Ground-Up Initiative (GUI)

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Do you desire to live life with meaning – with a focus on being a mindful, grounded and joyful human being?

One may call GUI a 21st Century ‘School of Life’. The non-profit organization pioneers dynamic ways of shaping people and nurturing leaders for the future, grounded in the holistic approach of the “Thinker-Warrior-Farmer” — the elements of an all-rounded leader.

GUI is currently building up the Kampung Kampus (kampung means village in the Malay language), a low-carbon footprint campus in Yishun – from a spartan 100 sq metres of concrete space to 2.6 hectares of lush land — GUI’s boldest move yet. This is a community-involved project that continues to encourage GUI’s call for A Beautiful Connection with the Earth & Community.

Singaporeans needed to be more daring and creative — that was one of the findings of the Remaking Singapore Committee in 2002.

A Kampung Chief, Tay Lai Hock, was 39 years old then. He had given up his corporate job and an annual six-figure salary to backpack around the world and was stuck in a desert outpost in the Sahara when he came across the news. It made him wonder: “How could creativity and risk-taking be nurtured when the very people who teach are risk averse, and when the environment does not allow these attributes to flourish?”

And so, Lai Hock returned to Singapore in 2002, with a determination to do something about this situation. In 2008, his evolving answer to that recommendation took the form of Ground-Up Initiative (GUI).

Credit: Images of Ground-Up Initiative (GUI)