Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) 2019

It’s the time of the year again where the Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) applications are open! Since I’ve been receiving a lot of questions about the process and my entire experience, I decided to blog about it.

For those who don’t know, YLA is a 3-month programme by McKinsey&Co Malaysia that aims to foster Social Entrepreneurship skills in students while driving impact.

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APPLICATION PROCESS

Round 1

Format

1. Online form:

- Details about ourselves, our passion, our achievements, and most importantly - the cause we strive for.

- Do note that the cause that you pick here will be used to determine which group you’ll be placed in. There are 4 different categories to pick from - Social Issues, Education, Environment, Food Waste. You’re allowed to choose a 1st & 2nd choice, but no guarantee that you’ll get the choice you want! I chose Social Issues last year as it was pretty vague, so it gave me more room to explore on what cause I’d want to work on. Also, Social Issues may also give more room to causes that are often untapped. For example, Educating the public on ways to consume the media - which was an issue that was often brought up when I asked my friends what issues are often neglected.

2. 2-minute video

- “Why do you deserve to be selected for YLA”

- My advice for this is to really keep it real. It’ll be great if you could show some of the activities that you have done to prove your passion, instead of just saying it!

- Here’s the link to my video in case you’d like to have a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYoWZxjdq-Q

Round 2

This is the final round. I’m not sure how many applicants were there initially, but 60 people were shortlisted for this round. It was pretty nice as it was held at McKinsey&Co’s office, so yea I was super excited! Like omg, I’m going to McKinsey&Co’s office! :’D

My interview group & interviewers! :D

Format:

- Group interview, about 6 people per group

- A case will be given. Expect government-related cases since McKinsey&Co does governmental consulting. For my group, my question was about “How to revamp the education system in Malaysia”. I think some other groups had questions about Malaysia’s Healthcare.

- If I’ve not mistaken, you’ll be given 20 minutes to discuss, 10 minutes to present followed by a 10 minute Q&A.

Tips:

Be collaborative. Essentially, they would prefer to rope in team players. There were some people who were a bit bossy. They just took control of the whole situation and started leading the team in the wrong direction. However, don’t let them be too dominating. You could probably ask everyone to take a step back and let each person have the chance to speak as well. Don’t be too dominating because I find over-dominating people very annoying too, HAHA.

The case may seem very vague, so you can ask questions. Eg. what level of education? Is it primary, secondary or tertiary? This will help in solidifying your key issues and it gives you a direction in your case.

In general, just don’t jump into the solutions straight. Try analysing it. Of course, they don’t expect you to solve the case completely as it’s very subjective. They would like to see your train of thought.

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EMBARKING ON MY YLA JOURNEY

I’m honoured to be one of the selected applicants for this programme! 45 out of 60 applicants were selected, breaking us into 9 groups. Unfortunately, there were some people who pulled out, leaving to some groups that were disbanded, and some groups with more people.

My team - Kain Movement! From left: Luannie, Amir, Ben, Paul & I.

Format of programme

- 3 months

- 1 workshop per month, amounting to 3 in total. These workshops are MANDATORY. However, if you really can’t make it for any of it, I suggest that you inform them in advance - to be fair to both the organisers & your team! I couldn’t make it for 1 of the workshops and I immediately informed them, in case they would not want me in and another deserving person could take my slot. Fortunately, they kept me in!

Workshops

1st Workshop - INTRO

Unfortunately, I could not attend the first workshop as I was away for the Axiata University Leadership Development Programme (ULDP). Anyway, based on the agenda and after keeping up-to-date, the first workshop was about: -

1. Problem definition - Structuring & prioritizing

2. Communication - Social Media

3. Rapid ideation

4. Meeting our team & mentors

I would say that the first workshop is really important as it is the first touchpoint with your team & mentors. I felt really bad for not being there. Till today, I still do feel bad. The rapid ideation is where your team comes out with an idea to pitch, which may eventually be your idea for your social enterprise. Thus, not being there means that I could not contribute to that either.

