Saving livelihoods of elderly hawkers during COVID-19

"I saw a black jaded crow & a community that looks out for one another" were the symbols and what Dexter visualized in one of our "Find your Ikigai SG" sessions with his coach. And since then, emotions were sparked to commit to kickstarting Hawkerthon, a hackathon to help marginalized hawkers being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic using innovative solutions. 

COVID-19 has radically changed the way how we dine in Singapore. The no dine-in rule for Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) meant that we could only have to take away when we either order in person or ordering online. 

While the latter measure seems to be a convenient option for those who are familiar with the use of applications such as Grab or Food Panda; elderly hawkers who are not well versed in using technology to keep up with the demand for online orders seem to be left behind. 

The only source of sales for these elderly hawkers would be from regular foot traffic during lunch or dinner time, word of mouth or customers who are intentional in making their purchase from the hawkers. As a result, many of these hawkers are bleeding financially and they are reliant on their savings to keep themselves in business or risk winding up if poor sales performance continues.
 
Dexter Goh is sympathetic towards the problems these elderly hawkers are facing and is currently promoting a hackathon for hawkers - a “Hawkerthon”. The initiative of the hackathon is to find innovative solutions to assist hawkers in using technology to conduct their business and not fall off the technological grid. 

Dexter credits that the “Hawkerthon” initiative was born out of the vision that he had when he was discovering his purpose through the Find Your Ikigai SG program. Dexter seeks to build a community that looks out for one another and in this case is to care for the elderly hawkers. 

To learn more about Hawkerthon you can find this on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hawkerthon/, or you can sign up at this link bit.ly/Hawkerthon2021 

To learn more about Find Your Ikigai SG you can find it in this link https://www.growthbeans.com/find-your-ikigai-sg.html