Meet Our 2019 ASEAN Youth Fellows

Iqbal Damit is a part-time volunteer since 2010. With a ‘Just say yes now and think later’ attitude, he has organised 32 local and 20 overseas charity and humanitarian projects. He is passonate about raising awareness of volunteerism in the community, particularly the youth.

Iqbal has worked in Brunei , Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Bangladesh. He received the Youth Service Award from the Sultan of Brunei in August 2017. In February 2018, he was the first Bruneian to receive the Commonwealth Points of Lights award, receiving recognition from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his initiative in mobilising aid to Rohingya refugees. In July 2019, he received the ASEAN Youth Award for his work in youth movement and volunteerism in Brunei and ASEAN.

Lieutenant Wan Nurul Naszeerah, MPH, constantly juggles between her two hats – she conducts medical training and research as an infantry-trained military officer on weekdays, and dedicates her time outside work designing strategies to solve Brunei’s rising unemployment and skill gaps through a skill-sharing platform she co-founded, BenchLab.

A graduate student of Yale University, she discovered the benefits of learning new skills beyond her job's domain. Since then, she has been determined to instil the culture of continuous learning in Brunei. To date, over 1,500 individuals have been empowered to earn and learn through her platform.

Moni is the co-founder of Teach For Cambodia (TFC), a homegrown local organisation working to create a positive change in education. Moni has raised over USD1.2 million from the private sector and secured Memorandums of Understanding from the public sector. Today, TFC recruits and places 66 teaching fellows, serving approximately 9,000 children in public schools.

Moni graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Washington University in St. Louis, United States. He was listed on tje Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia and wsa named the New Century Scholar by the Coca-Cola Foundation. He is also a Vice Curator of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shaper Initiative and a lecturer at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

Monorum Som’ is an active member of the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia and is currently the head of UYFC Phnom Penh Secretariat Office. His role contributes significantly to youth development and empowerment in Phnom Penh. He is also a senior civil servant of the Ministry of Environment, serving as the member of the Minister’s cabinet. During his 13 years of professional experience, he has actively contributed to youth mobilisation, youth development and empowerment, policy development, legal service, project management, local governance and development, institutional development and research and development.

Monorum Som’s educational background includes a degree in law from the Royal University of Law and Economics.

Sokunpanha You (Panha) is co-founder and CEO of ZOOM Technology, a Phnom Penh-based early-stage startup that is developing Cambodia’s first digital payments platform. He began his career in banking and has experience working in telecos and non-profits. Panha holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Singapore Management University and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan. He was a Singapore and Fulbright scholar.

Ainun is Head of Analytics, Platform & Regional Business at Grab. His work focuses on empowering Data Science and Analytics teams at Grab with state-of-the-art data platforms, as well as managing a team of Data Analysts & Product Analysts who provide insights for Business & Product teams from the vast data that Grab has.

Aside from the professional work, Ainun is also known as the initiator and co-founder of KawalPemilu.org in 2014 and repeated in 2019 to guard Indonesia's Presidential Election results with open data transparency. In 2019, KawalPemilu’s data was used as evidence materials presented by expert witness for the Constitutional Court following the dispute proceedings.

Tyovan is an entrepreneur, innovator, and founder of Bahaso. He was named in 'Asia 30 Under 30' list by Forbes Magazine and as one of 100 Top Global Young Innovators by YouNoodle. His hope is to catalyse entrepreneurship in Indonesia.

Tyovan started his first tech company when he was only 17 years old. After more than 10 years of hard work, Tyovan has succeeded in developing his tech company. He now runs a company named 'Hi!', a chat platform that aims to become the super app of Indonesia.

Dian started her career in the private sector as a Transfer Pricing Specialist at several of the Big Four consulting companies. Currently, she serves as a Project Economist in the Special Task Force for Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities in Republic of Indonesia. Her main responsibility is to supervise and monitor the performance of the Cooperation Contracts.

Dian is an education enthusiast who acts as the Chairwoman of Indonesia Bright Foundation, a non-profit organisation focusing on children’s education. Her interest includes research, lecturing and coaching, networking, philanthropic activities, and policy development.

Dian holds a Bachelor degree of Economics from Airlangga University and Master of Business Administration from Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia.

