Post written by: Raja Nazatul Akhma, QReazant co-owner
It's tough for a book rental store in Malaysia to grow out of its micro business status since majority of the people don't read and those who do read prefer to buy their books. We have joined numerous local events to spread the word about our service, but normally our cause would be overshadowed by... the consumers need for fashion ;p
Being a small organization consisting of 2 operators and 2 part timers, it's hard for us to venture out and do more in terms of promoting the service and get people to know our cause. That is why an invitation to hold a CSR event with university students is like a golden opportunity... (almost ;p) free labour, company exposure, educating the public, getting youth involved in our cause to help Malaysian children... The collaboration is more fulfilling then if we did the event all by our "corporate" self.
I have known Diana Wong since our MBA days in UPM. Being among the best student in our batch, naturally Diana would take up teaching. Now a lecturer and Programme Coordinator for Berjaya University College of Hospitality's School of Liberal Arts, Diana invited us to be involved in her
Contemporary Ethics and Corporate Citizenship class where part of the requirement is for the students to come up with a CSR project. Naturally our topic of choice is building a habit of reading among children.
Realizing that Ramadhan would be right in the middle of their semester, we had to push the project's date early. The students had to pitch the project to us, get our approvals, finalize finances and needed resources and execute the event all within 5 weeks.
At the same time it was school holiday season and QReazant is busiest during school holidays. With patrons coming in and out, the children workshops that we held... we didn't really give much input until the very last week before the event date. However, it seems that the students don't really need us much in carrying out the tasks since they are very organized and able to carry out discussions and share information all using Facebook Group. So even though we are in Bangi and they are in the middle of KL, we could keep track of the project. And see how the lecturer keep nagging them to do their work too hehe.
 |
| Deep in discussion while setting up at the venue of the event |
I wasn't really satisfied with the number of participants that came to the event, I was hoping for more but I understand the time constraint. And I suppose with the amount of money that we spent for the event, it had went really well. Of course there are areas to improve but that's all part of learning. We are just learning about setting up CSR event ourselves and honestly, I think the students are waaay better at it than we do :p
It was a great experience and we had lots of fun and we look forward to more company-university students collaboration in our future :)
 |
Post-mortem party after the event.
Coincidentally it is the same day as Diana's birthday
|
Post written by: Raja Ezatul Akhma, QReazant co-owner
Saya tidak pernah bercakap di atas pentas, apatah lagi untuk bercakap dikhayalak ramai. Perasaan takut dan risau menyelubungi diri apabila diberitahu bahawa saya akan berucap di acara pembukaan The Magical Kingdom.
Pada mulanya saya tiada idea untuk menulis kerana sejak tamat kolej, saya lebih suka membaca dari menulis dan kekeringan idea kerana tempoh diberi hanyalah tiga hari. Akan tetapi ia menjadi mudah apabila perkara yang hendak disampaikan adalah berkaitan dengan kerja harian.Lebih seronok apabila diberitahu yang saya tidak perlu menghafal, tetapi masih perlu berlatih agar pengunjung yang hadir dapat fahami apa yang saya cuba ucapkan.
Hari yang ditunggu pun tiba. Setibanya di The School, kelihatan Ketua Projek sedang berlatih berucap dan saya juga diberikan peluang tersebut. Mereka memberikan tips bagaimana mahu berucap menggunakan pembesar suara. Ketika majlis berlangsung, semuanya berjalan dengan lancar :)
Harapnya ini bukanlah acara terakhir yang memerlukan saya untuk berucap :)
