About Us
Welcome to Social Expat – the Global Social Club for global thinkers, explorers, and citizens of the world. Our vision is to build the largest, most vibrant network of forward-thinking individuals who share a passion for connection, discovery, and collaboration across cultures. Whether you are new to a city or simply seeking an opportunity to broaden your horizons, Social Expat is dedicated to providing the best platform possible to unite people from every corner of the globe.
We believe that the power of community lies in diversity and shared experiences. Our events and gatherings are carefully designed to spark meaningful interactions, ignite inspiration, and foster lasting friendships. From dynamic business networking sessions to lively social mixers, from energetic dance nights to singles meetups, sports clubs, and hobby-focused groups – whatever your interests or passions, Social Expat has the tribe for you.
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Currently, our communities are flourishing in Indonesia and the Philippines, organizing 10-15 events each month across Jakarta, Bali, and Manila. But this is only the beginning. We are continuously expanding, aiming to create new communities worldwide, so you can always find your home away from home, no matter where your journey takes you.
Our mission is simple yet ambitious: to unite likeminded minds, nurture cross-cultural exchanges, and make the experience of living, working, and playing abroad more fulfilling and connected. At Social Expat, every event is an opportunity to inspire, collaborate, and celebrate the unique diversity that makes our world extraordinary.
Join us and become part of the largest global social club for global thinkers. Welcome to a community where boundaries fade, ideas flourish, and friendships transcend borders.
The Story So Far
We officially launched in Jakarta Indonesia.
We launched our second community in Bali Indonesia.
We became the largest expatriate community in Indonesia.
We launched our third community in Manila Philippines.
The Social Expat App is launched!
Check out our future events!
Some of Our Popular Communities
Jakarta
Bali
Manila
Meet Gary Joy – The Social Expat founder!
Hi Socialites!
Allow me to extend the warm welcome from Social Expat – I’m Gary, and it’s an absolute joy to connect with you.
If you discovered the Social Expat platform and are curious about our origins, let me share the story about how we began and why. So please allow me to introduce our journey which begins with me.
In 2012, I decided to take a gap year to travel and randomly ended up in a town called Depok in the Southern part of Jakarta, I then moved to Jakarta in 2013 after struggling to find housing and then realized I knew nobody and needed to push myself to meet new people. I started going to different networking events to meet as many people as possible and by 2014, was nominated to be the host of an international social community, as well as a business networking community.
In 2015, I started planning to make my own business and quickly realized that my personal network was more important than I had ever imagined. I knew people who could help with my visa, my office, my business licensing, my tax, making a website, graphic designers, office rentals and loads more.
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It was at this point that I truly realized the importance of building a personal and professional network.
By 2019 I was still hosting networking events every week and was also contributing news content to expatriate magazines when I started to think to myself, maybe there should be a better, fully comprehensive platform that helps people make community, but also helps with all their other needs whilst living abroad. I found there were social platforms, business platforms, news platforms, relocation platforms, but nothing that was convenient in one place. I started researching expatriate platforms all over the world and found nothing comprehensive, so I started building the first fully comprehensive expatriate platform in the world.
I also noticed that the social platform that I hosted events for didn’t really care about the quality of the events. My colleagues would charge fees to the guests, but not invest the money back into the events. There was no quality photography, videos, activities to keep people occupied, and minimal branding. I knew that if we were going to make a better platform we had to improve the professionalism of our events.
By 2020 I had prepared to launch Social Expat, but just as we were about to launch, Covid struck and we put the project on hold until 2022.
In 2022 we officially launched and very quickly became the largest expatriate community in Indonesia.
The thing about Social Expat that is the most important to me is actually helping others. I couldn’t have become an entrepreneur in another country without the help of the people both local and foreign I met along the way. It fills me with pride that we are now able to provide a platform that helps others, just as I was helped in the past.
I would like to say a huge thank you once again to everyone that has been part of the Social Expat journey so far and truly look forward to continuing to grow, to get better and help more people become global socialites!
I look forward to meeting you at our events soon, lets continue to help inspire and help others all around the world.
What makes us different
- Comprehensive platform – Social Expat is by far the most comprehensive expatriate platform in the world. Our unique features and partners allow us to holistically encapsulate all the information you need in one place.
- No annual membership fees – Unlike our predecessors, we don’t believe in tying our socialites to annual membership fees. Our guests can come and go to our amazing events whenever it suits them.
- Better events – Our events have professional hosts, support team and videographers/photographers to ensure they are professionally run. Additionally, we ensure there is official signage, great promotions and include networking activities to keep people occupied and interacting.
- Inclusive for everyone – Although our focus is to help people travel the world and integrate within new communities, our events are open to everyone. Local or foreign, it doesn’t matter, lets create open minded communities for everyone.
- Advertising opportunities – We have a variety of affordable, area specific advertising opportunities to suit every budget. Whether you want to advertise to an international audience of specifically a city or even a group at an event, no one provides more flexible advertising opportunities than Social Expat.
