This is my third GSBS and each year I wore a different hat.
It all began in 2011 when myHarapan sent four reps on a mission to win the bid to host GSBS in Malaysia in 2013. We started as The Bidder. myHarapan was a new kid on the block then and very few knew of our existence. All I knew about the Global Social Business Summit was that first, it’s global; and second, it’s a summit. In between, I was lost. Social business was as foreign to me as an English man in New York.
But that didn’t stop us from winning the bid (we told our Board of Trustees, “we got this in the bag!”). Hence, our role as The Host in 2013. GSBS really put us on the map. We went from “who is this dodgy organization called myHarapan?” to “the largest foundation in Malaysia” (as described by a certain Nobel Peace Prize laureate) and, apparently, has “a strong international presence” (sorry, I forgot who said this but I kid you not). Looking back, I still wonder how we pulled it off. A wise man once said, “with but a few exceptions, it is always the underdog who wins through sheer willpower.”
But who let the dogs out? (woof, woof, woof, woof!)
Well, a doggy is nuttin’ if he don’t have a bone. It was all of us at myHarapan – the backbone of our little organization. Warts and all.
Which brings us to the present, cold but sunny day with clear blue sky in Santa Fe, Mexico, as I prepare myself as The Delegate to what – without a doubt – will be another super awesome Global Social Business Summit. And this time, myHarapan is not alone.
We are honored to have Cheryl Yeoh, CEO of the Malaysia Global Innovation & Creative Centre (MaGIC); the winners of myHarapan’s Social Business Challenge 2014; and not to mention a representative from the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation’s (MATRADE) Mexico office (shout-out to our friends at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry for making this happen).
With that, I take my hat off to GSBS and the myHarapan team!
