It started with a feeling
But she kept noticing the same thing: accomplished women around her; senior, interesting, culturally curious women, weren't going to the gallery. They weren't seeing the play. They weren't having the conversations they most wanted to have. Not because they didn't want to. Because nobody had organised it, and they never quite got around to it themselves.
She also started paying attention at every women's event she attended; Forbes Women, ACCI Future Makers, the Growth Faculty with Michelle Obama, Generation Women, Jacinda Ardern talks, Antoinette Lattouf's book launch, Steel Magnolias. The energy was there. The appetite was there. The gap was undeniable.
“They had every reason to be there. They just needed someone to open the door and say: I’ve organised everything. Just come.”
She went to where the energy was.
Learn
something.
Experience
something.
Share &
connect.
“They had every reason to be there. They just needed someone to open the door and say: I’ve organised everything. Just come.”
What worked
Inspiring speakers. Cultural venues. The feeling of being part of something that mattered.
What was missing
Intimacy. A practical takeaway. A trusted small group. Something to actually do with the inspiration.
Then she sat down
and listened.
Pooja ran a series of intimate breakfast focus groups across Sydney — small groups of women, real conversations, real notes. The sessions explored challenges, priorities, what they were missing, what they’d pay for, and what connection really meant to them.
Need to feel connected. Human engagement — not just digital. Authentic.
Session 1
Financial freedom — in ten years. Build a portfolio. Passive income. Sustain my lifestyle. Want to choose what gives me happiness.
Session 2
Will go to meetups — but only if there is action, takeaways, something tangible. Small groups. Trust. Secure. Coaches to each other.
Session 3
What women actually said
Time poverty & activation
“I need to challenge myself to make it happen.”
Women knew what they wanted — the beach, learning, dancing, travel, yoga — but lacked activation energy. Notes from the first session were full of joys women couldn’t access: cuddle with kids, travel together to Italy. All doable. None organised.
Financial anxiety — all stages
“Financial planning model is broken. Superannuation — I’ve done zero. Where do I even start?”
Sessions 2 and 3 were dominated by financial pressure — job change, salary, value, financial stability. One participant articulated wanting financial freedom by 57–60, $3000 p/w. Another: “Would you pay? If it’s tailored. My time is precious.”
Craving authentic community
“Need to feel connected. Human engagement. AI.”
Notes from every session: “need to feel connected,” “authentic,” “same level discussions,” “books, art, culture, travel,” “missing that community.” The contrast with AI was explicit — women were acutely aware they needed human connection more, not less.
Matching job with purpose
“Matching job v. purpose” — circled and underlined.
The tension between career and meaning came up in every session. “Portfolio career,” “side hustle,” “once money is not an issue — will focus on myself.” Women weren’t just seeking financial stability; they were seeking alignment between what they did and who they were.
Trust over transactions
“Closed forum — trust. She comes — has someone to see the issue through.”
Women didn’t want another networking event. They wanted a closed forum — trusted, safe, relationship-based. “Small groups. Trust. Secure. Coaches to each other. Accountability.” The word trust appeared in almost every session.
Tangible value or no deal
“Will go to meet ups — but only if there is action. Tangible.”
Women were done with events that felt good in the room but left nothing behind. They wanted to take something home — a resource, an action, a connection that went somewhere. The awareness talk format was the direct response to this.
The experience gets them there.
The talk gives them something
real to take home.
Enrich was designed as the answer to exactly that, combining a cultural draw with an awareness topic, in a social enterprise venue, for a carefully curated group.
How Enrich was built
The observation
The field research
The focus groups
The insight
Enrich
Matching job v. purpose — circled, underlined, returned to again and again.
Session notes · Oct 2024
Books, art, culture, travel. Missing that community. Develop ourselves. Relax from work life.
Session notes · Oct 2024
FROM THE FOUNDER
“I didn’t build Enrich because I saw a market. I built it because I heard women tell me, in their own words, exactly what they needed — and I realised I had the skills, the history, and the relationships to give it to them.”
— Pooja Lal, Founder