During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic when borders were closed, I remotely produced, directed and edited videos for 9 female-led social enterprises from the ASEAN region. The social enterprises were part of the ASEAN WISE 2021 program organised by Angels of Impact, a fund and capacity-builder for women and indigenous-led community based enterprises that are too big for microfinance and too small for most impact investors.

Angels of Impact gave me full autonomy as the videomaker of the program. As the enterprises were each in different stages of their businesses and had different needs, I did a pre-interview with each one of them to understand their causes and processes better, then crafted interview questions and the video direction in ways that would help bring out the essence of their enterprises.

Since borders were close and I could not be physically present for the shoots, I had to find suitable videographers in the respective countries of each enterprise, brief them individually of the various video needs and eventually directed the shoots online, including conducting the interviews.

This project was overall challenging as I was single-handedly managing several shoots simultaneously and across different countries, but it was also thoroughly fulfilling. My greatest takeaway from the project was having the opportunity to get to know so many inspiring entrepreneurs and learn about their meaningful projects, all of which share the common theme of uplifting marginalised communities. I am very honoured that Angels of Impact, along with all the 9 social enterprises, gave me the chance to tell their stories and contribute to the advancement of their cause.

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Other social enterprise videos:

Hear and Found (Thailand)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9WqCGeXUmY

Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (Laos)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asz4-33yBKY&t=30s

CHIE Enterprise (Vietnam)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8o7UK1h1hI&t=8s

Woven Crafts (Philippines)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvzP2hmnCuI