We recently held an inspiring and fruitful 6-day Virtual HER Global Innovation Festival 2020 from 21 to 26 September 2020, themed Future of Globalisation in The New Digital Age. The event was sponsored by our Silver Sponsors, UOB Bank & Exabytes and supported by
- Hashtaqs
- Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO)
- WEConnect International
- MaGIC
- The Co.
- Arcc Spaces
- Carousell
- BloomThis
- Jean Yip Group
- Cheryl W Wellness & Weight Management
- American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM)
- Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SMCCI)
- Brand Now Asia
- Fashion Startup
- Cradle Fund
- bansea
Virtual HER® Global Innovation Festival was produced amidst the global pandemic, where we have converted our live conference to a virtual one. The purpose of the festival was to continuously engage with the community through online learning and networking.
HER® Entrepreneur serves as an inclusive and diverse community and omni-channel media platform where we inspire, educate, empower and connect entrepreneurs, leaders, government and investors regionally.
There were beyond 130 attendees at this exclusive “closed-door” virtual conference, where there were opportunities to learn & network on the event platform, with sessions moderated by our Founder and Managing Director, Renee Tan and presented by our esteemed speakers globally:
- Sandhya Sriram, CEO & Founder, Shiok Meats, Singapore
- Ivan Yeo, CEO & Co-Founder, EVOS Esports, Singapore
- Tessa Clarke, CEO & Co-Founder, OLIO, UK
- Hla Hla Win, CEO & Co-Founder, 360ed, Myanmar
- Laura Erre, CEO & Founder, Fashion Startup Lab, Mexico
- Michael Blakey, Managing Partner, Cocoon Capital, Singapore
- Samira Shihab, CEO & Co-Founder, Tinkerlust, Indonesia
- Alex Chan, CEO, Babbobox, Singapore
- Lu Zhang, CEO & Managing Partner, Fusion Fund, USA
- Shannon Kalayanamitr, Partner, Gobi Partners, Thailand
- Travin Singh, CEO and Founder, CRUST Group, Singapore
- Natasha Hidayah Hashim (Tashbunny), Esports gamer, video creator
& streamer, IGN South East Asia, Malaysia - Tang Siew Wai, Country Head, Carousell, Malaysia
- Pauline Sim, Head, The Finlab & SVP, Fintech, Ecosystem & Innovation, UOB Bank, Singapore
- Vickson Tan, Senior VP, Marketing of Exabytes, Malaysia
- Joanna Soh, Asia’s Leading Wellness & YouTube Personality & Founder, Fio, Malaysia
- Joyce Yeo, Professional Make Up Artist & Educator, Joyce Yeo Makeup, Singapore
The summary event highlights are as follows:
21 September: Day 1
Day 1 session is on Revolutionary Business Transformation: AR/VR, AI & Digital Transformation. The event kicked off with sharing from our list of guest speakers and a live Q&A session with the attendees from:
- Hla Hla Win CEO & Co-Founder, 360ed, Myanmar on Visioneering Learning through Augmented Reality & State-of-the-art Technologies to Exponentially Transform National Education’. Where she shared on how to build an impactful business to revolutionise education to narrow the gap of access to quality education between both urban and rural areas and leveraging on digital technologies to transform the Education Reform process through VR & AR.
Click [here] to view the discussion snippet)
- Alex Chan, CEO, Babbobox, Singapore on Exploring Frontiers in AI & Machine Learning in the Future of Work. Where he discussed about leveraging on big data and data analytics to make smart business decisions and developing AI to increase productivity in the workplace.
(Click [here] to view the discussion video snippet)
- Pauline Sim, Head, The Finlab & SVP, Fintech, Ecosystem & Innovation, UOB Bank, Singapore on Accelerating Digital Transformation Through an End-to-End Programme: Learn, Match & Implement. Where she explained about exploring consideration factors when embarking on a digitalisation journey and understanding what are the available resources that can be tapped on to propel your business for the future.
