Had a great gathering at Geek Terminal this evening for Bluestocking’s StepOut event for women entrepreneurs. I told my INSEAD classmates about this and 5 of them managed to make it. So the mix was a little more international than usual.
Geek Terminal is looking very good after its renovation. Things started well from the beginning. Firstly, there were COCKTAILS! We could each try 5 different blue cocktails and the most popular flavour would become the Bluestocking cocktail.
Three lady entrepreneurs shared their experiences about starting their own businesses: Ms Goh Yiping (President, World Indigo Inc); Ms Virginia Cha (CEO, WOVE Holdings Ltd) and Mrs Kim Faulkner (CEO, Activiste Pte Ltd).
Yiping was the youngest but had a great location-based idea which intrigued my fellow techy classmate Reene, who gave her a contact who might help publicise her idea. I like my classmates precisely because they are helpful and share information willingly.
Virginia speaking
Virginia spoke of her experience doing business in China, and added that her story became an INSEAD case! There were other interesting details to her story that we didn’t get to hear. However her advice was sensible: Don’t go to China thinking you can do everything your way, because it’s very different from the rest of the world. Instead, feel the pulse there and go with the flow.
Kim speaking
Kim shared her interesting life story and how her business was bought up by a famous global company. She mentioned her experience as a consultant, and turns out she was from the same consultancy as one of my classmates, Eline! So it was a small world indeed. My take-home point from her was that wherever we work, our personal brand or reputation stays with us. It’s something important that we must maintain.
After the speeches were over, it was time for some audience participation. True to the theme, our activity involved standing behind a line and stepping out when we disagreed or agreed with a statement involving women doing business or generally cutting our own paths in this world. I and a few of my classmates got to air our views.
I discovered talent among my friends. One of my classmates, Anna, turned out to have a very astute cocktail sense, detecting a missing ingredient. Also I was suitably impressed with Coleman’s coffee making and decorating skills.
Woot! ;-)
Thanks to Raine and friends for a most wonderful evening, and to Danny and the team at Geek Terminal for making us feel at home!
Comments