Sophea Heng: How the daughter of Cambodian refugees forged her own path in life

Talent agency co-founder Sophea Heng learned about hard work from her parents from a young age. While owning her own business was never in her plans, her life took a different turn.

Sophea Heng is acutely aware that she’s built her own company despite deciding from an early age that she would much prefer the relative comfort of working in a 9-5 role for someone else.

But motherhood gave her a chance to pause and reflect on how she would manage the balance and what makes her most happy that she decided to rethink her decision. “I thought I would want to be at home in a nurturing role, but I really missed work and wanted to do it on my own terms. I wanted to build something meaningful that filled the gaps I could see in the recruitment industry,” Heng says.

“Leaving behind the security that comes with working for someone else to pursue our own company felt like a much easier decision once I started our family. Becoming a mother gives you courage and a fearlessness that really drove me to start the business. It has allowed me to build something that’s creative and innovative.”

She has focused her energies on building talent agency Heng & Hurst, which builds teams of skilled talent that work with innovative medicine or technology for the healthcare sector. “Our partners develop innovate drugs or technology that makes a significant contribution to the quality of lives of Australians and New Zealanders and we built teams who support clinicians in understanding the patient and how to best apply these products. “It’s an incredibly rewarding role, because it’s purpose-led,” she explains.

It’s valuable work. Amid a national talent shortage and a desperate need for greater access to health and medical services, Heng & Hurst has become a critical linchpin in the recruitment world. With more than two decades of knowledge and experience, the firm specialises in finding quality candidates through a thorough and robust recruitment process, reducing hiring risk.

Heng forged the company with recruitment industry colleague Nicola Hurst, who has played a significant role in shaping the medical recruitment sector was waiting in the wings. The co-director of Heng & Hurst also saw an opportunity to grow a company that would create a lasting legacy on both the recruitment and medical sectors.

Since launching nine years ago, Heng & Hurst has grown to be the leading provider to the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries. Unshackling from the startup phase and moving into fully fledged company on the back of significant growth has been a significant milestone, Heng says.

Plastic bags

The child of Khmer Rouge Regime refugees, Heng was born in a refugee camp in Thailand to hardworking parents who built their own plastic bag manufacturing company from the ground up. From an early age, Heng learnt the value of hard work, expected to help in the family business whenever she was not at school. “My parents are my heroes when it comes to building a business and building a life. They came to Australia with no English, no support and no skill.”

In primary school, she was charged with the task of packing bags, taping boxes closed and wrapping pallets in the afternoons. By 15 years of age, she was handling bookkeeping tasks and chasing invoices from 18 years of age. When she could drive, she was out on the road working as a sales representative for the company.

Refugee children also often stepping in to the family interpreter role in the home, which also means very big responsibilities from a very young age. “You learn a lot in a family business. If it wasn’t for this experience, I wouldn’t be where I am now. But being raised by business owners made me adamant that I never wanted to run a company.”

Keen to give their daughter a good education, her parents put her through private schooling and sent her to university to secure a degree in science. She worked in the medical technology space after university before falling into the talent recruitment space for the medical sector. The role opened her eyes to the processes and systems that worked. And more importantly, what didn’t.

Untapped potential

As Heng & Hurst has grown, being a good corporate citizen has also been important to her. Genuine, meaningful impact has been critical, she says.

Aside from making a difference in the healthcare and jobs sector, Heng is adamant that she wants to make a difference as a corporate leader. This led her to launching Khmer Professionals Australia. Consisting of 2,000 followers, the networking organisation exists to foster networking, celebrate culture and support the next generation. Heng and Hurst also provides funding for Rare Cancers Australia, which is a not-for-profit created to support patients with rare cancers who don’t have ready access to medicines.

Born three years after the Khmer Rouge Regime took hold, Heng is one of the eldest in the cohort to have access to an Australian education. “Being born into privilege through my parents’ work, I feel a strong sense of responsibility to give back to my community.”

Six months after announcing the launch of the network on social media, Heng was a panellist at a Cambodian Healing Summit, attended by 200 people. “Being able to share my story and understanding that there’s a whole lot of people around that world with the same experience as us was incredibly rewarding for me.”

Heng says the future looks bright, despite operating in a competitive industry. But she is under no illusions that business growth will continue to be inevitable. But she has an ace card up her sleeve. “We’ve focused on building a diverse team not just based on sex and age, but more based on the variety of experience and skillsets they bring to the table, which means we can better meet the needs of our clients. “A diverse team is a strong team,” she says.

Working with talent to help them see what they can’t always see in themselves gives her purpose. “I’m proud of being close to our customers, their needs and the evolving industry and building a diverse team to support them and the success of our business. Something I’m proud of is promoting diversity not only in my team, but in the sectors we service.”

Heng continues: “I’m very passionate about leadership and understanding how our voice as a millennial leader in a very diverse world of leadership. There is constant growth in the healthcare sector alongside technological improvements, improving outcomes for patients, but there are also opportunities in other sectors, such as life sciences, digital technology and infrastructure.”

For more information about Heng & Hurst, visit hengandhurst.com