chemistry

Olivia Lum

Olivia Lum is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Olivia Lum rather than just read about it. In short: Olivia Lum Ooi Lin is a Singaporean businesswoman. She is the founder, group chief executive officer, and former president of the Singapore-based Hyflux Group.

Key takeaways

Olivia Lum belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Olivia Lum to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Olivia Lum from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Olivia Lum Ooi Lin is a Singaporean businesswoman. She is the founder, group chief executive officer, and former president of the Singapore-based Hyflux Group.

Early life Lum was adopted at birth, and never knew her biological parents; she was brought up by a woman she called her "grandmother". When Lum was only three, her grandmother gambled away her savings; they lost the house in which they were living, and moved to a shack without running water. She came to Singapore at the age of 15 and enrolled at the Tiong Bahru Secondary School, where she supported herself through tutoring and sales jobs. She went on to study at Hwa Chong Junior College and graduated in 1986 with an Honours degree in chemistry from the Faculty of Science of the National University of Singapore.

Career Lum started corporate life as a chemist with Glaxo Pharmaceutical. After working for three years at Glaxo, she left in 1989 at the age of 28 to start up Hydrochem, the precursor to Hyflux, with just SG$20,000 of capital, which she raised by selling her condominium and car. She hired three employees at the start; Lum herself rode around on a motorcycle selling her company's water filters and treatment chemicals. By January 2001, Hyflux had become the first water treatment company to be listed on SESDAQ, and was upgraded to the Singapore Exchange's Mainboard in April 2003. In 2002, Lim won the Her World Woman award of the Year for her contributions to Singaporean water. She was also a Nominated Member of Parliament for a single term from 2002 to 2004. By 2005, she had a net worth of over US$240 million, which earned her a place as the only woman on Forbes' "Southeast Asia Rich List". Lum holds several positions in public service. She is a board member of SPRING Singapore, the National University Singapore Council, and the Singapore Exchange, as well as the president of the Singapore Water Association. She is also a member of the UNESCAP Business Advisory Council and the Singapore Green Plan 2012 coordinating committee. Lum was a Nominated Member of Parliament in the Parliament of Singapore from 2 July 2002 to 1 January 2005. In 2003, she was awarded the International Management Action Award, followed by the Global Female Invent and Innovate Award the following year. On 3 October 2008, Lum resigned her position as independent non-executive director of the Singapore Exchange and relinquished her position on the audit, regulatory conflicts and remuneration committees of the Exchange, according to the Exchange's filing. She stated this was due to her heavy work commitments in line with Hyflux's rapid expansion, and that her resignation would enable her to focus more time and resources on Hyflux's growth. In 2011, Lum was named Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year and was the first woman to win the award. In 2013, Lum was appointed to the board at International Enterprise Singapore. In 2014 Lum was appointed the board of Singapore Technologies Engineering. She was also inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame In 2016, Lum became a laureate of the Asian Scientist 100 by the Asian Scientist. In 2018, Lum resigned from the board of ST Engineering (previously known as Singapore Technologies Engineering) citing business commitments as her reason for resignation. In May 2018, Hyflux applied to the Singapore High Court for a 30-day protection against creditor claims to allow the company time to reorganize its liabilities. Following this voluntary filing, Lum announced a series of three townhall meetings with the company's 50,000 plus retail shareholders. In July, Lum announced that efforts would be made to “ensure that the company stays viable.” Lum also noted that Hyflux had total debt of $1.17 billion. In December 2022, it was reported that Hyflux was claiming damages exceeding S$690.6 million from Lum in a civil lawsuit alleging negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.

Criminal Charges On 17 November 2022, Lum, ex-CFO Cho Wee Peng and four other former board members were charged with violations of Singapore's Securities and Futures Act. On 5 May 2023, Singapore's State Court added three additional charges against Lum, citing violations of the Companies Act related to an allegation that she failed to exercise diligence in the discharge of her duties as a director. Lum faces a potential jail term of up to two years, a maximum fine of S$150,000, or both.

References

External links

Life Story and Image Gallery of Olivia Lum

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Olivia Lum

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Olivia Lum claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Olivia Lum before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Olivia Lum ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Olivia Lum

In research: Olivia Lum appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Olivia Lum in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Olivia Lum is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1961 births, 21st-century Malaysian businesspeople, 21st-century Malaysian businesswomen, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Olivia Lum outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Olivia Lum in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Olivia Lum means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Olivia Lum out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Olivia Lum in simple terms?

Olivia Lum Ooi Lin is a Singaporean businesswoman. She is the founder, group chief executive officer, and former president of the Singapore-based Hyflux Group.

Why does Olivia Lum matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Olivia Lum?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Olivia Lum.