Building rapport with Taiwanese women
Published on: Sunday, January 21, 2018
AS far as Taiwan's women movement is concerned, recognising the need for them to connect with the outside world, especially international women NGOs, dates back to 1973.That year marked the formation of the first Business & Professional Women Club in Taiwan that came to be known as BPW Taipei Club I, leading to the establishment of the Federation of Business and Professional Women, Taiwan (also known as BPW Taiwan) as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in 2008. Annette Lu (now aged 73), then a law graduate and a leading women's rights activist, was instrumental in the founding of the inaugural BPW city club in Taiwan.In 2008, BPW Taiwan became an affiliate of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women (also known as BPW International). BPW International was founded in Geneva, Switzerland on August 26, 1930 by lawyer Dr Lena Madesin Phillips of Kentucky, USA. The founding member countries were Austria, Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy and the USA.
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Today, BPW International has become one of the most influential international networks of business and professional women with affiliates from 100 countries in five continents.BPW International's aims are:- To enable women to enter and re-enter the workforce- To enable women to start up and advance their business or profession
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- To protect women's rights- To overcome women's limitations
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- To create a nurturing environment in the areas of work, education and health for women development.However, it was not until the appointment of Datuk Adeline Leong as Head of the Malaysian Mission to Taiwan in 2015 that friendship ties was forged between the Sabah Women Entrepreneurs and Professionals Association (Swepa) and their Taiwanese counterparts.The rapport between Swepa (with Wynnie Jong as President) and BPW Taiwan-Taoyuan Club I was built during the former's business study tour of Taiwan in May this year, participated by 18 leaders and members. The historic meeting, which not only forged a bond of friendship but also established business networking ties between Swepa and two Taiwan-based women organisations (BPW Taiwan-Taoyuan Club I and the Taiwan Women Entrepreneurs Association with former Senator Jenny Ma as Founding President), prompted Leong to remark that the gathering was the beginning of a long-term friendship.Then and there, Leong together with Jong invited the two women groups to attend Swepa's 12th Installation of its Executive Committee (2017-2019) in October this year. They readily accepted the invitation in the hope of achieving collaboration in a women's cause.And so three leaders – BPW Taiwan-Taoyuan Club I Charter President Jennifer Cheng, current President Mandy Tsai and President Elect (2018) Grace Chung – jointly led a 22-member delegation on a friendship trip to Sabah. Essentially, it was to reciprocate Swepa's goodwill visit cum business matching tour.Welcoming the delegation from Taoyuan Club I, Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman had said: "It is an honour for you to come and visit our State. It is very kind of our representative Datuk Adeline (as Head of the Malaysian Mission to Taiwan) to invite you to come to Sabah." In her reciprocal speech, Chung said: "We are happy to come to Sabah. We are very lucky to have Datuk Adeline in Taiwan."The visitors boosted the local economy by patronising KK's leading shopping malls and buying up Sabah's souvenirs, restaurants and spa centres, as well as visiting popular tourist spots. Their favourites were coconut juice, bak kut teh (pork ribs soup) and spa therapy. Earlier, through the Internet, they found out about Sabah's famed Tenom coffee.Figuratively speaking, there is "chemistry" between BPW Taiwan-Taoyuan Club I and Swepa in that both organisations share the same ideals and objectives such as economic empowerment of women.BPW International's mission is to develop the professional, business and leadership potential of women on all levels through advocacy, mentoring, networking, skill building and economic empowerment programmes and projects around the world.Fundamentally, Swepa aims to bring women to the forefront of economic development. In recent years, it has diversified into helping their rural sisters through the Barefoot Solar Project in response to the CM's call to bridge the socio-economic gap.Acknowledging the semblance between the two women groups, current Vice-President of BPW Taiwan, Shirley Lin-Chang said BPW Taiwan helps women and their families and the society at large and helping the world in general. "We do charity work as well such as collecting books for poor schools and encouraging younger children to read books." Now Associate Professor Emeritus, Lin-Chang, who graduated with a Master of Education from the University of Columbia, USA, served as Associate Professor of Libraries & Information Sciences with the Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania for 26 years. She retired nine years ago, and her husband is a Senator in Taiwan.According to her, Founding President of BPW Taiwan, Annette Lu was sorry that she couldn't make the trip to Sabah. After forming BPW Taipei Club I in 1973, she left to pursue a political career, culminating