Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Elisabeth. Currently I’m running The Shonet, which is a shopping network that connects brands and readers through interactive content. We position ourselves as a social commerce that combines content and commerce. There are a lot of e-commerce and media outlets, but there needs to be a coherence between both. So that’s why The Shonet exists.
Where did you get the idea for that?
In Indonesia, there is a need for credibility in a platform. We are targeting millennials and females who are seeking advice from industry experts, and care about who writes the content. Especially now with a lot of printed media shifting to online, and a lot of what’s online is often mainstream and viral. There is a need to go back to our roots and make sure that credibility is there.
Fashion is quite interesting because it’s quite heavily dominated by women. Is it the same dynamic in Indonesia as it is in the States, being a woman in fashion?
I think in the States, there are also men in fashion. It’s funny, people study fashion to be in the fashion world. But actually in the retail/fashion business, most of my colleagues were ex-bankers actually; they used to work for Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc. But for people who study fashion, everyone has to start from internships. I think there is a huge difference in the fashion world versus the actual job. Even in fashion there’s a requirement that we need to be on top of everything, cater to small details, grab coffees, run errands. Those are the things that are included during internships. Whereas in Indonesia, people see internship as different aspects. Actually, those coffee runs – if an intern doesn’t mind grabbing coffee, we can tell that they don’t mind to do the dirty work.
How do you see yourself shaping the Indonesian fashion scene? Because everything seems so set in States, it seems like Indonesia is quite the environment to change things and move around. It’s very dynamic. How do you think you can shake things up?
I am not a big fan of the culture in the fashion industry back then because there was a lot of seniority. I wish it was more of a flat structure. Everyone can have an opinion and doesn’t have to be afraid to speak up about their ideas. I love the culture of tech companies, and bringing that to the fashion industry is important. The reason why companies like Google, Facebook, and Netflix are so successful is because of the open culture. They are very open to ideas. In fashion, it is very hierarchical. Whereas in tech, you can ask anyone anything. I want to change this in Indonesia. Our company is focused on fashion, lifestyle and beauty, and enabled by tech. We are incorporating a culture where its open and receptive to ideas. But we still have the persistency and quality of the fashion industry. So it’s a mix of both.
In the West, fashion can be seen as empowering women by giving them more choices. But there’s also self-image – a lot of people criticise fashion for having adverse effects on girls’ self-esteem. It’s difficult to say whether its empowering or not, especially because a lot of the fashion powerhouses are run by men in the States and in Europe. What’s your opinion on that? And how can fashion in Indonesia be empowering?
Especially with the growth of women leaders in this country, it’s about promoting gender equality and the idea that women can lead as well. If we see the statistics, a lot of women have lower salary than men, regardless of position and whether women can perform as well. But by having more women in leadership positions, we can minimize those scenarios and start making a difference. Being in the role, we are able to structure things based on performance rather than gender. These gender biases are happening in Indonesia. However, this country is starting to see more women leaders. These are sensitive topics, but they are real. These things are possible to be changed as long as the leader wants to change it.
Is there gender bias in an industry like fashion that is dominated by women?
Yes, even in fashion. That’s why everyone is promoting the idea of women’s empowerment. At first, I thought that gender biases were only prevalent in the banking industry which is very male dominated. But no, I’m actually quite surprised.
Have you had any major setbacks in climbing up the ladder?
I did back in the days. Because I wasn’t a US citizen, I was a foreigner. I used to have a dream of making it in the States and being better than average. Having that mentality has pushed me to perform better. The part of the challenge is that when it comes to foreigners, it’s a question of “Can you be better than everyone else?” That was in the early stages of my career, but I was very persistent to make a difference. Once my boss saw that, he started to put trust in me which then opened up to more opportunities. I climbed up the ladder from there.
You have to try twice as hard as a foreigner?
Exactly. And do the things that nobody wants to do. Once i had to run after a FedEx truck because of a delivery that we had to make sure came on time. There was another time when I had to deliver 20 cappuccinos to an office, back and forth from Starbucks in the middle of a snowstorm. I literally had to do that — these things that are unseen in the industry.
Wow, that’s crazy! Do you have any advice for young girls trying to break into the fashion industry?
Persistence, stop complaining and having a positive mind. Especially in the moments where you struggle the most, remember to just be positive. Just be open about criticisms and setbacks. Always thrive to be better. It’s hard for people to take criticism sometimes, especially millennials. Just never give up, which mean you have to see a lot of positives in criticism. That’s where I’ve been able to grow the most – through criticism. Don’t give up easily.
What do you tell yourself on those days where you want to give up?
I just keep focused on why I do what I do. If i give up right now, the things that I did and the people that believed in it – it will all be for nothing. There are a lot of things that give you the urge to give up, but I just keep pressing forward.
