Episodes

Welcome to Season 3! We kick off our third season with Yuka Imanishi who is the founder and CEO of CURIO Japan Inc. Yuka's business started as a B2C business and soon after, became also a B2B business and now she even has a third business due to the pandemic! Due to her innate curiosity for the world at large, her business is all about fostering intercultural relations between international students with the local Japanese. It started with a simple premise - tutoring services. Later, she also...

For the final episode of Season 2, I spoke to Amita Nandy, CEO and Founder of Tact World, Malaysia. Her story has a twist at the end. TACT World began in 1991 when she had to leave full-time work to take care of her family and for 31 years, Amita has been training, coaching and facilitating. She still works with corporate clients but she also now focuses her energy on women. Amita has a passion for working with women using women circles and retreats, incorporating storytelling and coaching and...

This episode is about a Singaporean mumpreneur, Eve Phua who is the founder of Believe Beauty Academy, a beauty and wellness business where she helps women look their best - using products by Mary Kay. She was top in her personal sales for the Mary Kay Singapore Sales Director Category last year despite it being a challenging year due to the pandemic. She also leads her own team of beauty consultants. But more than that, she spoke about how she saw herself transforming from a timid person to s...

In this episode, I spoke to Michelle Yeo who is the Co-Founder and General Manager of Dandy Modern Food in Penang, Malaysia. She has two outlets in Penang with a third planned for Kuala Lumpur. Dandy is an all-day casual eatery, bakery and café serving a massive 150 items on their menu. These contemporary Mediterranean dishes include pastries and desserts. Michelle who is from Kuching, Sarawak and her husband Jamal who is from Lebanon were already running a security systems business when they...

In today’s episode, I spoke to Boonsiri Somchit Ong who is the co-founder and chief conceptualist of Xtrategize Technologies Sdn Bhd based in Penang, Malaysia. Boonsiri is of Malaysian Thai-Chinese descent and is well known in the multinational corporation circle where she had spent more than 30 years before she left to join her husband, Tony, in the business. In her previous corporate role, Boonsiri was a finance and operations professional leading a global team that delivered business accoun...

This week, I spoke to Radha Mohan Durbha who is the co-founder and director of Kereses Consulting India Private Ltd, India. She started her business when she was 41 and in looking back, she wished she had started much earlier! Kereses Consulting India Private Ltd is a HR consulting business based in Bangalore, India that Radha started with her friend. As a HR recruiter, Radha is responsible for the planning, budgeting and operations of recruitment and training, and engages with organizations ...

Jaklin Juanis is the founder of Professional Advancements Resources based in Malaysia. Jaklin was born and bred in Kota Belud in rural Sabah, East Malaysia. Her village didn’t have electricity and as a child she studied by candlelight. In this interview, she spoke about how she kept on moving and having the momentum to get out of her challenging situation, and being smart about the resources she had around her. She has certainly done well for herself. Since 2008, as a corporate trainer, Jakli...

In this episode, I spoke to Malaysian entrepreneur Shamala Hinrichsen. Shamala is the founder of Hanai, a social enterprise that empowers women to take charge of their health. Her first app, Hanai Jiwa Ibu, targeted at rural Malaysia provides women with access to information about maternal, mental health and domestic violence in addition to a complete doctor’s directory and information on COVID-19. Inspired by her own grandmother, Shamala who now lives in Germany with her husband and two chil...

In this episode, I spoke to Cha-Ly Koh who is the CEO & founder of Urbanmetry Sdn Bhd in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Urbanmetry is a data company that cleans and analyses large amounts of city data, through its proprietary algorithms with the purpose of using data to better inform, plan and develop sustainable urban dwellings. With offices in Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi, Urbanmetry collaborated with ThinkCity to publish a book in 2016 titled The Secret Atlas of Greater Kuala Lumpur which offers insight...

In this episode, I spoke to Shadaitul Intan, the director of Profound Learning Solutions Sdn Bhd, a training consultancy based in Malaysia. Intan, as she is fondly known, grew up in a small town of Batu Gajah, Perak but was encouraged by her father to be who she wanted to be. She admitted she once drove a Ferrari that wasn't hers and she even set up a daycare centre prior to setting up this training consultancy business. She was 33 and a single mother of 2 daughters when she started her busine...

In this episode, I am speaking to Sophie Ha Tu Nguyen from Vietnam who is the co-founder and CEO of Skabella, a children's clothing business. Sophie's business was hit particularly hard by the pandemic as hers was a retail business, dependent on foot traffic in the mall. What was supposed to be the worst possible year for her turned out to be a year of possibilities and renewed hope. She had to make some decisions but by making these decisions, she grew a new business that was particularly su...

Episode 3 is where I speak to Susan Chee who is the founder and director of Criteria & Connections in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her business helps companies create memorable events, launches and conferences. Some of her noteworthy events include: Managing the itinerary of the richest man in the world who was visiting Malaysia but she didn't even have time to gawk at him or request a photograph! (In case you didn't know, the man in question was Bill Gates.) Organising a 600-delegate conference ...

