Morten Damgaard Andersen talks on “Leadership Perspectives: Navigating Multicultural Environments,” in this podcast and also available as a video podcast Morten as a seasoned leader shares insights on emotional intelligence, effective communication, and cultural competence in diverse workplaces.
In this episode, we explore how self-awareness contributes to a leader’s emotional intelligence. Morten has over 25 years of experience in Asia’s dynamic business landscape, and emphasises the importance of understanding one’s own emotions, strengths, and weaknesses to make informed decisions and empathise with others.
Delving deeper, he adds the potential drawbacks of overemphasising emotional intelligence and how leaders can balance competing priorities without succumbing to procrastination. Our guest’s practical approach involves committing to action and engaging in open dialogue with peers and team members.
Next, Morten examines the role of cultural competence in managing diverse behaviours. He emphasises the need to understand cultural norms and communication styles to foster effective collaboration across multicultural teams.
Moving forward, we explore the key components of a leadership style that resonates with team members in multicultural environments. From having a clear vision and effective communication to setting non-negotiable behaviours and demonstrating authenticity, Morten shares invaluable insights on inspiring and empowering teams to achieve success.
Join us for an enriching conversation that delves into the nuances of leadership in multicultural settings. Subscribe now at “AsiaBizStories.com: Entrepreneurs in Action” via audio only or on Google video podcast for actionable strategies and thought-provoking discussions with seasoned leaders.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:54 How does self-awareness contribute to a leader’s emotional intelligence?
02:59 So based on that are there any potential drawbacks or challenges associated with an overemphasis on emotional intelligence and leadership?
08:54 In what situations can adapting to diverse behaviours lead to a more effective communication? Can you give us and example of situations?
10:54 How do you avoid making excuses that allow you to avoid making decisions and taking actions?
14:05 So what role does cultural competence play in understanding and managing diverse behaviours?
20:20 What are the key components of a leadership style that resonates with team members, considering multiculturalism?
26:51 Contact details on LinkedIn Morten Damgaard Andersen
Goh Sok Koon is a company secretary a vital role in any business in Singapore. I am fortunate to have met her as she has been extremely helpful to me in getting my business up and running. Even before that, I was trying to get her to appear here on this podcast. By her own admission she has been reluctant, preferring like many people to work diligently in the background of the many businesses that she is a part of. But as a business founder of her own, specifically Lioness Corporate Services, and additionally as she plays a more active role in business groups she is a member of she now feels ready and the need to appear on her first podcast.
As well as:
Goh Sok Koon introduces herself as a company secretary for Lioness Corporate Services with over five years of experience.
Describes the importance and main role of a company secretary for a businesses in Singapore.
Qualifications required to become a company secretary depend on whether one is an accountant or a lawyer, with a usual completion time of two to three years.
The route taken to become a professionally qualified company secretary in Singapore
Reasons for moving to Singapore and the impact it had on her career.
Changes that need to be kept up with in order to be a successful company secretary in Singapore.
What are the additional important areas that need to be understood beyond the core duties of a company secretary.
Key advice entrepreneurs need before starting a business.
What makes a good company secretary.
Goh Sok Koon hopes for her business in the future.
The extended role of reminding directors and CEOs of their obligations and providing guidance and support.
The benefits of Business Development Society, a supportive networking group focused on learning and sharing experiences.
How her experience and knowledge gained as a business owner help her assist others, especially foreigners, in starting businesses in Singapore.
The enjoyment from her job demonstrates how in depth Sok Koon is willing to go to help people understand the process of starting a business and providing guidance along the way.
Kelly Shan is an experienced healthcare professional in the areas of nursing and public health. She started as a scrub nurse in the operating theatre before transferring to a pre-operative anesthesia assessment clinic,
“after a few years in the Outpatient Clinic you realize that a lot of even higher education background you know even there are lawyers or teachers they don’t have much knowledge about what is the meaning of the blood pressure the two numbers right so they do not understand what is the meaning or about diabetes they don’t really know much even they have higher educations “
This inspired her to take a specialist diploma in nutrition and health promotion and pursue a Master’s in public health and health promotion at Brunel University in the UK.
