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Compelling Storytelling

Why authentic voices and narratives of social impact matter

Findjobs Singapore: Storytelling expands visibility and partnerships for social impact

Findjobs Singapore: Storytelling expands visibility and partnerships for social impact

Interview with Stanley Lim, Co-founder and CEO, Findjobs Singapore

Findjobs improves access to employment for the least educated, elderly and low-income persons in Singapore by creating an easy-to-use mobile application which connects them to the blue-collar labour market.


Could you tell us the story of (or behind) your inclusive business?

Our dad is an odd-job labourer, and our mum is a cleaner. Poorly educated workers like them often aren’t tech-savvy and struggle to access job postings online. Also, jobs are often posted in English. We want to connect people like them to the blue-collar labour market.

In 2016, together with my elder brother Ivan, we founded Findjobs, an award-winning technology start-up in Singapore with their "easy to use'' multilingual mobile app (Findjobs app) which connects job opportunities to blue collar job seekers, who are largely low-income, non-tech-savvy, illiterate or mature/elderly. It has garnered more than 300,000 downloads in the last 3 years and managed more than 800,000 job applications. Currently the marketplace manages more than 10,000 job vacancies.

What kind of media do you find most effective to get your message out? 

All the above are effective as we are a B2B & B2C business and most of our clients are business owners, HR practitioners and jobseekers. The types of media we use include FaceBook, Tik Tok, Instagram and LinkedIn. Storytelling is part of our marketing, which includes targeted content and giveaways. To increase visibility, we also market our products/services in other languages such as Mandarin and Melayu, as well as taking part in offline engagements periodically. 

two people showing smartphones with Findjobs app
Findjobs helps workers get hired faster. © Findjobs

Has telling your story helped you to deepen your social impact? If so, how? 

Yes, it has helped us be duly recognised and lauded by various partners from the public and private sector including NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and raiSE Singapore from Ministry of Social and Family Development. Our various solutions have allowed us to bridge the gap between online job openings and offline job seekers in the critical blue-collar industry, making job search inclusive and a breeze for everyone.

Have you learned how to tell your story to best attract investment/pitch to investors?

Storytelling enables us to position our company business model and articulate our social mission in a more convincing way and allows us to capture investor's interest more effectively. Recently, Findjobs has secured a strategic investment from KFC Ventures, one of the leading VCs of Singapore which is Nityo Group’s corporate venture arm that invests in worldwide early-stage and growth-stage start-ups. 

What have you learned from this process? 

We have learned 3 key important points: 

  1. Keep your mission at the heart of everything you do. If you created your company to do some sort of good in the world, don't lose your focus. 
  2. Don't listen to the naysayers. I could have easily been discouraged by the many people who said my idea would never work. But we had a sound value proposition, and we strongly believe our platform would impact our community.
  3. Make friends, lots of them. One of the things I have loved the most is the people I have met along the way. Don't be afraid to reach out to other business owners, fellow social entrepreneurs, and others. I've been humbled by the number of people – many of them strangers – who have been willing to take a few minutes to offer advice, provide an introduction or help Findjobs in some way just because they connected with our mission.
two Muslim women in front of a Findjobs job kiosk
Job kiosks make the app available for people without smartphones or internet connection.

You partnered with iBAN to produce an Impact Story. In what way was the Impact Story beneficial for pitches/outreach/to secure new partnerships? 

We have managed to secure more partnerships with institutions which are focus on inclusive employment. Concurrently, we also run a co-working space for persons in recovery (PIR) where we developed a sustainable job placement programme with partners such as Institute of Mental Health (IMH). We also work with grassroots and voluntary groups to build mobile applications for their beneficiaries such as persons with incarceration experience (PIE) and low-income caregivers.   

What are your upcoming plans and goals in terms of communications and sharing your stories in order to expand your reach and scale up your business? 

With this strategic investment from KFC Ventures, we aim to enter the larger Southeast Asia market, starting with Malaysia by the end of the year. Storytelling will be part of our Go-to-market strategy in Malaysia, where we aim to secure business partnerships with NGOs or voluntary groups. We will also leverage on the extensive networks of KFC’s parent group, Nityo, to offer its platform to global companies from both the private and public sector. Findjobs will scale up the IT tech team to accelerate platform development, geography expansion, customer portfolio enhancement, with the aim of becoming the go-to platform for blue-collar hiring across the region. 
 

Stanley Lim

Stanley Lim is the founder and CEO of Findjobs Pte Ltd. As a social entrepreneur, he advocates for inclusive employment opportunities for all vulnerable and disadvantaged workers.

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Notes from the field: Filming an inclusive business story in Zambia

In September 2022, iBAN travelled to Zambia to shoot a documentary clip on Inclusive Business. Katharina Münster shares first-hand experiences from the field.
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Table of contents

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GRAPHIC SUMMARY

Learn more about storytelling in Inclusive Business by reading this twenty-fourth edition of the online magazine on Inclusive Business! The illustration was developed by Christopher Malapitan, a visual practitioner and trainer based in Brussels.…

Christopher Malapitan

editorial

Your Story Matters

In her editorial, Susann Tischendorf urges individuals and organizations to tell their authentic stories, because readers respond to authenticity rather than perfection. She provides tips on how to weave creativity and innovation into storytelling.

Susann Tischendorf

feature story

Compelling Storytelling: Why authentic voices and narratives of social impact matter

As human beings, stories help us make sense of the world. Stories are also important in conveying the meaning behind a business. “We know that people are substantially more motivated by their organization’s transcendent purpose (how it improves lives) than by its transactional purpose (how it sells goods and services). Transcendent purpose is effectively communicated through stories,” writes Paul J Zak in the Harvard Business Review. In this issue of CLUED-iN we examine how storytelling can help entrepreneurs grow their businesses, attract investment and partners, monitor their progress and increase visibility of their brand.

Alexandra Harris

#FarmVoices: Capturing farmers’ voices for improved monitoring and better decision-making

In their article, Nele Claeys and Steff Deprez explain how narrative impact monitoring captures a range of farmers’ voices to help farmer associations and other stakeholders make better informed decisions.

Farmer on Fire: Using digital storytelling to help a new generation embrace farming

Wangari Kuria describes how her business utilizes digital media and storytelling to help young Kenyans learn how to farm, create a brand and market their products.

How storytelling strives to make skilling aspirational in India

In his blog, Mrinal Kant elucidates the power of storytelling to help women choose skilling opportunities and aspire to entrepreneurial careers that were traditionally out of reach.

Amru Rice: Telling a story of inclusion of Cambodian rice farmers

CEO Saran Song tells us why the story behind the company is important and how the inclusion of smallholder farmers in Cambodia is a key part of Amru’s narrative.

Impactful storytelling is rooted in meaningful action taken by companies

Maria Correa explains why inclusive storytelling should be incorporated into a company’s messaging, and why the most effective communications are rooted in specific impact and personal stories.

How to get your story across to investors

Telling their impact story is a powerful tool companies can use to make their case to investors. Tiffany Moore, Engagement Manager at Impact Capital Africa, shares some practical advice and resources on how to make a successful pitch.

Findjobs Singapore: Storytelling expands visibility and partnerships for social impact

In his interview, Stanley Lim relates how the impact story of his inclusive business has expanded the visibility of Findjobs and has helped identify like-minded partners.

Notes from the field: Filming an inclusive business story in Zambia

In September 2022, iBAN travelled to Zambia to shoot a documentary clip on Inclusive Business. Katharina Münster shares first-hand experiences from the field.