Patrya is the Founding CEO of INSPIRASI, a non-profit with the goal of building continuous professional development for school principals in Indonesia. As only 2% of school principals have professional training, the lack of support for school principals contributes to Indonesia’s learning crisis where quality of educatoin remains low/

Patrya studied public policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and London School of Economics for his masters. He was formerly a teacher at Indonesia Mengajar, and had policy and research-related posts at organisations such as the Worldbank, Ministry of Education and J-PAL Southeast Asia.

Ronny is the Director of Indika Foundation, a non-profit company focused on peace and character building. Prior to Indika Foundation, Ronny was an Aide to the Governor of Jakarta, handling human capital and organisational affairs.

Ronny has always been interested in building ecosystems to promote stakeholder collaboration, especially to tackle public issues. In early 2018, together with his teammates at Indika Foundation, he co-founded toleransi.id, a platform which serves as hub for Indonesian youth to meet peace activists or leaders through online and offline events. Ronny graduated from the Bandung Institute of Technology, majoring in Business Management.

Moukdavanh Sisoulith obtained her Master Degree in Management and Leadership from Regent’s University London and has been actively working as a diplomat since 2011.

As the current director of the United Nations Political and Security Division, she supervises disarmament issues but has also been exposed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in various aspects. As a former Department Head of the Youth Union (2016-2019) she has actively contributed to youth empowerment as well as research and development.

Douangmany Heuangkhamsene is the founder of Her Works, a social enterprise that designs and produces contemporary ethnic handicrafts. Under Tookta's leadership, Her Works received the A’ Design Award 2019 from Italy, the Good Design Award 2018 from Japan and was invited by the government and foreign embassies to attend international and regional conferences for female empowerment.

Her Works was formed with a mission to conserve and promote the unique artistic textile designs of ethnic minority groups. This helps preserve the fading culture and enhance the living standards of these minority groups.

Calvin is a serial social entrepreneur and co-founded PurpoSE, social enterprise that aims to develop the professional capabilities of millennials. He was formerly the Head of Programmes for a social enterprise that aims to reduce poverty through academic and career development of youths aged 15-17. He was also the Chief Coordinator for the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs' (IDEAS) National Unity Youth Fellowship. In addition, he was a YSEALI Academic Fellow on Social Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.

Calvin was awarded the Queen’s Young Leaders award from HM Queen Elizabeth II. He authored “How I escaped the rat race”, a book that entails the education realities faced by youths in Malaysia relating to his personal journey.

Alia graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the International Islamic University Malaysia and is a practicing lawyer at a firm in Kuala Lumpur, specialising in banking and finance.

She is a co-founder and incumbent vice-president of the Organisation for National Empowerment (ONE), a non-governmental body for youths seeking to effect meaningful reforms in the areas of national unity, education, economy and politics. She spearheaded “Project Deep Pockets”, a series of financial literacy workshops which educate the youth on financial planning and instruments. Alia also occasionally contributes various articles to newspapers on current and social issues.

Kris has a keen interest in the research and therapeutics of neuro-trauma, neurodegenerative diseases and genomic medicine. He has worked for various medical institutions both in the public and private sectors. He currently serves as the Medical Director and Chief Clinical Scientist of Osel Group of Clinics. He also works with The Frontier Medicine Institute to advocate for healthcare innovations and build bridges between education and healthcare.

Kris is passionate about empowering youth by sharing his knowledge of innovation and entreprenurship. As the Vice President of MyLife, he works with the NGO to advocate for financial literacy to eradicate poverty among lower income groups and youth in Malaysia. He regularly leads disaster relief missions to areas of needs including Nepal, Myanmar, Penang and Johor Bahru.

Rahman Hussin is the Co-Founder of Imperium Consulting, a public affairs and political consultancy firm. Before starting his firm, Rahman was the Executive Director, Project of Tropicana Corporation. He oversaw the company's strategy and business development, which led to a sold-out development project of RM70 million in revenue.

Through the years, Rahman has built his portfolio in strategic communication, stakeholder management and media relations. He spearheaded the 'Peace, Progress and Stability' campaign and was also responsible for formulating communication briefs for former Prime Minister Najib during Malaysia's 13th General Election.

With a passion for politics and policy making, Rahman was the National Youth Exco for the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) in charge of consumer rights, environment and quality of life. Since 2014, Rahman has represented Malaysia in various overseas leadership programmes and exchanges.