After returning to work in Singapore, Kelly is now looking for a career change to expand her horizons further. She has elicited the help of the Brunel Alumni to help her with this.
“I would just send a message in a group I didn’t really expect any reply but yeah Mario is one of our member I think that afternoon he messaged me for a quick call yeah to just know a little bit more what I want to do because he’s the international head of HR department”
This conversation is the seventh in the pilot for the Brunel Alumni Association (Singapore).
The format is based on Entrepreneurs in Action and we are looking to evolve it into a stand-alone podcast series focused on Brunel Alumni based in Singapore
Send your ideas and suggestions to me on LinkedIn, or in person at the next Brunel Alumni Association meetup in Singapore
So now without further delay lets begin
CJ Tan is a regular member of the Brunel Alumni Association. He has extensive experience in manufacturing and quality management, including start-ups and high-volume production. He is skilled in building quality systems and ensuring the safety of employees and the environment. CJ has led initiatives to improve quality company wide and worked closely with manufacturing partners to maintain quality standards. He actively engaged with customers to support their engineering and quality initiatives.
“It is true you know you always been treated as a bad guy in the the company a stopper in a company right and then when the quality is not right we tend to be more aggressive and stop the production from going on”
He has worked in QA for some of the biggest names in the Semiconductor industry. CJ’s last role as a quality director ended in 2016. After taking some time out he started a fresh new career as a realtor (CJ Tan, Realtor). His motto is “Customer Comes First”.
“semiconductor Manufacturing in Singapore there is less and less uh jobs or rather demand for the kind of skill set that I have you know there are jobs out in the market but outside for the kind of skill set that I have”
CJ Tan is the second in this series to have graduated from the Henley Brunel MBA Program.
Stanley Mak is a regular member of the Brunel Alumni Association Experienced entrepreneur with a rich history of working in the marketing and communications industry. Skilled in Inbound Marketing, Digital Marketing and Integrated Marketing Communications. With an MBA from the Henley Brunel MBA Program.
Originally from Hong Kong he moved with his then employer to Singapore in 1986. Eventually the desire to build his marketing own company took over. Today he leads iSmart Communications. He has successful navigated the innovations that have radically changed marketing and has an insatiable appetite for innovations to come.
“and then in the second and third year the business really boomed then I said wow Hallelujah never look back then during the.com boom period I I saw the opportunity of the internet”
He was also Vice-president of the Hong Kong – Singapore Business Association. He was the original president of the Henley Brunel MBA Alumni Association which which has now been renamed to the Henley Alumni Association and no longer affiliated to Brunel University.
“some people even say that why don’t you become president forever I said no no no I don’t want I’m not Lee Kuan Yew I don’t want to be become a president for life”
His outside interests include being a keen language learner based on his professional languages use and recreational travel.
Chris Pardey is the Brunel Alumni Association Representative in Singapore. Chris grew up and was educated in the UK. He has spent over 40 years working in the commodities industry. Spending 20 years with one company, working in the UK, Switzerland and Germany.
His move to Singapore saw him eventually being in the right place at the right time co-investing in a company and taking the role of CEO/Director.
“the banks like to spread their risk em and so it’s you know so it I think our Peak we were we were borrowing around 350 million dollars”
After cashing in, again, at the right time, he is currently Head of Agribusiness at R1 International PTE LTD.
From the beginning he has been a sports enthusiast starting as Captain of the Brunel University Football team and member of the Cricket Team, he now makes time to watch sports of all kinds. He links his work, love of sport, Brunel Alumni Association and current students to his charity work as Trustee with the Bali Sports Federation.
