There are approximately 655 million people in Southeast Asia, millions of social media posts online everyday... what are the odds that you'll stand out? On social platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and whatnot, it is hard to get a clear focus when engaging Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) topics without being interrupted by advertisements and other viral content such as cats... those pesky (yet adorable cats).
Also that unpredictable social media algorithm is a struggle to fight with every single day. You could be following hundreds of sustainability organisations, trying to keep in touch with what they do, and end up seeing ads for corporations undoing the hard work of the said sustainability organisations!
The thought of being on a community platform that is an alternative to Facebook seems crazy in 2021 when they are so entrenched in our lives.
It was just 3 years ago when we were incubating Southeast Asia startups via YSI SEA and our Facebook group, Earthpreneurs Southeast Asia, with 2.8k members was thriving with activity. Now everything has changed due to the fickle algorithm!
This is where Interseed comes in. We want to bring you a sustainability platform without all the noise, unpredictability, and distraction so you can have a clear focus when engaging with sustainability players from the ecosystem and online community!
We want to bring everyone together and be on the same page.
Here is what we have been working on for our sustainability platform:
Map Dashboard
Community Directory
Landscape research open sourced
Opportunities consolidated (funding and jobs)
Resources
Good news feed
Events feature
Let's walk you through on what's available:
1/7 Dashboard: Networking opportunities across the board
Imagine being Professor Xavier from the X-Men and you can visualise all possible (almost all) sustainability players around Southeast Asia and you can better identify the collaborative opportunities in the space.
And it doesn't have to be all in your mind.
We want to replicate the serendipitous feeling of creating a new connection that you never knew could happen and let it help transform your sustainability journey into ways never possible before.
Your network is your net worth thus we want you to capitalise on new connections near you. This is also to ensure that we don't work in silos when tackling sustainability problems.
We added some nifty filters to help you narrow down on the precise sustainability player you want to collaborate with
Focus areas
Skillsets
Sustainability involvement
Looking for...
We don't have a fancy acronym for the features, FSSL, because we did not plan ahead.
2/7 Community: Communiteam!
Choices, choices, choices! We also have an alternative way for you to skim through users and organisations in our platform with our community directory.
From Philippines to Singapore and Malaysia to Indonesia, these are the few of the many thriving sustainability spots in the Southeast Asia for you to collaborate with.
We want to help you get one step closer to mobilize the sustainable cities and communities of your dreams.
3/7 Landscape Studies: Did you know?
A potential recurring thought that a founder or talent might have is the realisation that there is a lot of information out there and every day we all learn something new!
Sometimes it gets overwhelming and we ask questions such as how to achieve sustainable cities and communities when there is so much information scattered out there.
We created this open source landscape feature for founders to help them understand a particular aspect of sustainability better or looking to study the market for it.
If you are a student or a young professional looking to publish such research this might be a good opportunity for you to build your portfolio as you will be able to share this on LinkedIn or other social media. Flex those insights!
Here are some of the recent landscapes published by the community!
4/7 Funding and Jobs: Consolidated Opportunities
Opportunities are everywhere.... however, who has the time to comb through the internet for "funding opportunities southeast asia", "funding opportunities philippines", "grants southeast asia", "jobs in sustainability", "sustainability jobs in southeast asia" and all the different possible combinations of those terms.
Our intern does (hi Thashwin). However, probably not you if you are a founder wearing different hats and putting out fires everyday.
Plus, you'll have to compare and contrast between the many opportunities across so many different layouts and websites, and create spreadsheets for it just to find the right opportunity for you.
Is this you?
You'll be able to look for funding opportunities according to your stage of startup as well as the different types of funds that are there so you can filter away the noise.
Speaking of interns... as a founder, you get to list job opportunities to capture talents from the regional pool. We aim to populate green collar job opportunities for startups to leverage on!
We hope that these features will help streamline the process for you to reach your sustainable cities and communities targets.
5/7 Resources: Resourceful resources
Sometimes you just want to kick back and zone out with content that feels helpful while you unplug from work.
Check out our chill podcasts that features amazing founders and talents such as
These sustainability players are doing amazing work!
Jolene from Urban Tiller for example, bought the produces from local farmers left hanging by the supermarkets that suddenly found cheaper alternatives elsewhere and her startup helps the farmers have a piece of mind while also securing Singapore's "30-by-30" food security target through farm-to-table nutritious food.
We hope that these sustainable cities and communities examples can help propel you forward as you learn about their impact making journeys!
Our Good News feed featuring regional sustainability news aims to help combat the dreadful climate anxiety that might hinder you from performing your best.
Our ultimate goal is to have a vibrant source of news that is productive for you to read and act on, without all the doomsday sensationalised click bait.
7/7 Events: For you to host, participate, and network
Speaking of kicking back and unplugging from work, here is a new feature that we have been working on which we think might help you navigate the sustainability journey better by harnessing the power of communities:
The events feature aims to let you host your sustainability related events or drop in and out of any Live events that may capture your eye, and be a part of new communities.
Coming up soon: A forum for you to interact with founders and talents, and celebrate wins!
The sustainable cities and communities solutions you want to create is a click away.