FEATURE 3

The Singapore Women’s Weekly, AUG 10, 2018

Advice every woman needs to hear, from 3 wildly successful Lady Bosses
——————-

Forging a successful career path whether you’re new to the game or have been working for a while can seem like a daunting task, but there’s no doubt that taking risks can sometimes lead to a serious payoff.

All our Great Women of our Time awards alumnae have taken a leap into the unknown at one point in their careers and for them it made the difference between being on top of their game or struggling at the bottom of the career ladder.

If you need a refresher, The Singapore Women’s Weekly shines the spotlight on 18 outstanding, high-achieving working women every year in six respective categories as part of the awards.

Our previous nominees include a media savant who founded Singapore’s first YouTube channel to reach 1 million subscribers, a dating-service entrepreneur who targets high-net worth individuals and lifestyle revolutionary Elim Chew. This year, they are joined by the following nominees in the Finance & Commerce category:

(From left: Christine Lim, Jaelle Ang, Karen Tok)

Our nominees might be at the height of their careers now, but each told us how their radical actions set them on the path to success early on in their work lives. Read on to find out their advice:

Karen Tok, 46, Founder & Advisor of ScienTec Consulting

Karen took the unconventional route towards success in 2002 when she founded her company, ScienTech Consulting, a recruitment agency specialising in the life sciences industry.

A series of setbacks from young, which includes a delay in completing her primary school studies and two consecutive job retrenchments, actually set the stage.

She started ScienTec Consulting with a working capital of $10,000 and the sole knowledge that the sector had been singled out by the government as one of the nation’s growth pillars in early 2000.

“Life Sciences was a virtually non-existent industry in Singapore when I started out. Though we had the first mover advantage, looking back I feel we were a little too ahead of our time.” The credit to this success goes to Karen’s perseverance and resourcefulness.

Working 16 to 18 hours a day and often resorting to sleeping in the office, the gutsy entrepreneurs refined her business to come up with a global search methodology that would become the company’s winning formula in recruitment.

It was acquired in recent years at a valuation of $10 million to Will Group Inc., a manpower outsourcing company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It was under Karen’s leadership, however, that the company won over 20 industry awards including Recruitment Agency of the Year and Best Client Servicing.

It couldn’t be more of a fairytale ending for someone who came from a modest background: Her father was a taxi driver and mum a night-shift worker.

“Growing up, it seems like there was just enough to feed us and pay for our school fees. I didn’t have much toys compared to other kids I knew, but I was okay with it, I could always come up with something to play with,” she says, exposing her resourcefulness even at a young age.

“Though I understood the importance of money, I was never driven to be rich. I was, however, driven to be successful, perhaps thanks to my academic failures. I think my story’s really come full circle.”

Click here for more details