Women Entrepreneur Award, 2021
Written by: APAC Entrepreneur
BUILDING LEGACY THROUGH CHANGE
A business leader needs to have many professional traits, but the skills and abilities such as leadership, persistence, communication, and constant sacrifice is a must. Words like easy and quick success is a myth. There are no shortcuts to success. A leader must constantly make efforts, dedicate, and sacrifice things to build a strong and stable foundation for the company. Wong Mei Wai, Founder, CEO, and Chief Change Catalyst of APAC Global Advisory (AGA) is an evident and profound example of how skills of leadership shape an idea into a successful business.
Mei Wai is a leading APAC marketing and the business leader turned entrepreneur who founded the award-winning boutique end-to-end change management consultancy AGA. AGA is a bespoke Global Change Consultancy with the purpose of ‘Building Legacy through Change’. Today, AGA helps organizations (especially family businesses) navigate change to build legacy (including the legacy of Companies, the legacy of People, and the legacy of Brands) through various change leadership, brand change, and change management services.
Mei Wai’s Entrepreneurial Journey
“In my entrepreneurship journey, my passion to start AGA came from both my personal and professional journey. The purpose was partly linked to my personal experience during my growing up years,” recalls, Mei Wai. Growing up, she witnessed her father take over the family business without succession planning and watching him face challenges, particularly leading and navigating change whilst developing a thriving business to continue the legacy for an extended family. “It struck me that he would have benefitted from the support and counsel of a trusted and innovative change catalyst, on-side with him, who could bring a unique level of insight of the intricacies and complexities (in this case, to a family business).”
Aside from being attuned to the unique challenges of a family business and equipped with the strong professional skill sets with psychodynamic abilities to see ‘beneath the surface’ to navigate these often multi-dimensional issues, it was not enough. Mei Wai had more than 2 decades of experience in working with Global, Regional and local multi-national corporations and large family businesses. She increasingly became acquainted with the hands-on management of the world of change at different stages of her journey. In 2018, AGA was founded to provide the solution in the form of an innovative and trusted change catalyst that journey with organizations and their people to transform their businesses and take them to the next stage of growth. Her end-to-end change management and services work as Founder, CEO and Chief Change Catalyst of AGA covers diverse industries including FMCG, Food & Beverage, Retail, Hospitality, Property, Banking, Electrical, Lighting IT industry, Commodities, and Trade.
Mei Wai is a courageous and passionate entrepreneur who makes innovative changes, takes on challenging assignments. With her outside-the-box thinking and the fact that she comes from a family of entrepreneurs, her decision to become an entrepreneur is a natural progression. Since its inception, AGA has been blessed to have a network of strong like-minded entrepreneurs and industry leaders who are part of the APAC Global Change Catalyst.
Transforming Businesses
APAC Global Advisory is an innovative and trusted change catalyst that journeys with organizations and their people to transform their businesses and take them to the next stage of growth. “By being on-side with our clients, we bring a unique level of insight of those intricacies and complexities within which our clients operate and we deliver through a bespoke client-tailored approach - with Integrity, Innovativeness, and Agility,” asserts Mei Wai.
Wong Mei Wai - Founder, CEO & Chief Change Catalyst
AGA stands out from its competition with its unique and bespoke approach to Change Management and Services which have become increasingly relevant during the pandemic and new normal. The company is uniquely placed with its end-to-end change services and network to deliver to corporations and family businesses with their multi-disciplinary expertise including talent and on-the- ground experience, to achieve seamless end-to-end change that is sustainable. It also provides a proposition through the Psychodynamic Approach to help CEOs/Business owners and their teams navigate change.
AGA brings together a flexible approach that can include tapping on their hand-picked diverse global experts with almost one century of combined thought leadership, expertise, and change experience - including Change Management, Leadership and Change Communication, Globalisation of Brands, Customer Experience, Innovation, Market Research, Design, Digital (e-Commerce and Omni-channel) and Technology, Talent Management, and Mergers & Acquisition.
Wong Mei Wai with some of her APAC Global Advisory Change Catalyst. From left to right: Oo Ban Leong (M&A Change Catalyst), Kwan Chong Wah (Consumer Insight Change Catalyst) and Wong KL (Technopreneur & Digital Change Catalyst).
On Future Endeavours
AGA’s vision is to be the best-integrated Change Specialist in Asia, scaling branded businesses to a new height for the new generation. The company looks forward to continuing growth with its clients and helping them scale their businesses across multiple industries. As a business leader and mother, Mei Wai believes that focusing on the new generation is critical for change. She also believes that today and in the future, the new generation must navigate multiple fundamental changes that the previous generation did not have to face.
“I hope to continue to make an impact in helping the new generation successfully bridge the gap to leadership to build legacies. For me being a business leader means influencing and sharing knowledge on change to impact and help more diverse industries. Therefore, I will continue to advise and consult as a practitioner in a diverse range of industries that could benefit from knowledge and learnings,” concludes, Mei Wai.
Wong Mei Wai in Change Conversation
