Rewriting the Rules at 70: An Unlikely Entrepreneur in the Palm Oil Industry

Set in 2025, the case is about how Puan Sri Dato’ Sandra Lee navigated scepticism and technical hurdles to turn her idea of an oil palm harvesting tool into a product. Lee was in her seventies and a grandmother of 10 grandchildren when she defied the typical perception of an entrepreneur who was young and tech-savvy. She had conceived the idea of an oil palm harvesting product after noticing the toll plantation labour took on the workers’ bodies. Long hours, heavy loads and repetitive motions often caused fatigue and injury from harvesting the heavy fibrous stalks that were attached to trees with height of up to 15m tall.

Palm oil was a lucrative industry valued at US$73.9 billion. The oleochemicals from palm oil represented a further US$35 billion market due to its widespread use in cosmetics and personal care products, pharmaceuticals, detergents and biodegradable plastics. The industry relied heavily on foreign workers with nearly 80% of them coming from Indonesia, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. When COVID-19 struck, the industry came to a standstill as no foreign workers were allowed to cross the border due to the Malaysia’s Movement Control Order.

Through her determination, Lee developed an electric cutter (eCutter) in partnership with Greenworks for harvesting the heavy oil palm fruit bunches. She also developed other innovations including an electric power barrow and an electric wheelbarrow for use in conjunction with the eCutter.

This case study examines how empathy can be a driver for entrepreneurial opportunity recognition, as well as how late-life entrepreneurship can be a strategic advantage. The case also examines how status can both enable and constrain innovation. Students will be able to evaluate the core concepts of entrepreneurship and various business models for a late-life entrepreneur.

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