Leading Ladies: Tales of Success from Six Inspiring Women

Arianne Amante has always wanted to create something that empowers women. Having grappled with feelings of insecurity while growing up, she often turned to makeup and skincare products as a way to boost her confidence. When she realized there was a gap in the market for homegrown beauty products designed for Filipina consumers, she decided to create her own brand. In 2021, she launched Clocheflame and started selling her products on Lazada Philippines.

“Clocheflame may not be one of the biggest players in the industry, but I feel successful because we’ve built something that goes beyond just selling beauty products. Clocheflame has grown into a community – a safe space for all things beauty and beyond. And that has always been my goal,” Amante said.

Breaking Down Barriers

For many female entrepreneurs like Amante, eCommerce has been an effective platform for creating a more equitable society. “With equal access to resources, opportunities and support systems these days, women can really grow and achieve all they put their minds to,” said Teh Qiu Xuan from Malaysia.

Teh founded KOMIC, an authorized distributor of licensed character merchandise, with her brother when she was just 16 years old. While Teh had to navigate various challenges when she launched KOMIC on Lazada Malaysia at such a young age, she said she was able to take advantage of the eCommerce platform’s reach and resources to grow her business. In the decade since its founding, KOMIC has grown from a two-person team to a 15-strong company that boasts a main office, two warehouses as well as a Disney in-store pop-up in Penang. Teh, too, has grown from a novice seller to a bona fide business leader who has even become a Lazada Seller Ambassador.

Arianne Amante of Clocheflame

Teh Qiu Xuan of KOMIC

Vanda Monica of mancing_stellaproductsofficial

Pornpavee Darnmingyen of Merge

Antoinette Wong of The Little Dröm Store

Nguyen Hoai Nhi of Decosa Homedecor

Similarly, Vanda Monica has been able to harness the power of eCommerce to transcend traditional gender roles. Despite being a housewife with no prior business experience, Monica became motivated to teach herself how to run an online business and leveraged various online and offline training tools to achieve success in the sports and fishing category with her store, mancing_stellaproductsofficial, on Lazada Indonesia.

“It’s not easy being a businesswoman. You’re expected to be able to balance work and family equally. There will be naysayers, too, and there will be pressure, but I’ve learnt to keep myself motivated,” Monica says. “Especially as female entrepreneurs, we need positive encouragement so that we can always be motivated to rise and move forward.”

Pornpavee Darnmingyen, founder of popular Thai fashion brand Merge, agrees that female entrepreneurs should support other women. “Gender undeniably affects the attitudes and judgements of some people in our society, but that’s out of our control. All we can do is to carry on and keep doing what we think is right,” she said.

Her brand offers clothing, including its signature jeans, in a range of inclusive sizes with the aim of making sure that women not only look good but also feel empowered to chase their dreams and passions even when faced with obstacles.

“It’s not just about business success but also about making big changes in society – because we should all be whoever we want to be,” Darnmingyen explained.

The Power of Women

In many ways, the flexibility offered by eCommerce has enabled women to realize their full potential. This has been especially true for Antoinette Wong, a mother of two and the founder of The Little Dröm Store on Lazada Singapore.

“I love the plus points of being able to mostly work from home and not be tied down to fixed retail and working hours. This flexibility and freedom of how I manage my time is a priority in this phase of my life, where I want to build a sturdy foundation and relationship with my two young kids,” Wong said.

As a former graphic designer with a passion for spreading joy, Wong sells greeting cards, homeware and other inspiring and creative knick-knacks through her online store. “Women can easily lose their own identities once they become mothers. Having a platform like Lazada helps parents with young kids keep their interests alive without the overwhelming commitment and burden of a physical shop,” she added.

Decosa Homedecor founder Nguyen Hoai Nhi experienced a similar boost in self-confidence and also gained a sense of purpose when she embarked on her path to come a digital entrepreneur. After quitting her job at an advertising agency in 2021, Nguyen decided to nurture her interest in eCommerce and set up her home décor store on Lazada Vietnam. While she was nervous at first about leaving an established career, the support she received from other sellers and the ensuing growth she witnessed in her business convinced her she had made the right decision.

“I used to be afraid that if I didn’t follow society’s measures of success by having a ‘proper career,’ my future would be negatively affected. But now my thinking has changed – I am no longer afraid, because I realize that I can do anything that I want to do,” Nguyen said.