.
About ACSEP
The vision of the Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy (ACSEP) is to advance understanding and impactful practice of social entrepreneurship and philanthropy throughout Asia through research and education.
Being a resource and knowledge hub, we aim to bridge those who have the ability and desire to do good and with those in need. ACSEP is launching a new “consultancy style” competition called “Crossing the Chasm” Challenge in October 2016 (call for applications will be announced at the other signature event ISSE 2016 on 22 April 2016). Come and learn more about this new upcoming event and about the Social Impact Prize.