Learn how to test a social business idea!
Ever had an exciting idea light you up from the inside out? You can physically feel what is possible and can even picture the social impact it could have in this world but are not sure how to get started? Awesome! You have come to the right place. These online courses will help you take the first step and are designed for folks how have passion, deep expertise and the desire to make the world a better place but who may not see themselves as an entrepreneur or innovator.
Save time and money by learning frameworks and tools developed over a decade of working with social innovation teams within corporations, NGOs, and social enterprises. All courses are practical with real world case studies.
The Social Innovation Journey
I believe everyone has a superpower - a special gift that you bring to this world that no one else can. Your distinct set of skills, experiences, and sensibilities makes your particular offering completely unique and necessary in the world. My goal for these online courses is to help you realize your dreams of bringing to life your innovation while staying authentic to your truest self. This dream can take the form of an enterprise, not for profit, or side gig.
The innovation journey requires that we get to know both the marketplace and ourselves. If you have ever tried to create something new in the world, we discover that we come across parts of ourselves as hurdles along the way. These are often harder challenges to surmount than the technicalities of launching an enterprise. The courses aim to provide social innovation tools and frameworks interwoven with practices to discover what is holding us back and create new routines and habits to move bravely forward.
My Journey
It’s been over 40 years since my parents took those brave steps onto a boat with two small children to flee from a war-torn country seeking a better life in America. Over half of “boat people” as we were called back then, never made it to a safe harbour. This was a really dramatic way to start my life and has shaped many of the major decisions I’ve made, including this one to launch a series of online courses for social innovators. Against all probabilities, I survived. Life is short and I want to make the most of it!
Maybe you feel the same way?
Any questions? I'd love to hear from you, email hello @ twolings.com
3 types of offerings to fit your needs
“Excellent. Informative. Practical. Inspirational. Structured and tangible toolkit that will take vague thoughts in your head to a clearly articulated idea and a plan to test if it is worthwhile. As well as giving you clarity around why this has meaning to you.”
- Aliyah
“I loved the course, enjoyed the presenter’s energy and humility teaching this topic. This course is going to change how you think about starting businesses and talking to customers.”
- Jason
"I would recommend this course to anyone wishing for that necessary push to sit with their idea long enough to determine its viability.”
- Karan
"Ling Ling combines her years of experience and insight with her grounding and nurturing presence to create a safe and inspiring space where action on your dreams is possible!"
- Natalie
Hi, I’m Ling Ling
The content for these toolkits are drawn from over a decade of experience designing and launching social innovations with corporations, NGOs and social enterprises. Check out my portfolio of work at Twolings.com. As a long term practitioner, I have the benefit of drawing from a large database of real projects for case studies to illustrate each concept. I draw from multiple disciplines including human centered design, business fundamentals and market research as well as mindfulness and self-awareness training. In my experience, creating and offering something new to the world is as much an inner journey as it is an outer one exploring the marketplace. Thank you for inviting me along as your guide and coach!
More about me:
- 2 decades of experience advising and building businesses in Developing & Emerging (D&E) markets
- Former Director of new businesses in D&E markets at Unilever
- Portfolio of social innovations span from infant malnutrition and safe drinking water to increasing access to digital education and youth employability
- These innovations have spanned these markets: USA, Australia, Kenya, Senegal, Mali, eSwatini, South Africa, Ghana, Bangladesh and Indonesia
- Have worked with wonderful seed stage tech and health enterprise start ups as well as large institutions such as Unilever, Pearson, PSI, USAID and DFID
- Masters degrees from MIT and Harvard
Click on the about page to read the Harvard Business Review article I co-authored, view few videos of my work or listen to podcast interviews to get a better sense of my experience and approach to this work.