Danial Zamberi, a graduate of the University of South Australia in Applied Finance, has come a long way with experiences in corporates, government and startups. Currently Head of Regional Business Development for a creative suite Malaysian company, he spearheads regional expansion to Australia, Singapore, Japan and more. Danial also founded several companies relating to energy efficiency, vertical farming and green technologies in Malaysia. He is the Treasurer of MyDiplomacy, an NGO that promotes the active participation of Malaysian youth in diplomatic relations, trade talks and policy discussion.

Khin Thida Hnin was born and raised in Myanmar. After her further studies in Singapore Management University (SMU), she returned to Myanmar and founded Forever Travel & Tours Company which provides inbound and outbound travel services to local and international travellers, promoting sustainable and community-based tourism. She also holds management roles in Forever Corporation which offers shipping logistics services, and MM Digital Solutions to bring the technology landscape in Myanmar to the next level.

Evelyn is an active member of the Myanmar Women Entrepreneurs Association, Union of Myanmar Travel Association, and Myanmar Young Entrepreneurs Association, where she leads the Impact Investment Committee. She is also a Westerwelle Young Founders 2016.

Lach Baniya is an MBA graduate from Murdoch University. She is the co-founder of Icarus Media and its sub business units GandaWin Magazine and GandaWin Telly. GandaWin is a major force in empowering and modernising the way of thinking and lifestyle of Myanmar women. It reaches 10 million people each month, delivering quality articles and videos that influence women, society and the country positively. Lach has established relationships with 35 universities in Myanmar aiming to help youths' resilience. She also was a key speaker at TEDxYangon 2018, discussing "A Mentally Fit Digital Generation in Myanmar".

Anthony describes himself as a seed – the type that can adapt to any soil condition, grow roots, and flourish. He was transplanted to Singapore from Manila 10 years ago to pursue his professional career in banking – the new soil indeed had enough nutrients which helped to build his strength and stability! Over the years, his roots developed a deeper network in the Singapore community through various socio-cultural integration initiatives where he found his passion and purpose.

From Anthony's efforts, he hopes to bear fruits that will inspire his fellow overseas Filipinos and eventually sow seeds of harmony for the next generation of youths, regardless of race or culture.

Jen is an advocate of sports for social impact and founded Race2Share, an organisation that uses sports for social inclusion and transformation, where she pioneered structured sports programmes for foreign domestic workers in Singapore. She has represented Singapore and Philippines in global conferences to advocate for the role of youth and sports in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Jen is also a founding member of the UNESCO Asia Pacific Youth and Sport Task Force group, a network of young leaders promoting sports for development. Jen holds a degree in BA Development Studies from the University of the Philippines-Manila and executive education on Social Impact Strategy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jose Alvaro Severino is a senior development officer with a heart and passion for social sustainable development and a strong advocate for inclusive agriculture. During his college years, he co-founded a civic organisation, which landed him in Leyte during the Super Typhoon Yolanda and Typhoon Ruby in Samar.

Currently his work involves projects in some of the conflict areas in the Philippines, in particular Sulu and Marawi. With his experience in devastated and conflict areas, he saw that food sufficiency must be sustained, thus sparking his advocacy for inclusive agriculture.

As a development officer, Jose handles all agriculture and Mindanao development programs related projects of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship – Go Negosyo. He continuously engages different stakeholders on how best to maximize the agriculture sector to sustain food sufficiency.

Jason Low, CFA, is Senior Director at Capital Markets Strategy and Portfolio Advisory, DBS Group Wealth Management, which manages USD160 billion in assets. He is a founding member of DBS’ Consumer Banking Sustainability Committee, where he helps to drive and embed sustainability in the bank’s strategy.

Outside of work, Jason is actively involved in charities and fund-raising for kids, special needs and mental health. He currently serves on the boards of Autism Association (Singapore), Caregiver Alliance Limited and Community Chest’s Sharity Committee.

Jason graduated with a First Class Honours in Bachelor of Accountancy from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Alvin Poh has over 18 years of entrepreneurship experience, having founded and been a part of multiple companies. One of the companies is Vodien, which he grew to be the largest cloud hosting company in Singapore, and was subsequently acquired for an 8-figure sum. As CEO of Vodien, he led the company through robust growth to 150 employees across four countries.

Alvin is now a philanthropist, investor, and mentor. He is also the Head of Technology and Business for NewYork.SG, a Singapore start-up which aims to empower youths to achieve their full potential through its overseas career development program in New York City.

