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Mimi Wu
Co-Founder & CEO Myanmar Recycles - Cartier Women's Initative Fellow - Alliance to End Plastic Waste & Plug and Play accelerator
Mimi Wu is an impact-driven founder and leader dedicated to addressing the global plastic pollution crisis.
With over 11 years of experience in international markets, particularly in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, she excels in circularity and sustainability technical operations and new market development.
She successfully established and expanded a post-consumer plastic collection and recycling company into an international, vertically integrated organization known for its cutting-edge technology, operations, and execution.
Mimi is a seasoned executive with a focus on business development, strategic planning, operational management, sales, fundraising, and team leadership.
Her achievements include being a Cartier Women's Initiative fellow in 2021, participating in the Alliance to End Plastic Waste/Plug and Play accelerator start-up in 2020, leading the 3R Initiative Pilot Project for the first global plastic credits market, and winning the Boom21 Disruptor of the Year award in 2021.
She holds a Master's degree in Public Policy from the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia, and has also completed the Social Entrepreneurship Programme at INSEAD.
Mimi Wu's professional journey includes serving as the Co-Founder & CEO of Myanmar Recycles Co Ltd and holding various roles at prestigious organizations such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Iceberg Holdings Pte Ltd, The World Bank, Management Sciences for Health, University of Notre Dame, and USAID.
Highlights
Navigating Business Mistakes and Challenges as an Entrepreneur 💼💡
"What's the process for fixing a mistake [you make operating the business]? How do you make sure it's ok?” 🤔💼 an audience member asked me at the WE Connect Event: Mobilizing Women-Led Green Entrepreneurship panel.
It’s such a spot-on question, one that I (and countless other entrepreneurs) racked my brain about when I started my industrial-scale recycling plant and collection company but could NEVER find an answer on in Google – because frankly, it doesn’t exist there. 🧠🚫
When I embarked on my entrepreneurial journey, I was brimming with excitement and security of my knowledge, only to realize quickly that I knew merely a fraction of what was needed to run Myanmar Recycles. The early days had so many challenges – from anxiety-inducing logistical hurdles like:
- Power connectivity issues (we got external support and persuaded the landlord to help us, which was actually 100% their responsibility) ⚡💪
- Communication barriers with my team (I spoke very limited Myanmar; they didn’t speak English! My managers spoke English, and I became better at simplifying messages and miming them), and 🗣️🌐
- The daunting task of trying to wash dirty plastic bags from landfills and sell the final product (which is why most recyclers around the world don’t even bother recycling used plastic bags – I connected with other global recyclers and hired in technical experts). ♻️🛍️
I literally cried every day for the first six months. But I learned that every challenge is an opportunity to learn and grow. Here’s what I did to navigate through seemingly insurmountable obstacles until slowly, even new challenges became easier to tackle:
- Broke down problems into manageable chunks 🧩
- Reached out to existing global and local experts – maybe they knew the entirety of the problem, maybe they knew only part of the problem 🤝🌍
- Changed only one variable at a time – make sure you give operations enough time to settle into the variable to understand if this is the reason why things are/aren’t working well 🔄⏳
- Stayed flexible and creative in finding solutions 🎨✨
If you're facing similar challenges in your entrepreneurial journey, remember that you're not alone. With the right support and strategies, you can thrive and overcome even the toughest hurdles! 🌟💪
If you're an impact-driven startup entrepreneur seeking guidance and support to navigate the ups and downs of building, stabilizing, and scaling your business – all while maintaining your sanity and avoiding burnout – I'm developing a program just for you. Let's embark on this transformative journey together. Feel free to reach out to learn more! 🚀🌱
🔗 [Link to video clip: https://lnkd.in/eX38xJES]
#WomenEntrepreneurs #FemaleEntrepreneurship #FemaleFounders #GreenEntrepreneurship #Empowerment #WEConnect #Entrepreneurship #ImpactEntrepreneur
I’m excited to join The Climate Action Young Leaders Summit 2024 as a speaker!
I’ll be joining other panelists on the topic of Bridging the Gap Between Climate Reality and Climate Education
Thank you Sumit Arora for spearheading this conference and inviting me to join!
Please register here:
