FSI x FundFluent: Unlocking Funding Readiness For Under-resourced SMEs

The entrepreneurial journey can often feel daunting, especially for under-resourced entrepreneurs and small businesses striving to finance their businesses and get from one stage to the next.

Recognizing this challenge, as part of our six-month-long “2024-25 Mentorship Program for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs” program, the Foundation of Shared Impact (FSI) collaborated with FundFluent to co-host a funding readiness workshop on 15 February 2025 at the Hive Poho to equip mentee entrepreneurs with the resources and knowledge to become funding-ready. 

As a platform that helps startups and small businesses access funding through a comprehensive database, expert consultation, and tailored resources to enhance their chances of securing grants, loans, and startup programs, FundFluent has been a long-time partner of FSI, our partnership preceding the inauguration of our Mentorship Program due to our shared mission in creating shared impact. 

FSI Entrepreneurial Community Among First to Access Latest FundFluent Resources

A total of 26 attendees participated in this workshop, including 10 mentors, 12 mentees, and one ICF Hong Kong Charter Chapter coach, Cynthia Lai, from the 2024-2025 Mentorship Program cohort. Also present were aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs from the FSI Entrepreneur’s Hub Community, including former mentees, mentors, and coaches of our Mentorship Program from previous years, as well as other under-resourced entrepreneurs who benefit from our bespoke direct business support, such as those listed in our GuideFong directory.

Said Robin Wong, Owner of Bizwizpartnership Ltd. and mentor: “I do a lot of mentoring and advice for NGOs and funding is always an important area. I joined this workshop because I wanted to see if I could learn more and help people.”

Nisreen Muchhala, Founder of Nourish Scrubs and part of FSI’s Entrepreneur’s Hub Community, said, “I have been working on my skincare product for three years and wanted to learn how to budget. If I want to start a business, I need to know the first steps.”

In this workshop, the FundFluent team led participants on an exploration of funding fundamentals and showed how small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs can leverage the FundFluent platform to become funding-ready. 

The workshop was divided into three key sections:

• Know Your Funding Options: Participants identified and explored various funding options tailored to different stages of the business lifecycle, including the idea, scaling, and expansion stages.
• Deep Dive Topic 1: Budget Plans: This segment covered how to create detailed and realistic budgets that demonstrate financial preparedness, which is crucial for attracting potential funders.
• Deep Dive Topic 2: Starting Your Business: Participants learned to assess capital requirements, break down initial expenses, and evaluate market viability and the commercial potential of their business ideas.

As members of the 2024-25 cohort of the Mentorship Program for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs, participants were invited to join as early users of the FundFluent journey by requesting designated playbooks for the funding they were targeting. They could choose to get a “Free+” subscription to access FundFluent’s funding database with over 100+ funding opportunities, and their Playbook for Funding Success, which contains insights, tools, and templates that capture the collective knowledge from hundreds of successful applications and more.

Crucial First Step: Knowing Your “Why” and Understanding Funding Options

Jenny Au, Founder and CEO of FundFluent started the session with a quick exercise to get the entrepreneurs to contemplate the three stages they are currently in: the idea stage, scaling stage, and expansion stage. Knowing their “why” was the first step to successfully access funding, explained Jenny. Funding shouldn’t be approached without a plan, a breakdown of needs, and priorities, and every dollar is needed. Realizing which stage they are in, therefore, will help entrepreneurs understand and identify the different funding options available. 

To help with the thought process, everyone was given an activity worksheet to ponder and write down their business stage and their “why” on the first page.

Pamela Moyo, Program Manager at Africa Centre Hong Kong and mentee, initially thought that she was in the expansion stage. However, after Jenny elaborated further on the topic, Pamela realized that it was not a one-size-fits-all situation and that some programs were in the idea stage, some in the scaling stage, and some in the expansion stage. 

Another mentee raised a question on how to get the seemingly hard-to-get Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund), established by the Hong Kong government in 2013 to alleviate poverty and social exclusion as well as foster the well-being and cohesion of the society by promoting social innovation and nurturing social entrepreneurship.

Jenny emphasized the need to research what the government is interested in funding, which can vary annually, and that entrepreneurs should be able to produce measurable impact to stand a higher chance of getting the competitive SIE Fund.

During the session, mentees mentioned other similar funding options by foundations such as the HSBC Foundation, DBS Foundation, Community Investment and Inclusion Fund (CIIF), and Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. Wilson Tai, Co-founder and COO of FundFluent, added that knowing what the funders are looking for is important since they have their own Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Jenny and Wilson then went on to explain their journey with FundFluent, including their experiences with enabling the multitude of applications, which has given them invaluable insights into the common mistakes entrepreneurs would make when applying for funding. This prompted them to launch FundFluent’s Playbook for Funding Success to help entrepreneurs in all industries in Hong Kong and overseas discover and gain an in-depth understanding of funding options.

Wilson and Jenny encouraged the workshop participants to reach out for queries related to fundraising and financing their businesses, as a way to further improve FundFluent’s products and services and subsequently, the quality of support FundFluent’s clients can benefit from. As a recommendation, a mentee suggested adding funding information for student startups. 

Deep Diving into Budget Plans, Cash Reserves, and Salary Considerations

Amongst entrepreneurs’ top priorities is budgeting. Here, Wilson broke down the basic flow to think through budgeting. Everyone was then asked to work on the worksheet by thinking through their financial resources and various necessary expenses in the past 10 months.

Wilson went on to elaborate on the budgeting support provided by FundFluent. Although a subscription-based platform, FundFluent provides bespoke professional help such as reviewing a presentation pitch.

