3 startup heroes contributed 8,000 bottles of water for Covid19 patients

While unable to provide huge monetary assistance to frontliners who work hard battling the Covid19 outbreak, three startups – Wise Crafters, 50gram and Mr. Speedy decided to collaborate to launch their #SpreadTheLoves campaign. The campaign has successfully raised enough funds to provide 8,000 bottles of 500ml of drinking water for Covid19 patients who were currently hospitalised at Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL). According to Ridzoni Sulaiman, Head of Dietetic & Food Services, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Covid19 patients are not allowed to use cups or mugs to drink, hence making water bottle contribution extremely crucial as one patient requires 3 bottles of water per day during hospitalisation. 

The #SpreadTheLoves campaign promoted customised care packages of healthy food by Wise Crafters while beautifully decorated with flowers by 50gram that was made available for online order for a limited time (from 27th May to 15th June 2020)  with 70%  of the revenues used to purchase the water bottles. The same #SpreadTheLoves packages (350 bundles) were also delivered by MrSpeedy to frontliners at HKL as a sign of gratitude to boost morale during this testing time. 

“#SpreadTheLoves campaign was inspired by our client who requested customised healthy care-pack orders for their nationwide employees in this challenging time which has made us believe gift giving could help bridge the physical and emotional distance people are having right now,” Samantha Ng, Founder of Wise Crafters explained. “It’s not about how much we give but how much love we put into giving. We believe that a kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal, especially during this difficult time.” she added. 

According to Samantha, the clean-eating community used to be a niche market in Malaysia and thus, the customer acquisition cost was very high. During the MCO, Wise Crafters were overwhelmed with joy when they found the number of healthy meals subscribers increased tremendously by 60%. This growth has proven that they are offering the right value to their customers and people see the need for a change in healthy eating habits. Wise Crafters saw this as an opportunity to launch their mission, which is to help every Malaysian to obtain at least one healthy meal per day. Therefore, Wise Crafters initiated this #SpreadTheLoves campaign to create more awareness in promoting healthy eating habits.

“We strongly believe gratitude is a powerful emotion that can change one’s life in a positive light. Which is why we are on a mission to help people express theirs in the simplest way. 50gram is happy to join this charity project because we see this as a good sign of showing gratitude to their families and friends,” said Spring Wong, Founder of 50gram. 

During the pandemic, Wong launched his digital marketing masterclass and selflessly shared his years of knowledge and experience from 50gram to help other small businesses that were badly affected by Covid19. Within a month, they garnered over 2000 members. Wong who is also a Digital Marketing Strategist at iPrima, a digital marketing service provider in Malaysia and Singapore, aims to train 500 students to become digital marketing professionals that can help transform Malaysian SMEs moving forward post the Movement Control Order (MCO). 

MrSpeedy, another startup that specialises in same-day delivery service has also played a big role to assist businesses and e-commerce players with appealing delivery rates that resulted in savings to up to RM300,000 compared to their competitors. “As one of the frontliner organizations ourselves, we understand the challenges faced from COVID-19 pandemic and we would like to take this opportunity to play our part in the fight to help our country for a speedy recovery,” said Chun Hean Goh, Country Manager of Mr Speedy.

As many have lost their jobs due to the outbreak and the increase in opportunities in the delivery service industry, MrSpeedy also registered almost 20,000 new riders and drivers since MCO was first announced. 

This pandemic period has left an enormous impact on how people consume, work and even socialise. These 3 startups also hoped to see more startups playing their part in helping the nation recover from Covid19 and its economic and social impact to the public.