Navigating Asia’s Tech Ecosystem with Ines Gafsi (Blissmi)

Why Cultural Intelligence Is a Competitive Advantage for Entrepreneurs

Cultural intelligence gives entrepreneurs a competitive edge by enabling better communication, stronger relationships, effective fundraising, and faster market entry through adaptation to local norms, behaviors, and expectations across international environments.

Cultural Intelligence as a Foundational Entrepreneurial Skill

This principle sits at the core of Ines Gafsi’s entrepreneurial journey. From an early age, her passion for languages and world cultures shaped her decision to study, work, and build companies abroad.

A Cross-Continental Entrepreneurial Journey

Ines’ path took her from Normandy to Canada, London, and ultimately Hong Kong. Each move deepened her understanding of how culture influences communication, trust, and opportunity.

Operating across these environments required constant adaptation, an experience that sharpened her ability to navigate international business contexts with confidence.

Building Entrepreneurial Communities in Asia

In Hong Kong, Ines played a key role in advancing women’s entrepreneurship by co-founding Female Entrepreneurs Worldwide, now one of Asia’s leading communities for female founders.

Her work demonstrates how cultural intelligence enables entrepreneurs to:

Build trust across diverse networks
Create inclusive communities
Align global ambition with local realities

Applying Cultural Intelligence to Health and Technology

Today, Ines channels the same purpose-driven mindset into Blissmi, a preventive health and longevity platform designed for employers.

Blissmi combines:

Real biometric data
Medical science
Artificial intelligence

The platform helps organizations provide personalized, proactive health insights, shifting workforce care from reactive to preventive. The idea originated from Ines’ personal experience navigating motherhood and evolved into a scalable solution addressing unmet needs.