Simba Li

Youth Advocate,
Future of Social Entrepreneurship

Simba Li is a teen advocate aiming to advance an interdisciplinary approach to tackling socio-economic issues through pursuing higher learning and experience in history, international affairs and economics. He believes that one must take action, no matter how small it appears. 

For my whole life, he has been endorsed with the idea of taking risks. Naturally, the quote that stuck with him was ‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’. As his mother was eager to fill him with experiences at a young age, he was enrolled into courses likes Art, Fencing and Pingpong. Knowing himself, however, he doesn’t necessarily have the most artistic brain nor the steadiest hands, neither did he have a special passion for static sports. Therefore, he often found myself spending an unnecessarily large amount of time doing the things he did not love or enjoy. These failures prompted a new interpretation of the quote to be implanted in his brain, ‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, but you lose the ball when you take the shot.’ Upon arriving to Sevenoaks, he was shocked by the overwhelming atmosphere: The great minds of teachers, the talented students, and oh jeez, the massive, massive campus. Because of this – for his entire freshman year – he had close to no friends, he did terribly in my studies and he was continuously criticized for being unorganised. He didn’t even try to take risks and push his limits as he was scared to lose the ball, ultimately losing control of his life, sinking further and further into the murky depths of this school. That 21-22 summer, that’s when it all changed, that’s when he met his guardian. She, while being a controversial personnel, taught him how to take calculated risks.

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Outside of volunteering in school, he also worked in my local church, and similarly, helping refugees improve their english and settle into the area. Over the internet, he worked with another Ukrainian refugee, this time a girl, and currently, he is helping her refine her essays for an exchange student application to the US. In school, he is an avid debater, often the star man in the team. Looking forward, he might be participating in an online competition with two of his other friends in the near future. Due to his interest in international affairs, he is also in a current affairs club as well as an economics club. It is in these places that he gets real insights into how his friends and teachers differently view aspects of the global situation. On top of that, he is also a wannabe entrepreneur, and through the Social Entrepreneurship Club, he is finally learning how difficult it is to startup a company. Nevertheless, the course is hugely enlightening, and he will be participating in a young Entrepreneurship competition towards the end of the year. He has participated at Catalyst 2030's annual conference and has contributed to Social Enterprise NL's virtual learning programs. 

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Looking ahead, Simba strives for the best, and if he has the chance to go to a world-class university such as Stanford, Yale or Brown, it would be a dream come true. As for a career, he would like to delve into International Affairs, and his sense of empathy really carries him forward with this decision as he would love to help people in difficult situations tackle their own problems. Whether it be in education, poverty or refugee action, he hope he would be ready to jump in with a helping hand. If this does not work out? Economics could be a route, so would literature and history.