SINGAPORE - Last December, Madam Becky Chang, 60, had a feeling she was about to lose her job in a shipping company.

"It was a Sunday, and I said a prayer and asked God to close the door and open another one for me if it was going to happen," said Madam Chang, who has been in the shipping industry for more than four decades.

"The next day, my company announced that my division was closing," she said on Thursday (Aug 20).

"I did have some anxiety because I was about to turn 60 and was worried that I would not be able to find another job." she added.

But, armed with a wealth of experience and not wanting to waste it, Madam Chang decided to take a leap of faith two weeks later after hearing about a job opportunity at Moovaz, a Singapore-based start-up specialising in international moving services.

She applied for the position and went for two rounds of interviews. "I thought to myself, it's a start-up, full of young people. Why would they take me? But I kept an open heart and told them during my interview that my objective was to impart my knowledge to the company," she said.

Not long after, she secured a position as a shipping and procurement manager at the company, which was founded in 2017. Now, she is the oldest of 30 Moovaz employees, with the youngest being 23 years old.

To help her transition into her role, Moovaz enrolled Madam Chang in a nine-month Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) for logistics executives by Workforce Singapore and administered by the Supply Chain and Logistics Academy.

She began in April, and is on schedule to complete the programme in December.

She is one of 330 people who joined start-ups through the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package. About half of them were mid-career individuals who joined start-ups through PCPs.

"It helps because it complements my existing knowledge from working in the shipping industry, and allows me to be a contributor to the company," said Madam Chang.

Moovaz co-founder and chief executive officer Lee Junxian said that while Madam Chang's decades of experience in the shipping field ticked all the boxes, it was her willingness to learn that stood out.

"She taught us that age is really just a number. Becky brings diversity and energy to the team, and it has been surprising and something that I've learnt in this process," said Mr Lee.