Meet our 2022 ASEAN Youth Fellows

Faiq Airudin is a youth advocate interested in widening youth participation in local creative industries in Brunei. His current collaborative project, Just Bruneians, is a grassroots community project that aims to empower the local creative industry.

As a passionate advocate for digital media literacy, he works as a Content Producer for Biz Brunei, a Darussalam Enterprise (DARe) initiative. DARe is a government statutory body that supports micro, small and medium enterprises. He has a decade of experience in digital and print media. In addition, he is a creative producer, advisor, and mentor to creative non-governmental organisations, art galleries and film production houses.

Khairunnisa Ash’ari has 10 years of experience working in youth development, welfare, social enterprise, and the environment.

Khairunnisa is currently the first female President of the Brunei Youth Council, a national body that oversees youth development and welfare in the country through local, regional, and international programmes. Her work includes providing a platform for youth engagement in the policymaking process and youth capacity-building programmes.

In addition, she is the Co-Founder and Community Engagement Director of Green Brunei, a social enterprise that promotes environmental sustainability through education, conservation, and advocacy. Green Brunei actively conducts tree planting, beach clean-ups and educational programmes, focusing on the youth.

Hadina Alias (Dina)'s passion lies in lifelong learning, the fascination of ideas and introspection to help inspire and create positive change for individuals. Dina is a Development Officer at WeCare, where she teaches the public critical thinking skills and effective communication. She is also a Curator at the Global Shapers Bandar Seri Begawan Hub and the Deputy President of the Brunei Youth Council (Brunei Muara). 

As an ASEAN Advocate under the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Action Campaign, she founded MY Actions for SDGs in June 2018, a community that brings people's voices into discussions about the SDGs, and is leading a team to help educate and empower youths in Brunei to take action for the SDGs. 

Bora Kem is a partner at Mekong Strategic Partner, a corporate advisory and investment firm specialising in the Mekong Region. He is also a general partner of the Smart Axiata Digital Innovation Fund, a venture capital fund that invests in technology companies in Cambodia, where he sits on the boards of multiple portfolio companies. He advises corporate clients on Mergers and Acquisitions transactions in education, fintech and telecommunications sectors, and government and institutional clients on the issues of digitisation, entrepreneurship, financial policies, and sustainability.

Previously, Bora was the Vice President at Equilibrium Capital Group, a sustainable real asset investment firm; a venture builder at Rocket Internet Southeast Asia; and an investment professional at Putnam Investments and Leopard Capital. Bora has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Dartmouth College and a Master’s Degree in Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Chansambath Bong (Sambath) is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Inclusive Digital Economy at the Asian Vision Institute, a think tank based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It aims to impact positive changes through knowledge co-creation and multi-stakeholder partnerships, to build peaceful, inclusive, adapting resilient and sustainable societies in Asia.

Concurrently, he is an International Relations lecturer at the Institute for International Studies and Public Policy, Royal University of Phnom Penh. From 2018 to 2020, Sambath was a Fulbright scholar at Kansas State University, where he pursued a Master’s Degree in Security Studies. His current research interests are in Cambodia’s foreign and security policy and the geopolitics of cyberspace and emerging technologies.

Tann Channarath (Narath) is a lecturer at the Institute for International Studies and Public Policy at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and holds a senior management role in the private sector, where she oversees operations, manages human resources, and is involved in strategic planning. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, two Bachelor’s Degrees in International Studies and Business Administration, and International Political Economy Certificate from George Mason University and The University of Hong Kong respectively.

Occasionally, Narath engages in discussions and events as a panellist, sharing her perspectives on various issues related to regional and global affairs.

Angela Sujadi is an award-winning social entrepreneur with seven years of experience in the social sector and six years of experience with Unilever. She believes that technology and marketing can bring access to information and tools that would transform the lives of the less fortunate. Her time working in Unilever on multiple brands has shaped her marketing skills and business acumen to build more effective enterprises. She was part of the founding teams for two social enterprises in Indonesia where she empowered rural women to sell solar lamps and helped to build a mobile marketplace for Palm Fruit.

Ardhy Nugrahanto is a professional in the healthcare industry and CEO of one of the largest healthcare industries in Indonesia, PT Kimia Farma, a subsidiary of the State-owned Bio Farma.

He has a Master’s Degree in Clinical Services Operation from the University of Harvard Medical School. Ardhy believes that serving the people and creating a positive impact are his key priorities.

Michael Victor Sianipar is the Co-Chair of Youth 20 Indonesia 2022 and the Chairperson of Indonesian Youth Diplomacy. He is also the Head of the Jakarta Regional Branch of the Indonesian Solidarity Party and the Political Director of Patra Government Relations. He has been involved in politics and in the Government for ten years in and outside of Jakarta. He was a personal aide to the Governor of Jakarta from 2012 to 2017 and the Governor of West Nusa Tenggara from 2018 to 2019. Michael graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from Yonsei University.

Agita Pasaribu is the Founder and Executive Director of Bullyid Indonesia, a global award tech-charity focusing on empowering victims of harassment with digital psychological and legal support. Prior to founding Bullyid Indonesia, Agita was known as the Youth Internet Governance Forum Ambassador for Indonesia, a recognised initiative described by the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as a platform to engage the young people of Indonesia in the discussion of Internet governance and to bring their voices to the global IGF discussion agenda. Agita is also on UNESCO Youth Artificial Intelligence (AI) Ethics Steering Committee.

She has received several awards, which include the 2019 Southeast Asia Young Leader and Global Strategic Leadership Award, the 2021 EU Social Digi Award, and the GenT-Tatler Leader of Tomorrow Honoree. She was also the elected 2017 Southeast Asian Young Leader for the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, the 2022 Young Global Changer from Global Solutions Initiative and is part of the US-ASEAN Women’s Leadership Network.

Robinson Sinurat is the Founder and CEO of Mimpi Besar Indonesia Foundation, a non-profit foundation which focuses on youth, diversity, and education. At Amman Mineral, a world-class Indonesian mining company, he supports Corporate Social Responsibility programmes focusing on sustainable tourism and its supporting sectors of Human Capital and Economic Empowerment.

In 2015, Robinson received a full scholarship from the U.S. Department to join a leadership program at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, United States of America (USA). In addition, he received the Ambassador’s Award for Excellence 2017 on behalf of the Indonesian Embassy in the USA.

Robinson obtained a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Columbia University, USA and a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from Sriwijaya University, Indonesia. He is the recipient of the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education scholarship.

Sepri Andi is a community builder with more than five years of experience in local and global community management. He manages all kinds of community members from diverse networks across Indonesia and Southeast Asia. His outgoing personality and good listening skills have facilitated him to effectively connect and establish partnerships with different stakeholders.

Andi is involved in several work class programmes with Meta, The Australian Government, the United States Embassy, and One Young World from UK Philanthropy, setting him apart from others in adapting to people from different cultures and norms. He spends his free time mentoring students and volunteering to build social projects contributing to Indonesia.

Vincent Loka is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Wateroam, a Singapore-based social enterprise that aims to provide clean water access to disaster-stricken and rural communities around the globe. Wateroam partners with local and international organisations to provide clean water access through simple water innovation. Since its founding in 2014, Wateroam has impacted more than 200,000 lives in 44 countries around the world. It was a winner of the SIF Young Social Entrepreneurs programme in 2015. Vincent is an Obama Foundation Scholars recipient and one of the United Nations Young Leaders for the SDGs.

Chitpaseuth Somphet is a lead software engineer and a managing director at 57BYTES. He founded 57BYTES in 2018, an IT consulting firm providing web/mobile application development, mainly focused on providing IT solutions for local Small and Medium Enterprises. He also co-founded bansi.la, an online accounting software for low-technical users, which was awarded the 2020 Lao Startup Fest winner and the first runner-up of the 2021 Lao ICT Award.

Chitpaseuth has a Master's Degree in Information Technology from the National University of Singapore and a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from the National Technological University.

Sakhone Douangphachanh is a productive youth leader who has created a positive impact in society. Sakhone works at the People System Consultancy in Laos as a Corporate Social Responsibility Community Trainer. He has trained and mentored around 400 people with disabilities to eradicate poverty by raising the income of micro-entrepreneurs and the underserved community. He is also a member of the Global Shapers Vientiane Hub, where he grows his passion for social entrepreneurship and community development, especially in education for employment and entrepreneurship. He perceives himself as “the Edupreneur” and aims to unleash the potential of youths to develop themselves to be skilful human resources in social-economic development.

Vilaphone Phanouvong is the Deputy Director of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Division at the ASEAN Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR since 2011. She oversees the Lao Youth Union and Lao Women Union (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Youth/ Senior Officials Meeting on Youth), Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, and ASEAN Foundation.

Vilaphone is a mother of one and has a Bachelor's Degree in the field of Tourism Management from the National University of Laos. She has a Master's Degree in International relations from the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, China.

