SINGAPORE: As the Government ramps up efforts to reduce food waste and raise awareness of the problem, one urban farm in Singapore has been trying to lighten this load with the help of an insect.
Set up earlier this year, Citizen Farm in Queenstown has been using the black soldier fly to help grow its vegetables, as food for its fish and to help tackle food waste – the first in Singapore to incorporate these insects as part of farming practice.
The “closed loop” farm runs on a circular economy approach, by feeding the insect larvae with food waste from restaurants and supermarkets, turning this into nutrient-rich fertiliser.
Once the larvae transform into pupae, the insects are fed to jade perch fish which the farm rears. The fish subsequently secrete waste that becomes fertiliser for its vegetables.
Leftover agriculture waste – or produce that cannot be sold – is fed to the larvae, which then produces waste that becomes fertiliser.
The black soldier fly’s larvae feed on food waste, turning it into nutrient-rich fertiliser. (Photo: Wendy Wong)
The farm currently produces around 150kg of vegetables and fish a month, and goes through the same weight of food waste a day for its insect farm, which currently houses about 10kg of the black soldier fly’s pupae.
According to head of Citizen Farm Darren Ho, the fly is also “easy to manage” as it does not transmit diseases, possesses a short life cycle of about six weeks and is a “shy insect” as it avoids human habitats.
The larvae transform into pupae, which are used as fish feed. (Photo: Wendy Wong)
Singapore generated 791,000 tonnes of food waste last year – about two bowls of rice daily – and this is set to grow along with the country’s size and affluence.
Mr Ho told Channel NewsAsia that the purpose of such farming is to look at waste as a “resource” instead.
“The purpose of closed loop farming is to look at waste as a resource which we can then utilise to be looped back into our food cycle,” said Mr Ho. “Food waste is something Singapore has in copious amounts.”
“It is an issue to take them (food waste) out of the equation – so why don’t we take that to put it back into the food system through urban farming today, as urban farming becomes a lot more widespread in our economy?”
There are also wider benefits to running such a closed loop system in Singapore as opposed to conventional farming, according to Professor William Chen, the director of the food science and technology programme at Nanyang Technological University.
Benefits include cutting out the need to add chemical fertilisers to the soil and saving on the cost of fish feed, which can contribute to up to 50 per cent of a farm’s operating costs, said Prof Chen.
“In Singapore we have very limited natural resources. We only allocate less than 1 per cent of land for agriculture and we import 90 per cent of food,” said Prof Chen. “So closed loop farming provides a very attractive alternative in terms of sustainability of food production, because we rely less on land and use less water and energy.”
“Therefore this actually contributes significantly to our goal in enhancing food security in Singapore.”
He noted that the technology was not a new one that had come “out of nowhere” but one that had been used in neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Thailand for more than a thousand years.
“(For example), in rice paddy fields, the farmer will keep the ducks or fish. So it’s already closed loop because the fish would take the discharge from the duck and the fish discharge will become fertiliser for the rice,” he said.
The adult black soldier flies are kept in an enclosed space and lay eggs. (Photo: Wendy Wong)
Citizen Farm said it has plans to sell the insect as pet food and animal feed in the near future if this is approved by the authorities.
“The insect is very versatile – they can eat virtually anything including food waste,” Prof Chen said. “The insect has similar nutritional profile as other animal proteins. So the insect grow on this food waste can be nicely fit into this closed loop farming practice.”
SINGAPORE: I have worked with successive generations of female doctors and administrators over the years and can sense a change in the type of work women are engaged in and their drive to climb the corporate ladder.
There has been a shift within the field of medicine alone. The one-third quota on female medical students was lifted in 2003 after efforts by the Association of Women Doctors Singapore.
Compared to today, there were no female cardiothoracic and neurosurgeons 10 to 15 years ago. Now the number of female doctors applying to the sub-specialties has also increased.
All across Singapore, women are increasingly represented – women make up 61 per cent of those in science and 60 per cent of those in architecture and building.
This change did not happen by chance, but has been enabled with the passage of time and the increased educational attainment of women. In 2015, women made up more than 50 per cent of students enrolled in universities in Singapore.
But the level of progress across sectors is patchy.
