About Us
We are a collective of student volunteers across Malaysia, united by our commitment to helping students from the B40* community gain access to the digital tools they need for educational success. Our decentralised structure includes active local chapters at Sekolah Rendah Stella Maris Ampang and MILA University, with plans for future expansion.
* In Malaysia, the terms B40, M40, and T20 refer to household income classifications, with B40 representing the bottom 40%, M40 the middle 40%, and T20 the top 20%.
Mission
Our mission is to help students from underserved low-income communities bridge the digital divide. We focus on the following key areas:
1) Designing cost-effective educational computing devices,
2) Building networks of volunteer chapters across Malaysia,
3) Establishing partnerships with corporate sponsors, and
4) Securing the necessary funding to support our operations.
Our Story
Although the team ran out of time to raise enough money to build and donate the PCs during the semester, they kept the project going. Iva worked with her MPU U4 lecturer, Prof. Chung, and partnered with a team at Heriot-Watt University Malaysia (HWUM) led by Ivan Yew and his lecturer, Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Hoo Choon Lih. This collaboration proved essential for taking the initiative beyond Manipal and solving the fundraising difficulties Iva and her team were facing. After the knowledge transfer, Ivan and his peers raised RM17,000 through the EmPOWER Fiesta O Rama and AirFunding campaigns. On 23 August 2022 they donated 16 Raspberry Pi-based computers—eight to Persatuan Pembangunan Jayadiri Selangor and eight to deserving families. It was the HWUM team who coined the name PC4B40.
Later in 2022, computer engineering student Lee Shuen Fei at Manipal International University proposed a new MPU U4 project: collecting old laptops and PCs from companies, refurbishing them, and donating them to students and schools in B40 communities. With help from family and friends, Lee’s team gathered two old laptops and raised the funds needed to refurbish them. To keep software costs low, Lee followed Iva’s approach and installed Manjaro Linux on these refurbished laptops, maintaining consistency with the Raspberry Pi machines.
Today PC4B40 covers both low-cost Raspberry Pi-based PCs and refurbished laptops and PCs, and continues to expand its support for students in underserved low-income communities.
Raspberry-Pi based PC
The Core Team
Chapters
Manipal Internation University (now known as MILA University) is the birth place and the cofounding chapter of the PC4B40 initiative.
Heriot-Watt University Malaysia (HWUM) is a cofounding chapter of the PC4B40 initiative. It is also the first chapter to have successfully completed a campaign. HWUM raised RM17,000 and donated 16 Raspberry Pi-based computers. The name PC4B40 is coined by a member from this chapter.
Sekolah Rendah Stella Maris (Ampang) is the first primary school chapter for PC4B40.
Our Corporate Partners
Our work are made easier with the support of corporate partners, be this be in the form of material support or in kind.
On the 5th of October 2023, Fibertex Personal Care, donated 7 and 6 used PCs and laptops respectively to MILA University's PC4B40 campaign to provide refurbished laptops and PCs to schools and students from underserved B40 communities.
In the photo above (from left to right), Mr Joshua Leong, Director for Operations, MILA University and Mr Jesper Pedersen, Operations Director, Fibertex Personal Care.