2023 A2ELP Delegates
We are pleased to introduce the participants of the 2023 Australia-ASEAN Emerging Leaders Program (A2ELP).
Leaders amongst their country’s young entrepreneurs, the following social entrepreneurs span social enterprises around farming, fashion, education, disability, crafts, mental health, indigenous tourism, social entrepreneurship, media, environment, transport and more.
Huong Dang
HopeBox
Vietnam
Huong Dang is a social entrepreneur and founder of HopeBox, a Social Enterprise based in Vietnam that provides employment, training, and opportunities to victims of gender-based violence. She used to work as Director of Partnerships and Strategy of KOTO, an organization that aids and empowers at-risk and disadvantaged youth in Vietnam. From a humble beginning as a street kid, Huong made her way to Melbourne via a scholarship and was honored as Victoria’s International Student of the Year. In 2021, Huong was recognized as the winner of Women of the Future under the category of Social Entrepreneur. She completed a Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. In 2022, she was selected as one of the 16 global leaders to join the Yale University Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program where she spent a semester studying at Yale University.
Rezki Achyana
Parakerja
Indonesia
Rezki Achyana is 26 years old Indonesian, and has a big interest in disability issues.
Rezki has been worked in the disability inclusion and empowerment since 2014, by managing four special schools in Riau Islands Province, and built Parakerja in 2018, a startup that aims for digital transformation of education, accessibilities, and job training for people with disabilities, which now already has 42,000 users all around Indonesia.
Parakerja is the first and the biggest platform in Indonesia to learn Indonesian Sign Language, which empowers Deaf individuals as the teacher, and more than 2.500 people have graduated since 2018.
Ira Puspita
Kayu & Co.
Australia
A migrant entrepreneur from Indonesia living in Sydney. Indonesia contains more than 300 ethnic groups and is reflected in the diversity of our art forms. It saddens me to see the gradual decline in production of local art and handicraft in the face of industrialisation and globalisation. Specifically, the reality of plastics presented as a more affordable material option over more traditional woods and metals. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to study social entrepreneurship at Macquarie University. In my studies, I developed a better understanding of social entrepreneurship as well as foundational ingredients required for a successful business.
Khun Kyaw Zayar Win
MyFarmer Labs
Myanmar
A young social entrepreneur and digital marketing professional, born and raised in a smallholder farmer’s family, has over five years of experience in the Myanmar digital landscape. He is the founder of a successful marketing-tech company in upper Myanmar and the CEO and founder of MyFarmer Labs, a new normal Myanmar-based agri-tech social enterprise aimed at enabling smallholder farmers to better access finance, markets, and quality inputs by bridging them with individuals to institutional investors and buyers at low cost.
His aim is to provide financial support, economic empowerment, and new income opportunities for farmers using his digital skills and technical knowledge. He believes that digital services and platforms are key to rapid change and equality for underserved communities.
Cameron Cliff
Impact by Design
Australia
Cam is a storyteller and experience designer with a focus on education, social change and domestic and family violence prevention. Building on a PhD in world building and business development, he has spent the last decade building social enterprises for organisations like Go1, Lifeline, UNSECO and Beyond Blue. Learning from that success, he’s excited to be taking the next step and launching his own in the form of Impact by Design.
Nathaniel Diong
Future Minds Network
Australia
Nathaniel Diong is the CEO of Future Minds Network. In 2022, he was named as Asia’s most influential entrepreneurs, in Forbes 30 under 30. His social enterprise has helped tens thousands of youth to secure their dream jobs and create their own. This includes founding 3D-printing businesses, software applications and charities supporting 10,000 elderly residents. A social entrepreneur at heart, Nathaniel works directly with government to run employment programs that give power back to marginalised communities. He works with school and universities to reimagine how we deliver entrepreneurial and life skills training. He also advises corporations and C-level executives in over 36 countries on how to attract diverse young talent, create better workplaces and unlock Gen Z efficiency.
Salman Warsame
Local Transit Co.
Australia
Salman is the co-founder of Local Transit Co., a Melbourne-based work-integrated social enterprise aimed at improving the sustainability of work in the taxi industry for East African migrants and refugees, as well as the reliability of accessible public transport for people with disabilities. Some of its clients include the Victoria State Government, Metro Trains Melbourne, and the Level Crossing Removal Authority. Before Local Transit Co., Salman spent several years working for a Big Four bank while completing a degree in Economics and Management Information Systems.
Daniel Teoh
Native Discovery
Malaysia
Daniel Teoh is the Founder of Native Discovery, a social enterprise that builds businesses together with indigenous communities in Malaysia. Trained as an engineer, Daniel instead chose an entrepreneurial life path after recognising the positive impact that purpose-driven businesses can have on society.