“So it’s basically been my initiative with Brunel but it’s partly what the University alumni is looking to achieve in terms of providing work experience opportunities for students ”
As Well As:
0:02:05 Chris Pardey introduces himself.
0:02:10 Over 40 years of experience in the commodity business and living in Singapore since 2005.
0:02:21 His passionate for sports and involvement in charitable activities in Indonesia.
0:02:31 Becoming the Brunel alumni representative in Singapore.
0:03:13 Chose an international career for job opportunities and to experience Asia.
0:03:40 Passionate about football and cricket, ran a football team in Singapore.
0:05:09 President of Brunel Alumni Association.
0:05:35 Creating the association and the connection to Brunel’s 50th anniversary and his reason.
0:09:44 His commitment to the Bali Sports Foundation, and the provision of sports opportunities for disadvantaged individuals in Bali.
0:10:38 Creating the link between Brunel and BSF.
0:11:20 The role for Brunel students within BSF from 2016, and the two years due to COVID-19.
0:12:16 The commitment BSF places on students for the charity and helping disabled individuals in Indonesia.
0:18:35 Chris’s after university, selected based on his involvement in sports.
0:18:57 His Work for 20 years in Geneva, Germany, and the UK, before he moved to Singapore.
0:19:01 Investing in RCMA with two colleagues, a commodity business and taking the role of CEO then selling in 2018 to a Chinese company.
0:19:46 Getting lucky and diversifying into other products and services
0:20:33 His current role working for another Chinese company.
0:21:58 The risk involved in taking on the role of CEO and learning along the way.
0:23:44 Why the business needed to deal with the 12 different banks.
0:24:52 Asking for money from the banks, relationships and not being nervous.
0:27:20 The reasons for selling and the outcomes for everyone involves.
0:28:17 Being able to walk away from the business.
0:28:40 Thanks to Chris for a great chat
0:28:42 If you have interest in the Brunel Alumni Association, are a Brunel student looking to get involved with the Bali Sports Foundation reach out to Chris on LinkedIn or visit the webpage.
Mario Ferraro is a thought leader in the area of Global Talent Management and an active member of the Brunel Alumni Association, Singapore
He moved to Singapore in 1998
But his unusual journey began in 1987. At the age of 18 one week after graduating from secondary school he moved on his own from Italy to the UK. Mario had no job and spoke very little English. His early jobs were for basic survival and during his commute he began reading books on physics. His interest grew, and In 1987 he enrolled to study a degree in physics at Brunel University. Mario’s first job after graduating required him to use his physic knowledge but a gradual shift towards the people within organisations occurred.
“Because you know you will have the best idea in the world If you don’t have the people to execute it in the right place, at the right cost, at the right time. It’s just not going to happen. The world is full of great ideas which were never properly implemented…”
However, his physics training was and still is an important part of the approach Mario takes in his role.
When I think of how my physics interest and my physics background has help me throughout this, is I have found so many parallels and so many similarities between the laws of physics and what I observe in individuals in organisations and in societies in general.
So now without further delay let’s begin
As Well As
Introduction
Early life in UK, basic jobs interest in physics, interview and starting at Brunel
Curiosity and how things work, a Basic under standing of Physics, a developing interest,
Education in Italy and his specialisation
First job in the UK with a tailor, factory then hotel, experience the UK and avoiding the Italian community.
Panic answering the phone in English leading to increased confidence
Early locations in UK and saving money to complete degree
The goal to survive in the UK
The evolution of Mario’s career from physicist to human capital
How his first job move after graduating came about
How the move to Singapore occurred and the role
Building and maintaining continuous career improvement
Mario’s role and purpose as employee number one for his current company
Naming and describing his role in detail as an “Integrator”
How Mario deals with conflicts in large organisations and the connection to individuals personal lives
Equations that describe human behaviour
Dealing with culture shock using physic’s law of refraction to explain and deal with top performers failing in a new environment
The mistaken assumptions that can be made when English speakers move to Singapore
Mario’s thoughts on his career progression over time and adapting when people no longer move physically and have to work remotely.
