Nicholas Lim and Tylor Jong

^{Seated on left, Nicholas Lim and standing, Tylor Jong}

TreeDots is a marketplace for such food items to be peddled at a discounted price to participating F&B companies, non-profit associations, and practically anyone capable of clearing and consuming them before they perish.

The first social enterprise of its kind in Asia, Tylor shares that “the TreeDots platform is an ecosystem that encourages and facilitates transactions for unsold food items to reduce food waste through addressing the lack of information, providing data insights, logistics support, and payment gateways”.

As a major in economics and finance at SMU, Tylor explains, “Our social enterprise fundamentally aims to align the business’s goal of profit maximisation with our mission to reduce food waste.”

Unlike a traditional charity, it leverages its web presence, an up-and-coming app and internal system; and invests in scalable operations to ensure efficiency. Furthermore, unlike food banks, TreeDots does not rely on food donations and volunteers.

Making it to the Forbes’ 30 under 30 in Asia list naturally thrilled the duo. Nicholas said, “I was elated when we heard that we had been listed as Forbes' 30 under 30. I have always wanted to make a living while creating an impact for the society, which is the reason why we started TreeDots in the first place – to align business interest with a social/environmental cause.” Being listed was a form of recognition that they had achieved their goal. “At least, it is from the judges' perspectives, judges who have been looking at thousands of other applications.” Nicholas added.

For Tylor, being listed came as a shock, albeit pleasantly surprised, to be on the list. “This also means that whatever we have been doing has been validated on a regional scale".

As such, being on a global or regional platform sends the idea across on what all of us can do together to mitigate or even resolve this,” Tylor said.

Despite this, they know that this was just the beginning, and it only spurred them to work harder towards the outcome of zero food loss.

TreeDots, was accepted under the SMU Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship’s incubation programme, or SMU Business Innovations Generator (SMU BIG), which helps in the incubation of start-ups.  ”For budding entrepreneurs, SMU BIG is a safe space for SMU students and alumni to realise the entrepreneur in them”, said Nicholas and Tylor.

“SMU BIG helped TreeDots secure grants which were vital in propelling us forward to purchase our first freezer truck. More importantly, the constant bouncing off of ideas with mentors and other start-ups in the incubator space also helped TreeDots constantly improve to become what we are now,” said the duo.

For budding entrepreneurs, Nicholas shares a quote – “If you truly believe in something, do it first – you can always ask for forgiveness later”. Tylor adds, “If you don’t work hard for your dreams, you will spend your life working for others.”