Wanqing Xu, 2023 Flagship Fellowship Fellow
Meet the 2023 Flagship Fellows
Generously sponsored by our Partners
Enlight China Fellowship
An Lin | China
The Freelancer’s Salon
The Freelancer’s Salon provides a series of introductory courses and services, such as community networking and resource matching, for office workers who aspire to become freelancers and to show many career-oriented professionals the diverse possibilities beyond traditional employment. Since its founding in 2020, The Freelancer’s Salon has held hundreds of community events, amassed more than 1,500 paying members, and 50,000 subscribers.
Enlight China Fellowship
Anushka Purohit | Hong Kong
Breer Ltd.
Breer is a food upcycling startup that collects unsold, uneaten, surplus bread and uses it to brew local craft beer in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong alone, 3,600 tons of food is wasted every day and 47% of store disposed food is leftover bread. With a focus on sustainable production and consumption, the venture has brewed over 50,000 liters of beer, saved over 15,000 kilograms of bread from going to waste, and saved 3 tons of carbon dioxide emissions to date, all while supporting four local breweries.
Mike and Christine Miles Fellowship
Benji Gerst | United States
FarmWay
FarmWay aims to move the restaurant community in Phoenix, Arizona away from total reliance on interstate and global supply chain logistics and make use of readily available local produce. The venture was designed in collaboration with the University of Arizona Entrepreneurship Program. To date, FarmWay’s team of four has won roughly $2,000 through pitch competitions and has validated its business model with over 20 local restaurants and farmers.
Luff Fellowship
Bulya Desire | Uganda
Re-Connecting
Re-Connecting is a climate action reality TV show in Uganda that challenges young people in high schools and universities to attend annual experiential expeditions, innovate, and save biodiversity. The show provides an opportunity for humanitarian workers around the world to productively spend their holiday in Africa, take a break from stressful routine work, and engage in expeditions to combat climate change and global warming. The venture has signed a contract with national broadcaster, Urban Broadcasting Company TV, and will reinvest revenue from content into saving the planet.
Jane Strode Miller Fellowship
Gianna Biaggi | United States
The Magnolia Project
Magnolia Project is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that builds pathways for experiential learning into California’s middle and high schools. They offer relevant Career Technical Education (CTE) through externship, internship, and learning journey pathways. Magnolia Project, led by a team of three employees in the professional development and education space, partners with a number of organizations including Community Foundation Sonoma County and the Erich & Hannah Sachs Foundation.
Enlighr China Fellowship
Jennifer Kou | China
OwwwChoice
OwwChoice is a social enterprise aimed at building women-centered communities to enable young women from diverse backgrounds to support each other and grow together. The venture aims to co-create initiatives with interdisciplinary female communities to stimulate authentic long-lasting peer relationships and to foster female leadership across different socioeconomic classes. Their initiatives have reached over 10,000 Chinese women, and their community has more than 100 active participants.
Enlight China Fellowship
Jianchao (Jeremy) Tang | China
Tong Academy
Tong Academy is a community of more than 800 Chinese next-generation wealth holders, with total family assets of more than $100 billion, to create social impact through enterprise transformation and impact investment. To date, Tong Academy has strategically partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, Global Shapers, and Social Ventures Hong Kong.
Enlight China Fellowship
Lillian Peng | China
Sound Moves with Shape (Chongqing) Cultural Media
Sound Moves with Shape (Chongqing) Cultural Media provides creative design and customized cultural products to social enterprises and organizations with the aim of supporting sustainable employment and empowerment of people with disabilities in a business-for-good format. Recently, the venture launched a public lecture, “Hearing-Impaired Women Affected by Gender Violence” which was streamed by more than 1,000 people online.
Enlight China Fellowship
Mensa (Menghan) Wang | China
Today Well Spent
Today Well Spent is a solution-oriented wellness brand specializing in tactical tools and soft skills that bridge the need for well-being and performance. With a strong focus on neuroscience and behavioral psychology principles, Today Well Spent makes it easier for people to make healthier lifestyle changes so they feel their best and do their best. The venture’s team of 2 full-time employees and 6 long-term freelancing staff has served over 40K users and 50K followers in China.
Enlight China Fellowship
Ran Guo | China
Civitas International
Civitas International is a platform for cross-cultural exchange among emerging leaders and young talent around the world. The venture offers the opportunity for selected mentors to teach lectures and seminars to top high-schoolers and college students in China. Project Civitas has successfully launched two project series in the Fall of 2022 and Spring 2023, attracting over 100 students and 40 mentors. Their most influential project to date has received over 5 million views online.
