Introducing a new overseas sharing project of The Beautiful Store Foundation (BSF)
This summer has been extremely harsh. While the Southern parts of Korea were ruined by severe drought, there was the most rainfall ever recorded in the central part of the country since weather observation began in 1907. Not only Korea but also the whole world is suffering from extreme heat waves and heavy rains.
Europe is suffering from the worst drought in 500 years. The United States, China, and Africa are also being dried up by severe heat waves and large-scale wildfires caused by drought are constantly occurring. Many people point out climate change as the cause of all this extreme weather. The crisis posed by climate change is in the not-too-distant future; it is now a direct threat to all of us.
The Beautiful Store Foundation launched the "Asia Beautiful Fellow" project to cope with the accelerating climate change. It is a project to support local social entrepreneurs who strive to solve environmental problems in Asian developing countries and to help the environmental effects they make to be wide and sustainable.
Why does BSF want to solve the climate crisis and environmental problems in 'Asia'?
Following the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2019, the world is setting up action plans for carbon neutrality to tackle the climate crisis which threatens humanity. Not only are developing countries in Asia geographically more vulnerable to climate change than developed countries, but the damage caused by climate change such as droughts and floods is concentrated due to the lack of social and institutional framework, though there are different degrees between countries.
Earlier this year in Malaysia, floods from sustained heavy rains submerged many vehicles and roads and damaged farms and homes, displacing 125,000 people. And Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is rapidly sinking due to the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and subsidence of the ground. Because of this, the government of Indonesia has passed a law to relocate its capital to East Kalimantan of Borneo Island where it is less exposed to natural disasters. Nepal, one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, suffers from extreme climatic events such as droughts, floods, and landslides every year. Thailand, the world’s largest rice exporter, is also experiencing its worst drought in 40 years which affects farming and crop production and threatens farmers and local people.
According to the 2021 World Risk Index, Malaysia is in the top 7.73% in impact from the climate crisis and Indonesia is in the top 10.67%. It indicates that these developing countries in Asia are at high risk of exposure to natural disasters and climate change and they need to be prevented and managed.
Why does BSF want to solve this problem through ‘social entrepreneurs'?
In Asian developing countries, there are outstanding social innovative leaders working to solve the problems of their communities. They not only have a strong will to solve community problems, but also have a high-level understanding of the local community and high potential and capacity to effectively solve problems using local resources. We’ll discover local social innovators and help them focus on the environmental problems they are trying to solve and support them to grow. Then, even after The Beautiful Store Foundation agreements are over, we expect that they will continue to solve the problems of the communities in which they live and bring about greater change in the future.
Currently, not only traditional social enterprises but also social entrepreneurs who use technology or crowdfunding to lead social innovation are increasing in Asia. However, the majority of social enterprises are small businesses with a small number of employees and suffer from a lack of financial support. They have experienced great difficulty in securing funds from various sources, especially banks, individual investors, and governments. 68% of early social entrepreneurs depend on their families for funding, while only about 12% secure money through banks and other financial institutions, governments, or online crowdfunding. To make sustainable change, they need a variety of support including financial support.
What kind of support does BSF provide?
The Beautiful Store Foundation has been supporting domestic social innovative leaders through the "Beautiful Fellow" project for over 10 years and learned that supporting social innovative leaders helps solve social problems. Based on this experience, we are now trying to expand our support to Asia. To relieve the financial burden and focus on activities, we not only support monthly expenses for two years but also provide consulting to strengthen the business and leadership capabilities of fellows by matching with experts in each field. Also, we provide invitation training to Korea to form a network in connection with social innovative leaders in the domestic environmental field and to share various concerns of fellows.
Asia Beautiful fellow has started with the application of documents from January to March 2022, followed by document screening in April, interviews in May, and due diligence in June. And a total of four people were selected as the 1st Asia Beautiful Fellows from Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. We will introduce the environmental problems and solutions that the 1st Asian Beautiful Fellows are trying to solve in each country. We greatly appreciate your interest. Thank you.
