FEATURE 11

ScienTec News & Press Releases, NOV 13, 2015

From $10K to $10M - ScienTec Consulting CEO's Entrepreneurial Story to Inspire Students & Youths
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SCIENTEC CEO ENTREPRENEURIAL STORY PUBLISHED – The success story of Ms Karen Tok and the company she founded, ScienTec Consulting, is featured in Forward, Shell LiveWIRE’s book devoted to entrepreneurship. The book was launched today at ITE College East with Guest-of-honour Dr Maliki Osman, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Defence & Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in attendance.

The story of Ms Tok’s entrepreneurial journey will find its way into the hands of students and youths who aspire to become entrepreneurs as Forward will be introduced as an entrepreneurship educational tool in ITE. It will also be distributed to selected secondary schools and post-secondary institutions.

A Shell LiveWIRE Award Merit Winner in 2005, Ms Tok emerged from the Dotcom Bubble Burst to succeed in an industry that was virtually non-existent then, that is, recruitment in Life Sciences. From a working capital of $10K, she grew the executive search and general staffing firm to become one valued at $10M during its trade sale in 2014 to Will Group Inc. which is listed in the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

ScienTec Consulting’s track record of success since its inception in 2001 is the result of proprietary systems and processes put in place after years of development and refinement. The home-grown firm has edged out international agencies to win 11 prestigious industry awards including Recruitment Agency of the Year at this year’s Asia Recruitment Awards. It has also received more than 500 testimonials, many of which are from top MNCs and Fortune 500 companies – the result of building true service value, setting high standards, and focussing on the customer experience.

The publication of Forward commemorates the 15th Anniversary of the Shell LiveWIRE awards programme. Organised by Shell, Institute of Technical Education (ITE), ITE Alumni Association and Singapore Press Holdings’ Chinese Newspaper Division, the programme will come to a close this year. Ms Tok is one of more than 40 entrepreneurs to have benefitted from it – she now wants to pay it forward by sharing the details of her personal story in the pages of the book.

Comprising personal anecdotes and invaluable insights, Ms Tok hopes that her entrepreneurial story will encourage youths who are thinking of starting their own business – “Not everyone can be a successful entrepreneur but a successful entrepreneur can be anyone. All you need is the passion to succeed powered by a strong determination, the ability to learn, some basic financial knowledge, and the right mentors for areas you lack experience in,” said Ms Tok.

Today, Ms Tok is still fully responsible for ScienTec Consulting’s strategic direction, P&L, as well as its training and leadership development.