Case Study: Olivia Lum - President and CEO of Hyflux Ltd
Case Study: Olivia Lum – President and CEO of Hyflux Ltd
Ms Olivia Lum is the founder of Hyflux - a leading water treatment company listed on the mainboard of the Singapore Stock Exchange. Where the names of Sim Wong Hoo of Creative Technology and Ron Sim of Osim were often heard, Olivia Lum is Singapore’s very own true-blue female entrepreneur. To her belt of titles are the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2003, Singapore’s Most Creative Entrepreneur 2003 and Her World’s Woman of the Year 2002.
The Making Of An Entrepreneur
Olivia was born in Perak, Malaysia, in the neighbourhood of Kampar. She is an orphan and was brought up by a kind elderly lady whom she called ‘grandma’. It was in this poverty-stricken village that she subtly learnt values from Grandma, values which would later helped shaped her as an entrepreneur. Grandma had an unwavering faith in Olivia’s abilities to compete and win. At every sports day of Olivia’s, grandma would bring along with her a big box. When asked why, grandma explained that it was meant to be filled up with the prizes that Olivia would win that day. Once, Olivia was bullied and when she came home scratched and bruised, grandma taught her a lesson of survival. She told Olivia that if she could put her mind to beat the bully, she could do it. Olivia confronted the bully again and did exactly what grandma believed she could. In another instance, Olivia was in an art competition where she had only colour pencils. Disheartened by the other children who had colour paintboxes, brushes and other art materials, Olivia almost wanted to give up. However, grandma assured Olivia by telling her she had the talent. Olivia, inspired and spurred on by grandma’s confidence and faith in her, won the second prize. 1 From a tender age, Olivia was inculcated with self-confidence, determination and perseverance - characteristics innate of an entrepreneur which served to become her bedrock of success. 2