Lock Hui Min standing behind a slide with a quote from Mother Teresa saying, “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
Lock Hui Min does her best to bridge the financial gaps in society through her skills as a marketer and social entrepreneur. To make better use of her marketing skills and make better the lives of others, Lock Hui Min got involved with the social enterprise, Really Good Goods.
Really Good Goods sells speciality goods such as coffee and herbal tea from Timor Leste. As a social enterprise they are self-sustainable, generate profit/revenue on their own, and hope to do good. While a relatively new and small business, they achieve this good with all their earnings going towards supporting education at St. Paul Methodist School in Timor Leste.
In 2013 Lock Hui Min visited Timor Leste, emphasizing her appreciation for the beautiful landscape and life-changing experiences that awaited her. The Asian Development Bank states that in 2014, approximately 42% of the population in Timor Leste lived below the poverty line. With regards to tackling these evident social problems, Lock Hui Min holds a positive view on the situation, saying, “Even though we can’t eliminate poverty, we can still make an impact.”
Really Good Goods works with other social enterprises in Timor Leste, namely Cafe Brisa Serena (CBS) and Pacific Asia Resource Centre Inter-people’s Cooperation (PARCIC). CBS teaches farmers how to grow coffee, and buys coffee, the second biggest produce in the region, from the farmers. PARCIC works with women to grow herbal tea, make jam, etc. not only supporting them to be self sufficient, but empowering them to work.
Really Good Goods hopes to bring awareness to the great value of product from Timor Leste, both in the value of social cause and taste. They use their online platform to share the stories of the social enterprises they market, hoping to have a more intimate impact on the community. Their successes have come with much hardship and a deep desire to continue on with their mission.
In one instance, Really Good Goods hosted a media event where they invited a barista from Timor Leste, Fatima, to share here experiences. The event wasn’t as well attended as they hoped. While some may categorize this as a small failure, Lock Hui Min sees it as a success. In her eyes, Fatima experienced her first time traveling and being in another country, a newfound inspiration, and most notably, a widened perspective to share with her local community. Lock Hui Min’s positive outlook on situations shows that success exists within hardships.
“What we can do is never too small,” she said, in relation to furthering the goals of social impact. So, what can we do? According to Lock Hui Min, we should (1) get involved, (2) read widely, and (3) buy responsibly. Her motto: “Think big, but start small.”
Check out Really Good Goods here: