How web surfers built a house

Aunty Imboi's House - before and after

Materials: Photos and Text

Tools: Web 2.0

Results: A house for Aunty Imboi

The first 6 months of Elevyn’s launch saw us embarking on a challenge to assist Malina Soning in raising funds for a new home for Aunty Imboi.

Aunty Imboi (left) sitting with Aunty Ahat (right)

Aunty Imboi, an elderly member of the Sinompuru Women’s Group, was living in a rickety house that was threatening to collapse at anytime.

We used our Causes application to highlight Aunty Imboi’s plight and to raise funds for a new home.

By March 2009, USD 975.98 was raised with USD 32.58  of that collected through the Cause application and the rest from anonymous donors through the efforts of Gerai OA passing the word around.

(View the full update on accounts here.)

A big thank you to all who helped Aunty Imboi build her house.

Lets hope that the other great Causes will find their way to reaching their goals.

Buy in Bulk from Elevyn Shops

Today we release a new feature on the website that showcases all items that are available for purchase in bulk. They make for excellent gifts during corporate events and even weddings.

Buy in Bulk from Elevyn Shops

How does it work?

1. From the main menu, click on “Buy in Bulk”. You will be shown a page with all items available for purchase in larger quantities.
2. Click on the green “Buy in bulk” link for the products that you are interested in.
3. Fill in the form, and click “Get Quote”. An email will automatically be delivered to the artisan / field partner / shop coordinator on the enquiry.
4. Once the price and quantity have been agreed on, a custom Invoice will be delivered to you.

Elevyn in the Media – The Star & OutskirtOutreach.org

In the Star TechCentral – Canvass Webbing

What do Elevyn artisans and a rural housewife have in common? They’re all utilizing the online media to reach out to new markets!

OutskirtOutreach.org – An E-Boost for Rural Crafts

An online interview with Elevyn co-founder Devan Singaram.

Tompoq Topoh updates: Pay Day & Fighting Fishes

Last Tuesday, Su Li and I went to Carey Island to meet Tompoq Topoh to help them get more products up on their shop and pass the proceeds from their online sales.

It was a great trip. First was a lot of giggling over Julidha and aunty Che Yah gracing this month’s issue of KLue (thanks to Maybritt Rasmussen for the writeup!). See the online version of the article here.

Julidha & Che Yah proudly showcased in Klue magazine.

Next was pay time

Now Tompoq Topoh is supposed to withdraw from their PayPal account using their debit card but the whole group have been very busy the past few months as they were invited to perform their traditional dance and sell their crafts at many events in the city. So they’ve yet to apply for a debit card. Since sales have amounted to a significant figure, we figured we’ll help them with their first payout by withdrawing the proceeds using our debit card first.

The first pay out also means time for us to get organize and work on capacity building – with getting the accounts in place!

The system was fairly simple, we have the product at cost plus the online charges (5% to Elevyn and 3.6-3.9% to Paypal) and a social premium.

What’s a social premium?

As we abide by fair trade principles, we make sure that the price on Elevyn give the artisans a fair price as well as some money for savings. For the current prices on Tompoq Topoh’s shop:

• 55.6 % goes directly back to the artisans, and
• 20% goes to their Tompoq Topoh fund.
• 5% goes to their Cause which is Food for Elderly and Single Mothers

Tompoq Topoh’s fund is very important as it gives them some capital to run their group activities as well as a safety net for their members should an emergency occur.

My excel sheet skills are decent but the last official accounting class I took was 10 years ago! So before we went to the village that morning, I referred to Aeime the accountant to make sure I’m not making any major mistakes.

Aeime couldn't believe it, a ledger book! "It's so primitive!" she exclaimed, insisting that she get a feel of the book.

Aeime gave us an important advice which is to start a Forex Exchange account sheet where we fix an exchange rate for the year, and keep track of the loss or surplus from each withdrawal. At the end of the year, we will balance the account. That really helps us to keep things less complicated.

When we got to the village, we started transferring the information from the excel calculations to the ledger book. We also opened a new receipt book where each artisan has to sign once she gets paid. It was quite tedious but necessary and I’m glad Tompoq Topoh understood the need for us to be professional in our undertakings.

The primitive ledger book, pimped up with an Elevyn sticker

“This looks like it’s going to be a long-term thing,” Maznah commented halfway through the day, as she looked at the ledger book she will soon be in charge of up-keeping.

Maznah with the receipts

Getting the Tompoq Topoh accounts in place

Indeed it will be!

The next issue we sorted was the product storage issue. On a couple of incidents, products which were put on Elevyn (but kept in the village, since Tompoq Topoh posts the items themselves) were taken to be bought or displayed by visitors despite Tompoq Topoh’s protest. So now all products are kept in a secret location to make sure these incidents don’t happen again!

Finally, here are the highlighted new products put up on their shop!

Gendoi Samah collecting her bookmarks after drying them in the sun

Gendoi Samah and her bookmarks

Gendoi Samah's rainbow of bookmarks

"Mr Bean" offering a playful helping hand

Maznah working on her Fighting Fish piece, a bujam where the colors were inspired by the vivid colors on her pet fighting fish

Contest update: Photoshoot with Anna-Rina

Winners from the contest which Elevyn ran with Tongue in Chic got a photoshoot from the fabulous wedding photographer, Anna-Rina.

Here are some shots from their photoshoot with Soning Craft’s accessories:

Eudora sporting the 8-string Dark Talantang necklace set

Hsu Jen wearing the Ramag Togumamali necklace set

Check out the rest of the photos on Anna-Rina’s site here and here.

Become Community Heroes Through ICT

As some of you may know, MDEC has been greatly supportive of Elevyn since day one.

Recently, as part of its “Senang Dengan ICT” Campaign (translation: Easy with ICT), Elevyn was featured as one of a series of ads published in the national newspapers. The idea was to highlight projects that have helped empowered communities using Information & Communications Technology (ICT).

Become Community Heroes Through ICT

We’re not too sure about the “community heroes” tagline though!

Free Giveaway: Laptop Stickers

Fancy an Elevyn laptop sticker, delivered for free, to anywhere you are?

Visit www.elevyn.com/be_a_fan, let us know your thoughts to some of the questions posted, and provide us your mailing address. We’ll send over the stickers to you, entirely free of charge.

Once you’ve received the stickers, don’t forget to take a picture of it and send to us. We want to feature it on our Facebook fan page!

Note: Available while stocks last.

The New Elevyn Blog

We’ve just upgraded the overall look and feel of the Elevyn blog for a better reading experience. For comments and enquiries, feel free to write to us.