名人成功的故事 星加坡官委国会议员暨凯发集团总裁 An orphan from a small town comes to the bright lights of the city Singapore. Miss Olivia Lum Ooi Lin Form 3 student (1977) from Pei Yuan National Type Secondary School, pays her own way through school and university, and ends up owning a multi million dollar company. Sounds like the plot for a novel or a movie. But that’s the real - life story of Olivia Lum Ooi Lin, CEO of Hyflux, and the only listed local water treatment company in Singapore. Fundamentally there are two parts of the story. Firstly, her fight to escape the cycle of poverty through the power of education. Secondly, for a dream, to make her company the biggest water treatment to come out of Asia. But Olivia would not have been able to accomplish this much alone. In her own words, “There are many angels accompanying me, throughout my whole life”. Olivia Lum, Dec 2003 In this episode of Crossings, we will follow Ms Olivia Lum’s journey, showcasing the 3 major crossings in her life and the people who have helped her along the way. Born in Kampar, a small town in Malaysia, Ms Olivia Lum lived the earlied part of her life Taman Wah Loong in poverty. As an orphan, she was adopted by a 60 year old lady who not only gave her life, but love and inspiration as well. living in one of the worst part of the town, Olivia saw violence and poverty around her and was determined not to live in this state forever. Being a top student in school, she was noticed by teachers and principals, many of whom had given her invaluable advice. One of these was her primary school teacher from Pei Yuan who told her that to break the chain of poverty; she had to harness the power of education. Olivia progressed on to study in Singapore after gaining entry into Tiong Bahru Secondary School by using Malaysia L.C.E Exam, she had sat in Pei Yuan National Type Secondary School in the year 1977 . From there, she worked her worked her way up to top junior college in Singapore and thereinafter. won herself a place in the National University of Singapore. After her graduation and with glowing testimonials from her professors, Olivia got a jod with an international pharmaceutical company as a chemist. During her employment, she developed an idea for a business and decided to start her own company, Hydro hem. Hydro hem was a small business, acting mostly as a third party distributor for water treatment systems. But Olivia always had bigger dreams for company. Olivia knew with all the big guns in Singapore, she would not able to compete with them and so decided to take her business to an untapped market, China. But even now, Hydro hem was not strong enough to finance itself in China; Olivia needed to look for investors. Olivia gathered 10 of her friends, including her university professors and gave them the pitch of her life. If she were to lose this pitch, she would have to go back to being a third party distributor in Singapore. Because of her pitch and their belief in her abilities, they each invested about S$100,000. In the following years and as a result of China, Hydro hem’s contract had gone from S$100,000 to about S$1million and managed to break even in 1998. Although doing well, Olivia never forgot her dream of becoming one of the biggest player of the water world. Until then, all Hydro hem had ever done were industrial based projects and Olivia knew that to get to the next level, she had to obtain a municipal project. Olivia’s third and final crossing came in the form of the Newater bid. Singapore encountered a sudden water shortage crisis and needed to find a new source of water supply. Having just tested their abilities at a revolutionary water recycling project and having just listed the company, Olivia knew that her company had the capability to provide the solution and the profile to fight against the big guns. But never having done a bid as big as this and with competition from international companies many times bigger than hers , Olivia knew that the battle would not be easily won and geared her company toward months of hardwork . The battle was won, and Olivia’s company, now knows as Hyflux, was awarded the contract, propelling them into the big league. The story of Olivia Lum, a classical tale of rags to riches, transcends across cultures. If is a journey that takes us from Malaysia to Singapore then China and back. SMJK Pei Yuan School would like to say thank you to Ms. Olivia Lum for her Contribution : 1. Chairs 2. Teachers Table 3. Examination Tables 4. Blackboard and Whiteboard.

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