When I launched Breer at age 18 in 2020, I had just begun my university studies. The biggest challenge for me was taking on the role of an entrepreneur so prematurely.
It all transpired very rapidly, and this was beneficial. Breer, a food upcycled craft beer label However, this meant I needed to speed up my learning process to stay ahead. My knowledge of starting a company was limited, and I wasn’t familiar with maintaining professional relationships. It quickly shifted from presenting our homemade brews to friends to stepping into high-stakes meetings and persuading corporate leaders why they should take a chance on two young founders aged 18 and 19.
I have often not been treated with quite as much seriousness due to my young age. To be honest, this seems justified. If I were in the shoes of these executives, it would be difficult to imagine that college students would view such matters as seriously as they do their main source of income.
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Presenting in your native tongue can be challenging, but doing so in a secondary language is significantly harder. Many of these discussions took place in Cantonese, and since I was the sole member of our group fluent in this language, I frequently found myself going at it alone. Although daunting, I soon understood that everyone else in the room also lacked full confidence. Breer It turned out better than my previous attempts. I constructed it entirely myself, and despite being X years younger than they were, I had a much deeper understanding of the industry. Honestly, there wasn’t any real cause for anxiety. Eventually, I mastered it.
Fortunately in Hong Kong, the imbalance of genders among entrepreneurs appears to be somewhat lesser compared to other parts of the globe. There are some absolutely incredible female entrepreneurs those whom I admire and frequently collaborate with. We have several communities centered around women.
The obstacles I have encountered as a woman arose predominantly owing to the sector I work in : beer brewing. There are significantly more males involved in this field, be it in research and development, sales, or actual brewing – an observation I came to realize after getting into it. started Breer All of a sudden, I found myself surrounded by numerous rooms filled with men. This wasn’t entirely new to me since my studies in engineering often put me in similar situations where I was mostly around males. However, in the brewing industry, finding women to serve as role models isn’t quite as common.
Statements were made that may have originated from a place of care, yet they left me feeling belittled. Early on, during my initial days at work, I was about to carry some cases of beer when a male colleague intervened, stating, “Don’t bother lifting those; they’re too heavy for you. You wouldn’t manage.” These were beers that I had every capability of carrying then—and continue to lift them without issue even now.
The initial cultural shock occurred when I joined my university’s engineering program. During my time in primary and secondary school, the student body had a relatively equal distribution between genders. Transitioning to a setting where every class seemed to consist only of 32 male classmates alongside me was quite intimidating.
However, the opportunity to serve as a female role model inspired me. I didn’t wish for other students to endure the same challenges I faced when contemplating studying engineering. Recalling conversations with my parents about not knowing any women pursuing electronic and computer engineering, I felt driven to become that figure. My aim was to ensure future students considering this path could confidently state, “I can achieve this.” By taking up this challenge, I sought to bridge the void left unaddressed during my time, since nobody had filled it for me before.
Is progress being made? Yes, there are indications of positive movement. For instance, in 2022, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing required that each new company listed in Hong Kong must have a female member of its board In pop culture, I've noticed widely watched business reality TV shows such as Shark Tank go out of your way to ensure the panel has equal representation from both genders.
Many rules and regulations aim to create equality, but I believe we should strive for this naturally rather than enforcing it through mandates. Smart women abound who merit the same—and perhaps greater—opportunities as men; surely, we can all get behind that idea?
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The article initially appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), which is the premier source for news coverage of China and Asia.
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