They have been called a lost generation - fledgling careers, studies and social lives upturned by the chaos wrought by Covid-19.

But as the pandemic exposes long-standing social problems, and creates new ones, some young people have seized the opportunity to apply business-minded solutions.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation asked three young, female social entrepreneurs to reflect on their experiences over the last year and what advice they can give to other youths hoping to set up socially conscious businesses.

We spoke to Harsha Ravindran, 18, co-founder of Ascendance, a Malaysia-based social enterprise and youth movement that connects and empowers students to help them to share ideas and learn about how to tackle major societal challenges like climate change, education, health and poverty. Ravindran is also the founder of social enterprise Startmyname.com, which helps create simple and quick websites.

Gabby Tan, 19, is a Malaysian student at Stanford University and an environmentalist and educator. Most recently, she has been working on Tideturners - a youth-led environmental education project dedicated to increasing awareness of key environmental issues and facilitating greater youth engagement in advocacy and solutions.

Tracy Rabi, 11, is an author and founder of Kids Finance With Tracy in Tanzania, which gives financial and entrepreneurship education to African children aged 8-17 through finance books written by Rabi, flashcards, summer holiday camps and free online content.

What makes young people well-equipped to tackle pressing issues through social entrepreneurship?
Ravindran: “Many teenagers and Gen Z’s are already making waves today by doing what they can to champion the causes they support, and they are willing to put in the hard work to achieve their goals. Today’s technology and freedom enable us teenagers to go about there and learn first hand about the issues surrounding us, hence giving us a little bit of experience that equips us with the skill set we need to tackle these pressing issues.”

Read the full article about social entrepreneurship at Eco-Business.