My Experience as a Mentee of Cherie Blair Foundation

 

Firstly I want to say thank you for this opportunity to share my experience as a mentee of The Cherie Blair Foundation. My name is Siendy Apridiani, I am the founder of E3Trip, a travel agency. Today I would like to share about the challenges and successes of my business and what helped me succeed as an entrepreneur. My business was in the process of being established when the pandemic hit.

E3Trip is a craft and tour organizer that customizes your trip with a unique craft experience. When the pandemic started, tourism stopped and I struggled. A lot of people asked me are you still in the tourism business? Why not change because we don’t know when the pandemic will be over. I still stand for my dreams that the tourism industry will be stronger after the pandemic, because everyone will need the happiness of going out after several months struggle at home. My vision and mission are that I want everybody to love nature, art and craft and also the history of every beautiful place in the world especially the beauty of my country Indonesia. Even though we can do virtual trips , the experience when in that place, breathe the fresh air and experience the ambiance will be different and unforgettable moments. As E3 Trip specializes in combining tourism with an experience of learning and making a craft, we will customize your trip with a unique craft experience in a small group. With E3 Trip you will get a great experience to see some beautiful nature and add a unique craft experience and of course delicious food. We’re not happy if we are hungry, right? LOL

The words that have always motivated me are challenges and success, and I believe joining the mentoring program of the Cherie Blair Foundation and the support of the Women Preneur Community (WPC) in Jakarta will help me succeed in reaching my dream to have my own craft trip, tour organizer that will grow and succeed after the pandemic is over. In this year I have been preparing my programs and working on getting my permit to start my business.

I wanted to share my experiences because I want to everyone, especially women to believe in themselves. Our dreams can be reached if we challenge ourself, keep learning and by getting the right mentoring.

I started this mentoring from the Cherie Blair Foundation in November 2019 and the mentoring comes to an end this month. I am a member of WPC which is an organization for women to stand together, learning and improving their own business. I got to know about the Cherie Blair Foundation Mentoring program from WPC, I challenged myself to send my business profile to the Foundation for selection. I was very pleased when my application was approved and I was chosen for a full year of mentoring from the Foundation.

From November 2019 until now, step by step I have moved closer to my dream of my own business. Finally, I got the permit for my business on 13th October.

My Mentor its always like a guiding star to me and gave me a lot of support technically and mentally to make me a strong business woman. When I am losing my hope in my dream, She is always supporting me to believe that I can stand and my dream will become true because of hard work and a proper Business Plan (that is still in progress).

I hope that sharing my experience of the Cherie Blair Foundation’s Mentoring will make more women believe in themselves that they too can take up the challenge and consider joining this program even if their English skills are not good and their business is not yet established just like me. Mentoring through the program will aid in bringing us much closer to the dream of setting up one’s own business.

Thank you to the Cherie Blair Foundation and WPC in helping me believe that every woman can have their own business and achieve success in becoming an entrepreneur.

Special thanks for my lovely Mentor : Ms Rozina Tharakan-Kuriakose who has always support me and guided me.