HOW TO CO-WORK

ACHIEVEMENT

10 countries
37 projects

PAST ACHIEVEMENT

Lvery50 has undertook 37 projects regarding marketing or new business development to support Social Enterprises around 10 Asian countries. Remarkable social entrepreneurs had participated in previous projects. Orapin Sinamonvech, the founder of Kokoboard had received Ashoka fellow award. Thi Ngan, co-founder of Tohe was selected as Young Global Leader of World Economic Forum in 2016.

  • Nepal - Ecotourism Strategy Planning
  • Indonesia - Recycle bag sales/marketing
  • Bangladesh - Evacuation Education
  • Vietnam - Bag designing, branding, sales, marketing

APPROACH

01 BEFORE PROJECT

  • A client ("you") contacts very50 via email/telephone.
  • very50 arranges a meeting with you in your country. Afterwards, we have several meetings with you to 1) get to know your mission, vision, business model etc. 2) discuss the challenges you are faced with.
  • very50 makes a contract about MoG project with you.

02 PROJECT PERIOD

  • MoG project includes a few-month-long preparatory training in Japan and two-week consulting on location.
  • During the preparatory training, MoG member team made up of Japanese students and company employees (supported by very50 members) has several teleconferences with you via Skype or telephone to collect and analyze data concerning your business.
  • On location, MoG members work with you to find out possible solutions while having intense discussions with you, conducting surveys and testing hypotheses etc.
  • MoG members give a presentation to propose solutions based on your mission, deep analyses and local values. very50 also implements proposed solutions to the problems you are dealing with as well as propose them.

03 Follow-up

  • very50 provides continuous support for you even after the project.

PARTNER

  • VIETNAM
  • BANGLADESH
  • PHILIPPINES
  • THAILAND
  • NEPAL
  • INDONESIA
  • CAMBODIA

VIETNAM

Thuan & Cuc / Hoa Ban+

Vietnam

Mission
To encourage the independence and improvement in living standard of the minority and those with disability by selling traditional textile products

How we support
Management support through MoG project

Detail
Hoa Ban+ is managed by two female entrepreneurs, Towa who grew up in Mai Chau as part of the minority group and Kook who is a young partner of Towa. They aim to encourage the independence and improvement in living standard of socially vulnerable people while promoting Hoa Ban+ brand worldwide. Women from the minority groups, who are taking vocational trainings, create designable textile products at Hoa Ban+.

Honn / Marine Gifts

Vietnam

Mission
To protect the diversity of Marine organisms while creating job opportunities

How we support
Implementation of eco-tours based on environmental education, targeted for international and domestic tourists. Product development/expansion of sales of a gift shop with shellfish

Detail
Suansui National Park facing Vietnam Bay where the mission takes place is located 160km away from Hanoi and it takes approx. four hours by bus to get there.

Hon, a manager of Marine Gifts, manages eco tourism and provides vocational training for poor women. She also sells handmade marine products. With a mission of improving women’s social status and raising awareness of marine environment, Marine Gifts, which is operating in seven different places in Vietnam, is trying to expand its business.

Ngan / Tohe

Vietnam

Mission
To develop the creativity of orphans and children with disability and make them part of society

How we support
Management support through MoG, e.g. product improvement, new product development, sales strategy planning and its implementation

Detail
There are as many as seven million people with disability (8% of the whole population) in Vietnam. Although there are many possible causes, it is commonly said that it is caused by defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. In addition to these children with disability, there are also a lot of orphans and kids with autism in Vietnam. These unfortunate children are usually sent to some kind of orphanage run by the government as their parents cannot take care of them. However, at these places they are often neglected and not taken well care of. They have to grow up at the closed world.

Here comes “Creative team, TOHE” with a mission to develop the creativity of orphans and children with disability and make them part of society. Many creative products have been designed and created by them. The profit made from the sales are used for improving the environment of the orphanage run by the government and providing workshops that help them learn with proper educational materials and improve their creativity. This encourages them to have some independence and open up their future. Product design is based on the pictures drawn by kids in the workshops. The pictures seem to show their bright future rather than the hardship they have. TOHE is attracting much attention not only from Vietnam but also all over Asia.

BANGLADESH

Rafique / DUS

Bangladesh

Mission
To protect people at Hatiya island from natural disaster

How we support
Management support through MoG, e.g. implementation of evacuation measures against Cyclone in 2011

Detail
More than 50% of Bangladeshi land is above as little as 7 meters and when a cyclone hits the country, as many as ten of thousands people pass away because of storm surge. Desh Unnayan Samaj-Bangladesh (DUS), a NGO provides support of the people in Hatiya island, by the island people, for the island people, is based in Hatiya, which is one-day boat away from Dhaka.

DUS activities include microcredit service and management of educational institutes and clinics, all of which combined cover the lives of approx. 350,000 people in the island as the public support does not reach there. As a result, DUS plays a role as substitute of the public sector in the island. Among others, however, DUS is putting much effort into measures against natural disaster including cyclone. It builds shelters with support of foreign NGOs and conducts evacuation guidance.

Makoto Murase / Institute on SkyWater Harvesting

Bangladesh

Mission
To deliver safe and tasty water to all people in Bangladesh

How we support
Management support through MoG

Detail
Makoto Murase, the founder of Institute on SkyWater Harvesting, was born 1949, has a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Chiba University in Japan. Since the beginning of the 1980s, he has advocated for the applications of rainwater and played a key role in a well-known rainwater application policy of Sumida Ward. With a mission “delivery of safe and tasty water to all people”, he serves as Director of People for Rainwater. He is working on projects to deliver safe water to people in Bangladesh. In 2002, he was awarded with Rolex Awards for Enterprise (so-called Nobel Prize of environment).

Hiroki Watanabe / EKMATTRA

Bangladesh

Mission
To create society where Bangladeshi people can think of their problems as those involved regardless of social status, sex and religion by protecting Bangladeshi street children

How we support
Financial support for a grilled restaurant “Rashayan”, a vocational training place for former street children

Detail
Bangladesh is faced with a problem of the huge economic and social disparity. EKMATTRA believes that socially vulnerable people who are suppressed and those who tend to suppress without their intention have to come together in order to eliminate the gap. The resolution without either party doesn’t work. With the belief set in mind, EKMATTRA mainly does two kinds of activities: 1) educate and empower the socially vulnerable people 2) raise the awareness about the social disparity among those who happen to suppress socially vulnerable people without their intention.

Education and Empowerment:
1. Preparing street children to be integrated into society by establishing a shelter where they can live together and providing open-air classes and vocational trainings
2. Setting up a center where they can get used to living with other people and learn necessary tools and rules to survive in society

Awareness campaign among the rich and middle-class people:
1. Produced a film “Je Shohor Chorabali” (2009) to raise awareness about street children and influenced more than 1 million people in Bangladesh
2. Opened a grilled restaurant “Rashayan”, a vocational training/ working place for former street children

As co-founder/adviser of one of the most influential NGOs in Bangladesh, Hiroki Watanabe was awarded with Cabinet Office / Ningen-ryoku Award 2010 (National Youth Honor Award) in Japan.

PHILIPPINES

Takuto Motomura / Granmma.inc

Philippines

Mission
To change the world with ideas created by the underprivileged, by advocating grassroots innovation in Asia.

How we support
Project coordination support through MoG

Detail
A project to deliver sanitary napkins to women in rural areas in the Philippines, making use of a small scale sanitary napkin manufacturing machine invented in India through grassroots innovation. Mr. Motomura is a representative of Granmma, Inc, a company actively proving that even ideas born from the under-privileged have the ability to change the world. He attempts to produce and sell sanitary napkins together with women from Mindoro Island in the Philippines, thus providing new employment opportunities. The sanitary napkin manufacturing machine, created in India by Mr Muruganantham, will be taken to Mindoro Island in the Philippines. They will be fighting hard to recreate his miracle in another region.

They are working on the following challenges in the Philippines.

