David Izikowitz’s entrepreneurial spirit was evident even when he was still a university student on exchange at The University of Hong Kong back in 2015. Instead of working at one of the Impact Lab Course’s social venture partners, David and three other students wanted to start their own company to promote sustainable tourism in Southeast Asia. Although the venture didn’t go anywhere in the end, David would later become involved in a youth empowerment project that continues to enhance Myanmar youths’ access to study and work opportunities today.
“The experience with MYEO and the Impact Lab more broadly definitely has instilled a desire to focus on having an impact in whatever endeavours I’ve worked on since,” said David.
Read our interview with David to learn more about the work he did with a friend in building what would later become one of the biggest youth empowerment EdTech companies in Myanmar, as well as how Impact Lab set the foundation for him as a climate tech entrepreneur today.
Which Impact Lab cohort were you? Which company did you work for?
I was at the Impact Lab from 2015 to 2016. I and three other classmates worked on starting a new company for Impact Lab with a focus on promoting sustainable tourism in Southeast Asia. It was called Footprints Tourism, but it didn’t actually go very far.
What inspired you to start this new project?
One of the guys just wanted to travel, so it was a convenient excuse to go do the project somewhere. I also had a huge passion for travel. From my time travelling I’ve seen hordes of tourists all looking to go to the same places, inspired by the same things on Instagram and social media. And I knew that there are untouched parts in the world and, in particular, Southeast Asia, that wasn’t so well-travelled but had a lot to offer. But as the project went on, it didn’t materialize as we planned.
What happened then?
I was connected and affiliated with another Impact Lab project called MYEO, which I supported with a good friend of mine from HKU, called Htet Thiri Shwe.
MYEO originally started as a school project from another HKU course. It stood for Myanmar Youth Empowerment Opportunities, but that was a bit mouthful so we just shortened it to MYEO.
Because Htet was able to take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad at the HKU, she wanted to extend these opportunities to young people back home in Myanmar. So I joined her in setting up that project.
Facebook is the internet in Myanmar. So MYEO started out as a Facebook page, just posting different kinds of opportunities and scholarships. Soon it organically grew into thousands of followers, which was something that was much bigger than we’d ever anticipated. We decided that we couldn’t let it go. So we got some funding from Cedars at HKU to do a summer project in Yangon, running programs and workshops for students to help them work on soft skills development to prepare for opportunities abroad or early career opportunities back in Myanmar.
Were there any memorable moments from your time at Impact Lab?
Even though I’m no longer involved in MYEO, I have a huge amount of love for my time with MYEO and the people of Myanmar. It’s an incredible place with incredible people who deserve a lot more than what they have right now.
From the project that we did in Yangon in the summer of 2016, I still remember the students and how appreciative they were that we were in Myanmar, on the ground, and looking to share our experiences and pretty basic knowledge that we did have on the skills they needed to enter the workforce, or to acquire a scholarship opportunity to study abroad. Remembering those students and how they were acceptive of what we wanted to support them in achieving was really gratifying.
How would you describe your Impact Lab experience?
The experience with MYEO and the Impact Lab more broadly definitely has instilled a desire to focus on having an impact in whatever endeavours I’ve worked on since.
David Bishop is a huge influence on a lot of students who come through Impact Lab to work at the social ventures that he started, co-founded, or supported in other ways. To us young students, motivated and keen to make an impact but didn’t know how to go about it, David’s guidance and mentorship was invaluable.
I made some great friends through the course, and Impact Lab was a great introduction for me on what it would take to start a company. It’s been hugely beneficial for my journey as someone who subsequently owned and started businesses. To this day, I’ve never had a proper job.
Tell us about the companies you started?
I’ve essentially committed the last five years and probably the next 65 years of my life to focus on fighting climate change.
I did my bachelor degree in accounting and finance, but subsequently I’ve focused more on engineering and technology. I studied a master’s in environmental engineering, transitioning quite heavily away from the traditional finance path that a lot of my friends went into.
In 2019, I started a company in China to develop materials and technologies for carbon removal solutions. I ran the company for three years while doing my master’s degree.
After exiting that business, I started a new company, doing something similar, essentially looking to use abundant feedstocks, like seawater, to take valuable commodity materials like CO2 and green hydrogen to synthesize those feedstocks into high-value products like methanol to enable the decarbonization of shipping.
Your advice to future Impact Lab students?
My advice for any students generally, whether they are Impact Lab students or others, is to take advantage of each and every opportunity that comes your way. You never know what would materialize down the road.
There is an amazing ecosystem around Impact Lab, the huge support network that know what they are doing and is there to support your journey as you find ways to commit the rest of your career or the next five or 10 years. HKU can be a very competitive environment. Similarly, my home university where I studied back in the UK, was very focused on career paths in investment banking or consulting. So this small community within the HKU that enables people to find their tribe is hugely valuable. Impact Lab truly is one of the best opportunities one can take advantage of while at HKU.
