By Youth Co:Lab
It is an exciting start of the year for the Springboard Programme of Youth Co:Lab, a business incubation platform for young entrepreneurs to turn Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) solutions into innovative businesses. After a challenging, but eventually very enlightening 2020, we cannot wait to continue the endeavors we initiated last year and to implement the lessons we learnt along the way.
We will continue to support young social entrepreneurs through our digital learning platform with practical tools, tips, and examples of mobilising resources for the SDGs. We launched the platform last year and is intended: to offer young social entrepreneurs the opportunity to join our movement of changemakers; to support them to refine their skills and showcase their impact through available courses and mentors; and to enable them to do all this at their own pace in their own time.
A new and thrilling effort will be the Springboard Plus Programme , which we will be launching together with Accelerating Asia for our alumni and latest national Youth Co:Lab champions. Accelerating Asia is a leading startup engagement platform that connects investors, partners, and clients to the best startups in Asia and beyond through acceleration, investment opportunities and engagement.
The programme will have an emphasis on investment readiness. A focus that Accelerating Asia is particularly well-positioned to advice on as they have already supported our Springboard alumni to raise over US$2.74 million collectively to advance their ventures.
Furthermore, our team of Startup Support Coordinators and Citi business mentors will continue to bridge over 300 opportunities to support dedicated founders involved with the Springboard programme past and present on funding applications, mentorship connections and award nominations.
So what will you be up to in 2021? Are you also working on realizing and accelerating the SDGs? We are always keen to feature your entrepreneurial journey, so be sure to send us your latest milestones via this link.
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Co-led by UNDP and Citi Foundation, Youth Co:Lab establishes a common agenda for countries in Asia-Pacific to empower and invest in youth so that they can accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation and entrepreneurship. Read more about Youth Co:Lab here.