#impact | Social Impact, Social Entrepreneurship, Social Good

By Regina LarkoSociety & Culture Business Personal Journals Careers Non-Profit

#impact | Social Impact, Social Entrepreneurship, Social Good episodes

November 29, 2017 #37: Fundraising the millennial way – Live crowdfunding with 10×10
10×10 Philanthropy is an innovative fundraising event with lasting impact that makes giving easy and fun. The concept is simple. Ten volunteers form a committee. They choose three charities they want to support and each of these ten volunteers invites at least 10 guests to a live crowdfunding event for purpose. Attendees have the opportunity to vote...
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25 min
November 29, 2017 #37: Fundraising the millennial way – Live crowdfunding with 10×10
10×10 Philanthropy is an innovative fundraising event with lasting impact that makes giving easy and fun.
The concept is simple. Ten volunteers form a committee. They choose three charities they want to support and each of these ten volunteers invites at least 10 guests to a live crowdfunding event for purpose. Attendees have the opportunity to vote with a donation on site, supporting the charity that moved them the most after a “dragon’s den” style pitching competition.
4 years| 5 countries| 450 volunteers| 1 Mio+ Australian Dollars raised| 97 charities helped|
#impact Podcast attended 10×10’s big fundraiser night earlier this year. In this episode, you hear from Stephanie Costelloe, 10×10 HK ambassador and her team of dedicated volunteers that made this impactful event happen.

In this episode, you learn about:

* How charities blend statistics and personal stories to demonstrate the real impact of their work.
* What the “dragons” look for in a great charity pitch.
* The ways in which charities support some of Hong Kong’s marginalised communities.

Hong Kong is a place of contrasts.
For most professionals, local and expat alike, life is good. But for many others, it is much, much harder. There are a number of marginalised groups that struggle to get by, but some people don’t even notice.
This year, Hong Kong’s 10×10 fundraising event featured charities that support people living on this invisible side of Hong Kong. 10×10 aims to mobilise giving amongst young professionals, introducing them to verified local charities at a fun, high energy event.

The charity 10×10 was set up in Sydney in 2013 to enable young professionals to get involved in philanthropy.
The founders, young social entrepreneurs themselves, realised that though their peers were interested in giving back, they didn’t know how to make sure that their donations went to the right places and made real impact.
10×10 fundraisers now happen in five countries and have raised more than HKD 5 million.
Hong Kong’s 10×10 committee sources local, grassroots organisations that would truly benefit from increased profile amongst the professional community in Hong Kong. They conduct basic due diligence and ensure that the charities have a clear plan for how they would use an injection of funds.

“We wanted to explore Invisible Hong Kong”

This year, the committee chose a theme of “Invisible Hong Kong” and looked for charities that helped Hong Kong’s most underserved residents. They narrowed it down to three charities that pitched on the night. Each of the nominees had a champion on the 10×10 committee who spent time with them and helped them prepare pitches that demonstrated impact with a combination of cold hard numbers and personal stories.
All of the nominees are well-established organisations with plenty of direct impact in underserved communities of Hong Kong.
They pitched to three dragons, including Alia Eyres, director of last year’s winner, Mother’s Choice. They were also pitching to the audience of Hong Kong professionals, who had opportunities to vote with their donation later in the evening.
Meet the charities
Mission for Migrant Workers
The first charity to present was Mission for Migrant Workers, providers of emotional, legal, medical and housing support to migrant workers in distress. Cynthia Ca Abdon-Tellez, General Manager of the charity, pointed out that when migrant workers suffer abuse, they often do not know their rights and are unable to navigate the legal system on their own.
In addition to providing shelter and support in the worst cases of abuse,
25 min
November 22, 2017 #36: Promoting economic empowerment for migrant domestic workers
If you empower women, you empower a community. In this episode, you hear from the women behind Enrich, a charity dedicated to promoting economic empowerment for migrant domestic workers, one of the most vulnerable groups in our society. Founded by three women with backgrounds in NGOs, women’s empowerment and finance, Enrich is still women-run. Deputy...
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43 min
November 22, 2017 #36: Promoting economic empowerment for migrant domestic workers
If you empower women, you empower a community.
In this episode, you hear from the women behind Enrich, a charity dedicated to promoting economic empowerment for migrant domestic workers, one of the most vulnerable groups in our society.
Founded by three women with backgrounds in NGOs, women’s empowerment and finance, Enrich is still women-run.
Deputy Executive Director Lucinda Pike and Senior Programme Manager Tynna Mendoza share stories of some of the 10,000 women that Enrich has supported in its ten years.
In Hong Kong, foreign domestic workers play a crucial role in the city’s economy. There are around 360,000 “helpers” in Hong Kong, mostly women and mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia. They work as carers for the elderly and disabled, housekeepers, drivers and nannies.
In this episode, you learn about…

