Our Story
Founders Circle started back in March 2020, when Zhen Zhang and Lavine Hemlani created a small mastermind group of 10 entrepreneurs in Hong Kong, with the goal to help each grow both our businesses and ourselves as leaders.
This organically grew into a thriving, diverse community of 180+ founders meeting up on a regular basis. Despite being founders of very different businesses, from traditional retail to Web 3 and different stages, from start-up to unicorns, we are all united in our ambition to keep growing and make a meaningful contribution in the process.
Founders Circle was started as a place uniquely positioned to encourage authenticity and accountability, so we could truly ascend to be our greatest potential and #MaxOut.
Lavine Hemlani
President
Founder and CEO of Xccelerate, an education-to-employment marketplace with 30,000+ alumni, addressing skills and hiring challenges in AI, BlockChain, Software Engineering, Cyber and Design.
Zhen Zhang
Chairman
Founder of Frank Asia, a Technology Consulting Firm with a growing presence in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Shanghai and a team of 120+ highly motivated consultants.
Our Values
Authentic, deeply meaningful relationships are fun and satisfying
Experience
Life is an incredibly beautiful, breathtaking adventure. As founders, we see businesses that we create optimise value for society and our stakeholders as an experience of a lifetime.
Grow
To realise and unleash our full potential as leaders in business and society
Give
Giving back to each other, to our teams, our broader communities and the world. Business is a true vehicle for positive transformation.
For Founders by Founders
Think Global. Act Local.
Sharon Katrin
Events Committee
Founder of SeaYaa Swim & FUNtastic Events, an event management company specialising in various fields, offering expertise in branding, strategic marketing, event planning and management, advertising, design solutions and more
Andy Ann
Investment Committee
Founded over 20 pioneering companies, such as Y5HotMedia, Hotmob, Darizi, Klarity, GoImpact, YAS and more. Angel investor and actively involved in multiple local and Silicon Valley incubators i.e. Google EYE, 500 Startups, Founders Institution, Entrepreneur Organization and KPMG
Daniel Lo
Global Marketing Committee
Daniel is the Founder and CEO of GoGoChart, an award-winning advertising technology company that specialises in go to market strategy for companies all over the world. With over 10 years of digital marketing experience in e-commerce, web, and mobile app marketing, Daniel consulted for Fortune 500 clients and helped over 2000+ products globally
Sam Cooke
ESG Committee
Sam Cooke is the CEO of CarbonX and is a published environmental scientist with over 14,000 citations. CarbonX works closely with corporates and startups to help them on their decarbonisation journey.
Marianne Hughes
ESG Committee
Marianne is an award-winning entrepreneur and thought leader on transparent supply chains. As the Founder CEO of Kno Global, the vision is to humanize the supply chain working with the world's biggest brands, and reach 10m factory workers.
