Cover story: Vivy Yusof

The August issue of Prestige features entrepreneur Vivy Yusof who co-founded the online shopping platform FashionValet. In our cover story, Vivy talks about her plans for taking FashionValet into the region as well as what it takes to be a businesswoman in today’s fast-paced industry.

Here are five key aspects from the interview;

“I put myself out there – me and my husband – and at the time we won a million ringgit. We thought we made in life, but actually no. When you have investors in, you have to answer to them. You have to meet your targets. It is good because it gave me that push. I had to grow up, I had to mature. From there, the business revenue grew.”

“We are expanding in Singapore, Brunei. Indonesia, we are slowly trickling in there but it is a tough market. We want to try Philippines and Thailand. We also going offline, so we are no longer just an internet company. We are also opening flagships stores because the designers we carry are a bit more premium. People want to touch and feel and not everyone shops online. I can’t ignore that group.”

“People do write to me and say they are proud of me and that they aspire to have a business one day too. By all means go for it but people tend to see the good and the successful side of things. They don’t see the bad, the crying and the hardship that every entrepreneur goes through.”

“My parents used to be teachers and they insisted on a good education and good grades,” she says, adding “It got to a point where if I wasn’t first in school, my dad wouldn’t come for the prize giving ceremony. They pushed me from young.”

“I like to be prepared and I like to think what the other person wants. I have to think what to give back in return for what I want, so it is fair and I always explain what I want and we will do in return. Negotiation is to think about what the other person wants.”

Read the full interview in Prestige Malaysia’s August 2016 issue