GENERAL INFORMATION PACKET

What
ndoto. is a series of nonprofit conferences and subsequent workshops for youth first
conceived by two Hong Kong International School alumni, Karen Lee and Anna Zhou. These
conferences were created with one common goal: To foster young creativity, encourage
entrepreneurship, and present students with innovative methods to make a lasting positive
impact on their world. The word Ndoto (inDOHtoh) means "dream" and vision in Swahili,
chosen to reflect what the founders hope to achieve with their conferences starting with the
power of entrepreneurs and visionaries.

Why
As students, many of us feel pressured to pursue traditionally stable professions such as law,
medicine or business all over the world. We constantly push aside passions in other areas of
creativity in pursuit of those to earn a higher income and standard of living. To encourage our
peers to rise above this notion, we have created a conference that offers a window into the
minds of unconventional thinkers, bringing their successful ideas into the spotlight and
inspiring the future generation.
With a focus on three basic elements of entrepreneurship creativity, innovation and change,
we strive to emphasise the importance of thinking out of the box.We believe that creativity
is the essence of all ideas and the key to a myriad of possibilities. The initial spark of a
creative concept brings about the active development of realistic products, in other words
innovation. By creating pioneering products, developing new concepts or even just by
integrating old ideas through a fresh perspective, innovation uncovers a realm of positive
lasting change, of hope and of a better future.
Through our conference we hope to foster relationships between students our age and
todays entrepreneurs, ultimately coalescing a network of present and future leaders
empowered to make a difference in our world while doing what they love.

General Information
The inaugural conference was held on the 23rd of February, 2013 from 10:30AM to 5:30PM
at Hong Kong International Schools Black Box Theatre in Tai Tam. Twelve speakers from a
variety of professions and walks of life came to present their visionary successes and
explore the entrepreneurial elements of creativity, innovation and change during their
presentation.
This event was ticket admission only and attendees registered online due to limited spaces
and overall group dynamics. A total of 170 students, teachers and general public attended
the event.
At ndoto. the speakers and their talks were only part of the focus. Workshops specifically
designed to target areas of creativity, innovation and change were held in conjunction to
provide participants with an involved kinetic experience.
As the conference is a not for profit event, it was funded exclusively by sponsorships,
grants and donations. An additional conference in India launched our series of conferences
around the world as well as the development of a self-sustaining model designed for
students to continue to implement for an annual ndoto. conference without further help
and presence from the co-founders.
We understand that students around the world require different attention depending on
their community, culture, development and environment. At ndoto. we pride ourselves to
be adaptable and sensitive to these differing traits by working with locals to better
understand their needs. These custom-designed models are adapted for each area we
operate in, and then incorporated into a unique self-sustaining model to provide the long
term impact that we feel is lacking from other such conferences.

Adaptability
Students that attended our conference in Hong Kong and India came from vastly differing
socio-economic backgrounds as well as style of learning at school. It was imperative that we
adapted to the needs of the student population at which the conferences were held.
In Hong Kong International School, where most students come from wealthier backgrounds,
students were mostly concerned with excelling academically and the need to maintain an
upper-class lifestyle with a distinguished career. Therefore, passion and creativity was often
compromised to achieve these goals.
The conference model implemented in Hong Kong then focused on showcasing a variety of
highly successful individuals who found success in realizing their dreams despite initial
skepticism of others. Activities throughout the day were also important to emphasize the
conferences messages.
Our conference in Ambur, India, just outside of Chennai was held on March 9th, 2013 and
had an audience of 200 students from incredibly poor socio-economic backgrounds. In India,
the concepts of creativity, innovation and change are hardly mentioned their linear school
system. Instead emphasis is placed on math and science, subjects designed to steer
students onto a path of greater success to escape the cycle of poverty. Because of this,
many students are lead to believe that there is only one way out and unfortunately set aside
all other aspirations.
The aim of a studentfocused conference is to empower these underprivileged students to
realize a better world through the pursuit of their own passions. Integral speakers fluent in the
native language were invited to promote student leadership and help the student audience
realise their immeasurable capability to create change. Following the initial conference day, a
week of student-led workshops were held to supplement and expand on ndotos core
themes and their real world applications.
In addition, the workshops detailed how to plan and organize a personal project as well as
methods of implementation. This provided students with a set of tools to guide themselves
and their community in any endeavour they wished to pursue. In India, we were delighted to
discover that all the projects students came up with focused on alleviating issues associated
with poverty within their community, such as child labour, depression, hygiene awareness,
water safety and more. By urging students to see beyond academic solutions to their
circumstances, we believe that they can develop viable solutions to debilitating issues within
their own community, ultimately breaking their cycle of poverty.
Nonetheless, despite the differences in how each conference promoted its themes, the
crucial role of speakers and workshops remained.

