What is your favorite travel memory?
The morning i had the inspiration to start Ecoteer. I was cleaning a board walk in the forests of Borneo ready for the tourists to use and I heard this hooting noise, it was a Bornean Gibbon, but not just one it was a pair, and its very rare to see these gibbons up close but that morning they came down to the boardwalk right in front of me. Wow such an amazing privilege's and Gibbons are actually my favourite animal.
I have also seen fresh tiger footprints whilst jungle trekking and that really makes the hairs on the back of my neck tingle. Just amazing, you are in a forest where it seems empty but its not, the animals are there watching us! its an amazing feeling.
How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?
I founded Ecoteer in 2005 which later became Fuze Ecoteer in 2015. I think each day is different that I personally have learnt so many skills. When i was at school I could never have thought I would be leading a group of 12 amazing individuals which now work with us. So I think the leadership has changed in me BUT i always remember to be thankful and humble, our team are very good, passionate and intelligent, and I personally love seeing how they grow and develop.
What is the best story you've heard from a return student?
I don't think I have a specific story but many return saying that Perhentian has a place in their heart. One of our ex vols from 2008 has started a similar project near Bali at Gili and another is a lecturer in the UK and she brings her students to the islands every year for an Environmental Science Fieldtrip. So I think the place grabs people and doesn't let go.
If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?
Me personally I would go on one which goes from KL to Merapoh to Perhentian. So I get to experience the Green to the Blue, the forests to the sea. There is so much natural beauty in Malaysia and the good thing is that tourism is not that big in Peninsular Malaysia so you get to go places where not many tourists go. In KL you can help with our plastic recycling project with the local community and in Perhentian you can live in the village where not many foreign tourists go. The foreign tourists would go to the beach resorts, so you get a chance to see the real Malaysia.
What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?
We have also now started to train up the youth in Perhentian Islands, these are the kids I taught to swim back in 2010 and now they are adults and joining our actions. Its amazing to see them become divemasters and help us remove ghosts nets, it shows that our Eco Education project really works and starts the ball rolling. Also our project in KL, we are working with a low cost housing area where the people are amazing and have really taken to our precious plastic recycling project. We didn't ask them, but they have started their own recycling initiative off their own back.
I am so proud of what our team has achieved, not me, our team.
What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?
I truly believe that being humble and not judgmental is the KEY to success for conservation with local communities and I instill this into our team. We don't know what other issues and problems those people are going through, so why should we judge them that they don't recycle their plastic when they have other bigger issues such as food security or just money issues. So I instill this into the team and it works with the communities we work with. To listen and to show empathy and then we can truly see what the issues are.
So for example our recycling system in Perhentian Island, it's not perfect, it's a work in progress but we are seeing people slowly changing and starting to use the recycling bins more. This takes a lot of time and understanding. And this year we will expand it to the resorts, now the resort staff don't have time or the interest to clean and separate all the different types of waste, but they can put the recyclable items into a green bin bag and other waste into a black bin. Plus the guys who collect the waste actually do go through the rubbish to take out some of the recyclable materials to make a few extra $$$s so the system now helps them to make more money and they don't need to go through the bins and get dirty and smelly as the resorts will have already sorted the waste out into recyclable and non-recyclable. Everyone wins, that took some time to understand the problem. The bin bag solution was the brain child of one of our past local interns with Blue Temple.