The topic for PAN July sharing session
has changed from gold to jewellery; both are favourites with us
women, entrepreneurs or not. The earlier designated speaker, PAN
member Monica, has a family emergency so another member Amee Philips
has step up to take over the rostrum.
Yes, the speaker is the Amee Philips of
the famous Penang jewellery house that has gone national as well as
international as of this year. So free up your Saturday afternoon
tomorrow to listen to and spend some personal time with this rising
entrepreneur.
At the 6th Asia Pacific
Entrepreneurship Awards earlier this month, Amee won the Most
Promising Entrepreneur Award 2012. This particular award requires for
the nominees to be entrepreneurs leading a registered business for no
less than one year, and with a turnover of no less than USD1 million
in the past one year.
The Most Promising Entrepreneurship
Award is for entrepreneurs who have displayed promising
accomplishments in the past and present and have the vision and
potential to advance their companies to be leading businesses in the
near future. They are deemed to hold the potential to make it big and
inspire the young minds to follow their footsteps in becoming
successful entrepreneurs in the future.
 |
| Amee (L) receiving her Most Promising Entrepreneur Award |
And Amee has been judged to fit that
bill. So come prepared with questions to ask her over a cuppa. PAN
sharing session is normally quite intimate with just 20 women or less
chatting together.
Here's some Amee's basics to entice you
further.
She hailed from Nibong Tebal and got into the jewellery
business by accident. She was in Germany and received a gemstone in
the mail from mom, who asked Amee to send home more of the same.
At the time Amee could only afford
costume jewellery to wear. “I didn't even know what gemstone my mom
had sent. I took it to a crystal shop and look for its look-alike and
bought some to send back home.”
Her mom shared the gems with friends
and soon was asking Amee to get more, who then started sourcing them
for much cheaper from wholesalers.
That was how her gems wholesaling
business took hold, supplying to the jewellery shops along Pitt
Street (now Lebuh Masjid Kapitan Keling) in George Town. “I walked
door-to-door asking them to buy but they only agreed to sell the gems
for me on consignment.”
“I develop good eyes for the good gem
stones as I go through thousands of them daily. And I started
designing jewellery too and was lucky enough to have sold every
piece.” She opened her jewellery production studio in 1992.
With the 1997 Financial Crisis, the
wholesaling business took a dive. Amee shifted her focus entirely on
producing jewellery and hasn't look back since. Year 2012 brought the
Amee Philips brand to the international arena through a smart
partnership with Zhang Toi, a fellow Malaysian who is now a world
renown fashion designer based in New York.
Amee Philips became an international
brand overnight with Zhang Toi, she said. It all began with them
meeting as participants in the George Town Festival 2011. She counted
that among the lucky moments or breakthroughs in her business.
Amee Philips is looking forward to
become a world renown brand in no time because, she said, “I'm the
best in coloured gem stones, I love them, I believe in innovation and
creativity, I'm a big dreamer, a doer, and have no worries about
making mistakes.”
Awesome words and resolve; don't you wish to hear more from her in person?
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