Published On Apr 10, 2023
John-Son Oei’s EPIC social enterprise was born out of guilt.
This former Rain oppa lookalike (time to check out his photos! 😏) knew the importance of giving back. Wanted to give back.
But never did.
And it wasn’t as though he hadn’t dabbled many things in his life prior to graduation:
He’d worked retail with Polo Ralph Lauren, did video production, was a fitness instructor & a Marshall at Camp 5 (rock climbing) and even modeled (yes, you really want to see his photo now, don’t you? 😉).
Yet despite all that, John-Son wanted to become a jet ski operator. A bona-fide “beach bum”, as his mother declared!
Until a toilet came along.
Because you see, he’d been told that while it was great to want to give back, he couldn’t stay idealistic for too long.
“The moment you go into the real world, it’s a dog eat dog world.”
And that troubled John-Son:
“It’s not that I couldn’t be a dog. To eat other dogs. But I said, is that really what life is about?”
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The opportunity to explore this ideal came when he visited an orang asli community & discovered their need for a functionable toilet.
He set up a Facebook group, and 64 strangers came.
Not his friends or the ones who said they were into charities, but complete & utter strangers.
And that sent John-Son down a rabbit hole.
He realised that we all need a purpose beyond ourselves.
It wasn’t as though he, and many others, didn’t care about giving back - but that we all felt alone. And honestly, “What impact can one person have?”
As it turns out?
An EPIC amount.
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But this won’t be a STIMY interview if we didn’t talk about the “darker sides”.
The difficulties in running EPIC as a social enterprise, figuring out their business model, convincing companies that they weren’t a “con job”, the pandemic and also, how John-Son would even question his own purpose.
This, despite the numerous international awards and recognition showered upon him, e.g. being accepted into the Ashoka Fellowship; Forbes 30 under 30 2016; The Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Dedication 2017; SME Malaysian Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2017; Tatler Malaysia—Force for Good Award; The Edge Inspiring Young Leaders Award; the Iclif Leadership Energy Award 2015; and Microsoft’s Global YouthSpark Star award. He was also Malaysia’s official flag bearer for Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee and 2012 Commonwealth Day.
So if you want to know the realities of giving back to the community, why it’s important to have a purpose beyond ourselves and how you can do so too?
Then this is the episode for you.
Highlights:
0:00 Intro
3:03 Having a gentle giant for a father
3:52 Does God exist?
10:58 I had two As & failed everything else 😳
15:58 Aspiring to be a beach bum
20:30 Giving back to the community
22:47 Becoming Rain the KPop Superstar
23:46 Building a toilet
25:17 From toilet to a house for Pak Cihong?!
32:42 The realities of running a social enterprise
37:33 This is a con job!
43:33 Why is this team building?
46:40 Why 2012 was a really difficult year
51:38 The personal significance behind winning the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Dedication 2017
53:21 Is there something more?
🎙️Show notes/transcript for this episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/116
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WHO AM I:
I'm Ling Yah, a Malaysian lawyer & host/producer of the So This Is My Why, where I interview inspiring people about how they found their why, and their blueprint for turning that why into a reality. I’ve interviewed Olympians, Michelin-starred chefs, top entrepreneurs, VC founders, Hollywood actresses, and more.
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