What is Women in Charge and what is the group’s goal?

Women In Charge is a non-profit organization based in Discovery Bay created by women for women. We hold talks, get-togethers, events and aim to be the network and support that the women need to get started in the next step of their life’s plan.

Women In Charge is all about being in charge of your life: whether you’re ready to grow your business, start your business, get back into the workforce, give back to the community, discover yourself or just have some fun. It doesn’t matter what part of the cycle you are at in your life, we just wanted to help.

So what type of workshops and events do you offer?

We offer many workshops for members and non-members, everything from getting back into the workforce after you’ve had children, creating or growing a business, financial workshops to life coaching seminars. We have some fabulous workshops that will be focusing on learning new skills and we also have many tours planned.
We have two monthly events – ‘Business Brainstorm’ and ‘Let’s Get Together’ which are 2 very different types of networking. Business Brainstorm focuses on the small businesses in the area (men and women) and how they can come together to help each other. Where ‘Lets Get Together’ is a themed event each month with a guest speaker for anybody who is interested in the topic of the month or who would like to network a little more.

Why have you created a women only organization?

We do have men sit in on our events and workshops and we do welcome this, it’s just that most men won’t ask for help even if they need it. We also wanted women to feel that they had a support group that they could bond with, rather then be judged by.

Most women at WIC prioritize being a mom first and being a business owner or work collegue second. We understand the demands that come with this. It has nothing to do with sob stories. We just want to create an environment where women can bond together and be able to understand each other.

Why is there a need for your services in DB?

We’re aware that there are many services in Central offering women help via networking events or business workshops or breakfast get-togethers, but at the time we conceived of Women In Charge, there was nothing in Discovery Bay that gave women the opportunity to seek help at their own doorstep.

Not all women have the luxury of having a full-time helper or can afford the time and money to be heading over to Central every day. We wanted to wrap all the women’s needs up into a one stop shop and be able to provide them with the services that they have been missing out on.
Most businesses are word of mouth so we wanted to be able to provide an online directory to give small businesses an opportunity to advertise in a cost effective way.

How do you feel when Discovery Bay is compared to the show Desperate Housewives?

It makes me laugh to think that others stereotype the women of DB as desperate housewives. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Most of the women we’ve met have come to Hong Kong as trailing spouses, so that they can support their husband and his career. In the process, they’ve given up their own careers as doctors, lawyers, marketing executives etc,.. and in some cases it is very hard to reinvent yourself all over again. Desperate housewives? Come on, give us more credit!

What is the next step for WIC? Where do you see yourself this time next year?

Our main focus in the New Year is to provide the women of DB with the tools that allow them to grow. We have a fantastic team of professionals and a wonderful group of members and without them we wouldn’t be where we are today.

We have so many exciting plans for 2010 that we’re dying to share with you, but they haven’t been finalised as yet so it would be premature to talk about it now. We can say however that we’re planning a lot more charity events for Crossroads and we are planning to do more for the community and the environment. We are hoping to utilise our website more, we have come up with some great ideas that will be launched in the New Year.

http://www.womenincharge.com.hk/