APPLY FOR placement
Through the Impact Lab course, you can gain hands-on experience in a whole range of social business areas and with different organisations (listed below), ranging from established charities and enterprises, to pre-incorporated ventures, as well as creating social enterprises from scratch.
WHO CAN APPLY
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Full-time and exchange* students from any faculty of the University of Hong Kong (HKU)
* There is no difference in the application process for exchange students
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Most of the tasks can be done remotely; however, the final decision lies with the company the student is interested in joining and whether for the nature of the engagement, it is possible to do so remotely. The course follows all the preventive measures as set by The University of Hong Kong.
SELECTION & ENROLLMENT
Students cannot add the course by themselves but need to apply by sending their CV & Motivation Letter through an application form linked on this page and receive an offer from the Impact Lab Partner company first. The selection of students is done directly by a social enterprise(s) to which the student applies.
Once the student is offered a placement by a company s/he will receive a link to register for the course. After the student finishes registering, the information is sent to the faculty administration for enrollment which can take a couple of days or weeks (e.g. in case the student has a credit overload issue or provided the wrong student ID/name/faculty it can take longer).
TIMELINE FOR THE SPRING SEMESTER 2024
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Application period: 02 Jan (Tue) - 14 Jan (Sun)
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Selection period: 02 Jan - 19 Jan (registration to be completed by 22 Jan)
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Placement duration: 15 Jan (Mon) - 30 Apr (Tue)
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Course Onboarding:
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Course Briefing (virtual): 25 Jan, Thu, 7-8pm*
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Course Orientation (f2f): 01 Feb, Thu, 7-9pm
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TIMELINE FOR THE FALL SEMESTER 2024 - The application will open in August 2024
Please check our FAQ for further questions regarding this course.
* If the deadline passed but you still want to be part of the course, send us an email with your resume and motivation letter, and state which companies and types of positions you are interested in. We will get back to you if there are any spots available. There will be no possibility to join the course after the add/drop period.
NOTE:
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While you can apply to multiple companies (2-3 applications per student are fine and encouraged to secure placement); however, do not apply to unreasonably many partner companies. Doing so shows a lack of etiquette and dedication.
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Please be specific in your cover letter. It is easy for a manager to spot the difference between a generic cover letter being copy-pasted to several partner companies versus a genuine specific cover letter. Provide clear information on why you are interested in the specific company and role - and why you are qualified for the job. We are all eager to support your personal development, so also help us understand your career aspirations (e.g., tell us about where you hope to be / what you hope to do 5 years from now).
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For credit overload and administrative questions, please contact your faculty representative who typically manages your program or credit matters
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If you are an exchange student, check whether you can take the Impact Lab course with your home university (we can provide a letter of support if requested by your home university - please send us an email if that is the case stating what your university requires). This course is considered supervised coursework and you are NOT going to work in Hong Kong if that may be a concern.
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This course is graded and considered a free elective. Undergraduate students from all faculties and exchange students can apply but need to be selected by the companies (students cannot enroll themselves in the course).
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Add/drop period for courses ends on 29 Jan (Thu), 4pm
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For more information about the course and the application process, see the "About the Course" page
IMPACT LAB
PARTNER COMPANIES
MYEO - Myanmar Youth Empowerment Opportunities
MYEO, an acronym for Myanmar Youth Empowerment Opportunities, is a social impact-driven EdTech. Our mission is to equip all of Myanmar's graduates with the skills to become valuable members of the workforce and community.
A large youth population is one of Myanmar’s major strengths. The country may benefit from a “demographic dividend,” a large population engaged in productive work, supporting a smaller share of older and non-working people. However, youth are in a vulnerable employment situation, unemployed or underemployed. At the same time, organizations in Myanmar urge more qualified employees.
Despite the challenges in work conditions for youth and low skilled workforce, Myanmar presents an encouraging opportunity for the adoption of mobile technology: +27 million people in the country use Facebook or Messenger. Therefore, MYEO has created a mobile-based online solution. It nurtures youth employability and paves the way to build a high-skilled workforce for organizations in Myanmar.
Placement Opportunities:
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We are looking for enthusiastic students who are passionate about our cause and willing to empower the youth in Myanmar through their contribution. We are looking for talents in fundraising, human resources, marketing, and others - please reach out to discuss.