・ Employ 5 people as manufacturing and sales staff members, thus raising the income standard in the region.
・ Due to a lack of sanitary napkins in developing countries, it is typical for women to lose 50 days of study and work time every year, totaling 5 years over a lifetime. By selling 1000 sanitary napkins in 3 months, Granmma allows women in rural areas to spend more time on studying or working.
・ Communicate to men the importance of sanitary napkins, create an environment to enable easy purchase, and support improvement in social position for women.

They want to change the world with ideas created by the underprivileged, by advocating grassroots innovation in Asia. The model planned from this project has development in other regions included in the outlook, working together with participants from 12 Asian countries who took part in a workshop held by Granmma in Kuala Lumpur in November 2012. Not negating current mass production, but as a coexisting model to deliver products of reasonable price and quality to consumers in remote areas, they hope this concept spreads around the world and becomes a large movement to develop products other than sanitary napkins. Through grassroots innovation, the challenge continues as the first step of a project to deliver a final product.

http://granma-port.jp/

THAILAND

Orapin Sinamornvech / Koko board

Thailand

Mission
To eliminate the gap between the rich and poor people. To solve environmental problems

How we support
Management support through MoG project, e.g. financial support, fundraising and development of new sales channels

Detail
It is often said that Thailand and Japan have one of the strongest relationships and also many Japanese corporations have entered into the Thai market. Additionally, Thailand is well known for its rice production (7th in world production of rice).

However, environment is being polluted by carbon dioxide emitted by the firing of rice straw after harvest. As a result, the environmental issues are getting serious. Additionally, the price control by the government does not allow for farmers in the urban and rural areas to change rice prices. This makes it difficult for farmers in the rural areas to get out of poverty.

Here comes Orapin Sinamornvech, a former employee at a TV production company. She had a brilliant idea of manufacturing innovative composite boards made from natural waste by-products such as coconut and rice straw to solve the above-mentioned “environmental problems” and “the gap between the rich and poor people”. The quality standard test is conducted to keep the quality of the composite boards. Consequently, the boards have passed the fire retardant test and European quality standard test. She named it “Kokoboard”.

In the middle of business expansion, tsunami hit Thailand in 2011 and destroyed all factories o f Kokoboard. Despite the hardship like this, Orapin rebuilt her factories and is trying to expand her business to the markets all over the world.

“We don’t need to cut down trees around the world anymore” says Orapin.

NEPAL

Krishna / Adamtar Village

Nepal

Mission
To create a village centered on eco tourism, not dependent on donations.

Detail
A self-reliant village revitalization project aiming not to be dependent on foreign aid in Nepal, which currently relies on support from overseas for close to 40 percent of its GDP. Adamtar Village is one hour by car from the capital Kathmandu. The leader, Sanu Giri, takes the central role in attempting to create an independent village from revenue by transforming the village into a tourist attraction and inviting foreign tourists to visit.

He aims for continuous development and an ideal ecotourism village centering on Nepalese culture and environmental protection. Additionally, he is actively trying to create a model village where visitors can learn the importance of the environment.

Main Initiatives；
・Raising villagers environmental awareness
・Creating tourism products focusing on ecotourism

INDONESIA

Nina / Greenna

Indonesia

Mission
To raise women's independence and environmental awareness through sales of recycled candy packages and bags from waste

How we support
Management support through MoG project, e.g. expansion of sales channels, planning and execution of business strategy, implementation of cleanup activity (involving residents of Cisalopa), and organization of environmental seminars at school.

Detail
Indonesia has the fourth largest population in the world. Thanks to the remarkable economic development, the capital Jakarta has developed like any other big cities in developed countries. On the other hand, beautiful nature, including rivers, has been destroyed by pollution and it is not safe enough to even drink tap water.

The goal of this MoG project is to manufacture recycled bags from waste with 15 women in Cisalopa, located in a 3-hour away from the capital, Jakarta. By spreading words about the initiative, Nina, who is the founder of Greenna, aims to raise awareness about environmental problems. She is also trying to encourage local Indonesian people to think that they are always the party concerned.

Anton / Garut / Genteg Healthy Market

Indonesia

Mission
To create a clean market with sustainable community.

