Melissa Mowbray-D’Arbela – Filligent

Woman Business Owner Melissa Mowbray-D’Arbela, Founder, Filligent

Melissa Mowbray-D’Arbela (MMDA): Being a woman in business – and I’ve been a woman in some very male dominated industries – sure you’re treated differently. So I decided you know embrace that, use it to your advantage.

Card: Melissa Mowbray-D’Arbela – CEO/ Filligent – A biotechnology company in Hong Kong

(MMDA): I was born in England, and raised in England until I was six years old. And then my mother made a very brave decision - she decided to strike out anew in Australia. We were not rich at all. We were technically below the poverty line. Um and growing up in that uh environment was– I learned a lot. I learned a lot about self-sufficiency and the importance of being empowered, and empowering others.

Card: Melissa has worked around the world: an architect, a lawyer, an investment banker, a private equity manager.

(MMDA): Ultimately, I wanted to be able to run a company that was based on ethical and business elements - the way that you treat your employees, the way that you do your corporate governance - the way that you treat your shareholders, or how you treat the environment.

CARD: In 2001 Melissa started Filligent. Two years later, the SARS epidemic broke out in Hong Kong.

(MMDA): One of the things that we learned from that was that, wow, the population have very little to protect themselves in-in the event of-of a epidemic or a pandemic.

Melissa: You guys came back with some very interesting results the other day...

(MMDA): I came to work one morning and I said, “Gee, wouldn’t it be a great idea if we could have an antimicrobial face mask, so one that will actually kill the virus or the bacteria as soon as it touches it, that would be breathable, that would be comfortable. And the beautiful thing about working with a bunch of scientists - talented scientists is that uh you get this pregnant pause literally, and they say “Yeah, I reckon we can do that.”

Melissa: So when are you going to be doing the 15 minute version? Or are you going to be doing it?

(MMDA): We call it the bio mask. It’s designed actually for disaster relief situations. It’s seen active duty now in Haiti, with the earthquake there. In Pakistan with the floods; with the earthquake in Japan and all the way across Asia especially for HIV hospices. As it relates to disaster relief, we either sell it to NGOs or we actually-we do a lot of giving, we do a lot of donations.

Melissa: Do we have any um spores that we can use to test so...?

(MMDA): Our approach to being a biotech company is that anything we create. It has to be relevant to the world; it has to be pragmatic to the world; it has to be affordable, accessible. It has to be also IP protectable, because we’re a business at the end of the day. It has to be able to be sold in America or in China, or in Malawi. For the biomask, we knew that creating at least one level of an antimicrobial shield, we’d be able to make it work for us again, and again, and again so that we could but it into many other different products.

CARD: Some pragmatic business advice

(MMDA): For anyone who wants to start their own company, ask yourself very, very carefully. Do I have the grit, the grace, and the gumption to be able to do this? - Because you are going to need all three in bucket loads. And by grit I mean that you have to have the ability to just keep going. And grace means that– is literally grace under fire. Can you be a better human as a result of all of this? And gumption is, you better be wanting to love to solve problems, because you will be facing them on a daily basis.

Question: Have you ever been scared? Have you ever thought, I can’t do this?

(MMDA): I’ve been scared – I’ve never thought I can’t do it. I think you do have to have a little bit of fear – um it keeps you honest. Um and it keeps you on your toes. And you asked me one more question there - have I ever thought at I can not do this? And the answer is no. It’s got to get done so [laughs] I’m sort of like the terminator, you know in that movie that just keeps getting up and going, and going. And yes he does get killed in the end but I’m not, I’m not focusing on that.

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