However, based on the feedback I got on my team, an area to take note is that the team didn’t really have time to “get to know” each other. It was straight into ideation, and it may not be the best way of ideating without fully knowing each other’s backgrounds and passion. Perhaps, it would be great if you contact your teammates before the workshop. I found one of my teammates through Instagram and told him that I could not make it, instead of just leaving it like that. What I wish my team & I did was to actually form a WhatsApp group before workshop 1 to actually get to know each other better, should we have known that there wasn’t much time given to get to know each other during the workshop.

2nd Workshop - PITCH FOR SEED FUNDING

Content of the workshop: -

1. Business Model Canvas

2. Customer Journey

3. Understanding our team

Behind the scenes of the 2nd Workshop.

I was pretty familiar with these two areas so it wasn’t too bad. But I realized that there were many people who weren’t familiar, and my team & I felt as though if this was taught in the 1st Workshop, it would help more in solidifying our idea for our social enterprise. Nevertheless, it still helped!

We also played a card game about understanding our team - each of our individual strengths and weaknesses. It really felt like our own SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis HAHA. It was great as we knew how we could leverage on each other’s strengths, and how we can support each other in areas where we may lack. It would have been great if this was conducted during the first workshop though!

The pitch was pretty simple, it was a 3-minute pitch followed by a 2 minute Q&A, if I recall correctly! Since it’s hard to get all 5 people to pitch in 3 minutes, Luannie & I did the pitching, while Amir, Ben & Paul contributed during the Q&A.

After all the pitches, I’m happy to say that we won the highest amount of SEED Funding - RM900! This funding is used to run our pilot project throughout the YLA period.

Tips:

For our pitch, we were required to present on: -

1. Problem statement

2. Idea / approach

3. Progress & future plans

Social media

4. Funding request

Treat it as though you are pitching to investors. So what’s your goal? For them to understand. Don’t make things so complicated. It’s not necessary to flash out the 7-step problem-solving approach or an issue tree. These frameworks help you to frame the problem, but essentially, you don’t always have to present it.

My reaction after the 2nd Workshop:

Damn, it was so unexpected yet fulfilling. I was initially supposed to miss the 2nd Workshop as well but I felt as though it wouldn’t be fair and I should just pull out if I do that. Being there at the 2nd Workshop required me to take a 1am flight back from Taiwan as I was there for the UMAP Cultural programme for 2 weeks. Touched down around 5am+, got home and freshen up, and went straight to McKinsey&Co’s office. The slides were only fully done the night before, and I only prepared my pitch about 30 minutes before the actual pitch itself. The adrenaline rush was real. I’m thankful to have such a supportive team and winning that RM900 was all a team effort.

3rd Workshop - FINALS

Content of the workshop: -

1. Guests speakers

2. Pitching

3. Dinner & award ceremony

Behind the scenes of the final workshop.

The final workshop was pretty chill. Other than the guest speakers, we were pretty much just preparing for our pitch and listening to other pitches as well. Overall, I’m happy to say that my team (Kain Movement) & I walked home with the Social Media Award & 1st Runners Up!

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My overall experience

To me, YLA is a great platform to pick-start the social entrepreneurship journey among students. I’ll break it up into several parts.

Mentorship

It’s quite an independent journey I’d say. Although you’re assigned mentors, they’re really busy people as well. My honest experience was that our YLA Ambassador (alumni) helped us much more than our mentors did. But our mentors were really nice people and did their best to reply to our WhatsApp messages.

Team

Like I said previously, some people left which caused some teams to disband. I was lucky enough to have a committed team. When you first start, it’s important to ask your team if they’re in it just for the CV's sake, or to really start a SE, because it’s 2 different things. Either way, it’s fine. It’s not wrong if they’re in it for their CV, because it’s still an experience. Just that it’s a 3-month experience and not a long-term thing. Understanding their personal vision on YLA will help you to understand their commitment to this project, and plan if it’s worth it to run your SE after YLA.