What’s the best thing you love about your work?
We bring good impacts, we know we have a vision to bring back the credibility and to appreciate people. Sometime, companies in Indonesia don’t focus on the people, but highlight the brand more. That’s why we aspire to make that change. We aspire to empower through community where we showcase the people, and the people that will make a proper publications and bring impacts in the industry landscape in Indonesia, especially people who are passionate about fashion and beauty; have been in the field it for a long time. It’s about creating their legacy in digital world and empowering things that matter. That’s part of our vision.
Tag: startups
Amina Qonita, Founder of SNCTRY Health Bar
ANGIN Women’s Spotlight series seeks to showcase a diverse array of inspiring women leaders and their stories and experiences in order to shed light on the unique experiences of women in business. We hope that both men and women can gain from these shared experiences, that these stories can inspire change, and that other young girls are motivated to become leaders as well.
Tell me anything you want to tell me about SNCTRY.
I started SNCTRY two and a half years ago. Basically the philosophy behind SNCTRY is to create a place where you can be happy, as we believe that by feeding your body with food that is good for you, happiness will come from the inside and out. Here, not only can you find food that healthy and nutritious, we try to be a business that is holistically good for the wellbeing; we have a bright colorful space, very friendly staff and we are also environmentally conscious. We only use local ingredients, the store itself uses a lot of recycled furniture and we are moving towards being 100% plastic free. So it is a holistically ‘good’ place where you can feed your body well and be happy in knowing that you are supporting a responsible business.
In the food and beverage scene in Jakarta, do you see this holistic philosophy or health trend as something that’s growing bigger?
When we started we were one of the first healthy food places. I remember when I first opened people were like, “You know, I don’t think Indonesians will want this food,” ‘cause you know the diet here is very very different and people are not aware of nutrition.
Anyway since then, the trend has definitely grown, from being the first place in Jakarta to serve a smoothie bowl, now you can find it in a lot of places in town. So the health food trend is definitely something that is on the rise, Jakartans are more aware of health food and nutrition now compared to how they were 2 years ago.
Which is amazing, to know that something we brought here has changed people’s mentality towards health food. Take our smoothie bowls, it’s not like its green or it’s a salad, it’s friendly and it looks nice, so people are more keen to try it.
In terms of the holistic philosophy, that’s something that is growing at a slower rate, but it’s nice to see that more and more cafes are moving to being more responsible.
Do you have any comments or tips to stay afloat in the very competitive F&B in Jakarta?
You have to stay true to your business, with Snctry we are quite strict on our food, we only use fresh, pesticide-free, local produce, we don’t use palm oil, we don’t use refined sugar so we stay true to this and we do not compromise on this quality. So it’s very important to never compromise the quality of what you sell.
Another tip is to always create new things, be experimental and creative and create new menus, like seasonal menus, so your regular customers don’t get bored.
How is the gender landscape in F&B? Predominantly female? Male? 50/50
From what I can see, usually people go into F&B business in groups, and its predominantly males. I would say 70- 30.
Do you find challenges being a female entrepreneur in this industry? If so how do you overcome those challenges?
Actually for me personally, I’ve never seen gender as a challenge. Previous to starting snctry I was working in Australia in a very male-dominated industry.
The challenges that comes with being an entrepreneur comes to any entrepreneur, both male and female.
For me, I personally don’t focus too much on the challenges, but I focus on the positive things I want to achieve. I have a ‘just-do-it’ mentality, because the more you think about it, the more you get scared and the more it becomes a hindrance.
Do you have any tips for women breaking into this industry?
To do something you’re passionate about – is definitely a key, it will keep you going when the challenges come. But again, in order to break into any industry, you shouldn’t see gender as something that should stop you, If you think it is then you are agreeing to being less equal to men, I mean really, there’s nothing that we females can’t do now, especially in this day and age. There will definitely be difficulties, but I’m sure if you have enough courage and you put your mind into it, you can do it. Anyone can.
Any tips on the F&B industry in general?
Again, do something you’re passionate about, something you love. If it’s something on trend, that always helps to kickstart the marketing but you need to have a good product for people to keep coming back. Realize what your market is, what their behavior is like, for example the people in Jakarta loves to take pictures of something new and on trend, so you should use this to your advantage, something photogenic is always good here.
Favorite item? What should I try right now ?
I recommend the coconut breeze smoothie bowl with extra granola for me its super delicious and refreshing. You don’t even realize that it’s healthy because you get the sweetness from all the tropical fruit, it’s cold and fresh like a healthy ice cream and you get a lot of energy from the granola. It’s really good for you, and you feel super nourished afterwards. So yeah, that’s what you should try right now!
