is the definition of confidence.
Even through a virtual interview, the female business owner radiates a sense of self-assurance and speaks with conviction.
The defines confidence as 鈥渁 feeling of being certain of your ability to do things well.鈥� describes it as 鈥渁 feeling or consciousness of one’s powers or reliance on one’s circumstances.鈥澛�
Agrawal emits both definitions. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 often boast or talk about myself, but I鈥檓 confident in the things I do, and saying all of them out loud gives me more confidence to work towards doing things right,鈥� she says.
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While this was what drew me deeper into our call, her career as a foreign female business owner of a biscuit business, , and TV personality in South Korea was what made me reach out to her for an interview.
Her story is far from common here and there is little information about the number of foreigners who have started companies in South Korea 鈥� unless you consider , a Michelin-starred owner and participant in reality TV show “Culinary Class Wars,” or American national , founder of Miso, an IT services and consulting company.聽
Ferrari and Ching are some of the few successful male business owners in South Korea — emphasis on male. Ferrari has even cemented his place in South Korean television and has worked with well-known celebrities, such as Paik Jong Won, John Park, and Lee Jang Woo.
It’s not to say that their journeys haven’t been difficult, but compared to Agrawal, it might as well have been a cakewalk.
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The never-ending challenges of being a foreign female business owner
When Agrawal attends meetings alongside her American business partner, 鈥� an entrepreneur and well-known TV personality in South Korea 鈥� she sometimes feels invisible.
“They wouldn’t even make eye contact with me or act like I don’t exist. Sometimes, they even think I’m my business partner’s manager. They鈥檒l only look at my male foreign business partner and try to create a conversation solely around him,鈥� she says.
has found that this is often the case for start-ups. Investors usually ask different questions to male and female founders, with promotion-focused questions for male entrepreneurs and prevention-focused questions for female entrepreneurs.
This undermines the success of female entrepreneurs in raising large amounts of funding or any funding at all.
It harder still for foreign female business owners.聽In 2022, female foreign entrepreneurs represented only 3% of all business owners; their foreign male counterparts accounted for 14%, the reports.
It’s not a life of sunshine and rainbows, and it’s far from what Agrawal had lived before becoming a successful female business co-founder and owner of Kalphabets.
From India to South Korea: The degrees of a successful female business owner
Growing up, Agrawal was always interested in business. In India, she pursued a Bachelor of Commerce from Marathwada Mitra Mandal鈥檚 College of Commerce, but that wasn鈥檛 enough.聽
She wanted more.
鈥淚 wanted to know more about how other countries run their businesses,” she says, “I was looking at countries with fewer Indian nationals but with big companies only because I wanted to immerse myself fully in an unfamiliar environment and wanted to create something by myself without anyone鈥檚 help.鈥�
That鈥檚 when she stumbled upon South Korea, which attracted her because of its conglomerates, such as LG and Samsung.
Agrawal took the risk and moved to the East Asian country to learn the Korean language at Seoul National 糖心vlog官网. She then pursued an at .
After graduating, she worked for two years in an IT company and later became the country manager for India at Snow, a popular camera app company. That was when she realised South Korea had yet to accept young leaders, but she was determined to defy the odds.
鈥淚t was a great opportunity at Snow, but they weren鈥檛 ready for young leaders,” she says. “So I decided to quit my job without any plans; however, I knew it was time to start my venture.鈥澛�
Consulting was one of the first jobs she took up after venturing out on her own. Later, she started AsiaOEM, which provides Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) services to global companies looking to tailor themselves in skincare and beauty products.
In 2023, Agrawal and , an American entrepreneur and TV personality in South Korea, created , an English community programme to develop spaces for English language immersion learning.
Speakup Meetup started as an English immersion programme designed to help the Korean audience build confidence, particularly in startup or business environments, through structured, fun and interactive sessions.
The programme includes fun games and activities, as well as team-based interactions to create an inclusive environment.
That鈥檚 not all; they founded a one-of-a-kind business that seeps deep into one鈥檚 childhood, and it may be something you’re familiar with.聽
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How to start a one-of-a-kind snack business in South Korea: A female business owner’s PoV
There鈥檚 a chance you鈥檝e grown up with ABC Alphabet Biscuits, no matter which part of the world you’re in.聽
In Germany, it鈥檚 known as Bahlsen ABC Russisch Brot. For Malaysians and Singaporeans, they can be found in local stores run by aunties or uncles. In South Korea, they鈥檙e known as ABC 齑堨綌 炜犿偆 (ABC Choco Cookie), a chocolate-covered cookie emblazoned with the English alphabet.
While alphabet-shaped biscuits are popular globally, Agrawal and Rasch discovered while working on Speakup Meetup that there were no Korean alphabet-shaped biscuits available on the market 鈥� leading them to create Kaplabets.
鈥淭he idea for Kaplabets came about when we were working on Speak Up Meet Up. Rasch came up with a plan to create games with ABC biscuits but realised that there鈥檚 none in the shape of Korean alphabets,鈥� shares Agrawal.聽
鈥淭hat鈥檚 when we decided to start Kaplabets, so we can use it for games and eat it too.鈥�
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Playing with food is a big no-no in any culture, especially in Asia.
I remember my mother yelling at me for making a snowman out of mashed potatoes, but I wonder how she鈥檇 react if I were to play with Korean alphabet-shaped biscuits as an adult.聽
We must give it to Korea when creating fun games, especially drinking games. Take BLACKPINK鈥檚 Rose and American pop star Bruno Mars’s song 鈥淎PT,鈥� for example. It gained global attention and highlighted the Korean drinking and game culture that inspired it.
Agrawal and Rasch’s dedication to creating games through Kaplabets 别惫别苍听led them to create聽 for visitors to enjoy while聽eating their cookies.
The best part about Kaplabets is that it is not limited to kids; a rule and stereotype that Agrawal and Rasch are trying to break. They both hope that the biscuits can spark creativity in their consumers.
鈥淲ith Kaplabets we hope that our consumers will use it in creative ways. For example, they can use it to decorate cakes, such as writing happy birthday or their names. Another way could be proposing to their girlfriends by spelling out their proposal with the biscuits,鈥� shares the female business owner.
鈥淜aplabets embodies the saying, 鈥楾he way to your heart is sometimes through your stomach. So, if you want to show your appreciation towards someone, you can do it through our biscuit.鈥�
