Malaysia team BeBonobo, emerged as one of the six winning teams in the Singapore International Foundation 2016  Young Social Entrepreneurs programme, trio from the team will receive seed funding of up to RM60,000  and join the YSE alumni of 480 young change makers representing 23 nationalities.

Creating a social enterprise idea, BeBonobo is a free online network that connects individuals and businesses in Klang Valley to list unwanted items and search for wanted items for the purpose of discarding, exchanging or obtaining usable but unwanted goods. The platform also allows the option of listing more valuable items whereby interested parties would need to pay a small amount of RM6 (SGD3) for an item, with monies going towards the planting of trees.

15 teams were selected from an initial pool of 114 participants at the workshop in March this year. The KL study visit, which took place from 14 to 20 July this year, saw the young changemakers interacting with and learning from key players in the Malaysian social entrepreneurship scene such as Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC), Scope Group, Maybank and the AirAsia Foundation. During the course of their journey, the teams received guidance  from volunteer mentors from McKinsey & Company and first-time supporter, Temasek International.

Malaysian youths can now apply for the 2017 edition of YSE as applications are now open atwww.sif.org.sg/yseapply.