How we support
Management support through MoG project, e.g. installation of the market map, installation and establishment of health management criteria, implementation of pest measurement, development of differentiation strategy (“market for working women”), presentation of a large promotion strategy, establishment of mechanisms for collecting feedback from retailers, installation of billboards, and improvement of customer service at each store.

Detail
The goal of this MoG project is to create a clean market with sustainable community which benefits local people at a fair price, namely “Genteng Healthy Market” rather than a conventional sales-intensive market.

Garut, the mission destination of this project, is located in a 8-hour drive away from the capital, Jakarta. Though the Indonesian average temperature exceeds 30 degrees, that of Garut drops up to 10 degrees in the morning. Garut, located in the northwest area of Java, is one of the poorest regions in Indonesia, and 90% of its residents are engaged in agriculture. However, in Garut there are no collection and delivery system that connects the urban and rural nor system that maintains a fair price of their produce (to protect lives of farmers) like JA in Japan. As a result, the farmers have to sell their produces at very low price in the large market, and cannot get out of poverty.

Here comes Anton, who was born at a family that made a fortune in local lumber sales industry, to solve this problem with a clean market with sustainable community. He aims to accomplish the goal by:

1. Selling farmers’ produces to consumers directly at a fair price to stabilize their lives
2. Improving farmers’ skills, knowledge and a sense of independence by letting farmers themselves sell their own produces
3. Creating a sustainable market with environmental concern

With these goals, Gunteng Healthy Market was opened in 2010. Gunteng Healthy Market, which has a capacity of up to 260 stores in it, allows people of Garut to open their stores with very cheap tenant fees (about 30% of conventional markets). Approx. 100 stores were already opened in the market.

CAMBODIA

Mai Yoshikawa / Napra-work

Cambodia

Mission
To build "a beneficial relationship between tourism and repair" by creating opportunities to deepen understanding of Cambodian remains and society

Detail
Mai Yoshikawa, the founder of Napra-Work, has a Bachelor's degree in Human Resources from Waseda University in 2008. She got fascinated by Cambodian remains and people when she was 19 years old. Since the, she committed most of her university time to Cambodia. Upon graduation, she moved to Cambodia to become “a player” rather than “a consultant”.

Since April, 2008, she is in charge of local PR department of Japanese Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor (JSA/JASA). In cooperation with Joint Support Team for Angkor Preservation and Community Development (JST), a non-profit organization, she has organized a tour which introduces ruins repair sites to the public, and brings together more than 1200 people per year.

She aims to build ""a beneficial relationship between tourism and repair"" by creating opportunities to deepen understanding of Cambodian remains and society.

Chihiro Shinoda / Kru Khmer Botanical. Co. Ltd

Cambodia

Mission
To create local jobs by purchasing the traditional herbs of Cambodia from local farmers at a fair price. To spread the word about Cambodia all over the world.

How we support
Management support through MoG project, e.g. analysis of customer behaviors and implementation of marketing strategy

Detail
With a clear goal of “creating a sustainable development model in which income (=jobs) based on community is generated on an equal footing with local people in Cambodia rather than one-way support” set in mind, Chihiro founded Kru Khmeru Botanical Co,Ltd at a place five kilometers away from Angkor Wat in summer 2009.

Kru Khmeru project started with visions outlined below:

・to spread the word about people and culture of Cambodia all over the world through creative design and manufacturing
・to give opportunities to make a difference in their lives through job creation for underprivileged young people
・to make a new industry in cooperation with many poor farmers

Kru Khmeru Botanical Co,Ltd produces and sells various products using local Cambodian materials such as home spa products, cosmetics, aroma, and herb tea made from organic herbs. It has recently attracted a lot of media attention such as NHK’s TV coverage and anan’s magazine article.

http://krukhmer.com/

INTERVIEW

Cuc (Hoa Ban+)

2012,2013,2014 Vietnam

How did you get to know very50?