Yik Wai Chee is the Co-Founder of Crowdsukan project, a Malaysia-based sports social enterprise. A member of the UNESCO Youth and Sport Task Force, he was previously selected as a German government-funded CrossCulture Programme fellow for a 3-month work exchange in Germany. He also worked as an Editorial Advisor for the UNESCO-International Centre of Martial Arts and was a graduate of TechCamp Malaysia 2020, in which his team conducted Southeast Asia's first research on TikTok's impact towards Generation Z. He regularly shares his views on sustainability, geopolitics, and intercultural understanding topics on the South China Morning Post.

Jan Wong is the Founder of OpenMinds, a 10-years bootstrapped, martech consultancy firm based in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Hong Kong. From the age of 17, he has ventured into eight businesses, is a part time lecturer, an author, and an Academic Advisory Board member of three private universities. In addition, Jan is a three-time TEDx speaker and regional keynote speaker at conferences, a mentor for start-up communities including Techstars and NEXT50 Singapore, and a regular contributor on BFM radio. He was recognised among the top 10 new generation businessmen to watch in 2020, listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2017, and is currently pursuing a PhD.

Tharma Pillai is the Co-Founder and Advocacy Director of Undi18, a youth movement that successfully advocated for the lowering of the voting age in Malaysia from 21 to 18 years old. The UNDI18 Bill has enfranchised an additional 5.8 million voters, transforming the Malaysian political landscape. In 2020, he helped to launch Parlimen Digital, the first youth-led virtual Parliament session in the world.

Tharma was a recipient of Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2021 and Prestige 40 Under 40 in 2019. He was formerly an appointee to the National Youth Consultative Council and the Senate Reform Committee.

Kevin Wu is a founder of multiple businesses in the field of Private Equity, Management Consulting, Legal Services, Furniture Retail, and Food Technology. As a trained British barrister and qualified lawyer, Kevin has proven experience in strategic planning, setting up teams, executing go-to-market plans, risk management, dispute resolution, fund allocation, and liaising with various stakeholders of diverse levels.

Collectively across Kevin's ventures, Kevin leads a team of more than 40 full-time employees with seven offices, retail stores, and warehouses across Malaysia and Singapore. Kevin's accomplishments have gained recognition amongst Forbes, Tatler, Prestige, industry trade news, industry peers and more.

Okka Phyo Maung is a sustainability tech entrepreneur based in Southeast Asia. He is the Co-Founder of RecyGlo, a Series A stage Environmental, Social, and Governance analytics and agricultural tech startup. RecyGlo operates in ASEAN countries including but not limited to Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar. It aims to provide environmentally friendly recycling solutions in the region, producing zero waste and zero carbon footprint.

Okka was a Management Consultant for Fortune 500 companies and local large conglomerates at Ernst and Young from 2017 to 2018. He was also listed on Forbes’ 30 Under 30.

Saw Thu Ya Aung @ Bosco is the Programme Manager of Search for Common Ground, a non-profit organisation and the largest dedicated peacebuilding organisation that aims to end violent conflict and build healthy, safe, and just societies worldwide. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Yadanarbon University, Mandalay and two Master’s Degrees in International Peace Studies from United Nations, the mandated University For Peace, Costa Rica, and in Political Sciences from Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines.

His background lies in the field of peace, politics, youth empowerment, nation building and transnational collaboration as an analyst, implementer, researcher, and expert since 2012. Based on his expertise, he represents his organisation and country to work with youth stakeholders and organisations to promote youth participation in peace and political dialogue.

Carmen Lopez is a Feminist Nurse Leader. She has over 14 years of experience in development in both the public and private sectors. She is a Gender and Development Consultant and the Chief Empowerment Officer of HerStore Asia, a digital empowerment platform that supports women artisan enterprises across Southeast Asia.

She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from the University of Santo Tomas and a Master of Arts in Women and Development from the University of the Philippines Diliman. She is a 2022 Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Professional Fellow and was the youngest outstanding alumni awardee of the Manila Science High School in 2013.

Justin Dominic Silos Gatuslao is the Vice Mayor of Himamaylan, a rural city in the central Philippines. His legislative agenda encompasses inclusive education, access to information, civic participation, public accountability, and local economic development. Before politics, he had served in public affairs roles in the Office of the President of the Philippines and the Ayala Group, the country’s oldest conglomerate. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Communication from the Ateneo de Manila University and a Master of Arts in History from Silliman University. Beyond public service, his interests include sugarcane farming, rural impact sourcing, and teaching part-time in state universities and local colleges.

Laurence Lumagbas is an Advisory Manager at Deloitte, the world’s largest professional services firm, where he spearheads sustainability, strategy, organisational development, and process improvement projects. Laurence is also the Co-Founder of Green Impact Global, a climate action movement that aims to combat climate change, conserve forest ecosystems, and improve environmental literacy.

