How NTUC Enterprise's Pauline Png Keeps Striving for New Heights

Over the last two and a half decades, Pauline Png has covered over 15 countries, 8 business sectors, and various organisational structures. She has led multi-teams with more than 20 different nationalities. Currently, Pauline works in a social enterprise, NTUC Enterprise, which has the mission to DO GOOD and DO WELL, a double bottom line objective which is both challenging and rewarding. Pauline wears many hats in the organisation that are functional in nature. She is the Head of Marketing of food services but is also involved in digital and O2O strategy and transformation, and leads teams in product development, commercial planning, and on-ground execution.

Pauline feels satisfied whenever she leads a motivated and passionate team to launch a new concept such as the #SupportLocal movement and FoodFolks @ Lau Pa Sat. For the latter project, Pauline and her team created a network and working structure to encourage new local brands to use the space as a launchpad for their products, ideas, and services. Working in NTUC Enterprise and FairPrice Group, Pauline was also part of the team that pushed to add food services onto the FairPrice app for people to shop in a new, convenient, and meaningful way. Other projects she has worked on include the Kopitiam HawkerBoss Program that aims to give local hawkerpreneurs a leg up by helping them expand with monetary, asset, and business guidance.

On the move

Pauline started her career in the Fortune 500 multinational corporation, Procter & Gamble (P&G), in beauty care and stayed for over 13 years in brand management and marketing across regional and global geographies. Later, moving from a multinational corporation to a start-up tech working on innovative solutions, she gradually progressed towards where her interests were and dared herself to step outside her comfort zone.

“I see the changes I have made in my career as part of an ongoing journey to seek out chances to drive innovative solutions and also finding the sweet spot of success and significance,” Pauline explains. What sparked her move towards a pure digital business in DirectAsia Insurance and later to Honestbee online delivery were the trends and her confidence in her ability to make a difference using her fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) experience to help companies scale up with adapted processes and strong marketing and branding.

After working for more than two decades, Pauline says that it is easy for people to go into an autopilot routine and even get bored when they become too comfortable in their work. Determined not to go down that road, she keeps self-learning and stays curious about new businesses and trends. She is also actively involved in designing her own roles.

Start small, dream big

“Don't be afraid to share with your boss what you would like to do and be open to ideas you may not have thought of,” Pauline encourages.

About a decade ago, Pauline came to the realisation that everyone should have a hand in designing their own roles and keep an open mind about projects through a personal experience. When she was less than 5 years into her career in P&G, the company tasked her with leading a small brand called SK-II under the MaxFactor brand, which was only in Japan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia then. As it was not a large global brand, she was initially reluctant to accept the task at first. However, she eventually chose to take on the challenge to grow it into the next billion-dollar brand, which was no mean feat in the highly competitive luxury beauty brand industry.

At that time, Pauline says that P&G did not have the "current best approach or playbook" of marketing then in a sea of beauty players like Shiseido, L’Oréal, and Estée Lauder Group. Looking back, the opportunity to be in the pioneer team to "write the playbook" and act as an entrepreneurial business within a large MNC was priceless. Leading the charge fearlessly, Pauline led the teams to open new markets in ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand, and go online in the US and Spain. SK-II eventually became the most prestigious skincare brand in the industry and Pauline wrote the "10 commandments" of how to market the brand.

This experience unexpectedly gave Pauline a taste of working on new ideas, concepts, and business models that sparked her initial interest in new ventures and start-ups.

The next step

Pauline eventually left to start her own sports and wellness brand representation and distributorship for innovative brands which were not yet in Southeast Asia such as Vibram FiveFingers, the Healthy Back Bag, and so on. It was then that she started attending founder and start-up conferences and joining co-working communities. She eventually signed up for a social enterprise bootcamp organised by Insead-DBS-Impact Hub to pitch her team's professional gig economy idea which won second place.

She says that every move comes with its risks, and every time she moved, she met a steep learning curve that stretched her knowledge and pushed her to learn new skills. She learnt how to work with tech developers, communicate business requirements, and started to better understand herself. She also had to learn the lingo that was used in start-ups and in the tech world, new connections, ways of coaching differently motivated teams, as well as build her credibility as a marketer and a business leader. She enjoyed challenging herself to continually grow despite being already a respected leader in her field.

The fundamentals going from place to place, Pauline says, is the focus on delighting customers, sound profit and loss (P&L) business models, and finding the right people who are capable and good hearted. “Additionally,” she adds, “when you are 10 to 15 years older than the average age of a tech start-up, you have to stay current, youthful in thinking, and keep up your energy levels!”

Gender equality in the workplace

Pauline says that if you are in a MNC with strong, inclusive, and diverse culture and structures, gender equality should be the norm. However, as you go higher up, it is best to have your own community and allies, male or female.

She feels that the HR and talent organisation within companies should not only do regular market benchmarking across all levels externally but also internally as well. She would encourage women not to be afraid to take on challenging roles, not to doubt themselves, and to ask for compensation that reflects their contribution, no matter which industry.

“Stay curious and willing to put in the hard work to keep learning and adapting, have integrity, listen to others, and not be rigid in your own ways—these will serve you well. Be self-aware of what you like to do and WHY you are doing it,” Pauline advises.

Everyone’s career path is different, and it is a matter of what you make of it. To Pauline, every step is a new challenge and learning opportunity. Even after working for two decades, she continues to push herself to new limits and strives to do better.

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