Raj Ridvan Singh
Teacher Raj Ridvan Singh[edit]
Founder-CEO of SOLS 24/7, Social Entrepreneur and Education Revolutionist.
Raj Ridvan Singh, known as Teacher Raj Ridvan Singh, is a Malaysian social entrepreneur, educational revolutionist and social activist. He is currently the CEO and founder of the NGO SOLS 24/7 Malaysia and the Social Enterprises of SOLS. (Science of Life Studies 24/7)
Teacher Raj is a follower of The Bahá'í Faith
Early Life
Teacher Raj Ridvan Singh began his career amid the social and financial poverty of Cambodia in the late 1990s. As a 14-year old, Teacher Raj sold his material possessions as he co-founded an NGO, SOLS 24/7 Cambodia, to provide free education and personal development to Cambodian youth. By the age of 17 and becoming the youngest Microsoft Computer System Engineer in ASEAN, Teacher Raj once again faced the choice of continuing his career in Malaysia or leaving his financial comfort for the status of a social worker.
Due to personal beliefs and a strong social activist background governing his decision, Teacher Raj left the comforts of Malaysia and returned to Cambodia, before heading to Timor Leste during a time of civil war to found and run SOLS 24/7 Timor Leste. Without receiving any formal education within business, he managed to set up an education-based NGO, which he helped become the largest non-formal education provider in the country.
When Teacher Raj returned to his native Malaysia, he used his experience from his work in Cambodia to found the tax-exempted humanitarian organization, SOLS 24/7 Foundation.
Notable work experiences:
- Founded SOLS 24/7 Timor Leste in November 2006 and SOLS 24/7 Malaysia in November 2007.
- Currently serving as CEO of SOLS 24/7 and SOLS Social Enterprises.
- SOLS 24/7 is a tax exempt foundation with 12 programmes nationwide.
- SOLS Social Enterprises: SOLS Smart & SOLS Energy
- Initiator and CEO of SOLS Tech. The technology arm of SOLS 24/7. “Technology and solutions for the poor” Thus enabling thousands of underserved individuals access and ownership of computers and technology.[1]
- Initiator and CEO of ngohub.Asia - the first online crowdfunding platform in Asia.
Awards & Recognition
- In December 2018 Teacher Raj was chosen by AUGUSTMAN for Men of the Year 2018: Education.[2]
- At the Europa Awards for Sustainability 2018 Teacher Raj was awarded Best Sustainability Leader.[3]
- TEDx Talks Speaker in TEDxKenyalang, 2018[4]
- First Malaysian to be selected for the International Ford Motor Company Fellowship, Columbia University, New York.
- Speaker at the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovations for Development (APEID) – 2016
- Awarded Golden Globe Tigers Summit NGO Leader Award[5] – 2015.
- Finalist Commonwealth Youth Worker Award- 2014[6]
- Awarded the YouthActionNet Award-2004 by International Youth Foundation.
- The Youth & ICT Award-2005 by Global Knowledge Partnership.
- Presented the Youth Social Enterprise Fellowship by YSEI in 2006.
- Winner of the KLue Blue Chilli Award Malaysia 2008.
- In 2009, he setup two state-of-the-art ICT Labs for the National University of Timor Leste, fully funded by USAID.
- Certified Microsoft Systems Engineer at the age of 17, youngest in ASEAN.
- Received a letter of praise and support from Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and President of Timor Leste, Dr Jose Ramos Horta for SOLS 24/7's efforts in Timor Leste in July 2009.
- Represented ASEAN, Malaysia and Cambodia in several distinguished international conferences in Malaysia, Tunisia, Argentina, Sri Lanka, USA, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia. Plenary speaker at several of these conferences presenting on youth related issues and sharing his work experience in implementing sustainable socio-economic development programs for poor urban and rural communities.
- Social Entrepreneur of the Year, SME & Entrepreneurship Business Awards 2017.
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- ↑ NST https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/bots/2018/01/329772/social-enterprise-sols-tech-boon-under-served-communities. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "Augustman". augustman.co.
- ↑ Bernama News https://bernamanews.live/2018/11/23/eight-local-companies-receive-awards-for-sustainability/. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "TedX". Youtube.
- ↑ Golden Globe Tigers http://goldenglobetigers.org/award-winners.html. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ The Common Wealth http://thecommonwealth.org/media/news/finalists-commonwealth-youth-worker-awards-announced. Missing or empty
|title=(help)
