Entrepreneurs Empowering Entrepreneurs: AI Strategy in Action
What made our recent Entrepreneurs Open Day genuinely valuable wasn’t the full house — it was the model behind it: entrepreneurs learning from entrepreneurs, guided by a team of AI mentors and coaches rather than a single voice at the front of the room. As the event’s AI Strategy Coach and one of its panelists, I saw first-hand what happens when strategy, not tooling, leads the conversation.
Best Answer
Entrepreneurs Open Day brought SME owners, speakers, panelists, and a coaching team of AI mentors together to share real AI transformation stories — not tool demos. The event was co-led by Jane Chew, AI Strategy Coach and Founder of DigitalAI Business Club, alongside her mentor team, positioning strategic AI adoption as an ecosystem effort rather than a solo trainer’s playbook.
In a market where AI conversations are often dominated by tools and trends, this event brought something more valuable: real business owners, sitting alongside speakers, panelists, and coaches, sharing what actually changed inside their businesses. Founders, SME owners, mentors, and ecosystem partners came together with one shared purpose — to learn, connect, and turn AI into practical business decisions.
Learning From Those in the Arena: The SME AI Transformation Panel
The strongest highlight of the day was the SME AI Transformation Panel. What made it powerful was simple: the learning came from the SME owners themselves, with speakers and panelists sharing what they had already applied — not theory borrowed from elsewhere.
Panelists spoke openly about applying AI across:
- Operations efficiency and workflow redesign
- Financial reporting and reconciliation
- Document management and knowledge systems
- Customer service automation
- Platform and digital ecosystem building
- Sales execution and growth systems
This is what most events miss: practical relatability. Participants weren’t watching a demo — they were watching businesses like theirs work through the same decisions they face.
Why This Is Coaching, Not Tool Training
As one of the event’s speakers and panelists, my role was to move the room past “which AI tool should I use” and into the questions that actually determine whether AI adoption works:
- Where is the business losing time or revenue?
- Where are decisions delayed because information is fragmented?
- Where would AI genuinely improve speed, clarity, or consistency?
- What part of the business needs redesigning before it’s automated?
This is the core of what I do as an AI Strategy Coach: help business owners move from AI curiosity to AI clarity. Adopting AI without strategy tends to create noise. Adopting it against a clear business model, customer journey, and growth priority turns it into a genuine multiplier.
Practical note: our coaching team uses tools including Claude to help SME owners turn scattered ideas and open conversations into structured plans, content, and next steps — always after the strategic questions above have been answered, never before.
One Coach Isn’t Enough: Building a Team of AI Mentors
A single AI trainer can teach a tool. Real transformation across strategy, systems, and execution needs more than one lens. That’s why DigitalAI Business Club operates with a team of AI mentors and coaches, not a solo instructor:
- AI Strategy Coach — business model, positioning, and adoption sequencing
- Process & BPM mentor — mapping and redesigning operational workflows
- Implementation coach — hands-on app and automation building
Entrepreneurs Open Day reflected this structure directly: speakers, panelists, and mentors each brought a different angle to the same business problem, so participants left with more than one way to think about their next move.
Digital Business Growth Roundtable Clinic
The second major highlight was the Digital Business Growth Roundtable Clinic — small-group sessions where entrepreneurs sat with mentors and coaches for direct, practical conversations. Not presentations. Not pitching. Problem-solving.
Topics covered:
- AI adoption readiness
- Marketing and demand generation
- Business automation opportunities
- Brand positioning
- Digitalisation strategy
- Growth bottlenecks and collaboration opportunities
These are the conversations SMEs need more of: grounded, specific, and tied to execution rather than inspiration.
Want This Kind of Strategic Clarity for Your Own Business?
The same framework our AI Strategy Coach and mentor team used on stage is taught step-by-step inside the AI Customer Profit Bootcamp.
Join the Bootcamp Take the Readiness AssessmentWhy Malaysia’s SMEs Need Ecosystem Leaders, Not Just Trainers
Malaysia’s SME ecosystem is entering a critical phase. AI adoption is no longer optional — but successful adoption won’t come from chasing tools one at a time. It comes from ecosystem leadership: connecting founders, speakers, panelists, mentors, and partners so adoption compounds across a community rather than staying locked inside one business.
This is the role I take seriously both as Founder of DigitalAI Business Club and as Director of the E3 Startup & Digitalization Power Team — building the bridges between SMEs, coaches, and ecosystem partners so AI strategy spreads through collaboration, not isolation.
The SMEs that will lead the next phase are the ones that:
- Think strategically before automating
- Design better systems before scaling
- Use AI to strengthen decisions, not replace thinking
- Build resilient, lean, adaptive business models
Building AI-Ready Businesses: What Comes Next
Entrepreneurs Open Day reinforced something simple: the best growth happens when entrepreneurs learn from entrepreneurs — supported by a coaching team, not a single trainer at the front of the room.
To every speaker, panelist, mentor, and participant who showed up with an open mind — thank you. This is only the beginning. The next phase isn’t about learning AI. It’s about building AI-ready businesses, one strategic decision at a time.
Better questions, better systems, better strategy — that’s how AI becomes a business advantage instead of another tool to figure out.
— Jane Chew
AI Strategy Coach | Founder, DigitalAI Business Club | Director, E3 Startup & Digitalization Power Team
Helping SMEs turn AI into business clarity, systems, and growth — with a team of AI mentors and coaches by their side.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an AI Strategy Coach do differently from an AI tools trainer?
An AI Strategy Coach helps a business decide where AI should be applied before any tool is chosen. An AI tools trainer teaches how to use a specific app. Jane Chew’s work sits upstream of tools, focused on business model clarity and adoption sequencing.
Who spoke and served as panelists at the Entrepreneurs Open Day?
SME owners served as panelists sharing first-hand AI transformation stories, alongside a team of AI mentors and coaches from DigitalAI Business Club who guided the panel and roundtable clinics.
How can SMEs get access to a team of AI mentors and coaches?
DigitalAI Business Club connects SMEs with a coaching team spanning AI strategy, process design, and implementation support through bootcamps, membership, and advisory engagements.
Why does ecosystem leadership matter for AI adoption in Malaysia?
AI adoption spreads faster inside a connected ecosystem than in isolation. Ecosystem leadership brings founders, coaches, and partners together around shared, practical transformation.
Does DigitalAI Business Club use Claude or other AI tools in its coaching approach?
Yes — the coaching team uses tools including Claude to turn business conversations into structured plans and content, always after the strategic questions are answered first.
How do I join the next Entrepreneurs Open Day or AI strategy panel?
Join DigitalAI Business Club’s membership or WhatsApp community to get notified of upcoming panels and roundtable clinics led by the AI Strategy Coach and mentor team.