Address your applications to Hnin Wai Wai Khine, Human Resources Manager.
Migrasia Global Solutions
Migrasia is an incubator that fosters and incubates solutions to problems relating to the migration of peoples, particularly in Asia. Migrasia utilizes a multi-faceted approach to tackle the major problems associated with migration by funding and is dedicated to promoting an ethical recruitment process for migrant workers via advocacy, research, journalism, and education.
Migrasia also has a technology team focused on building technology solutions, and websites, and analyzing large data sets. If you are interested in website development, big data, scraping, machine learning, or automation please apply now.
Placement Opportunities:
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Students who join Migrasia will have the opportunity to gain real-life experience working in an early-stage startup and will have the ability to take on significant responsibility and projects talking with real customers (employment agencies, employers, and governments).
Address your applications to Paras Kalura, Chief Operating Officer.
24 Hour Race - Running To Stop The Traffik Limited
We exist to challenge our generation to lead global action against slavery through the 24-hour race movement. Join the 500,000 youth across the world taking a stand against modern-day slavery. $11,000,000 raised so far, 2,000 victims rescued and we are just getting started.
Placement opportunities can be found here.
Address your applications to Daniel Hestevold, CEO.
GREEN Hospitality
GREEN Hospitality's mission is to share knowledge, foster collaboration, and bring about innovative solutions to the sustainability challenges of the hospitality industry. We are a nonprofit platform dedicated to working with hotels, restaurants, supply chains, start-ups, civil society organizations, and the government to catalyze the transition into sustainability for the hospitality industry in Asia and beyond.
Placement Opportunities:
We are looking for passionate students to join our team as event producers, digital marketers, sustainability consultants, business development executives, and business administration specialists to work on a wide range of projects from research to training to podcasting.
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Digital Marketing & Communications: our communications team is key to bringing awareness of sustainability and our impact to the general public and our industry audiences; research content, craft messages, and monitor the performance of our campaigns through data analytics.
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Podcast: our podcast is a way to spread our Thought Leadership and showcase solutions to the industry as well as the general public. Manage the whole podcast production cycle - research interesting topics and potential speakers; engage and manage high-level stakeholders; develop questions and content; edit sound and coordinate the publishing of new podcast episodes.
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Sustainability Consulting: as one of our offerings, we work with hospitality groups to provide them assistance in sustainable practice implementation. Manage a project with a hospitality group - communicate with key stakeholders; coordinate meetings; update project progress dashboards; research best practices and sustainability policies; create dashboards and tools useful to our advisory services.
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Training & Curriculum Development: training is a key product that is aligned with our missions to empower industry professionals in sustainability knowledge. Research up-to-date tools useful to our training; prepare curriculum and training materials; prepare presentations; assist with delivery of training; collect feedback and implement improvements.
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Business Development: help us make a greater impact through business development activities that fundraise the necessary resources for us to continue our work. Research potential customers for our products; manage and improve our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database; craft messages to invite our stakeholders to events and workshops; prepare business proposals and sponsorship offerings.
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Fundraising & Project Development: to make an impact, we develop various programs and projects. To be able to put them in motion, we need resources hence we continuously seek support from the government and private organizations. Help us develop project and fundraising proposals. Research fundraising opportunities; update fundraising dashboards; coordinate stakeholders; identify avenues to support our programs and projects through available funding in Hong Kong and abroad.
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Team Engagement - our team is our biggest asset and we want to make sure everyone has a great time while working with GREEN Hospitality. Help coordinate team-building activities; research interesting topics to share with the team; manage administrative tasks as necessary.
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Finance & Accounting (filled)
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Other Positions - check all the position descriptions below and feel free to approach us if you would be interested in something not mentioned!
Details of all placement opportunities can be found here!
Address your applications to:
- Digital Marketing: Ms Jacqueline Matthews, Manager
- Podcast & Thought Leadership: Ms TC Li, Manager
- Project Development & Fundraising, Finance & Accounting: Ms Luciane Zanella, Head of Projects
- Consulting, Business Development, and other positions: Ms Lucia Loposova, Executive Director
EmpowerU
EmpowerU’s mission is to provide high-quality education to those on the margins, so they can find their voice and use it to create a better future.
By combining technology, community, and award-winning educators, we have created a unique impact-based learning pedagogy that aims to empower ethnic minority students and migrant domestic workers to create a generation of leaders who'll usher in sustainable social impact in their communities.
