Daily Markup #176: Achieving work-life balance; Is entrepreneurship the path to a successful career?

Playing fair at work

  • Chief Executive Officer of financial comparison aggregator iMoney, Wai Hun See, spoke of entrepreneurship and gender in the workplace in an interview.
  • Wai Hun is also the co-founder of Juristech, the fintech firm that acquired iMoney last year.
Credit: The Peak Malaysia
  • Explaining the benefit of the acquisition, Wai Hun said, “This now gave us the opportunity again to be a game-changer in the industry, from being a fintech B2B provider to financial institutions to also becoming a fintech B2C platform serving everyday consumers.”
  • She added that the startup’s work has become more relevant in the pandemic as funding becomes increasingly essential for people and businesses to manage the economic challenges brought on by Covid-19.
  • When asked if being female in fintech has been disadvantageous, she shared that her experience has been quite the contrary. “When we give respect to others, whether male or female, they would accord the same respect to us,” she said.
  • She believes that the modern workplace should be based on merit, regardless of gender. This will automatically give more women a chance to climb the corporate ladder. This is exemplified by iMoney itself, which has 54% female employees.
  • A mother herself, she learned that many women would choose to sacrifice their careers to care for their families because traditional workplace policies often did not consider the role of a woman as a mother. This led her to design policies that would encourage mothers to continue working and thriving at the workplace.
  • “To improve our gender diversity, we have female-friendly workplace policies. Like early hours for women and the option to work from home,” Wai Hun explained.
  • On entrepreneurship, she said she often tells young people that if their goal is to have a successful career, this can be achieved by climbing up the corporate ladder. On the other hand, being an entrepreneur involves many sacrifices and much more than just personal ambition, such as being responsible for the livelihoods of employees and the commitment towards clients.
  • To those who have set their sights on entrepreneurship, she said, “If you are ready to take on this responsibility, to make sacrifices including the privilege of having a work-life balance and to stay the course even when the going gets tough, I would say go for it.”
  • Read the full interview here.

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