ROLE PLAYERS 2017 - Mdm. Yasmin Rasyid


Mdm. Yasmin Rasyid

President
EcoKnights

Yasmin Rasyid is a marine biologist by profession and an environmentalist by passion. She has a degree in Marine Biology and a minor in Contemporary Religion from Duke University, a M.Sc. from University Malaya in Biotechnology and is now currently pursuing her Ph.D. at University of Malaya at the Faculty of Sciences.

She has experiences working in environmental NGOs, the corporate industry and also as a sustainability consultant. Her career started off in WWF-Malaysia in 1997 where she was a Scientific Officer and was part of the "Forest for Water, Water for Life" project in which she heads the water quality research effort of the Selangor river basin. Her duties then were to analyses the condition of the river based on land use patterns and to provide reports, documentation and recommendations to advocate for an integrated river basin management system. She has presented many scientific papers on this topic in various national conferences. She later took up the role of Scientific Communications Officer within the same organization where she converts scientific knowledge and findings of local projects and works of WWF to engage the public in awareness and education and also to call for action.

When she left WWF-M in 2002, she joined Profound Vaccine Sdn Bhd and was the Head of the Research and Development department where she spearheaded the research and development of the world's first intranasal vaccine against pneumonia for livestock. She left the corporate world after taking a break and starting a family while still consult on environmental projects and programs on a freelance basis to clients such WWF-Malaysia and UNDP Malaysia in various projects on the ozone (Montreal Protocol) and also WWF-Malaysia's tiger project. During this time Yasmin was also active with RTM Malaysia as a science script writer for a children's program called, "Lava Kids".

Her main areas of passion are environmental education for youths and children and mobilization of communities towards sustainability. Yasmin is also specialized as a sustainability planner and consultant. She has presented and been invited to speak on many platforms on EcoKnights' efforts and her experiences in running NGOs, social businesses, corporate social responsibility and also in youth and community empowerment. Some of her talks include TedX ISKL, TedX Sungai Segget, at the 14th Science Council of Asia (SCA) International Conference. Her other areas of expertise includes training on sustainability and social responsibility.

In 2005, she founded EcoKnights, a not-for-profit environmental organization (www.ecoknights.org.my) which focuses on environmental education and awareness, community empowerment and development, and environmental communication. Yasmin Rasyid is also the 2013-2015 Chairperson for Malaysian Environmental NGOS (MENGO), a national coalition of 26 environmental and social NGOs in the country. In her capacity as the chairperson, she deals with environmental issues and matters related to governance, legislation and national policies. She is also the current Chairperson for the Duke University Alumni Association in Malaysia. She is also currently lecturing at University Kuala Lumpur campus in Kampung Bharu, and serves as a mentor in the Entrepreneurship Accelerator Program under MaGiC. Yasmin is also a prolific speaker in sustainability, and a sustainability consultant and some of her clients include SBC, Malaysia Airport Holding Berhad, among others. In 2015, Yasmin has dabbled in the world of social entrepreneurship and is a co-founder of PopTani, an agriculture-based start-up which specializes in aquaponics.