Based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Datin Norliza Razali’s story is far from the usual. This extraordinary entrepreneur’s journey is filled with tales of leadership, triumph and compassion. With her ardent love for technology and a background in electrical engineering, Datin Norliza chose a path of mixing tech with business as she saw high potential bringing these two fields together for combating the challenges faced by the Oil and Gas industry in promoting automation with advanced technology enablement. Her inquisitive nature made her look at the opportunities in the market and that is when it clicked to her – what better way than meeting these requirements if not by using homegrown talent and solution provider. This strong urge to collaborate with technology made her start a CSR programme with Pusat Penjagaan Anak Yatim An-Najaah; where she built a small computer lab for children who are between 6-17 years of age. Datin Norliza is now a proud founder of Tresdata Sdn Bhd, a firm that focuses on Enterprise Asset Management, Technology Solutions, Big Data & IoT and Management Consulting.
Teamwork makes the dream work
Started in 2016, Tresdata Sdn Bhd is soaring with success. For Norliza, seeing her team grow makes her proud; and she loves to spend a great amount of time monitoring progress and mentoring the members. It brings her immense delight to see the team start from scratch and eventually be able to lead projects or initiatives by their own. To her success is defined as being able to maximize her true potential and help the community in a meaningful way. For her success means witnessing other people succeed too.
Growing up with three generations of great businessmen meant living in a household that was surrounded by inspiration. Her late father’s strength, determination and wisdom motivates her to work equally as hard as him. Her mother and her husband are also two solid pillars in her life who are always there to lend a helping hand and advise her on the work arounds of a business. Other than her family, Datin Norliza also happens to seek inspiration from prominent figures in the business world and keeps herself stimulated by reading and internalizing their success secrets as a part of her source of motivation.
She’s got your back
Datin Norliza understands that no business can be run without its own share of obstacles and tackles them with a belief that she made it to where she is today through hard work and perseverance. Defying social expectations amongst male entrepreneurs is something that she constantly fights with. However, earning people’s trust and respect is something that is also a daily challenge for her. What helps her overcome these hurdles is keeping her confidence intact and emerge as a strong and competent entrepreneur day after day.
Knowing that there are people out there who count on her is one of the many important factors that keep her going. Her passion to not only deliver effective business solutions but also develop talents is what gives her the boost each day. She believes that great talents produce innovative, out-of-the-world solutions while having good work ethics. Therefore, even though these talents won’t be with her forever, she feels proud just by watching them flourish and be doing great wherever they are.
Learn. Unlearn. Relearn. Repeat.
In her years at multinational companies, Datin Norliza gained the knowledge and built credible networks – both locally and internationally. In order to build onto the local capabilities, these are the partners that she collaborated with to create local talents. She emphasized on ensuring that all of her team have the same alignment and are able to work independently and together as a team when needed. To her this has been a great ride so far – riding waves of evolving trends, competitions and technological advancements. The talents that were recruited gave her firm the edge that was required from time to time. For her the best experience has been being able to learn, unlearn and relearn various processes, knowledge and insights while running the business.
Datin Norliza strongly believes in empowerment and that is what she would like to pass on to aspiring entrepreneurs too. She firmly believes that with strong empowerment, budding women entrepreneurs can go far. She wants these women entrepreneurs to celebrate their wins, no matter how good or small; empower one another; and spread the good energy so that more women are inspired to come onboard.
