27-year-old Cordellia Ann Tan Mei Yin, who graduated from the National University of Singapore, quit her full-time job with a venture capital firm to take over her father’s car business after learning that he was about $40,000 in debt back in 2021.
Her father’s business Pitstop Tyres, which does car maintenance and repairs, was severely affected negatively by the pandemic after running for more than 10 years.
She was working with a venture capital firm at the time and earning a stable income when she chanced upon a letter in the middle of 2021 that was addressed to her father, spelling out the dire situation of the company.
She then came to the realisation that her father was in huge debt and couldn’t repay it, and that their home appliances and car could be repossessed, and she was shocked.
Tapping into her expertise of helping businesses develop, Tan quit her full time job to help her father’s business despite it being an industry traditionally dominated by men.
After joining her father’s company, she realised that her father’s bank account was negative and the company was also about $40,000 in debt.
The situation was so bad that the company’s internet and electricity bills were cut, and she had to plead with the suppliers to wait until she could sell more tyres before paying them back the money that was owed.
Things have since improved significantly, with the business sales picking up and Tan now does mainly supervising and carrying out business deals for the company.
Her father told Shin Min Daily News that he hopes to pass on the value of hard work to his daughter as well as much of what he’s learned from the industry.
He is also the only tyre technician in Singapore to have been certified by TUV, a german company that provides technical services across the world.
Despite his daughter now running the business, he still pops by regularly to watch and observe, and said that he is happy that his daughter has picked up the skills quickly.
@pitstop.tyres day in the life of a ✨ tyre gowrl ✨ #tiktoksg🇸🇬 #dailyvlog #car ♬ Sunroof – Nicky Youre & dazy