Beyond Corporate HK: The rewards and challenges of starting your own business

Thinking of more creative pursuits outside your day job? Want to leave corporate HK altogether and set up your own business? Find out what you need to prepare to take the leap!

Join our moderated panel of three entrepreneurs who have each faced this challenge and are now uniquely addressing the key issues in the transition to be an entrepreneur.

They will share their startup journey and discuss the following:
• Picking or validating the right business idea
• Understanding alternative funding vs traditional fundraising channels
• Learning how to anticipate and manage unexpected challenges
• Hearing firsthand accounts about the highs and lows of running your own business
• Exploring the gender agenda and empowering female entrepreneurs
• Where to go for help / advice as a startup

Network with our speakers and other like-minded entrepreneurs (and to-be entrepreneurs) over bubblies and pizza generously sponsored by Pizza Express!

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Nicole Denholder (Panelist) is the founder and CEO of Next Chapter. Launched in late 2015, Next Chapter is a funding portal especially for female entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses in Asia, to improve their access to funding. It’s first service is a rewards-based crowdfunding platform that supports entrepreneurs wanting to raise funds, create market buzz and validate their business ideas. Nicole previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in London and Hong Kong in PwC’s US IPO and Advisory practices working on large scale projects across Europe and Asia. Nicole is passionate about female entrepreneurship, and changing the way the funding system works so that the world benefits more from the talent and wisdom of women. See www.nextchapter.com.hk

Siobhan Barnes (Panelist) is a career strategist who passionately believes that you can build a meaningful career and life that you love. Siobhan supports corporate women to re-align their careers and businesses to suit their unique personality, gifts and talents in a way that allows them to pursue the work they love, find value in the marketplace and feel that sense of fulfillment at the end of a long working day. She left behind her own corporate career at Goldman Sachs to support other women in their quest to figure out their own body of work. You can find out more about Siobhan and The Neon Life Society at http://theneonlifesociety.com/.

Stephanie Poon (Panelist) is an entrepreneur with a background in lingerie and swimwear design as well as corporate marketing. As a founder of her own startup athleisure label, Zarie, she is passionate about bringing aesthetics, functionality and comfort together, offering women products that could accommodate their diverse range of activities. She also believes in supporting other women-led startups and learning about what inspires and empowers these founders. Zarie’s website is under construction at https://zarie.co.

Karen Yan (Moderator) is the Senior Manager of Community Engagement at publicly-traded company Li & Fung. She is an intrapreneur who is passionate about CSR and connecting people to causes and opportunities. When she is not juggling her high-octane work schedule of strategic communications with 65 global offices, Karen enjoys blogging about women empowerment, meditation and kickboxing. She also has vested interest in women mentoring programs, promoting gender equality in corporate and the "women helping women" cause during her personal time.