We then ended the day with a closing remark from our Founder and Managing Director, Renee Tan after which was followed by a quick Cocktail Networking session for all the Standard pass holders. This was like a speed dating session, where attendees are randomly matched on the mobile app called RunTheWorld with different people for a quick chat up or any potential business opportunity collaboration. This was then proceeded with our VIP Networking session for all Premium Pass holders on Zoom, where we were joined by our guest speakers, Tessa Clarke, Alex Chan, Tang Siew Wai and representatives from both Exabytes and UOB Bank, Singapore to discuss about the different challenges that were facing, the many ways to survive during this period and what were some of things that they were doing differently during this time in their own respective businesses and trade.
23 September: Day 2
Day 2 session is on Catalysing Business Growth through Innovation, E-commerce & Logistics. The day started off with sharing from our list of guest speakers and a live Q&A session with the attendees from:
- Tang Siew Wai, Country Head, Carousell, Malaysia on Empowering Local Businesses to Optimise Sales through O2O Strategies to maintain Business Continuity. Where he discussed about exploring business strategies for micro businesses to survive the pandemic through technology, utilising AI to detect fraud & scam patterns of users to enhance safety of the platform and finally how Carousell is evolutionising the classified advertorial scene as well as how micro businesses can benefit from it.
(Click [here] to view the discussion video snippet)
- Samira Shihab, CEO & Co-Founder, Tinkerlust, Indonesia on Empowering E-commerce Businesses through Technology, Innovation & Collaboration. Where she touched on developing strategic funding and business strategies to scale an e-commerce start-up and how to adapt to changing consumers’ purchasing behaviour by leveraging on innovative marketing channels and strategies to boost sales.
(Click [here] to view the discussion video snippet)
- Laura Erre, CEO & Founder, Fashion Startup Lab, Mexico on Driving the Next Generation Fashion Start-ups through Education, E-commerce & Innovation. Where she discussed about understanding fashion trends, innovation and consumers’ purchasing behaviour amid the pandemic, providing educational support to enhance the success rates of fashion start-ups and finally implementing creative e-commerce and marketing strategies to boost sales of non-essential items.
(Click [here] to view the discussion video snippet)
We then ended the day with a closing remark from our Founder and Managing Director, Renee Tan after which was followed by a quick Cocktail Networking session for all the Standard pass holders.
23 September: Day 3
Day 3 session is on Profit-for-purpose Sustainable Enterprises to build a Sustainable World. The day went on ahead as usual with sharing from our list of guest speakers and a live Q&A session with the attendees from:
- Sandhya Sriram, CEO & Founder, Shiok Meats, Singapore on Saving the Earth through Lab-inspired Meat Alternatives. Where she discussed about Leveraging on innovative biotechnology to develop cellular aquaculture and cell-based meat, developing a scalable biotechnology through strategic R&D, investment and technology implementation as well as revolutionising the F&B industry through industry collaboration & commercialisation of lab-produced food products.
(Click [here] to view the discussion video snippet)
- Tessa Clarke, CEO & Co-Founder, OLIO, UK on Curbing Food Waste through Innovation & Community Sharing. Where she touched on overcoming challenges & exploring opportunities in developing a successful & profitable social impact business and exploring viable commercialisation models in social impact businesses.
(Click [here] to view the discussion video snippet)
- Travin Singh, CEO and Founder, CRUST Group, Singapore on Re-incarnating Surplus Food Innovatively into Palatable and Sellable beverages. Where he explained on exploring collaborations to develop new product creations, how to upcycle food loss through the implementation of innovative food technology and scaling up an impact business: strategies in funding, innovation and people.
(Click [here] to view the discussion video snippet)
We then ended the day with a closing remark from our Founder and Managing Director, Renee Tan after which was followed by a quick Cocktail Networking session for all the Standard pass holders.
24 September: Day 4
Day 4 session is on Accelerating Business Expansion through Alternative Financing and Capital Raising Strategies. The day kicked off with sharing from our list of guest speakers and a live Q&A session with the attendees from:
- Shannon Kalayanamitr, Partner, Gobi Partners, Thailand on Leveling the Playing Field: Increasing Funding Opportunities for Inclusive and Diverse Business Communities. Where she shared about the journey from start-up to scale-up: funding strategies for start-ups to expand exponentially and how not to be a me-too start-up: unique business modeling, proposition and pitch to investors.