He was the Philippine Branch Founder and Former President of 180 Degrees Consulting, a global consultancy for social enterprises and non-profits.

He was awarded GreenBiz Group’s 30 Under 30 Emerging Sustainability Leaders, and National Association for Environmental Education’s 30 Under 30 Young Leaders in Environmental Education.

Alvona Loh is a medical doctor from Singapore. She is also the team leader of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Women Core Leadership Team 2022, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. She has represented Singapore in various regional conferences including Alumni Thematic International Exchange Seminars conference held in Thailand, discussing how ASEAN, the U.S., and the Pacific may collaborate on issues surrounding public health and climate change.

Alvona served as Vice-President of Business China Youth Chapter, an organisation that upholds bilateral ties between Singapore and China. She is also a gold award holder of the National Youth Achievement Award.

Recognised as a top legal mind by Legal 500, Association of Corporate Counsel, Euromoney and Asian Legal Business (Thomson Reuters), Benita Lee has more than a decade of specialist experience in international front-end infrastructure and energy work, and has represented Governments, project sponsors, multilaterals, and lenders on landmark deals. Benita presently acts as the legal lead for Google's Asia-Pacific data centre development, comprehensively covering the entire life cycle of data centres including site acquisition, leases, construction, and ancillary infrastructure.

Being dual-qualified in England and Singapore, and trilingual in English, Chinese and Japanese, Benita is well-placed to build bridges across diverse backgrounds. Passionate about advocating for women and mentoring youth, Benita is a member of the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Women’s Committee, and is an active speaker and mentor within Google, and with external tertiary institutions and professional organisations.

Druga Rajendran strives to connect with the creative spirit of life. She is a chronic reader who moonlights as an Organisation Development Consultant for Sequoia Group. She enjoys designing and facilitating transformative conversations for socially progressive outcomes in the Education, Healthcare and Social Sectors. For her, working at Sequoia is the perfect combination of her greatest inspirations – people, purpose, and endless possibilities. Outside of work, Druga finds joy in developing the leadership potential of young people. She believes that every youth is one caring adult away from success and achieves this through volunteering with various youth organisations and national initiatives stewarding positive youth development.

Edward Lim is a Business Development Manager at Wilmar, seconded by the Singapore Government. He works on new ventures and is based in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Africa.

Edward previously served at the Ministry of Finance, overseeing investments in the Government’s technological capabilities. He was the coordinator for several national Budgets in Singapore during the pandemic. Edward was a secretariat member for the COVID-19 Ministerial-Taskforce (MTF), where he prepared parliamentary speeches and media briefs for MTF co-chair, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

Edward has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering with a Second Business Major from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and was the President of the NTU Students’ Union.

Farah Sanwari is a social innovation leader with a keen interest in sustainability and learning communities. She is currently a Partnership Catalyst for SpudnikLab, a frugal innovation company addressing the needs of marginalised communities. In the environmental sustainability space, she co-founded Repair Kopitiam, a national repair movement to address waste issues, as well as FiTree, an Islamic environmental community. As part of her journey in advocating for a sustainable future, she teaches Futures Thinking at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and runs a participatory futures community called The Futures Collective under The Birthday Collective.

Hafiz Kasman is the Co-Founder of Kinobi, an edutech platform that helps Institutes of Higher Learning digitise their career services to increase employment rates. With presence in Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam, Kinobi has served over 60 institutions.

Outside of work, Hafiz serves as a Council Member for National Youth Council where he co-chairs the Mentoring SG movement to uplift the mentoring ecosystem in Singapore, enabling youths to have better access to mentorship. Hafiz is also an Executive Committee member of MENDAKI Club, a non-profit supporting the career aspirations of Malay/Muslim youths, providing them with opportunities to give back to the community.

Kenneth Yeo is a senior analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. He specialises in terrorism and insurgency in the Philippines and Thailand, and co-leads the Southeast Asia terrorism research desk. He has consulted on various United Nations bodies such as United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism on maritime terrorism and aviation threats, respectively.

Kenneth is a National Youth Council (NYC) INSPIRIT Member and member of the NYC-Ministry of Home Affairs Youth Circle in Singapore that recommends policies on criminal rehabilitation.

Dubbed the "Mental Health Guy" by friends for doing many things relating to mental health over the past 10 years, Khoo Yi Feng aspires to achieve mental wellness for and with all youths in Southeast Asia. As a Registered Social Worker and Certified Master Solution Focused practitioner, he partners youths to build a better world by building hope through therapeutic conversation and peer support skills training. As a Southeast Asian Studies graduate from the National University of Singapore, he loves travelling in the region, learning from and loving people. And of course, makan (eating)!