Jane Strode Miller Fellowship
Sagal Ali | Somalia
The Somali Arts Foundation (SAF)
The Somali Arts Foundation (SAF) is the first contemporary art institution in Somalia. SAF seeks to promote and create conducive environments for the creative industries to flourish in Somalia, while leveraging the arts to ignite critical discourses around ideas on identity, memory, loss, healing, and what it means to be a Somali person in the 21st Century. SAF has partnered with significant entities such as the United Nations Development Program, United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia, Save the Children, Royal Danish Embassy, Moleskine Foundation, and Porticus.
Sistla Planet Tech Fellowship
Serena Allen | United States
AirVitalize
AirVitalize helps local governments achieve air quality standards by capturing outdoor air pollution, which is the largest environmental threat to public health. The Particul8r, AirVitalize’s first product, decentralizes a proven industrial technology to capture toxic particulate matter pollution from any source. To date, the venture raised $42,750 in non-dilutive funding supported by incubators like the Blackstone LaunchPad for Future Founders, VentureWell E-Teams Pioneer, RevIthaca’s Rapid Hardware Prototype Accelerator, I-Corp, and sponsorship from the University of Southern California, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Cornell University.
Mike and Christine Miles Fellowship
Sesimphiwe Mbatha | United States
Courseer
Courseer is a student productivity software platform made up of key student-focused features that visually helps students track their progress towards graduation, saving them time and money. Their software not only removes barriers to degree completion but it puts students in the driver’s seat with a lean scheduling experience so they can graduate on-time and begin meaningful careers. Currently, the venture has raised $10,000 and was admitted to StartUp Tucson and the University of Arizona Center for Innovation.
Watson Institute Fellowship
Shae Jackson | United States
KEJ Services
KEJ Services is a network of save haven homes for traveling abortion patients. The venture provides essential accommodations, including traveling supplies, directions to the nearest clinics, and lists of emergency hotlines/resources that can assist with a patient’s appointment. The venture currently operates homes in Greensboro and Raleigh, North Carolina: two cities with the highest rates of traveling abortion patients in the Southeast region. These homes have been operating since July 2022 and have seen 17 travelers combined.
Enlight China Fellowship
Sherry Zhang | China
HiYouth Platform
HiYouth Platform is dedicated to facilitating and promoting activities for Chinese youth, aged 15-26 years old, who are eager to expand their international horizons, cultivate a sense of social responsibility, and strengthen their interdisciplinary learning abilities. To date, the venture has amassed a following of over 200,000 young adults in China who use their platform to receive up-to-date information for domestic and international youth events.
Enlight China Fellowship
Shuqi (Shooky) Shi | China
WeCanSeeIt (视而可见)
WeCanSeeIt is a Chinese organization dedicated to eliminating discrimination and violence against women and LGBTQ+ individuals to advance gender and sexual diversity and inclusion in the country. To date, the venture has raised $2,000 to support its initiatives. Prior to founding WeCanSeeIt, Shooky worked as a Program Officer at Save the Children International, Director of Media Department at Girls Protection Fund, and Media Intern at Beijing LGBT Center.
Jane Strode Miller Fellowship
Surayya Walters | United States
iDEIntity
iDEIntity exists to address the lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) infrastructure that exists in the small business sector, which includes startups, non-profits, and for-profit organizations. iDEIntity’s #Changemaker program provides entrepreneurs and founders of small organizations with the education, funding, and community they need to build equitable companies from the very early stage. In 2022, iDEIntity received the Humanity in Action Racial Equity Grant, a nomination for the Social Justice Innovation Awards, and an acceptance into the Mockingbird Incubator for nonprofits.
Jane Strode Miller Fellowship
Taylor Quinn | Canada
Tailored Foods
Tailored Food is on a mission to build sustainable food systems that provide nutritious, delicious, and culturally relevant food products at a price that families in extreme poverty can afford. Tailored Food is a social enterprise consulting company built to empower entrepreneurs in the countries with the most broken food systems with the supply chains, products, and knowledge to run sustainable food companies whose collective mission is to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030. To date, the venture has catalyzed 3.5 millions meals to people suffering from malnutrition in Liberia, Congo, Brazil, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Cameroon.
