Our Alumni

Biodiversity Business is the umbrella organisation for Malaysian Wildlife and Sustainable Marketing Academy

The idea is to help wildlife conservation through volunteering, internships, career advice, and courses. The focus is on Malaysia and currently expanding into Indonesia.

Malaysian Wildlife was born from a love for Malaysia’s amazing natural heritage. Founder Barbara de Waard was enchanted by the natural beauty and diversity while living there. But she was also worried by the many threats witnessed at first hand such as deforestation and poaching. So she started helping out local NGOs involved in conservation and animal rescue.

Eventually, Barbara decided to dedicate the rest of her life to saving wildlife. First, she enrolled in a Masters in non-profit management and carried out academic and field research to find solutions.These are focused on innovation and partnership: not only in conservation, but also with stakeholders such as business, local communities and policymakers.

Then she set up a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to saving endangered animals and their habitats: Biodiversity Business. The aim is to create shared value for nature and people. Barbara believes people are the key to most of the problems facing these precious animals and ecosystems.