Katrina Lee: From Volunteer to Entrepreneur

Katrina Lee is the CEO and co-founder of Savour!, a one-stop B2B platform for procurement and sponsorships that works with non-profit organisations, event planners and merchants. She was inspired to solve the food security issue that she was privy to firsthand when volunteering with a community service club in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Katrina found that there was often a mismatch between what kinds of donations were offered and what low-income households already had. Thus, the seeds of Savour! were born.

Today, Savour! partners with over 70 merchants and offers over 1500 products and services.

Hi Katrina, thank you for taking the time to be with us! First, perhaps you could tell us a bit about your volunteering background?

My volunteering background consists of community service school clubs and volunteering of my own accord at external organizations. The community service school clubs came from my time as a volunteer distributing donated food to low-income households in Ngee Ann Polytechnic as well as an organizing committee member planning and procuring food for volunteers to distribute food to beneficiaries in NUS. This is where I witnessed the severe issue of food insecurity firsthand. I have been volunteering actively since my Secondary school days. I normally like to volunteer in food-related areas such as soup kitchens. As I am a foodie and food are one of the basic essentials and needs to be met for many beneficiaries that can also empower them.

I see! Out of those experiences you've had, which one impacted you the most?

I was previously the marketing head of a volunteer team for a social enterprise called Bakery Hearts under the charity, AMKFSC, for 1 year, that teaches disadvantaged women how to bake and sell their baked goods. When I came in, their financials were in the red and they wanted my help to revamp their business model to become profitable so as to sustain the social enterprise in the long run. How I did it was analysing their financials and marketing to then brainstorm strategies and tactics to execute. It included sourcing for cheaper food ingredients and minimizing ingredient wastage when baking goods. It inspired me to want to address food waste and food insecurity so as to maximise the profits for the social enterprise and disadvantaged women who earn from the sales.

That's very business-savvy of you. Perhaps you could take us through the process of how Savour! came to be?

The thinking process that led me to start Savour! was a combination of my various work and volunteering experiences. I was working in the F&B industry where I worked in restaurants, snack stalls and banquets and a huge amount of perfectly good cooked food and food ingredients are thrown away daily. I was distributing donated food to beneficiaries who didn’t want the donated food as it is not nutritious and repetitive which is also wasted. I was previously running an e-commerce store for 2 years selling fashion goods. I also interned at an overseas social enterprise in Myanmar that tackled water shortage and pollution issues. Thus, this inspired me to set up a social enterprise in Singapore that matches F&B metchants with excess, blemished and soon-to-expire supplies to demands of charities via building a B2B e-commerce marketplace platform.

Okay, then this begs the question: Do you think social welfare and for-profit work can go hand-in-hand?

Yes. Social welfare and for-profit is not so much of a can but a need to go hand-in-hand. This is because being for-profit ensures long-term sustainability and growth of your social welfare initiatives. A common misconception is that social enterprises are like charities but ultimately, it is a for-profit business that makes doing good as the core of its business. I balance creating a positive impact while making a good profit via charging merchants a sales commission for every order while ensuring these expiring, blemished and surplus foods do not go to waste and those in need.

A common misconception is that social enterprises are like charities but ultimately, it is a for-profit business that makes doing good as the core of its business.

What do you think was appealing about your business model that customers were willing to get on board with, despite Savour! doing social welfare work?

Savour!’s business model has been through many iterations via conducting several customer and merchant interviews on what is the optimum pricing they are willing to pay to use Savour! before we landed on our current ideal refined business model. Focusing on meeting customers’ needs are what matters to us at Savour!, so being empathetic, actively listening and turning their feedback into concrete action to constantly improve our offerings is the main reason our business model is appealing enough and that customers are willing to get on board with Savour!.

I heartily congratulate you on that! Finally, let's talk future plans - what do you intend to do next?

As phase 3 kicks in soon and more events and programs at social welfare organisations are starting to resume in larger capacities, these organisations would be looking to procure and get sponsorships in significant volumes for their staff, volunteers and beneficiaries. Thus, our upcoming future plans includes planning and fulfilling procurement orders and sponsorship requests from social welfare organisations for their events, programs and regular operations. This is especially as Chinese New Year is coming up and a time for many organisations to hold celebrations for their beneficiaries with good food and drinks.

Thank you, Katrina, for taking the time to speak with us! We wish you all the best in your future endeavours in making good your business!