Within the field of politics, there are only two female Cabinet ministers in a 21-strong Cabinet.
Female representation in leadership positions in business also remains an issue – 25 per cent of businesses in Singapore have no women in senior management positions.
And women only just exceeded 10 per cent of company directorship for the first time, according to a study by Diversity Action Committee on the top 100 largest primary listed companies in Singapore.
The Singapore Council of Women Organiations (SCWO) has an initiative BroadAgenda to increase the number of women on company boards. As of now, the number stands at 9.7 per cent, and can stand to see some improvement.
There is also a persistent gender wage gap, much as this may be closing. In 2015, women earned more than 10 per cent less than men in all occupational categories except clerical work.
This gap is even greater as you look at more senior positions – female company directors of SGX-listed companies earn 43 per cent less than their male counterparts, according to one NUS Business School study.
Former DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman once said the work environment becomes less fair for women as they move into the top levels of corporate leadership. (File photo: AFP/Paul Morigi)
GENDER EQUALITY
Some people have asked me if there is gender equality in Singapore but this is a loaded question – it depends on which profession, culture and individual family dynamics you want to dissect. Others have asked, is it not enough to have equality and harmony at home?
Regardless, most will agree that there is plenty of work to be done in eliminating barriers and unhealthy practices that hinder progress for women in Singapore, but we are getting there.
Singapore is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (known as CEDAW) and has worked to submit reports to the UN committee for years.
To be fair, women today are now less constrained by traditional expectations, by what were previously deemed as a man’s territory.
Success, whether to a man or woman, has the same definition – happiness, career satisfaction, providing a meaningful contribution to society and a fulfilling family life.
There is far less gender stereotyping today and men play important roles as caregivers in households. I have male colleagues who ask me to cover for them when they have to rush home to care for a sick child.
Another, a senior radiologist, worked part-time so that he could look after his young kids when his wife went abroad to further her studies. My husband too took time out when I did my postgraduate examinations.
Yet, women have a biological clock to consider. I have male colleagues who get married in their late forties and fifties and start a family then.
CIRCUMSTANCES, PERSERVERANCE AND LUCK
Can women have it all? Yes, mostly yes. But it all comes down to perseverance, foresight, luck and circumstances. You can’t control the latter two but with a positive outlook and a lot of grit, much can be worked around.
Apart from personal drive and abilities, many other factors come into play – family support, mentors and personal circumstances.
Sometimes, no matter how much you plan, life deals you surprises at the most unexpected time. (File photo: AFP/Philippe Huguen)
During the SARS epidemic in 2003, I was called in to work full-time in highly contagious areas. In order to avoid infecting my extended family, I moved out for a few weeks, staying by myself until the critical period had subsided. I could concentrate fully on work only because I knew everything at home was taken care of.
Achieving success and happiness in both one’s career and family life is never dependent solely on oneself, regardless of gender.
One must never take for granted all the people who provide support for us to truly excel in what we do.
Personally, I have so many people to be grateful for: My husband, who is quietly supportive of my work passions, my parents and in-laws who do not place traditional expectations on me and have always enthusiastically stepped up in taking care of my children, and the dedicated and utterly dependable helpers who keep things at home running smoothly have been huge support.
Most of all, my kids also help me keep everything in perspective and remind me of what’s truly important in life.
I still place a great deal of importance in spending time with family – over weekend meals, important milestones and holidays. Even when our careers end, and they will eventually, it’s family and friends that remain.
People ask if being able to spend time with family and undertake meaningful activities at the SCWO and Dover Park Hospice mean I have to give up some career progression in return.
Whether this is a sacrifice really depends on where you expect your pinnacle to peak at and what your definition of success and personal satisfaction is.
These other activities outside work enable me to move beyond my comfort zone and learn so many things from ladies who are leaders in their own organisations and careers so I don’t consider them sacrifices.
Personally, the easiest trade-off for me is sleep, as well as things that many may consider luxuries – facials, haircuts, manicures. I usually get ready for most events in under half an hour.
I would have loved to spend more time with my eldest daughter when she was growing up. Kids just grow up so quickly and a phase passed cannot be experienced again. But that period of life coincided with when I had to work and pass my sub-specialty exams, and there was just no time.
