I’m Windi Muziasari, the CEO and Founder at Resistomap. I’m originally from Indonesia but think of myself more as a global citizen. I have a bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology, a master’s in Environmental Science from Gwangju, South Korea. Looking to complete my academic career I moved to Helsinki in 2010 for my PhD at Marko Virta Group, Department of Microbiology in University of Helsinki.
Resistomap is a biotechnology company that offers a complete laboratory and analysis service to monitor antibiotic resistance genes in the environment using the combination of molecular genetics and data science. My passion is to fight antibiotic resistance issues, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
The good thing is that you can always learn and often entrepreneurship is just that – learning on the fly.
After more than ten years working on the environmental dimension of antibiotic resistance, I realized that the global monitoring of antibiotic resistance in the environment such as sewage, wastewater, river, lake, seawater, a reservoir of drinking water, soil, manure and stool samples is important. The first step to preventing the spread of antibiotic resistance is to identify, characterize and monitor hotspots of antibiotic resistance. Our big vision with Resistomap is to build the global monitoring of antibiotic resistance in the environment
This strong why is why I moved from academia to the entrepreneur life.
The hardships of entrepreneurship have been different in varying stages of my entrepreneurial life. In the early stages, the hardship was to pitch the business idea itself. I used to work only within the academic world, where we communicate using the same terminologies and the objectives of the research were rarely questioned. That’s why it was harder to convince people in the startup network about the problems that I wanted to solve compared to academia or even my PhD defence!
The other hard thing was gathering confidence to be a CEO. I didn’t know anything about building and leading a company, I didn’t even know what is the meaning of stakeholder, capital and other finance terminologies. It was hard to accept that you didn’t know anything and we must learn new things from the scratch. The good thing is that you can always learn and often entrepreneurship is just that – learning on the fly.
There’s nothing better than a supportive team, in good times and in bad times.
Honestly, I can’t picture doing anything else than being an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs have the freedom to carry the work that they really want to do. I feel the most fulfilled with my work when I can help others and receive that lovely warm thank you message from my clients. I also feel like I’m contributing directly to society and building a better future. The money is not bad either.
I have three tips for entrepreneurs-to-be. Firstly, map your business idea using a business model canvas (BMC). Work and iterate the idea, get feedback and continue work to get the idea validated. Secondly, build your motivation. The entrepreneurial journey is like a roller coaster so having strong motivation will help you to hang in there even when you face the hardship again, again and again. Thirdly, find a co-founder and a team that share your values. There’s nothing better than a supportive team, in good times and in bad times.
Entrepreneurs connect the solutions to solve the “present” and potential future problems.
Entrepreneurs connect the solutions to solve the “present” and potential future problems. The entrepreneur’s rhythm of work is also faster and flexible compared to that of government and academia. Therefore, with better communication with the government, academia, and the community, entrepreneurs can build a more sustainable tomorrow. I would love to see more of the collaboration in the future.
Find more about Resistomap here: resistomap.com.
