SIFE HKU | Students In Free Enterprise, the University of Hong Kong

[URGENT] Recruitment: Annual Competition Preparation Committee

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:53:00 +0000

We would like to invite members (old and new) to partake in the event by assisting the project teams, who will be competing in the SIFE World Cup. The following are the talents we will be needing:

1.) Video Editor

2.) PowerPoint expert

3.) Photoshop expert ( to help with the designing of the Annual Report)

Application Details: Apply ASAP by email to President Edgar Kwan

Recruitment: New Management Board for the Year 2011/2012

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:45:00 +0000

Nomination period: Present to 3rd May, 2011

Requirement:

SIFErs who are passionate to serve the community, courageous, responsible, ready to take up the leading role, patient in listening to others' opinions, enthusiastic in encouraging other SIFErs and boosting their team morale, innovative in making all sorts of changes and determined to bring out positive impacts to the society through the positive power of business

Role:

managing the whole team and deciding the direction for the team
play various other roles such as Heads / D. Heads of functional teams or project managers

Application Method: Interested SIFers will need to submit a nomination form. Please contact President Edgar Kwan if you did not receive one via email

SIFE Project Highlight (3) - BetterFly

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:44:00 +0000

Since the commencement of our project for 6 months, we have remained focused on transforming the life of the youth by delivering inspiring training workshops and programmes, with Design Thinking and Life Coaching as our core elements.

Design Thinking is actually a methodology that facilitates practical and creative reso-lution of problems or issues that looks for an improved future result. It is the essen-tial ability to combine empathy, creativity and rationality to meet user needs and drive business success. Unlike analytical thinking, design thinking is a creative pro-cess based around the "building up" of ideas. Outside the box thinking is encour-aged in the early stage of developing al-ternatives since this can often lead to cre-ative solutions.

Currently we have a strong team active in business as well as networking. In Better-Fly, we help each team member to achieve personal development by constantly par-ticipating in meaningful workshops and events, with 2-4 each week on average. In the coming months, we will be conducting more prototypes of our training workshops for both secondary schools and university students. At the same time, we plan to launch a professional design thinking as-sociation based in Hong Kong. We are looking forward to the great progress ahead!

SIFE Project Highlight (2) - Dream Bearer

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:43:00 +0000

Dream Bearer - bearer of your dream. The key concept of our product is 'Dream'. In the coming sales campaign in HKU, we will sell small teddy bears to the students. We encourage each student to write down their dreams on the bear and also a letter. They will keep the bear and we will send them the letter one year later. We hope this product can remind everyone to hold fast to their dreams and never give in.

Our Social impact: currently we focus on helping unemployed newly immigrated women. They sew the bears for us to earn financial subsidiaries. We will organize activities such as Cantonese class and other events for them. Our ultimate goal is to try to involve them into the local community.

SIFE Project Highlight - Bring-a-Book-and-Share

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:42:00 +0000

Aiming to promote leisure reading and recycling of resources to the next generation, our team is holding a series of book fairs at local secondary schools in collaboration with Read-Cycling, a newly-founded NGO. As the project name suggests, our unique feature is that students are encouraged to donate used books, as an alternative of money as in conventional book fairs, in exchange for books contributed by others.

We have also involved physically or mentally challenged citizens in the operation of our book fairs, in hopes of empowering them with various skill sets and boosting their self-confidence. In return, profits generated will be utilized to support their welfare.

The most memorable thing to our team is how we have “survived”. In the first preliminary assessment by the SIFE Hong Kong committee in December 2010, our proposal received a very disheartening score which indicated a high possibility of failure. Despite the bleakness, we decided not to give up. Throughout numerous meetings we came up with every possible modification and enhancement. We fitted in numerous business and economic concepts. We involved more parties as our target beneficiaries. We negotiated with various stakeholders to accept our revised plan.

We saw the progress. Upon another assessment in February 2011, the feedback we received was very positive, with some advisers commending us on the high practicability of our new idea.

SIFE HK Symposium - Metamorphosis

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:41:00 +0000

As an affiliate of SIFE Hong Kong, SIFE HKU is entitled to all the benefits under SIFE HK. SIFers in HKU will have the opportunity to represent HKU to attend important symposium organized by SIFE HK.

Social Gathering 2010-2011

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:40:00 +0000

With a bunch of friends in SIFE, your life just can never get bored. We regularly organized social gatherings like BBQ, cycling and hiking. You can always find something you enjoy to participate.

