How did your education lead to a career in business?

It was back in 1996 when I did my PhD at Curtin on the adoption of e-commerce for business. This information and knowledge led to working in other countries and undertaking research projects overseas. I did a study tour in California and Silicon Valley which was fascinating and I met a lot of very smart academics and practitioners who shared their ideas, and I decided I wanted to start my own business.

Was a university education always an attainable pathway for you?

When I was little I was a bit of nerd. I always enjoyed learning and wanted to go overseas to pursue my studies, but it wasn’t easy because back in the 70s and 80s Singapore was still a developing country. Our family did not have many financial resources and even for those families that did, the opportunity of overseas education was often given to the boys rather than the girls. We just accepted it as it was then.

I was fortunate to have a great father. He always encouraged me strive for the best. But I knew deep down at the time that the options for my life were very, very limited if I stayed in Singapore.

Growing up in Singapore, I had to work really hard to get scholarships at every stage of schooling to continue my primary and secondary studies. Later on, I had to work for two years to raise the funds to come to Australia and pursue a higher education. But right from the very beginning I knew that was what I wanted. I was very fortunate too, because I had girl friends from high school whose families could only afford to send one child to university, and they would send the brothers instead. These stories have always stayed with me and I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to come to this country and be afforded an education.

Why does education stand out as being key to your success?

At every step of my life, whether I was in primary school, high school, university or doing my postgrad studies, education has been essential to my growth. The key players in my life were in these educational roles: the mentors and the professors. They played such a huge part in motivating me to pursue what I wanted to do. I wasn’t the brightest kid in school or even in the class, but they were always patient in giving me their time and sharing their ideas and knowledge with me, which really helped me to become a passionate student.

Once you began your studies at Curtin, did you face any obstacles as a woman and a person of colour?

I was doing my PhD in Information Systems and this was a very male-dominated field at the time. It was hard to get anyone to take me seriously. People used to think I was an assistant, not a well-published researcher or a dedicated lecturer, so that was tough. Most of the time, I would have to really assert myself to make sure people would treat me based on my intellect and values. Of course, there was also an added challenge of being a woman of colour as well.

I’m glad there were people who made such a positive difference to your time at university. How has education empowered you since graduating?

I learnt how to be a better and stronger person. I learnt how to access the talent within me that I didn’t know existed. I learnt how to articulate my values a lot more effectively and communicate my vision. I learnt how to be more resilient emotionally, mentally and physically.

My proudest achievement was being the first Asian woman elected President of the United Nations Association in WA. I think the fact that people elected me to that position shows that there are enough good people in our community who can recognise talent and want leadership that represents and promotes diversity.

I don’t take anything for granted. As a leader, you must keep earning your stripes and proving yourself to the people who look up to you and rely on your leadership.

Image: Sandy giving an open address at the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations Day in Perth, Australia. Photo supplied by Sandy Chong.

Now you are in a position of leadership, how do you apply these learnings to your work in sustainability?

I do my best to help the WA state and local governments promote the values of the SDGs. I’m most proud of the fact that we have also now gone beyond the activism space and into the public and private sectors successfully in the last three years. Currently, we are engaging with organisations like EY, BHP, Synergy, superannuation companies and even sporting organisations like the West Coast Eagles and Special Olympics Australia, to raise awareness of the UN SDG goals. We say to them, “look, we need to make a better impact in the world and we need to start defining what leadership should look like in the business sector.”

Most of the textbooks we read today are written by American or European authors in the early 90s and 2000s. They did a fantastic job at teaching us how to transform and globalise; the only issue is, they didn’t consider climate change and social equality. This is perpetuated even more today by the digital divide. In other words, if you have access to Wi-Fi, information and technology, you’re going to be far more ahead than those who don’t.

Australia is at this interesting crossroad right now. We can already see how some countries are leading in terms of SDG ranking when it comes to closing the gap in equality, addressing climate change or providing opportunities for less fortunate communities. We just need to continue doing more so we that can meet the SDG targets by 2030.

Things are changing. It’s a bit slow and of course we’re all set back by this COVID crisis, but therein lies an opportunity too. We are a lot more sensitive now about the environment, mental health and the disparity between the wealthy and less privileged. As leaders, it is incumbent on us to actually do something to close these gaps.

Image: Sandy says she is proud to now be engaging with more companies in the private and public sectors on the UN SDGs. Photo supplied by Sandy Chong.

You’re clearly very passionate about social equality, particularly gender equality. How do you try to make an impact in this space?

In Singapore I give my time to the female start-up incubator space and encourage other female entrepreneurs to better articulate their offerings, prepare themselves for international expansion, and grow their businesses.

What advice would you give to women who don’t feel they have leadership potential or deserve an education?

Sometimes I too have these doubts, but if you take a moment to reflect and ask yourself those nagging questions, then I’m pretty sure you can do it. We will always be questioning ourselves on how we can do better, what we can do more, how we can be more knowledgeable. But what is most important as a leader is having good values. If you have the right values, you will have the courage to take that leap and jump into the unknown.