More and more young children are contributing to society, especially during this difficult time. We had Afia, the 9-year-old girl who sews PPE gowns for frontliners, and now we have, Caitlin who’s raising money for animal shelters during the Movement Control Order (MCO)
11-year-old Caitlin Tang has been dedicating time to raise funds for animal shelters by making delicious waffles for customers in Tanjung Tokong and Tanjung Bungah, Penang.
Photo: Facebook IAPWA Penang
Tang was inspired to set up her home business after reading newspaper articles on how animal shelters were struggling to feed their animals because of the MCO.
"I've had lots of time to experiment with making desserts during this MCO. One day, I made waffles and decided to give some to my neighbour. He commented on how yummy they were and told me I should sell them... And that's what I did! I can now get funds to donate to the shelters," Caitlin told SAYS.
Caitlin also designed her own marketing flyers for her little business using the entrepreneurship knowledge she learnt from schools.
Photo: Facebook IAPWA Penang
"My school, St. Christopher's, taught us a subject on entrepreneurship and I was really interested in it. We had to create our marketing plan, find the right product to sell, and do our own costing for Market Day. That knowledge coupled with what my dad always shared with me really helped me a lot,"
Her dad, Charles Tang, a technopreneur who runs his own e-commerce platform, InstanteStore.com, also chipped in, helping his daughter s business to set up an online service for customers to pre-order the waffles in advance and arrange their delivery or pick-up.
Photo: goodfood.co
“During this MCO, I got to spend a lot more time with my little girl since I’m working from home. I had more time to explain to her about what I do and discuss about how COVID-19 is affecting people around us. When she told me about her idea of setting shop so that she could raise funds to help the animal shelters, I told her to go for it!” said Charles.
Photo: Facebook IAPWA Penang
And their waffles are a hit too, with many customers leaving positive comments!
Caitlin said that the most sales she’s had in a day were 12 orders for 46 waffles!
“But the craziest thing was when one of my customers decided to give me RM1,000 instead of RM28 for eight waffles! Thanks to him and other customers, we've managed to raise so much more money than expected," said the young animal lover/entrepreneur.
Since she kickstarted her business on April 19, she’s managed to raise RM2,364, which she donated to animal shelters such as the International Aid for the Protection and Welfare of Animals (IAPWA) Penang and the Penang Animal Welfare Society (4PAWS).
In a Facebook post, IAPWA Penang thanked Caitlin for her effort In helping the organisation and also hopes that her project would inspire others to contribute to helping many more furry friends in Malaysia.
“We are very thankful for this additional help during such trying times. We hope young Caitlin can also inspire others to do something good and contribute to the animal causes too,” read the post.
Way to go, Caitlin! Now we can’t wait to get our hands on those mouth-watering waffles!
By: Siti Farhana Sheikh Yahya