Ee Ling Lim is the Executive Director of Market Launch at 500 Global, a venture capital fund. She oversees the strategic development and implementation of startup programs globally.

Ee Ling also co-founded a K-12 edutech startup, equipping students with digital technology and entrepreneurship education. She is also the Co-Founder and host of Young Founders Summit, a startup program for high school students in Asia that provides aspiring teenage founders with workshops and mentorship to launch impact-based startups. Prior to that, Ee Ling was an Investment Banker with Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Ee Ling is an active judge, speaker, and mentor for startup programmes and competitions across Asia Pacific, and is particularly passionate about youth entrepreneurship, impact-based entrepreneurship, and women-led businesses. She is a Council Member of the National Youth Council Singapore and is also recognised as Singapore’s 100 Women in Tech by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore.

A Singaporean youth passionate about creating social impact, Luo Chen Jun believes that it is every Singaporean's duty to spread the actions and initiatives of social good beyond Singapore and create regional impact and visibility among our ASEAN neighbours. To promote racial harmony, diversity and inclusion, Chen Jun's role in Meta Singapore has been proven to be critical in encouraging diversity among youths in Singapore, especially through his involvement in managing fireside chat sessions with key leadership members for Pride@Meta, featuring LGBTQ-owned businesses that garnered more than 1000+ views across the APAC region.

Through his involvement as a Board Member of the Swedcham Young Professionals and Singapore Leaders Network youth ambassador, Chen Jun is constantly striving for true equity to be realised by inspiring youths within Singapore and across the ASEAN region.

Matin Mohdari is currently the Strategy Director at Tech For Good Institute, a non-profit autonomous think tank founded by Grab to catalyse new research and collaboration to unlock the promise of Southeast Asia's digital economy. As part of the founding team, he works with the Institute’s Executive Director to drive strategic development, as well as execution for thought-leadership activities and policy engagements with country think tanks, academics, and multilateral organisations whose work are focused on the intersections of public policy and technology. Prior to this role, Matin spent nine years in the public and tech sector and was involved in portfolios that included incentive policy planning and strategy, industry development, investment promotion, social impact, thought leadership and policy operations.

Matin is also the Director of Marketing Communications at a local Malay community self-help group, Young MENDAKI Club which runs youth mentorship and development programmes for the underserved.

Huda Hamid is a serial entrepreneur and educator. She founded Fempreneur Secrets, which empowers women to lead purposeful businesses online. Her work was also mentioned during the debate in Singapore's Parliament where Members of Parliament endorsed the White Paper on Women & Development. Fempreneur Secrets was a winner of the SIF Young Social Entrepreneurs programme in 2020.

Huda believes in the value of education and aspires to equip women with business knowledge as a survival skill. She has been featured on Channel News Asia, Borneo Bulletin and more. Huda has also been nominated The Most Compassionate Womenpreneur Award in 2019 and was invited to speak at events supported by Google Singapore, the U.S. State Department and the State Department of the United Arab Emirates.

Vanessa Paranjothy is one of three Co-Founders of Freedom Cups. The organisation gets reusable menstrual products to women and have worked with over 30 under-resourced communities across 10 countries in Asia, Africa, and North America. Freedom Cups was a winner of the SIF Young Social Entrepreneurs programme in 2017.

Vanessa was selected as one of 12 in the inaugural cohort of Obama Foundation Scholars at Columbia University and has a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University. She has been listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list, Tatler's Generation T list, and was awarded the Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Development Work representing Asia. Vanessa has talked about the importance of sustainable periods with eight different Heads of State.

Tommy Koh is a civil servant currently posted to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. As a trade official, he negotiates services commitments for the ASEAN Economic Community's internal agreements as well as Free Trade Agreements with ASEAN's dialogue partners. Beyond negotiations, Tommy contributes to developing Singapore's ASEAN strategy and shaping the contours of the post-2025 ASEAN Community Vision. Tommy is a firm believer that greater ASEAN economic integration will position the region well for the future of work. Beyond work, Tommy champions for local impact initiatives, including through the St. Gallen Symposium Singapore Chapter and the National Youth Achievement Award Council.

Chanin Srisuma is the Vice President, leading the Business Development, at Prime Road Power, a company that specialises in renewable-energy projects development. With an engineering background and community-work experiences, he co-founded Refill Station, the first non-packaging store in Thailand that aims to tackle plastic-waste issues by providing eco-friendly alternatives. He has shared relevant knowledge with many organisations that drive environmental and community issues, such as Seub Nakhasathien Foundation (environmental), Together Foundation (disabilities), and SATARANA (urban planning).