Zdenek and Tomas are Sandbox Ambassadors in Prague/Czech Republic and Managing Partners of FL Ventures Ltd., company focused on turning initial ideas into successful business. Their vision is to grow a portfolio of exceptional commercial and social ventures by engaging and developing top talents. They both speak fluent English, German, Russian and Czech, and have access to a vast network of investors, successful entrepreneurs and experts in various industries all over the world.

What are your current projects?

With FL Ventures we are continuously developing and discovering new high-potential projects that we can grow and turn into successful businesses. (we have 7-8 in our pipeline at this point in various stages of development)

Some examples are investment brokerage activities for a large project aiming to build sustainable cities, or a project in media which helps magazine companies increase their sales while creating a new innovative retail channel.

We are also part of the governmental expert advisory board (National Economic Council) on the support and development of entrepreneurship.

And (of course) we are the Sandbox Ambassadors for the Czech Republic!

How could Sandboxers help you?

Sandboxers can help us to enhance our network of investors, such as VCs and business angels and to generally build a strong network of contacts (both business and personal). They can also recommend us prospective members for our international Board of Advisors.

Sandboxers can present us with high-potential start-up/business ideas. We can also discuss ours and thus create synergies, innovate and inspire.

How do you see your local hub growing over the next 2 years and what are your plans for fostering activities?

Sandbox is relatively new to Prague/Czech Republic – the first two Sandbox dinners took place this summer.

In the short term, we already scheduled our next Sandbox dinner for mid-October and intend to continue organizing those on a regular basis. We are also looking into organizing Startup Weekend in Prague or an event connected with Sandboxer Sebastian Lindstrom’s documentary on his work with the What Took You So Long Foundation.

In the long run, we plan to interlink Sandbox with some of our other networks, bridging highly talented young individuals. We will consider organizing seminars/workshops with industry experts and initiating European-wide events.

What was your most inspiring incidence within Sandbox?

Zdenek: My most inspiring moment was connected to my research on social entrepreneurship in developing countries, where I had the chance to talk to several Sandboxers spread literally all over the globe. Despite great diversity of their geographic location, nationality and culture, I found it amazing how similar those people actually were – entrepreneurial, creative, open-minded, helpful, inspirational and ambitious.

Tomas: It’s easy to say that there are many occasions, where Sandbox really inspired me – and it’s true. If I should pick just one, I would probably look into the first Sandbox dinner we organized here in Prague. Seeing all the highly ambitious, bright individuals from various industries to meet and to leverage their combined potential is just – amazing.

Which projects from Sandboxers most impressed you?

Zdenek: One of the many examples we could give is e.g. during several interviews within my social entrepreneurship research, I had the chance to talk (among several other inspiring Sandboxers) with Stephen Chen. It was not just Stephen’s amazing project Green Soul Shoes or his ability to combine it with his demanding investment banking job that greatly impressed me. It was mainly his humility and modesty that seemed to be integrally connected with his personality.

Their favorite quote:

Zdenek: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Gandhi

Tomas: “You have to want to succeed as much, as you want to breathe”

Our Sandbox Ambassador in India, Achyutha Sharma, is passionately following a vision of integrating ‘Creative Economy’ in India’s development through a charitable trust Sulochana Development Trust, that supports Creative Arts & Design for Social Impact. Born in Bangalore and raised in New Delhi, Achyutha followed a multi – disciplinary path, graduating as a Fashion Designer, working with communication & retail design and being a consultant in Branding and Strategy. He is the Director of Sulochana Trust and a Founder of  Antahkaran (an art organization that customizes art for spaces), and as Sandbox Ambassador he is actively setting up a strong Sandbox Community in India! Find Achyutha on Facebook.

What are your current projects?

Currently my focus is on Sulochana Development Trust that is building on our vision of Creative Economy with India’s development through our projects. We have launched our first creative venture under the Trust, Collaborative Community that offers consultancy services like Branding, Strategy, creative workshops and multi-disciplinary design solutions to non-profit/social sector organizations in India.

We are partnering with educational institutes to develop customized workshops and training programs for ‘the creative entrepreneur’. Looking at the individual as an Entrepreneur, we focus building on specific skills but above all providing tools/ insight for them to introspect and really think deeper of what they do, why and how they can make a larger impact.

How could Sandboxers help you?

We have partnered with Sandbox as talent partner for our Collaborative Community project. Sandboxers can contribute to our projects based on their skill set as part – time online consultants and contribute to social impact in India.

We are always looking for new talent in our Sandbox Community to contribute to building the foundation and growth of Sulochana Trust. An opportunity to make a tangible impact in creative and social sector in India!

How do you see your local hub growing over the next 2 years and what are your plans for fostering activities?

