When businesswomen succeed, society benefits

JANE Hia, founder of Singapore's popular Kith Café chain, is affable but uncompromising when it comes to doing business. An industrial designer by trade, the savvy 32-year-old has turned her love of coffee into a successful food and beverage brand known for its laid-back environment, conscientious staff and healthy, imaginative meals. Ms Hia says her three key values - simplicity, sincerity and honesty - helped her build the brand and turn it into a major success. Adding to the three Kith outlets that are already thriving, she most recently opened her fourth outlet at Millenia Walk and hopes to grow the business further in the years to come.

Ms Hia's unwavering determination, sharp business acumen and genuine interest in helping others make her an invaluable asset to Singapore's growing circle of entrepreneurs. But the truth is, she's one of the lucky ones. Women entrepreneurs often exhibit a high degree of innovation in their ideas, but lack the opportunities - and sometimes the voice - to make them a reality. Many women find they come up against significant social and economic barriers that may delay their plans or prevent them from fulfilling their entrepreneurial aspirations.

Women make up half of the global population and nearly half of the global workforce. Yet in Singapore, only three out of 10 entrepreneurs are women. It's high time we foster women entrepreneurship to not only allow economies to benefit from the talents, energy and ideas - essentially the productive potential - that women bring to the labour market, but also to improve human development and bring about social transformation.