Biography
Rebecca is a business entrepreneur turned social entrepreneur. With more than 30 years of experience, Rebecca has been a renowned figure in the exhibition and convention industry in Hong Kong and China. Hugely inspired by the power of social innovation, she retired from the trade over a decade ago and determined to pass her knowledge and experience to different sectors and generations. She co-founded Education for Good and a number of change-makers’ platforms. As an educator, trainer and writer, Rebecca devotes her time and efforts to educating and training social entrepreneurs and fostering the development of social entrepreneurship in China. She is also an advisor to and board member of a number of social enterprises and NGOs, and is currently Chair of the Social Enterprise Summit.
Rebecca’s endeavour in social innovation has been focused on aging innovation. She set up the Golden Age Foundation in 2015 to promote smart ageing and unleash the Golden Age movement. The Foundation’s flagship event, the annual Golden Age Expo & Summit is the only large-scale event on aging innovation put together spontaneously by hundreds of volunteers, corporations, NGOs and academic institutions. Rebecca strongly encourages businesses to tap the new market of the Golden Age economy and address huge social needs with innovative products and services. She is also an active advocate of the shared value concept and B Corps, which she sees as the driving force behind societal advancement.
Rebecca studied Politics and Philosophy at Bristol University, UK and MBA at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Choy Yung, R.
Paper
Combatting Ageism through Business Innovation
Ageing has an enormous impact on all sectors of society and the economy. It is important that we are equipped to meet not only the challenges of population ageing but also to capitalise on the enormous potential of the ageing population.
The business community has a very powerful role to play in defeating ageism in our rapidly ageing population. At the same time, this same population presents business with enormous opportunity. The growing economic power of older adults and the under-utilized resource of mature workers could benefit the private sector considerably. But business cannot be done as usual. Innovation is much needed if businesses are to leverage the market potential of the ageing population.
This session will explore how different forms of purpose-driven businesses are responding tot he global call for smart ageing, discuss how purpose and profit can coexist, the role of businesses in achieving the global goals of healthy and smart ageing, and cross sector collaboration and engagement in an era of Golden Age economy.
