You’ve probably heard of or even worn clothes from Love, Bonito, but what you may not know is that it initially started out as a blogshop called BonitoChico co-founded by Velda and Viola Tan, as well as Rachel Lim, who now owns the label, in 2006. They provide affordable and stylish clothes for women and is now one of the oldest online stores in Singapore, with stores in Orchard, Jurong and North Bridge Road.

After leaving Love, Bonito, Velda went into the F&B scene with Pince & Pints, a quintessential lobster bar that’s a must-visit for fans of the crustacean. This business was launched in 2014 with her husband, Frederick Yap, but she soon left him to run it and, a year later, Collate The Label was born. The brand has been a success, with its focus on ‘affordable luxe’.

One of the biggest splashes Nanz Chong-Komo has made in her entrepreneurship is becoming the Singapore (and later regional) distributor for SodaStream, the world’s largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of home sparkling water machines. Besides that, Nanz also founded the One.99 Shop in 1997, had a successful career as a model and is still a sought-after public speaker while a business consultancy.

Created with the urban woman in mind, By Invite Only was founded by designer Trixie Khong.

The brand creates unique jewellery pieces that are versatile and easy to match.

By Invite Only also hosts jewellery workshops that educate the public on jewellery care and allow for the public to try their hands at jewellery making.

Believing that you can be eco-friendly without sacrificing fun and style, Minimakers was started up by Kai, who came across beeswax wraps by accident while looking for ways to reduce plastic waste at home. Now, it’s grown and become one of the few artisanal beeswax wraps suppliers in Singapore.

This artificial intelligence solutions firm, which counts Singtel and SMRT as its clients, has been named in Forbes magazine as one of four leading artificial intelligence companies in Asia in 2017. A year later, Ayesha was also named one of South-east Asia’s groundbreaking female entrepreneurs by the same magazine.

Truly in support of women, Ayesha also founded 21C Girls, a charity that delivers free coding and artificial intelligence classes to girls in Singapore.

Cynthia Chua was one of the first to bring the concept of Brazilian waxing to the local beauty industry. The launch of Strip in 2002 gave her a huge boost, and she now owns outlets in many capital cities of the world, including London, Shanghai, New York, Mumbai, Manila and Bangkok.

She is also the founder and CEO of the Spa Esprit Group, with currently 17 brands under its belt, such as brow-grooming salon Browhaus, and F&B joints Common Man Coffee Roasters, Open Farm Community, 40 Hands, Tippling Club and Tiong Bahru Bakery.

Founded by Ally, Jenny and Taylor Frankel, Nudestix is a cosmetics brand based in the US. The brand is famed for their multipurpose makeup products like matte lipsticks, eyeshadows and blushers.

The brand’s ethos is based on giving women products that bring out their natural beauty and keep their makeup routines as easy as possible.

Cruelty-free and paraben-free, each Nudestix product is enriched with antioxidants and moisturisers for makeup that doubles up as skincare.

If you’re looking to participate in something authentic or simply meet new people, try Tickle, a platform supporting quality, community-driven experiences with like-minded individuals by tech entrepreneur Krystal Choo.

This is among other start-ups by Crystal, including ZipTrip, a travel-planning online platform, and Wander, a travel app for singles.

We’ve seen it in malls, with our tastebuds tingling merely at the thought of its rich and gooey chocolate. But never would you have thought Awfully Chocolate was local, much less founded by a successful lawyer, Lyn Lee and her group of friends – as a result of being unable to find a single dark chocolate cake anywhere in Singapore.

Founded in 2009, Sabrina Goh is the eponymous label of designer Sabrina Goh.

Since their inception in 2009, the brand has grown from strength to strength and is now stocked internationally in stores across America and Japan.

Though not Singaporean, we’re proud of Priscilla Shunmugam, who is a Singapore PR, who found her locally made fashion label Ong Shunmugam. They do contemporary womenswear made using traditional textile techniques and silhouettes.

The brand was launched in 2010 and has often been seen worn by wives of VIPs. Actress Tan Kheng Hua wore an outfit by the label on the SAG Awards red carpet in January last year.

Founded by two friends, Yvonne and Ren, Matter is a local clothing brand focusing on apparels with artisinal prints and ethically sourced materials from around the world.

Part of the Banyan Tree Gallery, Matter works globally with different artists in areas like ceramics, basketry and lacquer ware to create pants, tops and jumpsuits that have unique prints.

Founded by Yannie and Carrie, AuC stocks handcrafted modern jewellery pieces.

Each item is versatile and easy to mix and match. Plus, all items are made of 18k gold and set with real diamonds.

Founded in 2014 by two friends, Sarah and Michelle, L’Eclair is a local specialty store and cafe selling delicious French pastries and desserts.

The cafe specialises in modern interpretations of eclairs using unique flavoured cream fillings and glazes.

A former banking analyst and hedge fund manager, Gina Heng launched Miss Kaya with the aim of making financial jargon easy for women to understand so that they can look after and make the best of their finances. It is an all-in-one financial management service that offers budgeting, investment tools and digital banking product.

Described as “a money management tool for the modern woman”, Miss Kaya makes financial planning fun, simple and trendy.

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Want to pamper yourself with a mani-pedi and support women in need at the same time? Book yourself a session at The Nail Social, which was founded by Cheryl Ou and Germaine Monteiro to provide employment for underprivileged Singaporean women.

The socially-conscious salon doesn’t just do manicures and pedicures, but also provides vocational training for the women. A portion of the salon’s profits go towards sustaining the social support and services offered to them as well.

Founder of local social media agency GOODSTUPH Pat Law definitely knows her way around the advertising and marketing world. After years of experience in both traditional and digital media, she set up GOODSTUPH in 2010. Her company was named Social Media Agency of the Year in 2013 and she has over 30 global brands under her belt.

Her retail label The Damn Good Shop retails uniquely Singaporean and nostalgic items you would want to grab as souvenirs for visiting friends or as cute little trinkets for yourself.

Text: Balvinder Sandhu & Atika Lim