Something magical happens when you bring women entrepreneurs together. Especially if they’re fun-loving, energetic and excited about making new friends, connecting with other Penang business women and having a rollicking good time.
We had all this and more last Saturday when more than 85 women came together to celebrate our 7th anniversary at Hotel Equatorial, Bukit Jambul.
In fact we had such good support and camaraderie – Le of IndoChine Natural remarked that she had such a good time that we should seriously consider organizing these type of fun events yearly! Jeanette of Down To Earth who took a table to promote her natural skincare products also raved about it.
Even The Star joined us – sending two men to cover this all-ladies event. Krista even asked if the two men were comfortable and they nodded happily. It’s rare to be the odd ones out but the two Star staff took it in their stride!
The event began with a sizzling hot bellydance performance by dance instructor, Beatrice Hew accompanied by her student Tee Lee Min (Lee Min, by the way is our WBS member). The fun part began when Amrit, our emcee, called a few ladies up on stage to wiggle seductively like Beatrice and Lee Min. Many of us could not dance as well as Beatrice but it was simply all in the name of good fun.
This was followed by a simple yet effective “business card collection” game where we had to go around and get as many business cards as we could!
Pauline Ang, our Anniversary Planning Committee Chairlady, next gave a short and sweet speech. She didn’t need to explain much as the audience of ladies (comprising guests as well as members) were feted with a 4 minute video clip – a quick introduction to allow guests to understand what WomenBizSENSE did and what activities they could look out for. (This video clip is now on our website for all to view and enjoy.)
With some 63 prizes for our lucky draw worth a total of RM15,697 we had to divide our lucky draw into 2 sessions. Amrit invited Michelle Grimsley (one of our guest panellists) and Sri Husnaini, the CEO of PWDC (Penang Women Development Corporation) to draw the first 15 winners. The next 15 winners were drawn by Lisa Lee and Beatrice Hew (both our guest panellists).
By this time we were all getting rather hungry. Luckily the hi-tea started about 2.30pm allowing us about 45 minutes of eating, chatting and more networking. Again some ladies decided to meander towards the exhibitors tables to further check out the specials offered.
Once we had all filled our tummies, Josephine Yoong of Precious Ones Collections took the stage to moderate a 30-minute panellist session starring Michelle Grimsley (CEO of Spiral Synergy, an events management company), Lisa Lee (CEO of Soul Balance, a facial and spa business) and Beatrice Hew (a freelance dance instructor) under the topic “Transforming Passion Into Profit”.
The 3 panellists shared how they started their businesses, their milestones and mistakes as well as giving honest advice about starting a business today. Although the three panellists were different in their businesses, they all shared one thing in common – they loved what they did!
We believe this topic resonated with a lot of ladies as some guests were thinking of starting a business while some sought inspiration from successful women to kickstart their own businesses. Whatever it was, we hoped the session motivated aspiring entrepreneurs to get going.
The session followed with an animated question-and-answer session where the audience asked intriguing questions of the panellists! Beatrice shared that her classes help women who struggle with self esteem issues while Michelle said she has been taking busloads of Penang expats to experience the fireflies at Nibong Tebal!
All in all, we all had a deeper glimpse into the lives of 3 talented women who managed to turn what they loved into businesses and vocation.
As Flower Power was our theme for the day, many ladies turned up in their finest but we could only shortlist 5 ladies for the Best Dressed Award. They had to each strut down the stage and do their best runway walk like a supermodel. The winner was determined by the loudest claps and cheers from the audience.
Finally before we ended, we had the final session of lucky draw where the main prize, a gorgeous pearl necklace worth RM1000 contributed by Venessa Diamonds, got everyone excited again.
Amrit led the crowd of ladies to sing Whitney Houston’s One Moment In Time – an exceptionally meaningful song – before we all said our goodbyes and headed home with our colourful cosmetic cases and WomenBizSENSE keychains, happy, tired but proud of being part of this year’s 7th anniversary celebration for WomenBizSENSE.
Though the event had ended, many ladies were still not ready to head home yet – they were seen milling about the exhibitors’ tables!
A big shout out to our Anniversary Planning Committee: Pauline Ang, Amrit Kaur, Cecilia Yew, Juanna Jane Dahalan, Josephine Yoong, Krista Goon, Mety Lee and Mily Goh. Also a big thank you to our helpers on Saturday – Sue Chee, Yeap Ai Li, Kristine Leong, Saw Siew Kee, Jamie Chan, Pauline Cheong & Lim Mee Mee.
The full list of lucky draw sponsors are here. They will be given 1 year’s worth of free backlink to their own websites (from this website) until next July as a gesture of our appreciation of their sponsorship. (The sponsors’ page will be put up by next Wednesday)
If you missed joining us this year, don’t miss it again when we organize another event like this in 2014.
For more photos of Saturday’s anniversary hi-tea, check out our WomenBizSENSE Facebook photo album.
Do you qualify to join us as a member and be a part of more exciting events to come? Here’s what you need to know.