Season 2, Episode 5: A Cuppa With Karen Cheah

“You have to put your money where your mouth is. If you're passionate about something, you invest not just your money, but also your effort, time, and resources to build your business.”

Our 5th episode of alumni giving podcast series, “A Cuppa With…”, revealed many interesting insights from alumna Karen Cheah (MI, 2019) on how she stepped into her journey to become the Founder & CEO of AlterPacks.

Different chance encounters led Karen to look at the opportunity of tackling the problem of waste management. She now creates a new compostable material made from food loss in manufacturing to replace plastic food containers. AlterPacks was thus born.

From incubation at the SMU Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, to winning awards globally, starting one’s own venture hasn’t been the easiest but it has been most fulfilling to Karen. Tune in to find out the challenges she faced, how these were overcome, and the advice this tour de force alumna has for budding entrepreneurs.