As Sandbox India Ambassador, it’s been an amazing experience to build the community in India pretty much from scratch. The Bangalore hub has been growing strong so we will additionally focus on other metro cities in India like Mumbai and Delhi. We intend to build 3 more hubs like Bangalore and at least have 30 new dynamic innovators as part of sandbox community. The approach in building Sandbox India community may slightly differ as compared to Europe or America.  In consultation with the co-founders, we are building a strategy for the growth of Sandbox India.  More news on that will be shared soon!

What was your most inspiring incidence within Sandbox?

The most inspiring incidence is my interaction within the community. Not just because of their talent or their initiatives but the positive energy that they bring forth in that connection, which is truly a superlative experience. An interpersonal bond is built!  Not as a ‘networker’, not transactional but something meaningful and long lasting.

Which projects from Sandboxers most impressed you?

There are many! I think some of them have impressed me as personalities, interactions and some of them with their work that has made tangible impacts in their area of focus. And that is the intention right? It’s a self-driven/self-motivated network cycle. The more you make an effort to connect, the stronger the community bonds together and grows on you in turn!

Achyutha’s favourites:

- book: Everything written by Jeanette Winterson, Simulation by Jean Baudrillard & The Sex Life of Food.
- travel destination this year: New York, Boston, Brussels, Antwerp, Paris, Amsterdam.
- quote: “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly….   Specialization is for insects.  “

Born in Singapore and currently based there, Gwendolyn Regina Tan is one of its two Sandbox Ambassadors. Gwen previously spent some time in Silicon Valley and studied in Stanford University under the National University of Singapore’s Overseas College program. She is currently co-founder & CEO of Triple Point, a company focused on delivering online assets that serve entrepreneurs, two of which are SGEntrepreneurs (Singapore’s largest online publisher on entrepreneurship) and Triple Point Jobs (a job board dedicated to startups). Gwen is also a Partner at Thymos Capital, an early stage venture firm and is a frequent judge at local national business plan competitions/awards including the recent finals of Microsoft’s Imagine Cup competition. On top of that Gwen finds time to tutor entrepreneurship at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and gives talks to inspire young entrepreneurs! Find Gwendolyn on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

What are your current projects?

As part of my aim in connecting Asia’s entrepreneurs and talent, I have been working on SGEntrepreneurs and Triple Point Jobs, with a few projects still being brewed.

How could Sandboxers help you?

I want to create stronger links between Asia and the rest of the world, particularly Latin America. If there are opportunities that you see, please do drop me a note!

Most importantly, continue building your dreams – I love reading about them.

How do you see your local hub growing over the next 2 years and what are your plans for fostering activities?

With Singapore being such a great city to work, live, start businesses and where the best of the West and East meet, we get many visitors (both Sandboxers and non-Sandboxers alike) popping in for a few days to a few months all the time. This makes Singapore a great bridge amongst cultures and gateway to Asia.

My goal for Sandbox in Singapore is to cultivate a core hub of networks with entities and organisations that visiting Sandboxers know they can tap on if they want.

What was your most inspiring incidence within Sandbox?

The most salient thing about Sandbox that never fails to inspire me is its highly helpful members who love connecting people both online and offline. During this last year, prior to a few overseas trips I made (NYC and Warsaw are two examples), the founders of Sandbox e-introduced me to the local Ambassadors so that I could be connected to that local hub and immediately meet other Sandboxers and interesting people.

But the best thing is that with the trusted global Sandbox network connected online, I have chatted, Skyped and became friends with other Sandboxers – all without having physically met!

Which projects from Sandboxers most impressed you?

It is the underlying nature of projects from Sandboxers which most impresses me. Many I’ve seen solve real problems that may or may not have been apparent to me, and have at the driving wheel a Sandboxer full of passion who is determined to make them happen.

Gwen’s favourites:

- book: Roots by Alex Haley, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

- movie: Back To The Future, Time Machine, Star Trek, Hancock, Legends of the Fall, The Green Mile

- place on earth: I haven’t been to the whole of earth yet, so this is impossible to answer. I hope to make this happen one day so that I can attempt to answer this question.

- travel destination: Peru

- food: fruits

- drink: water

- quote: “How vain is it to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live?” ~ Henry David Thoreau

While preparing our latest internal ambassador-overview, it amazed me to see the creative diversity of approaches our ambassadors take when organizing local Sandbox-events allover the globe.

While we will properly document these cases in a nice print-format soon, let me briefly share some of the highlights with you:

- Andreas Brenner organized a huge conference and workshops in Singapore with backing by the Minister of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

- Fabian Pfortmueller and Niamh Hughes organized a “retreat” in a residence outside New York to enable un-disturbed idea-sparring and fast-prototyping over three days, and regularly invite high-profile partners such as Seedcamp.

- Katharina Beck and Nico Koellner do regular wine-tastings in Cologne to enhance creativity.

- Joana Ungureanu organizes exciting theatre-evenings in Munich, and soon an Alpine-session.

- Paolo Rigutto and me organize large-scale dinners (recently featured in Wired) all 6 weeks, and inbetween smaller “content dinners” with people interested in certain topics or welcoming traveling Sandboxers.

