Empowering - Future - Generations

Bold, unconventional and successful. These qualities best describe the three visionary female leaders in the following pages and the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 2021 female novelties that they are sporting. The Peak spends an afternoon with each of them to find out what makes them tick.

- Farhan Shah

MS OH'S PLASTIC WONDER MACHINE

Oh Chu Xian, co-founder of Magorium, reckons that it’s time we stop putting ourselves into boxes and save the planet at the same time.

Oh Chu Xian is prepared for failure. “If we look at the historical statistics of green tech start-ups, the probability of failing is higher than success,” she says. But she took the risk anyway, knowing how much was at stake. The young Oh is the co-founder and CEO of Magorium, a deep tech startup focused on solving the plastic waste problem plaguing the world.

Her solution: a chemical process, developed with researchers, that breaks plastic down until it is no longer a polymer. She calls the end product NEWBitumen. It’s currently in its third generation and is ready to be commercialised. The new material will primarily be used in road construction, but its uses are limitless, she says.

Oh has already poured over $1 million into this start-up and admits that she puts a lot of pressure on herself to succeed. “I knew that the success of this technology was on the line. There is an excellent chance that it will solve this huge problem of plastic pollution that affects our planet in every corner, and save animals affected by it, too,” she says.

Magorium adopted a progressive funding system to limit financial ruin. To receive money, the company had to reach certain milestones, such as completing successful prototypes.

Oh is also guided by the mantra of not having regrets in life. It’s not so much about throwing caution to the wind as it is about thinking what could have been.