Why Self Awareness Festival?

The Heart of the Festival

The Self Awareness Festival, Growthbeans' signature and annual event, embodies the heart of its mission:- Empowering individuals to be self-aware, grow, connect and care - that is to cultivate human growth, meaningful connection and conscious community building. 

With its first Self Awareness Festival organised in 2018, Growthbeans believes that Self-Awareness is the foundation for authentic selves and leadership, inclusive societies and sustainable change. This festival creates a dedicated space for individuals to remember to pause, reflect and reconnect - with themselves, others, and the world around them. ​
Through facilitating rich learning and experiences and providing opportunities for everyone to contribute, the festival brings to life the core pillars of awareness, development, compassion, and empowerment. The festival then becomes a living practice of the values Growthbeans uphold all year round. As an annual event, it serves both as a milestone of collective growth and a launchpad for continued impact - inspiring each participant to become agents of change in their own spheres.

What Every Festival Is Built Upon

What is the Growthbeans Experience?
The Belief in Every Individual's Potential
​Everybody is a bean, a seed - full of untapped potential. Whether it's leadership, or empathy, each of us holds many 'seeds' waiting to grow. ​
A Safe Space 
Growth doesn’t happen by chance — it needs the right environment and nurturing support. Just like beans need soil, care, and sunlight, every individual thrives in safe, supportive spaces. ​
​Empowerment
More than safe spaces, Growthbeans offers a nurturing ecosystem where individuals are supported and provided with the resources to explore and bloom into who they are meant to be.
How The Festival Supports Self Awareness

Designed with Intention

The Festival and every track has been designed using the Growthbeans Second Framework to create the Growthbeans experience. 
Sense
Engaging the senses makes learning stick. When deeper levels of cognition and emotion are activated, this multi-sensory engagement helps us retain information better, relate to personal experiences, and internalise it more fully. It also creates space for reflection, empathy, and insight — all of which are essential for lasting behavioural change and personal growth. Sensory learning transforms abstract knowledge into lived understanding.
Connect
When learning is connected to meaning, individuals become more motivated and self-aware, teams align around shared purpose and collaboration, and organisations build cultures that adapt, grow, and retain talent. It transforms development from a task into a powerful driver of engagement, resilience, and lasting impact.
Do
Learning becomes transformation when it's put into action. Doing something while learning helps us process, internalise, and personalise the experience. It engages multiple parts of the brain, deepens understanding, and creates real-time feedback loops. Doing more with what we learn allows us to apply insights, solve problems, collaborate better, and adapt in meaningful ways; turning knowledge into capability, and capability into impact.
Timeline of Growthbeans' Self Awareness Festival

The Journey of the Festival

A journey of becoming
2015 & 2016 - The Seed is Planted
In the desire to create non-judgmental and supportive spaces where people can make friends across boundaries, connect authentically, and learn from one another, Growthbeans started running fortnightly Growthbeans Circles in Beijing in November 2015 and in Singapore in June 2016. In Singapore, it was a partnership with YNTUC and Youthcorps Singapore. Here's a look back in time


2017 & 2018 - A Spark Takes Root
Growthbeans ran Global Wellness Day in Beijing for two consecutive years, in partnership with Kerry Hotel, planting the early spirit of community wellness and connection in a Festival. 


2018 - The First Bloom
With Growthbeans' desire to make coaching and coaching-infused workshops accessible to everyone, the team ran its first Self Awareness Festival in Singapore at the Lifelong Learning Institute. The event was a success with 10 speakers, and supported by more than 35 ICF coaches, and volunteers from all walks of life. 


2019 - Branching Out
Growthbeans organised its second Self Awareness Festival in Singapore, powered by the Singapore Management University and the National Youth Council, supported by Youthcorps Singapore. Targeted at youths, the festival saw five programme tracks focusing on relationships, communication, career and purpose, resilience, and expanding perspectives.


2020 - 2021 - Tiding through the Pandemic
Regular Growthbeans Circles were put on hold, with some initial efforts to transition them online. Later, the team decided to focus on digitalising Growthbeans Circles to allow for scalability. This saw the transition from Growthbeans Circles to Growth Circles.


2022 - A Season of Renewal
As the world emerges from the pandemic, Growthbeans partnered with the Singapore University of Social Sciences to organise Bloom Festival in June 2022, a different form of the Self Awareness Festival. Growth Circles were soft launched during the festival and was well received.


2023 - Celebrating Togetherness and Dynamism
In April 2023, Growthbeans led the Growth Collective SG in organising the launch event of the "Together, We Grow" Movementfeaturing:
  • the launch of Growth Circles (as a framework, an experience and a tool)
  • the dynamism of Growth Circles as we showcased our partnership with National Gallery Singapore in the How to Art With Friends Growth Circles
  • the celebration of Growth Facilitators, compassionate individuals who were trained and certified to support the wellbeing of others through Growth Circles 
  • the celebration of a collective to support mental health
​

2024 - Bridging Worlds, Cultivating Belonging
The theme of 2024's Self Awareness festival was on "Enhancing Inclusivity, Bridging Communities". Growthbeans empowered youths to create reflective sessions and raise awareness of the needs of individuals in diverse communities through the Growthbeans' SECOND framework.


2025 - Singapore - Building Shared Aspirations
2025's Self Awareness Festival in Singapore focuses on empowering individuals to see the positives, to believe, and to do what others might not have thought possible. 

​
2025 - Cambodia - Rooted in Humanity, Growing Across Borders
This year, the Growthbeans team is also pushing boundaries to bring Self awareness festival to Cambodia, in partnership with Growth Collective Cambodia and other key stakeholders. ​
For corporates or youth organisations interested in running Self Awareness Festival for your company, school or organisation feel free to contact us for more information