LIFE DOESN’T PAN OUT THE WAY YOU PLAN
Even when you work hard to plan out your path to success, sometimes life doesn’t pan out the way you plan. After graduating from medical school and getting married, my specialisation took me overseas to places I never thought I would live in.
As a young anaesthetist-in-training, life became a strained juggle of balancing immense studying, grueling daily work and exhausting night calls.
That’s when I got pregnant.
Starting a family also occurred at the most stressful of times. Without my family’s support, I wonder if I would have been able to complete my specialisation on time.
Around me, fellow women trainees who lacked such a support system had to go part-time and ended up prolonging their training time by years and years.
Being a doctor is demanding and time-consuming, but I have found small ways of spending time with my family – going out for ice cream on the weekends and leaving notes for each other. When my second child was born, things had settled. I was even able to start participating in some volunteer work.
I do my utmost to prioritise and compartmentalise, but when that doesn’t work out, I accept some messiness in my life and move on with it.
I’ve also learnt to improvise very well, a skill that I cannot stress enough.
And I think regardless of whether you think as a woman, you can have it all, that the most important thing is to be realistic about your goals and show appreciation to all who help and support you in your pursuit of success.
Ultimately it is about enjoying all that you do and finding a balance in life.
Dr June Goh is president of SCWO and director of neuro-anaesthesia at Singapore General Hospital.
Friday (Nov 24) was a huge moment for Primary 6 pupils in Singapore who returned to their schools to collect their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results.
Anyone who has gone through the national exam can remember the anxiety that pupils go through while waiting for the results of their first ever major test.
For some, the outcome can weigh heavily on their self-esteem and self-worth.
However, it is important for children to know that their parents are proud of them no matter what happens.
on Facebook
PSLE. It’s the first big exam of our children’s lives, the first big test of their young minds. But the truth is, it’s…
Posted by StarHub on Friday, 24 November 2017
This meaningful message was relayed in a touching video posted by StarHub on their Facebook page.
In the video, several pupils from Huamin Primary School received special grades given to them by their parents, an hour before the PSLE results were released.
Their parents showed them that what matters the most is love.
Also read: Who cares about your PSLE score on Facebook? It’s the real story that matters
Singapore
Sunday, November 26, 2017 – 13:17
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TOKYO – A major Japanese cosmetics maker has apologised after one of its retail shops posted a sign barring Chinese customers.
The apology from Pola came after Chinese social media users shared a photo of the red-lettered poster saying “No entry by Chinese people”.
The message was handwritten in Japanese, although it would be readily understandable to Chinese readers.
It was not clear where the incident took place, although it did not appear to be in a major tourist hub.
Pola’s apologyPhoto: Weibo
“We are sincerely sorry and regret that an inappropriate poster … has caused unpleasant feelings and nuisance to many people,” Pola said in a statement issued Saturday in both Japanese and Chinese.
The company said it had identified the branch responsible for the sign and had removed it. It did not specify where the shop was.
“Our company takes this issue seriously,” it said.
“We will suspend operations at the shop and punish those responsible as soon as we confirm the facts of the matter.” Japan has seen a huge boom in the number mainland China visitors in recent years, many of whom spend large sums purchasing made-in-Japan products like make-up.
But their swelling numbers have provoked a backlash, with some Japanese complaining the crowds are unruly and ill-mannered.
Pola, a main pillar of globally operating Pola Orbis Holdings, is trying to expand in Asia and capitalise on the popularity of its skin care products among Chinese customers.
A rumbling volcano on the Indonesian resort island of Bali spewed smoke hundreds of meters into the air Saturday, officials said, just days after thousands were forced to flee over fears it would erupt.
Mount Agung belched smoke as high as 1,500 meters above its summit, twice as high as on Tuesday when smoke sparked an exodus from settlements near the mountain.
There are fears the volcano could erupt for the first time since 1963, when nearly 1,600 people died.
People living within 7.5 kilometers of the mountain have been told to evacuate, senior volcanologist Gede Suantika said, advising residents to remain calm.
It comes after the volcano stirred to life in September, forcing 140,000 people to leave the area.
