Page 99 - Forbes - Asia (December 2019 - January 2020)
P. 99
From left: Suzanne Ling,
Lim Yuet Kim and Lee
Swee Lin at PichaEats’
office in Kuala Lumpur.
to make Rohingya curry, Palestinian hummus, and other chanical engineering in Canada. Amid the devastation fol-
foreign dishes at a refugee’s home while hearing their story. lowing the 2014 conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas,
A psychology degree holder, Naeem was a university Dalia’s husband risked being buried alive to crawl 30 hours
lecturer in her hometown Damascus, according to Ling, the through an underground tunnel to Egypt, Ling says, where he
company’s chief marketing officer. To flee the civil war, she boarded a flight to Kuala Lumpur to prepare the way for his
and her family flew to Malaysia as tourists and overstayed family. When Gaza’s borders reopened, Dalia sold their be-
their visa. When she first arrived, she worked at a travel longings and walked 500 kilometers with her four small chil-
agency catering to Arabic-speaking visitors. But during an dren, according to Ling, to Cairo. There, they took a flight to
immigration raid, she was arrested and imprisoned for two reunite with her husband in Kuala Lumpur.
weeks until the UNHCR secured her release. PichaEats has so far been funded largely by grants like
“Free movement is risky as the police and immigration MaGIC’s. In 2018, Lim placed top five in a Chivas Venture
randomly pick up refugees and asylum seekers,” says Deborah pitch competition awarding social entrepreneurs. Lim ad-
Henry, a former Miss Malaysia Universe who cofounded vanced to the final rounds in Amsterdam against competitors
Fugee.org, an NGO that helps refugees in Malaysia. from 27 other countries and won $50,000. She and her co-
Dalia from Palestine, another of the refugee chefs whose founders say they will use the money to expand, improve op-
stories PichaEats relates, has managed to earn a stable income erations and increase their use of social media for marketing
for her family of six. She has a bachelor’s degree in account- and sales. “Policy change takes a very long time,” says Lim.
ing and finance, while her husband earned a master’s in me- “The refugees cannot wait.” F
DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2020 FORBES ASIA | 95