Idea Exchange Session - Fuzhou University

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:39:00 +0000

At SIFE, we cherish Idea Exchange. All SIFE members will have the opportunity to attend sharing sessions with university around the world. On this occasion, we have invited Fuzhou University for the regular sharing session.

Our warm welcome - SIFE Induction

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:37:00 +0000

To express our warm welcome to new SIFers, SIFE HKU has followed its tradition to hold the Induction Day. Welcome to our SIFE family

Big Success - SIFE Recruitment Night (March 2011)

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:35:00 +0000

Named "When Business meets Charity - A Global Vision", the recruitment night provided prospective SIFers with an opportunity to feel the colorful life of SIFE members.

SIFE taking part in HKU Service 100 parade!

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:30:00 +0000

HKU Service 100 parade is an initiative to promote community projects in Hong Kong by university students. SIFE has been identified as the leading promoter for the 100th anniversary project of HKU.

Second Recruitment !

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 16:08:00 +0000

WANTED!

We need talents like you !

If you have a heart to serve and the determination to do something in order to change the world, do join our team.

SIFE -HKU tackles social problems by launching social entrepreneurship projects every year. We would also have trainings to help our members enhance their professionalism and all-round development. Do come to our recruitment talk and know more about our team, projects and people.

Recruitment Night:

Date: 16 Feb 2011 (Wed)

Time: 6.15-8.30 p.m.

Venue: Global Lounge

Tentative Details:

1. Social Investment around the World - by Mr. Scott Lawson, CEO of Sow Asia

2. Social Entrepreneurship in 21th Century - Inter-cultural Education

3. Project Leader Sharing

4. SIFE Introduction

5. Refreshment

Please click here to apply for our team membership / recruitment talk.

Thanks for all the applications !!!

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 06:15:00 +0000

The application for SIFE-HKU this year has been closed.
Thank you for all your applications.
If you still have not received email regarding interview arrangements, please contact the PIC of recruitment interviews Jessica Liu (6307 3672) or President, Edgar Kwan (6072 9212)

SIFE-HKU Promotional Video 2010

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:04:00 +0000

You are invited to join our Recruitment Night on 30/9 (Thurs)
Time: 6.45-9.00 p.m.
Venue: Meng Wah Complex T4

If you would like to join our event or apply for membership this year, please click HERE.

Application for Recruitment Night on 30/9 and Project Membership 2010-2011

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:50:00 +0000

Dear all,

Thank you for your interest in applying for our recruitment night and project membership 2010-2011.

In order to let you know more about SIFE-HKU, it is important for you to attend our Recruitment Night. The details of the Recruitment Night are as follows.

Date: 30/9/2010 (Thursday)
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Venue: Meng Wah Complex T4
Details: We have invited several social entrepreneurs and SIFE-HKU alumni to share with you their experience in SIFE. It's a good opportunity to network with them. There is also a summit section which encourages you to express your own opinions.

To apply, please click HERE.

The deadline of application would be 23:59 of 30/9/2010.

Letter from the President @ 2010

noreply@blogger.com (SIFE HKU) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:07:00 +0000

Dear Advisers, SIFErs and friends,

Greetings! We have again embarked upon another exciting year for SIFE-HKU. This year, we shall reinforce our recruitment of members, build up more external networks and organise more social gatherings so that our members could enjoy an unforgettable and meaningful school year while they hone their social entrepreneurial talent and make differences to the society.

SIFE is a place where things become REAL. Every year, we carry out various SIFE projects, aiming at making real differences in lives of people in need. SIFers identify imperative social problems that call for remedies, and would strive to brainstorm and execute creative and impactful community projects to alleviate these problems.

SIFers pride themselves on the fact that they do not engage in social service projects. Rather, they initiate social entrepreneurial projects that inspire their target groups to help themselves. Rather than merely theorising and proposing business ideas, we actually put these projects into implementation. Seeing the smiles from the faces of the people we have helped is a great encouragement to our devotion to the work we are involved in. It tells us that all the efforts we have made are worthwhile.

SIFE is also a place where your CREATIVITY is unleashed without a limit. Every SIFE member is encouraged to generate new project ideas. We have carried out very interesting and meaningful projects in the past. In 2008, SIFE-HKU was involved in setting up a company, called MyMindTutor, allowing underprivileged students to improve their studies through self-help. In 2009, we cooperated with TWGHs Jockey Club Tin Shui Wai Integrated Services Centre to carry out a project named "Click Success" that is aimed at helping the unemployed women in Tin Shui Wai to use E-business ways to start up their own businesses. Also, SIFE-HKU has a flat hierarchy. We encourage exchanges of ideas between management board and project members. Constructive opinions would be appreciated.

