She Loves Tech is a global initiative that is all about showcasing the relationship between tech trends, entrepreneurship, innovation and the opportunities created for women.
Running an annual global startup competition and international conference series, they hold qualifying rounds all across the world. To even be eligible to enter the competition, the startups must have at least one female founder, or use technology to impact women positively.
Last week, at She Loves Tech Hong Kong 2017, ten teams pitched to clinch a spot in the grand finals at the global forum to be held in Beijing on 16 September this year.
The event attracted over 150,000 online users watching live over the afternoon.
The three winners were SkinData, a startup that uses medical-grade raw materials and AI technology to generate personalised skin care solutions; Valoot, who provide foreign exchange solutions for businesses to improve user experience in overseas spending and Green Energy, who focus on research and development, production and sales of electricity generators which leverage on wind and solar energy.
However, among the teams pitching, there was one Malaysian team bringing our country to a global stage. They were also the only “foreign” representatives to make it to the top 10.
LeadinHealth helps corporate employees to lead a healthy lifestyle and manage chronic diseases, which will translate to savings in healthcare claims cost and improvement in productivity.
Their primary focus is to help staff with chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol to reverse their lifestyle.
They adopt an offline-to-online model, where they conduct on-site programmes (e.g. wellness fair, talks and consultation groups) to improve awareness and instil practical, healthy habits.
After that, they use their digital health coaching platform via a mobile application for continuous tracking and guidance.
We spoke to Xin Yun Khor, the founder, about her journey and experience in Hong Kong.
Xin Yun started her career as a ward pharmacist and witnessed firsthand the suffering of patients with chronic diseases.
She realised she wanted to do something about it, did a diploma in nutrition and a MBA, quit her job and started LeadinHealth.
She was intrigued by the theme of the She Loves Tech event which promoted “technology for women” and “women in technology”.
“It wasn’t a matter of local or foreign competition, but being shortlisted as one of the finalists in the Hong Kong qualifying round opened a door of opportunity for me to share about my passion and work in solving a critical problem faced by any other country, which is the prevalence of chronic diseases,” she explained.
“Of course, the exposure to be able to pitch on international stage in Beijing, access to networking, mentorship and investment funding would be a great boost to our startup,” she continued.
Her takeaways from the experience?
“Even though we didn’t win the competition, I was deeply inspired and touched by the stories of the amazing women during the panel sessions. It is refreshing to see such encouraging support from the community in helping women entrepreneurs to be who they are, step up their game and blossomed.”
“Failure is not the end—and it’s not because of who we are,” were words shared by Virginia Tan, the co-founder of She Loves Tech at the event.
Xin Yun added, “Failure is just part of the learning process which helps us to grow and deliver better value to the world.”
Feature Image Credit: Xin Yun Khor