That was a fateful story to me and Hoa Ban+ even though Hoa Ban+ project is quite complicated to MoG members. Hoa Ban+ was established after the first MoG project in Sep 2012. Introduced by CSIP Vietnam, C2I was the first social enterprise that very50 and 2012 MoG team aimed to support out with Thuan Hoa Social Protection Center in Maichau(THSPC). At that time, as Mrs. Thuan and Mrs. Huong(C2I)‘s friend, I was one of three Vietnamese volunteers that came to Maichau to work with the MoG team during their stay. That was the first time we met with very50.THSPC and C2I separated in Dec 2012 then Hoa Ban+ was established in 2013, took over what 2012 team has done and keeps developing with the support of 2013 MoGers in Aug.

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*Our feeling of very50 and MoG: It was the first time for us to work with Japanese people that long and intensively. very50 is a very creative organization that we have never met before. We did not expect that the representative and all volunteers worked that hard. They always tried their best to make sure all their own experiences, knowledge and very50’s pre-training would be as much helpful as possible for SE. We felt “Time was always not enough” to them.

Why did you decide to work with very50 through the MoG program?

Hoa Ban+ is a new operating social enterprise. It came to existence based upon the realization that Social Protection Center has the weakness in its human resource as well as management skills and direction. Our workers are all disabled people and poor ethnic women. One of the founders comes from a local ethnic group that lacks in experiences of working independently in a right system. In terms of covering both social and business aspects, we have difficulty in giving a good direction.

While very50 aims to support SE with the use of brand building expertise, we also find it helpful their problem solving ability and the ability to propose future courses of action for a beginning SE. very50 staff works hard together with a group of MoG participants who are ready to struggle with SE’s problems and manual works. In short, they met our expectations. That’s why we have decided to do MoG with very50.

What does a typical day look like during the MoG project?

1. Pre-Vietnam period
MoG team and I began to get in touch and work out via email and skype one and a half months before MoGers came to Hanoi. During that time, MoGers needed to understand as much as possible about Hoa Ban+ by asking me questions (about 1000Q) to make sure what they should do/prepare to meet our needs. MoG team was divided into 3 teams: Strategy, Product and Promotion team. Three team leaders listed their schedules and asked me for group meetings alternatively via skype with all their team members. Those pre-meetings helped us a lot to understand each other. All team members and SE got closer and got to know what we need do.

2. Vietnam period
Since we are based in Maichau - 140km far from Hanoi, all members and I spent the first two days on doing some research in Hanoi. Then, we all worked together in Maichau for ten days. On the first day in Maichau, we researched around our factory, stores, shops and around the areas. Then, the representative and leader gave out the schedule/timetable of each team for the next day. Actually, I had a meeting almost the whole day with three teams. While we were in the meeting, other teams were working outside/in the factory/store/shops with workers and an English-Vietnamese speaking volunteer. To me it’s really necessary and important to work with MoG team the whole time in Hanoi and Maichau to change, improve or propose anything we need work together directly and tightly. That’s why I always arrange time before they come and to be with them all the time when they are in Vietnam.

What is the biggest change during MoG project?

Well, there are a lot of things that could be the “big changes” to Hoa Ban+ after the MoG project, but if I have to say what is the most impressive “Change” I think is: Creating our clear mission, vision and the face of Hoa Ban+ basement in Maichau (the shop looks very attractive and it made the revenue of Sep, Oct and Nov increased 75% compared to the last months).

Do you keep in touch with the MoG members after the MoG program has ended? If so, how do you interact?

Sure. Even after the project, we are still keeping in touch. We keep following each other’s activities and share our own works through Facebook and Skype even though it’s not too much because all of us have to get back to our daily lives. If any MoGer members come to Vietnam one day, I can make sure that I will be of help for them. They are also waiting for me in Japan!

What kind of issues did you and MoG members focus on during MoG project?

MoGers and I focused mostly on four issues:

  • Clarifying our mission and vision
  • Promoting Hoa Ban+ ‘s basement: re-decorating the shops, re-arranging the factory and stores, leading customers to our shop by painting footprints, testing Hoa Ban+’s visiting program
  • Improving product quality
  • Constantly Planning proposals

What was the output that the MoG program created for your business?

