Ex TVB Actress Vivien Yeo, Who Has A Chain Of Beauty Stores, Now Also Runs An Online Academy Teaching Business Skills

Since leaving TVB in 2020, Malaysian-born actress-turned-entrepreneur Vivien Yeo, 37, has been focusing on growing her beauty business.

Her eponymous beauty store, which started off as an online store in 2013, reportedly generated a turnover of HK$100mil (S$17.9m) in five years and has expanded to the brick-and-mortar space with outlets in Malaysia, Hongkong and Macau.

Her flourishing business has also enabled her to afford a swanky seaview mansion in Malaysia, where she lives with her businessman hubby, Yip Sai Yeung, 40, and their two daughters, aged two and five months old.

Helping others kickstart their own online biz

In 2020, she decided to leverage her entrepreneurial experience to start an online academy teaching online business skills.

According to the website, students will learn how to build an online store, digital marketing, copywriting, photography, and develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

Vivien personally teaches and mentors students, and to date, more than 1,000 students have graduated from the course.

Sees a growing demand for online businesses

Calling her venture a “product of risk”, Vivien said she decided to start the academy after many people approached her for advice on how to start an online business during the pandemic.

"[During the pandemic] Many friends with brick-and-mortar stores said that their businesses were greatly affected and some fans also DM-ed me, telling me they were unemployed and could not find a job. They asked me how to start an online business to sell some handmade products, so I took some short videos to share my entrepreneurial experience and posted them on YouTube… That’s how VY Academy was born,” said Vivien.

She added that with the online shopping boom, e-commerce has great potential for development.

Photos: Vivien Yeo/Instagram, VY Academy/Instagram