Asian Business Owners is the podcast that explores the real human journey behind building a business in Asia.
Hosted by Carmen Salameh, each episode features honest conversations with founders, entrepreneurs and business leaders across Asia.
I go beyond the highlight reel to talk about the parts of entrepreneurship people relate to most deeply: doubt, loneliness, pivots, identity shifts, pressure, resilience and the quiet wins that rarely make headlines.
Through candid conversations with founders and solo episodes, you’ll hear the stories behind the businesses, practical lessons learned the hard way and the realities of building something meaningful without any guarantees.
Whether you’re a founder, solopreneur or aspiring entrepreneur, this podcast will help you feel less alone, more inspired and better equipped to navigate your own journey.
New episodes every week.
🎧 Follow me on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-salameh-705059b1/) and on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/abo.pod/) for more content and behind-the-scenes
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
He Built His Business Slowly And It Paid Off | The Wine Guild
What if building slowly is the reason your business survives?
Jean-Baptiste didn't take a straight path to entrepreneurship. He studied wine biology in Bordeaux, worked for a skateboard company, moved to Hong Kong, worked in different industries and started his first business.
One conversation changed everything: a winemaker simply told him to import wine and sell it in Hong Kong. So he did and it all started from there.
In this episode, we talk about:
Getting your first customers
Opening the first shop
Expanding to new locations
Making decisions without knowing whether they're the right ones
Timestamps:
(00:00) Teaser and Podcast Intro
(00:32) Welcome And Guest Intro
(02:08) Wine Studies And Early Direction
(04:38) Skateboards To Business Development
(06:58) Moving To Hong Kong
(09:19) Starting The Wine Guild
(13:03) First Clients And Restaurant Hustle
(15:06) Pop Ups To Opening A Shop
(18:22) Second Store And Retail Costs
(21:20) Closing a Chop To Focus
(22:00) Regrets and Decisions
(24:08) Expansion Lessons
(24:39) Letting Go and Hiring
(27:49) Second Shop Reality
(30:47) Branding Versus Sales
(31:38) Post COVID Hangover
(33:32) Loyalty and Retention
(35:30) Founder Workload
(38:24) Rest and Thinking Time
(40:11) Advice to Younger Self
(41:53) Founder Takeaways
(43:42) New Ventures Ahead
(44:41) Wrap Up
👉 To find out more:
The Wine Guild's w (https://theblomstre.com/)ebsite (https://hkwineguild.com/)
To follow my journey:
📲 Find me on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-salameh-705059b1/)
💬 Follow abo.pod (https://www.instagram.com/abo.pod/)
🎧 Subscribe to Asian Business Owners
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
30 Sept 2026
Entrepreneurship Is Like Therapy, But Accelerated
Entrepreneurship changes much more than the way you work.
Recently, I was invited by Robin Wong on his podcast Leaders Beyond the Stage for a conversation about my journey from corporate life to entrepreneurship.
In this snippet, we agree on the fact that entrepreneurship is like therapy, but accelerated. Building a business forces you to learn about yourself quickly. Your resilience, your ego and the way you deal with uncertainty and problems get tested.
We also talked about the mental load of running your own business and about not switching off completely.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Teaser and Podcast Intro
(00:49) My Founder Story
(02:12) Hong Kong Hustle Spirit
(02:40) Therapy of Building
(03:56) Community and Freedom
(04:59) Corporate Versus Founder
(06:23) Mental Load Never Stops
(07:34) Work Life Blend
(08:20) Closing
👉 Listen to the entire episode on Leaders Beyond the Stage podcast
To follow my journey:
📲 Find me on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-salameh-705059b1/)
💬 Follow abo.pod (https://www.instagram.com/abo.pod/)
🎧 Subscribe to Asian Business Owners
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
23 Sept 2026
Building a Consumer Brand With $20K | Ryan Black, Founder of Buddy Bites
What does it actually take to build a consumer brand from scratch?
In 2020, Ryan Black was working in commercial real estate when a dinner with his now co-founder, Chris Lee, sparked an idea.
That conversation eventually became Buddy Bites, a premium pet food brand built around subscription, strong branding and giving back to the community by donating to shelters.
Ryan and Chris had no background in pet food, they bootstrapped the business before raising funds.
In this episode, Ryan shares:
how they went from idea to first customers
why competing against much bigger brands can actually be an advantage
the challenge of cash flow and inventory
how Buddy Bites built a community around its mission
Timestamps:
(00:00) Teaser
(00:44) Podcast Intro
(01:51) Ryan Background Podcasts
(02:22) Dinner Spark Idea
(04:44) Pet Food Pain Points
(08:59) MBA Career Shift
(11:21) Beating Big Brands
(13:42) Uncopyable Experience
(16:18) From Idea to Launch
(17:55) Recipe Supplier Setup
(20:24) First Shelter Orders
(24:01) Going Full Time Burnout
(27:36) Meeting The Angel Investor
(28:39) Founder Identity Shift
(30:28) Bootstrapping And Cashflow
(33:19) Raising In Hong Kong
(34:44) Shelter Giveback Strategy
(39:57) Supply Chain Crisis
(43:15) How Founding Changes You
(44:41) Learning To Lead Teams
(47:23) Founder Support Systems
(50:09) Lessons And Advice
👉 To find out more:
Buddy Bites's w (https://theblomstre.com/)ebsite (https://www.buddybites.hk/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=14741642553&gbraid=0AAAAABokAFp63CMlz46oM5otUdZ-z6bym&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8c3VBhCsARIsAA_xJ911UAPW_TtxMfwdichb0R74uH_40qv4gzeyl3uiKeV3yqsp7m3djvwaAkMOEALw_wcB)
Ryan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-black-65906876/)
To follow my journey:
📲 Find me on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-salameh-705059b1/)
💬 Follow abo.pod (https://www.instagram.com/abo.pod/)
🎧 Subscribe to Asian Business Owners
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Who has been a guest on Hong Kong Business Owners
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Rebecca Chung
guest
Catherine Marie Pun
Rickesh Kishnani
Rowena Gonzales
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
76,242
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Spotify
5.0 / 5
56 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 40 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
19
Social presence
0
YouTube
85
Engagement
71
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