7 Reasons That Keep Us Motived To “Change the World”
Being a start-up and trying to make Elevyn work can have some serious ups and downs. Connecting buyers directly to marginalized communities to purchase craft online has never been done before, so it’s a pretty steep learning curve for the team.
“Downs” include the economic climate and the shrinking of our team as Su Li’s (who was one of our field coordinators) 10 month attachment with us through a special project grant with the support from the Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Program (NTFP-EP) ended.
But as social enterpreneurs – we welcome these challenges as opportunities to learn and improve. As new challenges approach, I’m taking the opportunity to reflect on all the great things that have recently happened. Here’s what has been happening which has been keeping us motivated everyday.
1. Photographers and models take a shot at Elevyn
Wan Cheng Huat @ Fotogelafer organized his groups of friends - Lycnx Liew, Kian Ming, Loong Yik Hoe @ Loong Photography and Alisa Wong – to help take some product photos.
Next was the ‘modeled’ shots – whom we roped in long time friend Wendy Khoo who got her friends Sharifah Syed Jaafar, Jacqui Chan, Jaycee Koh, Looi Mei Lin (Estelle) and Azlin, to help model the products. Symphony House was kind enough to allow their great looking office to be used as ’stage’.
Asther Lau who specializes in newborn and baby photography, is also pitching in her talent for some modeled shoots. Her photoshoot was rather unusual because it rained on the scheduled shoot date. Since the shoot can’t be postponed due to everyone’s busy schedule, Asther bravely shot in the rain! The result was amazing with the gorgeous models Shafinaz Suhaimi, Sharyn Shufiyan and Meera Supramaniam working the wet look.
Asther is also taking the products to be photographed with her gorgeous clients during her shoots. What a great way to give back while on the job.
2. New interns join the team.
Good interns are hard to find. We’re lucky that Mei Ting is a fantastic member of the team! Her first field visit was at a Burmese refugee community, as we launched their online shop. This is Mei Ting’s account of the trip.
We recently accepted two interns from Monash University Volunteer Program (MUVP) from Monash University Malaysia – Heng Yee Chin from Malaysia and Wandile Mashoba from South Africa. They will be visiting a partner shop this weekend.
3. Super supporters!
In a recent call out on Facebook for sponsors to help sponsor tables for some of the shops on Elevyn to sell at a local charity bazaar (Gift of Love Charity bazaar), two generous sponsors, Arika Allen and Dawn Boey sponsored 4 shops for the event!
4. Elevyn’s in the running for Asia’s Top 50 Apps.
Don’t forget to vote for us!
5. Aki and Odu, Sinompuru Women’s Group’s oldest members recently celebrated their birthdays!
6. We’ll have a video soon!
Volunteers from Germany, Robert M. Linder, Felix Schlegel and Federico Jüttner came all the way to help us make a video on how Elevyn works – with a focus on the refugee shops.
7. Mang Tha’s first big open day
It’s great to see how the shops on Elevyn grow as an organization. Mang Tha only had a tiny room when we first met them. Now they have a nice spacious center to organize activities such as sewing classes and other basic skills like English and financial management.
For those based in Kuala Lumpur, they can visit Mang Tha at their special weekend Open Day this coming Saturday.
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To everyone mentioned here (and many not mentioned) – your support and help means a lot to the team at Elevyn as well as the community shops we work with. Many thanks!









Elevyn welcomes How Mei Ting, who will be interning with us during her summer break from the University of Warwick in UK, where she is pursuing a degree in Accounting and Finance.




