Veerappan Swaminathan is the founder of Sustainable Living Lab (SL2), an innovation consultancy that develops social impact solutions for countries, companies and communities based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. He has delivered projects in diverse issue areas such as AI readiness, digital literacy, inclusive product design, entrepreneurship development and waste management.

Graduating from NUS with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a graduate certificate in Intellectual Property, Veera has held fellowships with INK (India), YSEALI (US) and sits on the Lotus-NUS Fund Approving Panel for social enterprises. Recognised as the EcoFriend 2016 awardee and listed on the Peak Power List 2016, Veera is also a contributing author on two publications - “Singapore’s Next Big Thing” and “Commentary 2016: A Democracy of Deeds and Problem Solving”.

He was awarded the Joseph Jaworski Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Asia Special Award in July 2018.

Ashik is passionate about facilitating community growth. He has led community development in 10 missions across Asia, focusing on education, livelihood and healthcare. He has led a UNHCR policy study on inclusive education for refugees and a livelihood proposal in Nepal under GPPN-SDG Professional Certificate Program. Locally, he advises social organisations and youths on social impact projects. To him, social experience matters and building relationship is key to effective programs.

Ashik has a Master in Public Policy. He is a Global Fellow at Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, Brown University. He believes in coffee diplomacy and brownie discussions.

Gerald is the CEO and founder of Milieu Insight, a Singapore-based consumer data analytics agency. A tech-focused entrepreneur, he has a deep passion for leveraging technology to make opinion-based insights more accessible to everyone. Gerald left the corporate world and started Milieu Insight three years ago, which now has offices in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia and has access to more than 250,000 community members. Prior to starting Milieu Insight, Gerald had 12 years of experience in the consumer research industry, and spent 8 out those 12 years in leadership roles in ASEAN countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines.

Wang Junyong, is a vocationally trained entrepreneur. He is the founder of a social enterprise Mangrove Learning Pte Ltd that works with youth-at-risk in Singapore through creative planforms such as Taiko Drumming. Venturing beyond Singapore, Junyong is a partner at Zooms Design, a Cambodia youth design start-up that employs and trains youths in graphic design, he is also a director in an international school offering K12 education in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Junyong is a fellow under the Philip Yeo Innovation Fellow Programme and volunteers his time as an internal auditor with the Singapore Institute of Technical Education (ITE) Alumni Association.

Mohamed Irshad is the founder and president of Roses of Peace, a youth driven non-profit organisation that seeks to strengthen religious harmony in Singapore. He serves on the Facebook Community Leadership Global Advisory Board, Mosque Management Board of Masjid Abdul Gafoor and on the Panel of Community Advisors for Honour (Singapore).

In 2018, he was appointed as one of the youngest Nominated Members of Parliament in Singapore. The same year, he was awarded the President’s Volunteerism & Philantropy Award and MUIS Youth Inspiring Award. In 2019, he was featured on Tatler’s Generation T Honouree List.

Khai Lin is the co-founder and CFO of Fundnel, a private investment platform in 2015 with the vision of re-building the capital markets for the next generation of entrepreneurs and investors. Under her leadership, Fundnel has amassed a total deal launched value of USD1.8 billion with 35 transactions completed to date, and an global network of 10,000+ investors.

In recognition of her achievements, Khai Lin was conferred the Entrepreneur Award at the 2018 Women of the Future South East Asia Awards. In the same year, she was also presented with the Stellar at the Women Entrepreneur Awards 2018.

Cherilyn is the founder and CEO of Interstellar Group. In 2014, she founded Asia Law Network, driven by her frustrations at being unable to find a suitable and affordable lawyer. Over the last four years, Asia Law Network’s service offerings have included a lawyer-vetted legal blog, lawyer directory, flat fee legal consult and quick contracts.

Cherilyn is driven by her quest to connect people and businesses across Asia and help them make better decisions and build stronger businesses. In 2018, she founded Tessaract to empower SMEs across Asia Pacific by digitising their operations and introducing them to new technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analytics. She has a proven track record of excellent business implementation and drives strategic direction and technology and product development at Tessaract.

Yoke Pean is a social entrepreneur, researcher, trainer and facilitator serving social and environmental causes in Singapore and the region. As a Core Team member and co-founder of WISE-WASH in Southeast Asia, she drives overall strategy and operations across Singapore, Cambodia and Indonesia, to improve access to basic needs, particularly water, sanitation and hygiene, through community development, capacity building, and behaviour change.

