Allen Teh of Deaf in Business (DIB) Coffees of Hawaii said large companies and social activist groups should contribute in big ways to help out these communities.

He stated businesses like his faced several challenges in expanding, the biggest being the lack of financial resources.

“There are a lot of young people who are very sincere in making a difference, but they do not have the funds to do so. Big companies should partner with social entrepreneurs instead of giving one-off donations. It needs to be more sustainable,” Teh said.

An example he said was Gamuda Berhad and Taylor’s University who provided DIB with free space for the DIB outlets.

Social enterprises like his would incur more cost than regular business, hence the reason for a partnership.

Joey Ang, a regular customer who works nearby said that businesses such as DIB could be successful and sustainable.

“The food is good, it’s always packed, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be sustainable. Maybe the government could give incentives such as tax breaks to encourage more people to start social enterprises,” she said.

Another regular customer, Geoffrey Moore, said people should support businesses such as DIB. “When we work and we grow, our skills improve, we would also want to move to bigger companies and bigger places. Other deaf people would see this as an opportunity to grow and would want to partake in this movement,” Moore said.

DIB Coffees of Hawaii is a unique community business project for the deaf. It is the first gourmet coffee chain in Malaysia operated fully by deaf personnel who are guided and trained by hearing coaches.