‘Entrepreneurs are strange people’

TPM MSc student Mei Ling Tan is one of six Dutch students participating in the 2010 Kauffman Global Scholars Program in the United States. Recently she received her Kaufmann Travel Grant from the Dutch Minister of Education, Ronald Plasterk.

Tan (23) will start her TU Delft MSc thesis in Systems Engineering Policy Analysis and Management, specialization energy, in 2010.
Born and raised in Oss (Noord Brabant), Tan comes from a medical family. Her father is a family doctor, her mother a youth psychiatrist. As her name implies, her mother is Dutch but her father’s family is of Chinese descent, from Indonesia, from where her grandmother and her six sons, including Tan’s father, emigrated to the Netherlands.

On January 11, 2010, Tan will embark on her work and study tour of the US, first following a month of lectures at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, before spending the next months visiting entrepreneurial centres in Boston (at MIT, Harvard) and Silicon Valley (Stanford University, Google, Apple). She will then complete a two-month internship at Ernst & Young Venture Capitalists Advisory Group, in Boston.
Of her professional goals, Tan ultimately aims become a sustainable energy entrepreneur: “I want to apply my academic insights by starting a new venture in sustainable energy, using systems engineering skills in a multi-actor context.”

How did you get admitted to the Kauffman program?
“Everything started at Yes!Delft, where I first participated in the ‘Starting New Ventures’ course. This course is taught by Professor Ken Morse, the managing director of MIT’s Entrepreneurship Centre, and coordinated by Dr Dap Hartmann. The next year I was appointed as student assistant for that course. Last summer Dr Hartmann recommended me as a student from HOPE – representing the Delft, Leiden and Rotterdam Centres of Entrepreneurship – to SenterNovem [an agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs – ed.] for the Kauffman program.”

So quite a long journey?
“If you see it from now, yes, it’s a long journey. But when I first went there for the course, I just thought it was very inspirational. I didn’t expect that I’d end up in this program. I just always do what I like at the moment. And I believe that doing what we’re passionate about will lead us to good opportunities in the end.”

Which part of the Kauffman program excites you most?
“Of course the three-month internship at Ernst & Young Venture Capital Advisory Group in Boston will be very exciting, as I will experience real-life challenges, which is quite new to me. But on the other hand, to meet with all the stakeholders, like American researchers, business founders and policymakers in Kansas City and to learn their insights and experience also sounds very exciting with its diversity. So the integration of learning and working is most valuable.”

Are you concerned that in future you and the other students in the program will be labelled ‘Made in the USA’? Don’t we need more diversity?
“No, I see it the other way around. First, I think it’s very childish to deny America’s accomplishment. Also, in order to have diversity, we need to see the place with diversity first. And America is one of them. As we will go there with people from around the world, this program is more like a platform where we will exchange our perspectives and try to find some equilibrium which fits this world.”

Is entrepreneurship an inborn talent or a learned skill?
“It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is our willingness. Entrepreneurship has so many disciplines. If we already have some qualities from our parents, we should be glad. If not, we just learn them. You can’t expect people to have all those qualities, but you can expect them to grow in all those qualities – to become stronger. This is also my total view of things other than entrepreneurship. Why don’t we learn to become what we are not today? So, just be a bit more ambitious.”

Do you want to be an entrepreneur in future?
“Yes, definitely. I’m not sure when and how it will happen, but something I know for certain is that entrepreneurship always attracts me. After this program, such a desire will only become stronger.”

What characteristics should a person have to become an entrepreneur?
“As far as I see, entrepreneurs are ‘strange’ people who do what they want and aren’t afraid of being different from the mainstream. I like to be upfront. I like to wear a red dress when everybody is wearing black. It’s about not being afraid to stand out and get exposure for the changes you want to make. Another thing is being willing to collaborate with others. You can’t walk alone. A great idea needs more than one great brain to realize it.”

The entrepreneur world is still dominated by males. As a female, are you concerned about this when planning your future career?
“Yes, it’s a concern. After all, it’s all life, right? I think such a concern is very logical. To be an entrepreneur involves risk. There is such a pattern of a family with males working full-time and females caring for children. But I also think females of our generation won’t settle down with this pattern. I admire female entrepreneurs; they’re inspiring and different. There always exist solutions to this dilemma. For example, if you look at Scandinavia, entrepreneurs there are very family-oriented. Once their companies reach a certain stage, they say, ‘Ok, it’s fine. Now I can feed my family and have happy personnel. Enough is enough.’”

Do you already have ideas for your future company?
“Sort of…I’m focusing now on the art of bringing technological innovative ideas to market, instead of on one particular idea. With regards to my TU Deft background, I hope I’ll start a venture in the energy sector, preferably renewable energy. It must be global, good for our planet and future-oriented.”