SBF launches the Singapore Women Entrepreneurs Network

THE Singapore Women Entrepreneurs Network (SG-WEN), which aims to bring together women entrepreneurs in Singapore and connect them with other women entrepreneurs, business leaders, and trade associations in the region, was launched by the Singapore Business Federation on Tuesday.

The network will focus on supporting female entrepreneurs in four areas:

- Championing women business issues through engagements with senior government officials as well as data-driven advocacy through surveys;

- Knowledge-sharing through fireside chats and networking events to spur business transformation and growth;

- Promoting collaboration with other women groups in Singapore, including women groups of trade associations and chambers, and networking with the Asean Women Entrepreneurs Network (AWEN), as well as other overseas groups;

- Recognising their achievements and successes

One of SG-WEN's key responsibilities is to be Singapore's official representative at the AWEN, a regional network of national women entrepreneurs and business associations.

Local plans in the pipeline include regular networking and knowledge-sharing sessions, dialogues and roundtable sessions with government officials and business leaders, joint activities with other women groups in Singapore, and hosting or visiting women group delegations from the region.

It has garnered the support of close to 60 members prior to its formal launch, said chairperson Rachel Eng, the managing director of Eng and Co.

"On the back of this, we will have to expand our exco if necessary, get some sub-committees set up. Some of the immediate priorities would be to gather women entrepreneurs to join us as members of the network," she said at the sidelines of the event.

"Some of the issues we'd like to look into is to see if there is unconscious bias that affects businesswomen," she said. "Anecdotally, we hear of women being subject to unconscious bias and we hear that female startup founders have a harder time fundraising. What we hope to do is run proper research and surveys, collect some data, and on the back of that, see if we can advocate some changes in policies to the relevant stakeholders."

Other exco members include Ang Shih-Huei, CEO and co-founder of Klareco Communications; Irene Boey, consulting director of Integral Solutions (Asia); Jocelyn Chng, chairman & group CEO of JR Group; and Olive Tai, managing director & co-founder of Synagie.