Sabah Youth Council to promote social entrepreneurship

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Youth Council has launched a Sabah Youth in Social Entrepreneurship (Synergy) programme aimed to give a positive impact on youth economic and local community development via social entrepreneurship (SE).

The programme, which was launched yesterday, will open its application to all youths up until March 21.

Sabah Youth Council president Ahmad Farid Sainuri said there were over 2,000 registered young entrepreneurs in Sabah, most of whom venturing into small-scale food production and services and have made their name and businesses well known in Malaysia, such as BorneoCocoa, EZPlast, Kundasang Aquafarm and Mount Kinabalu Coffee.

“SE is an approach by start-up companies or entrepreneurs and it is new among Sabahan youths, hence, we have organised this programme as an effort to promote the youth to be involved in both economic activities that impact the community and environment positively,” he said in a statement here yesterday.

The Synergy programme is supported by the Sabah Sports and Youth Ministry, with its unit Sabah Creative Economy and Innovation Centre (SCEIC) and the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) Malaysia.

Meanwhile, SCEIC general manager Viviantie Sarjuni in the same statement said that with collective efforts by all stakeholders, the concept of SE would be adapted by many more entrepreneurs in the state.

“We need to strengthen the business model even more by learning further about SE such as the type of many social enterprises business models, impact measurement, sustainability and others that are related.

“Especially during a pandemic, such business models will be able to aid the economy by bridging the gaps between different social income. We will definitely support any programs that can churn out more youth entrepreneurs and strive to improve the program execution from time to time,” she said.

More information on the Synergy programme can be obtained at www.sabahsynergy.com.