The different approaches countries have taken post covid and allowing foreign employees to cross borders.
Benefiting from the global talent pool
Benefit of being part of the Brunel University Alumni Association (Singapore)
Laurence Barrett is a pioneering aviation engineer, entrepreneur and active member of the Brunel University Alumni Association. He has worked and lived in Singapore since 2014. His career in aerospace started as a systems engineer in 2002 in September 2012 he started an MBA in Aviation at Brunel University after making the challenging decision to leave a successful career as an engineer. After graduating He moved to Singapore working as a self-employed Aviation Business Specialist. Then in May 2015 he made the daunting decision to found his own aviation company Barrett Aerospace.
“And I do actively employ people that are passionate about the jobs that they do. So much so that I would even create the job around the person”
I sat down with Laurence in his engineering workshop for a conversation that covered his path from engineer, then founder, a few of the exciting developments that are occurring in the aerospace industry and the role that Brunel has played in his career and business development.
“The MBA taught me a lot but I think the real world teaches you a lot more, and when you have something that’s a deadline that’s looming”
This conversation is part of a new venture with the Brunel Alumni Association (Singapore).
The format is based on my Entrepreneurs in Action series and we are looking to evolve it into a stand alone podcast series focused on Brunel Alumni based in Singapore. Send your ideas and suggestions to me on LinkedIn.
So now without further delay let’s begin
As well as:
0:02:00 Leaving school with less than exemplary A-level results getting him into Polytechnic or RAF, or A-level repeat
0:02:58 Followed by 15 years in industry with Multinational companies
0:03:31 Learning how companies work by changing roles every 3 to 4 years
0:04:39 The role that overwhelmed him and revealed what he was not good at
0:05:05 supply supply relationship/analyst or engineer and the opportunities presented
0:07:14 Decision process of the next career move that led to quitting and a full-time MBA at Brunel University
0:09:12 Consulting wife, family and friends
0:10:48 Learning as a mature student and why choose Brunel University
0:12:33 Thinking about career options after the MBA
0:13:40 The realisation of the goal of doing something financially successful in the commercial aerospace industry
0:15:41 The Human-Powered Aircraft the Merlion Project
0:15:56 A bad joke by the host that’s cleverly sidestepped by Laurence
0:16:04 Back to the serious business of human powered flight
0:18:47 Barrett Aerospace’s journey from drones to other aircraft and the effects of covid
0:19:53 electronic aircraft and electronic flight cooperation with Eviation and Deadlines
0:21:01 The importance building a network over time in an industry that enables working with other people and collaborating
0:21:27 project on time and on budget, the Alice Aircraft, July 2019 Paris
0:21:56 Eventually not just an engineer but the CEO and Founder
0:22:32 Creating jobs and roles around passionate, determined and driven people to create innovation
0:23:32 The real world need to bring engineering and return on investment together to the Human-Powered Aircraft Merlion Project
0:25:37 Working with other companies and start-ups that use crowdfunding and other non-traditional finance
0:26:24 how can and does the Singapore Alumni Association help?
0:31:08 Barrett Aerospace looking for engineering students for industrial placements
0:32:35 Finally we can be both contacted via LinkedIn
A reminder if you’re a Brunel Alumni or a current student and you wish to
contact Laurence Barrett or myself Neville J Mckenzie you can do so through LinkedIn
Elvis Simon is a barber with 33 years experience as a salon owner and teacher of barbering in London, England. He has also founded the Quality Barbers Association, QBA, which is involved in raising the professionalism of barbers. His colleagues include some famous names in the UK barbering and hairdressing world such as Rudi Page the former sales manager of Dyke and Dryden, Derek Clements, former Artistic Director of Splinters International and MK a mens stylist with Andis. He has also worked on TV and film sets, first the 90s TV show “Dance Energy, where he planned the hair styles of the DJ Normski and then a film starringJean-Claude Van Damme, Until Death. Where he was responsible for the hair styling of British actor Gary Beadle of East Enders fame.
Our conversation took place when he took a break during his short visit as he explored the potential of the Singapore market. Generally everyone needs a hair cut and his introduction to someone thinking of becoming a barber or hairdresser…
If you don’t like what you’re about to do, don’t do it. because this is something that even when you want to get out of you can’t
With the average haircut taking 45 minutes and the nature of being a barber bringing you into intimate contact with thousands, Elvis has learned a thing or two about people.
I’ve been doing this for thirty years. I’ve seen people evolve from really clever to really stupid and you know in thirty years. Man has not progressed he has regressed, unfortunately. Just got thicker and thicker.
This podcast covers a lot of ground in the black barbering industry.
As well as
Why he founded the QBA and who else is involved
The events that led him to becoming a barber, learning from his elders and opening his own barbershops
How and the reasons why hairstyles have changed since the 60s and links to hairstyles dating back hundreds of years
Using hair as a tool for personal branding and the reasons why footballers such as Paul Pogba, Djibril Cissé and Matteo Guendouzi.
Being judged by your hairstyle and the effects of cultural biases
Why Singapore is now looking attractive to an entrepreneurial barber from London
The favour that got him into teaching and new opportunities
The latest trend in men’s hair care scalp micro pigmentation
Traditional black barbershop culture and how it is evolving to provide health information to the community
The limits in China for black haircare in the 90s and early 2000s and the DIY and self-help approach
Teaching and training other nationalities how to cut black people’s hair and what NBA players do in China
The request for a (free) haircut
Working in TV and Film and the challenges it posses
Barber—client confidentiality and a story he can tell us
The wisdom, knowledge and advice coming from the barber
How to approach embarking on a new and challenging venture
Thanks to Elvis for that great insight into his plans for the future in Singapore and the business world of Black Hairdressing. We wish him all the best
Moses Kakanga was born by Lake Victoria in the old capital Entebbe, Uganda where he attended school before moving to the capital Kampala Makerere University, the oldest university in eastern and central Africa. Where he graduating with a degree in biomedical laboratory technology.
Moses then went on to work for an infectious disease Institute for three years before returning to study for a Masters degree in structural molecular biology, which culminated with study at Birkbeck College University London. He then returned home and continued with his previous employer for another four years. He then decided on another round of graduate study finding a scholarship on the Singapore international graduate award. And move to Singapore to pursue a PhD in biochemistry.
From young Moses wanted to work in the medical field as a scientist. He was surrounded by several role models. His father was a practice in physician for 40 years and is still practising although semi retired. His mum is a nurse and many of aunts are nurses and growing up in a hospital community he saw he was exposed to many other role models in the medical profession. Initially he wanted to go to medical school but didn’t get the points before settling on biomedical laboratory science.
When he looks back he looks back Moses attributes his success to working hard, which was based on his desire to attend medical school and in Uganda like most countries required the highest grades and to be top of your class.
Moses believes he’s achieved everything he’s wanted academically. Initially he wanted to remain in academia and become a professor then after doing his Phd and living in Singapore he came to the realisation he wasn’t suited for a career in academia saying “If you wanna be in academia in the Western World you have to publish well. The pre-requisites are very stiff.”
It wasn’t the challenge of academia as his previous employer wanted him back, offering him a position in the USA for two years. But he realised he wanted to have a career in Bio-med Innovationand create devices for unmet clinical needs.
Moses grew up in the 90s in Entebbe before leaving in 2004 to go to the capital, Kampala to study at theMakerere University, which was a former College of the University of London and after independence it was handed over to the government of Uganda. It has the oldest medical school in Uganda. The medical school is ranked highly internationally is one of the top five in Africa.
During the time he studied there a lot of international students from Kenya and Tanzania
Moses then received a commonwealth scholarship and was attached to a scientist in Uganda. However the final six months were finished at Birkbeck, University of London while still attached to a Scientist in Uganda. He wasn’t lonely in London as he had cousins there and had a pleasant time.
Missing out on the scholarship didn’t feel so bad because Moses was young at 17 and his dad was a bit scared about sending him alone to Hungary where he would also needed to learn a new language as well as the fact that he was already going to university in Uganda.
Looking back at the time going it may have seemed like a missed opportunity but the other opportunities that have presented themselves have more than made-up for it.
The desire to develop by a medical devices arose during his Phd studies as he worked on Biosensors for screening anti-cancer drugs and his interest shifted to a desire on innovation, drug or devices development.
Moses feel that by remaining in academia he would not be able to accomplish as much due to the rigid and competitive career development.
The challenge he sees for a scientist entering the world of entrepreneurship, are a lack of business skills, which for example may be business model development, customer development, market access.
This lake is something that can be overcome by hiring a person with these business skills. Scientists can still learn the business side but it will take a little bit longer for a person that come from academia.
CurrentlyMoses is working with a CEO who is also a technical and scientific person and who also has developed the skills to handle the business side. He does get involved to a small degree. But his focus is primarily on the science and technology.
This is reflected in his title of Chief Science and Technology Officer (CTO).
Moses sees himself continuing in the role of technology building as his focus is on the science and being in charge of running clinical trails in order to bring them to the market.
Moses has always looked up to his father as a role model. A man “who set a high bar”. Next came his father’s boss who was a woman that came from a family of five doctors. He always looked up to them. He found these role models stimulated his interest in having a career in the medical field. The professor that supervised him On his PhD has also acted as a role model in ensuring that he completed his PhD and graduated.
As Moses enters the world of entrepreneurship new role models are beginning to appear one of which is Sir Richard Branson. Who Moses admires in the way he built his business from scratch. Through reading his books he has discovered that Sir Richard Branson started out with a lot of challenges in school but then found his niche and has built a number of businesses and has become a very successful business man. His methods have been cautious, unaggressive and without putting other people out of business. He also has integrity and consciousness. AlthoughMoses is in medical field he plans to follow SirRichard Branson on the business side.
A few days after our meeting Moses will be taking part in an event as the moderator with the title, “From Scientist to Entrepreneurial Scientist: The Creation of BioTech Companies”. The purpose of the event is to help motivate early stage start-ups in the field of biotech and med tech. And get mentorship and advice from experienced biotech founders who will share their experience on the transition of being a scientist, scientist entrepreneurs, starting their own companies from research in the lab. The main premise for young start-ups to get more added information and guidance from established scientist.
Three scientists are from the National University of Singapore, Duke NUS will share how they built their companies that was spun off from the University. The audience will come from a broad spectrum of Singapore, which will include academia and start-up biotech companies. A 127 people registered have registered so far. But Moses is being cautious and expects a turnout of 50 to 60% for the event.
Registration and entry is free via the SGInnovate.com website in collaboration.
SGInnovate is a government organisation that helps to develop tech ecosystems in Singapore. SGInnovate supports DeepTech entrepreneurs and start-ups develop their ideas into a marketable products and also helps them to fund raise.
27 Deep Tech can be a confusing term which is used for ideas that take a lot of time to develop for example developing a robot that requires patents and many of iterations in order to get to the final product. Another example is developing a medical device that requires development of a prototype, do prototype testing and looking for trials. The gestation period takes a long time. This is how Deep Tech is commonly defined. The time to develop a DeepTech product can be two years or three years or longer.
There is further ambiguity as it can also include AI algorithms used for imaging of cancer cells as it can uses AI for diagnostics methods.
