SEAmplified

𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬? That's what Benjamin Long and Kristoffer Jacek Soh did in 2019, after spending a year building Beep. Beep is a unified Internet of Things (IoT) platform that enables connectivity for transactions via vending machines and electric vehicle (EV) charging across Southeast Asia. They made the decision after gaining traction and support from customers, the government, and organizations like NUS Enterprise. But did the decision to drop out eventually pay off? Find out more about the duo’s journey on SEAmplified this week via the link in the comments below! ⬇️ 

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞? 🤔 That's one of many questions that Tay Tian Wen and I have been thinking about since we started SEAmplified in January this year. To be honest, we didn't really have an answer. 🌏 When we first started, we cared more about helping Singapore youths learn about how Southeast Asia's (SEA) politics would affect their job prospects. We were interested in bridging that information gap and it seemed that many of our friends were interested in it. So we started with weekly explainers to talk about that. By March, we realized that we were not gaining traction. And we decided to speak to our readers for the first time since our launch to find out why. 🤔 In my opinion, that was our first attempt at being authentic and establishing a connection with our audience, because-- 1️⃣ We get to learn from our audience why our content was not doing well 2️⃣ Our audience get to know us and understand why we started SEAmplified 💬 After speaking to them, we switched to a more humanistic approach to storytelling and reporting. To our surprise, we managed to gain some traction from our "Trailblazers" series, where we featured the personal stories of startup founders or social leaders who are making the region a better place. We learned that people resonated with personal stories, and we doubled down on other content experiments to feature what SEA youths are truly thinking about on topics like work and happiness. 🔍 To find out how we've been doing and build more authenticity with our readers, we launched our second round of surveys and interviews last month. 🙏 We're grateful to the 15 readers who filled up the survey or spoke to me via our 1-to-1 chats! And with that, we decided to make some changes to our content creation plan by creating more engaging and relatable content for SEA youths, while helping professionals understand the trends that define them. The plans are outlined in today's newsletter (see link in the comments below), but I want to share two more points on how we are building authenticity with our audience. 📌 Actively ask your audience how they feel about the content that you're sharing. It can be done through polls or questions in the newsletter or social media channels. 📌 Share openly with your audience what you've planned for them. It could be through a launch post to inform your audience on what is new. Hopefully, today's newsletter on our reflections and updates is also a step in the right direction. 🤔 So, how can I be more authentic with my audience? I do not have all the answers now, and I’m still learning. Let me know what you think in the comments below! ⬇️ PS: Please feel free to DM me if you have any ideas on how we can make SEAmplified better for you! #reflections #southeastasia

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 📈 In recent years, there has been an increase in green jobs and investments in Southeast Asia. For example, estimates suggest that SEA could see nearly 30 million such jobs by 2030. Green investments in SEA also surged by 20% from 2022 to 2023. 🧐 However, youths are facing challenges to access these opportunities. Why is this the case, and how can society empower them to enter the green economy? Find out more via the link in the comments below ⬇️ #southeastasia #greeneconomy

𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤-𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞? 🇻🇳 In Vietnam, an increasing number of youths are embracing the idea of work-life balance. According to a survey, 72% of Gen Z respondents in Vietnam want work-life balance. While different youths have different perspectives on how to achieve that, it is clear that taking care of the physical and mental well-being of workers is now a priority for companies. 🤔 But what does it really mean to embrace work-life balance in Vietnam? And how are youths moving away from the traditional notions of work to empower themselves? Find out more via the link in the comments below. ⬇️ #asean #southeastasia #vietnam #worklifebalance

"𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 16. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫" Meet Alice Hang, 27, founder of Conexipro. Growing up in Vietnam, Alice had a happy childhood. When an unexpected tragedy hit her at the age of 16, she focused on staying positive and finding solutions to the problems she was facing. That created an opportunity to rediscover herself, through her undergraduate studies, a digital banking project, and venturing into Thailand and Singapore as an entrepreneur. But a near-death encounter last December forced Alice to reconsider her true purpose in life. So how did Alice chart her courageous path to become an entrepreneur today? Read more via the link in the comments below. #trailblazers #asean #southeastasia #entrepreneur #inspiration

𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩! 🙏 Thanks for sticking by SEAmplified! We want to give you the content that you’d want to read in future editions of SEAmplified. And we created a survey that will only need 1 minute of your time to complete. Link in comments below! ⬇️ 🌏 Your response will help us create better content for you to find out what Southeast Asian youths are thinking about. Thank you! 🙏

💼 𝐈𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩? It's June, and Singapore's annual university summer internship season is now in full swing! With students taking up one or more internships, it certainly feels weird if we didn't manage to secure one. 🤔 After all, internships seem like the only way to figure out our interests or future careers during the summer break--or is that true? In this week's newsletter, we spoke to three Singaporean university students who gave their own thoughts on this question. Find out more via the link in the comments below. #asean #southeastasia #singapore #university #summer #internships #interest #job #career 

𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞? 💬 Here's an imagined monologue of a young digital native in the future, who's living at a time when a temperature of forty degrees Celsius has become the norm in Singapore. 🤔 How would people shape their digital identities? Why would people lean towards seeking comfort, solidarity, and support online? Read more via link in comments. #asean #southeastasia #climatechange #digitallife #singapore #youth

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐬? 🇲🇲 Meet William Bawi Hein, the founder of Youth InnoLab Myanmar, an organization dedicated to unlocking higher education and job opportunities for Burmese youths. Before that, the 24-year-old faced several crises in life. 🏠 He grew up in one of the poorest regions in Myanmar. When he moved to Yangon with his family, they had to get by with infrequent meals without a place to call home. 🏫 When a coup happened in 2021, he lost his part-time job at a Vietnamese company operating in Myanmar and had to stop his undergraduate studies. 😞 And it was a devastating moment for William when the junta suddenly announced a conscription law in February this year, as it puts Myanmar youths at risk of losing their future. 🤔 So how did William turn these crises into new opportunities for himself and fellow youths in Myanmar? What did he learn, and what are his plans for the future? Find out more via link in comments. #asean #southeastasia #myanmar #youths #motivation

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲? 🌏 Meet Charles Lee 李昭逸, a 28-year-old Singaporean who has a passion for leveraging communities to generate social impact across Southeast Asia. Charles grew up as a single-parent child, who initially felt excluded in his younger days as he tried to find his own space and people who could accept him for who he was. Charles even fell in with some bad influences when he was young, but he was lucky to have met many mentors who gave him practical advice at the right time. These encounters inspired him to build communities like SAGE and GoodHub SEA to create opportunities for youths to have access to mentors and drive social impact. 🤔 So how did his mentors shape his outlook on life, and subsequently influence the way he build communities to create new opportunities for youths across Southeast Asia? Find out more via link in comments. #asean #southeastasia #youth #trailblazers #news