Yoke Pean is also a Senior Research Associate at Soristic, conducting research and impact evaluation projects in areas such as youth employability and healthy living, and the Finance and M&E Manager of Engineering Good, which develops assistive technologies for persons with disabilities through skilled volunteerism.

Esther Wang is the founder of Joytingle, a healthcare education company which designs and produces an educational device called "Rabbit Ray" that explains medical procedures. It is used by people across 17 countries from Australia to Africa; in Paediatric Intensive Care wards, Paediatric Oncology Wards and Special Needs Schools. Her customers include Johns Hopkins Children's Centre (USA), Evelina London Children's Hospital (UK) and Yangon's Children Hospital (Myanmar).

For Joytingle's far-reaching impact, Esther Wang graced the cover of Forbes Asia (April 2018); as Forbes 30 under 30, Healthcare and Science Featured Honoree. She was recently listed in Tatler’s Generation T as one of 400 people leading the face of Asia in the “Healthcare” and “Education” categories.

Alecia Neo develops long-term projects that involve collaborative partnerships with individuals and communities. Her socially engaged practice unfolds primarily through photography, video, and participatory workshops that address modes of mobility, reciprocity, caregiving, and well-being to explores issues of identity and the search for self. Her recent projects include a collaboration with the community engagement platform Both Sides, Now, Singapore, (2019-2017); Touch Collection, Singapore Art Museum and Personally Speaking, Objectifs (both Singapore, 2018-ongoing).

Alecia is the co-founder of Brack, a platform for socially engaged art. She also founded of Unseen Arts Initiatives, a Singapore-based platform for differently-abled professional and emerging artists. Neo was the recipient of the Young Artist Award in 2016.

Hamidah Aidillah is Founder of Parrot Social, a Data Analytics firm powered by Artificial Intelligence (A.I). The Insights consultancy specialises in predictive research, future trend-spotting, and competitor benchmarking across various industries. It helps clients predict upcoming business, political and social trends worldwide. Parrot Social helps clients go beyond online listening, to boosting their company’s awareness and increasing influence through data. Professionally, she serves on Singapore’s Advisory Council on the Ethical Use of A.I and Data.

Work aside, Hamidah has served in various community organisations over the last 16 years, spanning the areas of education, healthcare and youth empowerment. Personally, she is a passionate dancer and swimmer.

Thai entrepreneur Chatchai Aphibanpoonpon is the founder of Klongdinsor, which aims to create an inclusive society where people with and without disabilities can live together. Klongdinsor designs tools and activities so that people with disabilities can be integrated back into society. The work focuses on three areas: improving education, creating employment, and raising awareness.

Its successful projects so far include Lensen Drawing Kit – a drawing kit that unleashes the imagination of children with visual impairment through the sense of touch; Run2gether – a community of runners with and without disabilities; and Pannana – a movie narrator for people with visual impairments.

Kantasorn Methasakunwong graduated with a master's degree in Special Educational Needs and Inclusion from the University of Northampton, UK. Currently, she works as a social development officer in Department of Children and Youth, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. She strongly believes in the motto, “Help others achieve their dreams and you will achieve yours."

Nguyen Duc Hoang Viet earned his Bachelor's in Economic Construction and Master's Degree in Public Policy from University of Toulouse – Jean Jaurès.

Hoang Viet was serving at government agencies such as the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. He is currently working at the Hanoi School of Business and Management, Vietnam National University. He has done intensive research on agriculture, public policy and geographical indication.

Nguyen Dong Anh is currently a lecturer in Digital Media at the Faculty of International Communication, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam. He also serves as Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He takes part in various media and development projects, contributes to youth development and won the Vietnam Anti-Corruption Initiatives (by the World Bank and Government Inspectorate in 2014).

Dong Anh was previously a delegate to the World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi, Russia, 2017; the Innovation in Television Conference in Jerusalem, 2017; and the Worldwide Developer Conference by Apple in California, USA 2016. As a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, he is completing his research on Generation Z and social media, which will enable him to have a better understanding of future generations.

Lan earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Smith College, United States, and a Master’s degree in Economics for Development at the University of Oxford, UK. She spent over six years working for the National Center for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Development under the Ministry of Science and Technology in the field of technology commercialization and startup development.

In 2018, she was listed on the Forbes Vietnam 30 under 30 list. In July 2019, Lan became Head of Exploration for the UNDP Vietnam Accelerator Lab, an initiative to promote social innovation in development practices.