Nann, from our 2019 Cohort, recounts her experience in YSI SEA’s Innovation Programme and her words of wisdom for aspiring young entrepreneurs
The 5 Months Journey
Trust me, I never thought this journey would turn out to be this full of memories and inspiring narratives. When I first applied for the YSI SEA Innovation Programme, I wasn’t exactly sure if it was a competition for the teams to come up with ideas and compete, which was all clearer during the second round of application.
After being selected into the programme, I truly felt that it was a life changing opportunity. The very first moment me and my teammates met on appear.in, it was priceless. We ended up sharing our “craziest stories of all time” with our friendly impact partner who claimed to be the ultimate extrovert, but turned out to be often shy and smart.
The connection grew from that moment on. Jumping back to application process, it was quite challenging because we had to write a lot of essays. I was really nervous both during the application process and the interview. The email confirmation to join the programme was like winning ten thousand dollars lottery, and at the same time an opportunity to do something amazing that I have always dreamt of and the thought that I would be put in a team with the people who are as passionate as I am to do some crazy things to make the world a better place seemed too good to be true.
It feels amazing to be able to do something that you believe in! In my head, I told myself, “Well, guess what guys, screw you all (to the people who put me down for having different ideas). I am going to be an entrepreneur.” Little did I know that was not going to be so easy.
Looking back at the past 5 months with YSI SEA, it is not every day that you get the opportunity to meet with a bunch of passionate people and join a programme with people dedicated to driving sustainable impact. It was purely a personal motivation in the beginning, but it transformed into powerful teamwork and a whole lot of exploration and learning new things.
Being an ambitious person, I was always looking for people who shared the same passion. I was lucky to work with a young woman from Cambodia, the youngest in the team, who was willing to change education for her fellow young students who did not have the opportunity. She brought tremendous contribution to the team. Another teammate was an outstanding young teacher from Cambodia with a lot of experience and passion, nothing could have been done successfully without him.
With the guidance and support from our genius impact partner, we became a robust team. That was not all, it was all the effort the YSI SEA team has put for our programme, a group of young intellectuals supporting every part of the programme, and are driving a sustainable impact in Southeast Asia. Working remotely through online was nothing when you were put with devoted teammates throughout the programme.
Talent Match Institute (TMI)
I started with just motivation and drive in the beginning. Everything was new to me. The online learning modules were quite useful in terms of theoretical knowledge and I had the opportunity to apply that knowledge for the progress of the team, such as empathizing with the users as our very first task and understanding the real problem before working on the solution. Creating our business model hypothesis was one of the hardest, but I really appreciate the support and feedback from the impact partners. I learned a lot of new concepts related to marketing strategies, business models and so much more.
What impact are we trying to achieve? First of all, we all have been there before somewhere sometimes in our life in regard to access to education and we all know the challenge, so do all other students.
We believe that investing in education is the key to success in everything. So, we decided to establish an institution, Talent Match Institute, a training and consultation institution that assists students in exploring and making informed decision on their best-suited majors when they apply for university, to equip them with essential skills in order to enrich their university experience. The pain of not knowing what to do with one’s future will be no more.
The Big Day
The 10 days programme in Singapore was the highlight of the entire 5 months. I finally met with my teammates, our impact partner, who always believes in us, other enthusiastic teams and the whole YSI SEA team. Everyone has been nothing but supportive throughout the programme.
Being part of YSI SEA’s 2019 Cohort and participating in the demo day and showcase was a proud experience. It was the day where all of us from different background showed our effort, strength and unity in striving for sustainable impact in Southeast Asia.
Preparing for the demo day and showcase was exciting and challenging at the same time, and who would have thought one day I would meet friends who, like me, were hungry for change over some late night snacks in Singapore!
Finally, the demo day and showcase. It was somehow fun and at some point a little nerve-wrecking, but it was all worth the effort.
After this, I will never see the world the same again. To those young entrepreneurs out there, do join YSI SEA. You might be surprised with what you can do for change together.
Alright! That's a wrap. But here is what I want to tell my batch of 2019...
"I don't think we are brought together by fate, it was rather our passion, motivation and ambition we have for ourselves and for our communities to create sustainable impact. For the first time in my life, I felt like home with you guys. Who knows! It's a small world. We will meet again someday."
To Young Entrepreneurs Out There
If you think there is a real problem in your community, if you believe in driving impact and you have passion, go out there and do it. Believe in your ability to make change. “Be crazy enough to think you can change the world and be bold enough to actually do it (YSI SEA)”
Nann Ei Phyu, YSI SEA 2019 Cohort
