Perfect timing for new start

Businesswoman who created luxury watch empire from Singapore boutique says life is just beginning at age 69

Spotlights shine down as the waltz begins. In a long black chiffon gown that flutters like butterfly wings, she gracefully glides across the ritzy ballroom.

"It's my biggest hobby now," says Jannie Chan as she shows a video on her smartphone of a performance in Tokyo. It was only four years ago that she learned the basics of ballroom dancing. Today, Chan can be found competing in Las Vegas championships.

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"At this time of my life, I have to do something for myself that I enjoy," she tells China Daily Asia Weekly. "The best part is; I'm doing it with my daughter Sabrina."

But Chan is not, in fact, a professional dancer. The sexagenarian entrepreneur is best known as the co-founder of The Hour Glass, a boutique on Singapore's Orchard Road that developed into a luxury watch empire in the region.

Starting a business was not Chan's first choice of career, however. She acquired a master's degree in pharmacology in Australia, and teaching in a medical school was her first job.

Born in the tin-mining town of Ipoh in Malaysia, Chan grew up in an upper-middle-class family that she described as "very entrepreneurial". Her father was a politician and entrepreneur who owned businesses in lottery, life insurance and a medical hall.

She was immersed in a business culture from a young age. At 10, Chan accompanied her father on sales trips to Singapore to promote the family's traditional medicated oil. On other occasions, she was brought to meet her father's business clients and attend political rallies in Penang.

These experiences were eye-openers for Chan. "In that sense, I was being ingrained an entrepreneur without realizing it," she explains. "Entrepreneurship is basically common sense. It's about buying and selling. It's about relationships."

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