A Tinkerer's Mindset

May 12, 2022

Benjamin Tan is a Chemist with a degree from the National University of Singapore and is currently part of an elite team of 23 Analytical Scientists at the P&G Singapore Innovation Center (SgIC). His responsibilities run the gamut from laying the groundwork for upstream product innovations to providing the analytical backbone for downstream go-to-market requirements.

In a recent upstream innovation project, Ben was tasked with finding ways to identify and quantify the presence of retinoids in skincare products. Retinoids are a powerful class of skincare ingredients, recommended by most dermatologists. Using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), his team developed methods to identify and quantify the various retinoids used in a test product. The team used this to gain a better understanding of the landscape of retinoid products in the market, which ultimately paved the way to developing a superior, best-selling Olay product.

As a hobby, Ben tinkers with the Lego Creator Expert series. “Building models is a very introverted hobby, typical of analytical chemists,” he admits, but he finds that it sharpens his problem-solving skills. Instead of following the instructions, he organizes the pieces himself and finds ways to complete the build better and faster. It helps him strengthen his ability to keep an eye on the big picture. “Often we get too focused on solving a very specific problem, but sometimes we need to ask ourselves, ‘So what if I can solve this? Does it help me solve the problems that really matter for this project?’” Asking this question has helped him and his team deliver consistently business-building work.

Ben brings his playful, tinkerer’s mindset to work. With access to diverse talent and instrumentation and a keen eye for the dramatic, he leads a team at the SgIC that has masterminded many compelling product science demos and visuals (including the rather dramatic one pictured below), for which he’s received numerous awards.

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