Learn and engage with some of the over 380,000 domestic workers in Hong Kong. Make your university life more productive in helping these workers, understand their culture, and share your knowledge with them through direct interaction. Here is your unique chance!
HKU students will embark on a journey to experience leadership through an administrative managerial role in the creation and management of different educational programs and activities for domestic workers and ethnic minorities. Students will help advocate and promote cultural understanding, inclusion, and respect for these populations in Hong Kong.
Placement opportunities can be found here!
Address your applications to Oliver Wijayapala, Curriculum & Operations Manager.
Foundation for Shared Impact
Foundation for Shared Impact (FSI) is a foundation aimed at fostering social innovation and entrepreneurship. It is an exciting new venture that will, among others, create unique fundraising events and programs tailored for social enterprises, work on social business incubator aspects, develop unique overseas experiential programs, and more.
You will be responsible for providing practical business solutions for social impact organizations and small businesses run by ethnically diverse entrepreneurs, including outreach, consulting, and developing a database of resources. This opportunity is suitable for those who want to use their skills in Marketing, Data Management, and more to have hands-on experience in helping small businesses reach their full potential.
If you are willing to work in a dynamic environment, ready to take up challenges, and eager to join an energetic team, then FSI will be your choice. It is especially suitable for highly entrepreneurial and proactive students who excel at taking an idea and bringing it to life.
Placement Opportunities:
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Community Business Support: This internship opportunity is suitable for those who want to have hands-on experience in directly engaging with and supporting small-scale social impact organizations and ethnically diverse entrepreneurs and grassroots businesses to solve real business problems. We are especially looking for students with strong digital marketing skills and communications skills to provide advisory support to our partnering businesses as well as to develop a new online directory and social media platform to enhance the visibility of the grassroots entrepreneurs (refer to GuideFong project on our website).
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Communications & Marketing: You will be responsible for creating interactive and impactful digital marketing campaigns as you learn to generate engaging social media content and discern the data analytics behind successful social media content marketing. You will also be tasked with media outreach to increase the visibility of FSI and our partners of social impact organizations, as well as the planning and coverage of events and workshops held by FSI for the individuals we serve. Apply for this position if you have good writing, communication, photography, graphic design, video production, and/or web management skills!
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Community Connections: You will be responsible for assisting with the day-to-day operations of this program that connects corporate individuals with social impact organizations to accelerate change. Your work will range from sourcing high-impact organizations and assisting them with capacity building to running impactful events and programs. You will also be part of a student-run social enterprise for which you will execute in-person and online retail solutions, and develop business strategies.
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Corporate Outreach and Fundraising: You will be responsible for supporting the Partnerships Manager in her corporate outreach to current and potential corporate partners. The support will consist of keeping track of outreach results, preparing presentations and drafting emails for outreach purposes, among other tasks. In addition, you will provide support for drafting fundraising proposals and doing research on relevant social issues in HK for the fundraising proposals.
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Shared Data Project: You will be responsible for helping us create a database of all charities in Hong Kong which will be shared with the public to create a more efficient and transparent industry. This early-stage project entails everything from research, Python/information scraping, website building, marketing matters, volunteer engagements, and more. Students with Python scraping experience will be heavily favored.
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Youth Empowerment:
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Project & Community Management - You will execute various activities related to the Impact Lab Summer Course as well as the regular course such as assistance with the mandatory seminars or communication. You will be responsible for project management tasks such as updating dashboards, preparing presentations, creating submission forms, crafting messages and emails, etc.
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Website & Automation - You will be responsible for updating and executing changes to the Impat Lab website. You will also have a chance to improve the management and operations of the youth empowerment programs by leveraging the power of digital tools and automation.
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Address your applications to:
- Community Business Support: Vivian Seo
- Shared Data Project & Operations: Jon Pedersen
- Communications & Marketing: Tung Ching Li
- Community Connections: Claudia Anticona
- Fundraising & Corporate Outreach: Leontine Chuang
- Youth Empowerment - Project Management/Website & Automation: Lucia Loposova
Soap Cycling
Asia's first and largest soap recycling charity. Soap Cycling is a charity that works with the hospitality industry to collect, process, and distribute lightly used soap bars and bottled amenities. These life-saving items are then distributed to disadvantaged communities around the world, particularly in Asia.