  • A clearer mission (internal and external mission), more strategic visions (visions for three years from now, five years from now, 10 years from now respectively) and a long term strategy (target markets, target customers and so on)
  • A clear guideline: After 10 days in Maichau, MoG members “issued” a guideline for us: “How to decorate the shops”, “How to control product quality”, “How to communicate with international customers”, “How to mix colors for products”, “Hoa Ban+’s visiting program” etc and gave it to our shop keepers, workers and managers as our a treasure for better work.
  • A new connection with friends, people who love handicrafts and who are interested in Hoa Ban+ project in Japan (after the final report that took place in Japan in Oct, Saori- one of the MoG members informed of me that one lady decided to join Hoa Ban+ PJ in 2014)

How has very50 supported your activities in addition to the MoG program?

Well, I like this question, because it’s chance for me to say what I wanted to say to very50 but I’ve not said yet: “very50 played an important part in Hoa Ban+’s foundation”.

The beginning
Unlike any other partners of Hoa Ban+, very50 has been with us from the very beginning. They understand deeply the situation and how Hoa Ban+ was born. very50 and the founder, Mr. Ryosuke, in particular has assisted me to decided to establish a new SE after THSPC and C2I had been separated. When I was thinking and brainstorming with what/how I can do or how to start, how to operate a SE, he helped me about brand building, SE management and operations since my background is tourism business and I didn’t know much about it. Every time Mr.Ryo came to Hanoi for other SEs projetcs, I met with him for several strategic questions (about mission, vision, product lines, value chains, target, direction analysis etc ) and worked out step by step. For example, the “+” in “Hoa Ban+” came from Mr. Ryo’s idea. He is really a great master.

After the establishment up to now
After Hoa Ban+ was established, we have been struggling with a lot of difficulties in changing a social protection center into a social enterprise, changing disadvantaged people’s mind and changing the organizational structure. Sometime I was frustrated and even tears came out but when I emailed and shared the situations, all relies ended with the sentence “we always stand by you”. They don’t know how much it encouraged HB+ and me. Thanks to this, we always got back to work. Even now, HB+ is still having difficulties but very50 always finds chances to support us: they introduced us to some organizations and companies that we are able to co-operate with, such as Crossfields NGO, HIS Japanese travel company. They also invited us to Japan for researching, promoting and expanding our business. We believe that in the future their support will keep helping us a lot to complete our mission as well as develop our brand.

Please tell us your vision for the future. (what is your next step!?)

During MoG PJ 2013, we have given out quite specific future vision:

  • In 3 years, HoaBan+ will be a self-sustainable organization both financially and with human resources.
  • In 5 years, HoaBan+ will be well-known with a system of shops, affiliates, and partners across Vietnam.
  • In 5 years, more than 10 disadvantaged people will be helped and treated by HoaBan+ each year.
  • In 10 years, HoaBan+ will have a world-wide market and exports

However to make that vision come true, Hoa Ban+ needs to figure out these two things from now on:

Manufacturing: facilities and production management.

Product’s direction: Hoa Ban+’s products have not that good competitive advantage as well as differential advantage. We need to find a unique way to make our products seen as better or different than our competitors by customers.

Nina (Greenna)

2011,2012,2013 Indonesia

How did you get to know very50?

I met with Ryosuke Sugaya, CEO of very50, in Hanoi in November 2010. Both of us attended a social enterprise workshop organized by the British Council. After my presentation in the workshop, many participants approached me to show their interests in my activities. They promised to come to my workplace in Cisalopa village and support me in some way. But Ryo was the only person who actually came to my workplace to see what my activities are all about.

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He suggested that I make profits from my activities to make my business more sustainable. I didn’t have such an idea before, so I was really surprised and I totally agreed with the idea. I think I am the luckiest entrepreneur because there are so many people who are willing to help us. To tell the truth, I didn’t know anything about business management before but with the help of Ryo and the MoG members, I am slowly learning how to run a business.

Why did you decide to work with very50 through the MoG program?

At the British Council event, Ryo introduced what he’s doing at very50 and suggested the possibility of working together with me and Sandra, who was the staff of British Council, through the MoG program. After he came to Cisalopa village he said that the MoG program would be very helpful for my business.

