The Christian Influence in the Marketplace

Pamela Lim

Creating a business that matters

  • Why did you start your business?

  • Why your business must matter?

  • Who does your business matter to?

Who am I?

  • Mother of 5 - aged 13 to 22
  • Work Experience since 1988
    • Founder/CEO All Gifted LLC
    • Don at Singapore Management University
    • CEO of iQB (Government-linked Company)
    • ASEAN and India Managing Director of Hyperion (listed on Nasdaq)
    • Founder/CEO of 3rd Frontier (approved listed on Nasdaq and SGX)
    • Regional Marketing Manager at ACI
    • Analyst Programmer at Citibank
    • Admin Specialist at IBM
    • Cabin Crew at SIA
  • Awards
    • Dean's Teaching list 2009-2015
    • Netrepreneur of the Year 2001
    • The Most Promising Woman Entrepreneur 2000
    • Top 10 Woman Entrepreneur 1999
    • Technical Achievement Award 1999

Some of my entrepreneur students

Some of my entrepreneur students

Why do people start businesses?

  • Environmental Factors
  • Personal Factors
  • Situational Factor

Environmental Factors

  • Technological Changes
    • Discoveries
    • New Methods
    • New Techonologies
  • Market Changes
    • New Application
    • New Products
    • New Markets

Personal Factors

  • Personality
    • Problem Solver
    • High Achiever
    • Independent
  • Family Commitment
    • Supportive Spouse
    • Parental Support
    • Few Children

Situational Factors

  • Career Situation
    • Frustration
    • Redundancy
    • Experience
  • Access to Funds
    • Savings
    • Parents
    • Government Aids
    • Friends

So why are you in business?

Have a thought.

1 minute

Entrepreneurial Hard Facts

  • 400,000 business startup in America every year
  • 80% of these will crash and burn
  • 50% will last 5 years
  • 33% will last 10 years
  • 1 in six million businesses will make it to listing

Entrepreneurial Hard Facts

  • 400,000 business startup in America every year
  • 80% of these will crash and burn
  • 50% will last 5 years
  • 33% will last 10 years
  • 1 in six million businesses will make it to listing

How to build a successful business and one that matters?

A Good Company must exist for a purpose...

and that purpose determines the direction it will take or what kind of company it will become

If we want to know what a business is, we have to start with its purpose. And the purpose must lie outside the business itself. In fact, it must lie in society, since a business enterprise is an organ of society.  There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.

~ Peter Drucker,

Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at Claremont 

It is the customer who determines what the business is. For it is the customer, and he alone, who through being willing to pay for a good or a service, converts economic resources into wealth, things into goods.

The Customer is powerful!

  1. Determines your organizational goals
  2. Dictates the Mission, Culture and values of your company
  3. Decides the Products and services you provide
  4. Is who you serve and who you choose to delight everyday
  5. Someone you seek to please everyday

Who you choose as customers matter the most

And then? What else?

What other considerations?

  • How much time you want to spend on it
  • What principles/values you are willing to compromise
  • What gifts/talents do you bring to the business
  • What legacy do you leave

Recap to build a successful business that matters

  • Choose and define your customers
  • Be selfish about the time you will spend on it
  • Know what compromise you have to make
  • Utilize your gifts and talents
  • Leave a legacy
  • Do not blindly follow the herd

Questions?