Hong Kong’s female entrepreneurs find place to connect

It’s a cold Wednesday evening and in a conference room several floors above the Wyndham Street drinkers, 35 women are gathered to talk business. The bottles of wine and nibbles in the corner are untouched – there are some important issues to be discussed first.

“If anyone is thinking they can survive without social media, you can’t. It’s very difficult to get brand awareness without social media,” says Kimberly Whiley, vice-chairman of the Women Entrepreneurs Network, an initiativelaunched at the end of last year by The Women’s Foundation.

This is the group’s first gathering, The Circle, and the women who have signed up for the free event are all entrepreneurs with at least one year in business under their belt. It’s a wide-ranging group, with the fashion industry, education, financial services, retail and technology represented. There’s even a baker. Over the course of several hours they discuss the key issues of running a business – how to find clients, market and build an audience on a limited budget, managing partnerships and how to network.

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The evening begins with the women in groups of four or five, each of the circles facilitated by an experienced businesswoman – someone with more than 10 years to her name – discussing the highs and lows of running a business. It is a model designed to create a supportive atmosphere for intensive mentoring.

“I’m hoping it will offer education, first and foremost, and help solve problems. We want to offer a network of people you can rely on, and be inspired by. We are taking more senior entrepreneurs and putting them in a small group of less experienced entrepreneurs,” says Elizabeth Thomson, a Hong Kong business veteran and head of the group.

Business meet-ups and networking events are nothing new – they have blossomed over the past five years as Hong Kong’s start-up scene has taken off. Female Entrepreneurs Worldwide caters for a young crowd, while Hong Kong Women Professionals and Entrepreneurs Association is primarily for local women and has strong links with similar organisations on the mainland.

Josephine Paris worked as a marketing and communications director in London and New York before arriving in Hong Kong four years ago with her husband. Since setting up her coaching business in 2012 she has tried a few of the local business networking events.