On the first day when he came, I already thought of the MoG program as being essential for my business. The fact that very50 doesn’t charge expensive fees helped me decide to work with them as well. The only thing I am supposed to do is to prepare some rooms for the MoG members at my place, so I don’t need to pay for their accommodation. Among others, the biggest reason I have decided to do the MoG program was I could trust Ryo. Many people showed their interests in us, but Ryo was the only person who actually came to Cisalopa villge, which is far from Jakarta.

What does a typical day look like during the MoG project?

At the preparation phase, the MoG members communicate a lot with me via emails, Facebook and Skype. During the MoG program in Indonesia, we worked on a variety of things such as mission setting, vision making, 4P & 3C analysis, product quality management, pop, our trash bank system development and sales channel development. We also held an event called “Clean up Cisalopa village”. Over the break, we also enjoyed cooking Japanese and Indonesian food together. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner together everyday to get to know each other.

Do you keep in touch with the MoG members after the MoG program has ended? If so, how do you interact?

I had three opportunities to work with very50 though the MoG program in summer 2011, spring 2012, and summer 2012 respectively, and meet with many participants. It means I have made a lot of friends in Japan. Even after the MoG program, they often get in touch with me and ask me, “How is everything with Greenna?” In December 2012, when I visited Japan, they warmly welcomed me, gave me a present, showed me around Tokyo and helped me do some research on the Japanese market.

What was the output that the MoG program created for your business?

During the MoG program, we focused on making a business plan, developing new sales channels and improving products. We developed new selling channels of Greenna and made some pops. As our social activities, we visited a school for environment education, cleaned up Cisalopa village and made a garbage disposal system. We had a difficult time in creating the Greenna’s mission and vision. We spent much time blushing up Greenna’s mission and vision. It was very helpful for me.

How has very50 supported your activities in addition to the MoG program?

very50 invited me to Japan. I could learn a lot about the Japanese market including the fact that consumers in Japan are very interested in eco friendly products. They also arranged some meetings with those who are running fair trade shop in Japan for me. Ryo and other very50 staff members keep supporting us in many ways such as business management, a monthly report and so on.

Please tell us your vision for the future. (what is your next step!?)

The dream of Greenna is building a sustainable eco-village system, which can solve environment problems and empower every local small community. In order to achieve the goal, we are aiming to expand our social activities, deliver environment awareness programs, produce recycled products and make a profit circulation system, etc.

Anton (Genteng Healthy Market)

2012,2013 Indonesia

How did you get to know very50?

I was introduced to the very50 by Ms. Sandra Winarsa, the British Council Indonesia staff in early May, 2012. With that introduction, I made an appointment with Ryosuke Sugaya to talk in Jakarta when he finished a MoG project in Bogor with Greena. At the first meeting, we talked a lot about very50 and my current social activities. I was surprised and very proud with those youth Japanese MoG members in running their activities to improve social enterprises in all around the world. After we pursued a meeting, in next couple days, very50 visited our social project site. During the visit, we presented about our programs, mission, vision, and next improvement planning in our foundation. very50 not only visited our project location, but also several people houses to get input and review based on our social activities.

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Why did you decide to work with very50 through the MoG program?

Immediately after we discussed our organization plan and program, Ryosuke decided to run a MoG project in our community in August, 2012. I was shocked and confused because we did not have a comfortable house for 12 foreign guests and we never run international collaboration activities in our village. Moreover, on that time, I did not understand comprehensively about MoG projects and the purpose of this activity. In my perspective, I just believed that some group of people would give me a lot of ideas to improve my social activities so that I could help our people in a better way with our program improvement.

What does a typical day look like during the MoG project?

When we decided to run a MoG project, I believed that the biggest challenge would be a language barrier between our members (our team and local people) with Japanese members. For this reason, we made a selection procedure for several Indonesian university students who are resident of Garut (our city). There were a lot of applications but our key requirement was the English capability of each person. We could get five Indonesian students with good capacity and understanding about local people. Our purpose for this group is not only to help us in running MoG as translator, but also to promote ideas sharing between Japanese and Indonesia youth members, and it worked!!

