When I first started doing summaries of the Brand’s Women at the Top series, it was purely out of a desire to note down the lessons of female achievers who juggled work and family well. Unwittingly, the first lady in the series was Foo Mee Har, who gained much prominence in the news lately as one of PAP’s candidates for the upcoming election. Overnight, my web traffic skyrocketed and even now, many are clicking through to find out more about her. I had several reader comments too which I did not publish since I felt my blog is not a political one and neither do I have aspirations to turn it into one. And obviously the comments weren’t very positive too! I guess it is always easy to judge others … and how can you be sure you know the whole truth about a person?
The 3rd lady in the series is Dr Rosemary Tan who is a passionate scientist entrepreneur. She set up her 1st company, Genecet Biotechnologies to make life sciences kits for schools. I think that is a really cool way to spread her love for science to the younger generation! Then in 2004, overcome by an itch to “do something new”, she set up Veredus Laboratories that specialises in diagnostic tools, and not just any ordinary test kits! The various test kits can detect infectious diseases like malaria and dengue and even different flu strains in hours rather than days or weeks! In 2009, its VereFlu chip became the first in the world that could detect the H1N1 Flu virus!
Whether you’re a man or a woman, you need similar criteria to be a good scientist: discipline, focus and passion.
On motherhood and juggling it with being an entrepreneur
I guess it’s a choice. It’s my choice to do this, to provide for my family in a way that is different from others. I am very lucky because I have a very supportive family and husband. But I make sure I spend quality time with them…
I encourage creativity and free expression; I tell them they don’t have to conform to what society wants them to be. I tell them they are privileged and have a good life but I want them to step out of their comfort zone and learn different things.
I’m a great believer in learning, and in teaching my children to understand and love what they are doing. When you understand, you will naturally do well.
An interview she did back in 2003
An Asiaone interview on entrepreneurship
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