MY STORY IS …

I thought I was prepared. I had a law degree, an MBA and more than 10 years of experience in investment banking and private equity, so I thought I was ready to start my own company. 

However, what I learned was that no amount of preparation can adequately prepare you when you take the plunge. 

Over the past three years, I built my company – BioMark – from scratch. BioMark is a health-tech company with the vision of promoting preventative health using technology. BioMark has touched hundreds of thousands of patient lives and made medical reports much easier for doctors and patients to understand and take action. I have recently sold BioMark to a much bigger regional company and I am immensely proud of this achievement.  

While building the company, I also had two kids. And no amount of preparation is sufficient to prepare you for becoming a mother either. To this date, it is difficult to say which was harder – starting a company or becoming a mother.  Embarking on both undertakings at the same time was a bit crazy in hindsight.

The thing that got me through the long days and sleepless nights was the strong network of people around me. My husband and family took on the burden of childcare while I travelled every week. My amazing team rallied around me when the going got tough. My investors and clients believed in my ability to execute and deliver results. It was due to this amazing network of people that made BioMark’s success possible. 

One of the important things I learned along the way was the importance of believing in yourself. When you try and do something which has never been done before, you will get a lot of resistance. You must hold on to your vision and persevere. The inner voice of self-doubt will always be there too. You must learn to tune it out and never give in to it.  

November 13 is World Kindness Day. We are dedicating the month of November to kindness. We asked Kun about what kindness meant to her and this is what she shared —

Kindness, to me, is about making connections. It’s about taking actions that will make the other person feel like they matter, that somebody understands them and cares about them. 

photography Zahwah Bagharib