Donald Chau
Gratia Christian College
Shirley M C Yeung
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“HEYCOINS is a kiosk network that tackles the hassle and inconvenience created by the use of physical coins. HEYCOINS Kiosk’s collects coins from the general public and converts them into the digital currency that can be used for various purposes, including e-wallets recharge, gift coupons and charitable donations.”
Mr. Eddie Rong and Co-Founder Adam started their entrepreneurial journey in 2015 with keen observation and seamless dialogue with peers on “coins”. Their passion and outcomes of dialogue make the perception of “coins” - “heavy without much value” to “hidden value with transformation". HEYCOINS has many strategic partners which include Tap & Go, PricewaterhouseCoopers, CSL and many more.
HEYCOINS has many coin redemption kiosks located all around Hong Kong allowing for many people to try this new and innovative kiosk network. HEYCOINS also has offices outside of Hong Kong which include Macau and Singapore. Turning coins into digital money has no service fee and only needs a few minutes by using the HEYCOINS kiosk. Over 30,000 customers have been served and over 7 million coins have been processed already.
In fact, the transformation of coin value has visualized United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) including Goal 9 innovations, Goal 8 creating economic impacts of job and Goal 17 partnerships created among merchants, users of coins, and NGOs.
For Goal 17, the solution of carrying fewer coins but more E-Wallets and/ or digital coupons helps merchants, users of coins and staff of HEYCOINS to develop a new perspective of business model - sustainable development with commission received from merchants to drive the creation of kiosk with technology and partnership for social impacts. HEYCOINS provides us a chance to re-think the value, the use and the re-distribution of coin related value for the future of digital payment world.
An interview with Mr. Eddie Rong, Co-founder of HEYCOINS on June 19th, 2018, and the following week, was conducted by a teacher and Donald Chau, Year 2 BBA in Service Marketing and Management student at Gratia Christian College (GCC), Hong Kong.
Mr. Eddie Rong said, "90% of interviewees agree that coins can have an angle of value with transformation and invention."
Mr. Eddie Rong mentioned that flow of coin circulation is increasing in the market, which is not known by the majority of the community. HEYCOINS is able to bridge the gap of saving coins but creating value in circulation.
“A new online platform of E-commerce (HEYCOINS Reward Points: http://heycoins.com/en/redemption.php) has been created to gather coin holders for converting coins into digital coupons from merchants in shopping malls with the use of real-time location map, and Facebook."
HEYCOINS makes the community know how to have a sustainable lifestyle with carrying fewer coins with the invention of the kiosk with coin differentiation (Hong Kong dollars, MOP of Macau and RMB, China) and conversion to digital coupons. As physical money is becoming less popular and e-wallets are becoming more popular, HEYCOINS attempts to create a more sustainable lifestyle.
Good business with multi-disciplinary knowledge of finance, risk management, marketing and human resources, technology and software development can be gained through shared vision - creating the hidden value of coins. Impacts can also be generated through entrepreneurial activities with young people in Cyberport, HK, banks and social enterprises with a heart of serving the community via observation of human behavior.
To be the pioneer in business, one needs to have a sharp observation and a pool of talents who are willing to try.
Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all.
HEYCOINS makes the community know how to create financial impacts with multi-disciplinary knowledge and value creation to merchants, shopping malls and coin users covering all walks of life. Technological progress is the foundation to achieve environmental objectives, which may include increased resource and energy-efficiency. HEYCOINS tackles this development goal perfectly with their innovative idea.
Through invention and rotation of kiosks of coins-to-digital value, HEYCOINS links up coin users and merchants to understand value creation with good and sustainable business. Not only is HEYCOINS used for B2C, but the kiosks can also be used to count coins for B2B. HEYCOINS is currently working on a special program which is designed to meet the needs of business owners.
Mr. Eddie Rong highlighted that his team will interview job seekers themselves to understand their dreams. “We need somebody who buy in our culture with passion,” said Mr. Rong.
Though manpower is one of the challenges in HEYCOINS, Mr. Rong believes that their company is to bridge the gap between merchants and end-users. HEYCOINS is to simplify things with value via integration of skills of their co-founders and colleagues with knowledge in finance and risk management, technology and operations, marketing and human resources.
"HEYCOINS is to close the loop and make coins create hidden value. " said, Mr. Eddie Rong.
Understanding the integration of multi-disciplinary knowledge and the limitation of oneself, HEYCOINS can bring financial value and social value to the community. More importantly, HEYCOINS make people realize that coins can be returned with value creation. It is not a waste and saving coins will not waste our time.
Global Goal number 8 is to achieve higher levels of economic productivity through the diversification, the technological upgrading, and the innovation, including through a focus on high-value-added and labor-intensive sectors.
By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training.
During the interview, Mr. Yuen highlighted that their main challenges for sustainable development were:
· Audit, compliance, and regulations to be fulfilled in this new kind of business;
· Manpower with shared vision and synergy;
· Job creation and skill development for disadvantaged groups of people, for example, drivers and coin center supervisors; and
· Fintech education for children and housewives.
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Eddie Rong, CEO and Co-Founder
HEYCOINS is a kiosk network that tackles the hassle and inconvenience created by the use of physical coins. HEYCOINS Kiosk collects coins from the general public and converts them into the digital currency that can be used for various purposes, including e-wallets recharge, gift coupons and charitable donations.