Many returned home after the volcano’s activity waned, but fresh smoke has sparked a further exodus and around 25,000 people have been evacuated to more than 200 temporary shelters.
“We will continue to see eruptions like this on similar scales, but we cannot predict when Mount Agung will really erupt,” Suantika told AFP.
The volcano’s alert level remains at the second-highest, he added.
Bali is a major tourist hub and its airport is operating normally, but some airlines have decided to cancel their flights.
Indonesia lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activity.
Mount Sinabung on Sumatra island — which is currently at its highest alert level — has been active since 2013.
TAIPEI – Taiwanese director Yang Ya-che’s thriller The Bold, The Corrupt, And The Beautiful dominated the Golden Horse awards, dubbed the Chinese “Oscars”, winning the coveted best film and two acting awards on Saturday (Nov 25).
The chilling drama about a wealthy family entangled in deadly political and business intrigues was also voted best film by audiences.
Hong Kong actor Kara Wai bagged the best actress gong for her role as the manipulative and calculating matriarch of the family.
“I want to thank my daughters (in the film) Vicky Chen and Wu Ke-xi. I couldn’t have played the role so well without you,” Wai said after receiving the statuette from Oscar-winning director Ang Lee and Hollywood star Jessica Chastain.
Chen, 14, wept tears of joy after she saw off two former Golden Horse winners to collect the best-supporting actress award for her performance in The Bold, The Corrupt, And The Beautiful.
“I am very fortunate,” Chen told the crowd. “I want to thank the director … and the production crew who encouraged, supported and cared about me.”
The teenager also made history as the youngest-ever best actress nominee for her role in Chinese filmmaker Vivian Qu’s drama Angels Wear White, which also competed in this year’s Venice film festival.
In it, Chen plays a runaway who witnesses the sexual assault of two young girls and is torn between her conscience and saving her job by keeping quiet.
The film earned Qu the best directing prize at the Golden Horse ceremony Saturday.
“This is not just a story in China. This kind of story is happening around the world,” Qu said.
She thanked Chen and other young actresses in the film for “giving a voice to the children who are unable to speak up for themselves”.
HEART-THROBS EMPTY HANDED
Chinese actor Tu Men beat better-known rivals, including Taiwanese-Japanese heart-throb Takeshi Kaneshiro and former Golden Horse winner Huang Bo, to claim the best actor title.
“The other nominees were nominated for their talents and strength. I got the award because of luck,” said a humble Tu, who played a ruthless gambling addict who abandons his sick wife in the dark family drama Old Beast.
Taiwanese director Huang Hsin-yao took the best new director award for his popular drama The Great Buddha+, which also won best adapted screenplay, best cinematography, best original film score and best original film song.
The film, which tells the story of a security guard at a factory that makes Buddha statues, has struck a chord with Taiwanese audiences as it focuses on the struggles of ordinary people against the backdrop of a widening wealth gap.
Taiwan theatre actor Bamboo Chen defeated Hong Kong star Tony Leung Ka-fai and Taiwanese-American actor Mason Lee, son of Ang Lee, to win best supporting actor for playing a transgender bar owner in Alifu, the Prince/ss.
Nearly 50 films are nominated for the 54th edition of the Golden Horse Film Awards.
Although the Golden Horse is styled on the US Academy Awards, the winners are decided by a jury, along the lines of the Cannes film festival.
SINGAPORE: When any new virus emerges, Rosemary Tan’s team goes into overdrive. It is something they do regardless of whether the virus has, or ever will, arrive in Singapore.
When the Zika virus hit Singapore last year, they were prepared.
In 2015, Dr Tan and her team of scientists and researchers at Veredus Laboratories developed Vere Fever kit, a lab-on-a-chip that can detect seven tropical diseases – Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, West Nile, Yellow Fever, Japanese Encephalitis and Zika – with just one drop of blood.
She says Zika was easy to anticipate, given the first outbreak in Oceania in 2014, and it was “logical” that it would eventually travel to Singapore.
“Veredus” is a Latin word meaning a messenger horse that can travel swiftly. Tan claims her company aims to live the meaning of the word.
“We want to deliver a message to our customers fast. In our case, that message is diagnostic kits for major diseases,” she says.
