We met up with Natalie Pringle, Hong Kong Chief Ambassador at The New Savvy, a financial platform that empowers women through meaningful content.
They set out to transform women’s relationship with money positively and in this interview, you will find out how they do just that.
The Future is FEMALE. The New Savvy is empowering women to become financially independent.
If I ever publish an autobiography, this would be its tagline:
Investing, inspiring and empowering.
You are based in Hong Kong, what do you love about the social impact community there?
There are a number of wonderful organisations here in Hong Kong and so many opportunities for people who want to do something amazing and create change in the environment we live in. Since establishing The New Savvy here in Hong Kong we have found that there has been such a great reception and enthusiasm from both men and women wanting to get on board and help with our movement to empower more women and provide the tools for financial independence.
Tell us more about your vision for The New Savvy and why you started this platform?
Having attended The New Savvy conference in Singapore I was greatly inspired by the work that the team were doing in the community there led by Anna Haotanto and felt that whilst there are a number of groups and organisations set up for women in business or entrepreneurs in Hong Kong there was a gap when it came to giving women support with managing their finances, learning more about the importance of investing and being in a position to become financially independent.
Anna Haotanto CEO, The New Savvy (right) and Natalie Pringle empower women to become financially independent.
Was there a certain moment when you decided, that you wanted to build something here in Hong Kong?
I have always worked with investments and helping people work out how best to use their money to achieve their financial goals and when I learnt about The New Savvy, I was incredibly inspired by the diverse range of information available to women in the community and wanted to bring this to Hong Kong.
Who inspires you personally?
The women I look up to in the public eye are Michelle Obama, Arianna Huffington and Ellen Degeneres. I am also inspired by my mother who has always shown my sister and me what it is to work hard, help others and be strong, independent women.
Do you measure your impact?
We now have a community of 45,000 subscribers to our site which contains a wealth of content on financial planning, investing and career advice. We also have 320,000 monthly page views so are currently looking to increase these figures with more content which is specifically focused on the Hong Kong community.
Moving forward we want to bring women through the spectrum of personal finance. From a woman who has never thought of managing her finances to an early stage investor to being much more aware and comfortable with her finances. Finally, we want our impact to also focus on how the women whose lives The New Savvy had changed will pay it forward and benefit the other females in her life.
What do you wish you would have known before starting out?
How to ensure that we get the most effective coverage for our events and how to best deliver our content to the community of women here in Hong Kong.
What is the craziest thing you did so far to market your organisation?
As part of our launch, we had Runway bar on Wyndham Street branded for The New Savvy with our logo displayed on a big LED screen and we had the after party held there for everyone to continue networking afterwards. It was a great way to end the evening!
How will you sustain your organisation?
Our vision is to empower 100 million women to achieve financial independence so we have a number of events in the pipeline which will run throughout this year to expose our community to a wide range of information and insights on how to manage their finances effectively, take their careers to the next level or even start their own business.
What gives you the worst sleepless nights right now?
Securing the perfect venue for our upcoming full-day conference – somewhere in a Central location which can accommodate all of our attendees and provide an excellent environment for information sharing and networking with like-minded and ambitious women.
What was the most memorable moment working on The New Savvy?
Hosting our launch event in Hong Kong earlier this year at the Thomson Reuters offices. We had such vibrant speakers on our panel and an amazing turnout. We were oversubscribed by a long way and so had a few concerns about how we would fit everyone in and whether there would be enough wine but the volunteers on the night were amazing and the response we received completely surpassed our expectations.
At The New Savvy’s launch event in Hong Kong earlier this year.
If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring change-makers, what would that be?
Just do it. Whether you are looking to make a change in your own life regarding your job, finances or personal circumstances or looking to create an organisation which will have an impact in the wider community then just get started. You will figure things out as you go along, however, indecision and inactivity mean that ultimately nothing gets done and we could be missing out on something truly incredible.
What could everyone do RIGHT NOW to make the world a better place?
Open up to those around them and not be scared of what others think. This is the key to us learning and becoming more rounded so it is really exciting to see so many incredible movements being launched here in Hong Kong and exciting ideas being shared throughout the community.
