Mental health and wellness is a real problem in the startup world and these four Echelon speakers want to provide some advice
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As with most of our social media life, the life we see online is a curated — and often inaccurate — version of ourselves. This is even more true for a Founder, who needs to maintain a certain public perception in order to benefit the company.
The crazy part of this is its also a job with a ton of pressure, a lot of stress and bouts of incredible loneliness.
This life can lead to serious bouts with depression, troubles with anxiety and a general mental health that is far from ideal. Thankfully, it is a fairly well-discussed topic in the Southeast Asian startup scene.
The ecosystem seems to be trying to find solutions and genuinely wants to be supportive of people who are struggling during their entrepreneurship journey.
At Echelon Asia Summit 2019, we will have four fantastic speakers on stage to discuss the topic. Let’s meet them!
Panel: Why it is dangerous to be a “rockstar entepreneur” 24/7: The importance of mental wellness
Moderator: Zi En Wong, Co-founder, Hasiko
Wong is a veteran of the startup ecosystem, having Founded a startup that connected corporates and startups named Detecq. Her startup was acquired in 2017. During her time as the Founder of Detecq, she also Founded the Singapore branch of Founder Institute, a global pre-accelerator company from the Silicon Valley.
So she clearly has the startup chops, but what makes her unique to host this panel is her time as the Co-founder of Hasiko, a company that mixes physical, mental and emotional wellbeing to help people live a sustainable lifestyle.
The company believes that a well-balanced life is a key to success, and Hasiko works to help people find this place in their lives.
Panelist: Bjorn Lee, Founder, MindFi
During his time as a Product Manager for the Zopim-Zendesk acquisition integration, Lee discovered firsthand the risks of a high-stress no-sleep lifestyle.
Lee decided to pursue meditation and went on a deep-dive into the practice. As he puts it, it was a fantastic experience, but it isn’t overly sustainable in our day-to-day lives. So, in an effort to help regular people integrate meditation into their schedules, he Founded MindFi.
MindFi is a meditation app that helps people pursue active mindfulness. This may mean learning how to be mindful during meals, finding a post-work meditation practice or learning useful breathing exercises.
Panelist: Desmond M. Koh, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, BNP Paribas
In the world of wealth management, Koh is an important person, helping BNP Paribas achieve the designation as the top bank for sustainable finance in 2019, according to EuroMoney.
But the reason he is on this panel is his passion for wellness. He is part of two organisations — Mind Warrior and Compassion Capitalist — that work to help people find the balance in their lives that they need to achieve their full potential.
Koh works to evangilise his ideology of ‘mindful flow states’ to help people achieve the correct balance between mind, body and spirit. His hope is that his sharings will help make the world around him a better place.
Panelist: William TOV, Associate Professor of Psychology, Singapore Management University
William TOV is a psychology expert, having received a Phd from the University of Illinois in 2008. But more relevant for this panel are is specific research interests.
TOV has spent a lot of time looking into the impact that well-being and personality make on our everyday lives.
This includes how social media affects our wellbeing, the social implications of certain personality traits, how culture and society impacts the individual and policy measures governments can pursue.
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