I really enjoyed to work during the MoG programs (2012 and 2013), because we could share a lot of ideas and knowledge not only from Japanese but also from our side. Moreover, most of MoG members loved the beautiful scenery of Garut and they really loved Garut food which was cooked by my wife, Eva.

What is the biggest change during MoG project?

All of my people in my village really appreciated Japanese MoG members spirit especially for their commitment to run MoG projects. An example is that they woke up in 5am just to see the daily activities of Genteng Healthy Market, because our market started from 4am and the peak hour is from 5am to 7am.

I appreciated MoG members for their ideas and their analytical capacity to improve Genteng Healthy Market. They tried to look and evaluate every aspect and problems in our program and propose a lot of ideas and suggestion to our organization. We had no break time and dozens of meetings in every single day.

Do you keep in touch with the MoG members after the MoG program has ended? If so, how do you interact?

Sure. Even after the project, we are still keeping in touch. We keep following each other’s activities and share our own works through Facebook and Skype even though it’s not too much because all of us have to get back to our daily lives. If any MoGer members come to Vietnam one day, I can make sure that I will be of help for them. They are also waiting for me in Japan!

Do you keep in touch with the MoG members after the MoG program has ended? If so, how do you interact?

I still continue to communicate with the MoG members via SNS. I was very surprised by the Ryosuke visit when my father passed away last March. This visit not only touched my hearth but also gave me spirit to continue the struggle for our social activities with very50’s assistance. In addition, I plan to go to Japan to learn and visit traditional market in Japan. We want to see directly the management and situation of traditional market in Japan. During the MoG project, we have talked a lot about the comparison between traditional market in Indonesia and Japan. We plan that during my visit to Japan, I will stay in several houses of MoG members and some of them will be my guides in visiting several places in Japan.

What kind of issues did you and MoG members focus on during MoG project?

Genteng Healthy Market pursued MoG project in August 2012 and July 2013. During both of the MoG projects, we together focused on three aspects of our project, (1) sanitation, (2) marketing, (3) shop management. Those three issues are the basic problem in our organization because we empower local people without business knowledge. Moreover, most of our people are not educated with very limited formal education. For this reason, MoG is very important to help us to make our problem maps and try to find the best solutions to every obstacle, problem and social issue in our organization. On the other hand, the capacity of MoG member in running survey is very valuable input for our organization because we can evaluate our work based on real findings.

What was the output that the MoG program created for your business?

During MoG 2012, we could produce several new improvement programs in Genteng Healthy Market, in marketing, sanitation, and shop management. One of the examples is the separation of toilet for male and female (this is new for traditional market in Indonesia). Furthermore, the MoG members gave us a lot of program suggestions to be applied after the MoG period. One of the examples is “Music Concert” as our promotion tools. We ran this program in June 2013, and more than 2000 people from surrounding areas visited this concert. It was very successful to attract a lot of people to come to our market. Currently, our organization is running several programs based on suggestions from the MoG 2013. We have a lot of input and we will try to apply those ideas to Genteng Healthy Market.

How has very50 supported your activities in addition to the MoG program?

MoG is very fantastic activities in assisting our organization. We have our daily activities with very tight schedule. That’s why it is hard to us to evaluate ourselves and find input for improvement. MoG project. They can evaluate our social activities comprehensively and see our organization not just from our side but also from other angles, which never have done before. For this reason, MoG is likely to give unexpected suggestion and ideas in improving our organization. MoG is also a good way to challenge our organization plan. The discussion and meeting is very comfortable for us to share our issue, problems, and next programs. MoG members are very honest and straightforward to evaluate and give their best effort to help our organization.

Please tell us your vision for the future. (what is your next step!?)

Genteng Healthy Market is one of our programs in improving economic conditions of the people at Cilawu district, in Garut City, West Java, Indonesia. We plan to make our capacity bigger and bigger with new shop development, personnel capacity improvement training and more local entrepreneurs to joint with our activities. On the other hand, we also want to connect our education bodies (our school) to make good cooperation with our traditional market to empower poor student in our 6 schools.