Soap Cycling combines its environmental mission to reduce waste and promote recycling with a strong social focus. New programs focus on creating employment opportunities for disadvantaged groups in Hong Kong, focusing on increasing the local impact.
Soap Cycling offers a great combination of allowing students to take over the regular operations and training their entrepreneurial sense when developing new projects.
Students who are motivated and interested in building something real and long-lasting are highly desired.
At Soap Cycling, we encourage teamwork and we want student interns to become an essential part of our operations!
Placement Opportunities:
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Operations
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Human Resources
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Marketing
Address your applications to Ronald Ho, General Manager.
Gowld Art Centre
Gowld Art Centre ("GAC") is a social enterprise founded in 2017 that pursues to become the mediator of arts in Hong Kong. GAC aims to act as the bridge between creativity and people by providing arts education and art events to students and the general public, supporting local artists, and building broad and diverse art communities. We want to foster personal growth, creative confidence, and community engagement through a wide range of customized artistic experiences.
We are looking for candidates with strong communication (written and verbal) and interpersonal skills, who are interested in below fields and tasks.
Placement Opportunities:
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Social Media and Marketing: Best for someone with design skills and savvy with using tools such as Canva, Photoshop, or Wix. Managing the social media account and sending monthly newsletters to customers to promote our services as well as our artists. Build strategies to broaden the audience groups. Managing our website and expanding the e-commerce channels.
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Sales & Outreach: Developing collaboration opportunities with schools, corporations, and NGOs for facilitating events and programs.
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Product/ Program Development: Best for someone with design or artistic skills. Designing and executing new art products or services. Assisting in developing our educational curriculums planning for fundraising events and building strategies for expanding social impact.
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Operations and Studio Management: Enhancing the look of the studio space and developing an effective inventory system
Address your applications to Vivian Seo, General Manager.
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City Mental Health Alliance HK
The City Mental Health Alliance Hong Kong (CMHA HK) is a not-for-profit membership organisation. We are an alliance of businesses, working together with mental health experts and partner organisations, to achieve our vision that every workplace will protect, support and create positive mental health for their people. We provide training, events, resources, research and practical support for companies wishing to create mentally healthy workplaces.
Placement opportunities:
Students will have the opportunity to gain exposure to an international non-profit organisation active in the workplace mental health space, develop research and communication skills and actively participate in the creation and delivery of mental health programmes and resources. We are looking for an intern with a passion for workplace mental health advocacy to support us on a variety of workstreams including:
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conducting independent research for business development, training programmes and resources
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supporting the planning and execution of events and workshops
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supporting training programmes
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creating engaging marketing graphics and social media content
Address your applications to Cynthia Cheng, Strategy & Communications Director.
FULL - Weava
Weava is a fast-growing local HKU EdTech startup that focuses on improving the productivity of students, professors, and academic staff using technology. With our popular Google Chrome extension and mobile app, users can highlight, organize, and create their research documents all in one place — and we have lots of plans for further improvement! We now have 700,000+ registered users from 1,000+ educational institutions in 100+ countries using our tool to stay productive online.
Placement Opportunities:
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Marketing & Sales (digital marketing, partnerships, corporate communication)
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Customer Support & Bus Dev (business analytics, user research, support handling)
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Software QA Engineering (software development, product testing, automation)
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Software Angular Programmer (software development, coding)
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Accounting & Admin (helping us keep our stuff together!)
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Designs (UI/UX design, graphic design, videos)
Details of all placement opportunities can be found here!
Address your applications to Jon Pedersen, Director.
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FULL - Seekr (Vidi Labs)
Vidi Labs is a Hong Kong-based AI startup developing Seekr, an AI wearable technology that helps visually impaired people (VIPs) and the elderly with a way to regain independence. Our technology allows our users to navigate new spaces, read texts, identify objects, and more with a click of a button. Come work with our diverse, dynamic, award-winning team and our amazing community of visually impaired users, and contribute directly to making the world a more inclusive place!
Placement Opportunities:
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Business Development - Are you a great communicator and strategist? Come build partnerships, formulate projects, and help our technology reach out to more visually impaired people!
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Operations - Are you logical and good at problem-solving? Work with us to ensure our everyday operations are in great shape!
