A second life on your stuff, a serving to hand for others

The pair are the driving power behind Trade2Help, a web based market the place individuals can purchase and promote preloved gadgets whereas supporting charities that serve communities throughout Malaysia.

For Mikhaylov, a Russian who has referred to as Malaysia house since he was one 12 months previous, the mission is deeply private.

“I was brought up here, surrounded by Malaysians, and I wanted to leave something behind that can benefit local communities,” Trade2Help’s chief advertising officer informed FMT Lifestyle.

Arren, the platform’s founder and chief govt officer, shares an identical imaginative and prescient.

“The inspiration behind Trade2Help wasn’t just to encourage people to donate once. We wanted to create a way for people to give regularly and at scale,” he defined.

The thought is easy: declutter your house, earn some more money and assist an excellent trigger on the similar time. As a bonus, undesirable gadgets are given a second life as an alternative of ending up in landfills.

Launched yesterday, Trade2Help is believed to be Asia’s first charity-driven market for second-hand items.

Users can at present join free, and sellers can determine how a lot of every sale they want to contribute to charity.

There are at present six collaborating charities to select from, specifically National Cancer Society Malaysia, Teach For Malaysia, Dignity for Children Foundation, Fugee, Care for Malaysia Welfare Centre and Al-Ikhlas Hope Society.

So what can individuals promote? “Anything that’s legal,” Mikhaylov replied with amusing.

“The platform accepts everything from books and gadgets to clothing. It can even be brand-new items.”

Trade2Help streamlines the shopping for and promoting course of by dealing with funds instantly by means of the web site. Sellers obtain their cash after consumers verify they’ve obtained the merchandise, whereas a built-in chat perform permits each events to speak simply.

To shield consumers, sellers are additionally required to finish a Know Your Customer (KYC) verification course of by offering their full title, IC or passport quantity, and {a photograph}.

The platform at present works with Lalamove and Pos Malaysia to ship gadgets all through peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak. Looking forward, the group hopes to increase throughout Asia and ultimately launch a cellular app.

Selling with function

The thought for Trade2Help first took form round Arren’s household eating desk in 2022, once they started discussing methods to assist deprived communities.

“Malaysia has roughly 30 million people. Even if half of them donated just RM10 a month, that’s already RM150 million going to disadvantaged communities every month,” he stated.

The reply, he realised, was to weave charitable giving into one thing individuals already do: shopping for and promoting second-hand gadgets.

Turning that concept into actuality, nonetheless, proved removed from straightforward. An early try and construct the platform with volunteer builders fell by means of.

Rather than hand over, Arren took a niche 12 months after finishing his A-Levels to commit himself to the mission.

“One of the reasons I turned down an offer from Oxford University was to focus on Trade2Help,” he revealed.

Once the web site was largely full, he invited Mikhaylov and several other buddies to affix the enterprise. Today, the group has grown to 11 members, all aged between 16 and 20.

Although furthering their research will quickly take them abroad, neither founder intends to go away Trade2Help behind. Both plan to proceed working the platform remotely.

Arren will examine neuroscience and synthetic intelligence at Carnegie Mellon University within the United States, whereas Mikhaylov will pursue automotive engineering on the University of Southampton within the UK.

Ultimately, they hope Trade2Help will proceed rising in Malaysia whereas encouraging extra individuals to embrace what they name “selling with purpose”.

“I wake up every day knowing I’m contributing to something that will end up helping Malaysian communities,” Arren concluded.

Visit the Trade2Help web site by clicking here. Follow Trade2Help on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

For extra data, e-mail [email protected].