KUALA LUMPUR: "Since I was a child, I was always reminded by my parents and the elders around me about the greatness of giving alms, that we will not become poorer, but will be rewarded multiple folds by God if we give alms".

That's the response by YouTuber Mohd Fahmi Abdullah Sani, 30, when asked the reason for him, and a friend, Mohamad Ridhwan Haron, 30, in doing charity work by uploading videos on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to promote hawker businesses for free.

Using the name 'FS Channel', it now has over 800,000 followers on Facebook, nearly 300,000 on YouTube and 29,000 on Instagram.

Mohd Fahmi , 30, said it all started when he and Mohamad Ridhwan decided to produce a video content for netizens and, at the same time, help to promote small businesses, especially by hawkers and petty traders.

"Our intention is to help the traders and hawkers get more income and for them to be able to expand their business through video, which are then viralled by netizens on social media," he told Bernama recently.

In all the videos they produced, Mohd Fahmi and Mohamad Ridhwan are always seen interacting with the traders and hawkers, giving their comments on food they captured on video and then buying all the food and giving them away to the public.

They also provide information on the hawkers and traders, like the address, telephone number and locations to make it easier for netizens to visit.

Since they started the FS Channel in August last year, the two men have helped to promote the business of 80 hawkers in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

Mohd Fahmi, who is self-employed, said during the early stage, they forked out their own money to buy food from the hawkers for purpose of making the videos.

"But as the number of followers increases, and we get more more views for the videos, we manage to get income ' from Facebook and Youtube, some of which we donated back to the hawkers and petty traders.

"It is a success also because of the netizens who watch and 'share' our videos," he added.

Meanwhile, Mohamad Ridhwan said they have their own criteria in the selection of hawkers for their videos, like the elderly, Muslim converts, people with disabilities, newbies and those who sell cheap, but tasty food.

"Some of the hawkers that we helped are doing well in their business now, like the Donut Sempoi in Tanjung Karang, where its sales has increased to 1,500 pieces of doughnuts in two hours, from only 200 pieces a day.

"The owner now has to employ more workers to cope with the demand, he added.

-- BERNAMA