The ACE Bluesky Festival 2009 is happening on 10 July 2009, with the Conference which starts from 10am-5.30pm, Grand Ballroom, Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore, followed by a gala dinner in Megu Event Hall, The Singapore Flyer. The Guests of Honour for both events are Mr Lim Hng Kiang (Minister for Trade & Industry) for the conference and Mr Lee Yi Shyan (Minister of State for Trade & Industry and Manpower, Minister in charge of Entrepreneurship) for the gala dinner. The annual BlueSky Festival is a distinctive platform for the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE) to recognise and celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit in Singapore. Join us and learn from fellow entrepreneurs on how to grow your business in these challenging times. Here are the details for the event: Read more
I set off to Subang Jaya for Barcamp Kuala Lumpur (KL) on Friday morning. I reached a day earlier to meet up with some internet specialists and organizers of Barcamp KL. The last Barcamp KL was held in the KLCC area (where the Petronas Towers are). This event was held over the weekend (4 and 5 April 2009) in Inti College, Subang Jaya. The trip turned out to be a good one because it grew to become Barcamp Southeast Asia, with other organizers from Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo & Cambodia. This time round, we have wi-fi available, and the other thing I liked about the location is that the Inti College is located besides the Asia Cafe and also a Starbucks Cafe where I can grab a cup of grande vanilla latte. Read more
Our very own Bernard was one of the first presenters of the full-day event while his two counterparts, Gwen and Isaac Timothy T were in the audience skipping around from room to room. Here, we hear from both Gwen and Isaac Timothy T on their thoughts on various presentations. Read more
Filed under EventsTags: Ad Optimization, Asia, Barcamp Singapore 3, barcampsg3, Communities, Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship, Facebook, Google, Information Architecture, Malaysia Entrepreneurs, Social Media, Technology
The co-founders of Lunch Actually needs no introduction as they are well-known in the offline dating space for matchmaking professionals and executives. While expanding Lunch Actually to Malaysia and Hong Kong, the founders of the team have now embarked on a venture that translates the dating business from offline to online and vice versa. Their new dating portal, Eteract allows singles to conveniently and instantly meet new friends by doing interactive and efficient online speed dating activities together to determine if there is chemistry and connection between them. So, we interview Violet about the story behind Eteract. Read more
Filed under InterviewsTags: Dating, Dating Agency, Dating Industry, entrepreneur, Entrepreneurs, Eteract, Female Entrepreneurs, Jamie Lee, Lunch Actually, Matchmaker, Matchmaking, Singapore, Startup, Valentine's Day, Vday09, Violet Lim, woman entrepreneur, women entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurship, Zam Ong
The announcements for the budget are finally out. From the Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in his Budget statement today, the Singapore government will spend S$20.5 billion to help businesses and workers. The aim is to ensure that .The major announcements include the following:
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Tomorrow, the Minister for Finance, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, will deliver the Budget Speech for the Financial Year 2009 in Parliament at 3:30pm. Unlike the past budget speech which is delivered in the month of March of that year, this budget speech came early in the midst of a global financial crisis. In the past few days before the budget, there are already suggestions that our government may dip into our reserves to deal with the current financial downturn (and perhaps the worst of our times) and even the possibility of a minimum wage law to support labour. What should an entrepreneur expect in such times? Here are some of the possiblities which might happen: Read more
For your support and encouragement, the founders and the resident contributors thank all of you for a wonderful year of 2008. We have passed a very turbulent year and are about to brace in the midst of a difficult time. According to an experienced investor I know, this may be the worst financial crisis we see in our lifetime and yet there is hope. The greatest wealth are often created in the times of great difficult times. In bad times, we should conjure a famous quote by Winston Churchill during World War II in the darkest moment, “Never, never, never give up!”. We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope that the coming year will bring good fortune and health to all. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
A couple of incidents for the past year recently made me ponder about the way how entrepreneurs in Singapore, or generally Asians handle their potential investors differently from their western counterparts. Perhaps, in terms of Gladwell’s “Outliers”, the cultural legacy could be the major fact that contributes to their behaviour. Since raising money in such difficult times is so much more challenging, it may also be good to provide some thoughts for those who are optimistic and willing to give it a shot. Sometimes, it’s not their fault to sound that way but they have made it so difficult for the investors to really say yes, for 99% of the time, they really did not know what the other side is thinking. I decide to summarize a few general cases for them so that they don’t make such amateur mistakes. This post is originally published from BL’s personal blog. Read more
Since the last barcamp gathering in Kuala Lumpur, July 2008, both the Singapore and Malaysia teams have decided to bring together people across both causeways together. The result is Barcamp Johor 2008, where it is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees. The event will be held on 6-7 Dec 2008 over a weekend. The event will be held in Menara MSC Cyberport, Level 29, Menara MSC Cyberport, No. 5, Jalan Bukit Meldrum, 80300 Johor Bahr. This is a good time between the developers, investors and entrepreneurs to share their ideas in such challenging times of the financial crisis. For those who are interested to turn up or sign up as a speaker to this event, please register here and also check out the sessions. If you are interested to follow this event, check out their blog and also their twitter feed for the latest news.
In my personal blog, I recently talked about the impact of the current credit crunch on fundraising and how entrepreneurs need to throw away their textbook methods in growth strategies to navigate out of this crisis. Here are some thoughts on how the contracted liquidity in the market will create new challenges for the entrepreneur. Read more
