Womenpreneurs Building Big with UOB

RSVP now to connect with women business leaders on their entrepreneurial experiences! Be the first to learn about the exciting line-up of networking and coaching activities. Admission is complimentary. Hear from our exciting line-up of speakers on how they navigated the business landscape to gain insights on what’s important for their company’s growth and success:

womenpreneurs building big uob event kv - Womenpreneurs Building Big with UOB

Join the open call for the UOB FinLab's Womenpreneur Programme

40 businesses led by female entrepreneurs will have the exciting opportunity to join a series of workshops and mentoring sessions on business leadership, management and innovation. Learn how you can be one of the selected few to embark on this growth journey.

Registration and networking commences from 4pm. Light bites and drinks will be served.

All guests to be seated by 5pm. Admission is complimentary.

Highlights

Fireside Chat
From Passion to Power: The Big Sparks of Edith Patisserie's Business Journey.

From humble beginnings to sweet triumphs, discover the captivating business journey of Ethel Tan, Co-Founder of Edith Patisserie Gain insights into her experiences and takeaways from The Big Spark: a new business contest series by MediaCorp that connect aspiring entrepreneurs with investors that ignited transformative experiences to new heights. Uncover the strategic ingredients that stirred her success in the competitive world of pastries.

Panel Discussion
HerPower: Womenpreneurs Shaping the Future

Explore how womenpreneurs navigate the digital landscape, sharing insights on challenges, strategies, and the impact of digital transformation on women- led SMES.

Moderated By:

Panellists:

Ethel Tan

Co-Founder of Edith Patisserie

Transitioning from the law industry into the baking and pastry market, Ethel Tan co-founded the brand Edith Patisserie in 2013 with her husband after both had garnered experience in the F&B industry for several years.

They are known for their unique and tailored bakes that cater to the local palette here in Singapore, highlighting their unique offerings as a bake shop.

By providing handmade cakes for all occasions and paired with a vision to provide affordable premium bakes, Edith Patisserie has grown from a two-man team to span three locations across Singapore, and is also available at selected CSFresh stores.

Sher-Li Torrey

Founder, Mums@Work

Key Skills

  • Career coaching
  • Business development
  • Partnership and community building
  • Diversity & inclusion
  • Marketing Strategy and Project Management
  • Leadership and Workplace Relations 

Sher-li Torrey is the founder & director of Mums@Work (Singapore), which was started in 2010. Trained in various personality profiling tools, she has more than 20 years of corporate experience holding various roles in different industries. In 2010, following the birth of her daughter, Sher-li started Mums@Work (Singapore) – a social enterprise that supports women. A point of information source for women looking at flexible work arrangements and/ or starting their own business, Mums@Work is a career portal that supports more than 53,000 women. In 2016, she started a subsidiary of M@W, Career Navigators – with a focus on bringing women back into the workforce in full-time roles. Through this subsidiary, partnerships with more than 150 MNCs have been established – and various returnships and back-to-work programmes have been implemented across the years. In 2021, Sher-li launched “Singapore:40-over-40. Inspiring Women”- an annual initiative to highlight 40 women in Singapore, over the age of 40, who have started a business, restarted a career, changed career paths or created a social giveback project. The project aims to speak up against ageism and gender bias faced by women in Singapore.

As founder of Singapore’s first flexible work career portal, Sher-li has spoken to various organisations and local media on Diversity & Inclusion topics, as well as HR-related issues. She is a frequent speaker and article contributor to press and TV on topics related to new work environment, employment trends and diversity hiring. As a trained career coach, Sher-li also currently sits on various advisory boards of Singapore’s different government ministries – including the COMPASS Council (Ministry of Education) since 2017, the ACCORD Family & Community Council (Ministry of Defence) since 2019 and the Families For Life Council (Ministry of Social & Family Development) since August 2019. A mother of 2 school-going children, Sher-li strongly advocates a work environment that thrives in allowing employees to have better work-family integration.

Belicia Tan

Group General Manager at Manna Pot Food & Services

As a General Manager with extensive experience in the hospitality industry, I am proud to have led six successful companies and established several brands over the past nine years ; Manna Pot Catering, Flora Artisan, Divine Artisan, Manna Weddings, The White Tiffin, and Manna Bistro & Grill.

