We would like to thank

Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri Pengiran Muda ‘Abdul Mateen ibni Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah

for Officiating the Summit Launch and for Committing to Empowering Brunei’s Youth.

You can watch his speech here.

What is BIBD Yes?

BIBD Youth Empowerment Summit (BIBD YES!) is a 2-day event held at the Jerudong International School, Brunei on 12th & 13th December 2020.

Themed, It’s Your Turn, it aims to inspire positive change by reminding the youth that they are never too young to make a difference.

BIBD YES! 2020 will be a gathering of 300 youth to learn about Leadership, Life Skills and Impact from Brunei and the region’s brightest, most outstanding Young Leaders and Change Makers.

This is the first of its kind hybrid summit in Brunei, which combines participation and speakers dialing in virtually locally and overseas adapting to the new normal amid the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The Summit is designed for youth aged 15 – 25; made up of pre-university students, university students and young graduates.

About Us

BIBD YES! 2020 HIGHLIGHTS

2020

BIBD YES! HIGHLIGHT VIDEO

Yes! 2020 Speakers

Natalie Chan

Founder & CEO
OWN Academy
HONG KONG

Steve Lai

News Anchor
CNA
SINGAPORE

Francis Sollano

Co-Founder
Youth for Livable Community
PHILIPPINES

Pg Dr Noor Affizan Pg Hj Abd Rahman

Deputy Head of Ophthalmology
Ministry of Health
BRUNEI

Wahyu Taufiq

Founder
DIY Foundation
INDONESIA

Tony Verb

Founder
Greater Bay
HUNGARY / HONG KONG

Ryan Gersava

Founder
Virtualahan
PHILIPPINES

Edika Amin

Analyst
PS-Engage
MALAYSIA

Jasly Kong

Life Coach & Self
Awareness Expert
MALAYSIA

Aimi Ramlee

Co-Founder
Tyne Solutions
BRUNEI

View All Speakers

Special thanks!

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Natalie Chan

Founder & CEO, OWN Academy

Hong Kong

Natalie Chan is an engineer, corporate professional, film producer, adventure seeker, educator, entrepreneur and member of the Global Shaper Community. Natalie’s dedication to education was sparked from the realization that there is a gap between schools and the real world. In order to fix that, Natalie founded OWN Academy in 2016, a 21st Century education solution with a focus on empowering the next generation to be changemakers and problem solvers of the future.

Her goal is to unlock students’ motivation by bridging industry into schools through partnering with corporations and organizations to create experiential programs. As a result of Natalie's diverse achievements, she was selected as one of Davos 50, representing Asian youths to attend the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2019, and selected into Ashoka’s Changemaker x Change program.

Watch Natalie Chan's video here
Watch Natalie Chan's interview with Curious Mind here

Steve Lai

Senior Producer & News Anchor, CNA

SINGAPORE/BRUNEI

Steve Lai is a News Anchor at CNA, a Singapore-based regional broadcaster. Steve co-hosts the channel's two 1-hour flagship nightly bulletins, Asia Tonight at 8pm and Singapore Tonight at 10pm. He is also the Producer and Host of CNA's podcast Good List/Bad List with Steve Lai.

In his 7+ years at CNA, Steve has worked on every bulletin and shift on the 24hr news channel, and is the regular first choice for the channel's special broadcasts, which includes the two Trump-Kim Summits and the 2018 Malaysia Elections which saw Dr Mahathir Mohamad sweep back to power. For the Trump-Kim Summit in Singapore on 12 June 2018, he was on-air for almost 12 hours which was a personal record.

Prior to joining CNA in March 2012, Steve worked at ESPN Star Sports as an Anchor for Sportscenter Asia and as a Broadcast Journalist for the 24hr channel ESPNews.

Steve was the former (and first) Captain of the Brunei National Rugby team and worked as a pundit for Astro’s (Malaysia) coverage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Steve can be found on Twitter: @stevelai, @stevelaiCNA and Instagram: @stevelai_

Watch Steve Lai's video here

Francis Sollano

Executive Director, Youth for a Livable Cebu

PHILIPPINES

Francis Sollano is an internationally-acclaimed, multi-disciplinary creative focused on social practice art. He pioneered “trashion” in the Philippines, and is known for his contemporary takes on upcycling garbage into wearable art, installations, and commercial products.

Francis is also the Executive Director of Youth for a Livable Cebu (YLC), a platform to promote sustainability advocacies and nation-building. With his vision, YLC received the Bayanihan sa Daan Award at the Malacañang Palace from the Office of the Philippine President in 2014, and received the award as one of the most Accomplished Youth Organizations of the Philippines in 2017 for their programs on developing youth potentials all over the country.

Up to this day, Francis is the only Filipino recognized by World Economic Forum as a Cultural Leader. In 2015, he received the Elevate Award from the British Council for using his creativity on the protection of children through play and safe spaces. He is also the recipient of the United Nations Environmental Program Fellowship Award as one of Asia Pacific's leaders on sustainable urban design. Last November 2018, Francis received the Arts4Good Award by the Singapore International Foundation for his dedication on empowering the youth through the arts.

Watch Francis Sollano's video here
Watch Francis Sollano's interview with Curious Mindhere

Pg Dr Noor Affizan Pg Hj Abd Rahman

Consultant Ophthalmologist, Ministry of Health

BRUNEI

Pg Dr Noor Affizan is a Consultant Ophthalmologist at RIPAS Hospital and works under the Ministry of Health. She was recently awarded the 2020 Equity Initiative Fellowship which aims at promoting health equity and social justice across Southeast Asia. She was shortlisted as a finalist for the Women of the Future Southeast Asia Awards in the Community Service and Public Service category in 2019, and was listed on southeastasiawomen.org, a platform featuring outstanding women leaders across Southeast Asia.

Her passion for the development and growth of Brunei towards Vision 2035 has compelled her to go beyond her work in healthcare. She volunteers her free time to speak at schools and organisations to empower young people towards a bright, purpose-driven future.

Dr Noor founded You Can Lead BN in early 2019 to encourage students and young professionals to dream big and realise their potential. The platform focuses on sharing free or low-cost opportunities from around the world, including opportunities for fellowships, workshops, contests, conferences, among others.

Watch Pg Dr Noor Affizan Pg Hj Abd Rahman's video here
Watch Pg Dr Noor Affizan Pg Hj Abd Rahman's interview with Curious Mind here

Wahyu Taufiq

Founder, DIY Foundation

INDONESIA

Wahyu Taufiq is a Serial Entrepreneur and a Social Activist.

As an Entrepreneur, Wahyu is the Founder and Director of Selaras Group, an Investment Consulting Company and a Law Firm that focus on impact-focused investment planning in Indonesia. He is also a Co-Founder of Dapura Flex Kitchen consults the F&B industry. Wahyu experience in consulting expands to Digital Transformation, Fintech, Hospitality.

As a Social Activist, Wahyu is the Founder and Chairman of Developing Independent Youth - D.I.Y Foundation, an NGO that supports Youth, Startups, and Local SMEs to create the next innovative entrepreneurs and innovative solutions through education and incubation programs.

He is also a member of the Global Shapers Community by the prestigious World Economic Forum and a City Partner for the Future City Summit & Good City Foundation.

Tony Verb

Co-Founder, GreaterBay Ventures & Advisors

HUNGARY

Tony Verb is a serial entrepreneur, urban innovator, venture capitalist and film producer based in Hong Kong.

He is the Founder of GreaterBay Ventures & Advisors, an integrated investment and consulting firm, specialised in cross-border innovation and smart cities. He is a sought-after business advisor for European businesses in the Greater Bay Area of South China, Hong Kong and Macau, a region that he works to facilitate and scale the adaptation of urban tech best practices globally. Tony is committed to accelerate the growth of technology companies that positively impact urbanisation under the thesis he coins as “Urban Tech with Impact”.

Tony has launched several initiatives and contributes to different verticals and communities locally and globally, with experience in corporate innovation, accelerator programmes and ecosystem building as Partner of Nest.vc and Co-Founder of Mettā, an entrepreneur club. 

In his spare time, Tony contributes to philanthropic initiatives, creative projects and studies quantum physics. He is a proud alumni member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community, and he is a Greater Bay Area Investment Committee Vice Chair under the Smart City Consortium of Hong Kong.

Watch Tony Verb's video here
Watch TOny Verb's interview with Curious Mind here

Ryan Gersava

Founder, Virtualahan

PHILIPPINES

Ryan is the Founder of Virtualahan, a multi-awarded and pioneering tech social enterprise in The Philippines for Persons with Disabilities to develop skills and mindset to become competitive employees and entrepreneurs using the equalizing power of technology.

Ryan is also a professional fellow at the US State Department, DO School, the Global Good Fund, and Social Impact Accelerator where he was trained in social entrepreneurship, design thinking, impact measurement, system change, and the SDGs. He is also an expert in Diversity and Inclusion, User Experience and Human- Centered Design, Community Building, and Youth Participation.

Ryan has spoken at the World Economic Forum, Global Disability Summit, Youth20 of the G20 Summit, debated at the United Nations and has been featured on Bloomberg TV, CNN Philippines, Pioneer’s Post UK, San Francisco Star, and other international media. He also won the Google Business Group Award, Asia-Pacific Future Maker, and the first Filipino to win the Inspired Leadership Award.

Watch Ryan Gersava's video here
Watch Ryan Gersava's interview with Curious Mind here

Edika Amin

Analyst, PS-Engage

MALAYSIA

Edika Amin is an Analyst at PS-Engage where he provides engagement, research and analytical support for clients in the tech industry. Separately, Edika also works with the nation’s provident fund where he serves as a behavioral insights analyst.

Prior to this, Edika worked at Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the country’s Central Bank where he served in the international department and dealt with international multilateral institutions, such as the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the World Bank Office in Kuala Lumpur and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on economic related issues.

Edika holds a Bachelor in Economics from the University of California Berkeley where he focused on behavioral economics and research on the world monetary system. He was a recipient of the Central Bank of Malaysia’s scholarship and has previous schooling experience in Croatia and Malaysia.

Watch Edika Amin's video here

Jasly Kong

Life Coach & Self-Awareness Expert

MALAYSIA

Jasly Kong is a sought-after coach in self-awareness, personal development and organisational behaviour in Southeast Asia. She has been a counsellor, motivational speaker and educator for more than 15 years with clients from as far as the USA and Mexico.

Jasly is active with her coaching contribution to NGOs to foster continuous growth and leadership development for the community.

Jasly’s long list of qualifications in the field of behavioural science includes Bachelor of Education in Guiding & Counselling (UPM, Malaysia), Certified Behavioural & Career Consultant (IML, USA) and Certified Practitioner of Neur-Linguistic Programming.

Watch Jasly Kong's video here

Aimi Ramlee

Co-Founder & Creative Lead, Tyne Solutions

BRUNEI

Aimi Ramlee is the Co-Founder of Tyne Solutions, an award-winning tech consultancy specialising in bringing world changing ideas to life. She is also a Knowledge Management Officer of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, which uses technology to enable NGOs and non-profits to collaborate from remote locations. Aimi is also the Co-Founder of www.southeastasiawomen.org.

Aimi is the 2020 Co-Chair of the YSEALI Women’s Leadership Academy Alumni Network and a 2020 Obama Foundation Leader Asia Pacific. She regularly speaks on women’s issues in Brunei and mentors female entrepreneurs through local and international mentoring programmes.

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