* The unique challenges that migrant domestic workers face when it comes to finances.
* Why financial literacy skills are key to a woman’s empowerment.
* How Enrich has survived as an NGO for ten years without government support.
* The validation that you get from an external impact report.
* A really meaningful way to volunteer for those of you in Hong Kong.

Enrich empowers foreign migrant workers with financial literacy and personal development programmes.
Domestic workers come to Hong Kong because the salary is often more than they can earn in their own countries. Most of their wages go to support families back home. Their employment is regulated by the government, with a standard wage and strict visa regulations, including the requirement that they live in their employer’s home, often with little personal space. They are vulnerable to exploitation by employment agencies, their employers, illegal money lenders friends and even family members. Organisations like HelperChoice are working on creating a safe space for migrant domestic workers and potential employers to connect.

“You never learn it at school. You’re never taught how to manage your finances.”

Lucinda explains that despite being a core skill to a person’s empowerment, financial literacy is not often taught.
Enrich now offers a range of workshops and mentoring programmes to teach basic finance to domestic workers and support them in following their dreams and planning for their futures.
Enrich started to focus on financial training because its founders saw domestic workers struggling with debts. Between agency fees, both legal and illegal, the need for pocket money when visiting home, and unexpected expenses, these women often have to take out a loan. Once they start borrowing, whether from legal or illegal money lenders, the cycle of indebtedness can be hard to break.
Just starting to learn the differences between interest rates and how to set a budget can be life-changing. Domestic workers come to Hong Kong on 2-year contracts, and most stay for multiple contracts. Despite this, a recent survey found that just 6% felt that they’ve saved enough money by the time they go home.

“You should be able to think about yourself first[…]You should be able to have control over your own finances.”

Enrich’s three founders felt strongly about empowerment, a pillar for all of their workshops. Tynna explains how so many of the domestic workers are focused on sending as much of their salary back home as possible. The first step is empowering them that they matter, that they should think of their wants and goals, and not just their families’.
Enrich also has an Ambassador programme. Graduates can volunteer to spread the word and help contribute to future workshop...
43 min
November 15, 2017 #35: Pioneering green and healthy living in Hong Kong and beyond
Today green living is a trending topic in Hong Kong. Looking back six years ago, when Sonalie Figueiras started her own health journey, she had a very tough time finding resources and shops on green living to make lifestyle changes that would allow her to lead a life that is healthier and more environmentally conscious....
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44 min
November 15, 2017 #35: Pioneering green and healthy living in Hong Kong and beyond
Today green living is a trending topic in Hong Kong.
Looking back six years ago, when Sonalie Figueiras started her own health journey, she had a very tough time finding resources and shops on green living to make lifestyle changes that would allow her to lead a life that is healthier and more environmentally conscious. She started to share the resources she researched for herself on her blog, and Green Queen was born.
Well, not quite that easily. There’s much more to the story.
In this episode, you learn about…

* the importance of discipline and grit when running a conscious business.
* how starting an impact business can happen by accident.
* why developing an App for your business comes with a very different set of challenges than building a website.
* how to communicate digitally in an honest and authentic way and grow your online audience.
* You will also find out what Green Queen Sonalie eats for breakfast and why she is not such a good millennial.

Green Queen’s mission is to encourage, support and inspire people to live a healthier life in Hong Kong and beyond.

“It took me a while to assume the Green Queen title,” Sonalie shares.

