From Athlete to Entrepreneur: The Fascinating Journey of Kimberly Wan
Malaysian tech entrepreneur Kimberly Wan is a former national ice hockey player who went on to cofound a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business in 2016. Under her unfaltering leadership, Wan has established Otomate Me as a leader in the SaaS space, equipment SMEs, and other organizations with the digital tools required to automate customer communications and recurring manual tasks for optimal operational efficiency.
By the age of just 6-year-old, Kimberly Wan was already a talented figure skater, competing professionally between the ages of 6 and 16. At the age of 12, Wan made it into the Malaysian Book of Records for being the youngest female figure skater to achieve the country’s highest skating level.
A natural progression
Wan describes her transition from figure skating to ice hockey as a natural progression. After her figure skating coaching sessions, she recalls watching ice hockey players train. Having reached a high standard in figure skating, she was persuaded to try ice hockey by friends who were playing in a league at the time. While Wan’s parents were supportive of her figure skating ambitions, she was not sure how they would react to her taking up ice hockey. Kimberly Wan used her own savings to buy her first pair of hockey skates and started from there.
Even when she embarked on her entrepreneurial journey at the age of 22, Kimberly Wan still wanted the best of both worlds. She was reluctant to give up on her sports goals, still harboring dreams of competing at an international level with Malaysia’s national ice hockey squad. Today, the 27-year-old CEO and cofounder of Otomate Me still trains at least once a week and still harbors high hopes of making it to the World Championships in the next five years.
An ecommerce solution with a twist
Kimberly Wan’s accomplishments as CEO of Otomate Me are just as impressive as her sporting achievements. As a college student, Wan majored in international studies and minored in communications. Following a stint working for an online wellness startup, she joined forces with a university friend to cofound the company, developing an innovative ecommerce solution with a twist.
Otomate Me has evolved considerably from its original business concept, having started life as a subscription service providing senior care, personal care, and baby products, enabling customers to subscribe and receive a regular supply of products they normally buy. The company developed an impressive software program, using its own technology to build a unique ecommerce platform. Otomate Me leveraged data and insights gathered from the purchasing behaviors of its own customers to develop even more robust technology capable of meeting the evolving needs of consumers and businesses alike.
An online subscription platform
Today, Otomate Me operates an online subscription platform that integrates behavioral science and technology to automate the fast-moving needs of businesses of all sizes. Otomate Me’s platform uses algorithms and unique use patterns to predict and schedule upcoming orders, enabling vendors to fulfil them promptly, and enabling clients to auto-replenish stock to save time and hassle. Founded in 2016 by Kimberly Wan and Azlan Malik, a fellow alumnus of Monash University, Malaysia, the company specializes in automation and workflow software, developing and deploying value-nurturing automation software for businesses and brands.
Kimberly Wan’s role as CEO of Otomate Me is multi-faceted, involving a variety of different aspects of the business, from brainstorming with existing clients and exploring ways to add value to their business to marketing direction and execution.
Leveraging the latest technological solutions
Otomate Me’s automation technology helps businesses to learn more, contribute more, do more, and gain recognition for their work, according to Kimberly Wan. Launched to help businesses overcome the problem of manual processes in the B2B space, Otomate Me enables organizations to leverage the latest technological solutions to reduce margin error, increase productivity, and build lasting relationships with customers.
Otomate Me’s tools have proven to help boost meaningful engagements between brands and customers. The company currently serves businesses based in three markets, namely Malaysia, Singapore, and Norway.
Structured upbringing
Kimberly Wan says that the very structured upbringing and keen sense of responsibility that was instilled in her from a young age has inspired her to go further in terms of training and her own self-imposed expectations. After joining the ice hockey community, she threw herself into many aspects of the sport by taking on multiple roles to better understand how it worked. Recently accredited as an International Ice Hockey Federation referee, Wan highlights the importance of team spirit and good team dynamics in the boardroom, too, as well as tenacity, resilience, and the ability to take feedback and improve.
Despite her huge success with Otomate Me, Kimberly Wan has no intention of leaving sports, citing it as an integral part of her life, providing extensive networking opportunities and helping her to grow as a person. She advises young women with aspirations of either athletic or entrepreneurial success to be brave and not be deterred by failures, learning instead to accept them as a valuable teacher.