Asia Beautiful Fellowship program helps to alleviate the climate crisis by finding social entrepreneurs with effective solutions in Asian developing countries and supporting them in various ways to make the impact they create sustainably. |
Introducing a new overseas sharing project of The Beautiful Store Foundation (BSF)
This summer has been extremely harsh. While the Southern parts of Korea were ruined by severe drought, there was the most rainfall ever recorded in the central part of the country since weather observation began in 1907. Not only Korea but also the whole world is suffering from extreme heat waves and heavy rains.
Europe is suffering from the worst drought in 500 years. The United States, China, and Africa are also being dried up by severe heat waves and large-scale wildfires caused by drought are constantly occurring. Many people point out climate change as the cause of all this extreme weather. The crisis posed by climate change is in the not-too-distant future; it is now a direct threat to all of us.
The Beautiful Store Foundation launched the "Asia Beautiful Fellow" project to cope with the accelerating climate change. It is a project to support local social entrepreneurs who strive to solve environmental problems in Asian developing countries and to help the environmental effects they make to be wide and sustainable.
Why does BSF want to solve the climate crisis and environmental problems in 'Asia'?
Following the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2019, the world is setting up action plans for carbon neutrality to tackle the climate crisis which threatens humanity. Not only are developing countries in Asia geographically more vulnerable to climate change than developed countries, but the damage caused by climate change such as droughts and floods is concentrated due to the lack of social and institutional framework, though there are different degrees between countries.
Earlier this year in Malaysia, floods from sustained heavy rains submerged many vehicles and roads and damaged farms and homes, displacing 125,000 people. And Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is rapidly sinking due to the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and subsidence of the ground. Because of this, the government of Indonesia has passed a law to relocate its capital to East Kalimantan of Borneo Island where it is less exposed to natural disasters. Nepal, one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, suffers from extreme climatic events such as droughts, floods, and landslides every year. Thailand, the world’s largest rice exporter, is also experiencing its worst drought in 40 years which affects farming and crop production and threatens farmers and local people.
According to the 2021 World Risk Index, Malaysia is in the top 7.73% in impact from the climate crisis and Indonesia is in the top 10.67%. It indicates that these developing countries in Asia are at high risk of exposure to natural disasters and climate change and they need to be prevented and managed.
Why does BSF want to solve this problem through ‘social entrepreneurs'?
In Asian developing countries, there are outstanding social innovative leaders working to solve the problems of their communities. They not only have a strong will to solve community problems, but also have a high-level understanding of the local community and high potential and capacity to effectively solve problems using local resources. We’ll discover local social innovators and help them focus on the environmental problems they are trying to solve and support them to grow. Then, even after The Beautiful Store Foundation agreements are over, we expect that they will continue to solve the problems of the communities in which they live and bring about greater change in the future.
Currently, not only traditional social enterprises but also social entrepreneurs who use technology or crowdfunding to lead social innovation are increasing in Asia. However, the majority of social enterprises are small businesses with a small number of employees and suffer from a lack of financial support. They have experienced great difficulty in securing funds from various sources, especially banks, individual investors, and governments. 68% of early social entrepreneurs depend on their families for funding, while only about 12% secure money through banks and other financial institutions, governments, or online crowdfunding. To make sustainable change, they need a variety of support including financial support.
What kind of support does BSF provide?
The Beautiful Store Foundation has been supporting domestic social innovative leaders through the "Beautiful Fellow" project for over 10 years and learned that supporting social innovative leaders helps solve social problems. Based on this experience, we are now trying to expand our support to Asia. To relieve the financial burden and focus on activities, we not only support monthly expenses for two years but also provide consulting to strengthen the business and leadership capabilities of fellows by matching with experts in each field. Also, we provide invitation training to Korea to form a network in connection with social innovative leaders in the domestic environmental field and to share various concerns of fellows.
Asia Beautiful fellow has started with the application of documents from January to March 2022, followed by document screening in April, interviews in May, and due diligence in June. And a total of four people were selected as the 1st Asia Beautiful Fellows from Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. We will introduce the environmental problems and solutions that the 1st Asian Beautiful Fellows are trying to solve in each country. We greatly appreciate your interest. Thank you.
Asia Beautiful Fellowship program helps to alleviate the climate crisis by finding social entrepreneurs with effective solutions in Asian developing countries and supporting them in various ways to make the impact they create sustainably.