Power of Powermart

By Sophya Lo, Harry Lai and Marco Mak

Let’s welcome Powermart, a “freshman” in HKU! Opened on 27 September, It is a social enterprise supermarket run by Hong Kong Rehabilitation Power (HKRP), which aims at helping the disabled and handicapped persons, individuals with chronic illnesses and the ex-mentally ill people.

A Visionary “Freshman”

As a social enterprise, Powermart is different from ordinary enterprises. They not only aim at earning money, but also solving and easing social problem by providing training programs and internship for the targeted people they are helping.

“With more disadvantaged people going into the labor market, the government expenditure on welfare can be decreased. We hope what we are doing can ease the government’s burden.” Veason So, Manager of HKRP said.

Through the Powermart, the disadvantaged can contribute to their society by their ability.

Filling in the Gap

Powermart acts as a physical and psychological platform for the non-gifted people to practice what they have learnt in the training program.

Regard to psychological aspect, Powermart fills in the gap between the time after the training program and before being employed by ordinary enterprises. Employee can learn interpersonal skills, shop management skills and gain a positive attitude.

“We have found that many members in our organization are not well-prepared to work in ordinary enterprises. The sudden change from the program to working may exert a psychological burden to them.” Manager So said.

In the physical perspective, the design of the shop suits the physically disabled staff. “As you can see, there is a ramp next to the counter, it is mobile and a cashier installed at a higher position. This design is suitable for the physically disabled staff to work because the width of the ramp is enough for a wheelchair to pass through. Thus, they can do the (cashier) work.” Sze-Wang Yeung, Shop Supervisor said.

Workers working hard with a cash register specially designed for workers on wheelchairs.

Working in Powermart

In HKU, there are a lot of people from all over the world. How can the workers deal with communication problem?

“To be frank, our staff is not good at English. We solve the problem by directly showing the price on a calculator or using body language, if the customers ask about the price.” Yeung said.

Furthermore, the staff and the Shop Supervisor communicate with one another very well and have established a close relationship with one another. The staff is willing to share what is in their mind to the Shop Supervisor.

“I am not a social worker, but some staff called me at midnight and said he had been in a tough time. I just told him to calm down and tell me his problems.” Yeung said.

To the staff, what are their gains in the shop? Ah Sun, who has worked in other social enterprise for a year before joining Powermart. He learnt how to manage the products in the shop. “I have tried different kinds of work in this shop, I have learnt a lot.” What’s more, he had quite a good relationship with the staff in the shop. “Although some colleagues are not emotionally stable due to medicine they took, you have to be considerate with them.” Ah Sun said.

Spreading the Power

Powermart is not going to have big promotion in the long term as they don’t have so many resources. “If you students and staff know that we are helping the minority in the society, it is much more useful than any promotion.” Yeung said. They want to chat with the students as much as possible. Only by letting them know more about Powermart could they know what a social enterprise is and what their vision actually are.

There is a concern that not so many students know about Powermart. “I know there is a supermarket, but I have no idea it is a social enterprise.” Ben Ho, a dental student. Charlie So and Benjamin Wong, students from Science and Architecture respectively, said that they don’t even know there is a supermarket in West Gate.

“What I can think of social enterprise is expensive!” Benjamin said.

“I think social obligation is more important than making profits.” Charlie said. Nonetheless, according to Manager So, both profit and obligation are important.

What can be done to improve this situation? “If you students find our shop awesome, please spread the words to your friends. This surely helps us a lot!” Yeung suggested.

So, what are you waiting for? Let’s maximize the power of Powermart!

Powermart is located at G/F Centennial Campus, near Cheng Yu Tung Tower.