MY.Social Enterprise

In this episode, we have the founders of The Asli Co., Jason and Xin, who work closely with Orang Asli (the indigenous people). They are on their mission to improve the lives of Orang Asli in Malaysia. They are wishing to eradicate poverty through women empowerment and reducing school drop out rate among the children. The mission started when the couple found out the sad truth that over 50% of the indigenous children drop out of school because the families could not afford the school fees during their volunteering for the indigenous. They teach women skills such as sewing and handcrafting to make products, providing the women opportunities to earn education fees and some extra income. Now, the social enterprise works with four indigenous villages in Selangor, Malaysia. They have also trained 35 women in their education program. Check out their beautiful product range made by the indigenous mothers.

The Asli Co. Website:

https://www.theasli.co/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/theaslico

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/theaslico/?hl=en

In this episode, I have invited the Autism Cafe Project's director, Adli Yahya, to share his own experience as a father of autistic youth and how he started the project for his son. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is one of the topics that I personally would like to bring out in my podcast. My experience living with my autistic cousin and interacting closely with other autistic children taught me that we have many misunderstanding and wrong perceptions of them. I am fortunate that I found the Autism Cafe Project and get the chance to connect with Adli to let him share his story.

Autism Cafe Project established in 2016 with the mission to secure the future independence of youth with autism. Adli created Autism Cafe Project to provide a safe work environment for his son, Luqman and other autistic youth. Through the job opportunities, the autistic youth and their families earn some stable income. Meanwhile, the youth learn some living skills and technical skills. The social enterprise is also a platform for the public to better understand autism by volunteering with the project. With Adli's hard work, Autism Cafe Project has gained many attentions from various sectors. The social enterprise was active at SACC Mall, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, selling their homemade food and products. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, the autistic youths cook at home and provide delivery service to their customers. Regardless of the social enterprise's challenges, the team is ambitious to open physical restaurants in multiple locations in Malaysia to assist more autistic youth after the end of the movement control in the country. They are now crowdfunding to set up a professional kitchen/Cafe for their youth to improve their food and service industry knowledge and skill. Also, to provide opportunities to more autistic youth. Check out the links to support them ;)

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Autismcafeproject

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/autismcafeproject/?hl=en

Crowdfunding for the kitchen/Cafe expansion:

https://www.simplygiving.com/appeal/autismcafe-kitchen

In this episode, the managing director and co-founder of Fuze Ecoteer, Daniel Quilter, shares how his social enterprise connects people with wildlife and discusses wildlife conservation challenges in Malaysia. Fuze Ecoteer is a conservation social enterprise that organises wildlife volunteering programmes. With strong determination in protecting the biodiversity of Perhentian island, Daniel who comes from the United Kingdom started the social enterprise on Perhentian Island, Malaysia, in 2015. Perhentian is a beautiful island with incredible marine ecosystem and biodiversity. It is a well-known diving spot for international divers. However, tourism, climate change and plastic pollution have impacted the ecosystem badly. Fuze Ecoteer's projects based themselves in the local village on the island to conserve Perhentian Island's biodiversity. The projects include the Perhentian Turtle Project (PTP), Perhentian Eco Education Project (PEEP) and Perhentian Marine Research Station (PMRS). The projects work closely together in marine conservation, education and public awareness on the island. Living together with the island residents creates economic opportunity for the islanders and works closely with them in wildlife conservation. Fuze Ecoteer is also managing **Wildlife Rescue Centre **that based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Besides volunteering programmes, Fuze Ecoteer is expanding their waste management programs to reduce plastic waste into the ocean. For years, Fuze Ecoteer has been part of Malaysia's circular economy, turning plastic waste from the island into merchandises to create a new revenue stream, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Daniel has also initiated clean-up activities in the Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, such as river clean-up and park clean-up. Check out the links if you are interested in participating in the programmes or know more about Fuze Ecoteer and their projects.

Fuze Ecoteer main website:

https://www.fuze-ecoteer.com/

Perhentian Turtle Project:

https://www.perhentianturtleproject.org/

In this episode, I invite FOLO Farm's co-founder Will Chua to talk about how farming and nature teaches us to love ourselves and our loved ones. FOLO Farm is the first social enterprise that I found based in my hometown, Johor, Malaysia. The inspiration of FOLO Farm was origin from Will himself and his friends. It all started when they wondered why they were unhealthy and mentally ill, although they were rich in monetary and had stable jobs. After some research, they found the four root causes: food, environment, community and meanings. Humans in developed and developing countries are losing these elements. Will family and another five families then decided to start to create changes starting from food. Hence, they began to learn to farm and create a healthy environment, community and meanings through farming. Ultimately, to make themselves and others healthy physically and mentally.

FOLO Farm gains lots of reputation and attention in Malaysia and also in other countries. Malaysia Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) has also accredited the social enterprise. Together with other co-founders, Will has not stopped learning about farming and the relationship between humans and nature throughout the years. They experiment with various concepts such as agroforest, circular economy and rewilding to recover the destroyed forest and nature in the Johor continuously.

Visit [ https://www.folofarms.com/our-story ] if you are interested in FOLO Farm and would like to know more and do more. This is the part one of Will's sharing, and please stay tuned for the second episode to listen to Will's more insightful sharing about farming, nature and love.

In this episode, I invite FOLO Farm's co-founder Will Chua to talk about how farming and nature teaches us to love ourselves and our loved ones. FOLO Farm is the first social enterprise that I found based in my hometown, Johor, Malaysia. The inspiration of FOLO Farm was origin from Will himself and his friends. It all started when they wondered why they were unhealthy and mentally ill, although they were rich in monetary and had stable jobs. After some research, they found the four root causes: food, environment, community and meanings. Humans in developed and developing countries are losing these elements. Will family and another five families then decided to start to create changes starting from food. Hence, they began to learn to farm and create a healthy environment, community and meanings through farming. Ultimately, to make themselves and others healthy physically and mentally.

FOLO Farm gains lots of reputation and attention in Malaysia and also in other countries. Malaysia Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) has also accredited the social enterprise. Together with other co-founders, Will has not stopped learning about farming and the relationship between humans and nature throughout the years. They experiment with various concepts such as agroforest, circular economy and rewilding to recover the destroyed forest and nature in the Johor continuously.

Visit [ https://www.folofarms.com/our-story ] if you are interested in FOLO Farm and would like to know more and do more. This is the part one of Will's sharing, and please stay tuned for the second episode to listen to Will's more insightful sharing about farming, nature and love.

This is the first episode of my podcast. You could feel my anxiousness with many repeated words and pause. Please forgive me for all the hiccups. I am trying to overcome the challenges. Hope you enjoy this episode as I was during my visit to FOLO Farm and the recording.

Hi, my name is Ruyi. I am an enthusiast of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship. I believe that social enterprises are the key actors to create a sustainable future. They create transformational change for the people and the planet to thrive. MY. Social Enterprise is a platform that introduces social enterprises based in Malaysia. To provide a better understanding of what is a social enterprise. Most importantly, to inspire people to get involved in the social enterprise movement in Malaysia and also in any other regions. In this podcast, I'll invite social entrepreneurs to talk about their social enterprises, share their passion for creating positive social and environmental impact and their entrepreneurial journey. Listen to this podcasts if you want to know and learn more about social enterprise and social entrepreneurship or to be inspired. Tune in to MY.Social Enterprise every Thursday and remember to follow us on Instagram.