Episodes

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 g...

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 som...

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 ha...

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 accounti...

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 to ...

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, Jaklin h...

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 childre...

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 insights ...

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 business...

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 suite...

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 in M...

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 boom e...

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 also ...