Leadership Perspectives
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Dr Zhou Lihan is bolstering the future of preventive healthcare
On the eve of Mirxes’s listing application with The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, CBD sat down with the biotech’s far-sighted CEO and co-founder Dr Zhou Lihan to find out how cognitive diversity lends to his firm’s advancements in making the early detection of diseases accessible on a global scale.
If you had to reduce to a pithy one-liner Dr Zhou Lihan’s ambitions, it would be the age-old aphorism that prevention is better than cure. It is also the principal reason he co-founded in 2014 Mirxes, a Singapore-headquartered RNA technology company that is making diagnostic solutions for the early detection of diseases accessible on a global scale.
“Three family members have had cancer,” says Dr Zhou who, as CEO, oversees the company’s strategy and operations in Singapore, China, the US and Japan. “Two passed away because their cancer was diagnosed late. The third’s cancer was diagnosed early, and twenty years later, she’s still perfectly fine. So, personally, I know that early detection of cancer is the key to the cure. At Mirxes, we’ve been developing various PCR-based technologies to detect RNA signals coming from cancer cells, which allows us to detect cancer at the asymptomatic stage before the key symptoms occurs.”
In a way, this concern for prevention is the foundation of Dr Zhou’s approach to board diversity: start early and reap the dividends in the future. He has, for instance, recently appointed Mirxes’s first female board member. At the core of Dr Zhou’s management and business philosophy is also the belief that a company’s growth and success is a collective effort. People, he insists, are Mirxes’s ultimate asset which is why “from day one, we have been people-centric.”
“It’s so important to build a team that shares a common purpose with the company. We believe in being transparent, so we have open communication. This helps in our daily work as we are a diverse group with different nationalities and cultures. Diversity and adaptability are important traits as we venture out of the Singapore market and continue to grow,” says Dr Zhou, who also sits on the board of Enterprise Singapore.
He also continues to push for affordable and accessible healthcare through scale because, in his words, it makes sense business-wise and impact-wise. And when hunting for new hires and business partners, he looks for complementary strengths.
The dividends are already evident, not least the fact that the biotech recently filed for a Hong Kong IPO after raising an impressive US$50m in their Series D funding round.
After nine years, what keeps you excited, and wakes you up in the morning?
Honestly? The people in the company. When we started Mirxes, what drove us was the technology, the clinical problems we were solving, and the funding. Today, my perspective is that people are the only important factor in the startup journey. If you have the right people, you will be able to invent the right technology, the right product, and implement that.
How does that translate into the way you manage your time?
When we started, I spent 80% of my time on developing the science, and 20% on business development and commercial opportunities. Now, my time is split three ways – a third on developing science, and discussing science with our stakeholders; a third on engaging investors and raising money; and a third on finding people and developing talents. If COVID taught us anything, it was that people, purpose and perseverance are the key drivers of our growth and success to date. If we have the right people sharing the same purpose, and if we are able to persevere through the challenging times, we will succeed.
On that point, Mirxes has identified both cultural diversity, and operating with a common purpose as important traits for the company's growth and development. Tell us more.
First of all, healthcare or life science should be a global endeavour. It should not have boundaries. So from day one, despite being a company headquartered in Singapore with a small home market, we aspired to the bigger markets of the US, China, and Southeast Asia. Which means that cultural diversity, and the appreciation of the local context is important when developing the science or products. So, we’ve always endeavoured to bring in a high level of diversity in ethnicity, gender, and cultural backgrounds. At one point, nearly 70% of our staff were female. To the point we literally had to tell HR let’s hire a few more guys.
What was one instance when this common purpose and cultural diversity really came into play?
During COVID-19, we set up our first scholarship with Yayasan MENDAKI (Council for the Development of Singapore Malay/Muslim Community) to provide not only financial aid, but internship opportunities and mentoring, to aspiring scientists from that community in the biomedical area. We were the first company in Singapore to do that in our sector – to highlight the fact that science goes beyond race and religion, and that Southeast Asia can have world-leading scientists.
What are some characteristics that you look for when putting together your leadership team as well as a board?
I look at the ability to integrate – what’s the chemistry between the new leadership hires and the existing team? Can they work well together? Can they add value and diversity? Now, when I look at the board, diversity becomes even more important as we are a growth company heading towards regional internationalisation. So, I want people from a diverse background, in terms of culture and expertise that will hopefully add greater vibrancy to the discussion and debate.
Has the global crisis, coupled with the fast-changing business environment, intensified the spotlight on diversity at the leadership level?
Absolutely. As a Singapore-headquartered company with global ambition, the board no longer looks at Mirxes as just an ASEAN business environment. We need the cultural sensitivity, or the political sensitivity to navigate this uncertain world. So diversity at the board level is even more crucial.
Diversity also includes age and every generation has a part to play. How does this metric play out in Mirxes?
I see this as a business continuity question. Ours is a young company where the average age is 30. We are starting to see obvious cultural differences between those who are around 35 and the 20-something’s that have just joined the company. Whilst we see the passion, we also see a different take on the world in that working hard and working long hours alone is no longer the most critical point. Rather, their question is, ‘How do we achieve impact? How do we achieve diversity and equality?’ I think they are on the right track. Which means the challenge for me and my leadership team is how do we integrate this divergent cultural DNA of the older generation and the younger generation?
In that context, what can the older generation learn from the younger generation?
Just be more culturally sensitive. It’s really important for the older generation, including myself, to just have an open mind, to talk to them, understand what their aspirations are, and how best to integrate those aspirations into the company’s DNA and grow.
Board Diversity Vital for Long-term Success