Caught up with Naoe Miyata and co-founder Jasnam Sachdev of Coin-Back, our WIT Indonesia 2015 Start-Up winner, in Bangkok this week – I was curious to find out how his project which encourages travellers to drop coins, pick their cause and track their donations was getting on.
Miyata (left) and Sachdev showing off the second prototype of the Coin-Back kiosk
Well, he came to Siam Kempinski armed with his second prototype machine, a smaller, lighter machine than what he demonstrated to our audience in Bali. Plus, it’s got a really neat and simple UI – three clicks to make a donation to the cause of your choice.
You put in your coin (say 10 baht), tap on the cause of your choice – feed a stray dog, plant a tree, educate boys & girls or feed the homeless, enter your email and click submit.
Each cause has an overall goal and what the amount raised will do and you will be kept informed by email of the progression of each cause.
That’s the first breakthrough – a simple and easy UI.
The other breakthrough is that this second prototype is a working unit that is ready to be deployed anywhere. Said Miyata, “It is more secure, better interface, and we can store customer data for the users to track their donation. This machine is portable so we can bring it around depending on the events and venue.”
It costs about $700 to manufacture vs the $2,000 in the first prototype. They’re currently working on the final product which will have additional features including bulk coin counter, bill counter, and kiosk printer.
“The kiosk will be stationed only in a specific spot, but it will be able to have a lot more capacity to collect coins and bills. In terms of the cost, we are looking at 25,000 baht ($710) for the small box, and 60,000 baht (US$1700) for the large kiosk. However, this is a prototype unit price. As we start using mass production tooling, the cost will only be reduced.”
It is raising funds to produce the final prototype. So far, the project has been self-funded.
The next step is to find locations to place the kiosk. I can see it being placed in hotel lobbies, shopping malls, train stations, airports – any place where tourists gather.
Miyata and Sachdev have been beta-testing it at events such as Weekend Farmer’s Markets and start-up gatherings.
It of course has limitations. It can only collect Thai baht coins – but then Thailand is the largest inbound destination in Asia and so that’s a good place to start. It is challenging to scale – someone has to physically count the coins in the end, convert them into currency and disperse to the right causes.
Raising funds is also a challenge for this social enterprise.
“We have been pitching to many investors and are applying for various incubation/start-up competitions to find someone who might be interested in funding us,” said Miyata.
“The biggest challenge that we have at the moment is finding the corporate partners. We believe that in order to find the right partners, we need to have sufficient customers and prove that our business model works. I think we are ready, as we have the machine, sufficient NGO partners (19 NGOs), and some corporate partners who are willing to help us locate the machine. Now it’s our responsibility to acquire and satisfy these customers.”
I am pleased to see that they haven’t lost their passion and determination to make this idea of theirs work.
Click here for a demo of how Coin Back works,
