UWA and me
I graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce, poised for a career in finance. Then fate intervened, and I ended up returning to Kuala Lumpur to join the ‘Shipping, Oil and Gas’ family business. It was a baptism by fire - I was knee-deep in an industry I knew very little about, with new rules to play by. However, my time at UWA gave me the confidence and curiosity to explore avenues within that field and find my niche. I now manage the Health, Safety and Environment division where I create, develop and market innovative international solutions for safety training.
Getting Home Safely
Health and Safety in the workplace is crucial - the ILO reports that over 2.3mil people die each year, due to work-related injury or disease. High risk industries such as construction, maritime, oil and gas are the biggest contributors to these numbers. Our division, Go Home Safe, is an innovative platform built to combat the lack of compliance in the corporate and industrial workplace. We use visual tools in language-free 3D animation, combining safety education with cutting edge technology. Our market is international, and suitable for all demographics, because everyone deserves to ‘Go Home Safe’.
Achieving international success
Winning the Small Business Enterprise Awards in Malaysia last year, for Achieving International Success, was brilliant! To know that our work is saving lives across the globe is a really good feeling. It beats balancing a spreadsheet, so I’m pleased my path has come this way! Getting the backing of industry giants like Royal Dutch Shell, Maersk Drilling, and Chevron means a lot. The challenge is keeping ahead of the trends. We’re now looking at virtual reality, to develop immersive environments to transform the training industry.
International Women’s Day - disrupting the status quo
Although we’ve won many battles, women continue to experience inequality and discrimination - in society and the workplace. I feel the need to make the most of my opportunities and change the landscape of our society by disrupting the status quo. This can simply be done by encouraging your workplace or university to create awareness of the issues currently preventing women from progressing, this can be as simple as introducing flexible work arrangements, instilling strict penalties for complaints of sexual harassment and providing young women with mentors and role models they can identify with.
As President Obama so succinctly put it ‘Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time’ and this starts with the empowerment of young women.
Words of wisdom for new students
It will be tough, but it will also be wonderful. Meet as many people as you can, learn life skills, be kind to others and to yourself! Live, laugh, learn – you’ll never get this time of your life back again!