Womenpreneur Asia

Today’s episode is with a Singapore-based Dutch entrepreneur, Maaike Doyer who is the Founder and Managing Partner at Epic Angels. 

Although she is not Asian (as I only feature Asian women entrepreneurs in Asia), I made the exception and invited her to be part of this special International Women’s Day 2-parter episode.

We get an insider look at what angel investing is about, how female startup founders in Asia can get funded via angel investing and how to get the attention of angel investors.

This is the first part of a two-part series.

The next episode is about how women can become angel investors and Maaike will debunk some of the myths about angel investing as well as invite you to be part of her angel investing network. 

If you know any female startup founders who need to hear this episode, share this with them.

In this episode, Maaike talks about the cupcake test, the 2-minute test, what should be in your pitch deck and when you should be pitching to investors. 

Maaike wants to democratize angel investing and make angel investing accessible, like getting a cup of coffee.

The Epic Angels network comprising female executives and operators wants to give women the confidence to invest, by learning about the investment process, and understanding how other women invest.

Get the full show notes at WomenpreneurAsia.com

This episode is sponsored by Redbox Studio.

Today’s BONUS and final episode of Season 5 is with a food entrepreneur from Hawaii, Tina Kekoolani.

Tina is the creator and owner of Haleakala Supah Shots. 

Her Haleakala Supah Shots is a healthy re-imagination of the classic Hawaiian chili pepper water. Her immune-boosting elixir is made with Hawaiian chili pepper water, fruit juice, vinegar, organic agave and hand-harvested Hawaiian sea salt.

Tina lives as a teacher and farmer on the island of Maui, having moved to Maui from Oahu where she grew up.

Tina moved to Maui in 2000 to work on a Kahoolawe bomb clearance project and has been on the island ever since.

When the Kahoolawe project ended, Tina began teaching and connecting with her community. At school, she teaches Hawaiian Studies to local children. When she is not teaching, she is growing food and making raw, vegan elixirs. 

Tina founded Haleakala Supah Shots in October 2016 and at the local community fair, sold out of her first batch of 40 bottles.

In 2019, her elixirs were named the best new food product at the Made in Maui County Festival. She experienced a rush of orders during the pandemic lockdown in March 2020 because everyone was concerned about boosting their immunity. 

Tina speaks of her products in a way that’s totally different from other entrepreneurs I’ve spoken to. She brings reverence to her products and imbues them with spirituality which I appreciate. We don’t speak enough about spirituality and particularly in the entrepreneurial context. 

I am also delighted that I cap the season with an episode with a Hawaiian entrepreneur who believes deeply that community health is community wealth. As we have experienced over the past 3 years, we are nothing without our health. 

As I wrap up my podcasting year (and a total of 72 published episodes as of December 2022), I look forward to taking a break and enjoying the holiday season. 

Season 6 begins in March next year and I hope you will continue to share my podcast with friends who are on their entrepreneurial journey. Each of us needs that one story that lifts us and I hope my podcast gives you a buffet of stories that you can listen to over and over! 

Thank you for being with me on this journey as I podcast my way into more stories and experiences from Asian women in Asia. I am already preparing for Season 6 and I can tell you, my guests for Season 7 are incredible indeed. Stay tuned for their stories and strategies.

Remember to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast wherever you are.  

And that’s it, my friend. I’ll see you in 2023. Be well, be happy and appreciate your business journey! 

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Today’s episode is with an entrepreneur from Malaysia, Kaniza Shafie.

She is the co-founder of Kebun Kota in Kuantan, Pahang. She is also an architect and mother of five. 

We started by talking about her farm, Kebun Kota which supplies fresh harvest her cafe, Roots.

Kebun Kota is a 14-acre farm that was once a quarry.

Kaniza is proud that she and her husband, Dr Muhklis Chua, regenerated this brownfield into an eco-friendly urban farm and agriculture research centre that she lovingly calls Kebun Kota (which means “city farm” in Malay)

She believes that micro-farming and smart farming are the way of the future.

