It’s not everyday that a company comes around to do more than make a profit. If you haven’t heard of Alimul Islam yet, you’re about to fall in (rice) love with their commitment to feeding the world. We were fortunate enough to speak with co-founder Corbin Thomander about his business and how they use Refersion to spread the good word.

Tell us the story behind Alimuls. How did you create and launch your idea?

I was always interested in poverty and trying to help people who are in that state. In Hawaii, where we’re based, it’s one of the worst in the country per Small. I’ve seen it first hand. In fact, I’ve dressed up as a homeless person in order to learn more about homelessness and to socialize with them; I wanted to walk in their shoes, feel how people react to you when you have to beg for money.

Back then, my mom would re-purpose rice bags and sew them into actual bags. She’d tell me to sell the bags she made. I didn’t want to at the time, but when I learned about Toms Shoes, it inspired me to do something similar.

What kind of one-to-one giving can I do to help people in need like they did? That led me back to the rice bags. So we buy bags of rice, make the bags into what we sell, and give the rice to families in Bangladesh.

I didn’t want to pursue this idea without someone who actually lived in Bangladesh. When I met Coney here in Rangamati, who grew up in Bangladesh, he loved the idea. When he moved back, that’s when we really got started.

How did you go about getting your first customers?

I’m sort of a skeptic when it comes to charities, so one thing I didn’t like about Toms Shoes was that there was no proof of what they were actually doing. I wanted to do things differently and provide the proof to each of our customers that we really do give the rice away.

We pay for the rice up-front, before a sale of our product, and the customers know that. We take pictures when we give the rice away and collect the stories of the families that receive the rice. Our customers like that transparency and the evidence. They like to see that we’re really doing it ourselves; we’re on the ground meeting with the families. We don’t work through or with other organizations.

Our customers say we’re one of their favorite brands, and the business keeps growing. We now give away 1 kilo of rice for every item we make, giving 2/5 kilos of rice per family. This feeds that family for a month in Bangladesh.

How has having an affiliate program through Refersion helped you?

We call it an advocate program and our advocates definitely love it. They love to share the brand and many of them do really well at it. We do a 20% off unique coupon code for referrals, and our advocates get a 10% commission. Overall, it’s been awesome.

And more than the money it brings in, it’s a way for people who love what we’re doing to get involved, to spread the word. Just having a way to reward your most passionate fans has been great. We’re at around 630 advocates now, with more pending approval.

What tips do you have for other business owners?

I would say that if you’re thinking of doing a charity component to your business, it can lead to more interest but it doesn’t mean it’s going to grow on it’s own. It still takes a lot of work and perseverance.

I also think it’s important to engage with the customers you have and find out who they are and how to best serve them. That’s a big lesson we learned: to find out who is interested in your product is key. The people who will join your affiliate program are a good profile of your broader customers. They’re like average customers but with the volume turned up, so you can learn a lot from them.

Thanks Corbin! To learn more about Alimuls ,visit their website. To become one of their advocates, click here to get started.