As a second-generation business owner, my career in the hospitality industry began in 2015 as a wedding salesperson at Manna Pot Catering, a catering company founded by my mum in 2002, where I quickly developed a passion for event planning and catering. Whilst working with wedding clients, I developed a goal to expand our catering services and develop the range of wedding food catering options with the likes of live stations and dessert stations to provide a one-stop solution for our clients. I took the initiative to diversify the business, resulting in the launch of additional companies such as Flora Artisan, a floristry and styling company, Divine Artisan, an artisanal bakery so that our clients could enjoy a seamless service experience with us.

My vision is to create a personalised, fuss-free experience for our clients, particularly for wedding couples. I wanted to ensure that our clients did not have to worry about coordinating with multiple vendors for their events. By providing a range of services under one umbrella, we could ensure that every detail was taken care of, from the catering to the flowers and decor.

In 2020, when COVID-19 struck, business came to a halt, we then launched our wedding planning arm Manna Weddings, where we oversee the planning and execution of weddings. We took the opportunity to collaborate with other wedding vendors to create an all-in-one wedding experience. Today, we work closely with our clients to understand their vision and preferences, and our team of dedicated wedding professionals ensures that every detail is taken care of to create a memorable experience.

Our restaurants brand, The White Tiffin was first founded in 2018 because of my mum, aka the founder’s passion and love for good food & the rising retail demand from our catering clients to taste our food without having to specially cater for the food at an event.

At The White Tiffin, we offer a unique Peranakan-inspired dining experience. Our chefs are passionate about cooking with love and using fresh ingredients to create a mix of traditional and innovative dishes. Today, we have four outlets in Singapore, three in malls and one in a hotel and further expansion plans in place in the near future. At Manna Bistro & Grill, our western restaurant we serve delicious Western food, including handcrafted pasta made from scratch, which is helmed by my sister whom is a culinary expert. As a family business, we take pride in delivering exceptional food and service to our customers.

Throughout my career, I have been committed to driving growth and innovation in the hospitality and wedding industry and have a proven track record of leading teams, exceeding customer expectations, and delivering exceptional service and experiences.

Olive Tai

Co-Founder, Synagie

Key Skills

  • Digital commerce expertise
  • Enterprise solution development
  • Business management
  • Strategic planning, entrepreneurship
  • Environmental sustainability advocacy
  • Partnership development 

Olive is co-Founder/Managing Director of Synagie Group Asia and Europe, Southeast Asia’s leading digital commerce service provider. Before Synagie, Olive spent 20 years in FMCG & Retail, at J&J, Bausch & Lomb and Watsons. Most recently, she successfully launched Synagie’s Digital Commerce Management System, the region’s first comprehensive enterprise solution for businesses to manage all aspects of digital commerce. A strong advocate for environmental sustainability, learning and support for women in the sector, she co-founded and is ex-co member of Singapore Women Entrepreneurs Network. In 2023, Olive won the prestigious EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award for e-Commerce services.

Charu Srivastava

Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, TriOn & Co

Charu brings with her over 14 years of experience in corporate and government affairs locally, regionally and internationally. Charu is an award-winning communications leader who specialises in:

  • Cross-border corporate and public affairs
  • Crisis preparedness, response and recovery
  • Media training and relations
  • Stakeholder engagement and management
  • B2B event communications
  • ESG communications

She has an extensive proven track-record working at agencies such as Golin, Bell Pottinger, Freshwater, Burson-Marsteller, Litmus, Redhill as well as in-house at Berwin Leighton Paisner, an international law firm in the UK.

Some of the clients she has advised include the Singapore Business Federation, DBS, BIGO, Victoria Government Trade and Investment, Ministry of Law Singapore, Hitachi, Singapore Post, XL Catlin, Labuan International Financial Centre, and many more.

Charu is the Chair of the inaugural PRCA APAC Equality, Diversity & Inclusion committee, and an accredited member of the Institute of Public Relations of Singapore.

Online programme

Start Smart Programme

Designed for business owners to enhance their digital capabilities through practical learning, this programme takes businesses to the next level.

Online programme

Start Smart Programme

Designed for business owners to enhance their digital capabilities through practical learning, this programme takes businesses to the next level.

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