Pamela Yeo spreads the message of peace, piece-by-piece
Pamela Yeo, 24, gave up a promising legal career to run a social business but she has absolutely no regrets.
The bubbly, bespectacled law graduate from the National University of Singapore, who is a finalist for the Yahoo! Singapore 9 campaign, is among a new breed of young upstarts in Singapore who aim to do good for society by running a socially conscious business.
Together with two close friends, Adeline Heng and Ng Sook Zhen, Yeo co-founded online store, Saught, which fashions handcrafted products made from scrap metal and landmines found in war-ravaged nations.
Saught -- which means "peace" in old English -- was conceived in December 2010 after Ng went to Laos and saw how locals used war remnants from bombs to make table cutlery at home.
So, armed with a S$9,000 startup grant from NUS Enterprise, Yeo and her partners began their business to promote peace and sustainable development in post-conflict countries.
The three launched their online store in February this year. Their pilot project in Cambodia saw them collect safely deactivated scrap metal supplied by national and international demining organizations to be reworked into jewellery made by Cambodian NGO workshops.
"Through buying a product, it's more than just contributing to a money-generation project," said Yeo earnestly.
"It represents a kind of hope that people are giving and in addition to that. It's sending out a message to the community that when you own a product, you're conveying a story that this isn't just any product, it comes with a great background -- from the metal it was made from to the people who made it."
Saught also works with local design schools to design their jewellery collection -- their last one was done in partnership with Temasek Polytechnic's School of Design. The designers even had the chance to visit Cambodia to interact with the artisans and build a connection within the community across the globe.
"We partner NGO workshops and make sure that we do more than just buying something and donating the money back. We wanted to include the people into our business model, so that every stage of the business creates an impact -- from the metal's source, to how it's made, and how we partner local designers in design schools," said Yeo.
"We wanted local designers in design schools to make use of their talents to get involved in the community, to create designs to tell the story. It's how you create an intelligent design that tells the story of something that was initially created for war, now used to create peace in those countries," Yeo explained.
While Saught only has operations in Cambodia at the moment, Yeo, who has the full support of family and friends, is already mapping out plans for the future.
"We're intending to move into Sri Lanka, Laos, East Timor and other post-conflict countries. Hopefully we can get this done over the course of the next 1-2 years."
Despite being called up to the bar in July this year, Yeo's passion to see Saught succeed led her to commit to it full-time.
"I really think it's my calling," she said, turning serious.
ON BEING A YAHOO SINGAPORE 9
When told she had been selected from a pool of 21 nominees in the social enterprise category to be a Yahoo! Singapore 9 finalist, Yeo said it was a "big bonus" for her.
But more importantly, she said it was a "collective win for social entrepreneurs, especially for the younger ones just starting out".
She said she herself learnt about other socially-conscious businesses over the three-week-long campaign.
"Through the Yahoo! Singapore 9 selection process, we became aware of so many social entrepreneurs we never knew about. It's very encouraging I think," said Yeo, who along with fellow social entrepreneurs Emily Teng and Zhang Tingjun, are the three finalists in the Social Enterprise category.
The public have until Thursday to vote for their winner.
When asked what it would mean for her to win the Social Enterprise category, she said, "Getting selected is very encouraging. I don't think the emphasis is on whether who wins in particular, because it's a win overall for all social entrepreneurs. And I think that's the main takeaway."
VOTE FOR PAMELA YEO IN THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CATEGORY HERE.
