#13 - Communal at Weiquan’s MahaCo
We held another successful ABON Communal on Wednesday 22 June at the newly opened Mahaco by Ong WeiQuan (ACJC 00’). Attendees had a chance to dig into possibly the world’s first thosai-tacos filled with a fusion of Indian-Mexican flavours and enjoyed a candid conversation with Quan on his business journey.
We heard about how he made the decision to step away from his corporate job to start up Gorilla Press (a slow-juice distribution business) in 2014, challenges faced during the pandemic circuit breakers as well as what it’s like to set up a brand new food concept like Mahaco in the Singapore F&B scene.
In attendance were a mix of business owners from plant-based food, financial services, digital platforms, health and wellness as well as legal entities. They brought fresh perspectives and curious questions to the mix and left with insightful takeaways from Quan’s first-hand account. Overall, a great way to spend a Wednesday evening
Looking forward to the next Communal on the 25th of Aug 2022 where we have SGAG co-founder Karl Mak (ACJC ‘06) share his journey with us.
ACS business owners share their Communal experience:
“The last Communal at Mahaco was great. Being in the same industry, I always wanted to see it through the lens of other F&B owners.
Quan made remarks that resonated with me. What I took home was how this communal had no holds barred. We could trade ideas and stories without judgement. I left the communal encouraged, that there is a sounding board somewhere, a band of brothers who would sharpen your thought process to better your business.
You can tell that everyone there will be there to celebrate your successes and grief with you in your losses. Looking forward to the next communal!”
Xavier Chng
Co-founder, Burnt Cones
“The ABON communal sessions have always been fun and at the same time inspiring. As a founder/business owner I tend to stick in my own silo with a form of founder tunnel vision. The ABON sessions open up discussions in business areas that I have never explored before, but was able to relate to some of the problems and learnt totally different ways of approaching them. The last session was with Quan sharing about F&B, and as a founder of an engineering company, it was like the moon to me. I learnt a lot from his perspective of ownership, using a business as a platform and just pure resilience.
I would recommend ACS biz owners that are looking to learn about new business areas by getting out of their own tunnel vision and just meet a bunch of amazing fellow ACSians.”
Aashish Mehta
Co-Founder | CEO, TransferFi
“I thought the ABON had the recipe for a good session nailed. Good food, good drinks and good company. Warm would be how i would describe the vibe. You and Jason made it really comfortable. I guess my takeaways was the AC identity remains strong and no matter what age or business we are in there is still a connection with a fellow ACSian.”
Macarthur Tan
Co-owner, Burpple
“The communal is a great way to reconnect with ACSian business owners in various industries at different stages of maturity. The camaraderie and brotherhood, combined with the open sharing on the ups and downs of running businesses is both refreshing and energising."
Ho Kok Koon
Founder, Master Principles of Accounts by Jump Grades Education
“Communal was a great way to catch up with other ACS old boys across the ages, even for a first timer like me. Atmosphere was great, and was a night of learning from the main speaker. Plus chatting with the various business owners over food and drinks.”
Lee Yang
Founder, Really Food
Communal Invitation
Join us over at Mahaco for an evening of learning and community.
Quan (co-owner) will be hosting the ABON community over at his place ‘The Mahaco’ - mahaco.love. (Read more in this 8days article)
Get connected with other ACS business owners in Singapore. Learn from each other and build friendships over drinks that somehow transport you back to ‘recess time’ in ACS. More than anything, this is a time to celebrate the opening up of COVID measures with the ABON fraternity (after 2 very long years!!!)
*places are limited, please register early to avoid disappointment.
Non-members of ABON
Non-members that would like to join, please reserve your place via the payment link below. Once places are full, the payment option be taken down.
