Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies

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First Step to Become a Changemaker – Experiential Workshop at Dream Impact

First Step to Become a Changemaker – Experiential Workshop at Dream Impact

17 November 2022
Workshop

A total of 36 BSocSc(SEDS) students joined an experiential workshop on Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Dream Impact on 16 September 2022.

The Workshop provided the opportunity for students to deepen their understanding of social entrepreneurship. The sharing session of “Human Library” conducted by the two social entrepreneurs – Helen from Oh My Kids and Alicia from WISE HK were the students’ favourite part since they could interact with each other to exchange innovative ideas and have inspired by the guests’ real-life social innovation and entrepreneurship cases like challenges of starting/operating social enterprises and ways for building support among stakeholders.

Students tried to pitch a business plan from idea jamming to a presentation in the last session of the experiential workshop named “Tasting Workshop”, which enabled the students further cultivate skills and knowledge developed during coursework.

Workshop 1Workshop 2

Students Sharing

The visit to Dream Impact allows me to learn about the dynamics of social entrepreneurship in Hong Kong in the past and current trends. While regular classes mainly focus on theoretical parts, the invaluable workshop and sharing provided me with an in-depth tour of the industry of social entrepreneurship. Aside from how to start an enterprise, this workshop showed us the workplace culture and strategies for minimizing costs while maximizing efficiencies.

Nevertheless, the sharing in the Human Library session conducted by two representatives from different social enterprises has provided us with a clear understanding of managing a social enterprise and has benefited me since I could gain knowledge beyond the classes.

KWOK Kwan-hei, Isolla

BSocSc(SEDS), Year 1

Through the workshop at Dream Impact, I have learned from the guest speaker from the Human Library Hong Kong that creating social impact could be a piece of cake but is not a must to be a member of a social enterprise. Indeed, activities like volunteering, organising community events, and participating in charity activities, etc., could positively impact our society.

Furthermore, the social enterprise’s simulation activity at Dream Impact was fun. It inspired my four teammates and me a lot to conceive a business plan, including the business model, promotion strategy, mission, and vision of a social enterprise within 20 minutes.  Finally, we shared our ideas and thoughts about social enterprises with guests and classmates on the stage.

From this experiential learning, I believe that Hong Kong could also be an incubator for innovation and social entrepreneurship to support the seeds of local social enterprises to thrive here.

LAW Shing-hin

BSocSc(SEDS), Year 1

After joining the workshop, I realised that social enterprises are not only businesses with a specific social mission that serves their primary target but also benefit the community in various ways (e.g. contributing to the environment and society).

To my way of thinking, the guest-sharing was the most inspiring since it brought some new ideas to me in the social entrepreneurship sector and business operations. For example, industry sectors and external environmental factors would vary the business' revenue and ability to achieve its social objectives. Having said that, the financial instability of the enterprise may deter its development or even increase the risk of cessation of business. Thence, when building up our own business, we should be aware of business development and risk management to cut down the possibilities of investment failure or the closing down of the company.

I have learnt a lot of valuable experiences from the workshop, which I hope I can apply to my business in the future.

TANG Wing-chi, Vinci

BSocSc(SEDS), Year 1