Applications for the ASEAN Social Enterprises Development Program (ASEAN SEDP) 2023 are now open. The ASEAN Foundation, with the support of TikTok and SAP, launches the ASEAN Social Enterprises Development Programme (ASEAN-SEDP) 2.0. This programme will provide social enterprises in the ASEAN region with access to more significant opportunities to improve their ventures through promoting productivity, technology and innovation; increasing access to finance; enhancing market access and internationalization; and promoting entrepreneurship and human capital development.

Program Overview

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ASEAN-SEDP is designed to solve socioeconomic problems and to strengthen the ASEAN Social enterprises ecosystem in the ASEAN region through comprehensive and sustainable support. This program aims to provide customized capacity building, mentorship and coaching, facilitation to market, and seed funding to youth-led social enterprises in ASEAN.

This programme offers a glimpse into the region’s diverse social enterprises, which has the potential to create a more significant social impact on the community in the region. The initiative of creating a Social Enterprises Development Program in the Southeast Asia region will bring long-term benefits and build a unique ecosystem for the larger social enterprise community in the region.

ASEAN-SEDP aims for contributing to the realisation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and ASEAN Social Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint 2025 and working in line towards achieving sustainable development of ASEAN, and will mainly support the following ASEAN work plans:

• ASEAN Strategic Action Plan for SME Development 2016 – 2025,
• ASEAN Work Plan on youth 2021 – 2025,
• ASEAN Comprehensive Framework to address the ongoing pandemic by supporting human capital development, promoting MSME digital upskilling and access to the market, and
• UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The Challenge of ASEAN Social Enterprises Development

The implementation of ASEAN-SEDP 2.0 is to continue to support youth-led social enterprises in ASEAN region through capacity building, mentorship and coaching, facilitation to market and seed funding. Also, this programme will help the social enterprises to prepare a solid exit strategy to help them get investors to sustain their impact.

The ASEAN Foundation, with the support of TikTok and SAP, are inviting social enterprises from the 10 ASEAN Member States (AMS) with innovative projects that touch upon on the following issues to apply for the ASEAN-SEDP 2.0:

• Reducing poverty or improving the livelihood of ASEAN citizens through job creation, employment- related capacity building initiatives, sustainable agricultural practices, and/or access to financial resources – SDG 1: No Poverty
• Reducing hunger, promoting food security and improved nutrition, promoting sustainable agriculture – SDG 2: Zero Hunger
• Providing access to better health care for ASEAN citizens, particularly disadvantaged communities – SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being

Benefits from ASEAN Social Enterprises Development

• Curriculum Development: A tailor-made curriculum will be developed for the SEs; this curriculum will also leverage the ASEAN MSME platform.
• Capacity Building: The ASEAN Foundation team will design an exclusive expert-led training program and The SEs will receive a comprehensive program to build capacity, up-skilling, and detailed orientation.
• Regular Pitching and Speed Pitching for Investors: The ASEAN Foundation team will facilitate networking and speed-pitching for SEs to pitch their ideas to potential investors.
• Engage the SEs with the National and Regional ASEAN Policymakers: The SEs able to participate in ASEAN sectoral bodies such as ACCMSME and SOMY officials to showcase their impacts and recommendation.
• Visibility and Opportunities: The SEs will present their project initiatives and product and win the seed grants to accelerate growth of their project.

Eligibility for ASEAN Social Enterprises Development

Social enterprises from ASEAN countries who are implementing projects and creating products challenges related to the SDGs mentioned above with the following qualifications are eligible to apply:

• The Founder or Co-Founder of the project or the Social Enterprises team members are aged between 15 to 35 years old who ASEAN Nationalities.
• All team members must be currently residing in the following ASEAN countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
• If selected, the project leader and 2-3 members must be fully committed to participating in the full cycle of the ASEAN SEDP 2.0
• The youth-led social enterprises registered to this programme should already generate some revenue. It would be preferable if the social enterprise has a minimum viable product that can be examined and presented. The Social Enterprises that already supported ideation phase from others existing incubator programmes also can apply to this programme.
• Lastly, Some team members must have good English as the programme will be in English.

Application of ASEAN Social Enterprises Development

All interested social enterprises are required to apply to the programme by completing the application form by 3 May 2023. Applications submitted to other channels will not be considered. Incomplete completion of  the form will not be further processed for shortlisting.

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Lastly, It is important to visit the official website link found below to access the application form.

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