Episode 2 of Season 2 features Rowena Morais who is a Malaysian entrepreneur with a strong communication slant to her work. Rowena is the editor, writer, publisher and programme director at Vertical Distinct with offices in Malaysia and Australia. She started her entrepreneurial journey in the most unusual way - she got herself a working visa to New Zealand which later landed her in Australia which turned into work for a startup! That startup experience during the heady days of the dotcom boo...

Welcome to Season 2 of Womenpreneur Asia! For the next 13 weeks, we will feature 13 incredibly inspiring yet down-to-earth women in business across Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and India. A new episode airs every Friday. In this first episode of Season 2, I am excited to present to you a smart and successful Malaysian entrepreneur, See Wai Hun. Wai Hun is the CEO and co-founder of Juristech, a Malaysian fintech company that provides banking solutions. Since acquiring iMoney in 2020, she is al...

This is a bonus episode where Anushia Kandasamy (of Episode 4) decides to reverse the roles and ask me questions! She did a brilliant job as she made me talk about what mattered to me the most and how I ended up doing what I do now. I also had many a-ha moments during the course of our interview as I realised how stories have been a major influence in my life even from a young age. I spoke about being uncomfortable, bored, angry and curious and these emotions catapulted me into starting life-c...

This is the episode where I will tell you more about who I am and why I am doing what I am doing right now. I never wanted to be an entrepreneur; all I wanted to do was to do well in my career. I never thought I was a risk-taker. I've been truly blessed and grateful for the amazing opportunities that have come my way. I've co-founded the business I am and I really enjoy helping our clients. I've also co-founded a women entrepreneur organisation in Penang, Malaysia where we grow and nurture w...

Anja Juliah Abu Bakar is the founder of Athena Holdings Sdn Bhd (formerly Blubear Holdings Sdn Bhd), a Malaysian social enterprise that sells washable cloth pads and other earth-friendly products. Her journey as an entrepreneur has many twists and turns, some hilarious and others quite heartbreaking. But Anja never gives up. She is one determined woman. She was so determined that she decided to go to Paris to pitch someone she didn't even know. In this interview, she also talks about what it ...

Rina is a Malaysian entrepreneur who started out as a computer scientist and the classic example of a woman who is able to spot opportunities and turn them into success. Presently, she is an angel investor with investments in businesses across Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. She also serves on several business advisory boards, NGOs & universities. She is also on the board of MATRADE. In this episode, she talks about how she grew up in Rifle Range, Penang and learnt entrepreneurship wh...

Ooi Lay Pheng is the CEO of Berjayapak Sdn Bhd in Penang, Malaysia. She is in the business of providing wood packaging solutions such as pallets, crates and boxes to multinational corporations that need to ship and send their precious cargo all over the world. This is a multi-million ringgit industry but it is also a rough-and-tough business. The wood packaging industry is a challenging industry as sustainable timber resources need to be managed while competitors are aplenty. The factory is us...

Dr Vimaleswari Ramasamy is the CEO and founder of STRAVIK Business Consulting based in Penang, Malaysia. STRAVIK Business Consulting offers business startup consulting to multinational companies keen to establish a strong presence and foothold in Malaysia as well as business optimisation consulting to organisations and Small Medium Enterprises looking to increase revenue. Together with her team, she provides strategic consultation with strong analytical and operational expertise, leveraging to...

Ann Wong is the co-founder of the Penan Women Project in Sarawak, Malaysia. It is an initiative that helps the women of the Penan tribe in Sarawak to earn regular incomes and ensures the traditional art of weaving is kept alive. The Penan women are expert weavers despite having no formal education. Penan Women Project buys the handmade bags from the Penan women and markets the bags and totes at community fairs and bazaars in Miri, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang. Some volunte...

Marlienna Suwito who is based in Jakarta, Indonesia started her business of rearing swiftlets for their valuable nests in 2006. These nests are carefully harvested and made into edible health products and even skincare for the Indonesian market as well as overseas markets. It isn't just a business like any other; Marlienna is tapping into her business acumen and network as a means to help her help the community she feels strongly about - underprivileged children - while providing jobs to women...

Nina Othman didn’t start out wanting to found a social enterprise. Grow The Goose happened because her sons came to her one day and asked for roller shoes. She didn't give her boys the money. Nina encouraged her boys to put on their thinking caps and be creative in looking for solutions. Her one idea for her boys turned into the quirkily named Grow The Goose, a social enterprise that empowers kids to be problem-solvers and solution-finders. Her business teaches children how to be financially-...

Indonesian entrepreneur, Zhafira Loebis, started Babyloania with her husband Arlo Erdaka Temenggung in 2014 when they were pregnant with their first child. She was making a list of baby items and equipment she wanted to buy for her firstborn with her husband when they realized how expensive everything was. This problem prompted them to look into starting Babyloania which began as a baby equipment rental business serving other parents in areas such as Jakarta, Depok, Tangerang dan Bekasi. Baby...