Kenny Choi:
Never doubt whether the determined minority can change the world. In fact, the world is always changing in this way.
Who is Kenny Choi?
Choi Yanqing, a social innovator and transmitter from Guangzhou.
As a innovator, Kenny is running a co-working space named “Yi-gather”, which combines the meaning of “gathering” and “together” in the old town of Guangzhou.
As a transmitter, Kenny is traveling around the world to meet other social innovators. He hopes that the interviews recorded in the documentary “Who Changes the World” will enlighten the social innovators in China.
Why does Kenny Choi do it?
Graduated in social work, Kenny served as a designer in a Internet company. It seems to be a great change in his career. However, when he encountered social enterprise, Kenny discovered the possibility to creator a combination of his major, social work and Internet——BottleDream.com.
The sense of social innovation and enterprise became popular in the minority. Then, he came up the idea that he would like to discover the change-makers of this industry about the way they thought. The young generation in China may imitate and localize the type of the social innovation and enterprise which are already successful in other regions.
After trips to Africa and western countries, he decided to take personal actions to promote the localization. So, he started “Yi-gether”.
Co-working is an alternative way of working in which independent professionals share one working environment, rather than work remotely in separate offices or places, so that crossover can creates more easily.
How does Kenny Choi make it?
In 2011, rare information of social innovation and enterprise can be found in mainland China, and the young generation have few ways to take the examples which people shared outsides.
Kenny and his friends set up a website “bottledream.com”, hoping even the little dreams can share as the draft in the floating bottles to encounter some fellows to achieve together. “We also translated and posted some latest news of the social innovation and enterprise on it, so as to draw the public’s attention.”
With the saving and grants from families, Kenny stared his first trip to Africa and Europe. To save the budget, he was always couch surfing.
But unfortunately, Kenny became a victim of a burglary.The photography equipment and the laptop are stolen. His trip seems to come to the end, though it just began.
“The burglary almost ended my trip. No documentary can be filmed without equipment.”
However, one of his friends, who is running a crowd-funding website, suggested him to raise expenses to continue in the way of social innovation. After that, the most successful personal crowd-funding plan, which he had never expected, was happening.
With the strong calling of Kenny in the field of social innovation in mainland, about $200,000 HKD was funded in 45 days.
“You are doing what I expect to do. Supporting your dream is to support mine as well.” One of 428 sponsors messaged Kenny in the period of the funding.
