From Sophie: It's our 2nd Birthday!

We’re now two years in to our journey, which means it's two years since I almost toppled our first lovely customer from an extreme reaction to somebody ACTUALLY wanting to buy something. 

We’ve stopped checking Google Analytics every 10 minutes to see if anyone is online. We’ve stopped manically counting and recounting stock (now leaving it to the software). We’ve stopped the mad packing sessions and hairy drives to get to the Post Office before the last post (thankfully leaving it to the pros in the warehouse). 

But we haven’t stopped feeling like we’ve won the lottery every single time an order comes in. We haven’t stopped feeling overwhelmed by how supportive you have all been. And we haven’t stopped peddling as hard as possible to make Kalinko as great as it can be. 

This is why: the average family in Burma is 4.2 people, and an average household income is $300 a month. For adequate nutrition, healthcare and education, they need $750. Our mission is to close this gap for 500 families by November 2021, 5 years after our launch. 

We launched with products made by 34 families. We now work with 96 and are on our way to closing that gap with these families. Every time you guys buy something, we place another order with the people that made them, adding to their monthly total. 

So we’ve got a long way to go, but we’re well on the way! 

We’ve also grown! With Sharron & Trace heading up the warehouse, Az shouting about us from the rooftops, Lottie and Darryl making sure you see us everywhere, Liv looking after all our lovely customers, Phil watching the numbers, my amazing family picking up the pieces every 5 minutes, and back at HQ in Yangon, Rosiam, Ma Khine, Lin and Dr Moe running a seamless operation, I’m pretty much out of a job. 

There are tons of exciting new products and projects round the corner, so stay tuned. And in the mean time, a huge THANK YOU for your support. It has been mega.