[RECAP and READ] Knowing the Future: How Artificial Intelligence Will Shape Tomorrow
Several inspiring women panelists gathered together at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in India to discuss the implications of artificial intelligence on humanity’s collective future. The all-star panel included Elizabeth Gore – Chairman of Alice, Nivruti Rai – Country General of Intel, Rama Kalyani Akkiraju – Distinguished engineer at IBM, and Shubha Nabar – Senior Director, Data Science at Salesforce. Here are the key takeaways:
- Artificial intelligence will make huge disruptions in the healthcare, manufacturing, and customer service sectors. From simplifying logistics to using image detection classification AI to using chatbots to streamline processes, huge changes are coming and jobs will shift as automation becomes inevitable.
- AI needs to become more accessible to the public. Part of understanding how to build an AI system is trusting and understanding what happens. This will require greater participation from the public. Companies will need to explain what AI is to users, in a way people understand, and what the implications are. The public also needs to put their trust in AI. Models should be somewhat transparent, and companies should be exposing the right metrics – the things you predict and how they correlate with what you predict a month later, a year later, etc. – in order to foster greater public trust around the model.
- Humanity is still an integral part of AI. Just because we’re moving towards a more automated future doesn’t mean that humanity will grow less important. If you think about it, the humanity behind AI is what makes our AI lovable, trusted, and usable. And there’s a good reason why we put human elements behind AI. Just think about prominent and popular AIs such as Watson, Siri, Alice, Einstein, etc. At the end of the day, the entrepreneurs and leaders that will be successful are the ones who don’t JUST know the technical capabilities of AI but also understand culture, humanity, and how to create a user-centered AI.
- The best founders and the data are the ones that use AI as a tool, not those who say “we are an AI company.” The most successful are the ones who take a holistic approach and use AI as a tool for end users. After all, users will always be king. When designing and building AI tools, we should be thinking about and designing for the person using AI, not the AI itselff.
- What should governments do to prepare the next generation to take advantage of AI? There is a lot of debate about AI leaving blue collar workers jobless and destroying the economy as we know it. The truth is that there will definitely be changes in the job landscape, but it will not necessarily leave us all jobless. Smart policy is necessary to train workers, create an economic security net, and begin the shift to a more digitized economy. Thinkers like Bill Gates have proposed a robot tax, where every job that a company gives to a robot his taxed a certain amount. That tax can then be leveraged to re-skill a person to create a different job for him/her in the new digital economy. In addition, we should be thinking of our politicians – how many are technology-literate? How many have a technological background? Everyone needs to take responsibility of who you’re putting into office or how public officials are getting educated in technology.
- AI reduces discrimination and lowers barriers to entry. Think about how ATMs changed society: you don’t get discriminated against by an ATM. It’s not about banks, tellers, or even VCs on the other side of the counter saying, “you don’t look the way I’m used to, and I have an unconscious bias against you.” You can withdraw money without discrimination. With AI, you’re automating more and more processes while striving to eliminate human bias and error. This is what we’re increasingly seeing with fintech companies such as Connector.ID and cryptocurrencies like Blockchain — the barrier to funding is lowered, transactions become more transparent, and corruption can be reduced.
The panel left the audience feeling hopeful about the future of AI, while also giving entrepreneurs a sense of how to integrate AI into their own companies. The discussion on AI is growing and has only just begun; it is up to leaders – including women entrepreneurs – to continue to build empathetic and user-centric AI tools to help create a better future.
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[RECAP] An Emphasis on Women, Tech, and the Future of Entrepreneurship: Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017
1’500 delegates from 150 countries gathered in Hyderabad for this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES). The air buzzed with excitement as entrepreneurs, investors, and government officials mingled and connected with one another.
With the theme, “Women First, Prosperity For All,” GES 2017 brought in a variety of inspiring women figures and honed in on women-focused panels. Master classes such as “Success! Keeping and Nurturing Women in STEM” as well as an all-female panel discussing the future of artificial intelligence kept audience members engaged, while speeches from the likes of Ivanka Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi honed in on how investing in women could lead to a positive ripple effect and how India plans to continue as a prime location for innovation.
Meanwhile, the GIST Catalyst Pitch Competition was held throughout the summit, with 24 semifinalists competing for over $400,000 worth of prizes. Indonesian-based startup Humanitree – an app-based platform that improves access to education by connecting those who want to donate to a child’s education with child sponsorship NGOs and providing a secure payment method, updates, and impact dashboard – was among the semifinalists in the digital economy category. An Indian-based startup, Frontier Markets, took the grand prize: Frontier Markets is a last mile distribution solution for energy products with a focus on solar technology that empowers women by giving women in India the tools they need to teach their communities about the benefits of solar power and sell solar products.