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Content Writer & Translator - Can you write succinct and impactful copies bilingually in English and Chinese? Contribute to our storytelling and help us spread the word! Proficiency in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin Chinese would be highly useful in all roles.
Address your applications to Sharon Lee, Business & Partnerships Lead.
FULL - Twopresents
Established in 2013, Twopresents is a Hong Kong-based, award-winning social enterprise that combines an online invitation platform with a charitable gift solution. Our mission is to make celebrations more meaningful by reducing gift and packaging waste, supporting charities, and creating awareness in the community about social and environmental issues.
The Twopresents platform allows celebrants to set up their online gift/charity fund. Instead of bringing presents, guests are invited to contribute money online towards the celebrant’s gift/charity fund. When the party is over, Twopresents splits the funds: one portion is sent to the celebrant (to buy the wished gift) and the other is sent to the celebrant’s chosen charity. In addition, the platform facilitates charity visits so that donors can see first-hand how their donations will make a difference.
Twopresents has raised more than HK$20 million for great charities and meaningful gifts from thousands of events and has more than 20,000 users. It started mainly as a platform for kids' birthday parties but it is now increasingly being used for grown-up celebrations such as weddings, big birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, and farewell parties.
Placement Opportunities:
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We are looking for an energetic, entrepreneurial, driven intern to support our general operations. This includes data management, digital marketing, and communications campaigns (creating social media content, videos, posts, flyers), and research. Applicant must have full proficiency in English, good writing and communications skills, experience with Canva, Adobe, Photoshop, graphic design, short video creation, and an understanding of social media platforms.
Address your applications to Karola Horvath, Co-founder.
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FULL - BSF Innovation
BSF Innovation Limited, an incubatee of Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, is committed to developing a kind of carbon-negative construction material that is made from the extraction of food waste and black soldier flies. We are expanding our farm to implement a testing site of the circular economy.
With our innovative and insightful technology, we strive to enhance CO2 equivalent & GHG reduction. Founded in 2022, our incredible team of engineers, business development, and marketing experts have worked tirelessly to bring BSF Innovation to the forefront of the industry with the most effective decarbonization solution in the green construction material industry.
To provide excellent solutions, we dedicate time and resources to researching the market needs and our users’ habits and motives. We have and will continue to work tirelessly to become the technological standard, providing big-picture insights that industry leaders not only approve of but also depend on.
Placement Opportunities:
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The placement will follow the CEO and other core company members to work on daily operations. They should get their hands dirty on the farm inside San Tin Hung Yat Farm and Sheung Shui Insect Farm. Apart from the frontline work that all company members do, it would be a bonus if students could reach out to all interested schools and NGOs and communicate with external parties, depending on their expertise and interests.
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The scope of work will focus on assisting with:
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farm management
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food waste transformation
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study of nutrient contents of fertilizer
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food waste upcycling preparatory work
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Address your applications to Wong Wing Sin, CEO.
HIATUS PARTNER COMPANIES
The following partner companies/projects are currently put on hold (not seeking students). However, should you have a burning desire to revitalize or be a part of these entities then you may express your interest and you might get the chance to do so. Contact: impactlab@hku.hk
Project Evergreen (hiatus - not in operation)
Evergreen is a think tank focusing on all things “green,” with a particular emphasis on reducing Hong Kong’s carbon footprint by making energy-efficient technologies more accessible. This is possible through an innovative combination of financial modeling and environmental consultation.
Evergreen’s primary service offering is a Green Revolving Fund (GRF). Our GRF will provide low-interest loans to cover the up-front capital costs needed to install energy-efficient technologies.
Property owners then repay the loans using the cost savings from lower utility bills.
One Degree Tours (hiatus - not in operation)
One Degree is a social venture organization with the purpose to alleviate the poverty of the lower class communities in locations where tourists are traveling to. Many of these communities have wealth of natural attractions and tourism is a channel to inject currency into these economies, circulating to improve living standards across their communities.
852 Designs/HKU Apparel (reach out if you want to explore)
852 Designs is a student-run social enterprise that offers creative students a chance to design and sell apparel and merchandise for the HKU community (and beyond).
NOTE: This is a pre-incorporation project; only very entrepreneurial students should apply. Students with photography, video editing, Photoshop, Illustrator, or other design/creative skills are preferred. Also, we are looking for students with computer programming and web development skills.
If you are interested to work with us, please reach out to impactlab@hku.hk!