A sweet cause

Desserts, empowerment and helping the community all come together in this new initiative, writes

KIND Kones is a Malaysian icecream brand that just opened its third outlet in Bangsar Village, Kuala Lumpur. Its ice-creams are made in small batches using fresh, natural ingredients and contain no dairy products, making Kind Kones one of few — if not only — vegan ice-cream makers in the country.

The company makes its own nut and coconut milk, doesn’t use preservatives and keeps the sugar content in its products low. This is the healthier icecream choice but it wants to serve everyone, not just vegans.

Kind Kones also aims to be a force of good in society. Founder Serina S. Bajaj recently launched the Unstoppable Women campaign, working with wellknown Malaysian women of various backgrounds to create their own distinct ice-cream flavours for a good cause. These personalities include, among others, Datuk Nicol David, Davina Goh, Deborah Henry and Nadia Nasimuddin.

“If the ladies choose to do so, the proceeds from the sale of the ice-cream flavours will go to a charity of their choice, and Kind Kones will match the contribution,” says Serina at the Kind Kones outlet in Bukit Damansara.

The campaign which began this month, will be on for seven months in all Kind Kones outlets, including its first kiosk in 1 Mont Kiara. Each scoop sells for RM11.80.

Here, we speak to some of the personalities involved in this campaign, their flavour choices, as well as the organisations they want to help through this initiative. DEBORAH HENRY

“My ice-cream flavour is due to be out in February and it is still in development. I want it to be different but I also want it to sell, because the more it sells, the more money the charity gets.

I’m thinking Neapolitan, that classic threeflavoured ice-cream. Traditionally it’s vanilla, chocolate and strawberry but I’m going to do it a little differently. The challenge is finding three flavours that go together and that people are going to like.

Proceeds from the sale will go to Fugee School (a non-profit school for refugee children that Deborah co-founded in 2009). It’s fun to be part of initiatives like these and I like seeing brands getting involved. It is one thing to donate money but it’s another to create campaigns to get people excited. It puts the fun in fundraising.” JESRINA ARSHAD AND STEPHANIE LOO

“Our ice-cream flavour comes out this month and it is Cookies and Cream with chunks of vegan Oreo biscuits. It’s interesting because we come from Purely B, which is an Internet portal that advocates a healthy lifestyle. We tell people that you don’t have to sacrifice what you eat, just get healthier versions of it. So this is the perfect flavour.

We haven’t finalised which charity we want to contribute to because it’s been a rush to get everything sorted for the launch. But we will discuss it with Serina very soon.”