In her vision of the world, Tan would probably like to be called Captain Rosemary Tan of the Starship Veredus. In her captain’s log, she would document tales of scientific experiments leading to the successful development of diagnostic kits for the worlds’ deadliest infectious diseases.
This is because in addition to being a scientist and CEO of a homegrown biotech firm, Veredus Labs, she is a hard-core Trekkie. She has watched all the television series and movies in the Star Trek franchise. One of her dreams is to make a medical tricorder, a multi-function handheld device used in Star Trek that could enable you to self-diagnose medical conditions within seconds.
You wouldn’t be able to tell all this just by looking at her. She’s the antithesis of a science nerd, instead exuding the air of a powerful businesswoman who’s got it all under control. She wears a pastel-hued skirt suit and power heels and her make-up is carefully done, imbuing her with a dewy glow.
She speaks with casual aplomb and her voice has an almost musical modulation. Her hands fly in formation with her words which constitute a considerable amount of Singlish, not because she can’t speak proper English, but only because she wants to keep it real and light.
However, after some small talk, things get heavy as we start discussing the state of entrepreneurship in Singapore and, of course, her work.
PLENTY TO BE PROUD OF
Rosemary Tan receiving the Great Women of Our Time 2017 Award. (Photo: Rosemary Tan)
The Vere Fever kit is just one of 10 diagnostic kits that her team has developed. The others are designed to identify influenza subtypes, tuberculosis, food-borne illnesses, as well as biological agents.
Veredus’s kits are used wherever there’s a need for enhanced security, including at international airports and global events. In fact, Veredus test kits were used to detect biological threats during the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.
“It was SARS that inspired me,” says Tan.
“I looked at the way SARS was diagnosed in Singapore, and I thought “Hey, why can’t we do it ourselves? Why are we sending samples to other countries?
“My biggest achievement so far is to recognise this need and to be able to say we can address this, before anyone else did.
“I suggested getting out of the hospitals. Let’s go to the airports. Let’s go to where diagnostics is needed and can be done on the spot. I’m very proud of that.”
She has plenty to be proud of, having founded Veredus in 2004 in her effort to commercialise technologies from institutional labs. “There was a gap. We had to get them out of the labs and make sure they reached the people who needed them.”
The following year, Tan and her team created the world’s first diagnostic kit for the lethal H5N1 bird flu strain – selling it to 30 countries. Veredus then partnered STMicroelectronics to develop a lab-on-a-chip. Vere Flu, another world-first that could detect more than 10 flu subtypes and yield results within two hours, was launched in 2008.
“It all comes from having crazy ideas to do the impossible and working hard to make them possible.”
She went into business largely because she wanted the freedom to implement these crazy ideas.
After working in labs in Japan and at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Singapore, she embarked on her PhD, then spent a year as a Post-Doctoral Fellow before starting her first business, Genecet Biotechnologies, a life sciences education company, in 2001.
“We develop programmes for schools. We turn the classroom into a pretend crime scene and send kids in to collect DNA and do DNA fingerprinting. It’s fantastic.
“I wish I had learnt science that way,” she says wistfully.
Her wistfulness quickly turns into pride, “I have a lot of students who come and tell me, ‘Hey, Dr Tan, it’s because I attended your class that I became a scientist!'”
She doesn’t teach anymore, but has a team of people keeping it going.
For her, the love for science was “inborn”.
“It’s in my character. I’m naturally curious. I’m naturally aggressive in my quest for knowledge.”
NO INTENTION OF BECOMING A BUSINESSWOMAN
“I did not attend business classes so I just followed my gut,” says Rosemary Tan. (Photo: Veredus Labs)
So why not stay a scientist? Why go into business?
“I didn’t intend to go into business. I just wanted to be independent.”
I wonder if this means she doesn’t play well with others.
“No. I enjoy working with people. I don’t mind reporting to people. But for my sanity, I need freedom to explore. When you work for somebody, it’s very difficult to justify some of the things you want to do that may fail.”
At Veredus, the team explores and fails fast, but when asked about failures, Tan can’t think of any. Like many successful people, she perceives them as “learning points.”
Still, running a biotech business has been a challenge for her.