Sometimes, you may question your commitment and each other’s commitment, if it’s worth it to do what we're doing. Honestly, I felt as though my team was quite dependent on me at the initial stage despite me being away, and they realized that too. It got better after YLA once we reflected on that as a team. Always communicate with your team, be open & transparent!

Time Management

If you’re handling YLA alone with academics, it’s pretty alright I’d say. I found it pretty tough because I was at Axiata ULDP when YLA started, so I was practically MIA for the first 2 weeks since the start of YLA. Those who have attended ULDP before would know how intense those 2 weeks are! After that, I was back for 2 weeks again before I flew off to Taiwan for another 2 weeks for UMAP, and had to sit for my replacement exams when I got back. If you total it up, I was practically not around for 1 month out of the 3 months. However, during the time when I wasn’t around, I had to work on the go, sacrifice my time with new friends in Taiwan, and constantly work.

When I started my Year 2, I wasn’t even paying attention in class for the first 6 weeks. I would spend my time in class hustling for Kain Movement - be it proposals, designs, etc.

It’s definitely not easy if you choose to be involved in 101 activities at the same time. The only reason why I did that was to completely clear my final year so I could completely focus on studies.

If you asked me if I’d do it all again at the same time? Probably not, because a lot of sacrifices have to be made, thus, you may miss out on many other experiences. I wish I could fully commit to one instead of sacrificing experiences when you’re already in it. I did sacrifice a lot for YLA although many don’t see it. It was really stressful, but that’s how it’s like in the initial years of a startup.

However, if you’re willing to sacrifice your time for YLA like me while being involved in other activities, then just do it! Sometimes, you just have to prioritize. You know yourself. I trust myself that I could survive that hectic period and I did. But once again, IT IS NOT EASY!

For me, it didn’t just stop at YLA. We got selected for MaGIC University Startup Challenge and finished in the top 10, as well as Regional Finalists for ASEAN Impact Challenge. Till today, we’re still continuing Kain Movement although we’ve slowed down quite a bit. So be ready to commit your time for your SE even after YLA!

Competition or collaboration?

As much as there are placings and winners in YLA, it’s best to not treat this as a competition. Social enterprises are there to fill in the gaps and help the community, and not to kill out one another. See the other teams as potential collaborators instead of competitors. Who knows, you’d be good partners after YLA!

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Final Comments

Here’s a list of several things that I wish I knew before YLA, before actually venturing out into other competitions or into the REALITY.

1. As much as it is great to encourage students to start their own SEs, putting random strangers together isn’t the best way. My team & I learned it the hard way after going for the ASEAN Impact Challenge. Everyone there was doing their SEs full time. They formed their team through skill sets and experiences. Investors will invest in you only if they fully trust the team. Not to say that we students aren’t good, but we do not have the expertise yet.

2. Startups and SEs are totally different. We went to MaGIC USC competing as a SE in a Startup challenge. Startups are very profit-driven while we’re more social impact-driven.

3. To me, YLA focuses a lot on the “Social” side of a “Social Enterprise” while neglecting the “Enterprise” side quite a bit. In order to help others, you must first help yourself. Keep that in mind!

4. Don’t expect your mentors to give you the answers or connections. It’s really subjective, I can’t tell how it was like for other teams. Have the ownership. It’s YOUR social enterprise so it’s fair for it to be a somewhat independent journey (just your team with less external help).

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Feel free to follow Kain Movement on our social media platforms

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kainmovement

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kainmovement

Or connect with me on LinkedIn if you’ve any other questions about YLA. I’ll do my best to get back to you the soonest possible! Of course, not with answers about case interviews, etc. https://www.linkedin.com/in/janicechaixinhui

Also, here’s the link to YLA 2020 registration: https://ylamalaysia.com/2020-application/

All the best!