The Impactful Women gathering was the culmination event for the ASEAN WISE fellowship, a year-long incubator building capacity for women-led enterprises addressing poverty in Southeast Asia. The two-day virtual convention celebrated the work of women-led, community-based enterprises and the contributions they have made to their local collective. The online event highlighted 17 enterprises in the creative economy (e.g., handwoven textiles, sustainable and ethical ‘slow fashion’, Indigenous music) from nine of ten ASEAN countries including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Angels of Impact seeks to elevate the voices of marginalized communities; however, many of these communities are left out of national and international decision-making due to, amongst other obstacles, language barriers. Therefore, it was all the more critical that KUDO’s interpretation services assisted women leaders in the region to connect and contribute to building an entrepreneurial eco-system.