in her becoming the Vice-President of Taiwan from 2000 to 2008, the first Taiwanese woman to hold this position. Even before stepping down from active politics in 2008, Lu had pushed for the formation of more BPW Clubs in Taiwan. The Federation of BPW Taiwan (or BPW Taiwan) was officially approved by the BPW International Headquarters on May 29, 2008 as the 82th Federation, and Lu was elected as its first President. She continued to lead BPW Taiwan for a number of years until recently."We all (Taoyuan Club 1 and Taoyuan Club II) feel honoured to be given the blessing by our BPW Taiwan President (Carol Hui-Ju Pan) to make this friendship trip to Sabah. It's a happy occasion. We have learned a lot from you (Swepa)…your culture is taking it easy. You are slow and steady," said Lin-Chang who was President of Taipei Club II from 2013 to 2014.If Carol had not gone to Cairo, Egypt to attend the 29th BPW International Congress, she would have led the delegation to Sabah. Business and Professional Women from over 70 countries attended the Congress where a new BPW International Executive Committee (2017-2020) was elected. The new President is Dr Amany Asfour, a medical doctor from Egypt who succeeds Dr Yasmin Darwich, an obstetrician-gynaecologist from Mexico.Briefing Swepa about BPW Taiwan, Lin-Chang (, said the Federation has a total of 365 members. "We have 10 chapters (or clubs). Taoyuan Club I is one of the chapters, and has some 65 members from various businesses and professions in the Taoyuan Area. If you come to Taiwan, you will meet many other club members." The other nine clubs are Taoyuan Club II, Taipei Club II, Taipei Tenyuan Club, Taichung Club, Tainan Club, Kaohsiung I Club, Kaohsiung II Club, Pingtung Club and Young BPW.In June this year, BPW Taiwan held a sisterhood reunion participated by BPW members from nine countries, including Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand.Lin-Chang is optimistic of taking the friendly relations between Swepa and her club to the next level, hopefully next year. "We want to invite Swepa to be part of the BPW sisterhood family. We will be looking at the possibility of a friendship or sisterhood pact with Swepa in consultation with the President of BPW Taiwan, Carol." She also mulled the idea of inviting Swepa to attend the 10th anniversary of the foundation of BPW Taiwan in Taipei next year.Said BPW Taiwan-Taoyuan Club I Charter President Jennifer Cheng: "It is a privilege to receive an invitation from Swepa. We jump at the opportunity for a maiden friendship trip to Sabah. The majority of us are first-timers. We appreciate this rare meeting with our sisters in Kota Kinabalu." She described the outing as a fruitful out in terms of cultural exchange and business networking.The friendship tour was an eye-opening experience for the incumbent President of BPW Taiwan-Taoyuan Club I, Mandy Tsai. "You have beautiful and successful women entrepreneurs and professionals in Sabah. I never knew that before coming to your State," she told this writer. "We had never dreamt of setting foot on Sabah, not until we met Datuk Adeline in Taipei who introduced us to Sabah women."Tsai noted that BPW Taiwan and Swepa have much in common in terms of promoting the interests of members, sharing ideas and discussing women-related issues. "That is why we feel very much at home here. Like us in Taiwan where we donate to charity and bring relief to the poor, Swepa is also carrying out charitable deeds like helping disadvantaged women in the rural areas." Tsai's 28-year-old daughter Jessie Tseng was impressed by the success stories of Swepa members who shared their entrepreneurial experiences during the business networking session. "I enjoyed the social interaction with them over several days. Warm and hospitable ladies. Please come to Taiwan again," she said.Incoming President of IFBPW Taiwan Taoyuan Club I, Grace Chung is passionate about sisterhood, saying it leads to women's success in whatever endeavour they are engaged in. "Every woman starts off with a dream and will work towards achieving it. But we need our sisters to come together, including the senior members. We need to harness their energy to encourage us, to help us in whatever way possible, to assess our performance and to give constructive comments," she said, adding this is the approach of Taoyuan Club I. Chung is hopeful of getting more opportunities to strengthen friendship ties between Swepa and Taoyuan Club I in the near future.As Chairperson of Club International Fellowship for Taipei Club I, Doris Lee is the right person for the job, having business interests in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone (known simply as Subic Bay) since 1996. "I am honoured to meet some of the prominent women in Sabah. I hope to visit Sabah again in the near future," said Lee who ventured into real estate business in Subic Bay 15 years ago. Another club leader Yonin Chen commented: "Sabah very good… I will relate my experiences here to people back home when I return to my country. There is so much to tell them and I will encourage Taiwanese to spend their holidays in Sabah for a change." She was impressed by Swepa's Barefoot Solar Project. "Very good, very good," remarked furniture-maker Rrecha Fan when asked on her impression of Sabah women. "They have projected a good image. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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