Empowering ASEAN Youths, The Maybank Way

By Ali Imran Mohd Noordin BANGKOK, Feb 27 (Bernama) -- One hundred youth leaders from across ASEAN recently gathered at Chulalongkorn University here to come up with innovative solutions to improve the socio-economic condition of communities in ASEAN countries.   The five-day Regional Capacity Building and Orientation Workshop is part of the “eMpowering Youths Across ASEAN”  programme (eMpower), a partnership programme between Maybank Foundation and the ASEAN Foundation. Ten youths between 19 and 35 years old from all ASEAN countries were carefully selected from a pool of 2,650 applicants for the programme. Participants were youths who had contributed and advocated for community development initiatives of impact in their home countries. The workshop served as a platform to equip them with the necessary training, knowledge and skills before they embarked on two-week community projects in Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia. According to Maybank Foundation CEO Shahril Azuar Jimin, one of the aspirations of the programme was to fulfil the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025, which aims to elevate the quality of life of ASEAN peoples. “This programme also aspires to fulfil four United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, it will become a tool not only for ASEAN but the UN as well. We are the only financial institution acting in this manner; by working with youths and serving the community. “The 100 youths here are already champions in their own fields. This programme is a capacity building exercise to enhance what they already have and as additional training on strategic thinking to formulate programmes that can give impact to society and can be incubated into sustainable social enterprises,” he said. Following the workshop, participants were given access into the programme’s funding of USD200,000 for their respective group projects. The projects will cover focus areas such as environmental diversity, education, arts and culture as well as community empowerment. Participants will work closely with civil society organisations (CSO) from the above countries especially in providing insights on social, economic and political situations in areas where the project will be conducted. The CSOs will also sustain the work of the participants upon the completion of their two-week term by handing over the management of the projects to the CSOs. YOUTH CHALLENGES Maybank’s Group Chief Human Capital Officer Nora Manaf in her welcoming remarks at the workshop’s opening ceremony said that youths needed to be prepared for the digital economy and be sensitised to what was needed to ensure prosperity in a sustainable way. For that, it was fundamental for ASEAN to receive help from all of its stakeholders such as the public and private sectors, academia and civil society. “This is the area which we at Maybank are so passionate about. Investing significantly in the development of our youths is a mandate that we take seriously. This is how we humanise financial services and do business to ensure that we provide sustainable future for generations to come,” she said. Nora explained that eMpower started out as an initiative by Maybank Singapore in 2016 to champion youth volunteerism by partnering with Singapore Management University, Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore. Today it is one of the six flagship programmes that Maybank Foundation -  the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Maybank Group -  runs across Southeast Asia. “In both 2016 and 2017 Maybank has disbursed over RM1.8 million (USD 450,000) in partnership with these three universities in Singapore,” she added. eMpower has, since its inception in 2016, funded 13 high-impact projects aimed at reducing poverty in ASEAN communities such as lack of water and electricity supply, poor sanitation, waste management and coastal erosion. BEING DYNAMIC                                                        Meanwhile, the Director of Community Affairs, ASEAN Secretariat Lee Yoong Yoong said there were 230 million youths in ASEAN,  making up almost one third of the region’s population. “With such a huge number, ASEAN must be dynamic. It needs to prepare itself for the future. Many have heard about the Industrial Revolution 4.0, however there are also other things that are going around such as ‘Society 5.0’ and ‘Digitalisation 2.0’. More will come as society advances and new technology emerges. “With all these opportunities and disruption to our daily lives, I believe the youths will be able to pick out what is good, what is emerging and what are the challenges to expect. We hope to see more youth entrepreneurship, youth employability and more embarking into lifelong learning,” he said in his opening speech at the same event. EAGER TO CONTRIBUTE For the participant from Thailand, Vasan Narang, having the experience of running several social enterprises inspired him to increase his contribution towards society. “I will be joining the project on environmental diversity in Indonesia and luckily it is something that is close to my heart,” said Vasan, whose social enterprises were related to agriculture and environmental sciences in the Mekong region. Malaysian participant Shaz Elaine Mohd Khamil, meanwhile, will be joining the team to mission to Cambodia on an environmental diversity project. “It is something new to me, but it is an exciting opportunity. I don’t think there are many opportunities that allow you to express yourself in a productive manner like this. I am not well-versed with the environmental aspects of the project but I can apply my management and strategic designing knowledge to come up with a sustainable programme,” she said. Indonesian participant Irvandias Sanjaya believed that his knowledge and experience in social entrepreneurship empowering the disabled community back home would be beneficial to the community empowerment projects he would be involved in in Malaysia. He believed that if local entrepreneurs were taught to calculate their cost correctly and to use technology to market their product efficiently, small entrepreneurs would be able to grow and with proper guide, they could expand their business and unlock many other opportunities. -- BERNAMA