“Commercialisation is very tough. You need to have validations, documentation to submit to the authorities for regulatory checks, certification. It’s a huge process. That’s why many universities and research labs cannot do it. It’s taken me 15 years to understand commercialisation.”
But even as she says this, one can tell it brings her immense gratification, so much so that the hard work doesn’t feel hard.
She does have some regrets though.
“I did not attend business classes so I just followed my gut. Looking back now, the first thing that I could have done better was to really scrutinise research costs. About five or ten years ago I was like a cowboy in the Wild Wild West, doing whatever I liked. But luckily for me, business was good and I didn’t run into problems. But today, I’ve learnt to be more prudent.”
BORN TO BE IN BUSINESS
Rosemary Tan might be a “natural salesman” but is a “scientist at heart”. (Photo: Veredus Labs)
Then she makes a surprising revelation.
“As I grow the company, I realise I have a really interesting personality. I might be a scientist, but I’m also a natural salesman. I’m born to be in business. I enjoy understanding demand and supply. I enjoy convincing people to use our technology. I’m Chief Scientific Officer, and a scientist at heart but I enjoy the business part a lot too and I’m really good at it.”
It becomes evident to me again that humility is not Tan’s strong suit. But I wouldn’t describe her as a braggart. There’s something about Dr Rosemary Tan that makes her words come across merely as an innocent confession of her innermost thoughts.
“USE YOUR BRAIN, LAH!”
Rosemary Tan speaking at an SG Innovate Forum. Her advice to young entrepreneurs often is, “Use your brain lah.” (Photo: Veredus Labs)
While she is now comfortable in the business world, some of the lessons she has learnt have made her more observant of other entrepreneurs’ experiences.
“The problem is that even today, many people want to become entrepreneurs for the sake of it, for the “glamour” of being an entrepreneur,” she says.
Her advice to young entrepreneurs is simply: “Use your brain, lah!”
“There’s absolutely no glamour in being an entrepreneur. It’s really hard work and I don’t think a person who’s fresh out of school should be an entrepreneur,” she says decisively.
“You should spend some years working for somebody, either for a very successful businessman or a big organisation, to learn and gain experience in different departments. Learn how to manage finances and so on. Don’t start something when you’re fresh out of school just because you want to be a boss. Experience counts. Paper qualifications don’t mean you can be a good businessman. Look at the numbers. Look at the possible demand for your business idea.
“It’s more complicated and disruptive today. Whatever I say now may not make any sense tomorrow. Businesspeople and workers need to take action on this.”
TIME TO DREAM
I ask about her team, a mix of scientists and sales and businesspeople.
“They are wonderful. We discuss, decide and commit. I’m always looking for people like that – good at the job and want to improve constantly. I let them be themselves. I want people to have creativity and independence to work.”
Creativity often seems like a scarce resource, I remark.
“I give them freedom and time to dream. If you are too busy doing “normal stuff”, you won’t have time for innovation. I always tell my people, whatever you do – 100 per cent or 200 per cent – take out 30 per cent. Keep your plate only 70 per cent full. That time is for you to dream. We call it ‘dreaming time’.”
Kids in school are also so busy these days, but are they creative? Don’t expect your employees or kids to be creative if you don’t let them dream.”
THE NEXT BIG THING
“I give them (my team) freedom and time to dream,” says Rosemary Tan. (Photo: Veredus Labs)
The next big thing her team is working on is a medical tricorder.
“One day, all you’ll need to do is scan the body and you’ll be able to tell what disease you have immediately. It can go into your phone as an app, maybe.”
But she is also realistic.
“Nobody is going to be able to do the whole thing alone. But there are pieces floating around and I think in about 30 years, all these pieces will join and there will be one company that makes it. May not be us. But we will be part of the process.”
She adds, “It depends on funding and resources. It depends on really getting other collaborators together. It can be challenging. I’m really happy to talk to others, work with them. But not everyone thinks the same way. I really think we need to have more open-minded sharing.”
Tan is an eternal optimist.
“I always tell my team we need to be part of the process. If you lay the tracks, somebody will use this track and use all this information to make that ultimate device.”
But this isn’t the only “next big thing”.
“Today, I realise there’s a huge need to actually safeguard our environment and constantly monitor our environment for potential pandemics, epidemics and biological attacks. We need a bio surveillance system.”
