When waste becomes opportunity, communities transform. And that’s exactly what SOYGOO by GOSOYA is doing, using the power of education, eco-enterprise, and intergenerational collaboration to uplift women and youth in Malang and Tuban, East Java, Indonesia. We’re thrilled to announce SOYGOO as one of the recipients of the Average Foundation x Solve Education! Grant, a collaboration designed to support local changemakers tackling pressing educational and social issues.
About the Grant
The Average Foundation x Solve Education! Grant is a catalytic microgrant designed to fuel youth-led innovation across Asia and Africa. With funding of up to SGD 600 per team, the grant supports early-stage projects that tackle real local community problems through community-led, tech-enabled education solutions.
In its latest cycle, the grant drew over 70 applications from youth organizations across Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Nigeria, highlighting a powerful surge of grassroots energy and demand for localized solutions. Each proposal was reviewed not only for clarity and feasibility, but also for how well it embraced five core pillars: English and Math literacy, AI and digital skills, entrepreneurship and employment readiness, financial literacy, and climate education.
From promoting English learning through AI chatbots to preparing youth for green careers and embedding sustainability into school curricula, this year’s applicants brought bold ideas rooted in local realities. Their video pitches are authentic and AI-free, helped bring their passion to life, and showcased the kind of leadership that traditional funding often overlooks.
The grant is more than financial support. It’s a platform to amplify voices, build capacity, and spark scalable change, powered by Solve Education!’s unique GAIN framework: Gamification, AI coaching, Incentives, and Network. Together, we’re proving that small grants can ignite big transformation.
A Learning Ecosystem Rooted in Innovation
What makes SOYGOO truly innovative is how it merges digital learning with sustainable enterprise. Participants engage with gamified education through edbot.ai, covering literacy, financial skills, and even an introduction to AI, developing skills that are relevant in a modern economy. This approach reflects Solve Education!’s impact, where over 80% of learners show improvement using Edbot.ai.
But the journey doesn’t stop online. SOYGOO facilitates hands-on eco-enterprise workshops that turn tempeh waste into edible and upcycled products, while reviving traditional palm-leaf crafting as a source of sustainable income. With youth leaders as digital facilitators and women leading product development, this is a community model of empowerment and ownership.
To close the learning loop, a community showcase will celebrate the progress made, where women entrepreneurs exhibit their creations, youth present digital learning milestones, and local stakeholders, including MSMEs, engage with these changemakers firsthand.
Recognized and Ready to Scale
SOYGOO has already empowered over 200 women and repurposed more than 2 tons of food waste. As Indonesia’s first initiative to convert tempeh waste into eco-edibles and upcycled goods, SOYGOO has earned accolades from PFMuda, Metro TV’s Juragan Jaman Now, and AFPI’s Digital MSME Showcase.
Yet beyond the awards, its true strength lies in the lived stories of its changemakers, from mothers and former factory workers to returning youth who are rewriting the narrative of what’s possible in their villages.
With the Average Foundation x Solve Education! Grant, SOYGOO enters its next chapter, backed by financial support, access to AI-driven learning, and a network designed to scale grassroots impact.
Your Role in Building the Future
Your support doesn’t just provide microgrants, it ignites ecosystems. By investing in community-rooted innovation like SOYGOO, you help turn tempeh waste into economic opportunity and digital learning into lifelong empowerment for women and youth.
If you believe in the power of grassroots changemakers, we warmly invite you to support this movement. Champion youth mentors. Bring this model to a new village. Co-host a showcase to amplify local ingenuity. Together, we can turn a local spark into a wildfire of inclusive, innovation-driven change.
Check out the 10 finalists of the Average Foundation x Solve Education! Grant on our LinkedIn here.