We also spoke about women, technology, intentionality, learning how to say no, being true to ourselves and getting back to the core of our humanity.

In this interview, Kaniza talks about her childhood as well as motherhood.

She also speaks about being more intentional about her life now that she’s two years from 60 and what she truly desires to do with her life and business.

Get the show notes at WomenpreneurAsia.com

Do rate, review and subscribe to the podcast and share this episode with a friend.

Today’s episode is with a founding director of a non-profit from Sri Lanka, Debbie Edirisinghe.

Debbie is with Child Action Lanka.

Child Action Lanka began in the city of Kandy, Sri Lanka in 2006.

She started it with her husband, Dilshan, when she was asked to take over from a woman teaching 8 street children. (Listen to her story in the episode.)

Some 16 years later, her organization has grown to reach over 1,500 children in 8 districts in Sri Lanka. 

Her organization offers housing and food, schooling and education resources, as well as counselling to ensure lower school dropout rates. 

In our conversation today, Debbie spoke about the need to give children a second chance and to transform their lives.

In our heartwarming interview, she spoke about the lessons she had learnt over the years in running a non-profit and her leadership style.

Despite what has happened in Sri Lanka this year, she is even more determined to help the children whose lives are the most affected.

She talks about making a difference through her work with women and children through various initiatives but what strikes me most is that she reminds her own daughters that she is raising them to be strong women. 

Get the show notes at WomenpreneurAsia.com

Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast for more inspiring stories and strategies from Asian women entrepreneurs in Asia.

Today’s episode is with an entrepreneur from Bangalore, India, Farah Ismail.

She is the founder of Interact Consulting and calls herself a courage catalyst, coach, facilitator, and speaker. 

Farah has more than 25 years of experience in the field of leadership and cross-cultural competence from her years abroad and working across countries and cultures.

She began her career in the aviation industry in the Middle East, returning to India during the IT and services boom to work in the business and learning development sectors. 

Farah started her company in 2006 with the belief that everyone has the potential to make a difference and she says her role is to inspire change and realise this potential.

When they work with her, they can reimagine their business with clarity and confidence.

In this episode, we spoke about seeing gifts in the adversity that life throws at us and having a sense of adventure in our lives. Farah also encouraged women to own their voices and express themselves fully.

As a coach, Farah’s desire is to make a difference in people’s lives, continuously growing as she develops others. She spoke about choosing oneself and being courageous to set our own agenda and here’s what I like most, factor playfulness in our daily agenda.

At the heart of what we spoke about were our choices and courage. 

Find more show notes about her on WomenpreneurAsia.com

If you have enjoyed today’s episode, please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on your favourite podcast app. Or share this episode with a friend.

Today’s episode is with an entrepreneur from Malaysia, Sharifah Sarah. 

She started the business with her cousin when she was a university student studying medicine.

Today, she is the co-founder of By Sarah, a business she started with her cousin based on their love for each other and their love for the exquisite songket, a type of woven fabric in the brocade family of textiles unique to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. 

By Sarah uses songket in crafting all of its bespoke accessories and clutches by their team of local artisans. Their products have been ordered by embassies and celebrities. 

In this episode, she doesn’t just tell us a story of her business but also how she started the business as a university student and how she switched careers from being a doctor to working in a telecommunications company while managing her business. 

If you have enjoyed today’s episode, please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on your favourite podcast app.

Or share this episode with a friend.

Thank you for listening, I appreciate you and I’ll see you next Friday! 

More links, information and show notes: WomenpreneurAsia.com

Do you have to know how to code in order to start an education technology business?

Or what if you’re female and not as young as some of the tech startup founders you see around you?

Today’s episode is with an entrepreneur from Indonesia who lives in Singapore, Nino Mouton.

Nino is the founder of the education tech startup, Playbook.  

She’s the ex-editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan Indonesia and content strategist turned education tech warrior who wants to reinvent education for the young people of Indonesia. 

Nino talks openly about her startup and the mistakes she made in the early days, forcing her to pivot. She used to panic when users found bugs in her app and she said she wished she stopped hesitating a lot more and started putting her product out to the world quicker. She talks about not knowing how to code and everyone said she needed to learn so she even took coding classes! Eventually, she realized that she wanted to be a business person, not a programmer. 

