It was at a charity bazaar that Foundation for Shared Impact (FSI) and The Blomstre first connected. Having become a loyal customer of The Blomstre’s hand-crafted non-toxic, natural, organic, human- and animal-friendly, and cruelty-free soy wax candles, TC Li, Communications Manager at FSI, would subsequently introduce FSI’s Mentorship Program for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs to Aaron Que and Jerwine Que, the sprightly husband-and-wife duo behind The Blomstre.
That came at a time when Jerwine and Aaron were contemplating ways to increase the organic growth of their business. As mentees of the inaugural Mentorship Program, they were matched with a mentor and experienced entrepreneur, Henry Kam Yuen Yeung, and ICF Hong Kong Charter Chapter coaches, Caroline Chapman and John Azzo. Together with others in the same cohort, Jerwine and Aaron would become the first members of FSI’s ever-growing reciprocal community for ethnically diverse entrepreneurs.
The decision to become mentees instead of mentors was intentional, despite Aaron’s entrepreneurial journey starting in 2011 and Jerwine having more than a decade of experience in corporate accounting and five years of retail experience.
“Even with the combined experiences we have, we felt that there was still a lot of room to learn more,” said Jerwine. “I’m not saying that we’re not confident as a mentor, but we felt that we could be our best version as a mentee, especially since growing up, we didn’t have a lot of people as mentors. So I wanted to make sure that we were equipped with the skills and knowledge to take our business to the next level. That’s why we signed up for the program as a mentee. Best decision ever!”
Jerwine also thanked the FSI team for not turning her application down even though she was “heavily pregnant”: “In other places I would likely be told to pass on the opportunity because of ‘concerns for my health’. But FSI didn’t turn me down because of that. Rather, you welcome me more because this is an experience, and as long as we can commit to it, then why not?”
And so it was that Jerwine and Aaron would attend every in-person and online workshop, diligently learning and practising everything from ideation to pitching and marketing.
“I cannot stress this enough, but I really love the mentorship and coaching sessions, because we are learning and applying our learning at the same time,” said Jerwine. “The program also has a structured workshop lineup so that every time you attend a workshop, it’s a different topic. For example, there was a workshop for fundraising, which is very essential for entrepreneurs like us.”
Taking a Leap of Faith
Before joining the Mentorship Program, Aaron and Jerwine were selling at as many pop-up markets as they could find and attend. But their mentor, Henry, and coach, Caroline, helped them to think differently. Said Jerwine: “What Henry helped us to do was to be realistic without limiting us from dreaming big. He helped us break down the goals. As artisans, there are always so many things you want to do. But what’s really essential is to actually execute it.”
At the same time, Caroline helped Jerwine think through whether she should continue with her corporate job or step out of her comfort zone to run this business with Aaron full-time. And Caroline did this by asking the right questions to help Jerwine make the decisions.
“Henry helped me unlock many answers,” recalled Aaron. “We were always scared of taking risks. Before, we were making our candles at home. Jerwine was very pregnant back then, and we were thinking, if we are just making one scent or one candle, that’s okay, but if we’re doing 12 different candles, then it would become overwhelming, and the baby would not like that.”
The couple then picked Henry’s brain about renting an office. The reassurance came: it’s okay to take the risk, as long as it’s a calculated risk. Soon after Jerwine and Aaron graduated from the Mentorship Program, Jerwine quit her corporate job and ran the business with Aaron full-time, before renting a studio to make candles and host candle-making workshops. The Blomstre’s revenue streams expanded, from branded merchandise for corporate clients and individuals passionate about sustainable candle-making.
“As Filipinos, we didn’t really have any idea about how to grow our business in Hong Kong,” said Jerwine. They thought they had limited resources. But through the Mentorship Program’s practical workshops and the guidance of Henry and Caroline, The Blomstre’s co-founders realized that they already had the resources they needed; they only had to figure out how to utilize them.
Giving Back to the FSI Community as a Mentor
As is the case with many relationships that FSI builds with our stakeholders, The Blomstre has become a valuable community partner of FSI, and Jerwine has returned to the 2024-25 Mentorship Program as a mentor to Yulia Kim, and the 2025-26 Mentorship Program as a mentor to Nisreen and Taher Muchhala.
In the process of pursuing the Edenark Group ISO 14001 Certification, Jerwine joined FSI’s ReThink roundtable workshop in 2025 to share her experiences and insights with the audience, including the new cohort of mentee entrepreneurs, on running a sustainability-focused SME in Hong Kong.
In the same year, Jerwine also became an instructor of the “Behind the Hustle” program by EmpowerU, an FSI community partner, to imbue youth with startup fundamentals – the passion, perseverance, and planning required of an entrepreneur.
“I can say this wholeheartedly, that FSI is doing a lot of things that it’s like a love in action,” said Jerwine, in an interview conducted by FSI on her mentorship for Nisreen and Taher Muchhala. “It’s like a storytelling through community building, collaboration, not just between peers but also outside the organization. They do work with other NGOs and charities. For me, that actually shaped the kind of entrepreneur I wanted to be.”
Today, Jerwine still tells the good stories of FSI to people within her network as she continues to offer much-needed support and guidance to entrepreneurs at various stages of development in FSI’s community.
From hand-pouring plant-based soy candles at home to opening their first physical store in Hong Kong, showcasing candles and clean fragrances whose sustainable manufacturing processes are recognized by the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Certification, Jerwine and Aaron have grown as entrepreneurs, but also as members of a reciprocal community that supports them and benefits from their entrepreneurial knowledge, network, and mentorship.
Said Jerwine: “If we hadn’t joined the Mentorship Program in 2022, the way we mature as business owners now would have been completely different. That’s why I usually introduce FSI to people as a way of giving back. The Mentorship Program doesn’t just benefit me and Aaron but also the whole team.”
