With the vision to spread social business as the key solution to city level problems, Future City Summit together with SBYA Global, Grameen Australia and YY Goshti has launched the first program of YY Future Cities Lab from 19-21 March in Manila, Philippines. In collaboration with Launchgarage, Pearl Pay, Roxas Kalaw Foundation, QSV, Nexus Labs, ReLabs, Green Giant FM,Animo Labs, College of Saint Benilde De La Salle, Greenman, Yunus Centre, The YY Foundation, Commonwealth Youth Cities Initiative, Commonwealth Youth Innovation Hub, Youth Hub, Sukonna and other key stakeholders from the local and international ecosystem this 3 days program hosted 50 delegates from 20 cities and 12 countries around the world including Lagos, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Shanghai, Ireland, Germany, Australia, Batangas,, Manila, Bangkok, Dhaka, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul and so on.
Notable speakers and guests include, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Professor Muhammad Yunus, the Founder of Grameen Bank, Lamiya Morshed, Executive Director of Yunus Centre, Akkie Okma, the Executive Coach and counsellor at Okma Advice, Dominique V. Dauster, MD of The YY Foundation, Shazeeb M Khairul Islam, President of SBYA Global, Prometheus Siddique, Project Director of Grameen Australia, Jay Fajardo, CEO of Launchgarage, Shadman Sadab, CEO of Future City Summit, Vinci Roxas, Founder of Roxas Kalaw Foundation, Mel SOnco, CEO of Lab.Ph, Sparky Perreras, CEO of Pearl Pay, Edison Tsai, Executive Director of SeedIn Technology and Matthias Gelber Founder of Greenman.
The 3 days program had keynote session by Professor Muhammad Yunus on A World of Three Zeros, panel discussions on the future of fintech and future of inclusive communities in social business, Social Business Design Jam to find out social business model based solutions to the problems of emerging cities like Manila, Emerging Future Cities Social Business Network round table discussion and agreement signing, private meetings for building collaboration framework among the stakeholders and initiation of Fintech Lab & Urban-Rural collaboration Lab.
“ In Future City Summit we don’t just talk about the problems in the cities, we talk about the solutions, connect stakeholders and focus on executing the solution. When we talk about sustainable and inclusive cities, social business is the only key to achieve that goal. Social business reduces inequalities, empowers people and builds peace among communities. In YY Future Cities Lab, together with the partners, we aspire to spread social business in the emerging cities of the world. Manila was the first step.” – Shadman Sadab, Chief Executive Officer, Future City Summit, Executive Director, YY Future Cities Lab ( Public Private Partnership by Youth).
“ Social Business can break the chain of poverty, unemployment and global warming. It’s 2019 and it’s still possible to change the world with the power of social business. Together with Future City Summit, We will spread social business among the youths of emerging economies to help create sustainable cities ” – Shazeeb M Khairul Islam, President, Social Business Youth Alliance & Managing Director, YY Goshti.
“ For someone of Dr. Yunus’ stature to have been able to grace a conference which we built from the ground up way back in 2016 was a surreal experience and we will ensure that the YY Future Cities Lab, together with our strategic network, delivers the most value to future incubatees through focused acceleration, capacity building programs and a planned fund to be established later within the year.” – Russ Malangen, City Partner Manila & & Blockchain Committee Chairman of Future City Summit.
Right after the YY Future Cities Lab, from 22-23 March “Social Business Youth Summit 2019” took place in Manila. With the vision of creating a world of three zeros, the SBYS 2019 was hosted by SBYA Global in collaboration with partners including Future City Summit. The summit brought together a broad range of communities in the shared pursuit of development through innovation. Attendees include students, entrepreneurs, academics, working professionals, activists, CSR practitioners, & NGO representatives. Around 350 participants from 30+ Universities,50+ Entrepreneurs Social Businesses/ Startups/Enterprises joined the summit.
15 Social Businesses have been showcased, 15 hours of knowledge sharing and workshops was conducted.
About Future City Summit:
For one Hong Kong-based non-profit group focused on Asia’s young workforce, the future is now. The Future City Summit seeks to help emerging cities in the region develop through public-private partnerships, engaging young leaders from local governments and business startups.
Its project series Public-Private Partnership by Youth targets sectors such as sustainable tourism in Denpasar, Bali, the future of media and entertainment in Bangkok, social impact through fintech in Manila, and the future workforce in Ramallah. Stakeholders have included the Asian Development Bank, the African Union, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and the University of Hong Kong.