Meng Chwen • Blog » Elevyn: Buy and Sell with a CAUSE

Elevyn: Buy and Sell with a CAUSE

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

Every once in a while, I visit websites of people I know. Puah Sze Ning is someone I knew from six years ago, and every once in a while I’d drop by her Flickr website to look at the stunning photographs of Orang Asli and the lives of the various communities. It has been interesting to see the direction her life is going and how she has truly immersed herself the various communities. Together with Mike Tee, they have their heart set to help the Orang Asli. And it was so many moons ago when I knew about their plan to set up an online shop to allow the Orang Asli to sell their products. While looking at her Flickr site today, I was compelled to try links that led me to Elevyn (pronounced “eleven”), the website Mike has started.

One blurb in Elevyn’s media kit goes:

Elevyn is an online platform to empower marginalized communities. We enable rural entrepreneurs and non-government organizations (NGOs) to set up online shops and sell their crafts to a global market.

More importantly the set up aims to improve the economic standards and financial independence of rural communities.

Elevyn is just not another online store. Their site is tied up to “CAUSES, which are little community-based projects run in collaboration with the community and field partners.” So their model is that “each time a product is sold, 5% is automatically channeled towards a Cause. From here, we see multiple benefits – sellers make an income, their community project gets funded, and the buyer leaves with a great feeling knowing that they have not only supported a seller, but also to its community.” Now that’s an interesting concept.

At the moment, I know they are working hard with various Orang Asli tribes in Malaysia. But in an interview with Mike Tee on SocialTalkr mentions that their “pilot project is a crafts seller in Kota Kinabalu, who also works with a group of single / aged mothers and poor women at her village.” Such is their effort in terms of social entrepreneurship and to improve a sustainable livelihood for the people. I salute them.

So for anyone of you reading this, perhaps sign-up with the website. You can buy and sell items knowing that you are helping marginalised communities.