Impact by Youthopia

Joshua Foong, 29, founded social enterprise Bantu, which sought to bring better technological solutions to the social sector. He now works at NVPC’s Company of Good (COG), where their mission is to make “giving” the business of every organisation. Beyond philanthropy and volunteering, they encourage organisations to also take an integrated and sustainable approach to doing good. In his own time, he is part of Youth Advisory Group (YAG), a committee of youths from diverse backgrounds that provide feedback and, if necessary, challenge the government’s policies, programs, and campaigns concerning young people.

Rupa Shree and Rachel Teh are the co-leaders of Bye Bye Plastic Bags SG, an environmental conservation group which first started in Bali, Indonesia. They are concerned about issues regarding climate change and the environment. These include single-use plastics, sustainability, environmental justice and rights, ecosystems, biodiversity, etc. They hope to inspire the public through education and collaboration, ultimately accelerating policy change towards a more environmentally-sustainable country.

Career development can be uncertain, unintuitive, and often-times uncomfortable. That’s why 26-year-old Victor Zhu founded Hatch, a social enterprise with the mission to make career development achievable and accessible for everyone. Hatch offers end-to-end train and place programs in fast-growing job sectors like Digital Marketing and User Interface, User Experience (UI/UX) Design. They strive to make opportunities accessible to everyone and give the best to those who come through our doors.

Yuvan Mohan, 33, is the chief curator at Young ChangeMakers, an initiative by the National Youth Council for youth who wish to self-propose social projects. His work enables youth to pitch projects and receive funding for projects that benefit the community. At Young ChangeMakers, youth also receive coaching and networking opportunities so as to increase their chances of a successful project.

After seeing social innovators struggle to sustain themselves and scale, 29-year-old Kevin Tan founded Tri-Sector, a social enterprise whose mission is to create systems that enable more effective social innovation. The moving parts include: consulting expertise to help align on problem statements and outcomes, financial modelling expertise to value these outcomes, data analysis expertise to understand if the outcomes were in fact achieved, and process expertise in creating these projects based on global best practices.

Emily Teng, 34, has been doing good for over a decade. In 2007 while studying in University and being a DJ at a local radio station, she founded Blessings In A Bag with the aim of redistributing essential supplies across Asia. Their mission is to be a safe and trusted community space where children from Singapore’s most vulnerable areas can be themselves, learn new skills and grow into confident, compassionate and kind young people.

Apart from making music, Isaac, 33 is also the founder of Colours Global, a company that helps companies and organisations do good. He also uses his music, and media appearances as platforms to raise awareness on his causes. Some of the work that Colours Global also has done includes providing monetary assistance to needy causes, working with Singapore’s Girls Home and improving education in the slums of Batam.

Joel Lim, 28, is the founder of youth collective ZYRUP and project manager for SHINE NOW. His work focuses on enlightening the youth on topics that otherwise would not interest them, such as politics and current affairs. His breakthrough during GE2020 helped him gain a significant following among youths.

In this episode, we speak to 29-year-old Nisha, the founder of Mental ACT! which aims to make mental health more accessible to Singaporeans regardless of race, age or religion. She speaks to us about the stigmas surrounding mental health, her work at Mental ACT! and the importance of Singaporeans being more educated about our mental health.

Hai Lin is 31 years old and the executive director of Zero Waste SG, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to shifting Singapore towards a zero waste system and the circular economy. Her expertise and experience led her to be part of the Climate Action SG Alliance. She joins us in giving a fresh perspective on the sustainable acts we unknowingly do, how we can incorporate sustainability in our lives and how it can help Singapore.