Spotlight: ‘Even when you are gone, your buildings will stand forever’
BY CHAI MEI LING
Womenfolk in Malaysia have come a long way, having contributed significantly to the country’s growth in many areas. CHAI MEI LING talks to two women who have made it to the top of their profession.
Nafisah Radin: When you are up there, people do not look at whether you are a male or female anymore. They see you as someone who can deliver.
LABELLING hers a success story is the easy part. The award-winning entrepreneur heads her own architecture and interior design firm, handles multi-million ringgit projects, gives back to the society, and together with her husband, has raised four beautiful children.
What’s amazing is how 47-year-old Nafisah Radin pulled it off.
She says it’s all in grabbing opportunities life throws at her, as reflected in many of her decisions.
This is, after all, the architect who, during her second year in a private firm, knocked on the bosses’ door, told them she’s quitting her job, and offered them a partnership in return. Shortly after, she flew twice a week for the next seven years — the first few months with her infant in a basket — to where projects took her.
Such is the relentless spirit of Nafisah, delved deep beyond the facade of polished appearance, stylish dressing and warm laughter.
Her firms, NR Architect and NR Interior Design, have undertaken the architecture design and interior fit-outs of residential, institutional, and commercial buildings including a four-star hotel in Putrajaya since 2000.
Nafisah also designed an orphanage in Bandar Acheh as part of tsunami relief efforts.
The building of the low-energy Energy Commission corporate office in the administrative capital is slated to come under her portfolio.
Six years into the business and RM1.5 billion worth of projects later, Nafisah’s achievements launched her into the public limelight and recognition.
She was named Woman Entrepreneur of the Year twice — by the National Association of Women Entrepreneur of Malaysia in 2004 and by Ernst & Young last year.
In the last eight months, she has been roped into giving career and motivational talks to university students and secretaries.
It was initially a difficult task for Nafisah, who prefers a low profile where her career is concerned, to talk about herself in front of an audience but when convinced by others that it would inspire other women, she readily took up the role.
“I realised that in the past, these are the very stories I’ve heard from my mentors that had inspired me,” she says.
The University of Nottingham graduate spoke about architecture with passion, but it was something she chanced upon.
Her interest rooted in beauty and aestheticism, the government scholar had shown more keenness in the fashion industry while in school, wanting to be a fashion designer, hairstylist or air stewardess.
Her life took a different turn when her excellent academic performance landed her in the science stream, and she chose to study architecture in the end because it “blends both science and beauty”.
Admitting that she didn’t know what the subject entails at that time, Nafisah dived into the unknown. Today, she calls it a blessing in disguise because had she known it took five years to complete and was a demanding, male-dominated field, she would have had second thoughts back in the 1970s.
Despite having her social life in campus robbed by endless late nights spent on assignments, Nafisah stuck to her guns.
“Architecture students are a different breed. We worked when other students had fun, and caught up on sleep when people attended lectures,” she recalls.
Upon completion of studies, she served the government in the Public Works Department for “seven illustrious years”, before deciding to move on.
Putting on hold her dream of helming her own company, she decided to gain exposure in the private sector as an employee in Veritas Architects in 1992.
Within the second year there, she took up the challenge as the new partner to set up a branch office in Penang which she did successfully, in between jetting to and fro from the new office and Kuala Lumpur, where her family home remained.
Her husband and mother were very supportive, and the latter looked after the two eldest children in Kuala Lumpur, for which Nafisah is grateful until today.
Nafisah admits being away from the family was difficult, but it was something she and her husband agreed on.
In the initial years of running the practice, each time she lobbied for a project or made a presentation was in a room mostly filled by men with doubtful expressions.
“I could almost see question marks hover over their heads, the biggest being whether I, as a woman, could take up the challenge,” laughs Nafisah.
It wasn’t so much that they doubted her ability to perform, says Nafisah, but they were more worried she couldn’t handle the tough hands-on part of the job.
“You know, there I was, nicely dressed, and they couldn’t imagine how I would be able to lead and manage the building team through the construction site.
“There are two ways how men would commonly view it: one, it’s their nature to be protective over women, or the other, they don’t think we are cut for it.”.
Either way, Nafisah feels there is a need for a change of mindset for men who do not believe that women have the talent and capabilities to be successful in both career and homelife.
“It’s a pity that women should give up their career to take care of the family when they are able to do both by multi-tasking.
“Of course, having a supportive family makes all the difference.
“Just because I’m ambitious in career doesn’t mean I love my husband and children any less. I want us to have a comfortable life.
“My children understand that and have adjusted well to my long hours away from them.”
In 2000, Nafisah harboured three millennium wishes — to have another child, to build a dream home, and to set up her own firm — all of which she fulfilled.
