Kathy Wong is what you might call a serial entrepreneur, having founded and run several businesses. In November 2014, Kathy launched Moeloco in collaboration with the Hope Foundation in Kolkata to share the stories of children living in poverty and raise awareness and money to help them. Through life’s travels and experiences, Kathy has come to find that starting a socially responsible business with a focus on parallel giving is something she is passionate about and an extension of who she is. We sat down with Kathy to ask her a few questions about her journey and what she has learnt along the way.

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What is your social enterprise elevator pitch?

We are a fashion conscious designer and manufacturer of a rubber flip flop, Moeloco which means Dream Crazy. Every shoe is designed to inspire with our positive messages of love, happiness, peace on the front of the shoe whilst also leaving these words imprinted in the sand when worn at the beach. For every shoe sold, we donate a pair of school shoes to a child living in poverty so that they can attend school.

We exist to be able to give all children the right to education regardless of the circumstances they were born into. Education will break the poverty cycle.

What are your biggest personal and/or professional challenges as a social entrepreneur in Australia?

The lack of education around understanding what a social enterprise is and sourcing knowledgeable mentors in the sector.

What’s the best piece of advice you have received so far since starting your own social enterprise?

Look after your own self care.

If you were to start over, is there anything you would do differently?

I would have tested more and not invested so heavily so quickly.

Where do you see the future of social enterprise in Australia?

I see much more collaborations are needed especially between the non profit models and for profits.

What appeals most to you about Social Change Central?

The willingness of the founders to help and grow a community.

The Social Change Central changemaker community is growing at a fast rate. How can our members learn more about you and help support your organisation?

Find us at www.moeloco.com. We are looking for other social enterprises with complimentary products that are fashion accessories to work with and share insights, opportunities to grow brand awareness through PR, Marketing support, looking for speaking engagements on our story, volunteers, interns, funders who bring skill sets we need.

And finally, what would you do if you found a lottery ticket that ended up winning $10 million?

I would hire a business development person, hire my marketing volunteer, hire a PA, recreate my website, invest in broadening our product mix. Create a mentoring program for youth changemakers.

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