(Click [here] image to view the discussion video snippet)
- Michael Blakely, Managing Partner, Cocoon Capital, Singapore on Embracing the New Paradigm Shift in the Start-up World Amidst the Pandemic. Where he explained about accelerating SEA start-ups from cradle to unicorn status through innovation, technology & mentorship, developing investment strategies to build a diverse and inclusive portfolio of innovative start-ups and finally boosting ecosystem collaboration through multi-stakeholders’ partnership strategies.
(Click [here] to view the discussion video snippet)
- Lu Zhang, CEO & Managing Partner, Fusion Fund, USA on Shift in the New Norm: Evolution in Technology, Investment Priorities and Business Models. Where she touched on adjusting to new business models amid the pandemic: What works & what doesn’t as well as leveraging on the booming healthcare scene: Opportunities in healthtech & what the world needs.
(Click [here] to view the discussion video snippet)
We then ended the day with a closing remark from our Founder and Managing Director, Renee Tan after which was followed by a quick Cocktail Networking session for all the Standard pass holders.
25 September: Day 5
Day 5 session is on Evolution of E-sports, Entertainment & Gaming to Engage with Online Consumers. The day started off with sharing from our list of guest speakers and a live Q&A session with the attendees from:
- Ivan Yeo, CEO & Co-Founder, EVOS Esports, Singapore on Capitalising on Next Generation Consumer Behaviour in Entertainment & FMCG Consumption. Where he discussed developing effective commercial strategies to build profitable and influential E-sports organization in South East Asia and what do brands of today really want by evaluating innovative marketing channels to engage with new generation consumers.
- Vickson Tan, Senior VP, Marketing of Exabytes, Malaysia on Thriving through the Digital Era: Implementing O2O Strategies for Traditional Retailers to Engage with New-Gen Consumers. Where he touched on Overcoming digital disruptions through upskilling, digitalisation, change management, the drivers of digital transformation and finally the innovation behind the scenes: SME case studies.
(Click [here] to view the discussion video snippet)
- Natasha Hidayah Hashim (Tashbunny), Esports gamer, video creator
& streamer, IGN South East Asia, Malaysia on Engaging with Millennial Consumers through New Generation Business Model – E-sports and Gaming. Where she shared on the popularity of Esports: Investment opportunities beyond the screen, the gaming landscape & opportunities for women gamers: past vs present as well as gaming and business: Brand partnership & commercial strategies stemming from gaming.
(Click [here] to view the discussion video snippet)
We then ended the day with a closing remark from our Founder and Managing Director, Renee Tan after which was followed by a quick Cocktail Networking session for all the Standard pass holders. This was then proceeded with our second VIP Networking session for all Premium Pass holders on Zoom, where we were joined by our guest speakers, Natasha Hidayah (Tashbunny) and representatives from EVOS Esports, Exabytes and UOB Bank, Singapore to discuss about the different challenges that were facing, the many ways to survive during this period and what were some of things that they were doing differently during this time in their own respective businesses and trade.
26th September: Day 6
Day 6 was our HER Lifestyle Show, where the event was livestreamed on Facebook. The event proceeded with sharing from our list of lifestyle speakers and a live virtual demo from:
- Joyce Yeo, Professional Make Up Artist & Educator, Joyce Yeo Makeup, Singapore on Corporate Make-up & Styling for Professionals. Where she held a 30-minute make-up tutorial & shared on a few corporate styling tips.
(Click [here] to view the video snippet)
- Joanna Soh, Asia’s Leading Wellness & YouTube Personality & Founder, Malaysia on Shape-up with At-Your-Desk Workouts. Where she held a simple 30-minute At- Your-Desk workout using just a chair.
(Click [here] to view the video snippet)
We are looking at organising an upcoming live networking session, hopefully by this year. We will keep you guys updated!
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