I am the Regional Account Director for the Cloud and Service Providers segment at Schneider Electric. I have had a successful career in the Telco and Energy industries, but I have now found my “ikigai” (the reason for which you wake up in the morning) and realized that my passion for wine needed to become my primary activity.
Passionate about wine for years, holder of a WSET Level 2 award in Wines and Spirits (Pass with Distinction) and awaiting WSET Level 3 results, I completed my Executive MBA at INSEAD last year and made the decision to transition my career and skills into the world of wine.
My strongest motivation? Develop wine appreciation and support people in Asia to discover the amazing potential, complexity and beauty of wines and its ecosystem. I launched the INSEAD Alumni Wine Club as it didn’t exist in Singapore and I am currently building my new venture in wine called “A Wine Adventure”.
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Indeed, after 24 years of experience in Energy and Telecommunications, I decided to re-orient my career to my real passion. Agile and dedicated to realizing my dream, I started my journey by formalizing my existing knowledge about wine through Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) education, while working full time, travelling for work all over Asia, going through an executive MBA and managing my family.
Having lived 3 years in Australia, over 6 years in Singapore and travelled all over the region, I saw the trends and gaps that need to be filled in wine education and appreciation. I can see how my Asian C-level clients, international colleagues and classmates might be intimated but genuinely interested by wine and how they appreciate learning about it…without always knowing where to start. I know that there is a fantastic opportunity to develop the Asia market, and the potential for wine related accessories, wine tasting accessories business to grow significantly in the whole region. I am currently refining a concept of demystifying wine approach in Asia through 'gamification', taking in account the local culture and approach. I also aim at developing an approach specifically dedicated to women as I believe this could be a relatively untapped market.
I chose to dedicate my INSEAD Final Project to wine education and appreciation in Asia and built a business plan for an innovative wine bar in Singapore. Freshly graduated in December 2018, I founded the INSEAD Wine Club in February and started organizing events (1/month).
I incorporated my company, A Wine Adventure Pte Ltd beginning of this year. My new venture is now minimum viable product (MVP) stage as I’m testing different workstreams: wine import for wine which don’t exist yet in Singapore, wine and tasting accessories (including gift boxes), education and training classes, wine funding /angels.
References: Instagram: @awineadventure - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mireillegiraud/ https://blogs.insead.edu/singapore-iaa/clubs-groups/