There is a constant need for development in the Bio-Tech and Medi-Tech field. A constant need for new drugs and medical devices particularly in areas connected to the ageing population in Asia. As well as devices for mobility, which is also a growing field. Due to Asia’s ageing population so there will be an increasing need for biotech and med tech products.
If you consider the US in the Bay Area where, biotech and med tech is really big and you will see a lot of investors. In that the ecosystem in the US is well developed. While in Asia it has recently started growing and is predicted to grow bigger .
Moses reasons for starting a business in Singapore are that it is small country where everything is close. He completed his PhD at the innovation hub called One North, where there are universities with research centres and start-ups in the same facility. Also gave access to many people on different tracks due to their close proximity. The final piece into doing this venture is being able to get into an incubator that gives support in building the company.
At present the company consists of a CEO and Moses who is the CTO as it has only existed for eight months. They are still raising money and expect to hire a specialist in the medical device regulatory area in the second quarter of next year in order to facilitate the launch of the product into the different markets.
The first market to enter will be Europe where they are working with a number of hospitals on clinical trials and expect to get the CE mark. After that will expand in to Asia and the USA.
This order is chosen as buyer certification procedures are a little bit easier in Europe than getting an FDA. So like most medical companies in the world they tend to start off with Europe to get a CE mark because it’s a little shorter than the FDA. From there a move into Asia is fairly straight forward if you have a CE or FDA.
For the African market the company has to examine the reimbursement systems to determine who will be able to pay and may be considered later on after some revenues have been gained.
So the important first step is to prove the product is viable then once proved to raise finance and show that it works and then you can look up expanding into other markets.
The product is a device that was patented by his CEO to treat a genetic disease that causes bulging of an eye. It is inserted to reshapes a patients eye
It is a genetic disease and while it is not a common it does affect 15 million people worldwide particularly in Asia and the Middle East.
In the near future the priorities of the company are to raise money, build the start-up through clinical trials then bringing the device to the market and growing the business in to being a leading company in the ophthalmology space.
Faced with the low success rate of startups Moses takes the same approach he applied to his PhD where you go give your all to a project if it doesn’t work out you move on.
Since being involved with the startup Moses has had to gain new areas of knowledge. Taking a certificate in medical device regulations and importantly for a startup writing and designing investor pitch decks. In order to communicate the business to potential investors and containing, the business model, market, team and representing a snapshot of your business ant its idea.
37 As part of an incubator Moses was exposed to people that had a great deal of business experience who offer guidance on various aspects of business. Since his focus is on the technology side of the startup he’s not required to do much direct pitching and he doesn’t desire or see his role changing from being the back room CTO. Currently Moses is not looking to expand his role because as a scientist his interest is in the science behind the products not in the business side.
There is alway risk associated with a startup and Moses is confident that the project will be successful. Moses’s states “the co-founder and CEO holds the patent for the product and has been working on this project for more than two years. As well as being a scientist himself the CEO also has developed the necessary business skills to take the project forward.”, over those two years.
For those that wish to follow in his footsteps Moses offers the following advice, “Work hard, work hard” Moses says he has always worked hard his whole life.He’s a person that thinks luck has played a part in his life since in various examples in his academic life luck has been there but it’s always a result of hard work. At secondary school He was always in the labs. He advises reading because many opportunities have come his way through reading books and papers. The missed opportunity to go to medical school in Hungary came from a newspaper article. During his undergrad I was able to apply for a scholarship which also came from a newspaper. His Masters he also received a scholarship through recommendation by a friend. Finally the PhD research opportunity in Singapore came from reading a journal. So summarising, it’s hard work with a little bit of luck but more hard work.
We thank Moses very much for this brief conversation on what it takes to go from scientist to entrepreneur and will keep in touch and we expect to keep in touch.
EIA 052 From Scientist to Entrepreneur was introduced by Andy Kerr of St James Wealth Management the company sponsoring “Scientist to Entrepreneurial Scientist: The Creation of BioTech Companies”
