Raise the Bar

Iva is the co-founder of RE.VITYL, a company producing a collection of holistic sleep-routine products that will naturally revitalize the way you live your best life. Iva has a 20 year global corporate career spanning North America, Europe and Asia in management and product development with Adidas, Ralph Lauren, Timex Group, Hudsons Bay Company. She shares how sleep and wellness become critical to her health and wellbeing and how this led to the creation of RE.VITYL, her plans for growing REVITYL , and gives tips for women starting their fundraising journey including how being bold on LinkedIn has been instrumental in reaching out to customers and potential investors. 

As a member of Next Chapter’s Capital Club, an exclusive programme for women business leaders ready to fundraise, we are pleased to be sharing Iva’s journey as a founder and her plans for RE.VITYL.

April Lam is the founder of Aello Consulting, a HK-based market entry company that focuses on Hong Kong and Southeast Asian markets. At Aello consulting, they strategize and execute as the extended team for your company.  April is a Brand Maven with 18 years track record of increasing revenue and driving transformation in luxury retail and branding industries. She is experienced with market-entry strategy, omnichannel marketing, brand launch, forming partnerships and re-branding. After working in HK, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Poland, April is in touch with market trends and challenges in entering these markets. 

As a member of Next Chapter’s Capital Club programme, an exclusive programme for women business leaders ready to fundraise, we are pleased to be sharing April’s journey as a founder, her industry experiences and her growth plans for Aello Consulting. 

Adrian Warr, CEO Edelman South-East Asia until 2023, is a communications consultant whose work in New York, London and Hong Kong with some of the world’s best consultancies has given him experience in corporate, crisis, branding, marcomms, employee engagement, public affairs and digital marketing. He is a founding member of The Male Allies, and through this role as a gender equality champion, we have invited Adrian to share his views on gender diversity and how rewriting capitalism can change the world.

Chris Edwards the founder of Honeycombers, a digital lifestyle magazine in Singapore, Hong Kong and Bali, shares about how she started Honeycombers with 3 other co-founders, talks through Honeycombers growth, how she has used revenue and other key factors to supercharge the business, and how company values are important and drive the hiring process for Honeycombers.

This episode features Marianne Hughes, one of our recent Entrepreneurs-in-Residence at Next Chapter Raise and an award-winning entrepreneur and thought leader on transparency. As the Founder and CEO of Kno Global, her goal is to humanize the supply chain and reach 10m factory workers globally. 

Our philosophy at Next Chapter Raise is that fundraising is a journey and not just a one-off event. Kno Global is nearly a poster child in terms of their fundraising story.  They have received Angel investment, joined the Chinaaccelerator and now are fundraising with Venture Capital form and institutional investors.   Marianne shares how she became an “accidental journalist” to moving to China and building Kno Global including her fundraising experiences. She highlights how important it is to become an equal partner with investors and stay focused and intentional in building a company.

As part of the StartmeupHK 2021 Festival, featuring the Next Chapter Raise Female Funding Fair on 24 May, 2021 we have released this special edition podcast featuring the final event of the Funding Fair, sharing insights on all things Female Financial Power. Debbie Watkins (LUCY), Dipika Jaikishan (Basis), Adrian Warr (Edelman), moderated by Gwen Faure (The Women’s Foundation Board Member), referenced a survey conducted by The Women’s Foundation which stated that “42% of men think families will suffer if more women are at work” and that changing perceptions still remains important. 

As it stands, the gender pay gap in Hong Kong is 20%, which is less than it was ten years ago. Yet, 1 in 6 women in Hong Kong still live below the poverty line. Accessible finance for women seems more essential than ever, with more and more women in developing countries are considering how they can access the same finances that their fathers had. 

 
 To view the whole event, watch here.

As part of the StartmeupHK 2021 Festival, featuring the Next Chapter Raise Female Funding Fair on 24 May, 2021 we have released this special edition podcast featuring the second inspiring event of the Funding Fair, which was joined by female founders Nicki Ramsey (CardUp), Emma Holcroft (Imunis), and Precious Silvia (PearlPay). Moderating the Showcase was Victor Lang- Chief Operating officer, Gini.  The 3 founders represented fintech and health-tech and said that the reason for their growth has been the ability to identify and create solutions for a very clear gap in the market. 

The conversation tracks the personal and professional journeys of these founders as they’ve begun to scale up their businesses and the challenges they’ve faced.

To view the whole event, watch here.

As part of the StartmeupHK 2021 Festival, featuring the Next Chapter Raise Female Funding Fair on 24 May, 2021 we have released this special edition podcast which brings together 3 amazing experts. Discussing whether female founders can be a better investment, were Melissa Widner (Lighter Capital), Amar Gokhale (Intellecap), and Jeff Begine Ng (Transcend Capital), with Nicole Denholder (Next Chapter Raise) moderating the event. 

With an array of VC and consulting expertise between the speakers, they were quick to establish the importance of creating an ecosystem that supports female founders. However, they added that businesses are required to look inwards to achieve this.

To view the whole event, watch here.

Emma Sherrard Matthew shares her authentically driven investment journey across the world. Emma launched Quintessentially in Hong Kong and brings her entrepreneurial mindset to investing where her real passion lies. As an investor and entrepreneur she shares her evolution from casual investor to the formal development of STEM Innovations which has made 25 investments across the globe. Hear how Emma has taken risks and made personal connections to enjoy the investment journey and make an impact through her investments. 

Christine Yu left the Corporate world and jumped into the world of impact investing and entrepreneurship. Christine, with her husband, is the founder of Lapidary Limited, an impact investing firm and founder of AndAll, a sustainable, ethical gender neutral clothing brand. In this episode Christine deep dives into the world of angel investing, her investment activities and gives advice for founders, investors and wannabe investors.