What does giving back look like for female entrepreneurs?
For the Women Entrepreneurship Committee (WEC), an initiative under the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE) that aims to improve female representation in Singapore’s entrepreneurship community, it involved co-organising an entire International Women’s Day (IWD) event with nine other organisations.
Held on the last day of March, in which IWD falls, the Give to Gain: IWD 2026 event celebrated women entrepreneurship while also urging participants to give back to society. As Vivian Lee, Chairperson of the ACE WEC, put it in her opening address:
“‘Give to gain’ is a reminder that the strongest ecosystems aren’t built by a few doing everything, but by many each giving something. Time, knowledge, connections, resources—every contribution compounds.”
WEC committee members Didi Gan, Founder of N&E Innovations, and Mint Lim, CEO and Founder of School of Concepts, are living examples of the “Give to Gain” tagline. Having succeeded in their entrepreneurial pursuits, both women have since given back—and gained.
During the event, I spoke with them to learn how they give back in practice and how they’ve benefited from doing this.
From Protecting Her Daughter’s Skin To Supporting Farmers’ Livelihoods In Vietnam
For Didi, giving back means focusing her business efforts on causes she cares about.
The biological and biomedical scientist’s entrepreneurship journey started in 2020, when she attended a Chinese New Year gathering and had the idea of turning food waste into antibacterial products.
“Our aim was to upcycle agricultural waste material into more useful materials to make the world a more sustainable place,” says Didi, relating why she founded N&E Innovations.
Not only that: her daughter, Emma, suffered from bad eczema, and Didi wanted to develop skin-safe products Emma could use.
Her efforts resulted in ViKang99, a natural, non-toxic antimicrobial that’s sold in her business’ C2+ line of antimicrobial sprays.
ViKang99 has many B2B and B2C use cases, but Didi highlights its use in agriculture, where farmers can spray ViKang99 on harvested crops to improve the crops’ longevity. And this is exactly how her business is working with smallholder farmers in Vietnam.
“We’re helping smallholder farmers to not only replace the toxic chemicals they use to wash their harvest, but also extend their harvest’s shelf life,” shares Didi.
“In Southeast Asia, many farmers don’t have cold chain facilities from their farms to the processing house. So, solutions that could help them earn a few more dollars will make a lot of difference in their lives.”
Giving SAHMs The Opportunity To Work
Another cause that Didi champions? Supporting stay-at-home mums who want to return to the workforce.
Didi has hired stay-at-home mums on a part-time basis, and it’s a win-win situation for both parties. Her hires get to work from home while caring for their children, while her business gets the extra help it needs.
“This initiative gives women the encouragement that they’re able to step back into the workforce,” says Didi.
“I think more women entrepreneurs out there should do this.”
A “Random” But Authentic Mentorship Connection
Mint’s method of giving back, on the other hand, involves mentoring others. To her, mentorship is a no-brainer, given from the rich knowledge and experience she’s gained from being mentored herself.
According to her, how she came to be mentored was “really random”. A woman read a newspaper article about her and felt the urge to help her, so she reached out to Mint on LinkedIn.
That woman turned out to be Woo Li Fern, whose positions include board membership on the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. Mint gets many messages from people she doesn’t know, but Li Fern’s authenticity caught her attention.
“I’m naturally drawn to authentic energy because that’s why we social entrepreneurs exist,” says Mint, whose business, School of Concepts, provides learning enrichment programmes customised to children’s preferred learning styles.
“We’re not there for the optics. We’re not there for the ‘gram. Being authentic about our focus and impact is where we want to be.”
Mint replied to Li Fern’s message, and their mentorship began.
Paying The Mentorship Forward
Over many sessions, Mint learnt from Li Fern a wealth of knowledge on scaling a business, leadership and expanding beyond Singapore’s shores.
But Mint wondered what Li Fern was getting out of mentoring her. So, she asked Li Fern, whose answer surprised her.
“She said, ‘Thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to mentor you, because I learnt so much from you.’” recounts Mint.
“That, to me, was very humbling and empowering. Because I never thought I could give back to your mentor. This realisation empowered me to continue the movement of giving back to others.”
From there, Mint started volunteering her time to mentor other social entrepreneurs. She makes it a point not to prescribe solutions, but share how her mentees can learn from her mistakes.
Now, she knows firsthand what Li Fern meant when she expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to mentor Mint.
“The whole mentorship experience allows you to reflect, internalise and appreciate the journey you’ve been on,” says Mint.
“It’s not about the accomplishments you’ve achieved. Being a woman entrepreneur, and being a social entrepreneur, is really about appreciating every bit of your entrepreneurship journey.”
Supporting Women In Need
Charity is also something close to Mint’s heart: she sits on the fundraising committee of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and is a good friend of the chairperson of Daughters of Tomorrow.
These were just two of the seven charities present at Give to Gain: IWD 2026 to raise awareness of the causes they serve and pitch for donations.
For example, Melissa Tan, who manages fundraising and donor relations at Daughters of Tomorrow, shared how the charity helped a beneficiary leave an abusive relationship and secure a job near her home to shorten the time she spends picking her children up from school.
With that job, the beneficiary was also able to transition from staying in a rental flat to owning her own three-room flat, and even graduate from polytechnic in the same year as her daughter.
Women entrepreneurs and ecosystem leaders sharing their experiences at the IWD 2026 “Give to Gain” panel discussion.
Didi shares that Daughters of Tomorrow was one of the charities whose work she found especially meaningful. In fact, she ended up making a financial contribution to the charity.
“In my entire startup journey, I’ve gotten a lot of support from other women entrepreneurs,” Didi says. “Being able to give back to people who need our support is an amazing feeling.”
Read Also: Why Giving To Charities May Actually Impact Us As Much As The Charities We Give To
Being Able To Give Is A Gain On Its Own
Giving back, it appears, stems from an internal motivation to help others. This motivation could arise because you want to address a personal pain point—like in Didi’s case, who was searching for a skin-safe antibacterial product for her daughter.
Or, perhaps you’ve benefited from being helped by others and now want to pay it forward, just like how former mentee Mint now mentors other social entrepreneurs.
“Giving is a daily mission, a daily point of satisfaction,” reflects Mint.
“We wake up in the morning wanting to give to others, and we go to sleep at night asking ourselves what we’re grateful for. And most commonly, when we give, we find that sense of gratitude very naturally.
Being able to give to any cause, or any person or any event, is a gain on its own.”
The ACE.SG Women Entrepreneurship Sub-committee, which helped bring together founders and ecosystem partners at the IWD 2026 “Give to Gain” event.
If you are a female founder looking to learn, connect and grow alongside other entrepreneurs, consider joining ACE.SG as a member and getting involved with the Women Entrepreneurship Committee (WEC)’s events and initiatives.
Source: ACE
Membership is currently free for students and local startups, making it easier for founders to tap into ACE.SG’s wider network, programmes and community events. Female entrepreneurs who want to connect with like-minded founders can also look out for WEC-led initiatives and events through ACE.SG.
