International Women’s Day is a powerful reminder and acknowledgement of the achievements of women worldwide as we collectively strive towards a more equitable society. However, the commitment to equity shouldn’t fade with March – it should be a continuous effort by individuals and organisations to foster more outstanding support through tangible actions.
UOB FinLab recognises the benefits of gender diversity in organisations. Companies with greater gender diversity tend to outperform their less diverse counterparts as they offer a wider range of perspectives and experiences, leading to better decision-making and innovation.
Within our vast ecosystem spanning five countries in ASEAN, we have met many amazing female-led businesses and women entrepreneurs (Womenpreneurs) with innovative business propositions. One example is Eileen Toh, Founder of Genius Plus Academy. She was a previous participant of our Digital Mumpreneur Programme and leveraged the programme to gain a deeper, richer understanding of the inner workings of a business while meeting supportive, like-minded female entrepreneurs.
As more womenpreneurs rise up in ASEAN and build their businesses, we are aware that many face unique obstacles. From our conversations with womenpreneurs, one constant hurdle that limits business growth opportunities is the lack of professional networks.
Studies have indicated that womenpreneurs often face greater challenges in building robust professional networks and finding mentors – limiting their access to valuable support, knowledge, and opportunities for business growth.
Therefore, private and public sector firms must come together to create tangible solutions that can help womenpreneurs overcome hurdles and catalyse business growth. Unlocking the potential of women-owned businesses can subsequently open a vast pool of economic opportunities that benefit the overall economy.
UOB FinLab believes that accelerator programmes designed to spur business growth through collaboration are key to unlocking the potential of womenpreneurs. Such programmes can potentially address challenges faced by female leaders when it comes to the lack of access to professional networks.
Hence, we launched various programmes customised for womenpreneurs, including our Digital Mumpreneurs Programme in 2021 which catered for mothers juggling their business with taking care of their children, and our Jom Transform Programme – Womenpreneurs Edition in 2022 that was tailored to support female entrepreneurs spur business growth through digitalisation.
The programmes enabled womenpreneurs to leverage UOB FinLab’s extensive ecosystem of government agencies, mentors, industry leaders, solutions providers and other stakeholders to catalyse business growth and innovation through collaboration. Through exposure to our network, participants experienced the exchange of innovative ideas, best practices and the creation of genuine business partnerships.
Padmaja Sakthi, a participant of our Digital Mumpreneur Programme managed to learn about the implementation of technology solutions to scale business development efforts, meet prospects and industry peers, as well as learn about the best practices for her business.
UOB FinLab remains committed to supporting womenpreneurs unlock business growth through our ecosystem and programmes. This year, we are excited to launch our ‘Digitalisation Innovation Programme: Womenpreneur’.
This programme is curated to support entrepreneurs, specifically women, on their entrepreneurial and digitalisation journey within a like-minded community. It will consist of a 2-week series of workshops, which focuses on enhancing critical skills such as strategic planning, financial management, and digital adaptation.
The ultimate objective of this programme is to enable womenpreneurs in ASEAN to take their businesses to the next level through digitalisation and genuine business connections.
In the leadup to the programme, UOB FinLab will be co-organising with UOB Business Banking Singapore a Womenpreneur networking event to unite female business leaders and founders to connect and share their entrepreneurial experiences.
It has been almost a year since the team at UOB FinLab culminated its GreenTech Accelerator 2024 (GTA). We decided to check in with one of the GreenTech participants and see the progress that is being made.
UOB FinLab AI Ready Programme empowers SMEs to adopt and scale AI, with hands-on support from AI Singapore, IMDA, and Microsoft.
Nearly a year has passed since UOB FinLab concluded its GreenTech Accelerator 2024 (GTA), and we’ve followed up with one of the participating GreenTech companies to see how things have progressed.
Senior Lecturer, Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Melvin Gan is a senior lecturer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Business and Accountancy, where he specialises in sustainability in business management, ESG reporting, digital marketing, consumer insights, and human-centered design thinking. A founding member of the Sustainability Module Team, he has been instrumental in developing specialised curricula such as Corporate Governance and Reporting for Sustainable Business and has contributed to the growth of the Business Sustainability and Digitalisation specialisation.
Consultant & Trainer, CSO Centre
Joyce was former Commercial Director at Climate Impact Exchange (CIX), a global carbon solutions provider established by Temasek Holdings, Singapore Exchange, DBS Bank & Standard Chartered in Singapore. She was hired as part of the founding team and represented CIX in multiple public forums on decarbonisation, market development and green finance.
Joyce has close to 20 years of experience in the financial industry. She has helmed leadership roles at Singapore Exchange, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse across various business and operation units. At CIX, she worked with C-Suites, NGOs and financiers on decarbonisation solutions, global carbon market development, as well as alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for long term impact and business resilience.
Consultant & Trainer, CSO Centre
Lance is an FSA Credential Holder and GRI Certified Sustainability Professional. Throughout his corporate career, he has worked at JPMorgan, Citibank and Singapore Exchange. As a marketing and corporate communications consultant, his clients have included DBS, Singtel, UOB, Bank of Singapore as well as many other government organisations, SMEs and startups.
He currently specializes in helping corporates with ESG and sustainability reporting as a trainer and consultant. His courses have been taken by individuals and companies from all over the world and accredited by the Institute of Banking & Finance (Singapore). He is also an associate lecturer with Ngee Ann Polytechnic for various sustainability-related courses.
Designed for business owners to enhance their digital capabilities through practical learning, this programme takes businesses to the next level.
Designed for business owners to enhance their digital capabilities through practical learning, this programme takes businesses to the next level.
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