Enlight China Fellowship
Tianjiao (Ella) Yang | China
MarketIQ
MarketIQ is a digital marketing tool that automates labor-intensive tasks for Chinese merchants looking to expand their businesses overseas. With features such as a picture generator, tags generator, social media posts generator, marketplace APIs, and translation services, the venture helps merchants save time and reduce costs associated with hiring a professional photographer, manually entering product information on e-commerce platforms, and writing social media posts. To date, their team of two has conducted a baseline assessment, benchmark study, gap analysis, and designed a draft product.
Enlight China Fellowship
Wanqing Xu | China
ED Healer
ED Healer is a platform to publicize the knowledge of eating disorders (ED) in a way that is approachable and amiable: they write interactive stories on their website, facilitate face-to-face artistic and therapeutic activities, and use inclusive language in their projects to help their audience identify ED risks and to raise awareness on eating disorders and promote healthy lifestyles. The venture has a following of over 3,000 individuals, hosted a themed art exhibit at the Himalayas Museum in Shanghai to more than 10,000 visitors and won the Shanghai Social Organization Entrepreneurship Pioneer Award in 2021.
Enlight China Fellowship
Wei (Felix) Wang | China
Moodee
Moodee is a decentralized wellbeing planner designed to empower users to achieve happiness and longevity (ikigai) by providing a simple, secure, and private platform for recording daily moods and addressing mental health challenges related to career and intimate relationships. 1 in 5 people worldwide experience mental illness in their lifetime. The venture is currently operated by a team of 3 and has over 10,000 users only one month after its official launch.
Enlight China Fellowship
Zhenyu (Gala) Fang | China
WeMeet
WeMeet aims to to bring together like-minded individuals who shared a desire to unleash their creativity within the Hangzhou. The venture envisions a future where people come together, meet, and collaborate at an unprecedented frequency, fostering a new era of the “Internet of People” over the next 30 years. The club’s ultimate goal is to revolutionize the way people connect and create, fostering a stronger sense of community and collective growth. To date, WeMeet has raised $10,000 in funding and reached hundreds of young people across Hangzhou.
Enlight China Fellowship
Jiayuan (Peter) Tian | China
EduConnect Global
EduConnect Global makes global education opportunities more accessible and boosts the integrity of information by creating online learning communities for its users to help eliminate the information gap between China and the rest of the world. The venture is on a mission to help everyone, especially youth and young adults, to become global citizens with equal access to knowledge and international opportunities online. Jiayuan is currently pursuing his Bachelor’s Degree at Minerva University, which has a 1% acceptance rate.
Enlight China Fellowship
Yiwen (Evania) Ji | China
Reciprocity Consulting
Reciprocity Consulting provides visual content to clients for their social media sites to help advocate for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues, ESG reporting services and executive training, and leverages ChatGPT to facilitate customer training. Reciprocity Consulting has created ESG content for Bilibili, Southeast Asia’s leading anime, comics, and games (ACG) community, which has generated over 1 billion clicks.
Enlight China Fellowship
Yujie (Julie) Chen | China
Youchang Consulting
Youchang Consulting provides professional consulting services for NGOs, social innovation institutions, and offers consulting skills training to empower college students in China. Youchang’s mission is to empower domestic NGOs in China to reach their fullest potential and make contributions to local communities, underprivileged groups, and bring significant Chinese NGO organizations to the global stage. To date, the venture has supported more than 30 NGOs in China with organizational management and branding.
Enlight China Fellowship
Yurou (Rebecca) Cheng | China
MOOD
MOOD produces daily consumer goods to help conscious consumers make sustainable living easy with accessible, affordable, and aesthetic options for food, clothing, homeware and recreation. For example, their packaged food items include authentic honey produced locally, rice cookies using rice from small farmers, and organic handpicked tea. To date, the venture has raised $80,000 in funding to support its initiatives.
Enlight China Fellowship
Zhangfeng (Kayla) Chen | China
Local Vibe D (乡约在地)
Local Vibe D is dedicated to addressing the pervasive challenges confronting rural China, including an aging population, rapid urbanization, and complex rural development issues that lack readily available solutions. The venture aims to promote localized innovation, creating rural areas that are both livable and economically viable, and seeks to establish integration between urban and rural regions to co-create new local lifestyles that benefit both communities. To date, the venture has raised $280,000 in capital, has nearly 2,000 social media followers, and a virtual community of 179 people.
Enlight China Fellowship
Zhouying Zheng | China
Neverland
Neverland provides life-coaching services for clients navigating a career changes, group coaching services, and leverages photo and music therapy to help people figure out their future professional paths. To date, the venture has served over 50 individual clients, facilitated 5 group coaching sessions to more than 30 participants, and has 100,000 views on its life-coaching blog.
