July 5, 2020: Hearty.mv website - winner of Miyaheli social innovation camp 2018, was launched today, creating a common platform for people to give away or sell their preloved items on the community e-marketplace.

“It is always difficult for me to get rid of something preloved, so I always try to pass it on to somebody who needs it, but it’s not easy to find that somebody. I often see people throw stuff away that are in perfectly good condition. In some social media platforms, like support groups for new mothers, I see a lot of people asking for preloved stuff like baby items because they cannot afford to buy something new or are simply looking for a good deal. That is when the problem was validated. I saw there are some people who want to use preloved items and people who were literally throwing them away, and there was no common platform to connect them,” said Fathimath Lahfa, Founder of Hearty.mv, explaining the idea behind the social enterprise Hearty.

Lahfa pitched her idea to Miyaheli, where she worked with her team to validate the solution, going on to win the grant and develop a prototype. The resulting product became the Hearty.mv website, where anyone can give away or sell their preloved items (furniture, clothes, books, literally anything) because they can find somebody who wants it.

Hearty.mv is a simple e-commerce website and marketplace where anyone can create a user account, list their items either to give away for free, or to sell. People who are looking for items can browse through the listings or search for specific items, and after finding what they want, they can contact the seller and arrange pickup/delivery as well as payment.

The difference between Hearty and other existing pages selling preloved items is that Hearty does not sell, give away, store or distribute on its own. It lets you do that, eliminating the middleman, and creating a common platform.

Miyaheli 2018 Social Innovation Camp was hosted by UNDP Maldives and Ooredoo Maldives with support from the Australian Government and Business Center Corporation, who provided training post camp to the winners with information required to kickstart their businesses, as well as mentoring and support as needed.

“We believe that in the new-normal, an app like Hearty.mv would be useful for anyone to sell or giveaway their preloved items. Seeing the innovative ideas presented at Miyaheli come to life is such an inspiration. We are proud to support the talented innovators behind the Hearty.mv app and we wish them success,” said Ooredoo Maldives Acting Chief Commercial Officer, Hussain Niyaz.

The Social Innovation Camps, 'Miyaheli' has been organised in the Maldives by UNDP in partnership with Ooredoo for the past four years and with Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment since 2019. The series brings together youth, ideas, mentors and digital and nondigital tools to create innovations on pressing social issues. Close to 160 youth from across the country have been engaged since 2016.