MAKING AN IMPACT
Nadiah Hanim Abdul Latif has over 20 years of experience from corporate to NGOs and humanitarian
efforts. By day, she is the head of the strategy and programmes at Yayasan Anak Bangsa Bisa ( YABB), an impactdriven foundation launched by the GoTo Group, Indonesia's largest digital ecosystem, in March 2020. The Foundation was formed to help enable changemakers accelerate social and environmental change whilst leveraging on technology and innovation.
Nadiah is passionate about child rights and youth development, advocating for individuals and families living with rare disorders and special needs. She is the regional representative of the Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Foundation and a member of the National Committee for Rare Diseases Malaysia as well as a Bernama News Channel anchor.
In June 2021, she was elected president of the Malaysian Rare Disorders Society, a role she juggles on top of being a children’s court advisor and assistant child protector for Petaling Jaya and a cofounder of OpiS International and Play Unlimited, social enterprises committed to championing healthy families, child rights and play.
“I would never consider myself a woman of power; in fact, I would avoid that statement completely. We might be in a fortunate position to do or act on something, but we’re all mere mortals, and all power belongs to the Creator,” Nadiah shares. “We need to make the best of this perceived ability or power that we have, for as long as it is on loan to us. Realising that we are nothing without our Creator is grounding and a source of motivation to do all I can to live with meaning, respecting and uplifting one another.”
Nadiah is actively involved in a number of programmes driven toward social impact and environmental sustainability. From working alongside teams and advocates to tackle issues of water access and reducing socio-economic vulnerabilities due to hydro-meteorological disasters in Indonesia and the region, to supporting multi-university research for the first-of-its-kind tsunami early warning alert system in the Mentawai Channel, she finds joy in service and collaboration.
On the local front, Nadiah is working on a new project with her co-founders, to divert plastic waste from toys from filling landfills. The effort aims to repurpose, repair and recycle discarded toys, redirecting them toward children in need. “The inequity in play in Malaysia is a larger problem than we realise. Play is crucial to both development and well-being. We hope to be able to set up five toy recycling hubs and eight toy libraries in marginalised communities in the near future.”
“We might be in a fortunate position to do or act on something, but we’re all mere mortals, and all power belongs to the Creator. We need to make the best of this perceived ability or power that we have, for as long as it is on loan to us.”