[This can be a sponsored article with HELP Worldwide Faculty.]
Image this: You’re a secondary college pupil tasked with a volunteer venture. You and your group should work with a good NGO or social enterprise as a part of your course’s syllabus.
You decide an organisation and message their socials, drop them a professionally written e mail, and name the cellphone numbers supplied on their website.
However you’re left ghosted. So, you attain out to dozens extra, solely to obtain one reply in the long run, simply barely in time earlier than the venture deadline.
There wants to be a neater method to go about this, and that’s precisely what BRIDGE CONNECT goals to clear up.
The platform bridges the hole between the youth and NGOs to find and securing significant volunteer alternatives.
Based by a gaggle of Sixth Type A-Stage college students from HELP Worldwide Faculty in 2023, the crew went on to bag RM50,000 from a enterprise capital agency and startup accelerator, 1337 Ventures, to pursue their venture as an precise enterprise.
Meet the crew: The BRIDGE CONNECT crew was based by eight Yr 12 college students who had been between 16 and 18 years outdated on the time. They’re Lee Ka Dong, Mia Lee Ying Ying, Skye Teh Xin Yee, Samitinjay De, Julianne Yap, Chong Mae Jian, Germaine Soo Jen Ning, and Katrina Ong Kai Qing.
Bridging the hole
Talking to Vulcan Publish, the scholars shared that the above drawback was one thing they’ve confronted themselves, which impressed their conception of BRIDGE CONNECT.
Whereas constructing their platform, the HELP Worldwide Faculty college students related with the Malaysian Basis for the Blind (MFB) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
The organisations wanted assist creating Malay-to-English braille dictionaries that would profit round 70,000 blind and visually impaired folks within the nation.
“They granted us an enormous alternative to help with the information entry stage for the primary braille dictionary in Malaysia,” shared Mae Jian.
Needing extra arms on deck for the tedious job, the crew utilised their BRIDGE CONNECT platform to collect pupil volunteers.
By this expertise, the BRIDGE CONNECT crew introduced their resolution at their college’s Mission Goal Demo Day, which invited numerous companions from trade, together with 1337 Ventures, represented by its founder, Bikesh Lakhmichand.
It’s the ultimate take a look at of Mission Goal, a programme developed by HELP Worldwide Faculty to educate its younger abilities to assume innovatively and foster an entrepreneurial mindset.
In an interview with BFM, Bikesh acknowledged that he was compelled to fund BRIDGE CONNECT after witnessing the crew’s tenacity and enterprise acumen in constructing their platform.
“They proved to me that it wasn’t simply an concept for his or her college venture. They confirmed me that this was an precise drawback, performed surveys to present that individuals wished their resolution, and then constructed a web site on their very own with out spending a single dime,” recalled Bikesh.
He added that this course of was akin to how startups are created in the true world, and believed that the venture may make an impression in society ought to it pan out as supposed.
“After receiving the funding, we’re working with Mr Bikesh to register us as an SDN BHD firm,” stated Germaine Soo. “Now, we’re within the course of of creating the official web site for BRIDGE CONNECT.”
The crew shared that they’ve since utilised the funds to arrange BRIDGE CONNECT as an official enterprise. This contains the backend processes like hiring an organization secretary, registering the enterprise, and organising a enterprise checking account.
They’ve additionally utilised the funds for on-ground advertising initiatives to drive consciousness about their resolution.
Moreover, BRIDGE CONNECT is connecting pupil volunteers with different types of on-line volunteering resembling managing social media channels for NGOs, writing articles, analysis, and extra. “That is to obtain our objective of creating volunteering extra accessible to college students,” Katrina Ong stated.
Whereas the eight college students behind will probably be transferring on to universities all over the world, they continue to be dedicated to constructing their platform, and can nonetheless achieve this because it’s operated completely on-line.
“We additionally hope to cross this venture on to our juniors in HELP Worldwide Faculty by hiring them as interns to assist handle bodily occasions like workshops and cubicles,” added Katrina. “By doing so, we are able to foster this pupil volunteering neighborhood in Malaysia.”
In the meantime, the braille dictionary is at the moment in growth and has accomplished its prototype stage as of Q1 2023, in accordance to The Star.
Constructing social entrepreneurs
The success of the BRIDGE CONNECT crew may need been more durable to obtain if not for Mission Goal.
A part of the varsity’s Sixth Type (A-Ranges) programme since 2021, it’s a course at HELP Worldwide Faculty the place college students be taught by means of the hands-on expertise of beginning a social enterprise. It goals to uncover college students’ untapped potential that goes past conventional coursework.
For context, conventional A-Ranges contain college students finding out up to 4 topics. At HELP Worldwide Faculty, college students get the choice to go the normal route, or pursue three topics alongside Mission Goal.
At Mission Goal, college students are guided by means of startup fundamentals like ideation, analysis, budgeting, product growth, enterprise planning, advertising, and impression evaluation.
The programme works with consultants within the Malaysian startup scene, specifically 1337 Ventures’ Bikesh, NEXEA’s Justin Lim and Ben Lim, and ScaleUp’s Aaron Sarma.
College students even have the chance to collaborate with native entrepreneurs, giving them entry to first-hand insights and constructing their community.
The Mission Goal journey concludes with Demo Day, throughout which college students will pitch their options and reveal how they will transition into real-world ventures.
Persevering with the success
BRIDGE CONNECT has impacted greater than its beneficiaries, as they’re additionally difficult societal beliefs that youngsters who grew up in our digital world are overly pampered.
“Being from the present technology of prompt gratification, as these college students witness their initiatives making an impression and as their seniors acquire recognition for his or her work, college students grow to be intrinsically motivated to make their initiatives successful,” shared Manmeet Kaur, Mission Goal Coordinator.
She elaborated, “As soon as they’re positioned in a protected surroundings, [and are] explicitly instructed that it’s okay to fail, all college students are keen to strive one thing new and step outdoors their consolation zone.”
Now in its fourth cohort, HELP Worldwide Faculty’s Sixth Type shall be accepting enrolments for his or her August 2024 cohort from now until July.
College students who’ve accomplished their GCSE, SPM, or equal are welcome to be part of the programme and embark on the Mission Goal journey, which you’ll join right here.
- Study extra about BRIDGE CONNECT right here, and HELP Worldwide Faculty’s Sixth Type right here.
- Learn different education-related articles right here.
Featured Picture Credit score: HELP Worldwide Faculty