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An Israeli entrepreneur helps to bridge international companies and has called Taiwan home for 20 years: Interview with Revital Shpangental
In Taiwan when we think about women's empowerment, an athlete, a businesswoman, a strong advocate for entrepreneurship, and all kinds of support to the startup community we think about one person, Revital Shpangental. Revital who is originally from Israel has been calling Taiwan home for the past 20 years.
In the midst of the 2009 financial crisis, Revital founded Anemone Ventures. A company that aims to support tech companies entering Taiwan and give local partners an edge to compete with the region’s competitors. Her company has become the bridge that helps support many international companies that want to establish themselves in the Asian market. Anemone Ventures identifies key partners and manage suppliers in Asia that will benefit medium or big companies.
Revital completed 3 years of military service back in Israel and studied Economics and Business BA before moving to Asia with her husband in 1999. She has experience working and living in countries like Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. As you can tell by now, Taiwan is the place that made her feel confident enough to build her business, establish her network and even raise her kids for the past two decades.
Revital frequently gets questioned about “why” she decided to run a business in Taiwan for the past 20 years and not China, but for Revital it was a simple decision to make.
“I follow my values, guidelines, and inner voice. I always felt that Taiwan is a secure and free place to do business. It offers a transparent and cost-effective environment. When the impact of trade wars between China and the US, the riots in HK, and the global pandemic started, individuals and corporations figured Taiwan is, in fact, a safe and friendly hub to establish a business base. I knew I was right from the very beginning.”
Work-life balance
Revital believes in prioritizing tasks, there is no such thing as a “work-life” balance, everything is just life. She strongly believes that people we need to be able to have clear priorities and be conscious about how much time we give each of them.
Revital wears a combination of hats. She constantly participates in Ironman competitions, teaches at an EMBA program, runs a company as the founder and CEO, she raised two children, keeps a vegan diet, runs startup competitions, and supports women that want to get involved in business.
Running a company, and being a mom and a professional athlete simultaneously requires Revital to find a way to prioritize things in her life. Her days usually start at 4 am and finish at 10 pm. Triathlon is one of her main hobbies, which requires a lot of dedication, careful planning, training, and discipline.
She has participated in over 20 Ironman races. She has not only participated but she also always aims to be the first one to finish the race. For the past 13 years, she has participated in plenty of endurance outdoor sports, the last one being a 113K ironman in Taitung where she won first place in her age group!
For many years Revital has followed a vegan diet which requires a lot of planning ahead. She believes that Taiwan is the place that allows her to have the lifestyle she always desired. “Taiwan has become even a more convenient place to live in since I moved here. Just the ease of public transportation, availability of YouBikes (public bikes), healthy and sustainable food choices, and most importantly the friendliness and kindness of the people makes it more inviting to stay.”
For aspiring entrepreneurs and female founders
“Dare to try and dare to fail. Failure is the first step of learning and being better in what you do.” Revital is the chairperson of the Women in Business program of the British Chamber of Commerce and is also a lead judge and support of the Canadian of Commerce Dragon’s Chamber annual pitch competition. Her desire is to help as many young entrepreneurs and provide greater opportunities to succeed in the business world.
Revital suggests getting a good mentor, asking for help and advice is vital for your success. It is also important to learn when to “let go”, and when “good enough” is “good for now”, sometimes entrepreneurs get too attached to their first idea but pivoting is essential to a company’s progress. Revital points out that founders must be willing to sacrifice certain things in order to achieve others, for example,” are you willing to sacrifice your sleep? Your social life? Late-night outs?
When setting goals Revital suggests goals should always be qualitative, give them a number and a date. So for example amount of viewers, amount of clients, and amount of cash flow on a certain date. Goals are important to track progress and a good way of tracking them is by creating many sub-goals that will help you reach your end goal.
In order to be a successful entrepreneur, founders should have the ability to see failures just as experiments. “People working in laboratories make experiments every day without thinking that if they don’t work it means they failed, instead they continue trying until they succeed. People in business should do the same, try many experiments without seeing them as failures”. Revital suggests a successful entrepreneur need to be flexible and adapt to local markets' needs and trends.
Deciding to be an entrepreneur is a hard choice. Revital mentioned how important it is for first time entreprenerus to believe in their story and know that most likely a newly founded startup will not make any money for the first 3 years. Becoming an entrepreneur means the founder is responsible for his or her own failures and successes.
“As entrepreneurs, you need to love learning and trying new things” Revital says. Confronting challenges is something that brings new ideas and a feel for personal achievement to Revital. She encourages people to create an impact and influence others in a positive way.
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