Often lauded for carving a name in the mostly male domain of architecture, it comes as a surprise that this accolade meant little to her.
For Nafisah, being judged on her gender rather than accomplishment took a little time to get used to, but she relishes the fact that associates and clients’ perception on her has changed over the years.
“I’m grateful to the firm’s initial clients who gave me a chance to proof myself.
“The biggest achievement is the same clients have remained with the firm all these years.
“When you are up there, people do not look at whether you are a male or female anymore. They see you as someone who can deliver.”
Stressing that women should be independent and not give up on any of their goals, Nafisah says it is important for them to have a career.
“You never know what can happen tomorrow.
“Also, caring for the family is a responsibility shared equally by the husband and wife. The reason why a mother works is the same as the father’s — all for the sake of the children,” she says.
‘Every day, I identify my priorities, and have my actions aligned to them’
THERE is something about her that draws attention. The way she carries herself radiates the aura found only in people who electrify the whole room the moment they walk in.
Even more engaging are Anusoorya Themudu’s stories of a childhood cast in strict upbringing.
Right from the start, Soorya’s father made two points very clear to her and her four siblings — education is important, and they must earn a place in the local university because he can’t afford to send them elsewhere.
The latter was more of a threat, says the thirtysomething Human Resource director.
“He told us: ‘If you do not get into public university, you will tap rubber for the rest of your life’,” says Soorya. “It was a scary thought.”
Not that Soorya has ever tapped a rubber tree her entire life but when young, she had seen how her rubber-tapper relatives in the plantations struggled to make ends meet. The ultimatum worked wonders.
Soorya secured a place in Universiti Putra Malaysia to do Biochemistry, a course encouraged by her father.
As someone who had spent most of her life only in two places — home and school — Soorya found campus life the gateway to the world outside.
“Entering university was the first time I saw the world,” she says.
She enjoyed the course, but soon realised that she was keener in meeting people than to be holed up in laboratories.
Even before she graduated, she applied for a management trainee’s post with a renowned consulting firm, and secured the job after studies, moving on to become HR executive in a short time.
Three years down the road, she was head-hunted by an international software company looking to penetrate Asia. Soorya, the seventh employee in Asia hired by the company, moved up the ranks to become its regional HR manager within six months.
Drowning herself in work for an average of 16 hours a day, seven days a week with a lot of travelling, Soorya, who was already married with one son then, says there was only one thing that kept her going. “I was still learning from the job.”
Her career took a backseat in 2001, when she lost her father, and she decided to seek a balanced life.
She regained her foothold two years later and joined a US-based pharmaceutical company as the HR director for Singapore and Malaysia.
One of her biggest achievements there was to reduce the turnover rate from a quarter to seven per cent.
The other challenging role she undertook was to study why there were so few female managers in the firm (less than 20 per cent) — something that doesn’t sit well due to her firm belief in talents and diversity — and she then implemented a programme to increase that number.
On Valentine’s Day last year, Soorya finally made her dream move to General Electric Malaysia, where she now works as the HR director.
“I’ve always wanted to work here. There’s a saying that HR was born in General Electric.”
Early this year, she became GE’s woman network hub leader for Malaysia, organising workshops for female employees on how to brand themselves and to network efficiently, among others.
Her belief in women and talents was given a booster with the worldwide directive from the headquarters to increase the number of women in the senior management level, a task entrusted to Soorya.
The biggest hurdle facing women in Malaysia is the lack of confidence and belief that they can perform, she adds.
This is why exposure is of paramount importance, says Soorya, giving the example that if she had not worked in the first firm she joined and seen for herself how far an individual could go, she would have turned out to be a mediocre performer.
Soorya and her husband recently decided to buy a new house, and when the contractor knew the bank loan was to be applied under her name, he took her husband aside and asked: “Are you sure the bank will give you a loan?”
The question took Soorya by surprise but instead of giving the contractor a piece of her mind, she met him and explained.
“When people do not agree with you, reason, explain and educate them. Don’t brush them off or argue. That’s what my father had instilled in us.”
Now a mother to two sons aged 10 and two, Anusoorya is treading the path of many career mothers — to find harmonised integration between work and family life.
She admits she can’t be there all the time for her children, but she does her best by promising them that weekends are solely reserved for them.
Once she had to be in China for work on a Monday, she took the Sunday midnight flight just so she could put her two boys to bed.
“I’d do whatever necessary to honour that promise.”
Nafisah Radin and Anusoorya Themudu are among the speakers at the Women’s Summit organised by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. The summit, themed Putting Women at the Heart of Development, will be held at the Sime Darby Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Leave a Reply