Olivia Lum was an orphan when she was very young and lives with her grandmother.

She was straight A student and went to Singapore to further her studies. As a child, she peddled ice-lollies. At the age of 16, she went to Singapore to further her studies. She paid her studies by giving tuition and doing part time jobs. From college to University, she finally graduated in applied chemist. She joined Glaxo as a laboratory chemist for 3 years and during that stint saw immense potential in water treatment business. Highly motivated and full of drive, she quit her job, sold her condominium and car to raise SGD20,000 to start the business. Olivia started Hyflux small with only 3 manpower as a trading company selling water treatment systems in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. During that time, Olivia has to ride her motorcycle to industrial areas in southern Malaysia to sell her water filters and softeners. The profits she made were ploughed back into her business and Olivia made her first million five years after she started. Due to Singapore brandname famous for quality and reliability, it helps Hyflux to be readily accepted globally. The business grew rapidly and a little more than a decade later, Hyflux became the first water treatment company to be listed on SESDAQ in January 2001. In April 2003, it was upgraded to the Singapore Exchanges mainboard. Through the years, Hyflux has established an impressive track record in the designing, building, supply, operation and maintenance of purpose-built water treatment and liquid separation plants, using advanced membranes for a diverse portfolio of industrial, municipal and governmental clients. Since its founding, Hyflux has extended its core competency beyond system integration into the realms of research and development, design and build works and consumer products development. Today, Hyflux is one of Asias leading water and fluid treatment companies, specializing in the manufacture and use of membrane and related technologies for liquid/solid separation. It is also an integrated solutions provider, offering a suite of turnkey services including process design and optimisation, engineering procurement and construction management, pilot testing, fabrication, installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance as well as Design-Build-OwnOperate (DBOO) solutions. Olivia is the driving force behind Hyfluxs growth and business expansion, responsible for policy and strategies formulation and corporate direction. She also heads the Research and Development function, which is her main passion. In addition to a thriving presence in China and Singapore, the Group who has also successfully penetrated the lucrative Middle Eastern market has set its sights on India, Southeast Asia and Africa making Hyflux a global brand company.

In less than 15 years, Hyflux has gained recognition in both the financial and business worlds, securing awards such as Most Transparent Company Award 2004, Securities Investors Association Singapore (SIAS) Investors Choice Awards 2004 Enterprise Award 2003, Singapore Business Awards Euromoney - Deals of the Year 2003, Asia Pacific Water Asiamoney- Best Small Company in Singapore 2002 Forbes Global - Best under a billion 200 Companies 2002 Most Admired SESDAQ Company 2002

Because of her phenomenal success Ms Olivia Lum has also received many accolades, which include: Global Women Inventors & Innovators Network (GWIIN) Award 2004 Voted by Business Times readers as Singapores Most Creative Entrepreneur in 2003 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Singapore 2003

She has the Perseverance Vision Tenacity Risk taker Leadership Brave Good Education Innovative Build good networking Initiative Persistent Information seeking Problem solving Self-confidence Assertiveness Persuasion Use of influence strategies Creative High level of energy Versatility Entrepreneurship is the recognition of an opportunity where other see chaos to create value and the process of executing on this opportunity under condition of risk within an entrepreneur team and aided by control resources.

Entrepreneurship is a discipline, and like any discipline it can be learned (Peter Drucker) Entrepreurship encompasses new way of doing things. Entrepreneurs unlike inventor, assemble resources, talents, offer leadership and execute astute management skills. Some of the skills required for an entrepreneur can be taught in educational institutions and through mentoring by real world practitioners- skills such as market opportunity analysis, hedging risks, raising funds, team building, networking and negotiation with investors Ministry for International Trade & Investment - SMIDEC Ministry for Entrepreneurs & Co-0perative Development. Industry Promotion of Entrepreneurship: Enterprise 50 Awards, Ernst & Young Malaysian Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Venture 2002, MSC-IHL Business Plan Competition, MAVCAPs Cradle Investment Programme