03

issue

2009-2010

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Reach Up to the Stars

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During 2009 and 2010, Stephanie Liu Han (International Business and Global Management, Year 3) and
I entered the Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge (HKSEC) together with three other friends from
PolyU and HKUST. The competition was held during several months and provided preparatory workshops,
seminars and mentors to help all teams to create a perfect business plan. Among more than 100 teams
competing in HKSEC, Inter Cultural Education (ICE) was the champion and awarded with certificates, start-
up capital and media exposure. The idea was generated by Freddy Law Wai-hung, the team leader of ICE
from PolyU.
HKSEC is a business plan competition to help turn creative business ideas into meaningful and sustainable
commercial ventures that promote social good. It aims to strengthen students’ understanding of social
enterprises and to encourage them to employ entrepreneurial approaches to solve real world issues.
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We joined HKSEC because they strongly believed in the business idea generated by Freddy. The students >&(<$(<#00$?#&0/7'$?#*5$@,50#**/A$B<0$'("70/('$
had met earlier through student organisations such as AIESEC and were aware of their common interests -0,#/$(*$1-,;$6?#&+,/$7#"55&/=$,/7$7,/+&/=A
in setting up their own social enterprises. The diversity of the team helped a lot when working on the
business plan competition because of the different ways of thinking, skill sets and personal networks.
ICE is the first social enterprise focusing on an increase in international exposure, an introduction to new
modes of learning and reducing prejudices towards minority groups in Hong Kong. We deliver a unique
ICE personal development programme for local youth. International trainers and local ethnic minorities
from Hong Kong work together to help students to improve their English communication skills, broaden
their horizons and understand global and cultural issues. We do this by establishing a positive learning
environment and thought-provoking simulation workshops.
Knowing that there is a lack of intercultural communication and education in local secondary schools, we
saw an opportunity to solve several issues: students in Hong Kong lack exposure to foreign cultures; local
minorities (especially the southwest and southeast Asians who have been living here for a long period B<0$ >&//&/=$ (0,5$ C/(0#$ @"-("#,-$ .7"+,(&*/8$
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of time and still are regarded as inferior to the locals) need jobs; problems of discrimination towards !"#$%&#'()&*+#$,-&'+.+/0+1&$%+&.%2)3/(4&252'67
foreigners; English proficiency; and global job competitiveness. ICE strives to solve these issues through its
Inter Cultural Education workshops.

Personally, I believe that social enterprises are the future of business. Society needs businesses that do not solely aim to generate profit but that
also generate social improvement and advancement. We need people in business to address local and global issues. Businesses driven by a social
mission will keep away from bad investments and keep away from industries that do social harm. I will keep on working with ICE after graduating
from HKU and I hope to inspire other students to do so as well. Do what you love doing and you will live a life full of satisfaction and achievement.

Solo Competition 2009, organised by New

Tune Music Association in September 2009.
To be well prepared, I spent long hours on
practice and strived for chances to do public .-,&/0$D5&77-0E$F*&/'$(<0$G0>$B"/0$@<&/0'0$!#+<0'(#,$ G0>$ B"/0$ @<&/0'0$ !#+<0'(#,$ 20#?*#5,/+0$ K$
performances and improve my solo skills. H&I&$B0,5$(*$1,#(&+&1,(0$&/$1"J-&+$10#?*#5,/+0'A .+<*0'$*? $L*-70/$!77&0$MNNOA
Finally, I got the Champion in the Grade 9-10
Wind Instruments Group with a First Class Award, which was awarded only to participants with 90 marks or above! I was delighted to gain my first
Champion award in all these seven years!
Later in November 2009, I joined the Tuen Mun Chinese and Western Instruments Competition 2009 and was awarded a Certificate of Outstanding
Performance in the Chinese Instruments Group.
From these solo competitions, I learned how to overcome my nervousness. Most importantly, I have been able to enjoy more being on stage!