Entrepreneurship is no walk in the park, and experienced founders have gone through incredible journeys with stories to tell. Dentons Rodyk senior partner and head of corporate practice S. Sivanesan moderated a panel discussion ‘The Founder’s journey – Has it been really worth it?’ at Innovfest Unbound 2018, which took place in Singapore on Tuesday, 5 June. 

Featuring veteran entrepreneurs Sam Lim (founder & CEO at Reebonz, Southeast Asia's largest online luxury retailer) and Dmitry Voronenko (co-founder & CEO at Turnkey Lender, a cloud-based, online lending system for entrepreneurial lenders and mid-size financial institutions), the session uncovered various challenges they encountered, and the good, difficult, bad and testing times. One of the key take-aways that emerged was that entrepreneurship is about value creation. It needs certain skills and character and may not be for everyone.

Sam personally enjoyed the testing and experimentation of products until there was measurable success and a momentum is reached, no matter how much sweat, sacrifice and effort needed to be expended. This builds a team, its camaraderie and confidence. Dmitry, who had successfully started and grown earlier businesses from scratch, gained an unparalleled sense of fulfillment. For him, the learning journey provided a sense of comprehensiveness and completeness that helped to build his own character and self-evolvement.

More than 85 participants attended the 1.5 hour session. The event was a follow on from last year’s workshop ‘From Founders to Being Found’.

Innovfest Unbound is the anchor event of Smart Nation Innovations, a week-long series of events that showcase Asia’s most innovative developments – gathering more than 12,000 entrepreneurs, brands, corporates, investors and tech start-ups from 100+ countries to meet and share new ideas, build partnerships and celebrate digital disruption.

In partnership with Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the event is organised by NUS Enterprise and unbound and is Southeast Asia’s most exciting innovation festival. Co-Chaired by Yossi Vardi and Lily Chan, it is the place where brands connect with disruptive innovation and explore Asian opportunities.

About Dentons Rodyk

Dentons Rodyk is one of Singapore's Big Five law firms, with a team of around 200 lawyers offering clients a full suite of legal services necessary to do business locally and globally. With over 160 years of establishment, consistently ranked highly in leading publications, we pride ourselves on providing the highest quality advice to our clients while maintaining strong working relationships with key public sector agencies and leading organisations in the private sector. Our combination with global law firm Dentons, makes us part of the world’s largest law firm with 20,000 professionals in over 200 locations in more than 80 countries.

Designed to be different, Dentons Rodyk can help you grow, protect, operate and finance your business. Our polycentric and purpose-driven approach, together with our commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity and ESG, ensures we challenge the status quo to stay focused on what matters most to you.

The first global pan-ASEAN law firm, Dentons ASEAN has an established history in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Singapore and will continue to grow our presence through combinations with exceptional local firms across the ASEAN region and help clients navigate change wherever they are located.

In the new dynamic decade, clients continue to be confronted with complex scenarios and want to work with a purpose-driven law firm that has the experience and confidence to help them thrive at wherever they are located. Through our combinations with firms that are leaders in their respective communities and local markets, along with the partner firms in Dentons’ Nextlaw Referral Network, Dentons is ideally positioned to support our clients everywhere in ASEAN and around the globe.