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Powered by Garena, Echelon Asia’s Community Lounge seeks to foster collaboration between non-profits and startups across Asia

On the surface, it is easy to judge Echelon Asia as another tech conference focused on entrepreneurs and investors. However, as the startup ecosystem becomes more complex and diverse, society cannot ignore how the numerous non-profit organisations across Asia have also helped build our region’s best developers, creatives, and entrepreneurs. At Echelon Asia Summit 2016, e27 and Garena have dedicated an open-space Community Lounge for non-profits and entrepreneurs to collaborate and learn from each other. Here are some highlights:

Day 1: Learn How to Become an Ecommerce Power Seller, Powered by Shopee University

E-commerce is a difficult and tricky business, so finding the right folks to learn and gain guidance from is very important. Not to mention, e-commerce is a competitive industry, so gaining the upper hand on even the tiniest feature can make or break the company. Running from 2:30pm to 3:30pm on Day 1, this session will be featuring Elijah Yong, Relationship Management Lead of Shopee, as well as Avril Khoo, Graphic Designer of Shopee. Feel free to participate and interact with this session! In doing so, you’ll learn how to form meaningful relationships with your e-commerce customers and create an easy and seamless user experience for them.

Day 1: Social Entrepreneurship in APAC, Powered by Project Inspire

Social entrepreneurship has been getting on-and-off exposure in the APAC region, so more empowerment in this sector is crucial. Learn from Sing Suen Soon, Head of Social Innovations Initiatives and Project Inspire Lead. As a joint initiative from the Singapore Committee for UN Women and MasterCard, Project Inspire seeks to listen to ideas from global youth innovators which can empower girls and women in Asia Pacific through safety and security. This particular session will start at 4:00pm. Listen attentively, start brainstorming ideas and come together with other attendees to build a stronger social entrepreneurship community in Asia.

Day 2: Girls In Tech SG presents Makey Makey Workshop

Get those gears working early on Day 2! Starting at 10:30am, Girls in Tech SG will be presenting a Makey Makey workshop, where attendees will be creating electronic tunes using Scratch and Makey Makey, an electronic circuit board that turns any conductive surface into a keyboard. Pre-registration for this workshop is REQUIRED, so please register before attending. There will be two workshops, with each 45-minute session accommodating up to 24 attendees. Running this workshop will be Adeline Setiawan, Chief Creative Officer and co-founder of Saturday Kids and Design Director of FabCafe Singapore. There will also be a giveaway of 5 Makey Makey kits to participants to take home in a draw; winners will be posted on the Girls In Tech SG website.

Day 2: Intro to Virtual Reality powered by General Assembly

Virtual Reality (VR) has become a lot more prominent today than a few years ago. Starting off with Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus for US$2 billion and now with the ubiquity of 360 videos and Google Cardboards, VR has gotten people hooked. Learn from General Assembly instructor Lionel Chok who will elucidate the hype behind the 360 technology, VR and other players in the game such as CG, Animation and Gaming, and how attendees can be a part of this sweeping VR movement. Try this session out, and perhaps we’ll see one of you dabbling in VR very soon.

Day 1 & 2: Free and Easy Sessions

Aside from the sessions and workshops, feel free to use this community lounge as a meeting place. Collaboration requires space, so utilise our free and easy sessions to the fullest. Brainstorm and share your viewpoints to the new friends you’ll meet, or set up a meeting with someone you’re interested in chatting with. Or if you’d just like to escape from all the crazy things happening at Echelon, take a moment to just reflect on the day’s activities.

Overall, collaboration between non-profits and startups is one of the many ways we can ensure a more cohesive and empathetic startup community. Let our community lounge cater to various groups and individuals, be it a booming tech industry or oft-forgotten sectors. It is a meeting of the minds, of folks coming from similar yet different viewpoints. Take advantage of this opportunity, make it another avenue to empower, strengthen, and embolden your ideals.

Take a risk, rekindle lost connections, have a laugh or two, and we’ll see you very soon!

The post The Community Code: How non-profits and startups create communities appeared first on e27.

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