SIFE is where you can build up your SOFT SKILLS. Our team has students from different faculties. Some may not be equipped with hands-on experience in doing business or dealing with people. Even for business students, the only chances when you could communicate with your schoolmates are school projects. In SIFE, you are given the chance to network with different business leaders and SIFE students in different universities. You may also need to negotiate with companies or other organizations while executing the projects. SIFE-HKU also participates in SIFE competition every year. In the process, students can perfect their presentation skills and gain confidence while showcasing their entrepreneurial talent.

In SIFE, we are united as one by PASSION. In carrying out projects, we may encounter some practical problems. These are real challenges. When faced with adversities, you may feel intimidated and disheartened easily. Thus it is particularly important to keep your passion. Because with passion, you will have the motivation to seek every possible way to overcome whatever difficulties blocking your way ahead. Bearing in mind the belief that you are doing things that could contribute to the society, you could strive for your best to persevere despite the difficulties. Changing the world may seem too daunting a mission, but we can do great it simply by taking small steps together. If you do have the passion to help make a change to the lives of people in need, you are welcome to join SIFE-HKU. We welcome students from different cultural backgrounds and disciplines to participate in SIFE as diversity is treated to be an asset in SIFE. The most important thing is that you do treasure the experience in making things real and be passionate in helping others. If you are such a person, DO JOIN US!

Best regards,
Edgar Kwan
Bachelor of Business Administration and Law, class of 2014
President, Students in Free Enterprise, The Univeristy of Hong Kong

Induction 2009F

noreply@blogger.com (Philip) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:47:00 +0000

Last Saturday, the induction session for newly-enrolled project members is held on campus. Alumni and business advisors Patrick Ng and Danny Yip came for a sharing.

The session was for new members to know each other and start to build the network in SIFE. The sharing also conveyed the SIFE spirit and soft-skills needed as a SIFE student.

Social Enterprise Ambassador Program

noreply@blogger.com (Philip) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:11:00 +0000

Message from CEDARS - Student Development

Dear students,

You are cordially invited to take part in the captioned programme to help promote the concept of Social Entrepreneurship to the wider community.

Four students will be sponsored to take part in the activities of the Symposium. They will work in a team to:

1) attend a briefing session in late Oct/early Nov;
2) attend the Social Enterprise International Symposium held on 13-14 November
(see http://www.social-enterprise.org.hk/ for details), and
3) submit a report to demonstrate their understanding of Social Enterprising with reference to the knowledge or observations gathered from Symposium and devise new ideas to promote the concept of Social Entrepreneurship in Hong Kong by 30 Oct.

Prize:
The reports will be voted by organizers and participants of the Summit. The “Best Reporting Team” will win a cash prize of HK$3,000.

Requirements:
- Passion in social entrepreneurship
- Creativity
- Participation in ALL activities listed above

Application:
Interested students should apply via HKU Portal <http://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspxguest=N&ueid=12601> by 9 October. Shortlisted students will be invited to attend an interview on 14 October.

Questions and enquiries should be directed to Ms Cindy Chan cpychan@hku.hk

Yours sincerely,

Chong Chan-yau
Director of Student Development
Centre of Development and Resources for Students (CEDARS)

Web Service Instability

noreply@blogger.com (Philip) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:10:00 +0000

Recently, we have been receiving reports on the instability of our websites and other web-based services lately. And we have been actively trying to solve this problem.

As we believe that the problem is related to the domain name service, which are registered by third parties (with whom dealing this problem takes time), we registered another domain, sifehku.NET (while the originals are .COM and .ORG).

And we have transferred our email addresses accordingly.

For recruitment matters, please direct to recruit[at]sifehku.net

For general enquiries, please direct to info[at]sifehku.net

We apologize for any inconveniences caused. And we will continuously improve our web service. We will announce the future usage of the .org and the .com domain names as soon as possible.

Application Closed

noreply@blogger.com (Philip) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:09:00 +0000

The application stage for SIFE HKU 2009 Fall Recruitment is closed.

Should you have any enquiries, please write to info@sifehku.org.

Thank you for your interest in SIFE HKU.

Video: Projects of SIFE and SIFEHKU

noreply@blogger.com (Philip) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:08:00 +0000

Letter from President

noreply@blogger.com (Philip) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:27:00 +0000

Dear SIFErs, advisors and friends,

If you ask what makes SIFE special (especially for Hong Kong), I would say, "it makes things REAL." It is not about planning or researching, nor about holding student activities, but about going out to the real world, to bring about real changes to help real people.

