DOMI's Co-founder, Tammy: The Pandemic Made Me Reflect—What Matters Most on the Last Day of Life?

Founder Tammy believes that while the pandemic brought crises, it is also important not to waste the opportunities that come with them.

Taiwan’s first certified B Corporation, DOMI, has helped 900 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) save 42 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and reduce nearly 45 million kilograms of carbon emissions. However, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted SMEs, affecting DOMI’s business as well. Founder Tammy believes that while the pandemic brought crises, it also created opportunities that should not be wasted.

The Pandemic as a Warning from the Environment

DOMI was founded with the hope of becoming a key energy partner for SMEs and households. Take myself as an example—if I hadn’t entered this field, I would have had zero knowledge of energy issues or what actions to take. The general public faces the same challenge. That’s why DOMI’s mission is to help SMEs and households take climate action.

Climate action is about reducing carbon emissions and avoiding unnecessary energy waste. The same principle applies to environmental protection, such as reducing plastic use.

At the same time, I see the public crises caused by climate change. I’m from Kaohsiung, where the summers are extremely hot, and dengue fever has always been a problem. But now, it’s not just Kaohsiung—Taiwan as a whole is getting hotter, and even the north is experiencing dengue outbreaks. The recent pandemic, along with the increasing environmental upheavals over the past year, signals that the planet is reaching a breaking point.

More and more people are talking about the concept of a climate emergency—but what does it really mean? Events like the Amazon rainforest fires and the locust swarms in Africa raise the question: how severe do these disasters need to get before people truly become aware? During the pandemic, human movement and economic activities came to a halt, and the environment quickly became cleaner. This is a harsh reality. Does it really take eliminating or reducing the human population for us to recognize the problem? I don’t know.

But I do know that the way we conduct economic activities from now on will change. And I know that efforts to improve the environment must continue. Moving forward, we must find ways to help more people easily understand and engage with what we are doing.

The "Endless Hope Lighting Project" began in 2015 and has since completed the replacement of LED energy-efficient lighting in over 3,628 households. This initiative has helped reduce living expenses for disadvantaged families while simultaneously improving their quality of life.

Faced with a huge impact, we must reorganize our business.

To be honest, these past few months have had a significant impact on both DOMI and our clients, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially in the service industry. Over the last two or three months, at least thirty or forty of our clients have been affected, with some shutting down or going bankrupt.

Some of our equipment is not sold outright; instead, we place the energy management systems with the clients and use online visualization software to teach and conduct workshops for their employees, among other methods. However, when trying to understand our clients' situations, it’s difficult. It's hard to directly ask, "Are you about to close your business?" So, we have been trying to figure out how to show care and truly understand their circumstances, especially when it's tough to generate income—saving costs becomes even more important.

As a result, our front-line sales team immediately reached out to customers to understand their situations. We also started purchasing products from our clients, trying to help through our own consumption, or by promoting their discounts and offers. These are the things we can do.

It’s still hard to believe that humanity, and the global economy, could be brought down by a virus. When entrepreneurs like us gather, we discuss how to approach this situation: whether to try to make money while things are still not too bad, or how to adapt. These impacts have also caused me inner pain.

Typically, when promoting energy-saving initiatives, most business owners don’t misunderstand—they simply think it’s too much of an upfront investment or feel it’s not the most urgent matter. But we have also been affected by the pandemic, and since we don’t know how long the recovery period will be, we started thinking about which parts of our business may see a significant decrease in the short term and decided to pause or reassess them. As a result, we had to make some staff reductions.

The 2019 Green Tree Party brought families together to replant trees in the forest, an idea inspired by the founder’s child.

The Pandemic Brought a Better Balance Between Work and Family

We used to talk about balancing work and family, but we never really did it. Ironically, it was the pandemic that made me prioritize my health and family.

With friends overseas struggling with work, children's education, or illness, I suddenly felt how close these issues were to me.

Mornings used to be a rush—getting three kids to school and hurrying to work. Sometimes, I'd start the day calm, but by evening, my patience would be drained, making small things feel overwhelming.

Working from home changed everything. I finally had time to eat breakfast peacefully, drink coffee, and feel less anxious. I stopped rushing my kids and started enjoying the extra freedom and time.

Spending more time with my children reminded me of when I first started my business. Back then, my eldest would accompany me to meetings, drawing on the side. I always carried a pack of colored pens.

But as the company grew, I became too busy to be with them.

During the pandemic, working from home meant they felt my presence. They knew I was there whenever they needed me, which made me realize how much I had missed before. Seeing them grow up so fast and facing things alone sometimes made me feel guilty.

I also had more opportunities to guide them directly. Spending time together allowed me to teach them critical thinking and decision-making at the right moments.

For example, if no one in the classroom wore a mask, should they follow? If they told others to wear one and were ignored, what should they do? These conversations helped me teach them about respecting themselves and others.

As Taiwan demonstrated civic responsibility through self-regulation and public health measures, I used it as a lesson to show them what made our country strong. I was grateful for these meaningful discussions.

The pandemic made me reflect—on my last day in life, what would truly matter? It wouldn’t just be work. These experiences made me think about my family and whether my colleagues at DOMI were safe. Their well-being became my top concern.

Never Waste a Crisis

I’ve always believed that "things will get better," that the situation will eventually pass. I also strongly believe in a phrase that a senior mentor recently shared with me: "Never waste a crisis."

This is the mindset I’ve adopted in response to this pandemic. I think this phrase offers a perspective for many business owners, the general public, and myself, as we all face this crisis. It encourages us to think about how we can change our lives in response to the crisis and find opportunities for work-life balance. It also challenges us to genuinely take action in reducing our environmental impact, so that we don’t find ourselves caught off guard by the same crisis again in the future.

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This article is a translation of an article originally made by CSR