Inciting Change
Zikry Kholil the co-founder of social movement Incitement, spoke to Kathlyn D’souza about making social impact smarter, and divulged his career ups and downs in the social-tech industr y
“To render the current corrupted humanitarian industry obsolete,” was what Zikry Kholil declared, after I asked about the change he wished to see in the world today. Such strong words came from the man who was famous for ‘inciting’ actions from people worldwide when he first started the Incitement Talks with his co-founder, Daniel de Gruijter. Volunteer-centric Zikry started out as somebody who couldn’t figure out how to help the masses, even if he wanted to. After a stint with the Asean Secretariat and then UNHCR Jordan, Zikry found his starting point right back here in Malaysia. “I found this calling to incite positivity, because many people liked to talk, but they don’t walk the walk. I understood that there is a huge amount of people who can take action just by getting inspired,” he explained. “My cofounder and I had similar ideas—we wanted to change the way people should take action.” They changed the typical ‘inspirational talks’ format with Incitement Talks where they, in short, funnelled people’s inspiration to take action into outlets like social projects, NGO programmes and other initiatives. Since then, they grew from just being a talk series to a business model that helped organisations rebrand themselves as an entity that cares about the community, and re-educated brands on how to conduct CSR properly, as well as on impact management—but not for the sake of tax returns or just to build their image or even annual reports. Today, they have evolved into a social business, with the use of Blockchain technology. For the non-tech savvy types, here’s the simplest definition: Blockchain technology essentially is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions, but virtually everything of value. Zikry topped this off with his own explanation, “With Blockchain technology, we are able to create a transparent, reliable, humanitarian ecosystem. Simple as that. It cuts off the middle man, or the need for it. Example, if you’re sending money to an NGO to directly benefit from it, you no longer have to deal with agencies.” This movement solves so many problems in the CSR and humanitarian district, said Zikry, as it allows for financial transparency, credibility, proof of impact, return of investments and governance. In a way, social impact can now be made smarter, and for investors… well, you can see exactly where your money is going in real time!
“I want to incite the community to pay it forward more”
Such a breakthrough in utilising this form of technology in humanitarian work definitely deserves its fair share of recognition, but things did not come easy for Zikry in the beginning. “Our company hit rock bottom at the end of 2016,” he confessed. “It’s funny because earlier that year, we were getting awards, made the Forbes list, and then at the end of the year, were on the verge of bankruptcy!” Terrible investments were made, and budgets were not forecasted properly. However, the co-founders took the time to put things into perspective; Zikry admitted to eating oatmeal for a full month and a half just to cut cost. “I think if an entrepreneur could go through something like that, you can overcome anything in the future,” he joked. “But, out of that darkness came new changes and ideas which spurred us to go further!”