My guest today is Lim Wei Jie, co-founder and director of Foreword Coffee, a social enterprise that seeks to bridge understanding between ‘regular’ people and people with disabilities and special needs. I have a lot of respect for Wei Jie for having the heart to do a social enterprise, and to take the path less travelled as he has never been an employee after he graduated from NUS. I hope this conversation inspires the people out there who are thinking of starting their own social enterprise, but are not quite sure how. I also got Russell Lim, a good friend of mine who linked Wei Jie and I up, on the show as well. Please enjoy the show.

Show Notes

• [0:50 ] How did Wei Jie and Russell met each other in CAPT?



• [1:50 ] What sparked Wei Jie’s interest in community issues



• [4:20 ] A brief introduction to Foreword Coffee



• [6:06 ] The process of starting Foreword Coffee



• [8:39 ] Reaching out to special needs school



• [11:10 ] Testing out training programs for special needs individuals



• [17:24 ] Why most of us misunderstand what ‘special needs individuals’ really entail



• [19:30 ] Was there any point when Wei Jie knows Foreword Coffee will work?



• [22:19 ] What are the big hurdles that Wei Jie has to overcome?



• [27:00 ] What are other sectors that special needs individuals can contribute to? Any potential advice to employers who wish to employ special needs individuals?



• [34:37 ] Facing doubts at social enterprise startup competitions and the importance of the human element in creating impact



• [41:36 ] Is there anything that Wei Jie has changed his mind on 3 years into his entrepreneurial journey?



• [46:02 ] Foreword Coffee’s customer base



• [48:48 ] Future plans for Foreword Coffee



• [50:37 ] How does Wei Jie go about planning for Foreword Coffee?



• [53:26 ] Was this journey harder or easier than initially expected?



• [55:23 ] How does Foreword Coffee plan to expand beyond Singapore?



• [58:50 ] How does Wei Jie feel about having never been an employee after graduating from NUS?



• [1:01:56 ] How has stigma of special needs individuals change within Foreword Coffee’s ecosystem?

Links

Foreword Coffee: https://www.forewordcoffee.com

More

If you like to find out more about me, please find me on my personal website at www.pohjie.com, or connect with me on Twitter (@pohjie_pj).

Music credits

• Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod



• Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring



• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/