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ASEAN SEDP: Empowering Social Enterprises to Accelerate Sustainable Development & COVID-19 Recovery

Indonesia, 16 April 2021 – ASEAN Foundation, with support from GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and SAP, held the grand launch of the ASEAN Social Enterprise Development Programme (ASEAN SEDP) today. The launch event was organised virtually and opened by Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN Economic Community H.E. Satvinder Singh; GIZ Country Director for Indonesia, ASEAN and Timor-Leste Martin Hansen, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, East Asia and Pacific of SAP Eugene Ho; and Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation Dr. Yang Mee Eng. 

Amidst these challenging times, ASEAN SEDP offers an opportunity for social enterprises to grow and achieve sustainability by providing them with access to capacity building, mentorship, networking, funding grants and wider market across ASEAN. As reported by the World Economic Forum recently, a large number of social enterprises are significantly affected by the outbreak due to the large-scale mobility restriction that severely limit their operating activities.

Social enterprises are among the frontline and essential institutions who actively address social and environmental problems in their community. Their contributions in supporting COVID-19 recovery efforts are critical and necessary, and to achieve 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, United Nations emphasised on the potential of social enterprises in creating employment. ASEAN SEDP seeks to reach out youth-led social enterprise in particular to address a whole wide range of issues that young people face today, especially regarding the decreased access to decent employment opportunities and civic participation.

To promote greater involvement of social enterprises in alleviating the impact of COVID-19, ASEAN SEDP invites social enterprises in the region to submit innovative project ideas that can help ASEAN nations achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 (No Poverty), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

“The youth are catalyst for change and innovation. The youth community has been playing an important role in boosting ASEAN’s economy over the last 20 years. In line with Germany’s commitment to assist ASEAN’s economic integration and ASEAN’s initiatives to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, it is GIZ’s pleasure to support the ASEAN Social Enterprise Development Programme through this project financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Involving the youth in economic activities in the region offers a massive potential. We believe that this pilot programme can become a successful model for future projects with regard to unleashing the economic potential of the youth,” said Martin Hansen, GIZ Country Director for Indonesia, ASEAN and Timor-Leste.

“Social and inclusive entrepreneurship is the fabric of economic growth and the engine of humanitarian and environmental impact. For more than a decade, SAP has been establishing trust and building capacity for social enterprises, from inspiring early-stage innovation and new ventures, to accelerating and scaling mature social enterprises. We provide skills, technology expertise, and access to markets to accelerate their ability to drive sustainable social impact and systemic change”, said Eugene Ho, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, East Asia & Pacific. “We look forward to collaborating with GIZ and the ASEAN Foundation to enable a new cohort of young social entrepreneurs to advance sustainable development in South East Asia”, he continued.

To inspire more youth to be engaged in entrepreneurial activities, ASEAN SEDP marks its launch with an interactive webinar on how to “Inspire and Enable Youth of ASEAN to Scale-up Their Social Enterprises in the Region”. A panel consisting of ASEAN Lead Advisor of GIZ  Sergey Makarov; Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, East Asia and Pacific of SAP Eugene Ho; Senior Officer from Enterprise and Stakeholder Engagement Division at ASEAN Secretariat Izniza Afzan Mustafa Albakri; and CEO of Parakerja Rezki Achyana  shared their view and experience in growing, managing and supporting social enterprises through their work.

“Social enterprises inspire our society to amplify solutions that foster greater social inclusion and sustainable development. To sustain their work in these unpredicted times, financial as well as non-financial support are equally critical for them to build a more resilient business model and have the capacity to help our community thrive through challenges,” said Dr. Yang Mee Eng, Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation. ASEAN SEDP still opens its application until 30 April 2021 and interested entrepreneurs can register through bit.ly/ASEAN-SEDP. Applicants will be evaluated and selected based on their submitted project proposals, as well as their internal capabilities and resources. Capacity building and mentorship sessions will be held in mid-2021.

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About GIZ

As a service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education work, we are dedicated to shaping a future worth living around the world. We have over 50 years of experience in a wide variety of areas, including economic development and employment promotion, energy and the environment, and peace and security. The diverse expertise of our federal enterprise is in demand around the globe – from the German Government, European Union institutions, the United Nations, the private sector, and governments of other countries. We work with businesses, civil society actors and research institutions, fostering successful interaction between development policy and other policy fields and areas of activity. Our main commissioning party is the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). For more information, visit www.giz.de

About SAP

SAP’s strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP® system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

About ASEAN Foundation

Three decades after ASEAN was established, ASEAN leaders recognised that: there remained inadequate shared prosperity, ASEAN awareness and contact among people of ASEAN. It was of this concern that ASEAN leaders established ASEAN Foundation during ASEAN’s 30th Anniversary Commemorative Summit in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on 15 December 1997. ASEAN Foundation is an organisation from and for the people of ASEAN. The Foundation exists because of one vision: to build a cohesive and prosperous ASEAN Community. As an ASEAN’s body, the Foundation is tasked to support ASEAN mainly in promoting awareness, identity, interaction and development of the people of ASEAN. For more info about the ASEAN Foundation, visit www.aseanfoundation.org

© 2021 ASEAN Social Enterprise Development Programme