Awfully Entrepreneurial - A Visit from the Founder of Awfully Chocolate

Awfully Entrepreneurial

A Visit from the Founder of Awfully Chocolate

On 24^th April of 2014, Mrs Ho Lyn Lee, founder of “Awfully Chocolate” came down to SST to give a talk based on the story of the success of her chocolatey franchise. The speech was given as to inculcate the entrepreneurial spirit within us, and to motivate students towards the fruit of passion and effort, at the final weekday before the Common Test.

Mrs Lee tells the story of how they started- a single chocolate cake sold in an outlet that hardly looked like a chocolate shop. In fact, it looked clinical, with a white counter, and a cleric seated behind it. When one walked into the shop, the cleric would take out the cake and start talking all about the cake. This unique way of presenting their products has become tradition, and is still carried out today.

Mrs Lee had a vision-to bring back the cake amidst the age of french pastries - everything but cake, in 1998. And through this one outlet, she expanded outwards, putting her time and effort into the development of her business while studying in university. But that was not her only limitation - she did not advertise, she did not display her products extravagantly. There was not even a menu. Mrs Lee wanted customers to discover Awfully Chocolate in their own little ways.

The passion and efforts of Mrs Lee and her dedicated team drove Awfully Chocolate to its international success. The story behind the franchise inspires the spirit of entrepreneurship within our hearts, to keep on striving, to put in all your effort and passion, in order to reap the sweetest of fruitful results. To overcome limitations, to think out of the box. To find opportunities in even the most unlikely of places, and grab onto them, and use them towards our advantage. To keep working towards perfection, but never loosing sight of our ideals. 

Several students, inspired by Mrs Lee’s story, stayed back after her speech to ask her about her tough journey through her entrepreneurial career. These eager students learned quite a bit from her expert advice. 

Awfully Chocolate is truly a story we can all learn from, and reflect upon.

Written by: Athiyah Tamanna Azeem (S307)