Beyond Native, Daniel has been involved in the social impact sector in the Asian region for over 5 years where he wore multiple hats on a wide range of projects ranging from social housing to climate solutions.
Christian Bien
Elucidate Education
Australia
Coming from a background with both parents as boat refugees from the Vietnam War, Christian has been inspired to give back to the community that has given his family a second chance. Growing up he has seen first-hand the transformative power of education and through his role as Co-Founder and CEO of Elucidate Education, he leads a team operating a free learning platform and equitable textbooks with the ambition to provide every Australian student with the support they need to achieve.
Christian’s background includes 3 years of experience in corporate strategy and consulting and holds qualifications from the Chartered Accountants Program, Bachelor of Commerce from Curtin University and International Honours Program from Stanford University.
Prima Pisuttisarun (Fair)
MindTerra
Thailand
Fair is the co-founder of MindTerra. With a Master’s from University of Pennsylvania in Bioengineering and Engineering Entrepreneurship, Fair has worked in a variety of settings from large corporations to pre-seed and series A start-ups in the field of health and technology. She also serves as the Impact Officer for World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers community in Bangkok, a network of young people driving local dialogue, action and change. Fair is also certified in Psychological First Aid and IAC coaching.
Gabriel Tan
Bamboo Builders
Singapore
Mr Gabriel Tan is Founder of Bamboo Builders, a Singapore-based educational consultancy that nurtures ASEAN youth to solve ASEAN societal problems through social entrepreneurship.
Impact Entrepreneur of the Year and Singapore’s Top 35 Entrepreneurs under 35, Gabriel has led numerous regional projects in creating systemic change through social entrepreneurship.
A certified Apple Educator, Gabriel specialises in Design Thinking, training, and writing impactful curriculum. Gabriel has consulted for multiple organisations ranging from governments to non-profits. His most recent project involves building a vocational training centre for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).
Khairunnisa Ash'ari
Green Brunei
Brunei
Khairunnisa runs Green Brunei, which is a social enterprise dedicated to promoting environmental sustainability through education, conservation and advocacy. In the last 10 years, Green Brunei has grown from a purely voluntary platform model to serving clients in the corporate industry by providing CSR programmes to support environmental initiatives. Green Brunei has conducted over 200 projects nationwide including tree planting, workshops, cleanups, competitions and recycling programmes.
In addition, Khairunnisa is the Lead Coordinator for the EU-Brunei Darussalam Partnership Facility, a project under PT. Trippcons Internasional funded by the European Union.
In 2020, she was elected as the President of the Brunei Youth Council, which focuses on advancing youth opportunities and amplifying youth voices locally and globally, through collaborations and youth representation in different platforms, including policymaking. She is currently serving her second term as the first female president of the youth council.
She is formerly a Legislative Council Member from 2017 – 2022, where she champions various welfare issues specifically on women empowerment, special needs, climate change and national development.
Manithaythip Thephavanh (Jeab)
Edu-Toy Bank & Library
Laos
Manithaythip Thephavanh or Jeab is a junior researcher from Laos. After working with several local and Australian senior researchers in Laos, she was inspired to continue her study in Australia. While studying in Australia, Jeab has chances exploring community centres and libraries including children toys library. Seeing the benefits of the toys library especially on fostering childhood development, reducing parents’ expenditure and waste; Jeab comes up with an idea of starting her first social enterprise in her home town where there is a limit access to the public learning space and library with majority low and middle incomes local residents.
Noreen Bautista
Panublix
Philippines
Noreen has been co-founding social enterprises and startups since 2010 and is a Certified Innovation Professional by the Global Innovation Management Institute. Based in Iloilo City, Philippines, she is co-founder and CEO of Panublix, a tech sourcing platform & marketplace that aims to connect designers with regenerative tropical textiles & artisan craft in Southeast Asia, starting with the Philippines.
She is also Founder and Chief Igniter of SlashIgnite, a social venture studio based in Iloilo City, and Entrepreneur-in-Residence of Ateneo de Manila University, and holds a Masters of Science in Innovation & Business from the Asian Institute of Management.
Sreynith Sam
Minor Act
Cambodia
SAM Sreynith is a 20-year-old Managing Director and Lead Producer of Minor Act – a participatory media agency that amplifies the voice of invisible women, underrepresented youth, and marginalized artists through creative ideas and new media communications.
She is a resilient and compassionate entrepreneur who is deeply interested in tackling social justice issues, raising awareness about inequality, and empowering young women to share their stories and ideas.
Sreynith believes that communication is our most basic human right and that imagination is our most important freedom. Creativity and poetry are not just artistic or social impact products. They are precious forms of human magic we can use to re-create our society’s soul.
