Ideas for a Better World Forum: Thorkil Sonne

The signing of the MoU by Mr Chris Cusano, the Executive Director of Ashoka Singapore, and Ms Jean Tan, the SIF Executive Director

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Ashoka and SIF allows for the fostering of a global community of changemakers for social innovation through regular visit programmes, study trips and future forums

The audience, which include Danish Ambassador to Singapore Ole Lisborg (in grey), hears that those with autism often possess traits such as having great attention to detail, that make them specially suitable for jobs such as software testing

Joining Mr Sonne for the panel discussion: (from right) Mr Alvin Ng, Ms Denise Phua and Ms Tracey Ho, with SIF Governor Anita Fam moderating

SIF Chairman, Ms Euleen Goh, says that through hosting inspirational thought leaders such as Thorkil Sonne, we aim to be a bridge between Singapore and world communities, and act as a catalyst for social change

Ms Denise Phua, president of the Autism Resource Centre Singapore and the supervisor of Pathlight School and Eden School Boards, says Singapore needed a better structured job placement system

Mr Alvin Ng, a managing director for Global Enterprises at Cisco Systems, gives perspectives from the business and employer’s side

Among the audience of about 80: international NGOs, the social service and social enterprise sectors, as well as the business community

Ms Tracey Ho, Workforce Diversity Leader for Asia Pacific at IBM spoke on the "business imperative" of employing people with disabilities

Social entrepreneur Thorkil Sonne speaking on the competitive advantage of those he calls specialists