Beyond Five Days: Building Social Impact That Lasts
“It is impossible to create a viable social enterprise in just five days, especially with people you have never met before.”
That was the initial skepticism walking into the Jockey Club NextGen Philanthropists Leadership Scholarship Programme 2026. Over an intensive week at HKU, that doubt gave way to one of the most perspective-shifting experiences I have had across social innovation, technology, and leadership.
“People often assume five days is too short to build something meaningful. But time is just a container; what matters is the clarity and conviction you bring into the room.”
Immersive Culture and Systems Thinking
From visiting the Sikh Temple to exploring M+ and the HKU Museum, the programme grounded us deeply in local culture and the creative arts. A particularly eye-opening experience was studying The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s philanthropic model. Seeing institutional revenue channeled into billions for public welfare was a masterclass in scale, but it also prompted us to think critically about the limitations of perpetual grant dependency.
These visits fostered genuine community empathy alongside strategic, structural thinking.
“Empathy points you toward the problem, but deeply understanding the people living it and building directly from their reality is where a real solution actually begins.”
Our masterclasses with Desmond So, Viswa Sadasivan, and Felix Kwok added another layer of depth, offering candid insights into authentic leadership, persuasive communication, and the practical convergence of art and emerging technology.
Reframing Social Impact
Working through these challenges forced us to confront two honest realities:
Traditional checkbook philanthropy often manages crises rather than solving them, inadvertently creating long-term dependency loops instead of resilience.
Technology, particularly “AI for Good,” is too frequently treated as a superficial pitch-deck feature, masking a lack of genuine utility and broken unit economics.
“If a project only survives as long as someone else is subsidising your goodwill, you haven’t built a venture; you’ve built a recurring ask. Sympathy gets you in the room, but sustainable value is what earns you a permanent seat at the table.”
Mentorship and Co-Building FridgeSense
As a Student Mentor, my primary focus was helping teams move past broad assumptions by applying core startup frameworks: disciplined painstorming, customer discovery, and value proposition mapping to validate real Product-Market Fit.
Alongside mentoring, I had the privilege of working with an extraordinary team to co-build FridgeSense, an integrated hardware and software solution tackling domestic food waste through smart storage and gamified tracking. While we did not take the top spot, earning 2nd Place made me immensely proud of the team’s resilience, work ethic, and dedication to solving a meaningful problem.
Key Takeaways
Precision Over Novelty: Generative AI is most effective when used as a quiet operational equaliser: streamlining workflows, lowering overhead, and communicating nuanced social missions with clarity, rather than serving as a cosmetic wrapper.
Designing for Financial Independence: Philanthropic funding is an invaluable early catalyst, but enduring social ventures must build revenue mechanics that allow them to stand on their own feet.
Art as a Vehicle for Inclusion: Creative mediums and modern technology together create powerful platforms for community empowerment and human dignity.
“The goal of innovation isn’t to look clever; it is to make solutions so practical and accessible that using them becomes second nature.”
Looking Ahead
Moving forward, I am excited to continue my journey as a Student Mentor facilitating the champion team, Painting Bus (“Speak with Arts, Walk with Stars”). They secured S$20,000 in seed funding to launch a mobile art studio and sensory space for autistic children, alongside a sustainable marketplace for their creative work.
A sincere thank you to The Hong Kong Jockey Club, Ms. Faye Lo, The University of Hong Kong, and the entire organizing team for coordinating such a thoughtful and rigorous experience. Special thanks as well to Desmond So, Viswa Sadasivan, and Felix Kwok for generously sharing their perspectives.
“True social impact doesn’t ask the world to feel sorry; it invites the world to participate in something better.”
I am deeply grateful for the friendships made, and I look forward to working alongside fellow mentors Louise Goh, Delfina Poernomo, and Alice Cui as we help guide Painting Bus from concept into real-world impact.
Written by Jia Le,
NextGen Class of Stephen Riady, 2026
Singapore | Age 24
