On 21 September, we officially launched our 2024-25 Mentorship Program for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs with the first cohort meet-up for mentee and mentor entrepreneurs as well as the coaches.
In the first official cohort meeting, the 12 mentees, 10 mentors, and 12 ICF Hong Kong Charter Chapter coaches gathered to connect for the six-month journey ahead of them. The participants were of diverse backgrounds, with nine returning mentors and coaches from previous cohorts. Their commitment to fostering this community of like-minded people is a critical driving force behind our program’s success. In fact, in its third year running, our program comes full circle with 2022-cohort mentee Jerwine Bonafe-Que of The Blomstre stepping in as a mentor, demonstrating the compassionate and reciprocal nature of our community of ethnically diverse entrepreneurs!
First, the participants had time to mingle and get to know one another, sharing the origins and stories behind the names and missions of their businesses. After an introduction by Adnan Riaz, FSI’s Community Business Support Program Associate, the entrepreneurs explored each other’s business and personal aspirations through a “Walk & Stop” ice-breaking session.
Key Virtues of a Successful Entrepreneur
Next, participants got into groups to discuss the key virtues of a successful entrepreneur and the current status of achieving the virtues in their respective journeys.
Jerwine and her group identified integrity, connectivity, and resilience as their three key virtues. She explained, “Integrity means expressing what we believe in and staying true to ourselves. Connectivity is about finding the right customers, suppliers, and target audience, as well as fostering a supportive community. And resilience is all about pushing through challenges and obstacles.”
Philbert Chin, an ICF Hong Kong Charter Chapter coach, and his group decided on creativity, flexibility and adaptability, and perseverance. “Our group is already practising these virtues. For example, creativity involves doing things differently and finding effective ways to persuade others why they should consider our product or service. Flexibility and adaptability are important when we have to adapt to external changes in the market and pivot our plans to be relevant. Finally, perseverance is essential to push forward in our long entrepreneurial journey,” Philbert shared.
Other responses were equally noteworthy. For example, Lilian Lui, another ICF Hong Kong Charter Chapter coach, highlighted the importance of having a clear purpose, while Hamid Naseem, Founder of Marhaba Coaching and Consulting and mentor to Senchu Chemjong, encouraged everyone to empower people through integrity and ethics.
Small-group Discussions for Mentee-Mentor-Coach Pairs
After the presentations, it was time to meet the mentees. Each of the 12 mentee entrepreneurs took the stage to introduce themselves and their businesses. They then engaged in the second discussion of the day in smaller groups with their mentors and coaches.
The mentor-mentee pair of Naman Tekriwal, Co-founder and COO of Breer Limited and long-time supporter of our Mentorship Program, and Ayeisha Shafana, an aspiring entrepreneur at CreativiT, discussed Ayeisha’s business model. They worked on prioritizing her activities, particularly balancing her responsibilities as a student and an entrepreneur. Naman suggested adopting a flexible approach to time management instead of having a fixed schedule. They also discussed the essence of being an entrepreneur, building on ideas from the group session before, where Naman shared valuable insights on both business and personal growth.
Wendy Zhuang, Business Development Lead of Curiouslyoga and a mentee entrepreneur, discussed her challenges in transitioning her student organization into a business enterprise with ICF Hong Kong Charter Chapter coach Jimmy To. She asked Jimmy a difficult question: How to know when to let go if the business fails? Jimmy’s advice was to consider the costs of continuing to run the company against the personal loss of giving up on her dream.
Meanwhile, Emeline Sandt and Sneha Roy of A Collective Space used this time to work on their coaching agreement and contract with their mentor Henry Yeung, Partner in Carys Limited, to ensure a smooth experience going forward.
Big Thank You to Our Program Partners
The next cohort-wide meeting will take place on 5 October at the Hive Poho, where mentee entrepreneurs will gain tips on setting effective goals with guidance and tools provided by FSI, so that they can identify clear objectives for both the next six months of the Mentorship Program and their long-term business growth. Stay tuned to this space for more updates on the mentee entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial journey!
Big thank you to the Hive Poho for being the venue partner of our Mentorship Program for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs; the Impact Lab Course interns who provided event coordination and communications support; and program partners Linklaters and Mayer Brown for offering pro bono legal support to our mentee entrepreneurs!
Our annual Mentorship Program wouldn’t have been possible for the third year running without the long-time support of The Hong Kong Club Foundation, ICF Hong Kong Charter Chapter, Africa Center Hong Kong, and FundFluent.
*This blog post was drafted by Hyewon Lee, Communications and Marketing intern at the Foundation for Shared Impact (FSI) during the Fall 2024 semester of the Impact Lab Course.
