Crazy Smart Asia explores the unexpected stories of Asia’s disruptors.
This week’s guest is Ankiti Bose, co-founder of e-commerce startup Zilingo. A B2B fashion platform, Zilingo provides tech-enabled supply chain solutions to small merchants across Asia, handling an annual sales volume exceeding US$1bn.
During the conversation, Ankiti is straight-shooting and refreshingly honest. Not one to shy away from the big topics, she gives anything but sanitised soundbites in her conversation with Gen.T’s Lee Williamson, as the pair get into some of the realest challenges facing entrepreneurs today.
On the agenda for discussion: the potential “curse” of the near-unicorn tag, tackling misogyny head-on, the mental health struggles entrepreneurs deal with, and the tough decisions she faced at the beginning of the pandemic, when Zilingo had to restructure to weather the storm.

RUNNING ORDER:
- Quickfire round (2m 00s)
- The why (5m 00s)
- Zilingo’s pivot (6m 40s)
- The weight of the unicorn tag (10m 30s)
- Gender inequality (12m 30s)
- Becoming an entrepreneur (19m 30s)
- How the pandemic changed the industry (21m 40s)
- Restructuring and tough decisions (24m 00s)
- How to deal with “no” (28m 50s)
- Responding to failure (30m 00s)
- “Pathological” optimism (32m 00s)
- Shouldering responsibility (34m 20s)
- Interview with Anton Wong, BNP Paribas Wealth Management’s Head of Taiwan Market, about future e-commerce trends (36m 20s)
- Mental resilience (39m 20s)
- Final thought (41m 50s)

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