Our missions | BW Microgreens

What is BW Microgreens' Mission?

My name is Khai Doan. I am the person behind BW MICROGREENS. I currently live and work as a software engineer in San Jose, California.

I was born in October 1974 into a South Vietnamese family. My mom and dad were from the north but they ran south for political reasons. In 1975, when the North Vietnamese government took over the South, they put my dad into prison for four years. When I saw my dad for the first time (when he was released from prison in 1979), he was a walking stick. After that, the Vietnamese government continued to oppress us. They tried to take our house. They would not let us go to school unless we bribe them. We planned to escape Vietnam by boat but that failed. They put my dad in jail again for a few weeks until an acquaintance got him released.

Life in Vietnam was very dim. I had no hope for a better life when I was living in Vietnam. But in 1990, my family was allowed to migrate to America, because some people pushed the American government to pay the Vietnamese government a certain amount for each political family to leave Vietnam. In America, I received assistance and grants to go to school. I now no longer depend on these social benefit programs. At some point in time, I realized that I owe my life to society and I want to give back to society as much as I can.

A few years ago, I worked in Oakland, California, where I saw some disturbing scenes involving homeless (people dumpster diving for food). I saw a lot of homeless people along the commute. I also saw homeless people around my neighborhood. I know that government programs exist, and that there are nonprofit organizations that try to solve this problem, but these resources are not enough.

I am an engineer, so I do not always believe what I hear, but I am also religious in nature. I consider myself part-buddhist, part-christian, and part-hindu. I believe in past-life and re-incarnation. Before I decided to dedicate myself to solving this homeless issue, I believed that people became homeless because they have done something wrong in this life or previous lives, and if I help them, I may have to bear their bad karma. And, there was that song “what if God was a stranger among us”. And then I had another thought “It is also my karma that I have to see, live and work in places impacted by homelessness. I also questioned myself “where is the religion of humanity within me”. I cannot remember the exact sequence of my thoughts then, but I decided that I wanted to solve this homeless issue.

At the same time that I was working in Oakland, I read an article on farming, and how it connects people to the environment. Somehow, my mind came up with the idea of using businesses, starting with farming, to end homelessness.

I started with incorporating a nonprofit hoping to raise enough donations to buy a farm, but that was too costly and cumbersome. During this process, I spent almost three years (whatever time that I have available) researching this problem and its challenges. I wrote to the governor and a few mayors about an idea but received no response.

During this process, I also learned that microgreens farming can be a profitable business, a good alternate route for me to reach my objective of solving this homeless issue.

How am I going to tackle the homeless issue?

BW Microgreens’ mission statement is “We grow and sell microgreens to end homelessness and advance society”. This s a very broad mission statement. In deed, I have a few other things I wanted to do besides ending homelessness. I believe in preserving the environment, fighting climate change, fighting for social change, and making the world peaceful. I will own a recycling company, a clean energy company. I will fund nonprofits, or establish for-profit social enterprises to work in these area.

I’ve lived in America for more than 30 years. I knew about the Rodney King riot, the Oaklahoma bombing. During the Black Live Matter riot, I realized how destructive its consequences can be. I would hate to live in a world where we cannot learn to live with each other.

The Black Lives Matter riots happened during the time that I was researching the homeless issue, and it gave me a thought that “I cannot build a nice house when the outside (society) is messy”.

I am happy to see that, in the corporate world, companies are trying to be more diverse and inclusive.

I have two kids, one is about to graduate from college, and the other is about to start college soon. A few years ago, a kid at their high school got stabbed to death. We also have more mass shootings, more hate crimes, more criminals. We have work to do. The world needs to hear a different message.

Some of this can be achieved by bringing some of the skills that we are learning as adults into high school or even earlier, such meditation, yoga, compassion, and ethical thinking. I would work with schools to fund these programs, and promote equitable access for all.

I personally believe that humans are flowers of nature. Make your flower bloom, not so much the body, but more of the inner being. I see so much stress in both adult and teenager. I want to fund programs in the area of suicide prevention as well. I believe that a human life is worth something.

Back to the homelessness issue, during my research, I came to know about a few nonprofits that I would like to work closely with. They are Delancey Street, Homeboy Industries, Mobile Loaves & Fishes, Dig Deep Farm.

Once BW Microgreens is on solid ground, I hope to hire someone to run the business for me. This would free up my time so that I can travel, meet these organizations, establish a panel, and work closely with the communities, business leaders and politicians.

Since the Black Live Matter riots, I've accepted the philosophy that I cannot build a nice home while the outside is messy, and considered myself as a minimalist. With this business, once the revenue reach a certain where it can cover my current salary and allow me to live a modest lifestyle, any extra income will be devoted toward advancing society.

Homelessness is a multi-facets issue, and solving it will be hard, but Einstein said something to the extent that whether you can solve a problem depends on how much time you examine the problem.

The idea of using businesses to end homelessness can be powerful if we can help bootstrap it.

What you have read is my background, personal decision, determination, dream, or vision for taking action, and making a positive change. Whether I can make it happen depends on your support. I am not asking for your money for nothing (a donation, or a hand-out). I am asking for your money in exchange for a fair quality healthy product. Our marketing motto is along the line of “Greener You = Greener Planet”, or “Healthier You = Healthier Planet”, and that is what we are striving for. Again, I personally believe that humans are flowers of nature. Make your flower bloom, not so much the body, but more of the inner being.

Lastly, I want to leave you with a phrase that I heard from my favorite Youtuber: “Be nice, be thankful and do the work”, and a video from the Youtubers that inspired me to do this:

I hope that this page was an interesting read for you. Come check out our booth at the farmer market below. Thank you for supporting me, my business, and my mission. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to use the contact page to contact me.

Khai