- Bjoern Lasse Herrman and Christian Shelton are organizing large-scale dinners (using creative invitation formats) in San Francisco (30-40 talents joining), and have developed an amazing capability of “matching” the right people.

- The Guptara twins transfer their authoring-creativity to host Sandbox dinners at fancy private residences in New Delhi.

- Rainer Scherer in Berlin starts to merge online and offline, in doing “interviews” with our members on podcast while organizing the already legendary “Scheerer & Scheerer” dinners with Susanne Scheerer.

- Yuxin Hou teamed up with Asia’s major talent organization to organize a conference around leadership with Sandboxers from around the globe joining.

There are numerous other Sandbox ambassadors organizing local events in 30 cities allover the globe, and while I could only pick some examples here, we are proud to have all of them on board to build a unique  self-sustaining community of amazing young people on a global scale!

Katharina and Nico are two of our Sandbox Ambassadors. Together they are taking care of the growing Sandbox community in Cologne and Dusseldorf by organizing regular events. Besides that Katharina is Head of Communications and Project Developer at the Institute for Social Banking, Project Manager at oikos International and she’s writing her own blog on new lifestyles. Nico is currently working for the German utility E.ON in Dusseldorf, being active in the area of Strategy & Business Development.

What are your current projects?

Katharina: A seminar about Social Banking in Practice, the 3rd International Summer School on Social Banking 2010 in Florence, a Seminar for Marketing Experts in Social Banking, developing a social network for the Institute for Social Banking, ambassador for oikos International – promoting the foundation of new oikos Local Chapters, advisor to oikos Cologne.

Nico:  I am currently working in the international renewable energy business, being active in the area of Strategy & Business Development for the German utility E.ON in Düsseldorf.

How could Sandboxers help you?

Katharina: Promoting the events I am organising and the organisations I am attached to. Joining these events. Establishing contacts to other change-makers in the broad area of “sustainability”, e.g. to people from Social Finance or to students who want to start an oikos Chapter at their university.

Nico: Sandboxers can help by challenging me and enriching my views and ideas with their visions, their experience, advise and their mixture of backgrounds and culture, which enables a great 360 degree perspective on things.

What is your vision/objective for your local hub?

Katharina: A group of action-oriented people who start and run projects together, e.g. designing strategies to adapt our existing lifestyles to the upcoming challenges, and have a lot of fun doing this!

Nico: My vision for the local hub “Cologne/Dusseldorf” is to, together with my fellow ambassador Katharina, build a sustainable network of highly diversified and open-minded people, that creates value for both its members, personally and professionally, as well as for Sandbox by creating access to talent, ideas, business opportunities and passion.

What was your most inspiring incidence within Sandbox?

Katharina: Our first Sandbox Dinner and the Ambassador call. The network and its potential became tangible.

Nico: My most inspiring moment was the first Sandbox Dinner in Dusseldorf, when I first met potential other Sandboxers and realized how powerful Sandbox can be, for each one of its members, purely by offering such a high level of diversity and strong density of talent and passion.

Their favourite quotes:

Katharina: “You can’t change a problem with the same way of thinking that led to the problem.” (Einstein)

Nico: „Be aware of your strengths and confident about your weaknesses.” (unknown source)

Yuxin is one of our Sandbox Ambassadors. He is taking care of the growing Sandbox community in Hong Kong by organizing regular events. Besides being the Sandbox Ambassador to Hong Kong, Yuxin is currently preparing the MaD-conference. This post is based on several questions we sent to Yuxin.

Yuxin is currently working with the Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT), a social venture think tank on various socially beneficial business projects. Recently he has been cooperating with UNDP and Aceh Partnership for Economic Development (APED) working on strengthening the cocoa value chain for sustained growth in Aceh, the provence that was hit by the boxing day tsunami in 2004. Yuxin has just been voted as the Top Make a Difference (MaD) Role Model on m-a-d.asia and is working with MaD on organizing events and promoting entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity and discovery in the region.

Taking on several ambassadorial roles, Yuxin helps to bring together young talents in Hong Kong, Mainland China and other places over the world. He enjoys being with people and believes in the sparkles when different minds meet and when great ideas exchange. He loves and respects diversity while tries to build communication and cooperation on top of it.

Being an out-reaching, self-challenging and adventurous person, Yuxin always seeks for opportunities of exploring himself and discovering his unknown part of the world. He tries to understand different cultures and learns from them; at the some time he also tries to introduce Chinese culture to other countries and help people better understand China.

Apart from all above, Yuxin is fond of fine arts and other visual arts, cheffing and wine tasting. He parkours and climbs and does a variety of other sports.

At Sandbox, we’re thrilled to have Yuxin as our Hong Kong ambassador, and we look forward to having a great Sandbox community there! If you’re ever traveling through Hong Kong and want to meet up, let us know.