One has to admire how entrepreneurs create businesses and generate new jobs wherever they go. Not every person can build a product or a service and make it an empire, as it takes one to have great personal strength and interpersonal gifts.
Many of the wealth amassed in Asia before the Tech and CEO celebrities made their mark in the region came from family wealth. Family businesses and their loyalty and persistence gave us the branded family business names like Samsung – Lee family (South Korea) , Sun Hung Kai Properties – Kwok family (Hong Kong), Charoen Pokphand Group – Chearavanont family (Thailand), Djarum – Hartono family (Indonesia), Henderson Land Development – Lee family (Hong Kong), Hong Leong Group – Kwek family (Malaysia), Chow Tai Fook – Cheng family (Hong Kong) and the list goes on.
What I have learned in my time hob-nobbing with the wealthy and powerful CEOs and Founders in my work as a startup power broker is that, all those conversations over a very expensive glass of wine, in a private restaurant or over the best Hainanese Chicken Rice that you buy and deliver to your mentor-advisor-backer’s home piping hot – those shared eating moments matter more than you know simply because we Asians bond over eating together in a way that the less collectivist Western cultures simply do not understand.
Overheard at a Chinese New Year party at one of Singapore’s richest families’ home – a 34 year old German fresh off the boat and clueless to the tiny island was told specifically by the charming host that he had to try the aged whiskey from Japan. This was how one of the most influential entrepreneurs and a newbie bonded happily over sips.
When one of my mentors, a fierce woman entrepreneur of great fame was traveling to Estonia (which I am an E-resident and a fan of), texted me before her trip asked me where to eat. I gave her my favorites, further cementing our tight human bond over food.
That is why this article is a special one for me as I am writing about a man and an event that nourishes and bonds not only for party dining but also this tiny foodie nation and its culinary artisans together with the global world of chefs like Antony Bourdain and Wolfgang Puck: Peter Knipp is the founder of the World Gourmet Summit and food entrepreneur who wrote The Raffles Hotel Cookbook in 1994 based on his insider knowledge as the hotel’s executive chef. He has cooked for celebrities and heads of state in the most prestigious kitchens and so when he curated World Gourmet Summit, you know it is only the best.
The World Gourmet Summit 2019 is happening next week in Singapore and the call to action is simple: Eat. Drink. Be Merry. For we, entrepreneurs, make that money to enjoy the pleasures of life, too.
Here at Asian Entrepreneur, we work hard and play hard – and because Peter is a fellow entrepreneur, we are featuring 2 of the many events and inviting you to come for a night or two of culinary delights. On April 26th, dine with personal celebrity chef Nikita O’Neil Skippings, who is the Turks and Caicos Islands’ Culinary Ambassador. Let the owner of the popular local restaurant and bar ‘Crackpot Kitchen’ in the Grace Bay Area whisk you away to the Caribbean islands. Not only he is a chef and a TV show host, but he is also an entrepreneur with his own line of delicious and locally branded barbeque sauces and catering service. His special guest is also a chef hailing from a wealth of experience in the healthcare field, Lorraine Kenlock, who is known to use food as holistic healing. Together they will showcase the sensuality of an Island-inspired menu from their Islands in the Sun to the Singapore island.
I have 10 special rated tickets if you are keen to join the meal. Email [email protected] and quote Friends of Marion to get more information. We are especially involved as this year’s theme for the World Gourmet Summit is Sustainability – which promotes our conscious business agenda. As world food leaders and hotels gather to discuss such an important issue in their industries.
If you want to go global without leaving home – Join me at http://www.worldgourmetsummit.com/wgs2019/main.php/event-info/7-UNGA-Gastro-Market-Place/
These affordable tickets are running out quickly – gather a few friends and join.
If you want to live like a Crazy Rich Asian for once in your life and support conscious food leader and his movement, do sign up for a special Friends of Marion discount and share a table with fellow readers of Asian Entrepreneur. Who knows what good deep business deals might spark over that rum?