She reckons this could be developed in five years.
MAKING MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS AFFORDABLE TO ALL
While she’s in the business of rolling out solutions, she admits some of them are expensive. Granted, financial sustainability is vital for companies like hers to continue producing innovative solutions, but what’s the point if communities that need such solutions can’t use them simply because of price?
For instance, Veredus’s Vere Fever kit costs S$100, too expensive for those in developing countries. While it is a superior test and experts say the cost is justifiable, I ask if she’s making any efforts to ensure affordability.
“Yes, that’s bad. If we have volume, our cost will go down and we can sell it cheaper. But I’ve also been talking to my distributor in China and we’re experimenting with distributing at cost. It’s a slow process. Very, very tough. But I’m willing to try. Let’s see if we can sustain the volume.”
NO HELP WHEN SHE STARTED OUT
“I had no help when I first started out,” says Rosemary Tan. (Photo: Veredus Labs)
Today, Veredus is backed by major players. It is a majority-owned subsidiary of Accuron Technologies Limited, a precision engineering and technology group wholly-owned by Temasek Holdings.
But when Tan started out in the industry, she did so with her own capital, money she made from her life sciences education business.
“Today, there is so much government support and so many funding opportunities. I hadn’t even heard of venture capitalists when I first started out.”
So does she begrudge the local start-ups who are benefiting from these initiatives today?
“I wish I had gotten such support, but I don’t wish the newer companies didn’t have it. If you can help them, why not?”
But is there a risk that businesses would become too dependent?
“I can tell you that whether or not you give him money, he will succeed anyway if he has the right technology and business model. If he doesn’t have that, all the money you throw at him won’t help.”
“Out of 10 companies, maybe only one or two will succeed. But if you don’t support at all, these companies wouldn’t have started up and we wouldn’t have an ecosystem. So are we going to give up those two companies just because we didn’t want to fund the other eight, or we don’t want to make them too dependent?”
PETROL MARTS THAT INSPIRE
Finally, I ask her what she does to relax. Aside from spending time with family, she admits she enjoys shopping at petrol marts.
“When I come home, I exercise and have dinner. By then, it could be 10pm. Then I’ll realise that we don’t have groceries so I go to the petrol stations near my house. There are several. They have interesting products with interesting packaging and I get ideas from there. We use some of the packaging ideas for our kits. Sometimes the fonts on the packaging are nice and I take pictures and tell my people, this font is very cute, why don’t we use this font for our promotional material?”
I remark that she thinks about work even while supposedly relaxing.
“I might be thinking about work, but it’s not stressful at all. It’s all I need to de-stress and really wind down for the day.”
And off goes Captain Rosemary Tan of the Starship Veredus, no doubt, hatching a plan for a petrol mart adventure after this interview. She may not be traversing the universe, but many would agree her work is making a difference.
TOKYO – Japan’s Coast Guard found the body of a male and parts of a wooden boat suspected to be from North Korea on the coast of one of Japan’s outlying islands on Saturday (Nov 25), an official said.
The Coast Guard made the discovery around 6.30am on Saturday (5.30am Singapore time) on Sado island, which is off the coast of Japan’s northwestern prefecture of Niigata, a coast guard official said, declining to give his name.
The guard also found a pack of cigarettes written in Korean and other personal belongings with Korean written on them near the body, the official said.
The cause of death is still unknown, the official said.
The discovery on Saturday marks the second time this month that parts of a wooden boat suspected to be from North Korea have washed up on the shores of Sado island, the official said.
Finding the body will add to the increasing unease in Japan and South Korea over North Korea’s nuclear arms programme after US President Donald Trump redesignated North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, allowing the US government to levy additional sanctions.
On Friday, police found eight North Korean men near a boat at a seaside marina in northern Japan. The men appeared to be fishermen whose boat had trouble, rather than defectors, the police said.
Last week, the Coast Guard rescued three North Korean men on a capsized boat in the Sea of Japan who said they were fishermen. They were later sent home aboard a North Korean vessel.
A North Korean soldier dramatically defected to South Korea last week after being shot and wounded by his country’s military as he dashed across the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone between the two countries.
