By Randy Lai and Kenny Lam
The last three years have not made it easy for youth in Hong Kong. The rapid shifts in the macro environment, coupled with the pandemic, have led to anxiety and, at times, feelings of hopelessness in the city’s new generation. What are the root causes? Can there be a “grassroot” effort that can generate renewed hope for the city’s new generation?
We are not short of youth initiatives in the city. Project Melo started with the basic premise that all assumptions need to be set aside for any youth empowerment effort, to make it authentic and to have the potential to be impactful. It was founded by four co-founders—Arthur Shek, Kenny Lam, Louisa Mak and Stephanie Lo—each with a different background, and supported by over 30 CEOs in the city.
The idea is simple enough – find 20 bright university students each year and have them work directly with 10 CEOs on key social projects for Hong Kong for 6 months. Through these projects, they (both the CEOs and the students) get to share an authentic journey of self-discovery. HKUST’s President Wei Shyy was the first to sign up for this effort. Then came McDonald’s and many other CEOs of leading companies and social leaders (Goldman Sachs’ Kevin Sneader, JP Morgan’s Mark Leung, SCMP’s Gary Liu, CNN’s Ellana Lee, Disney’s Michael Moriarty, Bank of East Asia’s Brian Li, Hang Lung’s Adriel Chan, Bowtie’s Fred Ngan, Bernard Chan and John Tsang, just to name a few).
What made this unique though was not the “star power” of these leaders. It is the fact that they are all willing to be authentic in their “co-creation” work with the student fellows. The CEOs do not have a PR mission. They do not have a party-line to deliver. All they wanted was to engage with and learn from our new generation. What resulted was a pleasant surprise. 40 student fellows have gone through Project Melo programs in the last two pilot years. Many described the experience as “the most impactful in their university lives”. This has given some hope to a city that has long needed some positivity in this young group.
McDonald’s HK is the first amongst the early strategic partners of Project Melo. When I, as the CEO of McDonald’s HK, first started engaging Project Melo fellows, the first thought that went through my mind was “reverse mentorship”. How can my leadership team and I learn from these young minds to help me become a better leader? How can McDonald’s HK stay relevant to the young generation and be a better organization? It has been such a refreshing experience for me. Last year, four Project Melo fellows and I co-created a Happy Meal climate change booklet together to effect some day-to-day behavioral changes for sustainability, starting with child education.
This year, we decided to try something new and hopefully more impactful. We co-created a “Youth Advisory Board” for McDonald’s, with the goal of consistently incorporating youth’s voice in our corporate decisions. The “Youth Advisory Board” idea has been brewing in my mind for years and I am so delighted that we can make it happen together with Melo fellows this summer. To widen the impact on the community, we invite other organizations to set up their own Young Advisory Boards and stay close to youth opinions. We shared this concept with hundreds in audience at the inaugural Melo Summit just last July. The Melo Summit, organized by SCMP and Project Melo, itself a unique summit approach where youth is center stage and CEOs are engaged participants, a “reverse Davos”.
All of these are first steps. But if there are takeaways from our experience through Project Melo, there could be two. First of all, a new basis of trust first has to be established for intergenerational communications to begin. We, as the “older” generation, will first need to get rid of any biases and stereotypes of the “young” generation and engage them with an open heart and mind, in order for young and older generations to build trust. It is a journey of learning for us. And through this, we believe we have also inspired some hope in the new generation.
Second of all, when things are done in a “grassroot” manner, the impact can be more organic and ultimately more impactful. While the CEOs involved in Project Melo are all prominent leaders of the business community, it was never the focus. It shows to students and the corporate community that a concerted, community-based effort can be meaningful, without the need for any “bravado”. As one Chinese saying goes “small steps, big aspirations”. Hopefully, this encourages more in the corporate community to be involved and the impact can be more at scale.
We have been so inspired and touched by our student fellows in the last two years. We cannot be more hopeful for Hong Kong’s future in their hands.
Randy Lai is CEO of McDonald’s HK, one of the largest youth employers of the city and a strong supporter of youth empowerment. Kenny Lam is CEO of Two Sigma Asia Pacific, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, and a co-founder of Project Melo.
This article is published by SCMP Events as post-event insights for our attendees and the wider SCMP readership.
