Tired Of Seeing Youths Get Their Ideas Shut Down, This CEO Set Out To Empower Them Instead
The organisation provides youths with a space to explore their ideas.
By Hafiz Zainuddin — 17 Sep 2022, 06:57 AM
Nurfarini Daing, a.k.a. Nini Daing, is on a mission to empower youths and their ideas
Equipped with a degree in Accounting and Finance, Nini has had ample experience in tech agencies, companies, and startups. She also finds comfort in teaching her students, and enjoys learning from them just as much.
Currently, her attachment to her organisation, myHarapan, is a full-time passion.
myHarapan, in short, intends to develop wholesome and independent youth by providing them with choices and opportunities to drive sustainable social initiatives and make a positive impact.
Nini told SAYS that myHarapan was actually birthed from frustrations that she and her co-founders felt in the workplace
"Before myHarapan was established 12 years ago, my co-founders and I met many young student leaders who were doing amazing work. Sadly, they were inhibited frequently by the misguided beliefs of (much older) heads of companies and agencies, decision-makers who were sceptical of their efforts to do good while making money.
"Support was, more often than not, very little because they were deemed too young and green. Youth were unwittingly prevented from achieving their full potential when it mattered the most," said Nini.
Instead, she believes that we shouldn't hold youths back, and they are so much more than we presume them to be.
And so, on one fateful day in 2010, myHarapan was born
myHarapan is an independent, non-profit, youth trust foundation aimed at empowering youths through social business training, mentoring, and coaching.
The purpose of the organisation is so youths can create their own sustainable social efforts by getting access to funds, capital, data, and information critical to developing a conducive ecosystem for youth-driven social businesses and initiatives.
Ultimately, myHarapan helps provide a safe space for young people to discover themselves, learn from their mistakes, and cultivate the grit and competency necessary to navigate their lives.
The organisation has had quite a number of youths walk through their doors
"It's been a pleasure to see them grow, from the eager and willing to learn teenager to a matured individual with a kid, or two!
"Yet, they continue to pursue their passion and are dedicated to providing value to people and planet. We're grateful to have appealed to their minds and their hearts," Nini shared.
One business venture born from the support of myHarapan is Discover MuayThai, a health and fitness centre catered to people from all walks of life
It started off with just three employees, and now they're an expanding social business with three gyms and numerous academies.
Nini and her team at myHarapan were able to witness the business flourish from a small project until where they are today. She is happy to see their growth and the work that they do, developing the youth through sports.
"We are very proud of the work that they do and the difference they are making in the lives of young people," Nini told SAYS.
Nini and myHarapan want people to realise that there are more meaningful definitions to success than just material gains
"Looking only at personal gains as accomplishments, limits our ability to truly be human beings," Nini told SAYS.
All of us, as a rakyat, need to equip our youths with the correct mindset and introduce them to the right people so that their ideas can be properly heard and evaluated.
"Provide choices, some funding to experiment, help them make their own decisions so that they can learn especially when they make the wrong ones! And for this to happen, we as adults should ourselves be better equipped," she added.
Want to find out how you can make a change? Discover empowering initiatives by myHarapan through their official website.
All this month, SAYS will be featuring inspiring stories of extraordinary Malaysian changemakers in collaboration with Wiki Impact
Wiki Impact is an online platform dedicated to the impact industry. They share stories and data on issues that matter, highlighting impact-driven organisations and changemakers on the ground. Categories include poverty alleviation, social justice, gender equality, healthcare and education for all, environmental sustainability, animal welfare, impact influencers, and more!
Find out more here.