Impact
The unique conference models introduced to both countries inevitably resulted in different
expressions of creativity, innovation and change from all attendees. Despite these differences,
they share the same empowerment to pursue their various passions.

Hong Kong
Hong Kong International School is already ahead in terms of providing students with the
resources to enable them to attain their goals. What we saw lacking within the school
though, was the expansion of a students mind to dream bigger or follow through with their
passion as opposed to doing things for the sake of their college applications. The ndoto.
conference was a platform for students, teachers and speakers alike to connect and share
ideas.
Multiple students found opportunities to collaborate with speakers, establish networks for
newfound projects, and receive advice for developing concepts. Sarah Faruqi, inspired by the
success of ndoto. created a speaker series Working Girls Forum for girls in international
high schools around Hong Kong. The impact of the conference was also an exemplar for
younger HKIS students to create their Elixir projects that focus on community orientated
service.
Speakers such as Bobsy created a set of values in a presentation named URNA - You Are
Not Alone for ndoto. and was inspired to take it further by making it a signature talk,
potential book and app for smart phones and other such devices. Dr. Marty Schmidt, a
humanities teacher at HKIS, now often invites speaker Roy Horan to speak to his classes.
The lasting impact from the conference was that it created a network of entrepreneurs and
range of successful individuals that students and teachers can confidently approach for a
whole range of intellectual and enterprising needs. This itself, is enough to inspire a change in
how students think of their future or follow their passions.

India
As focus shifted to introducing more basic notions of creativity, innovation and change due
to the nature of the area, so to did the result of the conference. From the 200 students who
attended the conference, student empowerment clubs were established in their respective
schools. This allowed the lessons learnt from the conference to spread over a wider
distance as the students were from schools of neighbouring towns. Following the
conference, the clubs worked on: creating week long dental and hygiene awareness camps
for youth and adults alike, raising 42,000 rupees to buy polio drops then donated to Rotary
international, raising awareness of depression and preventing suicide among their high
schools, educating their community on the effects of air, water and ground pollution and
lastly liberating fellow classmates from child labour. The above projects were all taken on
solely by students with little to no help from adults. The students within the clubs continue
to work with a community service orientated mindset whilst utilising creative and innovative
methods to produce these changes.

Future
Eventually, we hope to establish a self-sustaining ndoto. presence led by students in many
countries around the world. We hope to address and promote solutions to the ever
changing issues students may face in the wake of their changing environment with this
model.
We foresee the development of an ndoto. network for students around the world to actively
collaborate with each other both online and in the classroom, and engage their peers in
projects they are passionate about.
At present, we have held a conference in Hong Kong and India with our sights set on
another in South Africa and China by 2016.

Co-Founders

Karen Lee

Anna Zhou

Karen Lee
Karen is a student at New York University with a passion for psychology, writing and ideas that
change the world. Though she has spent much of her childhood growing up in Hong Kong, she
has participated in service projects in South Africa, India and Thailand and hopes to expand her
ndoto. dream through these experiences. She is planning to work in the social enterprise non-profit
sector after she graduates. Ambitions aside, Karen enjoys traveling, music and is an avid follower
of current world issues.

Anna Zhou
A 19 year old currently studying at Monash University in Melbourne Australia is an alumni of Hong
Kong International School. With a passion for service, she has taken multiple service trips working
in places such as India, Thailand, Hong Kong and China. She is a part time blogger who worked
on an international collaborative multimedia project created by the European Journalism Centre
named Thinkbrigade. In addition to the above, she has worked for eco-entrepreneur Bobsy Gaia,
a notable individual of Hong Kong at the forefront of the environmental movement there.
http://www.thinkbrigade.com

Contact Information
Email: ndoto.hk@gmail.com
Skype: ndoto.
Website: https://ndotoconference.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ndotoconference