Participants Present on Impact of the TOMODACHI Goldman Sachs Female Entrepreneur Support Program

On June 7, 2016, three female entrepreneurs who participated in the TOMODACHI Goldman Sachs Female Entrepreneur Support Program spoke about their experiencefrom the program at the Goldman Sachs’ Tokyo Office. Co-sponsored by Goldman Sachs Co., Ltd. and the TOMODACHI Initiative, this program is designed and implemented by RCF (Revalue as Coordinator for the Future!), a general incorporated association. The goal of this program is to develop young leading female entrepreneurs and assist them with the challenges they may face throughout their careers. This year, a team of five Goldman Sachs employees collaborated with each of the three female entrepreneurs for six months as well as providing pro bono support.

Kathy Matsui, Vice Chair of Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd., spoke about “Womenomics,” a term she coined and is now one of the pillars of Prime Minister Abe’s economic policy. She spoke about the promising and challenging realities of women in the workforce, improvements in the past five to ten years, as well as remaining challenges still left to overcome. Overall, she encouraged more women to stay in the workforce, speaking about the impact on the economy if they do.

Three Japanese female entrepreneurs, Haruka Mera from READYFOR, Miho Suzuki from maggie’s tokyo, and Ayaka Ishii from Light Ring, introduced their company’s visions and business plans, while reporting on the outcome of this program and the immense support they received from Goldman Sachs.

Toward the end of the event, each entrepreneur provided some advice to the next generation of entrepreneurs. Haruka Mera started off by saying, “If one wants to make something happen, one must believe in oneself.” Miho Suzuki added, “One’s ideas will inspire the people around them and those people will help in return.” Finally, Ayaka Ishii said, “Think carefully about why you are taking certain action and ensure you are heading toward a specific goal.”

Throughout the event, the entrepreneurs were asked the following question: “How should one, as a leader, keep one’s team together in times of hardship?” To this Ayaka Ishii responded, “The team must have a unified culture in order to share the same vision. Also, a leader must always think ahead and think of long term goals to drive one’s teammates forward.” Haruka Mera added, “A leader must trust one’s teammates and always ask for direct feedback. This is essential to create an atmosphere in which one feels comfortable and happy to be in the team regardless of the challenges the team may face.”

The TOMODACHI Initiative hopes that the program has encouraged the three participants through the pro bono support given by the Goldman Sachs employees. We are proud to say that the three participants will succeed as the next leaders of the TOMODACHI generation.