SIFE is about realizing ideas. When we are surrounded by different "business plans" or "business cases", we students were gradually used to assuming ourselves as leaders of a big enterprise, or a small enterprise that would eventually get big. But in SIFE, the forefront task is realizing of these ideas, big or small, out in the field and really deliver change. This makes SIFE special, as one actually enjoys the greatest sense of achievement when one sees the realization of the ideas on paper.

SIFE is about helping people, but helping them in a way they will finally help themselves. SIFE believes in the power of business, used in a good way. We transfer valuable market skills and spirits:

Market Economics
Success Skills
Entrepreneurship
Financial Literacy
Environmental Sustainability
Business Ethics.

SIFE is also about self-growth. In carrying out the projects, SIFE members are supposed to act as professionals and receive support from SIFE teams in terms of trainings, business and faculty advisory, and other resources. With that, SIFE members could sharpen multiple skills interacting with the target audience and the market. This will certainly add edges to the start of careers in different fields.

SIFE-HKU is the oldest among the three teams (SIFE-HKU, SIFE-HKOU and SIFE-CUHK) in Hong Kong, and one of 1376 active teams in 41 countries of the world. This year we are carrying out projects helping out a company selling fair-trade products on new distribution channels and event management, and building up a platform linking NGOs with potential sponsors. These are challenging but achievable projects, and we always value new ideas and help people with desire to realize their ideas. If you have an idea to help people, bring with you and come to join!

Above all, SIFE looks for passion. Academic background, familiarity with local language, technology skills are not a serious issue. But passion to help, to make ideas real, to learn and grow is what matters. If you are such a person, welcome to SIFE. If you want to become such a person, welcome to SIFE.

Philip Yin

International Business and Global Management, Class of 2011

President

Students in Free Enterprise, University of Hong Kong

Meet SIFE

noreply@blogger.com (Philip) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:26:00 +0000

About SIFE

Student In Free Enterprise (SIFE) is an international non-profit organization active in more than 40 countries, that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders. Participating students form teams on their university campuses and apply business concepts to develop outreach projects that improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need. An annual series of regional and national competitions provides a forum for teams to present the results of their projects, and to be evaluated by business leaders serving as judges. National champion teams advance to the prestigious SIFE World Cup.

Just as the slogan --'A Head of Business A Heart for the world' suggested,the primary focuses for SIFE to achieve are Leadership and Social responsibility.

Mission of SIFE international: We bring together the leaders of tomorrow to create a better, more sustainable world by providing solution and apply entrepreneurship to bring about social change.

SIFE-HKU was the first team founded in Hong Kong in the year of 2003. We bring together a diverse network of university students at HKU and empower them to explore social needs and care for the community. By working in practice, SIFE participants demonstrate their knowledge and passion for business as well as creativity, meanwhile, equip themselves with better team work, project management, leadership and presentation skills.Your involvement is vital for contribute a change. Each year, we encourage exploration of opportunities upon different form of community projects.

What can YOU do to make a CHANGE?

You are more welcome to share with every SIFE-HKU members your new ideas and/or summit a general proposal. Afterwards, the working plans of the accepted projects will be established and you will be asked to team up, actualise the corresponding projects that interest you.

Example Projects

noreply@blogger.com (Philip) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:26:00 +0000

As a socially driven organization, SIFE HKU has put forward a series of activities for its member and its external partners in the previous years. Last year, two induction workshops were held to give our new members a big picture of life in SIFE-HKU, while the alumni sharing sessions gave our members a chance to hear stories and inspirations from our old friends. Hence, our unique Talent Development Program aims at helping SIFE members touch different industries and polish professional skills through a series of seminars and workshops.

At the core of SIFE activities are the projects. One of the most recent projects is TutorOne Solution. It was a project aimed at educating English to a group of underprivileged children and empowering a group of aspired young adults in helping these children in Hong Kong. SIFE cooperated with NGOs including Boys and Girls Clubs Association of Hong Kong (BGCA) and linked with the corporate sector to make the classes benefit the children from underprivileged families.

The SIFE Annual Competition is an annual event for SIFE teams around the globe to gather and present their inspiring stories, and the judge panel of business executives will judge on the effectiveness of these projects. Preparation for the competition has greatly bonded our members and enriched them with writing and presentation skills.

This year, brand new projects will be carried out. We are to help a fair trade company to improve distribution (so as to help the farmers and workers producing these products), and bridge organizers of social activities with potential sponsors. But we are always opening doors for new ideas. If you have bright ideas in changing the world to become a better place, come join us! You can start a new project and become a Project Manager yourself!