Monday, 24 September 2018 00:01 GMT

 

Audrey Tang, Taiwan's digital minister faced many challenges in her life for being a transgender throughout her 37 years life . Now a Digital Minister in Taiwan’s ministry was an anarchist Now this revolutionary minister is seeking to break down barriers between government and business and help entrepreneurs find solutions to social problems. As per Tang Countries can only solve the problems they face if government, business and the social movements to which she devoted her time before becoming a minister make common cause.

"I think that common value finding is of utmost importance to the governance nowadays when it comes to social entrepreneurship. Because otherwise, we will just have people lobbying for environmental values, for social values, for economic values, and so on without a coherent way to blend those ideas into a common value that everybody can live with."

There are many social enterprises and businesses that seek to benefit society as well as making a profit and preferential access to government contracts, Audrey Tang became an bridge for it which will benefit society and the entrepreneurs both.



Taiwan recently announced a Social Innovation Action Plan to enlist their help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals - 17 targets agreed by world leaders aimed at helping everyone live healthier, more prosperous lives on a cleaner planet.

Many social enterprises like Agoood are doing extremely good job to connect market and government undertakings. Agoood has helped street vendors who use wheelchairs boost their trade by offering phone charging and wifi facilities and Fairtrade coffee.

Tang was among the activists who occupied Taiwan's parliament building in 2014 to protest a trade deal with China that they said had been agreed in secret. Thousands of young supporters, many of them students, rallied on the streets of the capital for weeks in what became known as the "sunflower movement". In the tense aftermath, the government offered Tang a ministerial post, hoping she could help them prevent a repeat of the protests.

Tang, who changed her name and began taking hormones when she was 24 after deciding to transition, has said her brain "knows for sure that I'm a woman".

During her free time, she enjoys "troll hugging" - engaging with those who attack her on social media, and sometimes befriending them. "Once you learn there are some common values there are no enemies anymore," Tang said.