Award-winning serial entrepreneur Natalie Sit shares how she turned adversity into opportunity in her life and career
I started with the most humble of beginnings, helping my parents run their wonton noodle stall in the sleepy town of Ipoh, Malaysia. We were very poor and didn’t have enough money for me to finish my studies, so I had no choice but to start work halfway through my diploma. But it’s precisely the harsh times in my life that have brought me to where I am today.
I am a female entrepreneur, which puts me in a minority; even more so that I work in the technology industry. And yet, I’ve worked in the IT industry for over 24 years and in 2008, founded my company, Acestar Sdn Bhd, which specialises in creative software, high-performance computers and digital workflow management. To date, we’ve served more than 5,000 clients across the education, enterprise, SME and public sector markets and been fortunate to receive several accolades in recent years.
None of this would have been possible without the right mindset and resilience. But because female entrepreneurs often have to work ten times harder to be seen or recognised, my experience has prepared me to meet and bounce back from the toughest setbacks. Here are some lessons I would like to share with anyone who may find themselves at the beginning of their career journey.
Be open to opportunity, even if it’s not what you expected
Because I didn’t have any skills or academic qualifications, my first job was as a retail promoter in a small boutique selling clothing to older women. While it made me realise that fashion wasn’t for me, it gave me my first valuable experience in sales. I also got my start in the IT industry in an unlikely place—a gaming cybercafé, where I happened to meet someone who needed an administrative assistant for a small IT company he was starting. This led to my first full-time role in the tech industry, dealing with Celeron and Pentium microprocessors. It’s where I learned to assemble a PC from scratch. Even though I didn’t have an engineering degree or speak English fluently, I excelled at selling computers and was able to hit several personal milestones, including buying my first home at 23 years old, working abroad and setting up Acestar in Kuala Lumpur.
Embrace and learn from failure
I overworked myself in my company’s early days, which resulted in frequent bouts of exhaustion and illness. Eventually, I was hospitalised and, to make things worse, found out afterwards that most of my staff had resigned. This was my lowest moment and I truly lost all motivation to continue my work. But eventually, I realised that if I gave up, it would “become my habit” and I would just quit every time I faced a setback. I decided I would instead see challenges as an opportunity to learn and grow, and to do my best to overcome them. This was a major turning point because it spurred me to develop effective strategies to manage and retain people, run a business and mitigate risk when staff leave.
Another important lesson I learned from this experience is that running a sustainable business is not just about crafting the perfect business plan and filling it up with staff. It’s never a straight line to your goal and you’ll have to change your business strategy repeatedly to reflect global socio-economic changes, such as the pandemic. So I prioritise finding the right people to walk along with me on this business journey, who will stay with its mission no matter what.