When her business partner, co-founder and best friend Tracy Turo joined her to set up Ekowarehouse, a global organic trade platform, Tracy also took a good look at the analytics of Sonalie’s blog and made a surprising discovery: With the rapidly rising number of website visitors the Green Queen website was much more than a personal blog, it could be turned into a business.
At that point, Sonalie did not know too much about Search Engine Optimisation and Keyword research, but she and Tracy wanted to learn all about it and used the Green Queen Blog as a testing ground to get the digital marketing strategy for their other impact business, Ekowarehouse, on the right track.

“This all happened by accident,” Sonalie says about the Green Queen platform.

How lucky for its engaged community that it did. People can find informative articles and resources on Healthy Dining, Eco Lifestyle, Nutrition as well as Health and Fitness on the Green Queen website and App.
When Sonalie started out, some friends questioned her choice to blog about green and healthy living. But Sonalie did not let those reservations stop her.

“I am a hyper observer,” says Sonalie.

That observational skill helped her to see the green consciousness shift that was coming and anticipate that the healthy living movement would gain momentum quickly.
Sonalie definitely has loads of passion for green and healthy living, but she does not think that passion alone is enough.
Sonalie observes that starting a business in Hong Kong is rather easy, as is making a big splash when you first launch. What comes after is much harder, the daily challenges of running and growing a business. She even admits that yes, sometimes, it would be easier just to give up.

“With Green Queen, we really stuck it out,” she shares.

Over the past few years, she has seen a lot of competitors and collaborators come and go. It makes her sad to see that a lot of new health or green businesses disappear after a short amount of time.
She believes in the power of great storytelling
Stories that make people connect, think and feel will gain the trust of customers and makes them responsive to your messages. She wants to touch people with beautiful stories, like this one on Tree Therapy – literally just getting out into nature to i...
44 min
November 08, 2017 #34: Born this way – An ally to advance human rights and equality
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,” it reads in the first article of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this episode you hear from Bess Hepworth, Founder of Planet Ally, a new global multimedia platform committed to LGBTI advocacy. Bess is an activist and bridge builder, a natural...
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36 min
November 08, 2017 #34: Born this way – An ally to advance human rights and equality
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,” it reads in the first article of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In this episode you hear from Bess Hepworth, Founder of Planet Ally, a new global multimedia platform committed to LGBTI advocacy.
Bess is an activist and bridge builder, a natural networker and social media specialist, but there is one title she is most proud of: “Just call me Mommy Bess”, she says before we turn on the microphone.
“I didn’t choose to have the colour of my skin and I didn’t choose to be gay. I was born this way and to be my most authentic self is to tell you that. I know that as a woman with caucasian skin this comes with immense privilege, even as a gay woman that comes with immense privilege. I want to help to challenge inequalities in Hong Kong and around the world by leveraging my privilege,” Bess shared in a recent social media post with her community.
She leverages her privileges as well as her networking and community building skills to encourage open and honest discussions on human rights within the LGBTI community and beyond.

“Allyship is something we don’t do fantastically well,” says Bess.

She is keen to make allyship a conversation topic and encourages people to be open and honest about things they don’t know and just ask questions. Giving input for open human rights discussions is at the heart of Planet Ally’s numerous activities on the ground. Bess, a brilliant social media networker is just as passionate about person to person interactions. Bess and her team run events on a regular basis, often to react to imminent crises situations like the recent human rights violations e.g. in Chechnya, Indonesia and Uganda.
By rallying the Planet Ally community to get involved by donating money or supporting online campaigns and petitions they empower everyone to play an active role in the human rights conversation.
The community is growing
Together with her team of three, she is running impactful events like the most recent Human Dignity Festival where they brought projects like the Human Rights Tattoo to Hong Kong. Many opinion leaders from inside and outside of Hong Kong joined the Human Dignity Festival to address the world’s most pressing human rights issues.
Everyone is welcome
If you are following the Twitter Feed of Bess and Planet Ally you will quickly get a feeling for the kind of community that Bess aims to build: One that is welcoming everyone interested to join the discussion, make contributions small or big but most importantly you feel the warmth and kindness that sets the tone for the interactions.
With her authentic way of communicating, she draws people in. With each of her social media postings, you feel like you get to know the human behind the social media account. And this is what Bess’s multimedia platform is all about – although she uses technology as a medium, she cares deeply about real connections online and offline.
Leveraging Hong Kong and social media

“You can hustle here and that’s why I am in love with this place,” Bess says about Hong Kong.