Sneha Roy, Co-founder and Director of A Collective Space and mentee, asked, “In personal finance, we often hear about the importance of maintaining six months’ worth of cash reserves for emergencies. Would you recommend a similar approach for businesses? Should we consider having a longer reserve, like 12 months, especially if things are going well?” 

In response, Wilson explained that cash reserves allow businesses to focus on growth without the constant worry of financial instability. For early-stage businesses, maintaining cash reserves is essential. While the recommendation of six months’ worth of reserves is common, it isn’t always necessary. In addition to elaborating on a more conservative approach, Wilson stressed the importance of having enough reserves to navigate cash flow fluctuations effectively.

Another mentee, Yulia Kim, Founder and Floral Designer of Blooms.Forever, raised a question: “For a sole entrepreneur who has been in the idea stage for two to three years, should they consider their own salary?” To which Wilson replied, “Yes, think about your salary from day one but make it a conservative number. This will help sustain your living expenses as you develop your business.”

Eeshaanee Shandilya, Co-founder of Curiouslyoga and mentee, posed a question: “How do you decide the Return on Investment (ROI) on variable costs, like subscription costs?” Following his response to Eeshaanee on determining an appropriate margin percentage to make the business viable, Wilson introduced a slide on “finance rituals“, emphasizing the importance of conducting monthly, quarterly, and yearly reviews, especially in the early stages of a business. He noted that even in FundFluent’s fifth year, it is still considered an early stage.

Starting Your Business

In this segment, Wilson and Jenny encouraged everyone planning to start their own businesses to understand the actual capital requirements, break down the initial expenses, and evaluate the market viability and commercial potential of their business ideas.

Jerwine Bonafe-Que, Managing Director of THE BLOMSTRE and former-mentee-turned-mentor, posed an important question to the group: “Aside from government funding, what adjustments can startups make in their budgeting to attract investors? For example, should they allocate HK$10,000  to hire a marketer? What key factors do investors typically look for?”

In response, Jenny and Wilson emphasized the importance of returning to a bare-bone structure. They advised mentees to identify market signals and clearly articulate their solutions. 

This discussion highlighted the need for startups to be strategic and clear about their financial planning, ensuring that they present a compelling case to potential investors.

Creative Funding Options and Leveraging GenAI for Funding Literacy

The queries posed by the workshop participants reflect a growing interest among entrepreneurs in exploring niche avenues for financing their ventures and low-cost and efficient methods for identifying suitable funding options. 

Additionally, despite the abundant freely available tools and resources online, many entrepreneurs still have burning questions that often go unanswered without expert guidance. Addressing the inquiry of Emeline Sandt, Co-founder and Director of A Collective Space and mentee, about resources for understanding funding—especially for those without a business background—Jenny suggested using Generative AI, such as ChatGPT. “But make sure you are good at asking the right questions to get good follow-up.” 

A Practical Business Workshop

As a capacity builder long committed to equipping under-resourced entrepreneurs and community leaders with the knowledge, skills, and mindset to grow and scale their endeavors, we at FSI are delighted to see that this workshop was beneficial to the participants. 

Said Belinda Wong, Director of Leader Corporate Services Limited and mentor, “The session provided practical advice from Wilson and Jenny on how to get funding and run a business.”

Robin Wong, Owner of Bizwizpartnership Ltd. and mentor added, “I learned about various funding sources, which will help me assist others more effectively.”

“It was very enlightening,” said Yulia Kim. “I learned a lot of things I hadn’t thought about regarding funding before. Big thanks to Wilson and Jenny for making this session so interesting, informative, and useful.”

“I cannot express how validating it was to learn about Jenny and Wilson’s funding journey,” said Sneha Roy. “I really liked the budgeting part! I wish we could have spent more time on it, but I feel validated in the approaches we have been following.”

Join Us to Drive Systems Change through Broad Collaboration and Knowledge Exchange

Currently in its third iteration, FSI’s Mentorship Program for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs aims to drive systems change in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Hong Kong. We do this by enabling equitable access to resources, knowledge, and information critical to the startup and growth of small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as micro-businesses, especially those owned by ethnically diverse entrepreneurs, as we believe in the power of entrepreneurship in alleviating intergenerational poverty.

The program’s impact in uplifting under-resourced entrepreneurs wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our long-time partners and supporters such as FundFluent, Africa Center Hong Kong, ICF Hong Kong Charter Chapter, the Hive Poho, and The Hong Kong Club Foundation.

A big shout-out to our dedicated Impact Lab Course interns, including the four FSI interns from the Spring 2025 cohort, Nathan Cole Saavedra, Mohammad Abdul Rehman, Hsu Latt Shwe Yi, and Kabita K. Sahteli, who assisted with the planning, coordination, and coverage of the workshop. 

We are equally grateful to FSI’s vibrant community of entrepreneurs. Initially connected by FSI through the direct bespoke business support we offer through the Mentorship Program, Project GuideFong, and Community Business Internship, these ethnically diverse entrepreneurs have continued to share their resources and knowledge with each other, initiate mutually beneficial collaborations, and reinforce a reciprocal community characterized by diversity of various kinds.

The finale of the 2024-25 Mentorship Program for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs journey will take place on 8 March 2025. Get in touch with us at cbs@shared-impact.com if you would like to join us to celebrate the resilience and success of our community of entrepreneurs at the event or provide ongoing support to the entrepreneurs!

*This blog post was drafted by Kabita K. Sahteli, Communications and Marketing intern at the Foundation for Shared Impact (FSI) during the Spring 2025 semester of the Impact Lab Course.