11-Year-Old Girl Is Selling Waffles During MCO To Raise Funds For Stray Animals In Penang
Her parents are helping her deliver to residents around the area.
By Jeremy Ng — 29 Apr 2020, 10:44 AM
With the recent Movement Control Order (MCO) extension, it's been a tough time for animal shelters, with many struggling to feed the animals in their care as well as strays on the street
Since many pet shops and eateries are closed, it's been difficult for animal shelters to get enough kibble or leftover food to feed these animals. Sadly, this means many of our furry friends are going hungry.
After hearing the sad news, 11-year-old Caitlin Tang decided to raise funds for strays by making and selling homemade waffles
Hailing from Penang, Caitlin first came up with the idea after passing some of her delicious homemade treats to a neighbour.
"I've had lots of time to experiment making desserts during this MCO. One day, I made waffles and decided to give some to my neighbour. He commented on how yummy they were and told me I should sell them... And that's what I did! I can now get funds to donate to the shelters," said Caitlin.
An entrepreneur at heart, she even designed her own marketing flyer to promote her waffles and worked on the costing herself
"My school, St. Christopher's, taught us a subject on entrepreneurship and I was really interested in it. We had to create our marketing plan, find the right product to sell, and do our own costing for Market Day. That knowledge coupled with what my dad always shared with me really helped me a lot," exclaimed the 11-year-old.
Upon learning of her idea, Caitlin's parents were so supportive that they even helped her set up her own e-commerce site
Her dad, Charles Tang, a serial technopreneur who runs his own e-commerce store platform, InstanteStore.com took three days together with his team to create a restaurant delivery system where you can easily upload your menu and place your order. Customers can also pre-order in advance, selecting the day and time of delivery.
“During this MCO, I got to spend a lot more time with my little girl since I’m working from home. I had more time to explain to her about what I do and discuss about how COVID-19 is affecting people around us. When she told me about her idea of setting shop so that she could raise funds to help the animal shelters, I told her to go for it!” said Charles.
Together, the father-daughter team started selling to the residents at their apartment blocks, and within the first hour of putting up her site, Caitlin had three orders for eight waffles
This inspired Caitlin to get the word out, and her parents were more than happy to help her deliver orders to residents around Tanjung Tokong and Tanjung Bungah. Now, she's busy whipping up dozens of waffles every day for hungry customers.
Here's what some customers had to say about the homemade waffles:
Since launching her project on 19 April, Caitlin has collected a total of RM2,364. While she's been busy keeping up with the orders, one thing that has stood out for Caitlin is how naturally generous people have been during these tough times.
"The most sales I've had in a day was 12 orders for 46 waffles! But the craziest thing was when one of my customers decided to give me RM1,000 instead of RM28 for eight waffles! Thanks to him and other customers, we've managed to raise so much more money than expected," said the young entrepreneur.
Caitlin has donated her proceeds to local animal shelters like 4PAWS and IAPWA Penang, who were grateful for the help
If you're in Penang and stay in Tanjung Tokong or Tanjung Bungah, head over to Caitlin's Waffles to order your yummy homemade treats today. Plus, it's all for a good cause! ;)
