Creative Nation, a new social impact organisation, will officially be launched this coming Saturday (7 Dec) with the support of the National Youth Council of Singapore (NYC). This event will be Singapore’s first-ever youth-driven social impact convention.
The Creative Nation launch, which will be held at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Cassia Ballroom, Level 3, from 11am to 7pm, aims to bring together more than 50 young social impact creators to champion a future for businesses that generate profitability and positive societal impact.
This start-up is the brainchild of its founder and managing director Hyder Albar, who has been making waves in the space of youth engagement and development. Apart from developing their own products and services for social impact, Creative Nation’s goal is to develop a ground-up shared network of opportunities, access, and resources for the social impact community.
“The way of the future for businesses is profit driven by purpose. Young people are less willing to accept the social ills created by the blind pursuit of profit. A new generation of social impact creators are being born from a demand for solutions that directly meet societal needs,” says Hyder.
“We need champions who demonstrate Singapore’s potential as a hub for businesses that generate both profit and positive societal impact – the two are not mutually exclusive, and we should not only pay lip service to doing good. As a community, we can only achieve both of these goals if we work together as a unit,” he adds.
Guest-of-Honour Sim Ann, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information & Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, will be part of the opening keynote address at Creative Nation’s launch event. The launch will provide a first look at Creative Nation’s services and community-building efforts.
They have thoughtfully curated three segments in this event to give participants different perspectives, including:
- Facilitating discussions on topics such as diversity, gender equality, identity, and inequity.
- Designing experiential engagements that help build bridges of understanding across class and racial lines.
- Showcasing fellow creators who are developing products, services and organizations for social good.
Participants will be able to engage with advocates through discussing various social issues that hit close to home. From discussions on gender equality and female empowerment, to building a sense of shared identity as Singaporeans through food, and dissecting what we as individuals can do to build a sustainable future, the day promises a diverse range of conversations that are guaranteed to leave participants in a state of contemplation.
Speakers include Jesher Loi, third-generation business owner of Ya Kun International, Noor Mastura, Straits Times Singaporean of the Year 2018, and Cheryl Chen, Director of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability S&P.
(2) Showcase: Creators of Good
For this showcase, Creative Nation has pulled together some of the most influential youth social impact organizations in Singapore that work in their various sectors on a myriad of social issues.
In the space of fashion design, ‘Will & Well’ aims to boost inclusivity by designing clothes for persons with disabilities. Meanwhile, online platform ‘The Woke Salaryman’ leverages on creativity to produce engaging financial literacy content that resonates with the masses.
These start-ups are amongst other creators of good who are pioneering a new wave of thinking about how we develop products and services that generate both profit and positive societal impact.
(3) Experiences: Beyond Conversations
The ‘Biases In the Dark’ survey is an experiential live survey, which aims to bring racial biases that may exist in Singapore to light. Conducted in a dark room to ensure anonymity, participants will raise or lower light sticks to indicate their responses to questions or statements that are designed to uncover biases at economic, cultural and institutional levels.
Some examples are:
- My workplace will benefit from being more racially diverse.
- In my social circles, cultural events like Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, and Christmas, are still relevant in bringing people from other races together.
- Will you face resistance from your family, should you choose to marry a person from a different race?
Realizing that our personal biases do not exist in a vacuum is a necessary part of grappling with the changing racial dynamics in our society. This experience therefore provides a space for examining one’s lived experiences, perspectives and assumptions, which have been shaped by deeply ingrained societal structures.
