Wai Hong Fong – Succesful International Students and What Drives Them Forward
It can be difficult to be an optimist when most of us are in our home and in front of our screen for the past two months. Our momentum stopped and future plans were postponed indefinitely.
So Meld Magazine talked to three speakers at Future Founders Festival to give you some tips and boost in facing uncertain times.
Our second Q&A is with the founder and creator of StoreHub, Wai Hong Fong. his business and operating system is used by over 15,000 retail an restaurants across Southeast Asia. Best of all, he’s a foodie, a techie and a lifetime gamer.
Never give up – is not good advice. There are some things we should give up, fast. Dysfunctional relationships, Negative people, Insecurities. Giving up the wrong things is equally as important as focussing on the right ones.
Q: Tell us what’s the most enjoyable part of what you do!
Seeing businesses transformed and journeying with people as they grow.
Q: How do you keep driving yourself towards your career goals when an unexpected life event happens?
It really depends on the unexpected life event. Sometimes it’s better NOT to drive yourself towards career goals if they are made meaningless because of more important life events. But if that’s not the case, then it’s as simple as going back to understanding what moves us intrinsically as people. For me, it’s my competitive streak and need for meaning.
Q: Have you faced any obstacle challenges because of your background as an international student?
As an international student, you only have a few short years to understand the culture you’re trying to adapt into. To succeed in work, we generally need a combination of both technical and social skills that are often wrapped in layers of cultural context that we need to deeply Understand.
Q:What sort of opportunities do you think COVID-19 has opened up for international who want to be entrepreneurs?
As most business opportunities now find themselves dependent on an online presence, it reduces the traditional biases of ‘who’ is running the business and focuses more on the what and the quality of the products. This opens up opportunities for anyone who is willing to work hard to build quality products to compete on a more even playing field.
Q:What three pieces of advice can you give for us?
It’s not about Slow & Steady or Move fast break things. Instead, have an Unwavering Focus.
Few things get us as far as a relentless pursuit of one thing.
Resilience is out. Antifragile is in.
In a nutshell, it ain’t good enough to just tough it out these days. How do we build ourselves up such that stress and pressures make us better and better instead. I elaborated more here – https://waihongfong.com/anti-fragile-local-edition/.
It’s not about Slow & Steady or Move fast break things. Instead, have an Unwavering Focus.
Few things get us as far as a relentless pursuit of one thing.
Never give up – is not good advice. There are some things we should give up, fast.
Dysfunctional relationships, Negative people, Insecurities. Giving up the wrong things is equally as important as focusing on the right ones.
Q:How has your experience as an international student impacted your decision to be an entrepreneur?
Being in a foreign land lands me in uncomfortable situations very often. A big part of being an entrepreneur requires that we be incredibly comfortable with uncomfortable situations.
Q: What are you looking forward to at the Future Founders Festival? And what Ideas to you hope to come from the participants.
Engaging with different groups of people and catching up!
Q: Why do you think it’s important for International students to tune in to the Future Founders Festival and StartSpace?
I’m hoping that people get to see entrepreneurs for the regular human beings we are. That the barriers to entrepreneurship are difficult but not impossible.
Want to see more of Wai Hong? Sign up for Future Founders Festival, a FREE five day hackaton and digital startup event from 23-27th of September, for international student innovator, founder and entrepreneur. Meet, connect and pitch your ideas to business owners, experts and investors! Checkout their list of speakers and events at StartSpace