Seven “P”s. That is the winning formula behind Hyflux’s success. At the inaugural “Going Global” forum held on 27 January, Hyflux CEO Olivia Lum told a ballroom of business leaders that growing a company with an initial capital of just $20,000, to a globally competitive business, starts with passion first, above all else.

And that’s the first “P” in her formula. “When I first started out, I had a passion to run my own business. To be successful, you have to dream big,” she said at the forum held at the Meritus Mandarin Hotel, the venue partner.

Secondly, it is important to find the right partners and employees who share the vision as the entrepreneurs. Then only can the company attract talented manpower to propel the business forward. That is the second “P”.
On top of that, Ms Lum pointed out that perseverance, patience and partnerships are critical in seeing the business through difficult periods, particularly in the initial phase of overseas expansion. In her case, she does not expect immediate results during the first three years in a foreign market, but certainly expects her staff to adopt a “can do” spirit or in her own words, “if you are sent to the country, you can only come back and tell me akan dating (coming soon)”.

And the last two “P”s are the performance and the “plus” factor, which she defines as the value proposition which a company offers. Later at the question and answer session, Ms Lum also touched on the discrimination she faces in some foreign markets, and her “innovative” means of overcoming them.

For example, “when I first went to China 15 years ago, I looked very young”. “And in China, people respect the elderly. So you come to this market looking like a school girl, they give you a big discount.”

Ms Lum shared that as soon as she realised that, she roped in a 60-year-old retiree to helm the operations there, and businesses took off thereafter.

It was the same approach which helped Hyflux penetrate markets such as Algeria and Africa.