This article was originally published on https://www.shared-impact.com/perspectives/fsi-goldman-sachs-business-clinic-for-women-entrepreneurs/

At Foundation for Shared Impact (FSI), we excel in facilitating broad cross-sector collaborations to build capacity for individuals and organizations across sectors in Hong Kong. Read on to learn more about our latest Impact Jam with Goldman Sachs Community TeamWorks, where corporate professionals offered invaluable advice to empower women entrepreneurs and in turn gained insights to enhance policies in their workplace.

In Hong Kong, women account for 48% of the entrepreneurial community. However, majority of them are owners of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with no more than 19 staff, and their businesses tend to stay small, with women accounting for just 19% of high-growth entrepreneurs. 

In addition to challenges such as societal and cultural expectations, hurdles to accessing business networks, and the lack of role model in the entrepreneurial community, women entrepreneurs in Hong Kong are also more likely than their male counterparts to be denied funding from investors and they spend the longest time (an average of 9.7 months) to raise capital compared to their peers in Asia. 

Collaborating with Goldman Sachs to Uplift Women Entrepreneurs 

As part of our continuous work in fostering true diversity and inclusion in the Hong Kong entrepreneurial ecosystem by empowering under-resourced entrepreneurs, Foundation for Shared Impact (FSI) recently collaborated with Goldman Sachs Community TeamWorks to host the “Business Clinic for Aspiring and Growing Women Entrepreneurs”, where 22 Goldman Sachs professionals were paired with seven women entrepreneurs and social impact leaders to help them tackle business challenges. 

The seven women entrepreneurs and social impact leaders were selected from FSI’s Community for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs as well as community partners of our Community Connections Program, each with their respective business challenges and desired outputs from the business clinic.

• Nimisha Vandan: Co-founder of OkayMinds

  • Desired Output: Actionable strategy for business expansion.

• Shilpa Pednekar: Founder of Shilpa’s Masala Mill

  • Desired Output: Strategies for enhanced customer engagement via social media and expansion of collaborator network.

• Mary Schaus: Founder of Talos Foundation

  • Desired Output: Fundraising strategy and advice on financial sustainability.

• Lamia Sreya Rahman: Co-founder of Vidi Labs Limited and COO and Co-founder of Seekr

  • Desired Output: Market research and storyboard for an online campaign.

• Mahum Shaikh: Founder of KOLture

  • Desired Output: Creating a pitch deck and building project and client management systems.

• Kopal Manglik: Founder of And She Does

  • Desired Output: Market research on product-market fit and crafting a sales pitch for target audience.

• Asmita Bharadwaj Das: Founder and Owner of Asmita Das Photography

  • Desired Output: Marketing and sales strategy to reach target audience.

After the women entrepreneurs and social impact leaders shared the vision, mission, challenges, and opportunities related to their organizations, they were each put in a group with different Goldman Sachs employees for the 1.5-hour business clinic, during which the Goldman Sachs employees leveraged their skills and expertise to offer invaluable advice and recommendations to address the bottlenecks. 

Another Win-Win Impact Jam

The business clinic was a great success, especially in terms of the benefits it brought to the women entrepreneurs and leaders. 

“Loved everything about the business clinic,” said Shilpa. “I learnt more about social media apps and the different ways I can use to help promote my spices.”

“It was great to get such incredible insights from the volunteers,” said Kopal, who is looking to provide DEI consulting services to corporates and small businesses. “The business clinic was definitely the best part. I learnt a lot more about the inner workings of DEI in corporate setting and have come away with a lot of follow-ups.”

“Everyone was super helpful and very proactive in giving a different perspective,” said Mahum, who needed to create a pitch deck to approach potential clients for her marketing agency. “People with experience in making decks and doing presentations gave insights on how best to get their message across.”

As is the case with FSI’s Impact Jams and other collaborative engagements, the business clinic was mutually beneficial. Not only did the majority of Goldman Sachs Community TeamWorks volunteers say they would recommend FSI’s Impact Jams (like the business clinic) to their peers or other corporate professionals, they all agreed that the session gave them a sense of fulfillment in making a positive impact with their knowledge and skills.

Said a Goldman Sachs volunteer who worked with Kopal during the business clinic session: “I’m very impressed by how many innovative ideas Kopal has. The discussion we had helped us to reflect on how we can improve DEI efforts within Goldman Sachs. It’s incredible how all the entrepreneurs can always help each other given their diverse backgrounds.”

Indeed, FSI’s Community for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs is a compassionate and reciprocal community guided by broad collaboration and knowledge exchange. A delightful outcome of this business clinic is the start of a discussion between KOLture and Seekr, where the former will be helping the latter with its online marketing campaign!

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Want to sponsor an Impact Jam with FSI to engage your talent, achieve CSR and ESG goals, and give back to your community? Get in touch with us at info@shared-impact.com 

If you are an under-resourced entrepreneur looking to connect with impact-driven entrepreneurs in Hong Kong, request to join the FSI community here.