Unitar becomes Talent pipeline partner in Asia Pacific Future 100

Aug. 4, 2009 - PRLog -- In May 2009, Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (Unitar) was invited to be a Talent Pipeline Partner by the Foundation of Youth Social Entrepreneurship (FYSE), which is based in Beijing, to support a regional programme that promotes entrepreneurship among young people in the Asia Pacific. The regional programme is called Asia Pacific Future 100 or Future 100, in short. It is an inspirational project that seeks to recognise, acknowledge and promote promising young entrepreneurs and social change makers from Asia.

The project aims to enable young entrepreneurs and young people who are active and passionate about social work to become inspirational role models to other youths in Asia. It seems that young people in Asia lack role models from their societies whom they can identify with. Well known entrepreneurs are either from abroad or too old to relate to the young. Asian youth needs role models who are from their own countries, of around the same age and generation that can motivate and ignite the entrepreneurial mindset, spirit and spark.

These role models, who hardly ever make headlines at their home countries despite their tremendous social and economic contributions, now have a platform to raise entrepreneurship awareness in Asia Pacific. One hundred young entrepreneurs and social change makers across Asia Pacific under the age of 30 will be selected and their stories will serve as an inspiration for start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs. Nominations will come from Malaysia, China, Mongolia, Japan, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Talent Pipeline Partners are organisations and universities which are actively engaged in nurturing young entrepreneurs in the region.

In Malaysia, Unitar will promote and nominate young people who meet the criteria. It is seeking young entrepreneurs who dared to stride out and take the risks of setting up their own business, social enterprise or NGO. It wishes to recognise and celebrate the remarkable young people who may have had to overcome great challenges to realise their vision. This is in line with the vision and mission of the university to be a leading institution and centre of excellence in fostering entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial talent in emerging economies.

The projects or ventures to be nominated can be in the form of commercial entrepreneurship ventures or social entrepreneurship projects. Commercial entrepreneurs are individuals who set up a business in any field of commerce, with the main objective of achieving financial returns. Social entrepreneurs or social change makers on the other hand are individuals who have set up a business, social enterprise, NGO or an informal sustainable project with the sole objective of achieving social returns.

As indicated by the title of the programme, "Future 100", only 100 role models will be selected from a potential pool of nominees across Asia. When these success stories are told, it would increase the awareness about entrepreneurship among Malaysian youths and encourage and motivate them to be involved in entrepreneurship and societal development activities.

Those who are selected as the Future 100 fellows will be profiled through blogs, interviews and videos to showcase their entrepreneurial endeavours and will also be required to speak at schools and universities. The platform can actually serve to promote the entrepreneurs not only in Malaysia but all over Asia as well. These role models will be celebrated and awarded the Future 100 fellowship at a two-day Change Catalyst Conference, which will be held in November 2009, in Hong Kong, in conjunction with the Global Entrepreneurship Week.

For details such as the eligibility criteria, and terms and conditions, visit www.unitar.edu.my and e-mail sifeunitar.future100@gmail.com.

The secretariat for this project is SIFE Unitar. As soon as you email to the designated address, an assigned SIFE Unitar member will guide you through the process. To know more about FYSE, you can visit www.fyse.org

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FYSE focuses on building an entrepreneurial environment for young people through the Future 100 as a regional youth entrepreneurship campaign.

Aim: to raise awareness of entrepreneurship among young people and to inspire them to become entrepreneurs.