There is also a corporate privilege to leverage here. She reaches out to corporations like Bloomberg, to host documentary screenings and panel discussions. This go-getter attitude allows Bess and her team to organise impactful events with little funding in a short amount of time.
Bess’s fearless approach to reaching out to people helps her to connect with influential opinion leaders outside of Hong Kong, like the Indian Prince Manvendra,
36 min
November 01, 2017 #33: Making Zero Waste Possible in Hong Kong and beyond
Fanny Moritz’s mission is to make a Zero Waste lifestyle more accessible here in Hong Kong. Fanny felt inspired by reading fellow French native Bea Johnson’s influential book Zero Waste Home. However, when she tried to put into action all that she learned, she found that there were very few shops that thought holistically about...
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26 min
November 01, 2017 #33: Making Zero Waste Possible in Hong Kong and beyond
Fanny Moritz’s mission is to make a Zero Waste lifestyle more accessible here in Hong Kong.
Fanny felt inspired by reading fellow French native Bea Johnson’s influential book Zero Waste Home. However, when she tried to put into action all that she learned, she found that there were very few shops that thought holistically about packaging reduction or that offered alternatives to the plastic products so pervasive in Hong Kong.
The challenge – why Zero Waste?
Fanny founded NO!W No Waste, an online marketplace to empower people that are interested in challenging themselves to live a Zero Waste life.
The problem – Plastic waste is growing exponentially
As we learned last week hearing from adventurers Esther Röling and Paul Niel, Hong Kong has a huge problem with plastic waste littering its coasts. In a recent South China Morning Post article, it reads that last year a devastating 5.2 million plastic bottles were dumped in Hong Kong every day, more than enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Luckily, Fanny had a great skill to help her on her journey to becoming an e-commerce entrepreneur – 10 years in website design.
All that experience is obvious when looking around NO!W NoWaste’s beautiful, minimalist website.

“I think of you when I put my trash out,” Fanny’s friends say.

Fanny takes this as a compliment. She understands that not everyone is going to aspire to a full zero waste lifestyle, but she has been encouraged by her friends who are starting to make small changes – for instance from liquid to bar soap.
Changing hearts and minds of people in Hong Kong about reducing consumption is difficult, as, unlike France where Fanny grew up, recycling isn’t universally available and environmental issues are not front of mind.
There are also specific challenges in Hong Kong, like the poor quality tap water, which leads to the consumption of so many plastic bottles.
The mission – Each little step counts
Fanny is hopeful that Hong Kong can change. As in the month that her website has been live, most of the purchases are local Hong Kongers. She and her staff know that they need to work hard to get the conversation started, and not just with early adopters. They host a monthly pop-up store, where potential customers can evaluate the products and ask questions of Fanny and her team.

 “I take out the trash once every two weeks,” Fanny shares.

This is inconceivable to most of us living in tiny Hong Kong apartments with no or minimal recycling on offer. Especially unthinkable when you have a little person at home! Fanny’s remaining waste is mainly food waste as she doesn’t have a place to compost.
Fanny describes some of her favourite products, including reusable beeswax food wrap and microfibre cleansing cloths that eliminate the need for cotton pads and make-up remover.
Currently, they’re only shipping in Hong Kong, but they have already started doing events in other countries, and are active in the wider Asian Zero Waste movement. Fanny also hopes to start taking their waste reduction message to businesses, as places like hotels and restaurants produce even more trash than households.
#impACT

* Look at your trash – see what you are throwing away the most.
* Activate your curiosity and Google it – “what’s an alternative for…” As Fanny points out, the products are out there; we just have to look.
* Check out the products and resources on NO!W No Waste and other Hong Kong Zero Waste blogs.
26 min

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