Playbook is an app that offers soft skills training in micro-learning segments. Nino and her team are presently focused on the Indonesian market with micro-learning lessons served in the Indonesian language or Bahasa Indonesia. 

If you’re a returning listener or a new listener and you like this podcast, do tell a friend about it. And I'd appreciate it if you could rate, review and subscribe too.

For more show notes and all the links to connect with my guests on the podcast, visit WomenpreneurAsia.com

Today’s episode is with an entrepreneur from India, Upasna Dash who is the Founder & CEO of Jajabor Brand Consultancy. 

Upasna took her love for storytelling to start her PR agency at 26 years old. She started with 10,000 rupees in 2017 which is barely RM600 or about US120 with a laptop, and her grandfather’s well-worn couch in her family home and has since grown it to a 50-person company with 40+ clients in a few short years!

Yet her motivation isn’t just about building a great PR business. It’s a lot deeper than that as you will hear in today’s episode. 

We had so many things to talk about in this episode - about women in decision-making roles, about being a young entrepreneur, about wanting to do great work and helping startups get seen. She said that building a business is hard but building a business as a young woman in a city like New Delhi is even harder! I like one of her quotes - she wants her impact to walk into the room before she does and have her work speak for her. In our conversation, we touch on why women need to make decisions at the right places and be given the right platforms to grow from. 

If you like her story, get more details in the show notes at the website link below.

You are listening to Season 5 of the Womenpreneur Asia podcast hosted by Krista Goon.

Find out more about the podcast, how you can get on her show and lots more at WomenpreneurAsia.com

Would you take the easy path or would you strive for something bigger than yourself even if you didn’t have to?  

My guest today didn’t want to regret that she didn’t do something for herself when she could. Her friends said she could just sit back and enjoy her life - after all she had the means to do so. Having had her own career when she was younger and being inspired by the mavens of the Malaysian beauty industry, she felt it would be tragic if she didn’t try something on her own and that’s how she started two businesses in her mid-40s.  

Today’s episode is with an entrepreneur from Malaysia, Joyce Chua. Joyce is the Founder & CEO of Queva Beauty based in Johor, Malaysia. Queva is a business service that Joyce believes is the answer and solution to the biggest headache that beauty consultants suffer from!

Joyce has always been in the beauty and skincare industry starting from the time she worked for some of the most popular brands in Malaysia in the 1990s such as Dermalogica, The Body Shop, Xixili and more. She used to work in training, marketing, PR and sales and she admitted that she learnt a lot working under industry mavens such as Datin Mina Cheah-Fong of The Body Shop franchise in Malaysia.

Besides the salon business, she is also the founder of a skincare product - a Vitamin C serum named Fabs Skin. Her fruit-powered serum contains apple and carrot extracts to prevent hyperpigmentation problems.

For the full show notes or to nominate a guest for our upcoming season, visit Womenpreneur Asia.com

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Getting out of your comfort zone. Having the courage to go against norms and what’s expected of you. Becoming a mother at 41. Cultural explorations and coming full circle.

My guest today is Emilie Chung who co-founded Sinellia Tea with her husband in Guangdong, China.

She left France (where she had grown up, born to a Chinese dad and British mum) for China when she was 30 years old and has never looked back since.

She didn't speak Mandarin when she arrived and yet felt completely at home!

In this episode, we talk about more than just tea. We spoke about how Emilie made decisions in her life and how she bucked perceptions as a woman who is unafraid to have some adventures of her own.

She didn't let conventions dictate her life and didn't limit herself to doing what everyone did.

Despite getting a degree to be a university teacher, Emilie is more than that.

She is a coach, facilitator, university teacher and entrepreneur of her own tea business and a new mother (she had a baby at 41 when she never thought she would have one!). Today she can discuss tea and the finer aspects of tea in Mandarin!

Get the full show notes or subscribe to our newsletter at WomenpreneurAsia.com

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