Val Yap builds PolicyPal by making insurance management easy and fun

FEW 34-year-olds are equipped to write a memoir, but Val Yap isn't your typical corporate ladder-scaling tricenarian. In 2019, the CEO and founder of the insurtech firm PolicyPal Group published the provocatively titled Balls Inc that detailed her experiences as a female tech entrepreneur and how she smashed prevailing attitudes towards women in Asia's tech industry.

She says: "There are many ballsy male entrepreneurs out there, but I couldn't find any featuring an Asian context or female entrepreneurs."

This isn't surprising. According to the Harvard Business Review, women-led start-ups received just 2.3 per cent of venture capital funding last year - a drop from 2.8 per cent in 2019. They also receive heavier pushback from investors. This either limits their prospects - or conversely, as in Ms Yap's case - builds resilience and adaptability.